"I^ioe Ouft Booh
/pr the founcSng ef a, CoUegi ot M^ Colony'^

Gift of
Dr. William C.
1910

ESSAYS [SECOND SERIES]

ON SOME OP THE

DIFFICULTIES

WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL,

AND IN OTHER PARTS OF THE

NEW TESTAMENT.

RICHARD WHATELY, D.D.
(X
ARCHBISHOP OP DUBLIN;
LATE PRINCIPAL OP ST. ALBAN's HALL, OXFORD, AND FORMERLY FELLOW
OF ORIEL COLLEGE.

FOURTH EDITION, REVISED.

LONDON :
B. FELLOWES, LUDGAtE STREET.
1837.

LONDON :
R. CLAY, PRINTER, EKEAD-STREET-HILL.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.
Page
Cimnexion ofthe former series of Essays with the present,
p. xiii ; the Scriptures not to be regarded with
dread or disgust, on account of the difficulties to
be found in them, p. xiv ; outline of the present
series  xv

ESSAY I.
ON THE LOVE OF TRUTH.
§ 1 . Christian religion distinguished from Paganism and
characterised, by its claim to truth as established
by evidence, and its demand of Faith in that
Truth  1
§ 2. Liability of Christians to act inconsistently with this
characteristic, by not steadily following truth . . 14
§ 3. Necessity of self-examination as to this point, p. 18 ;
objections to the principle of universally pursuing
and propagating truth  20
a2

IV CONTKNTS. Page
§ 4. Danger of men's flattering themselves without suf
ficient grounds that they are lovers of truth,
p. 33 : Maxim of making it not the second but
the first question, what is the truth, p. 34 ; ob
stacles to the cultivation of this habit, dislike of
doubt, p. 35 ; love of originality, p. 38 ; ex
cessive deference for authority, p. 39 ; views of
expediency  44
§ 5. Cautionary maxims : no unfair argument to be used,
p. 46 ; nor erroneous notion countenanced, p. 47 ;
no revealed truth to be suppressed ; nor dread to
be entertained of the progress of science, p. 53 ;
human approbation not often bestowed on the
lover of truth  55

ESSAY II.
ON THE DIFFICULTIES AND TIIE VALUE OF ST. PAUL'S
WRITINGS GENERALLY.
§ 1. Paul more exposed than any of the Apostles to the
attacks both of open enemies and false friends,
— both personally, p. 57 ; and in his writings . . 63
§ 2. Ambiguity of the word Gospel, p. 65 ; full in
struction in the Christian scheme not to be found
in the Four Evangelists, p. 67 ; but in the apo
stolic Epistles, p. 77 ; especially Paul's, p. 78 ;
danger of misinterpretation not to deter us from
the study of them  80
§ 3. Study of Paul's writings not to be deferred till a
mass of theological learning has been acquired
from other sources  85

CONTENTS. V
Page
§ 4. Paul's writings dreaded chiefly from the unac-
ceptableness of some of his doctrines, p. 90 ; the
vehemence with which his works have been
decried, a proof of their importance . . . i. . . 92
ESSAY III.
ON ELECTION.
Importance of explaining those parts of Scripture
especially, from which dangerous consequences
have been drawn  06
§ 1. In order to understand the Apostle Paul aright, we
should be acquainted with his character and situ
ation, p. 97 ; and with that of his hearers, p. 100;
his continual reference to the Mosaic dispensa
tion, p. 103; which was the shadow of the Gospel 104
§2. Disputes relative to Election, p. 107; Election
under the old dispensation, and the new, may
be expected to correspond  112
§ 3. Questions, whether under tbe former dispensation
Election was arbitrary, ^p. 112 ; who were elected,
p. 114; to what the Elect were chosen, ibid.;
application, by analogy, to the Gospel-scheme,
p. 117; confirmed by Paul's express authority,
p. 119 ; and by the analogy of God's general
providence, p. 122 ; no technical uniformity of
language to be looked for in Scripture, p. 124;
misinterpretations of Scripture produced by an
tecedent bias, p. 127; errors in reasoning com-
'" mitted on both sides  131
§ 4. Metaphysical difficulties, resulting from ambi
guities of language, p. 132; objections connected
with the origin of evil, dangerous for both parties 137

vi CONTENTS. Page
§ 5. The chief object of inquiry to be, what truths are
revealed, as being relative to man, and practi
cally needful  ^^^
§ G. The danger of misleading some and disgusting
others, not to be wantonly incurred  . 148
ESSAY IV.
ON PERSEVERANCE AND ASSURANCE.
§ 1. The same Apostle principally appealed to in sup
port of the doctrines of the final perseverance of
the Elect, and their full assurance of salvation . . 152
§ 2. Apprehended danger from these doctrines apt to
lead to an opposite danger  155
§ 3. Mode in which both dangers are to be avoided . . 160
§ 4. Confirmation of the view here taken, from the
example of Paul's conduct, p. 163 ; and from
that of men in general  165
Note A  173
ESSAY V.
ON THE ABOLITION OF THE MOSAIC LAW.
§ 1. The Antinomian system supposed to be favoured
by Paul's declarations relative to the abolition of
the law  176
§ 2. Obligations of conscience not weakened by the
Christian's freedom from the Levitical law .... 1 8 1
§ 3. Importance of resting moral obligation on a right
basis  18f

CONTENTS. VU
. Page
§ 4. Speculative less common than practical Antinomians,
p. 189; liability ofmen to content themselves
with a literal observance of express commands . 190"
§ 5. Principles substituted for Rules, under the Gospel-
di.spensation, p. 193 ; tendency to prefer precise
injunctions, to watchful self-government  105
Note A  199
Note B  201
ESSAY VI.
ON IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
§ 1. Statement of the doctrine of the imputation of
Adam's transgression, and of the righteousness
of Christ  214
§ 2. Scripture authority on which it is made to rest,
p. 221 ; interpretation of the passage appealed to 222
§ 3. General drift of the Apostle in the passages which
treat of the subject  228
§ 4, Liability of men to be biassed by the love of
system, p. 233 ; no accurate and technical uni
formity in the employment by the Sacred Writers
of the word Justification  236
§ 5. Evils indirectly resulting from erroneous inter
pretation of Scripture  238
Note A  244
ESSAY VII.
ON APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS IN SCRIPTURE.
§ 1. Difficulties of Scripture a reason for the attentive
study of it  246

VIU CONTENTS. Page
§ 2. Principles to be kept in mind in this study .... '250
§^3. The knowledge revealed, not speculative, but rela
tive to man, and practical, p. 254 ; in language
not scientific, but popular, p. 256 ; to be inter
preted by comparing one passage with another,
p. 257 ; especially those seemingly at variance . 257
§ 4. Apparent contradictions of Scripture, numerous,
p. 259 ; for what purpose designed  262
§ 5. The knowledge imparted of mysterious truths ana
logical and indistinct  267
Note A  276
ESSAY VIII.
ON THE MODE OF CONVEYING MORAL PRECEPTS IN THE
NEW TESTAMENT.
Moral precepts of the New Testament often con
veyed in apparent contradictions  278
§ 1. Reasons for the employment of this and other
paradoxical forms  281
§ 2. Precepts, a literal compliance with which would
be either impossible, or absurd, or unimportant,
p. 287 ; instance of the last kind  297
§ 3. The mode of instruction adopted sufficient for the
candid and dUigent, p. 299 ; for the opposite
character none would have been sufficient .... 300
ESSAY IX.
ON THE INFLUENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRLT.
Indistinct notions entertained, at first, by the
disciples of the character of their Master .... 305

CONTENTS. IX
Page
§ 1. ^Promise of Jesus to send the Comforter, not li
mited to the first age, p. 308 ; nor relating to an
abstract religious principle  310
§ 2. Difference between the Jewish and the Christian
churches in this respect  313
§ 3. Points of resemblance and of difference between
our condition at present and that of Christians
in the first age, in respect of spiritual yz/i!« .... 316
§ 4. Miraculous gifts peculiar to the primitive Church,
p. 319; for what purpose bestowed, p. 321;
when and how withdrawn  326
§ 5. Extraordinary and ordinary operations of the Spirit,
compared  327
§ 6. The early Christians compared with those of the
present day in respect of the signs of the gifts
bestowed on each, p. 334 ; faith required in the
indications of power to work miracles  335
§ 7. Equality, in the most important point, between
the primitive and the present Church  348
§ 8. Sign of the Christian's admission to the privilege
of spiritual guidance, p. 357 ; design of the
Eucharist (note) p. 360. — See Note A, p. 370.
§ 9. Example of the Apostles to be followed by re
versing in some points their procedure, p. 362 ;
complete certainty as to the rectitude of our
judgments, unattainable  366
Note A  370
A Charge delivered at the Visitation of the Clergy of
the Dioceses of Dublin and Glandelagh  375
" Note A  c . . 424
Note B  429
Note C  430

INTRODUCTION.

It was my object in a former series of
Essays to set forth the importance of an
earnest and studious attention to the
Christian revelation. There is a notion,
more commonly entertained than acknow
ledged, that the Gospel is a mere authori
tative republication of natural religion ; —
that consequently it is chiefly, if not solely,
to those of unphilosophical and vulgar
minds, incapable of perceiving the internal
evidence of this natural religion, and the
intrinsic beauty of virtue, that such a reve
lation is important or needful, — and that,
to the more intelligent and refined, it
matters little whether or not they in
quire minutely into the particulars of that

xn INTRODUCTION.

revelation, — whether they believe, or dis-
beheve, or doubt, its reality — or whether
they even propose to themselves the ques
tion. With a view to counteract this (as
it may be called) heresy of indiiFerence, —
in my view, the most deadly of all errors,
not excepting Atheism, — I pointed out and
dwelt on several peculiarities of the Chris
tian religion ; points wherein the Gospel-
scheme differs from all other systems of
religion, — whether pretended revelations,
or avowedly the offspring of human rea
son, — that have ever existed. And the
contemplation of these peculiarities must
evince, I thought, the importance of care
fully ascertaining whether the Gospel-
revelation is real or fictitious; and if real,
of endeavouring to understand as fully as
possible its character, and to embrace it
heartily as a rule of life. While at ihp
same time the consideration that Chris
tianity differs thus widely from every, other
religious system, in many important points,
and in many wherein they all agree, a^id.

INTRODUCTION. XIU
in those very points in which a true revela
tion might be expected to differ from any
scheme of man's devising, — this considera
tion, I say, presents a phenomenon well
deserving the attention of such as are can
didly inquiring for the evidences of this
religion. For till unbelievers can propose
some solution of this phenomenon, other
than the truth of the revelation, (which, in
so many centuries, they have never accom
plished, nor, as far as I know, even at
tempted,) it must afford, at the very least,
a strong presumption, that the religion is
really from God.
These disquisitions seemed to lead na
turally to some remarks as to the mode in
which the Scriptures should be studied.
For if it be supposed (and the notion is
very prevalent) that great part of them
consist of a series of perplexing difficulties,
Serving only to exercise the ingenuity of
theologians in endless controversies, and
barren of all edifying application, or even

XIV INTRODUCTION.
leading to dangerous practical conse
quences, the result will be, that the stu
dent's attention will be confined to a small
portion of the Sacred Records, and to that
portion which will, by itself, furnish the
most imperfect view of the peculiar doc
trines of Christianity : a result which can
not fail to foster the error above alluded
to, of undervaluing the Gospel-revelation,
and regarding it as a mere authoritative
declaration of certain moral truths.
The first step then in an examination of
the Gospel-scheme, after we have once
been convinced, generally, that it is worth
examining, is to guard against the bias to
which we are liable, either from the appre
hension of perplexing difficulties in it, or
from a suspicion of the inutility, or dan
gerous tendency, of its most remarkable
doctrines. Such a bias cannot fail to
deprave the judgment as to the real cha
racter of the Christian revelation. In
the preliminary Essay, accordingly, I have

INTRODUCTION. XV
endeavoured not only to inculcate the im
portance of such an earnest pursuit of
Truth, and steady adherence to it, as may
overcome the seductions of indolence,
and of seeming expediency, but I have
pointed out also the several modes of self-
deceit by which men persuade themselves
that they are, when in fact they are not,
sincere lovers of Truth ; and the way in
which that tendency may be best com
bated ; namely, by assigning in every
case, not, as is usually done, the second,
but the first place, to the inquiry, what
is True ?
In the Second Essay, I have offered
some remarks on the neglect or dread,
prevalent among many persons, of the
Apostle Paul's writings ; — on the causes
which have produced this ; — and the con
sequences to which it leads.
In the succeeding four Essays, I have
treated of certain doctrines which have

XVI INTRODUCTION.

given rise to much controversy, and par
ticular views of which have mainly con
tributed to the dread many have felt of
this Apostle's writings. I have accordingly
endeavoured to shew that the doctrines
in question, as taught by Paul, afford no
just ground of alarm ; and that the ex
travagant representation of them that some
have given, has arisen from a hasty and
partial view of the works of this Apostle.
In these Essays I have especially endea
voured to set forth the importance of
referring to the Old Testament as an in
terpreter, by analogy, of the New.
Some other principles of interpretation,
frequently overlooked, and very essential
to the right understanding both of Paul's
Epistles, and of the other Sacred Writings,
I have pointed out in the Seventh and
Eighth Essays, as applicable to the doc
trinal and to the moral precepts of the
New-Testament-Scriptures. The use to
be made of the apparent contradictions we

INTRODUCTION. XVU
SO frequently meet with, has been parti
cularly dwelt on ; with a view to shew
that they ought not to be regarded, as is
commonly done, in the light merely of
difficulties to be surmounted, but as a
peculiar and most wisely-contrived mode
of instruction.
In the concluding Essay, I have applied
the principles before laid down to the
ascertainment of the sense of Scripture
respecting the doctrine of spiritual influ
ence : — a doctrine not only of the highest
practical importance ; and one concerning
which the greatest difficulties have been
started ; — but also one in respect of which,
more perhaps than any other, Paul's au
thority has been confidently appealed to
by some in support of the most extra
vagant conclusions, and for that reason,
depreciated or disregarded by others.
In treating of these subjects, it has been
niy aim, not, to ascertain, on each point,
b

Xvni INTRODUCTION.
everything that may be reasonably believed
and plausibly maintained ; but, what we
are bound to beheve and to maintain as a
part of the Gospel-revelation ; and this
distinction I have more than once adverted
to, as being one of the highest importance,
and not seldom overlooked.
In the prosecution of these inquiries, I
have freely availed myself of whatever
remarks or illustrations I chanced to meet
with in various authors, that appeared
suitable to my purpose. As therefore
there is, I trust, no novelty in the doc
trines inculcated, so there is no pretension
to complete originality in the arguments
adduced. If I shall have succeeded in
selecting such as are at once sound, and
generally intelligible, and in arranging
and expressing them in a perspicuous and
interesting manner, the object proposed
will have been accomplished.
I have only to add, that the design of

INTRODUCTION. XlX
the present Work being, not so much to
refute or to advocate the tenets of any par
ticular person or party, by means of an
appeal to Scripture, as to facilitate the
interpretation of Scripture to those who
are seeking in simplicity for divine truths,
I trust it will be received by the candid,
even among such as may in some points
differ from me, with no feeling of party-
prejudice or hostile suspicion.
To the present edition is subjoined a
Charge delivered in 1836, and which was
then published at the request of the Arch
deacon and Clergy. It appeared desirable,
however, to reprint it in this volume on
account of the close connexion of the
subject with those of the Fifth and Sixth
of these Essays.

ESSAY I.

ON THE LOVE OF TRUTH.

§ 1. That any one who undertakes to propa
gate or to maintain any religion should represent
it as a true one, and should demand reception
for it on that ground, seems to us of the present
day so natural and unavoidable, that many pro
bably would be ready to take for granted that
this must have been the case always ; — that the
question of " true or false ? " must always have
stood, as it certainly ought to stand, on the very
threshold of every inquiry respecting such a sub
ject; and that all who adhered to an old, or
embraced a new religious system, or rejected
either, however credulous, or prejudiced, or
otherwise bad judges of evidence they might be,
yet must have supposed themselves at least to be
determined by evidence of some kind or other.

2 On the love qf Truth. [essay i.
to belief or disbelief in the truth of what was
proposed to them. And accordingly, there are,
probably, many who do not estimate the full
force and importance of our Lord's reply to
Pilate, " For this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness of the Truth."
A moderate acquaintance, however, with the
habits and modes of thought which prevailed
among the ancient heathen, may convince us
that the real state of things was by no means
such as the above reasoning would lead us to
suppose. Their minds were, on this subject
especially, estranged from the love of truth.
Many circumstances indeed concurred to render
them habitually indifferent to it. Among the
learned, philosophical pursuits seem to have
been originally introduced as an elegant re
creation {o-xoXt}) '• and there can be no doubt
that many at least attached themselves to this
or that sect, not from any sincere conviction of
the truth of its doctrines, but to furnish them
selves with suitable topics for declamations. The
Schools of the philosophers were a kind of intel
lectual palaestra ; and there was a close analogy
between their disputations, and the prevailing

sect. l.J On the love of Truth. 3
gymnastic contests : each was a game ; the
object of which was victory, without any ulterior
end, but only for the display of strength and
skill, bodily or intellectual. And the zealous
cultivation of rhetoric, to which the majority
of eminent men made all other studies subor
dinate, and whose most appropriate object is
not the discovery of truth, but the invention of
arguments, could not but foster the prevailing
disregard of truth. It seems too, to have been
the settled conviction of most of those who had
the sincerest desire of attaining truth themselves,
that to the mass of mankind truth was in many
points inexpedient, and unfit to be communi
cated ; — that however desirable it might be for
the leading personages in the world to be in
structed in the true nature of things, there were
many popular delusions which were essential to
the well-being of society. And in the foremost
rank of these they placed their popular reli
gions. Their own notions respecting the Deity
were totally unconnected with morality ; and
they despaired of imbuing the vulgar with the
philosophical principles on which they made
virtue to rest. They made it a point of duty,
b2

4 On the love qf Truth. [essay i.
therefore, to testify by their example the utmost
respect for the established religion ; and to im
press on the multitude that reverence for the
gods, and dread of divine judgment on crimes,
which they themselves in their own more private
writings derided. They did not however seek
to effect this object, (and this is a circumstance
deserving of especial attention,) by undertaking
to prove the truth of the popular religions. He
who labours to prove, implies the possibility of
doubt, and challenges inquiry; and they well
knew that there was no evidence for the existing
superstitions which could satisfy doubts, or stand
the test of inquiry. The only thing to be done,
therefore, was to forbid all doubts as impious, —
to suppress all inquiry ; and, consequently, to
forego even the practice of asserting the truth
of the established systems, which had, as Paul
expresses it, " changed the truth of God into
•a lie."^ They were maintained as politically
expedient, by the civil magistrates ; whose ap
propriate instrument is not argument, but coer
cion : and who for the most part utterly
disbelieved them, and were sensible that they
* Rom. i. 25.

SECT. 1.] On the love of Truth. 5
could not be established by evidence, yet were
convinced that they ought to be estabhshed by
law. And as it is the nature of legal enact
ments to produce, not belief, but merely out
ward conformity and submission, it was the
inevitable result of this state of things that the
ideas of religion and of truth, — of pious demea^
nour, and of sincere belief, — should come to be
completely disjoined in men's minds : and that
they should even be somewhat startled at the
very pretension to truth as resting on evidence,
in any religion, and at the requisition oi faith
in it, on the ground of its truth. It was what
they had never been used to. Philosophers of
the most discordant tenets, poets of all descrip
tions, politicians and other men of business,
amidst all the variety of their views and conduct,
had always concurred in maintaining the popular
religions, and in maintaining them on any other
ground than that of truth : " The worship of
the gods is an institution of our country ; — .these
rites are venerable from their antiquity ;'' — the
'' Such was the remark of Tacitus respecting the religion
of the Jews : " Hi ritus, quoquo modo inducti, vetustate de-
fenduntur ;" a description much more suitable to the pagan

6 On tlie love of Truth. [essay i.
neglect of them would argue disrespect for our
ancestors, and contempt for the laws ; — a respect
for religion is useful for maintaining due subordi
nation among the people :" — These, and such as
these, were their arguments ; and the conclusion
accordingly drawn was, that every man ought to
•worship the gods according to the established
institutions : truth, and belief in the truth, seem,
in this matter, to have scarcely entered their minds.
Pilate accordingly seems to have been per
plexed by our Lord's reply, stating that he had
come into the world for the purpose of bearing
" witness to the truth." His inquiry, ** What is
truth?" does not seem (as an eminent writer
imagines) to have been made in jest ; the Roman
Governor was evidently in no jesting mood, nor
at all disposed to treat Jesus with conterapt ; but
(for whatever reason) was very seriously intent on
investigating his case, and procuring his acquittal.
Whether there be sufficient ground or not, for
the conjecture of some, that he was in expecta
tion of Jesus assuming the temporal sovereignty,
religions ; both in respect of the fact, and of the opinions of
the respective votaries. It was the boast of the Jews that
they had " the form of knowledge and of the truth, in the
Law." Rom. ii. 20.

SECT. L] On the love of Truth, 7
by the employment of those miraculous powers
of which no one could have been ignorant, and
was disposed from views of personal aggrandize
ment to favour his pretensions ; at any rate it is
plain he was endeavouring to learn what his
designs and pretensions were ; and hence, eagerly
asked, catching, as it were, at his words, " Art
thou a king then ?" The answer, in which
Jesus claims to be a minister of the Truth, seems
to have disappointed and perplexed him :
" What is truth ?" he replied ; as much as to say,
" what has truth to do with the present business 1
I wish for information as to your claims and
objects ; — what sovereignty it is that you pretend
to, or aim at ; and you tell me about Truth ;
what is that to the purpose ? "
On this and on other occasions, our Lord
points out Truth as, in an especial manner, the
characteristic of his religion ; " If ye continue in
my words, then are ye my disciples indeed, and
ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall
make you free :" " I am the Way, and the Truth,
and the Life." — " They that worship God must
worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." — " When
He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he shall

a On the love of Truth. [essay i.
guide you into all Truth."— "And for their
sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might
be sanctified through the Truth." His great
Adversary, on the other hand, is designated
by Him as "a liar, and the father of hes."
And the Apostles of Christ, in like manner,
perpetually make use of the words " Truth,"
and "Faith," to designate the Christian reli
gion : e. g. " God will have all men to be saved,
and to come to the knowledge of the Truth,"
1 Tim. ii. 4. " Having your loins girt about
with Truth." Ephes. vi. 14. " They received not
the love of Truth, that they might be saved."
2 Thess. ii. 10. " Chosen to salvation, through
beUef of the Truth." 2 Thess. ii. 13. " After
we have received the knowledge of the Truth."
Heb. X. 26. " Ye have purified your souls in
obeying the Truth." 1 Pet. i. 22. " The way of
the Truth shall be evil-spoken of." 2 Pet. ii. 2.
" Hereby we know that we are of the Truth."
1 John iii. 19, &c. By all which, more, I conceive,
was imphed than that the religion is true, and is
the only true one, and that faith in it is required ;
in the present day this would be implied by the
very circumstance of preaching any religion;

SECj. Lj On the love of Truth. 9
but in those days the very pretension to truth, —
the very demand of faith, were characteristic
distinctions of the Gospel : the Heathen mytho
logy not only was not true, but was not even
supported as true : it not only deserved no faith,
but it demanded none. It was needful, therefore,
to inform and remind men not merely of the
strength of the Gospel claims, but of the nature
of those claims ; — to point out not only the
force of the evidence in its favour, but its appeal
to evidence.
Many, indeed, of our Lord's expressions con
cerning the truth of his religion, have a reference
rather to the types and shadows of the Mosaic
dispensation, than to the fables of the Heathen
mythology. As contrasted with these last, Chris
tianity was Truth as opposed to falsehood; as
contrasted with the Jewish system, it was The
Truth, in the sense of " Reality," as distinguished
from the emblems, — symbols, — representations —
of that reality; — from the "shadow of good
things to come," contained in the Levitical
Law." In this sense it is that the Apostle tells us
"= See "Hinds's Catechists' Manual," (p. 264), a book
which, in my judgment, no young clergyman or master of a
family should be without.

10 On the love of Truth, [essay i.
" the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ :" and this also was pro
bably the chief import of our Lord's expression,
" the truth shall make you free ;" i. e. free from
the precise and minute directions, and burden
some ceremonial, of the Mosaic Law, which was
instituted for the very purpose of shadowing
forth, and preparing the way for, the glorious
truths, or realities, of the Gospel.
This consideration, however, does not lessen
the force of what has been said respecting the
prominent place assigned to the " truth" of Chris
tianity as characteristic ofthe religion. Its truth,
in the sense of reality contrasted with type, and
substance with shadow, implies its truth as op
posed to falsehood also. It was the same quality
that distinguished it from the more imperfect
revelations of the " Law" on one side, and from
the fictions and misconceptions of the Pagans on
the other : " the truth as it is in Jesus"* was to
supersede both the heathen idolatry, by destroy
ing it, and " the Law and the Prophets," not by
destroying indeed, but by fulfilling them.
And it should be carefully borne in mind, that
¦* Ep. to Ephes. iv. 21,

SECT. 1.] On the love of Truth. 11
though the reiterated allusions to " truth" were
in a great degree called forth by the strong
contrast which the new religion presented, in
this particular, to those at that time opposed to
it, the characteristic itself must equally belong
to the same religion at all times. The Gospel
itself is always and every where the same ; though
particular times and places may require that this
or that particular feature of it should be espe
cially pointed out and dwelt on. Even so, creeds
or sets of articles, employed as a Symbol or test
of orthodoxy, may vary, and have varied, accord
ing to the emergencies occasioned by the pre
valence of particular errors ; though the absolute
and intrinsic soundness of the articles of faith
themselves, must be always the same. Tempo
rary or local circumstances are the cause, not of
any Article's being or not being a part of the
Christian faith, but of its being a part which it
is needful or not needful to set forth prominently,
and insist on.
This distinction, though so obvious, when
stated, as to seem scarcely worth mentioning,
is often lost sight of in practice. For instance,
many even of the early Christian emperors were

12 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
urged to put down idolatry and heresy by the
civil sword." Jesus had indeed forbidden his
disciples to draw the sword in his cause, or to
call down fire from heaven on those who rejected
Him ; and had declared his kingdom to be " not
of this world;" and his first followers had pro
pagated his religion by gentle persuasion, " not
rendering evil for evil," but " in meekness in
structing them that oppose themselves :" but
then, it was replied, that such a procedure was
suited only to the first beginnings of Christianity ;
that the earliest disciples had no power, when as
yet magistrates and kings were not arrayed on
their side,^ forcibly to suppress idolatry; — and
® " Not more than twenty years after Constantine's entire
possession of the empire, Julius Firmicus Maternus calls upon
the Emperors Constantius and Constans to extirpate the relics
of the ancient religion ; . . . . modicum tantum superest, ut
legibus vestris .... extincta idololatriae pereat funesta con
tagio." — Paley's Evidences, Part II. chap. 9.
' " Non invenitur exemplum in evangelicis et apostolicis
Uteris, aliquid petitum a regibus terrse pro ecclesia, contra
inimicos ecclesiee : quis negat non inveniri ? Sed nondum
implebatur ilia prophetia, et nunc reges intelligite, erudimini,
qui judicatis terram ; servite Domino in timore. Adhuc enim
illud implebatur quod in eodem psalmo pauUo superius dicitur ;
¦Quare fremuerunt gentes, et populi meditati sunt inania? &c."
— Augustine Epist. 93, chap. iii. § 9. The

SECT. 1.] On the love of Truth, 13
that our Lord's language to Pilate, and his re
jection of the attempts to make Him a king,
had reference to the then prevailing expectations
of a temporal Messiah. Now there was un
doubtedly this expectation of an anointed Son
of David, who should reign in bodily person
over the Jews, and should bestow on his follow
ers not only the spiritual blessings relating to a
future state, but also, worldly power and splen
dour. And, doubtless, his disclaimer had refer
ence to these expectations : but the question is,
was this the cause of Christ's kingdom actually
being of such a character as He described it, or,
merely of his insisting on this, in those parti
cular expressions, and on those particular occa
sions ? Are his rebukes to his disciples, for
offering to call down fire from heaven, and to
The remainder of the passage is curious, in which this
Father goes on to represent the two opposite decrees of
King Nebuchadnezzar, as types, of the two conditions of the
Church ; the sentence of death passed on the three pious
Jews who refiised to worship the golden idol, being typical
of the times of the Apostles and Martyrs ; and the present
time (Augustine's) being represented by the decree of the
same king, that whosoever should " speak any thing amiss
against the God of those Jews, should be cut in pieces."

14 On the love qf Truth. [essay i.
fight in his cause, — rebukes which were evi
dently called forth by their mistaken zeal on
each occasion ; are these to be regarded as
having reference to these occasions only, or
as descriptive of the character of the religion
universally?^ Now what has been said of the employment
oi force, may equally be apphed to the employr
ment of fraud, in the cause of Christianity.
The Romanists and others, who have practised
pious frauds in the cause of Christianity, pro
bably committed (unknown to themselves) a
similar error to the one just mentioned, in their
view of those passages of Scripture which insist
on "truth" as a characteristic feature ofthe reli
gion : those expressions, indeed, were probably
called forth in many instances by the peculiar
circumstances attending the first promulgation
of the Gospel ; but the character of the Gospel
itself is " the same yesterday, and to-day, and
for ever."
§ 2. But how, it may be said, do these con
siderations affect us Christians of the present
« See " Origin of Romish Errors," chap. v. § 4.

SECT. 2.] On the love of Truth. 15
day ? We, it is to be hoped, are not chargeable
with that culpable carelessness about truth,
especially in religious matters, which charac
terised the ancients. We do beUeve in Jesus
as the " Way, and the Truth, and the
Life." Let it be remembered, however, that, as the
ancient heathen are not the standard by whicli
we are to be measured ; so, it is not our superi
ority to them that will at once acquit us. They
had many excuses of which we have none, for
their disregard of truth : in particular, they
knew not (as we do) of any religion that did
challenge inquiry, and appeal to evidence, and
demand well-grounded and firm belief; that
taught them to " prove all things, and hold fast
that which is right," and to be " ready to give
a reason of their hope." Do Christians, then,
in this respect show themselves worthy of their
peculiar advantages? Do they speak and act
altogether consistently with a religion which is
built on Faith in the Truth? The professors
of such a rehgion ought not merely to beheve
it in sincerity, but to adhere scrupulously to
Truth in the means employed on every occasion.

16 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
as well as in the ends proposed ; and to follow
fearlessly wherever Truth may lead.
Now we should recollect that most of the
pretended miracles, the " pious frauds," as they
are called, perpetrated by many, are, or at least
were, in the first instance, the work of men who
were sincere believers in the truth of their reli
gion ; it is, indeed, on this ground alone that a
pious fraud can be so called : but they were men
who knew "not what manner of spirit they
were of;" they sought to promote, by means of
falsehood, the cause of Him who lived and died
for the Truth : they beheved the Gospel to have
come from God, but wanted faith in his power
and care to support and prosper it ; and turned
aside from the straight path of sincerity, to
seek for the expedient, by the crooked roads
of worldly policy. But still, though most un
christian in their spirit, though they had "neither
part nor lot in this matter, but were in the gall
of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," their
general belief in Christianity was doubtless, in
raost instances, sincere ; and I have adverted to
their case for the very purpose of pointing out
the important circumstance, that the fullest

SECT. 2.] On the love of Truth. 1 7
conviction of the truth of the cause in which we
may be engaged, is no security against our sliding
into falsehood, unless we are sedulous in forming
and cherishing a habit of loving and reverencing,
and strictly adhering to truth.
Protestants, however, in these times, it may
be said, have no pretended miracles — practise
no pious frauds. But how far is this to be attri
buted to a genuine detestation of falsehood, as
odious in Us sight, who lived and died in the
cause of Truth, and to a firm reliance on his
providence; and how far, to a conviction fur
nished by experience, that fraud is, in the end,
detrimental to the cause it is designed to serve,
and that in these days its success would be
especially short-lived ? To what degree each
man is in each instance actuated by a love of
truth, or by considerations of seeming expe
diency, can be fully known only to the Searcher
of hearts : it is only by the most rigid self-
examination that we can approach to the know
ledge of this in our own case ; and it is so far
only as the former motive operates that we are
acting on Christian principle. It is undoubtedly
a just maxim, that in the long run " honesty is
c

18 On the love of Truth. [essay l.
the best policy ;" but he whose practice is go
verned by that maxim is not an honest man.
And it may be added, that a steady and uniform
adherence to honesty, never xmll result from
that maxim. He who adheres to what is right,
because it is right, will be rewarded by after
wards perceiving that he has taken the wisest
course. But to those who seek, in the first
instance, for the best policy, it is not given to
perceive in all cases that honesty is the best
policy. The maxim therefore, though true and
valuable, is never, to any one, the habitual and
constant guide of conduct. He who is honest is
always before it ; and he who is not, will often
be far behind it.
§ 3. To suggest a few topics for the self-
examination I have alluded to, may not be
unsuitable with a view to the inquiries we are
engaged in. That all, even of the learned and
sagacious, have not arrived at true conclusions
respecting the doctrines of Scripture, is at once
evident from the great diversity of their conclu
sions. It is necessary to consider, therefore,
how we may best escape being of the number of

SECT. 3.J On the love of Truth. 19
those who fall into such various errors ; — how
we may be best qualified for profiting by the
lessons of Him whose " Word is Truth." And
this must surely be by a fervent desire and
sedulous watchfulness to acquire and preserve a
sincere, unbiassed, and candid disposition. With
out this, the highest ability, combined with the
most laborious study, will do nothing towards
the attainment of that object.
That we may not, however, be led into too
wide a field of discussion, it should be observed,
that I do not propose to inculcate the duty of
veracity in private life ; or to enter on any
metaphysical disquisition on the nature of truth
universally, or on what may be regarded as the
different species of it ; or to treat of the vari
ous kinds of evidence by which it is to be esta
blished ; but simply to speak of the importance,
and the difficulty, of cultivating and establishing
as a habit, a sincere love of Truth for its own
sake, and a steady thorough-going adherence to
it in all philosophical, and especially in religious
inquiries. The first step towards attaining this state of
raind, and ascertaining how far we have attained
c2

20 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
it, must evidently be, a strong conviction of its
value, together with a distrust of ourselves. If
we either care not to be lovers of Truth, or take
for granted that we are such, without taking
any pains to acquire the habit, it is not likely
that we ever shall acquire it. I must here,
therefore, briefiy notice some objections which I
have heard urged against the very effort to cul
tivate such a habit as I am recommending ;
though, in fact, they arise from misapprehension,
and are directed against a mistaken view of the
subject. (1.) The first is, that we cannot be required
to make Truth our main object, but happi
ness ; — that our ultimate end is, not the mere
knowledge of what is true, but the attainment
of what is good, to ourselves and to others.
But this, when urged as an objection against
the views here taken, is evidently founded on a
mistake as to the meaning of the maxim, that
Truth should be sought for its own sake. It
is evident, in the first place, that I am not
speaking of the pursuit of all truth on all sub
jects. It would be ridiculous for a single in
dividual to aim at universal knowledge ; or even

sect. 3.] On the love of Truth. 21
at the knowledge of all that is within the reach
of the human faculties, and worthy of human
study. The question is respecting the pursuit of
truth, in each subject, on which each person de
sires to make up his mind and form an opinion.
And secondly, the purport of the maxim that, in
these points, truth should be our object, is, not
that mere barren knowledge without practice, —
truth without any ulterior end, should be sought ;
but that truth should be sought and followed
confidently, not in each instance, only so far as
we perceive it to be expedient, and from motives
of policy, but with a full conviction both that it
is, in the end, always expedient, with a view to
the attainment of ulterior objects, (no permanent
advantage being attainable by departing from it,)
and also, that, even if some end, otherwise advan
tageous, could be promoted by such a departure,
that alone would constitute it an evil ; — that truth
in short, is in itself, independently of its results,
preferable to error ; — that honesty claims a pre
ference to deceit, even without taking into account
its being the best policy.
(2.) Another objection, if it can be so called,
is, that a perfectly candid and unbiassed state of

22 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
mind,— a habit of judging in each case entirely
according to the evidence, is unattainable. But
the same may be said of every other virtue :
a perfect regulation of any one of the human
passions is probably not more attainable than
perfect candour ; but we are not, therefore, to
give a loose to the passions ; we are not to relax
our efforts for the attainment of any virtue, on
the ground that, after all, we shall fall short of
perfection. (3.) Another objection which I have heard is,
that it is not even desirable, were it possible, to
bring the mind into a state of perfectly unbiassed
indifference, so as to weigh the evidence in each
case with complete impartiality. The evidence,
for instance, for the truth of the Christian
religion, it is said, a good man must wish, and
ought to wish, to find satisfactory ; one who
loves and practises virtue, cannot be, and ought
not to be, indifferent as to the question whether
there be or be not a God who will reward it.
This objection arises, I conceive, from an in
distinct and confused notion of the sense of the
terms employed.'' A candid and unbiassed state
h See Logic, Appendix. Article " Indifference."

SECT. 3.] On the love of Truth. 23
of mind, which is sometimes called indifference
or impartiality, i. e. of the judgment, does not
imply an indifference of the will, — an absence
of all wish on either side ; but merely an ab
sence of all influence of the wishes in forming
our decision, — all leaning of the judgment on the
side of inchnation, — all perversion ofthe evidence
in consequence. That we should wish to find
truth on one side rather than the other, is in
many cases not only unavoidable but commend
able ; but to think that true which we wish,
without impartially weighing the evidence on both
sides, is undeniably a folly, though a very common
one. If a mode of effectual and speedy cure be
proposed to a sick man, he cannot but wish that
the result of his inquiries concerning it may be
a well-grounded conviction of the safety and
efficacy ofthe remedy prescribed ; it would be no
mark of wisdom to be indifferent to the restora
tion of health ; but if his wishes should lead him
(as is frequently the case) to put implicit confi
dence in the remedy without any just grounds for
it, he would deservedly be taxed with folly. Or
again, if a scheme be proposed to any one for
embarking his capital in some speculation by

24 On the love qf Truth. [essay i.
which he is to gain immense wealth, he will doubt
less wish to find that the expectations held out
are well-founded ; but we should call him very
imprudent, if (as many do) he should suffer this
wish to bias his judgment, and should believe, on
insufficient grounds, the fair promises held out to
him : his wishes, we should say, were both natural
and wise ; but since they could not render the
event raore probable, it was most unwise to allow
them to infiuence his decision. In like manner,
(to take the instance above alluded to,) a good
man will indeed wish to find the evidence of the
Christian religion satisfactory; but a wise man
will not for that reason think it satisfactory, but
will weigh the evidence the more carefully, on
account of the importance of the question.
By confounding together these two very dis
tinct things, indifference of the will, and indiffer
ence of the judgment, (or, which amounts to the
same, taking for granted that the two are inse
parably conjoined, and raust be present or absent,
together,) I have known a person maintain, with
some plausibility, the inexpediency, with a view
to the attainment of Truth, of educating people
pr appointing teachers to instruct thera in any

SECT. 3. j On the love qf Truth. 25
particular systems or theories, of astronomy,
medicine, rehgion, morals, pohtics, &c., on the
ground that a man must wish to believe and
to find good reasons for believing, the system in
which he has been trained, and which he has
been engaged in teaching; and that this wish
must prejudice his understanding in favour of it,
and consequently render him an incompetent
judge of truth.
It would follow from this principle, that no
physician should be trusted, who is not utterly
indifferent whether his patient recovers or dies ;
since, else, he must wish to find reasons for
hoping favourably from the mode of treatment
pursued : no plan for the benefit of the public,
proposed by a philanthropist, should be listened
to ; since such a man cannot but wish it may
be successful, &c. — No doubt the judgment is
often biassed by the inclinations ; but it is pos
sible, and it should be our endeavour, to guard
against this bias. And, by the way, it is utterly
a mistake to suppose that the bias is always in
favour of the conclusion wished for ; it is often
in the contrary direction. There is in some
minds a tendency to unreasonable doubt in cases

26 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
where their wishes are strong ; — a morbid dis
trust of evidence which they are especially
anxious to find conclusive : e, g. Groundless
fears for the health or safety of an ardently-
beloved child, will frequently, on account of their
earnest wish for his welfare, distress anxious
parents. Different temperaments (sometimes
varying with the state of health of each indi
vidual) lead towards these opposite miscalcu
lations. Each of us probably has a natural
leaning towards one or the other (often towards
both, at different times) of these infirmities ; —
the over-estimate, or under-estimate of the rea
sons in favour of a conclusion we earnestly de
sire to find true. Our aim should be, not to fly
from one extreme to the other, but to avoid
both, and to give a verdict according to the
evidence ; preserving the indifference of the
Judgment, even when the Will cannot, and
indeed should not be indifferent.
There are persons, again, (though some of my
readers will, perhaps, be disposed to doubt the
fact,) who, in supposed compliance with the
precept, " lean not to thine own understanding,"
regard it as a duty to suppress -all exercise of

SECT. 3.] On the love qf Truth. 27
the intellectual powers, in every case where the
feelings are at variance with the conclusions of
reason. They deem it right to consult the heart
more than the head : i. e. to surrender themselves,
advisedly, to the bias of any prejudice that may
chance to be present : thus, deliberately and on
principle, burying in the earth the talent en
trusted to them, and hiding under a bushel the
candle that God has hghted up in the mind.
But it is not necessary to dwell on such a case,
both because it is not, I trust, a common one,
and also because those who are thus disposed,
are clearly beyond the reach of argument, since
they think it wrong to listen to it.
I am far from recommending presumptuous
inquiries into things beyond the reach of our
faculties ; — attempts to be " wise above what is
written ;" — or groundless confidence in the cer
tainty of our conclusions : but we cannot even
exercise the requisite humility in acquiescing in
revealed doctrines, unless we employ our reason
to ascertain what they are ; and there is surely
at least as much presumption in measuring every
thing by our own feelings, fancies, and prejudices,
as by our own reasonings.

28 Ou the love of Truth. [essay i.
(4.) Lastly, another objection sometimes
brought, not so much against the pursuit, as
against the propagation of truth, is, that the
minds of many men are incapable of rightly
apprehending it; that the attempt to teach
some truths to such hearers as are not qualified
for receiving them, and to remove some errors"
which they are not ripe for perceiving to be such,
would only excite their disgust towards every
thing they might hear from such instructors ; or
that some might assent to what they heard,
while they put the most mischievously false inter
pretation upon it; or, lastly, that they might
raisapply even what they had rightly understood :
as persons ignorant of medicine often do mischief
by administering, without judgment, some power
ful remedy, whose efficacy they have witnessed.
Even thus, it may be said, will the unlearned,
when they have been taught to reject some long-
established error, proceed, when their minds
are once unsettled, to reject well-grounded
doctrines also ; and will apply the arguments
by which they have been convinced in one
case, to another, perhaps very different, (though
they are incapable of understanding that

SECT. 3.] On the love of Truth. 29
difference,) so as to produce the most erroneous
results. Accordingly, it is urged, our Lord himself and
his Apostles abstained from teaching every thing
at once to their hearers, because they "were not
as yet able to bear them :" and even so important
a doctrine as the extension of the Gospel to the
Gentile world, was not fully made known to the
Apostles themselves, for several years after they
had received their commission.
All this is, in a certain sense, true ; and as far
as it is true, is no contradiction of the principle
I have laid down, but an application of it. For
to teach any thing which, though in itself true,
will inevitably be misunderstood by the hearers,
is in reality to propagate not truth, but error ;
and if our teaching has in any case a necessary
tendency to lead a certain class of hearers into
such mistakes on other points as we have no
power to guard against, we are not enhghtening,
but leading them into darkness. If we were to
suppose a case (to resort to an illustration I have
elsewhere employed') of our informing a rustic
' See Appendix to Archbishop King's Discourse on Pre
destination, No. I.

30 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
that the sun stands still, while, for some reason
or other, we had no means of teaching him that
the earth turns round, he would evidently be
more perplexed than instructed, and would be
more than ever at a loss to understand the alter
nations of day and night.
To shew that what has here been said is not
a statement framed for the occasion, in order to
meet objections, I will take the liberty of citing
a passage to the same purpose from my Bampton
Lectures, published in 1822. — " Persons of in
ferior powers and attainments may be led, not to
knowledge, but to error, by hastily proposing
to them such statements and explanations as
surpass their capacity : though they may be in
telligible and instructive to the abler and more
advanced. No vain clamours, therefore, about
deceiving the people, — no groundless charges of
keeping the vulgar in ignorance, and preaching
a different gospel to different persons, should
deter us from following at once the dictates of
sound sense, and the example of St. Paul ; or
induce us so to perplex and confuse ' those who
are weak in the faith,' as really to incur the
blame of deceiving them, for the sake of avoiding

sect. 3.] On tlie love of Truth. 31
the appearance of it. For it should be remem
bered that, practically speaking, all truth is
relative : that which may be to one man a true
statement of any doctrine, may be, in effect, false
to another, ifit be such as cannot but lead him
to form false notions ; and that which gives him,
if not a perfectly correct notion of things as they
are, yet the nearest to this that he is capable of,
may be regarded as, to him, true.'"^
If then, on these principles, we withhold for
a time some part of the Truth from those who are
not yet able to bear it, — if we add " line upon
line, and precept upon precept ; here a little, and
there a little," — striving gradually to qualify the
learner for a more full communication ; — if we
labour patiently to wear away prejudices by little
and little, when the attempt to eradicate them
abruptly would be unsuccessful, or pernicious, —
we are pursuing that method of inculcating truth
which is sanctioned by Christ and his Apostles.
But if we make the ignorance, weakness, or pre
judice of men a plea for suppressing or disguising
truth, or for conniving at error, without labouring
¦^ Lect. IV. pp. 129, 130. 3d Edit.

32 On the love of Truth. [essay i,
at the same time to remove those obstacles ;—
if we plead that they are not yet ripe for this
or that doctrine, and expect them to become ripe,
like the fruits of the earth, by mere waiting ; —
if we are content to leave them permanently
under the influence of delusion, — to postpone,
sine die, as the phrase is, the communication of
religious truths, — to wait indefinitely iox some un
foreseen favourable conjuncture which we make
no exertions to bring about,— we are proceeding
in direct contradiction to the spirit of the Gospel,
and the example of its Author. " I have yet
many things," said He, " to say unto you, but
ye cannot bear them now;" but He did, by his
Spirit, gradually impart this knowledge to them
afterwards ; not to some subsequent generation,
but to those very same individuals. " I have fed
you with milk and not with meat," says St. Paul,
" for ye were not able to bear it ; neither yet are
ye able ;" he evidently imphes a hope that they
{i. e. not some future generation, but those very
individuals) will be able to bear it : nay, he is
evidently reproaching them for not being already
better quahfied for the reception of divine
Truth. Indeed the very similitude of babes, of

sect. 4.J On the love of Truth. 33
itself draws our attention, our hopes, and our
endeavours, towards a progressive growth into
manhood.

§ 4. When, however, we have raade up our
minds as to the importance of seeking in every
case for truth, with an unprejudiced mind, the
greatest difficulty still remains ; which arises
from the confidence we are apt to feel that we
have already done this, and have sought for
truth with success. For every one must of
course be convinced of the truth of his own
opinion, if it be properly called his opinion ; and
yet the variety of men's opinions furnishes a proof
how many must be mistaken. If any one then
would guard against mistake as far as his intel
lectual faculties will allow, he must make it, not
the second, but the first question in each case,
"Is this true?" It is not enough to believe
what you maintain ; you must maintain what you
believe ; and maintain it because you beheve it ;
and that, on the most careful and impartial
review of the evidence on both sides. For any
one may bring himself to believe almost any
thing that he is inchned to believe, and thinks it

34 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
becoming or expedient to maintain.' It makes
all the difference, therefore, whether we begin or
end with the inquiry as to the truth of our doc
trines. To express the same maxim in other
words, it is one thing to wish to have Truth on
our side, and another thing to wish sincerely to
be on the side of Truth. There is no genuine
love of truth implied in the former. Truth is
a powerful auxiliary, such as every one wishes to
have on his side ; every one is rejoiced to find,
and therefore often succeeds in convincing him
self, that the principles he is already disposed to
adopt, — the notions he is inclined to defend, may
be maintained as true. A determination to
" obey the Truth," and to follow wherever she
may lead, is not so common. In this consists
the genuine love of truth; and this can be
realized in practice only by postponing all other
questions to that which ought ever to come fore
most, « What is the Truth ?" The minds of most
1 Some persons accordingly who describe themselves — in
one sense, correctly — as " following the dictates of con
science," are doing so only in the same sense in which a
person who is driving in a carriage may be said to follow
his horses, which go in whatever direction he guides them.

SECT. 4.j On the love of Truth. 35
men are pre-occupied by some feeling or other
which influences their judgment, either on the
side of truth or of error, as it may happen,
and enlists their learning and ability on the side,
whatever it may be, which they are predisposed
to adopt.
(1.) One ofthe most common of these feel
ings is an aversion to doubt ; — a dislike of having
the judgment kept in suspense; which, com
bined with indolence in investigation, induces
the great mass of mankind to make up their
minds on a variety of points, almost according
to the first? suggestion that is offered. As the
illustrious Greek historian expresses it, in lan
guage which will hardly admit of an adequate
translation, " the generality of mankind are so
averse to the labour of investigating truth,
that they are willing rather to adopt any state
ment that is ready-prepared for their accept
ance."" But he who would cultivate an habitual
devotion to Truth, must be solicitous in the first
place to avoid error ; and consequently must
™ 'AraXaiVwpOE rote ttoWoTc v ^rirriaiQ rfjs aXrideiae, koi iiri
ra 'eToifia fidWov Tpiitovrai.
d2

36 On the love qf Truth. [essay i.
in all cases prefer doubt to the reception of false
hood, or to the admission of any conclusion on
insufficient evidence. One who has an aversion
to doubt, and is anxious to make up his mind,
and to come to some conclusion on every ques
tion that is discussed, must be content to rest
many of his opinions on very slight grounds;
since no one individual is competent to inves
tigate fully all disputable points. Such a one,
therefore, is no lover of truth ; nor is in the
right way to attain it on any point. He may
more reasonably hope this, who, though he may
on many points perceive some (and* perhaps a
great) preponderance of probability on this or
that side, is contented to come to a decisive con
clusion only on those few which he has been
enabled thoroughly to investigate."
The fault I have been speaking of, is one
which men are the less likely to detect in them
selves, from this circumstance; that in many
practical cases it is necessary to come to some
decision speedily, even though we may not have
before us the fullest evidence that we could
desire, or even that we might hope, were more
" Errors of Romanism, chap. iv. § 8.

SECT. 4.3 On the love of Truth, 37
time allowed us, to obtain. The Physician may
be compelled to prescribe, or the General to
give his orders, immediately, and without waiting
to examine all the reasons on both sides ; because
delay would be as pernicious as mistake. In
cases of this kind, the utmost we can do is to
make up our minds according to the best reasons
that occur; and though we are not called on,
even then, to come to any certain conclusion in
our own minds, if there are no grounds for it ;
yet we must act as if we were certain. If, in a
journey, we have no means of knowing certainly
which of two or three roads will lead us aright,
we must yet choose one, because we are certain
we cannot reach the journey's end by standing
still. So also, if we are in doubt whether thieves
will come or not, we bar the door, as if we
were certain they would ; because to neglect this,
would be to stake all on the event of their not
coming. In like manner, he who has doubts
about the truth of Christianity, is bound in pru
dence to endeavour to act as if it were true.
For in these, and many other cases of practice,
" not to decide, is to decide." And the habit is
often in this manner acquired, of forming our

38 On the love of Truth, [essay i.
opinions as hastily as our practical decisions;
and that too, even in cases where no immediate
step is necessarily to be taken — no danger, equal
to the danger of error, to be incurred by remain
ing in suspense."
(2.) To that dislike of doubt which has been
mentioned as an obstacle to the cultivation of an
habitual love of Truth, many others may be
added which augment the difficulty. In many
it is the desire of originality, heightened some
times into the love of paradox, that pre-occupies
the mind. They are zealous for Truth, provided
it be some truth, brought to light by themselves.
There are some accordingly, who have been
right where prevailing opinions are erroneous ;
and erroneous, where the rest of the world think
rightly. And such persons often satisfy them
selves that they are guarded against this excess,
by the severity of their judgments on their
neighbour's originality, — by unsparing rejection
of every paradox, and every novelty, proceeding
from another. A crude theory or opinion, means,
in their language, one which (being new) has not
first occurred to themselves.
" Essay on the " Omission of Creeds, &c. in Scripture," § 9.

SECT. 4.] On the love of Truth. 39
(3.) Others again, and they are more nume
rous, are unduly biassed by an excessive respect
for venerated authority; — by an undue regard for
any belief that is ancient, — that is established, —
that has been maintained by eminent men : they
are overpowered in short by the " argumentum
ad verecundiam." I mean not, of course, that
the judgment of able men, and that of nume
rous independent authorities, furnishes no valid
argument; only, that it should not supersede
argument ; — that every other description of evi
dence should be called in ; — and that we should
not think ourselves bound to adopt an opinion
merely because it has been held by many before
us.'' And some are so biassed by authority,
that they not only admit carelessly as true what
they have not examined, but even tolerate a
considerable admixture of what they themselves
perceive to be untrue : " Errare malo cum
Platone, quam cum istis vera sentire," implies
no uncommon kind of feeling. And besides, any
errors which have long and extensively prevailed,
are by many regarded as of no great practical
consequence ; because, they think, if they had
p Errors of Romanism, chap. iv. § 8.

40 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
led to any ill result, it would have been long
ago manifest. This is indeed by no means uni
versally the case ; for many doctrinal errors do
lead to practical evils which are not referred,
even by those who perceive them, to the causes
whence they sprung. Protestants, for instance,
perceive the immoral effects which naturally
spring, in popish countries, from the doctrines
of purgatory, indulgences, image-worship, &c. ;
but a sincere Romanist, though he cannot but
perceive the existence of many of these im
moralities, is usually altogether blind to their
connexion with those causes. And the Pro
testant who wonders at this blindness, is perhaps
himself equally blind in some similar case. But
though, as has been said, the alleged harmless-
ness of long-established errors is in general very
rashly inferred, still it commonly is inferred ;
and there are not a few who have more dread of
any thing that savours of novelty, even when
they perceive nothing objectionable in it, than
of what is generally received, even when they
know it to be unsound. And hence, he is the
raost likely to be, by such persons, accounted a
safe man, not whose views are on the whole the

SECT. 4.] On the love qf Truth. 41
most reasonable, but who is free from all errors,
except vulgar errors.
The two faults which have just been noticed,
that is, a certain degree of each, are not un-
frequently combined. The hasty adoption of
striking novelties on some occasions, is not
incompatible with a blind adherence to the re
ceived doctrine on others. All men have been
told that wisdom consists in preserving a middle
course between opposite extremes ; and the
weak, the uncandid, and the unthinking, often
congratulate themselves on having attained this
happy medium, by the mimic wisdom of sliding
alternately into each extrerae. True wisdom
would tell us not to receive one opinion because
it is old, and another because it is new; but to
receive and reject none on either ground, and to
inquire sedulously, in each case, what is true.
(4.) I have elsewhere noticed a kind of false
humility, by aiming at which some are drawn
aside from the pursuit of truth. " The pride of
human reason" is a phrase very much in the
mouth of some persons, who seem to think they
are effectually humbhng themselves by an ex
cessive distrust of all exercise of the intellect.

42 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
while they resign themselves freely to the guid
ance of what they call the heart ; that is, their
prejudices, passions, inclinations, and fancies.
But the feelings are as much a part of man's
constitution as his reason ; every part of our
nature will equally lead us wrong, if operating
uncontrolled. If a man employs his reason, not
in ascertaining what God has revealed in Scrip
ture, but in conjecturing what might be, or
ought to be, the divine dispensations, he is
employing his reason wrongly, and will err ac
cordingly. But this is not the only source of
error. He who, to avoid this, gives up the use
of his reason, and believes or disbelieves, adopts
or rejects, according to what suits his feelings,
taste, will, and fancy, is no less an idolater of
himself i\\ax\ the other; his feelings, &c. being a
part of himself, no less than his reason. We
may, if we please, call the one of these a
" Rationalist," and the other an " Irrationalist ;"
but there is as much of the pride of self-idolatry
in the one as in the other. The Greeks and
Romans were indeed wretched idolaters, in their
adoration of the beautiful statues of Jupiter and
Minerva ; but the Egyptians, who adored those

SECT. 4.J On the love of Truth. 43
of an ox and a hawk, were not the less idol
aters. The Jews, relying on the decision of
learned rabbis, and the Pythagorean, who yielded
implicit reverence to the dictates of the sage,
did not more exalt man into an oracle, in the
place of God, than the Mussulmans, who pay a
like reverence to idiots and madmen. Each
part of our nature should be duly controlled,
and kept within its own proper province ; and
the whole "brought into subjection to Christ,"
and dedicated to Him. But there is no real
Christian huraility — though there be debase
ment — in renouncing the exercise of human
reason, to follow the dictates of human feeling.
The apostle's precept is, " in malice be ye chil
dren ; but in understanding be ye men."
The error I have been adverting to is worthy
of notice, only from the plausibility it derives
from the authority of some persons who really
do possess cultivated intellectual powers ; and
therefore, when they declaim on the pride of
human reason, are understood not to be dispa
raging an advantage of which they are destitute.
They appear voluntarily divesting themselves of
what many would feel a pride in ; and thus

44 On the love of Truth, [essay i.
often conceal from others, as well as frora them
selves, the spiritual pride with which they not
only venerate their own feehngs and prejudices,
but even load with anathemas all who presume
to dissent from them. It is a prostration, not of
man's self before God, but of one part of himself
before another. This kind of humiliation is like
the idolatry of the Israelites in the wilderness,
" The people stripped themselves of their golden
ornaments that were upon them, and cast them
into the fire ; and there came forth this calf."'
We ought to remember that the disciples were
led by the dictates of a sound understanding to
say, " No man can do these miracles that thou
doest, except God be with him :" and thence,
to believe and trust and obey Jesus implicitly :
but that Peter was led by his heart (i. e. his in
clinations and prejudices) to say, " Be it far
from thee Lord ! there shall no such thing hap
pen unto thee."
(5.) The greatest, however, of all the obstacles
to the habit of following truth, is, the tendency
to look in the first instance to the expedient.
Expediency does not, in reahty, stand opposed
¦5 Note to Charge of 1836.

SECT. 4.] On the love of Truth. 45
to Truth, except when made its rival for pre
cedence ; but while the genuine lover of truth
always regards that as the only sure road to
the expedient, the generahty of men look out
first for what is expedient, and are contented if
they can afterwards reconcile that (which, with a
biassed mind, they are very likely to accomplish)
with a conviction of truth. And this is the sin
which most easily besets those who are engaged
in the instruction of others ; and it besets them
the more easily, inasmuch as the consciousness
of falsehood, even if it exist in the outset, will
very soon wear away. He who does not begin
by preaching what he thoroughly beheves, will
speedily end by believing what he preaches.
His habit of discriminating the true from the
false, — the well-established from the doubtful, —
will soon decay for want of assiduous exercise ;
and thus inured to the practice of dispensing
with complete sincerity for the sake of supposed
utility, and accustomed to support true conclu
sions by any premises that offer, he will soon
lose, through this faulty practice, even the power
of distinguishing what conclusions are true.'
¦^ Errors of Romanism, chap. iii. § 6.

46 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
§ 5. The teraptations to this fault are so great,
the occurrence of it so frequent, and the mischief
of it so incalculable, that I cannot, perhaps,
better close these remarks, than by classing,
under a few comprehensive heads, the cautions
to be observed in avoiding it.
(1.) First, then, one who would cherish in
himself an attachment to truth, must never allow
hiraself either to advance any argument, or to
admit and acquiesce in any when advanced by
another, which he knows or suspects to be un
sound or fallacious ; however true the conclusion
may be to which it leads, — however convincing
the argument may be to those it is addressed to,
— and however important it may be that they
should be convinced. It springs from, and it
will foster and increase a want of veneration for
truth ; it is an affront put on " the Spirit of
Truth ;" it is a hiring of the idolatrous Syrians
to fight the battles of the Lord God of Israel.
And it is on this ground that we should adhere
to the most scrupulous fairness of statement and
arguraent. He who believes that sophistry will
always in the end prove injurious to the cause
supported by it, is probably right in that belief;

SECT. 5.] On the love of Truth. 47
but if it be for that reason that he abstains
from it, — if he avoid fallacy, wholly, or partly,
through fear of detection; it is plain he is no
sincere votary of truth.
(2.) On the same principle, we are bound
never to countenance any erroneous opinion,
however seemingly beneficial in its results, — to
connive at no salutary delusion (as it may' ap
pear,) but to open the eyes (when opportunity
offers, and in proportion as it offers) of those
we are instructing, to any mistake they may
labour under ; though it may be one which leads
them ultimately to a true result, and to one
of which apparently they might otherwise fail.
The temptation accordingly to depart from this
principle is sometimes excessively strong ; be
cause it will often be the case that men will be
in some danger, in parting with a long-admitted
error, of abandoning, at the same time, some
truth they have been accustomed to connect
with it. Accordingly, I have heard censure
passed on the endeavours to enlighten the Ro
man Catholics, on the ground that many of them
had become atheists, and many, the wildest of
^ See Errors of Romanism, chap. iii. § 3.

48 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
fanatics. That this should have been in some
instances the case, is highly probable ; it is a
natural result of the pernicious effects on the
mind, of any system of blind uninquiring ac
quiescence : such a system is an Evil Spirit,
which we must expect will cruelly rend and
mangle the patient as it comes out of him, and
will leave him half-dead at its departure.
Again : the belief in the plenary inspiration of
Scripture, — its being properly and literally the
" Word of God," merely uttered, or committed
to writing by the sacred penmen, in the very
words supernaturally dictated to them, and the
consequent belief in its complete and universal
infallibihty, not only on religious, but also on
historical and philosophical points, — these notions
which prevail among a large portion of Chris
tians, are probably encouraged or , connived at
by very many of those who do not, or at least
did not originally, in their own hearts, entertain
any such belief. But they dread " the unsettling
of men's minds ;" they fear that they would be
unable to distinguish what is, and what is not,
matter of inspiration ; and, consequently, that
their reverence for Scripture and for religion

sect. 5.J On the love of Truth. 49
altogether would be totally destroyed ; while, on
the other hand, the error, they urge, is very
harmless ; leading to no practical evil, but rather
to piety of life.
^ On a like principle I have known some pious
persons object to any alteration of those passages
of our (in general excellent) version ofthe Bible,
in which they admit that our translators have
mistaken the sense of the original. It has a
tendency, they think, to unsettle the minds of
the vulgar ; who had better be left to receive
the Bible, i. e. our authorized version of it, as
the Word of God, without any suspicion of the
possibility of error in any passage they read ;
since if once (it is urged) they doubt the infalli
bility of our translators, they may go on to
doubt whether this, and that, or any passage
of Scripture may not be mistranslated ; till at
length the Bible will be, to them, no revelation
at all.
This procedure is of a piece with that of the
Church of Rome in pronouncing the infallibility
of the Vulgate version : a step which proved a
convenience for the moment, and has placed
them in a dilemma ever since ; either the

50 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
admission, or the denial, of any error in th'e
Vulgate, being equally dangerous to the Church's
claim of infallibihty. The inexpediency, in the
end, of our proceeding on such a principle in
respect of our translation, is to me very clear ;
but I despair of explaining it to the satisfaction
of any one who chooses to try the question on
that ground. To any one who is resolved to
follow honesty for its own sake, it may easily be
made to appear in this case, that it is the best
policy also.
And, doubtless, such feehngs as I have been
alluding to had a share in inducing the Roman
Catholics to retain the Apocrypha in their Bible.
Many of the learned among them must surely
have known, that these books have no title to be
considered as part of the Holy Scriptures ; " but
they are on the whole," they may have thought,
" rather edifying than hurtful ; and to reject them
might shake men's faith in the whole of Scripture."
The same reasoning probably operates with many
of them, to induce them to maintain the infalli
bility of the Church, — the authority of their
Traditions, &c. Indeed, the fault I have been
speaking of is of the very essence of a system of

sect. 5.] On the love of Truth. Bl
" pious frauds." Would that Protestants did not
so readily flatter themselves, that their separation
from the Church of Rome exempts them from all
danger of errors like hers !
There is a strong temptation again to foster
or connive at the popular error of expecting
under the Christian dispensation those temporal
rewards and punishments which form no part of
the system ; a mistake which no doubt has often
produced partial good results, and which there
will often be, and oftener appear to be, danger
in removing.^ Of the same character is the belief
that the moral precepts of the Levitical law are
binding on Christians ; and that the observance
of the Lord's day is a duty to which they are
bound by the fourth commandment.'' Though
the desired conclusions may in these and similar
cases be reached by the paths of truth, there
will be an apparent, and sometimes a real

r See " Discourse on National Blessings and Judgments."
^ Of course, I am not at present alluding to those who,
after a fliU and candid examination, are themselves convinced
of this ; — whose sincere and deliberate belief is, that the
fourth commandment does extend to Christians, but that it
is sufficiently obeyed by the observance of the first day of the
e2

52 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
danger that those who have been long used to
act rightly on erroneous principles, may fail of
those conclusions, when undeceived. In such
cases it requires a thorough love of truth, and a
firm rehance on divine support, to adhere steadily
to the straight course.
(3.) A like danger wiU often be our appointed
trial in the converse case also ; — in firmly re
solving to suppress no clearly-revealed gospel-
truth, through apprehension of ill consequences.
Then only can we be "pure from the blood of
all men," if we " have not shunned to set before
them a// the counsel of God." He did indeed.
Himself, think fit to hide for many ages, under
the veil of the Levitical law, the coming of the
Messiah's kingdom ; and it is but a small part
probably of the great scheme of redemption that
He has as yet imparted to us ; but He has not
authorized JMan to suppress any part of what
He has revealed ; and it is an impious pre-
week instead of the seventh ; or that the precise directions of
an express command of Scripture, which is admitted to be
binding on us, may allowably be altered by the traditions of
the Church. Though I cannot but regard such views as
erroneous, the error does not belong to the class now under
discussion. See " Thoughts on the Sabbath."

sect. 5.] On the love of Truth. 53
sumption even to inquire into the expediency
of such a procedure.
(4.) Lastly, as we must not dare to withhold
or disguise revealed religious truth, so, we must
dread the progress of no other truth. We must
not imitate the bigoted Hierarchy who im
prisoned Galileo ; and step forward, Bible in
hand, (like the profane Israelites carrying the
Ark of God into the field of battle) to check
the inquiries of the Geologist, the Astronomer,
or the Political-economist, from an apprehension
that the cause of religion can be endangered by
them.' Any theory on whatever subject, that is
really sound, can never be inimical to a religion
founded on truth ; and any that is unsound may
be refuted by arguments drawn from observation
and experiment, without calling in the aid of
revelation. If we give way to a dread of danger,
from the inculcation of any scriptural doctrine,
or from the progress of physical or moral science,
we manifest a want of faith in God's power, or
in his will, to maintain his own cause. That we
shall indeed best further his cause by fearless
perseverance in an open and straight course, I
' See First Lecture on Political Economy.

54 On the love qf Truth. [essay i.
ara firraly persuaded ; but it is not only when we
perceive the mischiefs of falsehood and disguise,
and the beneficial tendency of fairness and can
dour, that we are to be followers of truth : the
trial of our faith is, when we cannot perceive
this : and the part of a lover of truth is to follow
her at all seeming hazards, after the example of
Him who " came into the world that He might
bear witness to the Truth."
No one, in fact, is capable of fully appreciating
the ultimate expediency of a devoted adherence
to truth in all that relates to the Christian
religion, except the Divine Author of it ; because
He alone comprehends the whole of that vast
and imperfectly-revealed scheme of Providence ;
and alone can see the inmost recesses of the
human heart; and alone can foresee and judge
of the remotest consequences of huraan actions.
And much ofthe good policy of the course I have
been recommending, which can be perceived by
those of more cultivated minds, is beyond the
comprehension of a great majority of mankind.
The expediency of truth can be estimated by
few; but its intrinsic loveliness, by all. None
are precluded, by want of intellectual power

sect. 5.] On the love of Truth. 55
and culture, from that undoubting faith and firm
rehance on their great Master, which will lead
them to aim at truth, out of veneration to Him ;
• — to reject disguise, and sophistry, and equivoca
tion, at once, as hateful to Him, without stopping
to inquire what further evil they raay lead to.
And it is no more than needful that those
who act thus, should have a more than common
assurance of his approbation ; for they will often
fail of that of their fellow-men. Besides being
occasionally censured as rash and mischievous,
they will constantly find a want of sympathy in
those (and they, I fear, are a great majority)
whose character is, in this point, opposite. They
may be valued indeed by many persons for other
good qualities ; but that zealous thorough-going
love of truth which I have been describing, is
very seldom admired, or liked, or indeed under
stood, except by those who possess it. Courage,
liberahty, activity, &c. are often highly prized
by those who do not possess them in any great
degree; but the quality I am speaking of, is,
by those deficient in it, either not perceived
where it exists, or perceived only as an excess
and extravagance.

56 On the love of Truth. [essay i.
" There is nothing covered," however, " that
shall not be revealed ; nor hid, that shall not be
known." And the genuine and fearless lover of
truth, who has sought, not the praise of men,
but the praise of God " who seeth in se
cret," shall be " sanctified through his Truth"
here, and by Him " be rewarded openly" here
after.

ESSAY II.

ON THE difficulties AND THE VALUE OF THE
WRITINGS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL GENERALLY.

§ 1. There appears to be a very remarkable
analogy between the treatment to which Paul
was himself exposed during his personal rainistry
on earth, and that which his works have
met with since. In both he stands distin
guished in many points among the preachers
of the Gospel ; and it is possible that this dis
tinction may in sorae way be connected with
the peculiar manner in which he became one of
that number.
The same Apostle, who had been originally so
bitter a persecutor of the Christians, was ex
posed, after his conversion, to a greater variety
of afflictions in the gospel-cause than any of the

58 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
others. He not only had to endure a greater
amount of persecution than any of the rest from
unbelievers, but was also peculiarly harassed by
vexatious opposition, and mortifications of every
kind from his Christian brethren. He was not
only " in labours more abundant," — he not only
endured a double portion of imprisonments,
scourgings, stoning, perils of every kind from
the eneraies of tbe Gospel, being specially hated
by the Jews on account of his being the Apostle
of the Gentiles, the overthrower of the proud
distinctions of Israel " after the flesh ;" but he
was also troubled by the perversity of his own
converts ; especially such of them as were cor
rupted by false teachers, who endeavoured to
bring them into subjection to the Mosaic law,
and laboured to undervalue his claims as a true
Apostle, and to rival him in the estimation of
his own churches.
It is not unlikely that his Lord designed thus
to place him foremost in the fight, — thus to
assign to him, both the most hazardous, and
also the most harassing and distressing offices
in the Christian ministry, — on account of his
having once been a blasphemer and persecutor.

SECT. l.J the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 59
Not as a punishment, — ^or again that he might
atone and make compensation for his former sin
(which no man can do) ; but that he might have
an opportunity of completely retracing his steps,
and of feeling that he did so ; — that he might
display a zeal, and firraness, and patience, and
perseverance, above all the rest, in the cause
which he had once oppressed; — that by having
his own injurious treatment of Christians con
tinually brought to his mind by what he himself
endured, he might the more deeply and deli
berately hurable himself before God for it; —
that he might find room to exercise, in his
dealings with unbelievers, all that full know
ledge of the perverse prejudices of the human
mind, with which his own memory would furnish
him, by reflecting on his own case ; — and finally,
that both he and the other Apostles might feel
that he was placed fully on a level with thera,
notwithstanding his former opposition to the
cause ; by enduring and accomplishing in it more
than all the rest, by suffering more than he had
ever inflicted, — by forwarding the cause of Truth
more than he had ever hindered it, — and by
bearing with him this pledge that God had fully

60 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
pardoned him— the pledge of his being counted
worthy not only to suffer in his Master's cause,
but to suffer more than any other, and with
greater effect. He who had been accessary to
the stoning of Stephen, himself, alone of the
Apostles, as far as we know, suffered stoning ;
he who had been so zealous in behalf of the law
of Moses, was destined to encounter not only
unbelieving Jews, but those Christians also who
laboured to corrupt Christianity by mixing the
law of Moses with it ; he who had been, as he
expresses it, " exceedingly mad against the dis
ciples, and persecuted them even unto strange
cities," was himself driven from city to city by
enemies whose fury knew no bounds, both of his
own countrymen, and of the senseless rabble of
idolaters, who assailed him like " wild beasts, at
Ephesus." He who had misinterpreted the
ancient prophecies respecting the Messiah, and
despised his disciples, had to endure not only
the contradiction and derision of unbelievers,
but also the wilfulness and perversity of
" false brethren," who misrepresented and dis
torted the doctrines he hiraself taught, and of
arrogant rivals who strove to bring him into

SECT. 1.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 61
disrepute with those who had learnt the faith
from him."
In all these struggles he was " more than con
queror, through Christ that strengthened" him.
Trusting that his Master would enable him to
go through the work to which he had been ap
pointed, and would turn even the malice and
perversity of men to " the furtherance of the
Gospel," he " rejoiced that Christ was preached,"
even when it was " through envy and strife," by
those "who thought to add affliction" to the
'^ " Here then we have a man of liberal attainments, and in
other points of sound judgment, who had addicted his life to
the service of the gospel. We see him, in the prosecution of
his purpose, travelling from country to country, enduring every
species of hardship, encountering every extremity of danger,
assaulted by the populace, punished by the magistrates,
scourged, beat, stoned, left for dead ; expecting, wherever he
came, a renewal of the same treatment, and the same dangers,
yet, when driven from one city, preaching in the next ; spending
his whole time in the employment, sacrificing to it his pleasures,
his ease, his safety : persisting in this course to old age,
unaltered by the experience of perverseness, ingratitude, pre
judice, desertion ; unsubdued by anxiety, want, labour, perse
cutions ; unwearied by long confinement, undismayed by the
prospect of death. Such was St. Paul. We have his letters
in our hands ; we have also a history purporting to be written
by one of his fellow-travellers, and appearing, by a comparison

62 On the importance qf studying [essay ii.
Apostle's bonds ; he exulted in that very bondage,
because it was made the means of introducing
him to the notice of some among the Romans
to whom he raight not otherwise have gained
access (Phil. i. 12 — 18); and at Philippi, when
cruelly scourged and imprisoned untried, by
the Roman magistrates, he joyfully trusted that
Christ would make even this a means of for
warding his cause ; which was done in the
consequent conversion of the jailor and his

vidth these letters, certainly to have been written by some
person well acquainted with the transactions of his life." . . . .
"We also find him positively, and in appropriated terms,
asserting that he himself worked miracles, strictly and properly
so called, in support of the mission which he executed ; the
history, meanwhile, recording various passages ofhis ministry,
which come up to the extent of this assertion. The question
is, whether falsehood was ever attested by evidence like this.
Falsehoods, we know, have found their way into reports, into
tradition, into books ; but is an example to be met with, of
a man voluntarily undertaking a life of want and pain, of
incessant fatigue, of continual peril ; submitting to the loss
of his home and country, to stripes and stoning, to tedious
imprisonment, and the constant expectation of a violent death,
for the sake of carrying about a story of what was false, and
of what, if false, he must have known to be so?" — Paley's
Horce Paulince, pp. 338, 339.

SECT. 1.] the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul. 63
family; the germ, probably, of the exemplary
church of the Philippians."
A like fate seems to attend the writings also
which this blessed apostle and martyr left behind
him. No part of the Scriptures of the New
Testament has been so unjustly neglected by
some Christians, and so much perverted by
others ; over and above the especial hatred of
them by infidels and by some descriptions of
'' The whole narrative of this transaction is particularly
affecting from the strong relief in which the incidents are set,
by the quiet simplicity of the language : " The magistrates rent
off their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they
had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison,
charging the jailor to keep them safely ; who, having received
such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their
feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed
and sang praises unto God : and the prisoners heard them. And
suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken : and immediately all the doors were
opened, and every one's bands were loosed. And the keeper of
the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors
open, he drew his sword and would have killed himself, sup
posing that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with
a loud voice, saying. Do thyself no harm : for we are all here.
Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling,
and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and
said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?" — Acts xvi. 22 — 30.

64 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
heretics. Still may Paul be said to stand, in his
works, as he did in person while on earth, in the
front of the battle ; to bear the chief brunt of
assailants from the enemies' side, and to be
treacherously stabbed by false friends on his own;
degraded and vilified by one class of heretics,
perverted and misinterpreted by another, and too
often raost unduly neglected by those who are
regarded as orthodox. And still do his works
stand, and will ever stand, as a mighty bulwark
of the true Christian faith. He, after having
hiraself " fought the good fight, and finished his
course," has left behind him a monument in his
works, whereby " he being dead yet speaketh ;"
a monument which his Master will guard (even
till that day when its author shall receive the
" crown of glory laid up for him") from being
overthrown by the assaults of enemies, and from
mouldering into decay through the negligence
of friends.
§ 2. In order to avoid being misunderstood
as to the sense in which this Apostle's writings
have been spoken of as a principal bulwark of
gospel-truth, and as to the censure passed on the

SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 65
comparative neglect they sometimes meet with,
I must entreat the reader's attention to some
considerations, which, though frequently over
looked in practice, are so obvious when once
fairly presented to the mind, that I fear it may
be thought trifiing to dwell on them.
Of all the ambiguities of language that have
ever confused men's thoughts, and thence led to
pernicious results in practice, (and unspeakable
is the mischief which has thus been done,) there
are few, perhaps, that has ever produced more
evil than the ambiguity of the word " Gospel."
The word, as is well known, signifies, according
to its etymology (as well as the Greek term of
which it is a translation), " good tidings ;" and
thence is applied especially to the joyful intelli
gence of salvation for fallen Man through Christ.
The same term has come to be applied, natu
rally enough, to each of the Histories which give
an account of the life of Him, the Author of that
salvation ; and thence men are frequently led to
seek exclusively, or principally, in those histories,
for an account of the doctrines of the Christian
religion : for where should they look, they may
say, for " 6^o5joeZ-truth," but in the " Gospels?"
F

66 On the importance qf studying [essay ii.
And yet it is plain, on a moment's refiection,
that whether they are right or wrong in such a
practice, this reason for it is no raore than a play
upon words : for no one really supposes that
when the Apostles went forth to preach the
Gospel, the meaning of that is, that they re
cited the histories composed by Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, which were not written till long
after ; or even that their teaching was confined
to the mere narrative of the things there recorded.
In the primary sense of the word Gospel, —
the "good-tidings of great joy to all people,"
which were first proclaimed [preached] by the
Heavenly Messengers to the shepherds, and
afterwards by Jesus and his disciples, — in this
sense, the writings of the Evangelists do contain
nearly the whole of the Gospel ; and (as has
been just remarked) derived from this their title.
Ours is an historical religion ; not merely con
nected with, but founded on, certain recorded
events ; — the Birth, Life, Death, and Resurrection
of the Saviour ; — the pouring out of his Spirit
on the disciples, &c. Strictly speaking, there
fore, the Gospel is the annunciation of what
God has done for Man. What man is to do on

SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 67
his part, — the means towards the end, — the
Christian faith and practice by which he must
attain to a share of the proffered blessings, —
these are properly Gos^e\- doctrine ; but by a
natural transition have come to be frequently
called, simply, the Gospel. It is not necessary
however to be curious about words any further
than is necessary to secure us against being
misled by them in respect of things. I am in
different whether the Apostohc Epistles are
called a part of the Gospel or not, provided it be
but admitted and carefully kept in mind, that
they are necessary to direct us how to attain
the blessings of the Gospel. An announcement
of the existence, and of the miraculous efficacy
of a Tree of Life, would be of no benefit to
those who were not instructed how to procure
and partake of its fruit.
But there is yet another and less obvious am
biguity in the same word : our Lord, while on
earth, was employed, together with his disciples,
we are told, in preaching "the Gospel of the
Kingdom ;" «". e. the good tidings that " the
kingdom of heaven (as He himself expressed it)
was at hand." And good tidings these certainly
f2

68 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
were, to the Jews and others who looked for the
Messiah's promised kingdom, (to whom alone
he preached) that this kingdom was just about
to be estabhshed. And since, therefore, Jesus
is spoken of as preaching the Gospel, many are
hence led to look to Ms discourses alone, or prin
cipally, as the storehouse of divine truth, to the
neglect of the other Sacred Writings. But the
Gospel which Jesus himself preached, was not
the samp thing with the Gospel which He sent
forth his Apostles to preach after his resurrec
tion. This may at the first glance appear a
paradox; but on a moment's consideration it
will seem rather a truism, that the preaching of
Jesus and that of the Apostles was not, and
could not be, the same ; though they were, each
the Gospel. I do not mean, of course, that they
were two different systems ; much less, at vari
ance with each other ; but the one was a part
only, and the other a whole ; or rather I should
say, a greater part of that stupendous whole
which is not to be entirely revealed to us here
on earth, — the stupendous mystery of man's re
demption. How, indeed, could our Lord, during
his abode on earth, preach fully that scheme of

SECT. 2.] the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul. 69
salvation, of which the key-stone had not been
laid, — even his meritorious sacrifice as an atone
ment for sin,— his resurrection from the dead,—
and ascension into glory, — when these events
had not taken place? He did indeed darkly
hint at these events, in his discourses to his dis
ciples (and to them alone) by way of prophecy ;
but we are told that " the saying was hid from
them, and they comprehended it not, till after
that Christ was risen from the dead ;" of course,
therefore, there was no reason, and no room,
for Him to enter into a full discussion of the
doctrines dependent on those events. He left
them to be enlightened in due time as to the true
nature of his kingdom by the gift which He kept
in store for them : " I have yet many things
to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth is come.
He shall guide you into all [the] truth." There
would have been no need of this promise, had
our Lord's own discourses contained a full ac
count of the Christian faith. But "the Gospel
of the Kingdom" which He preached was, that
the "kingdora of Heaven was at hand," not
that it was actually established ; which was the

70 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
Gospel preached by his Apostles, when Christ,
" having been made perfect through sufferings,"
had entered into his kingdom, — had " ascended
up on high, and led captive" the oppressor of
men, and had " received gifts" to bestow on
them. Our Lord's discourses, therefore, while
on earth, though they teach, of course, the truth,
do not teach, nor could have been meant to
teach, the whole truth, as afterwards revealed
to his disciples. They could not, indeed, even
consistently with truth, have contained the main
part of what the Apostles preached ; because
that was chiefly founded on events which had
not then taken place. What chance then can
they have of attaining true Christian knowledge,
who shut their eyes to such obvious conclusions
as these? who, under that idle plea, the mis
application of the maxim, that " the disciple is
not above his master," confine their attention
entirely to the discourses of Christ recorded in
the Four Gospels, as containing all necessary
truth ; and if any thing ip the other parts of the
Sacred Writings is forced upon their attention,
studiously explain it away, and limit its signi
fication at all hazards, so that it may not go one

SECT. 2.J the Writings of Ihe Ajiostle Paul. 71
step beyond what is clearly revealed in the works
of the Evangehsts? As if a man should, in
the culture of a fruit-tree, carefully destroy and
reject as a spurious excrescence, every part of
the fruit which was not fully developed in the
blossom that preceded it.
Even if Christ had in person pubhcly preached
after his resurrection, as well as his Apostles,
this plea, that " the disciple is not above his
master," would not have excused the insult
offered to Him in the person of his raessengers :
the insult, I mean, of making the authority He
gave them go for just nothing at all ; which it
does, if they are to be believed, just as far as
they coincide with what He himself uttered in
person, and no further ; since, thus far, any one
of us is to be believed. For the Apostles, who
were divinely commissioned by Christ hiraself,
either were inspired by -Him with his Spirit,
which " led them into all [the] truth,"" or they
" They were not inspired with a knowledge of all truth ;
being in many things left to act on their own judgment ; as
they expressly tell us. But what they were inspired with
was (as the Greek plainly intimates) " the knowledge of all
ihe truth ;" viz. that truth which they were commissioned

72 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
were not : if we say that they were not, we make
Him a liar, for giving them this commission and
this promise, as well as them, for preaching what
they did : if they were thus divinely authorized,
it must follow inevitably that what they said (I
mean in the teaching of the Christian religion)
was said by Him, and has exactly the same
authority as if He had uttered it with his own
lips. Even an earthly king expects that a mes
senger, sent by him with satisfactory credentials
and fiiU powers, should receive the same credit
for what he says as would be given to himself in
person ; and would regard it as an unpardonable
affront if the message so sent were rejected.
" He that heareth you" (said Christ to his
Apostles) " heareth rae ; and he that despiseth
you, despiseth me: and he that despiseth me,
despiseth Him that sent me."
But in truth, not only is the preaching of the
Apostles to be regarded as of divine authority,
and therefore not requiring confirmation from
to make known ; — the mysteries of the Christian religion, in
which Paul declares expressly he was instructed by the Lord
himself.

SECT. 2.] the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul. 73
our Lord's personal discourses, nor submitting to
limitation by them, but from the very nature of
the case, it is impossible that such a complete
coincidence should exist between them. I have
just above supposed the case of Jesus himself
preaching publicly after his resurrection, con
jointly with his disciples ; but we know that He
did not do this : He sent them forth to testify of
events, and to teach doctrines founded on events,
which had not taken place during his personal
ministry on earth. It is commonly supposed
indeed by ignorant Christians (ignorant, I mean,
of what they might learn from the Bible), that
Jesus Christ came into the world to teach a true
religion : but in fact. He came, chiefly, for a difr
ferent purpose. He did not come to make a
revelation, so much as to be the subject of a reve
lation. He was only so far the revealer and
teacher of the great doctrines of Christianity, as
you might call the sun and planets the dis
coverers of the Newtonian system of astronomy.
He accomplished what He left his Apostles to
testify and to explain ; He offered up himself on
the cross, that they raight teach the atoning
virtue of his sacrifice ; He rose frora the dead

74 On the importance qf studying [essay ii.
and ascended into heaven, that they might de
clare the great mystery of his divine and human
nature, and preach that faith in Him by which
his followers hope to be raised and to reign with
Him. The Christian faith is not merely to
believe what Christ taught, but to believe in Him.
As the promised Messiah, a man might believe
in Him while He was on earth ; but what the
Messiah should be, and that He should be a
Redeemer by his death, no one did or could
understand, till that great work was accom
plished; the true character of the redemption,
and of the faith by which we must partake of it,
and all the circumstances of the Messiah's spi
ritual kingdom (a kingdom which did not exist
during his ministry on earth) his Apostles them
selves could not collect, even after his departure,
from all his forraer discourses, till they had
received inspiration from on high, to enable
them to preach the true doctrines of the Gospel.
And when they did understand this Gospel, they
thought it necessary to give an explanation of it
in their discourses and in their epistles. Those,
therefore, who neglect their inspired preaching,
and wiU learn nothing of Christianity except

SECT. 2.] the Writings qf the Apostle Paul. 75
what they find in the discourses of Jesus, confi
dent that these alone contain the whole truth,
are wilfully preferring an imperfect to a more
complete revelation, and setting their own judg
ment above that of the Apostles. It is fright
ful to think how much they stake on this
their supposed superiority ; — what consequences
of their blind presumption they may have to
abide ; " professing themselves to be wise
they become fools ;" and as they despise the
teaching of the Holy Ghost who led the Apostles
"into all Truth," is it not to be feared that
if they persist in this their rejection of Him,
He will give them over to their own vain con
ceits ; and leave those who have turned aside
from the " living waters of the Spirit," to " hew
out for themselves broken cisterns that will hold
no water?"
The books, then, which we call the Four
Gospels, do not, it should always be remem
bered, contain a compendium of the Christian
Religion, but, chiefly, memoirs of the life and
preparatory teaching of its Founder ; who came
into the world not to make a revelation, so much
as to be the subject of a revelation ; — to

76 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
announce the glad tidings (gospel) of salvation
through Him, but not to give any full description
of the means by which we are to embrace that
salvation ; and who, at the close of his personal
ministry, tells his disciples, " I have yet many
things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now." Nor do the Evangehsts undertake the
task of teaching the Christian faith ; since they
wrote for the express use, not of unbelieving
Jews and idolaters, but of Christians, who had
heard the christian doctrines preached, and then
had been regularly instructed (catechised, as the
word is in the original) and examined, and,
finally, baptized into the faith. Christianity was
not (as many are apt to suppose) founded on
the Four Gospels, but, on the contrary, the Four
Gospels were founded on Christianity ; i. e. they
were written to meet the demand of Christians,
who were naturally anxious for something of a
regular account of the principal events from
which their faith was derived. " Forasmuch as
many have taken in hand to set forth in order, a
declaration of those things which are most cer
tainly believed among us .... it seemed good
to me also to write unto thee, in order, most

SECT. 2.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 77
excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know
the certainty of those things wherein thou hast
been instructed."
The book of the Acts of the Apostles contains
a history of the progress, but no detail of the
preaching, of Christianity. Many of the dis
courses mentioned as having been delivered, are
not themselves recorded : the object and design
of the work being (as in the case of the Four
Gospels) not to teach Christianity to its readers,
who were already Christians, but to give them a
history of its propagation.*
Our chief source, therefore, of instruction, as
to the doctrines of the Gospel, must be in the
apostolic epistles ; which cannot, indeed, be
expected to afford a regular systematic intro
duction to Christianity, — an orderly detail of the
first rudiments of faith, calculated for the instruc
tion of beginners entirely ignorant of it, since all
of them were written to those who were already
converts to Christianity ; but yet, from the va
riety of thp occasions on which they were
composed, and of the persons to whom they
d See Hinds's " History of the Rise and Early Progress of
Christianity." Part II. chap. 2.

78 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
were addressed, and from their being purposely
designed to convey admonition, instruction, and
exhortation as to christian doctrine and practice,
(which is not the case with any other part of the
Sacred Writings), the apostohc epistles do con
tain, though scattered irregularly here and there,
according to the several occasions, all the great
doctrines of the Gospel, as far as it has yet been
revealed to men ; explained, enforced, repeated,
illustrated, in an infinite variety of forms of ex
pression ; thus furnishing us with the means, by
a careful study of those precious remains, and
by a diligent coraparison of one passage with
another, of attaining sufficient knowledge of all
necessary truth, and of becoming " wise unto
salvation, through faith, which is in Christ
Jesus." ^
The most precious part of this treasure we
have from the pen of the Apostle Paul ; he

^ To the Scriptures therefore was assigned the office of
-proving, but to the Church, that of systematically teaching,
the Christian doctrines. [See Dr. Hawkins's exceUent little
work on Tradition.] This circujnstance seems to me to
afford a powerful evidence of Christianity. See Essay VI.
First Series.

SECT. 2.] the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul. 79
being the author of the far greater part of the
Epistles, (about five-sixths of the whole), and
also furnishing even a greater variety still of
instruction than in proportion to this amount,
on account of the variety of the times, and
circumstances, and occasions, which produced
them, and of the persons to whom they were
written : — individuals and entire churches ; Jews
and Gentiles ; converts of his own making, and
strangers to his person ; European and Asiatic ;
sound and zealous Christians, and the negligent
or misguided. The same faith is taught to all ;
the same duties enforced on all ; but various
points of faith and of practice are dwelt on in
each, according to the several occasions. This
very thing, however, — the variety of the circum
stances, the temporary and local allusions, and,
in short, the thorough, earnest, business-like
style of his letters, — cannot but increase the
difficulty, in some places, of ascertaining the
writer's meaning; and those who are too in
dolent to give themselves any trouble on the
subject, shelter themselves under the remark
of the Apostle Peter, that the Epistles of Paul
contain "things hard to be understood, which

80 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
they that are unlearned wrest to their own
destruction." Unlearned, i. e. not in systems of
human philosophy, but in the truths revealed in
the Bible. No doubt his writings do contain
"things hard to be understood," but that is a
reason why Christians should take the more
pains to understand them, and why those who
are commissioned by the chief Shepherd for
that purpose, should the more dihgently explain
thera to their flocks.
Nay, but his doctrines, it seeras, are not
only difficult, but dangerous also, and, there
fore, had better be kept out of sight, lest the
unlearned should not only fail to understand
them, but should " wrest them to their own
destruction." Then let us throw aside the
whole Bible at onee, and invent a safe religion
of our own. For hear but Peter's words : —
" which they that are unlearned and unstable
wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, to
their own destruction." So that if this infer
ence is to be drawn at all, frora the danger
to the unlearned of wresting doctrines to their
own destruction; — if to avoid the danger of
misinterpretation, we are to seal up the book

SECT. 2.] the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul 81
which contains thera, the book so sealed up
must be the Bible.
Dangerous indeed ! yes ; most good things
are dangerous ; and the more, in proportion to
their excellence ; to those " who are unlearned,
and unstable ;" i. e. who will not learn how to use
them aright, and who are unstable, — unsteady
in giving their attention to gain right know
ledge, and to apply it in practice. Meat and
drink are dangerous ; for what multitudes fall
a sacrifice to intemperance ! Shall we then re
solve to perish with famine, and let our children
starve around us, lest we and they should thus
wrest to our destruction the good gifts of God ?
Shall the pastors, who are commissioned to feed
Christ's flock, shut them out from the principal
pasture designed for their use, lest they should
stray beyond its bounds, or come to sorae harm
there ? What are Christian rainisters appointed
for, but to instruct the people in the Scrip
tures, — to explain to thera those Scriptures, —
and to warn them against the errors arising from
the wresting and perverting of God's word ? Ill
would they perform their office should they
dare to mutilate God's word, by leaving out
G

82 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
every thing that is " hard to be understood," to
save theraselves the trouble of interpreting it ; —
should they seek to preserve their hearers from
the danger attendant on the Gospel truths, by
omitting to "declare to thera all the counsel
of God."
And, after all, no such security as is sought
can ever be found; where there is true coin,
there will always be counterfeit in circulation : —
there is no truth in the world that has not sorae
error very rauch reserabling it : there is no
virtue but there is a corresponding vice that
apes its appearance : there is no right principle,
in Scripture or any where else, that may not
by the unlearned be " wrested to their own
destruction." Some will do this with the truths
of Scripture, in spite of all our care ; but there
is this difference ; that he who studies and leads
others to study the whole word of God, as his
inspired servants have left it, have at least good
reason to hope, that he and they, may, through
God's Spirit, attain truth without error ; whereas
he who confines hiraself to a part of the Scrip
tures, and that too, a part which (it is plain
frora what has been just said) cannot contain

SECT. 2.j the Writings qf the Apostle Paul. 83
the whole truth of the Gospel, and who wilfuhy
disregards the teaching of hira whose " Gospel
was not after raan ; neither received of raan,
nor taught, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ ;"
such an one is sure to be wrong, and to lead
others wrong if they are guided by him : and he
is fully answerable both for his own errors and
for theirs : he raakes the experiment at his own
peril ; and on his own head must be the in
evitable consequence of rejecting an acknow
ledged revelation of Jesus Christ.
And he raust also bear the blarae even of the
errors into which others raay lead his hearers.
If they chance to listen to sorae wild antinoraian
fanatic, who cites perpetually texts from Paul,
which they have never heard differently ex
plained, how can it be expected that they should
perceive and avoid the error ? They know that
Paul's writings are adraitted as canonical and
inspired; and they have not been taught that
his language will bear any other interpretation
than what they hear given ; and the silence of
their own pastor on the subject will have afforded
thera a presuraption that he can suggest no
iOther interpretation. And thus the wolf will
,g2

84 On the importance qf studying [essay ii.
scatter and devour the flock which their shep
herd has forsaken.
It is not, however, on the dangers to be
apprehended from such a procedure, and the
expediency of an opposite course, that I wish
principally to dwell. I would rather advert to
the principles laid down in the preceding Essay.
Supposing we were in any case quite sure^ that
no fanatical sectaries would arise to take advan
tage of our omission or neglect of this Apostle's
writings, should we then be justified in thus
guarding against apprehended evils by keeping
put of sight the instructions he was commis
sioned by his Master to deliver ? — in taking
such liberties with the Gospel as to modify and
fashion it according to our views, and virtually
to expunge from the record of God's revelations
what we chance to think unnecessary ? Have
we a right, in short, even to entertain the ques
tion concerning expediency, instead of consider
ing simply what is the Truth as declared by
* This is the remark, almost verbatim, of an eminent
divine (now occupying a high station in the church) in a
conversation with the author, on the subject of the present
Essay.

SECT. 3.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 85
divine inspiration, and resolving, at all events,
to follow the truth ?

§ 3. It is necessary to observe, however, that
there is a way of evading the force of all that has
been hitherto urged : — a plan which certainly
may be, and I fear in some instances has been,
resorted to, for nullifying in effect, without pro
fessing to oppose, every argument that has been
adduced. And it is this : to extol Paul's writings,
and exhort men to the dihgent study of them ;
urging at the same time (what no one can deny)
the importance of interpreting them rightly ; and
insisting on a preliminary course of study, without
which no one is even to enter on the perusal of
them ; and then to make this preparation con
sist in a thorough acquaintance with such a list
of books, as even those professionally devoted to
theological pursuits cannot be expected to master
without the assiduous labour of several years.
No plan could be devised more effectual (were it
generally adopted) for making Paul's epistles a
sealed book to all but about one in ten thousand
of the Christian world. For supposing even all
the Clergy, nay, even all candidates for ordina-

86 On the importance qf studying [essay ii,
tion, to have gone through this preparatory
course of study, the same could not be expected
of the laity, except a small portion of the educated
classes. And the benefits, whatever, they might
be, ofthis preparation, would, after all, be confined
to those few who had gone through it. They
indeed, if they were careful not even to open
these epistles tiU their minds were sufficiently
biassed by a great raass of human coraraentaries
and disquisitions, would doubtless be prepared to
understand them very differently from what they
would have done on another system ; (whether
better or worse is not now the question) but thdy
would not after all be qualified to expound thi&
writer to their flocks, nor authorized to recora-
raend the perusal of hira ; for these would be,
by the hypothesis, unfit to enter on the study
of his epistles, or to comprehend any exposition
of them. And if the principle were consistently
followed up, it would soon be remarked that
the mass of unlearned Christians are not duly
prepared for the thorough comprehension even
of the rest of Scripture; so that we should
speedily arrive at the very point so earnestly
contended for by the Roraanists against the

SECT. 3.] the Writings of the Apostle Paul. 87
Reformers ; viz. the inexpediency of putting
the Bible into the hands of the people, and the
necessity of leaving them to be instructed by
their pastors in whatever things these should
judge raost profitable for them, and level to
their capacities.
If these principles be correct, then, it is false
to say that the Christian Religion was designed,
or at least, is adapted, to be that of the mass of
mankind. Some, who say that it is so, (while
they ridicule the idea of instructing the lower
orders in the Evidences, and in the peculiar
Doctrines of the Gospel,) mean no raore than
this ; that it is possible for a clown to practise
honesty, teraperance, and other virtues which
Christianity inculcates. But it would be thought
strange to attribute an acquaintance with mecha
nics to savages, and to brutes, on the ground
that they employ the lever, — keep the centre of
gravity in the right situation, and accommodate
their movements to mechanical principles, of
which principles they know nothing. If Chris
tianity were designed for the People, it raust
have been designed that their motives should be
Christian faith and Christiaiv hope, and that they

88 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
should be able ^' to give a reason of the hope
that is in them."
Am I then contending, or did the Reformers
mean to contend, that either Paul's epistles, or
the rest of the Scriptures, can be as well under
stood by a clown or a child as by the most
learned theologian? Surely not. The highest
abilities improved by the most laborious study,
are not more than sufficient for the full com
prehension of the Sacred Books ; but, if on this
ground they are not to be opened by any who
are not so qualified, who will ever become thus
qualified? If a number of books be pointed
out, without a knowledge of which the apostolic
epistles cannot be fully understood, it may pro
bably be added with equal truth, that these
books cannot be rightly understood without a
knowledge of those epistles. If we are to begin
at all,, we must begin somewhere ; and we must,
of course, begin in imperfection. Else it might
be said, that since veteran soldiers are alone
well fitted to perform their part, therefore none
but veterans should be brought into the field.
The obvious and honest way of proceeding is,
not to postpone altogether the study of any

sect. 3.] the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul. 89
part of Scripture till we are qualified for the full
coraprehension of it ; which, on such a plan,
we never should be, since our rainds would be
pre-occupied with huraan expositions ; but to
study both the Scriptures, and the best helps
towards their explanation we can obtain, simul
taneously ; at the same time carefully guarding
ourselves against arrogantly supposing that we
do perfectly understand any thing at the first
glance. It is to this arrogant disposition that the
Scriptures are dangerous. "A little learning"
is the utmost that the generality can attain ; —
it is what all raust attain before they can arrive
at great learning ; — it is the utmost acquisition
of those who know the most, in comparison of
what they do not know. " A little learning"
is then only (and then always) "a dangerous
thing," when we overrate it, and are not aware
of its littleness.
On the sources of some of the principal errors
which have sprung frora the misinterpretation of
this Apostle's writings, and the means of guard
ing even ordinary Christians against them, I
propose to offer sorae more particular remarks
in some of the following Essays.

90 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
For all that has been here urged I should be
glad to think that there is little occasion. To
offer proofs of the existence of the error in
question, — such proofs as might be offered, is
what could not be done with propriety. Sorae
of ray readers raay, perhaps, regard me as com
bating a shadow, from having theraselves never
met with that depreciation of Paul's epistles,
which I have been deprecating. I have only to
hope they never raay : but I fear that on in
quiry they will find it but too prevalent ; — that
they will even raeet with some who have gone
the length of proposing that no part of the
Scriptures should be printed for circulation
among the raass of the people, except the Four
Gospels : on the ground that they contain all
things needful, and that the " things hard to be
understood" in the Epistles would serve only to
perplex and mislead thera. A man who gives utter
ance to such an opinion, we may be sure, enter
tains it ; but how can we be sure that all those
who do not give it utterance are strangers to it ?
§ 4. There is good reason, however, to believe
that the chief objection to Paul's writings is not

SECT. 4.] the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul. 91
frora the things hard to be understood which
they contain, but from the things easy to be
understood ; — the doctrines so plainly taught by
him, that " by grace we are saved," — " that the
wages of sin is death," — " but eternal life is the
gift of God through Jesus Christ;" — that our
raost perfect righteousness can never entitle us
to claim reward at the hands of God, nor our
own unaided strength enable us to practise that
righteousness ; but that the meritorious sacrifice
of Christ is the only foundation of the Christian's
hope, and the aid of his Spirit the only support
of the Christian's virtue. These are doctrines
humbling to the pride of the human heart, and
unacceptable to the natural man ; and therefore
they are rejected by many, as leading to im-
raoral life, and as favouring the notion that we
may " continue in sin that grace may abound ; "
though the moral precepts of this very Apostle in
every page, and his enforcement of a conformity
to thera, as indispensable to the Christian's
acceptance with God, fly in the face of every
one who dares thus to wrest these Scriptures to
his own destruction.
But the dislike shewn to the Apostle's writings

92 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
by those, who on these grounds decry him, is
a proof, if he was inspired, and they uninspired,
not that he is wrong, but that they are. If the
Gospel is against a man, he will be against the
Gospel. And the more any work is depreciated
by those who are resolved to beheve only just
what they please, the higher ought its value to
rise in the estimation of those who are wilhng
to "obey the truth." Now there is no one
of the Sacred Writers whose expressions have
been so tortured, whose authority has been so
much set at nought, as Paul's, by those who
reject many of the most characteristic doctrines
of the Gospel ; which is a plain proof that they
find him a formidable opponent;^ and which
should lead those who prize the purity of the
Gospel, to value his writings the more. I am
far from insinuating that the great truths of
Christianity, — the doctrines of the divinity of
our blessed Lord, — ^of his atoning sacrifice, — and
of salvation through Him, — rest on this Apostle's
authority alone ; but a presuraption is afforded,
t The Mahometans, who acknowledge the authority of the
four Gospels, though they pretend the Christians have inter
polated them, hold the name of Paul in detestation.

SECT. 4. J the Writings ofthe Apostle Paul, 93
by the very hostility shewn towards hira by the
opponents of those doctrines, that he is particu
larly fuU and clear in enforcing them, and that
he adds great confirmation to the testimony in
their favour of the other Sacred Writers.
It is perhaps to be wished, accordingly, that
those who, without professing to reject Chris
tianity, have avowedly laboured to disparage this
Apostle, and to represent him as at variance
with his Master, had written with more ability,
and had attracted more notice ; in order that
they raight have directed raen's attention more
strongly, not only to Paul's claims to a divine
commission, but also to his importance as a
bulwark of the christian faith. And I wish also
that some of thera had set forth raore strongly
the alleged discrepancy between Paul's doctrines
and those of the discourses of Jesus. This
certainly might have been done ; since (as
was above remarked), though there is nothing
contrary in the one to the other, there is much
that is different, as the nature of the case
required; the same doctrines which were but
obscurely hinted at by the one, being fuhy de
veloped, (the fit time being come) and earnestly

94 On the importance of studying [essay ii.
dwelt on, by the other. The doctrines which
Jesus preached were suited to the period where
the kingdora of Heaven was only at hand, and
were preparatory to the fuller raanifestation of
Gospel-truth which He revealed to the Apostle
Paul when his kingdora was established. The
attention which a powerful opponent would thus
have called to a raost iraportant subject, too
often neglected by the advocates of our faith,
and the light which would in consequence have
been thrown on the subject, would have been
no sraall benefit to the cause of truth. Opposi
tion excites discussion; and discussion leads to
inquiries which raay end in not only bringing
truth to light, but impressing it forcibly on
minds which had been sunk in heedless apathy.
Next, after an able, and full, and interesting
vindication and explanation of Paul's writings,
the sort of work whose appearance ought raost
to be hailed, is a plausible attack on them :
which, indeed, is the raost likely to call forth
the other. His labours can never be effectually
frustrated except by being kept out of sight;
Whatever brings hira into notice will, ultiraately,
bring hira into triuraph. All the raahgnity and

sect. 4.J the Writings of the Apostle Paul, 95
the sophistry of his adversaries will not only
assail hira in vain, but will lead in the end to
the perfecting of his glory, and the extension
of his Gospel. They may scourge him uncon-
deraned, like the Roraan raagistrates at Philippi ;
— they raay inflict on hira the lashes of calura-
nious censure, — but they cannot silence him :
they raay thrust hira as it were into a dungeon,
and fetter him with their strained interpreta
tions ; but his voice will be raised, even at the
midnight of unchristian darkness, and will be
heard effectually; his prison doors will burst
open as with an earthquake, and the fetters
will fall from his hands; and even strangers to
Gospel-truth will fall down at the feet of him,
even Paul, to make that momentous inquiry,
"What shall I do to be saved?"
May God " grant (as the prayer of pur Church
expresses it) that as the light of the Gospel has
been caused to shine through the preaching of
that blessed Apostle, we, having his wonderful
conversion in remembrance, may shew forth our
thankfulness for the same, by following the holy
doctrines which he taught, through Jesus Christ
our Lord."

ESSAY III.

ON ELECTION.

We learn, from the most undeniable autho
rity, that the writings of the blessed Apostle
Paul contain some "things hard to be under
stood, which they that are unlearned and un
stable wrest, as well as the other Scriptures, to
their own destruction." Now as it is evidently
of the highest importance to guard against such
a danger, so it is not less evident (as has been
formerly remarked) that this is not to be done
by keeping in the back-ground these Epistles,
and withdrawing, or encouraging Christians to
withhold, attention from them ; not only because
it is neither wise nor pious to neglect the in
structions of one who " received not his doctrine
frora raen, but by inspiration of Jesus Christ ;"
but also, because the very errors in question
will be the more easily propagated by such as
appeal to him in support of them, in proportion

SECT. 1.] On Election. 97
as they are allowed to raake this appeal uncon
tradicted ; if, while we admit the divine authority
of these works, we leave them chiefly in the
hands of extravagant fanatics, to put their own
interpretation on passages, of which their hearers
shall have been taught no better explanation.
The christian instruction, in short, to be derived
from a right interpretation ofthis Apostle's works,
and the mischief resulting from a misinterpre
tation of them, furnish, each, a most powerful
reason for the attentive study of them.
I propose, accordingly, to suggest some prin
ciples which should be kept in mind by one who
would rightly understand this portion of Scrip
ture ; principles, the neglect of which has given
occasion to raost of the errors into which " the
unlearned and unstable" have fallen.
§ 1. It is evident that, in order to understand
any author thoroughly, it is highly desirable,
if not absolutely necessary, to be acquainted, in
sorae degree, with his character; the circum
stances in which he was placed ; and his habitual
raodes of thought thence resulting. Nor will this
be sufficient, unless we have something of the

98 On Election. [essay hi.
same knowledge respecting the persons to whom
he wrote. And the more remote any work is,
in point of tirae or of place, from ourselves, the
more diligent attention will be required in the
reader, not only to ascertain these circumstances,
but to keep them steadily and constantly in view.
Many things have an obvious reference to parti
cular persons, tiraes, and places, and cannot
be at all understood without taking these into
consideration. When Moses, for instance, or
the other sacred writers, speak of places " be
yond Jordan," or " on this side of Jordan," every
one perceives the necessity of considering the
local situation of the author; but many other
circumstances, not at all less essential to the
right understanding of what is said, are apt to
escape the notice of one whose attention is not
steadily directed to the application of the prin
ciple laid down.
Now no one is ignorant that Paul was not
only a Jew, but one strictly educated in the
principles of the most learned and most rigid
sect araong the Jews ; but this circumstance is
not always practically kept in mind so much as
it ought to be. No one who reads his works

SECT. l.J On Election, 99
ought to lose sight of it for a raoraent, but con
stantly to bear in raind what habits of thought
and raodes of expression would be natural to a
Jew, and to a Jew of that description.
Inspired, indeed, be was, with the knowledge
of the Gospel ; Jewish errors and prejudices were
corrected in hira by the Spirit of Truth ; but we
have no reason to suppose that this inspiration
would go any further than was requisite to qua
lify him for his rainistry ; that any thing besides
errors and prejudices would be altered.
If any one should imagine, that because one
and the sarae Spirit taught one and the sarae
Gospel to all its appointed Ministers, therefore
every distinction between thera was done away,
all traces of individual character necessarily
swallowed up in one coraraon revelation, an at
tentive study of the Sacred Writers will soon
convince him of his mistake. Even of the
Apostles, who were all of them Jews, no two
write precisely alike ; the variations of individual
character are perceptible, even when in national
character they all agree.^
" On this point I have treated more at large in the
Bampton Lectures. Lect. IV. pp. 124 — 128.
h2

100 On Election. [essay iii.
The Apostle Paul's writings, then, raust be
studied as those of a raan, not only acquainted
with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, but
familiar with them from childhood : full of an
early-implanted and habitual reverence for them;
and disposed to refer to them for argument and
for illustra,tion, on every possible occasion. He
was likely, in short, to write as a learned and
zealous Jew, in every point except those in
which the teaching of the Spirit led him to cor
rect his former notions. And this divine moni
tor, it should be recollected, was so far from
instructing Christian ministers to keep the Old
Testament out of sight, that there is no point
more strenuously and uniformly insisted on, than
the connexion of the old and new dispensations.
Christianity is invariably represented, not as a
new religion, but as the completion of a scheme
long before begun ; it was plainly meant to be
engrafted, not on natural religion, but on Ju
daism. If this circumstance had been duly
attended to, many of the heresies which have
corrupted our religion would have been avoided.
But what were the character and situation of
this Apostle's hearers? He was, indeed, more

sect. 1.} On Election, 101
especially the Apostle of the Gentiles ; but he
appears, wherever he went, to have addressed
himself first to his own countrymen ; his natural
feelings of warm attachment and partiality to
wards them, being by no means forbidden by his
heavenly Guide, who, on the contrary, designed
that the Jews should have this precedence. The
promises and threats of the Gospel were to be
declared " to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek." " It was necessary," says he, " that the
word of God should first have been spoken to
you ; but seeing ye put it from you, lo ! we
turn to the Gentiles." It is probable, indeed,
that the number of Paul's converts among his
own brethren, was, in most places, but a small
proportion ; though in some of the churches it
appears, frora several circumstances, that their
amount was not inconsiderable ; and in every
church, it is probable that Jews and "devout
Greeks" («'. e, such as had before renounced
idolatry, and acknowledged the divine origin of
the Jewish religion) were to be found among the
merabers, and araong the earhest members. In
those places, however, in which the great ma
jority of the Christian brethren were converted

102 On Election. [essay hi.
Gentiles, it raight have been supposed that the
Old Testaraent would have been but little stu
died or thought of: so far however was this
frora being the case — so far was Paul from allow
ing the Jewish Scriptures, those Holy Scriptures
which he represents as " able to make us wise
unto salvation," to be depreciated, or the Chris
tian revelation to be regarded as any other than
a completion of the Mosaic, that he seems to
have expected in all his converts, an intiraate
acquaintance with the Old Testament; and to
have earnestly, and not unsuccessfully, incul
cated the necessity of interpreting the one
scheme by the other, as two parts of the same
great whole, and of considering, " whatsoever
things were written afore-time," as " written for
their learning." On the Corinthian Church, for
instance, he impresses this principle as of high
iraportance; and though but a small proportion
of thera probably were Jews, he evidently im
plies that they were not on that account the
less interested in all the concerns of the Jewish
Church, whose successor was the Christian: —
" I would not have you ignorant," says he, " how
that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all

SECT. 1.] On Election. 103
passed through the sea; and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea 
But with raany of them God was not well
pleased; for they were overthrown in the wil
demess." And after touching on several points
in the history of the Church of Israel, he assures
the Corinthians that "these things happened
unto them for ensaraples ; and they are written
for our admonition, upon whora the ends of the
world are corae;" i. e. who hve under the last
dispensation of God; which is hot, like the
Mosaic, to be succeeded by any other, but will
last to the end of the world.
The passage just raentioned is only one out
of raany in which thfe Apostle adverts to the
Scriptures of the Old Testaraent, as of high
iraportance to be studied by Christians. And
the firequent allusions he raakes to thera &s fami
liar to his hearers, and of acknowledged value in
their eyes, convey his judgraent on the subject
far raore strongly than so raany direct adrao-
nitions on the subject ; they indicate what was
the early, the habitual, and the universal raode
of instruction employed by himself and all the
Christian teachers. No Christian, therefore, who

104 On Election. [essay hi.
would copy the pattern of the divine teacher,
will leave the Old Testaraent out of sight ; but
wiU learn frora him that the former dispensation
raust be carefully attended to by one who would
rightly understand the Gospel. And attention
to the same pattern raay also serve to guard us
against anotTier error, in sorae respects the op-^
ppsite of that just alluded to ; the confounding
together of the two systems in one confused
medley, and blending the Law which had " a
shadow of good things to corae," with the Gospel,
which is the fulfilment of it : an error not un-
coraraon with those who unthinkingly study the
Bible as one book, without taking pains to dis-
crirainate the several parts of the great scheme
of Providence it relates to. The two dispen
sations correspond in almost every point, but
coincide in very few. Like the Flower and the
Fruit of any plant, the one is a preparation for
the other ; and each of its parts bears sorae
relation to the other, though they have but a
very faint resemblance ; the parts which are the
raost prorainent and striking in each, respec
tively, being least so in the other ; so that if any
one were to give a representation in which the

SECT. 1.] On Election. 105
parts of the blossom and of the perfect fruit
were confusedly combined and intermingled, it
would be an unnatural anomaly, very unhke
either the one or the other. The example of
the Apostle's teaching furnishes, as I have said,
a safeguard against this error ; he all along re
presents the Law as connected with the Gospel,
as the shadow with the substance ; — as " our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ ;" and the
condition of the Israelites as analogous to that
of Christians, but in many points dissimilar.
In several instances indeed, this correspond
ence and this difference are pretty generally
perceived and acknowledged. That the paschal
lamb, for instance, and the other Jewish sacri
fices, were typical of the atoning sacrifice of the
true Lamb of God, — the sin-offerings and other
outward rites of purification having the same
relation to ceremonial offences, and external
legal justification from them, that the offering of
our Lord has, to the wiping away of moral guilt,
and the inward sanctification of the heart, —
this is a point on which few professed Christians
are ignorant or doubtful ; the correspondence,
and, at the same tirae, dissirailarity, having been

106 On Election. [essay hi.
explicitly stated, in the Epistle to the Hebrews :
"if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanc
tifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who, through
the eternal Spirit, offered Hiraself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God ?" That the promised
land of Canaan, again, the place of rest to
which Jesus (Joshua) conducted the Israelites,
is a type of the heavenly rest to which our
Jesus is ready to lead his followers, is under
stood and admitted by raost Christians. That
the sanction of extraordinary temporal blessings
and judgments, both national and individual,
under which the Jews lived, is withdrawn, and
succeeded by "the bringing in of a better hope"
than that of the Law, is a truth not so well un
derstood by many Christians ; there is a leaning
in the rainds of not a few, to an expectation of
that inevitable vengeance in this world on the
wicked, which was denounced under the Mosaic
law; and of that teraporal prosperity, as the
reward of obedience, which forms no part of
the proraises of a religion whose Founder was

SECT. 2.J On Election. 107
crucified, and whose Apostles were, " if in this
life only they had hope in Christ, of all men
most raiserable."
The better-instructed part, however, of the
Christian world perceive the distinction in this
point between the old and the new dispensa
tions ; and understand that the promises and
threats of the one are applicable, figuratively
only, to the other ; the rewards and punishments
of a future life being substituted for those of the
present. There are many other points, how
ever, which are frequently overlooked, in which
the correspondence between the two systems is
such as to raake the forraer a raost useful inter
preter of the latter : and when we consider what
a famihar acquaintance with the Law, and with
the history of the Jews, Paul had hiraself, and
expected in his hearers, we cannot doubt that
this interpreter raust be perpetually consulted, if
we would rightly understand his epistles.
§ 2. One only of the cases to which thi»
principle raay be apphed will be noticed in the
present Essay. A question, which is one of the
most momentous ever agitated araong Christians,.

108 On Election. [essay hi.
may be, I think, completely set at rest by such
a mode of consulting the Old Testament as has
been recoraraended. The question I allude to,
is that relating to such as are called by this
Apostle and by the rest, the " Elect " or " chosen
people" of God, "called, out of the world, to
be Saints," and inheritors of eternal life, by
God's favour (or grace) through Christ. It is
known that differences of no trifling moment
exist among Christians in their opinions on this
subject. Some raaintain, as is well known, that
there are araong the raembers of Christ's visible
Church, two classes of persons, the Elect and
the Non-elect, who are both fixed upon arbi
trarily by God's eternal, immutable, unconditional
decree; — that those who are the Elect, the
"called to be Saints," are regenerate, and made
sons of God by his Spirit, — are justified in his
sight through the merits of Christ, — are sancti
fied and led in the paths of Christian holiness by
the infiuence of divine grace, and are infallibly
conducted to eternal happiness in heaven : and
that others on the contrary, i. e. all others,
though baptized into the faith, and though they
have heard the offers of the Gospel, are never-

SECT. 2.] On Election. 109
theless non-elect, passed by, and rejected by
God ; and consequently, are no less certainly
doomed to everlasting perdition.
This account of the Gospel-scheme is utterly
displeasing to others ; who raaintain that the
election in question is not arbitrary, but has
respect to men's foreseen faith and obedience;^
^ " Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God," is an
expression sometimes appealed to in support of this view, but
(as will plainly appear to any one who studies the context)
not correctly. The Apostle's design in employing it will be
found, on attentive inquiry, to be this: it was a stumbling-
block to the Jews, even to those who acknowledged Jesus as
the Messiah, that the Gentiles should be admitted to equal
privileges with themselves : the Israelites, they pleaded, had
been declared to be God's peculiar and highly-favoured people ;
was it to be supposed that He would alter his plans ? No,
said Paul ; there is no change in his plans ; but He all along
designed (and he cites the prophets to prove his assertion) to
admit, at a future time, such of the Gentiles as would hear his
call, into the number of his people : this, indeed, was formerly
a secret, not understood by our forefathers, and now for the
first time "made mariifest" to -me-n; but the design always
existed " that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs ;" the
-mystery {i. e. the. doctrine first hidden, and afterwards re
vealed ; which is the usual sense of the word mystery) of
their election, was, of course, always known to God himself,
though but lately revealed to us : they are " Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God."

110 On Election. [essay in.
i. e. that God decrees to elect such as He fore
sees will be obedient to his commands, and
passes by those whose disobedience he foresees.
No candid and well informed student of Scrip
ture, can, I think, deny, that arguments, in sup
port of each of these opposite doctrines have
been alleged, which have at least sorae degree
of plausibility at first sight.
In support of the latter systera, are urged the
declarations in Scripture that " Christ died for
all," that " He willeth all raen to be saved," &c.
as well as the general tenour of the Gospel-offers
of salvation, which seera to leave all that heard
thera at full liberty to accept or reject thera.
On the other hand, the expressions of Paul espe
cially are urged, where he speaks of raen as
" clay in the hands of the potter," who has power
to raake " of the same lump, vessels to honour,
and to dishonour" (i. e. to humbler and meaner
uses) and who speaks of the call to salvation as
originating entirely in the free bounty of God,
without reference to good works of ours either
previous or subsequent : God hath chosen us,
says Calvin, " non quia eraraus, sed ut esseraus
sancti," — not because we were, nor because He

«ECT. 2.] On Election. \\\
foresaw that we should be, but (according to
Paul) in order that we might be holy in all good
works. It would be tedious and unnecessary to cite
all the texts that have been appealed to by both
parties on this question, and the arguments
grounded on them. Suffice it to observe, that
they are generally opposed by other arguments
and other texts ; and that each party has gene
rally succeeded better in this, than in refuting
and explaining those adduced by their oppo
nents. In particular, the explanations given by
the opponents of the Calvinistic scheme, of the
passages urged in favour of it, appear to some
even of themselves, (I will not say unsatisfactory,
but) so far incapable of being satisfactorily laid
before the raass of ordinary Christians, that they
are often disposed to apprehend danger from the
study of Paul's epistles, and rather to draw the
attention of their flocks to other parts of Scrip
ture in preference.
I cannot but think that an attentive examina
tion of the Old Testament will go far towards
furnishing a key to the true meaning of Paul's
and the other Apostohc epistles ; and will furnish

112 On Election. [essay hi.
an answer not only satisfactory, but capable of
being made clear to the unlearned, of the three
great questions on which the whole discussion
turns ; viz. 1st, Whether the divine election is
arbitrary, or has respect to men's foreseen con
duct ; 2dly, Who are to be regarded as the
Elect ; and, 3dly, In what does that Election
consist ?
In treating of these questions, it should be
premised that I design, in the first instance, to
look exclusively to the testiraony of Scripture ;
waiving wholly, at present, the abstract questions
respecting Fate and Free-will, which belong
raore properly to the province of natural-reli
gion, or of raetaphysics ; and also, that ray
exaraination of Scripture will be confined to the
light thrown generally on the Gospel-scherae
by the books of Moses. The Christian Church
being confessedly the successor of the Jewish,
and the Christian dispensation of the Mosaic,
nothing can be more reasonable than to aid our
judgment respecting the one by contemplating
the other.
§ 3. Now, with respect to the first question

SECT. 3. J On Election. 113
before us, were the Israelites, who were evidently
God's Called, Elect, or Chosen, Holy and Pecu
liar people, were they, I say, thus chosen, arbi
trarily, or not ? This question seeras to admit
of a speedy and complete decision. Moses
clearly and repeatedly states that this selection
of them was arbitrary. He often reminds thera
that they were not thus singled out frora the
midst of other nations for their own righteous
ness, since they were a stiff-necked people, but
of God's free goodness, " who will have raercy
on whom he will have mercy, and will be
gracious to whora he will be gracious ;" and
"because He had a favour unto them." And
with respect to their fathers, though Abraham
indeed was tried and found faithful and obedient,
there was certainly an arbitrary choice made of
Jacob in preference to his elder brother Esau ;
which, indeed, is one of the cases referred to by
the Apostle, who remarks, that, " while the
children were yet in the womb, and had done
neither good nor evil," it was declared by the
oracle of God, that " the elder should serve the
younger." Nor again (it should be observed)
could that selection of the children of Jacob

114 On Election. [essay iii.
have been decreed with reference to their fore
seen faith and obedience; since we know how
eminently deficient they were in those qualifi
cations : stubborn and rebellious, — continually
falling into idolatry and other sins, — forgetting
what great things God had wrought for thera,
and undervaluing their high privilege.
The divine election then under the old dis
pensation was, it is raanifest, entirely arbitrary ;
but, in the second place, who were the objects
of it ? Evidently, the whole nation without any
exception. They were all brought out of Egypt
by a raighty hand, and rairaculously delivered
from their enemies, and received the divine
commandments through Moses, who uniformly
addressed them, — not sorae, but all, — as God's
chosen, holy, and peculiar people.
But, lastly, what was the nature of this elec
tion of the Israelites ? To what were they thus
chosen by their Almighty Ruler ? Were they
elected absolutely and infallibly to enter the
proraised land, and to triumph over their ene
mies, and to live in security, wealth, and en
joyment ? Manifestly not. They were elected
to the privilege of having these blessings placed

sect. 3.] On Election. 115
within their reach, on the condition of their
obeying the law which God had given them ;
but those who refused this obedience, were not
only excluded from the promised blessings, but
were the objects of God's especial judgraents,
far beyond those inflicted on the heathen na
tions, who had not been so highly favoured ;
whose idolatry and wickedness was, generally
speaking, far less uniforraly and severely visited :
" With a mighty hand, and with a stretched-
out arm, and with fury poured out will I rule
over you," was the threat denounced against
the disobedient Israelites; of the fulfilment of
which, numerous instances are recorded in
Scripture ; and one raost striking one is before
our eyes ; the forlorn and ruined condition, as
a nation," at the present day, of those who
rejected the long-proraised Messiah, and invoked
his bipod upon " theraselves and on their chil
dren." Still, however, whether obedient or re-
beUious, they were all of them the pecuhar and
elect people of God ; because on all of thera, —
on every individual without exception, — of that
•= I have enlarged on this subject in the discourse on " Na
tional Blessings and Judgments."
i2

116 On Election. [essay iik
people, the privileges were bestowed ; and to
every one of them the offer made, of God's
especial blessing and protection, on condition of
their conforming to the comraands He had con
descended to give them. But whether they
would thus conform or not, was all along stu
diously represented by Moses as a raatter en
tirely dependent on theraselves ; " Behold," says
he, " I have set before you this day good and
evil, blessing and cursing ; now, therefore, choose
blessing." The election then of the Jews was arbi
trary indeed; but it was an election, not to
Messing, absolutely, but to a privilege and
advantage; — to the offer and opportunity of ob
taining a peculiar blessing, such as was not placed
within the reach of other nations. Whether they
would accept the offer, or draw down God's curse
on them by their disobedience, rested with thera
selves. And that they were left at liberty to
pursue this latter course is plain, from this most
reraarkable circumstance ; that of all the adult
individuals of them who came out of Egypt, and
heard the law delivered frora Mount Sinai, two
only reached the proraised land. Of the rest.

SECT. 3. J On Election, 117
the whole generation were cut off" in the wilder
ness for their disobedience.
Now to apply these observations to the Gospel-
dispensation : it is plain, as has been said, that
the Christian church stands in the place of the
Jewish ; — that it succeeds it in the divine favour,
and enjoys, not the same indeed, but correspond
ing benefits and privileges ; it is reasonable,
therefore, to suppose, that since both dispensa
tions are parts of the one plan of the one heavenly
Author, those benefits and privileges should be
bestowed according to a similar system in each.
The Christian religion, however, is not, like the
Jewish, confined to one nation, nor the Christian
worship to one joZace, like the temple at Jerusalem :
the Church of Christ is open to all to whom the
Gospel has been announced, and comprehends
all who acknowledge it : the invitations of that
Gospel are general ; all members of that Church
are "Called and Elected" by God, and are as
truly his people, and under his especial govern
ment, as the Israelites ever were. And though
they do not consist of any one nation in particular,
they are arbitrarily selected and called to this
privilege, out of the rest of the world, and in

118 On Election. [essay hi.
contradistinction from their unenlightened an
cestors, according to God's unsearchable will, for
reasons known to Him alone, no less than the
Israelites were of old. Some nations, we know,
had the Gospel preached to thera long before
others : the Apostles were directed by the Holy
Ghost what countries they should first visit and
enlighten by their rainistry ; and raany there are,
that reraain in ignorance of Christianity to this
day. We can give no account of this distinction,
but that such is God's pleasure. No reason can
be assigned why we ourselves, for instance, in
this country, should have received the light of
the Gospel, while raany other regions of the
earth remain in the darkness of idolatry. The
Calling and selection of us and of other Chris
tians to the knowledge of the true God, seems
as arbitrary as that of the Israelites. And as
this proraise belonged not to some only, but to
every one, of that nation, whether he chose to
avail hiraself of it, or to convert it into a heavy
curse by his neglect of it ; so we may conclude
that every Christian is called and elected to the
Christian privileges, just as every Jew was to
his; but that it rests with us to use or abuse

SECT. 3.] On Election. 119
the advantage. The Jews were not chosen to
enjoy God's favour and to enter into the promised
land, absolutely ; but to have the offer of that
favour, and the promise of that land, on con
dition of their obedience ; and as raany as were
rebelhous, perished in the wilderness. So also,
we may conclude, no Christian is elected to
eternal salvation, absolutely ; but only to the
knowledge of the Gospel, — to the privileges of
the Christian Church,^ — to the offer of God's
Holy Spirit — and to the promise of final sal
vation, on condition of being a faithful follower
of Christ.
Such, I say, we might antecedently conjecture,
must be the right interpretation of the Apostle's
language, considering how constantly and how
clearly all the circumstances of the old dispen
sation raust be supposed to have been before
his raind. But in the instance now before us
we are not left to conjecture : he himself draws
the parallel for us, and strongly directs our
attention to it ; reminding us, in the most
distinct manner, of the principles by which we
are to be guided in our exaraination of the
Gospel-scherae. He not only always addresses

120 On Eleedon, [essay iii.
his converts (the very persons whom he all
along congratulates as the Called, and Favoured,
and Elect of God) as if it depended on thera
selves to avail themselves, or not, of these
offers, — to "lay hold on eternal life," or to
forfeit it by their own neglect, — but he also
warns them, frora the very exaraple of the
Israelites, against the error of raisunderstanding
what it was to which they were elected. For
some of them, it is probable, having been always
addressed as the "Chosen" of God, were dis
posed to indulge in careless security, relying on
their baptismal privileges, and confident of final
salvation independent of such exertions as can
alone justify that confidence ; even as the Jews
" thought to say within theraselves, We are
Abraham's children^' The Apostle, accordingly,
himself expressly points out the correspondence
between their case and that of the children of
Israel; exhorting them to take warning from
the backslidings and punishment of their pre
decessors, God's favoured people of old. He
observes to the Corinthians, first, that it was
not a part only, but the whole of the Israelites
who were thus favoured : " all our fathers were

sect. 3.] On Election. 121
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud
and in the sea." But, notwithstanding this, (as
he proceeds to point out) " with many of thera
God was not well-pleased ; for they were over
thrown in the wilderness. Now these things
were our exaraples, to the intent we should not
lust after evil things as they also lusted ; neither
be ye idolaters, as were some of them; ....
neither let us corarait fornication, as some of
them committed, and fell in one day three-and-
twenty thousand; neither let us tempt Christ, as
some of them also terapted, and were destroyed
of serpents; neither raurmur ye, as some of
thera also raurmured, and were destroyed of
the destroyer. Now all these things (he adds)
happened unto thera for ensaraples: and they
are written for our admonition, upon whora
the ends of the world are come ;" and thence he
deduces the great general conclusion, " Where
fore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take
heed lest he fall." Let not the Christian, that
is, though he is one of God's pecuhar and
favoured people, as the Israehtes were of old,
flatter himself that he is chosen, any more than

122 On Election. [essay hi.
they were, to the absolute attainment of a final
blessing, but only to the offer of it, together
with the privileges and advantages which will
enable him to attain it : let him not doubt that
the option is left to hira, as it was to them, of
securing or forfeiting his ultimate reward : let
him learn from the exaraple of the Israelites,
that neither his promised inheritance is infallibly
secured to him without obedience, nor he himself
absolutely secured in the requisite obedience,
without any watchfulness on his part ; since the
far greater portion of those whora God brought
out of Egypt never reached the promised land.'^
It is worth remerabering, that the system just
described is the same with that pursued in the
ordinary course of God's providence also : a
man's being born, for instance, heir to great
wealth, — to high rank, — or to a kingdora, — of
a healthy constitution, — or of superior abilities,
does not depend on himself; but it does depend
on hiraself whether such advantages as these
* " I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye
once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people
out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that
believed not." — Jude 6.

SECT. 3.] On Election. 123
shall prove a blessing to him, by his making
a right use of them, or shall aggravate his
conderanation, through his ill-employment or
neglect of them.
He then who diligently looks to the analogy
both of God's ordinary deahngs with man, and
of his former dispensation to the Jews, and who
carefully interprets the New Testament by the
Old, will be enabled, I think, to clear up the
greater part of a difficulty which has furnished
matter of dispute araong Christians for many
centuries. By contemplating the correspondence
between the Jewish and the Gospel-schemes, he
will clearly perceive that there is no such dis
tinction among Christians as the " Called" and
the uncalled, — the " Elect" and the non-elect ; —
that the Gospel itself is a call to all who have
heard it ; and that those who, instead of obey
ing it, wait for any further call, are deluded by
the father of lies, who is watching for their
destruction. — He will perceive, that though all
born in a Christian country, and initiated into
Christ's Church, are arbitrarily elected to this
invaluable privilege, their salvation is not arbi
trary, but wiU depend on the use they raake

124 On Election. [essay iir.
of their privileges ; those, naraely, to which all
Christians are called, — the knowledge of the
Gospel, the aids of the Holy Spirit, and the
offer of eternal life ; privileges of which all are
exhorted, but none corapelled, to make a right
use ; and which will prove ultimately either a
blessing or a curse to each, according to the use
he makes of thera.
When it is contended, however, that the terra
" Elect," or that any other scriptural expression,
is to be interpreted in this or in that sense, this
raust be understood, in reference to the parti
cular passages in question, or to the generality ;
— not, as iraplying that no other sense is any
where adraissible, and that if the explanation
given be correct, it must hold good in every
passage where the word occurs. For instance,
when the Apostles address their converts uni
versally as the " Elect," or " Chosen " of God,
(even as the whole nation of Israel were of old
his Chosen) this raust be understood of their
being chosen out of the whole raass of the
Gentiles, to certain peculiar privileges, unknown
to successive generations of their ancestors, but
of which they were called and invited to avail

sect. 3.3 On Election. 125
themselves. But our Lord applies the word
differently in the parables of the labourers of
the vineyard, and of the marriage-feast. The
wedding. He tells us, was furnished with guests
by an indiscriminate collection of all that could
be found in the highways; but the guest who
refused to put on the wedding garraent, was
" cast into the outer-darkness ;" " for many," he
adds, " are called, but few chosen ;" many, that
is, are "called" to the enjoyment of high privi
leges, but few raake such a use of the advantage
as to be finally " chosen ;" not, in this instance,
(as the word is more commonly eraployed)
chosen to a privilege raerely, but to ultiraate
reward ; — chosen as having rightly availed them
selves of that privilege ; — selected from among
the faithless and disobedient to " enter into the
joy of their Lord." Not that in these cases the
word " chosen " is used in different meanings,
but that its application is different ; both parties
are, in the same sense, " chosen ;" but the things
to which they are chosen are different ; and there
is a corresponding difference in the principles on
which the choice is conducted.^
= See " Elements of Logic." Fallacies, Ch. iii. § 10.

126 On Election. [essay hi.
There is, indeed, no raore fruitful source of
error in this, and in many other points, than the
practice of interpreting Scripture on the principles
of a scientific system, and endeavouring to make
out, as in raatheraatics, a coraplete technical
vocabulary, with precise definitions of all the
terras employed, such as may be applied in
every case where they occur.^ Nothing, mani
festly, was further from the design of the Sacred
Writers, than to frarae any such system : their
writings were popular, not scientific ; they ex
pressed their meaning, on each occasion, in the
terms which, on each occasion, suggested them
selves as best fitted to convey it ; and he who
would interpret rightly each of these terras, raust
interpret it in each passage according to the
context of the place where it is found. And
wherever the terra " Elect" relates (as it does
in most instances) to an arbitrary, irrespective,
unconditional decree, it will, I think, be found
invariably to bear the sense in which I have
explained it.
That a doctrine, therefore, so opposite to the
one here laid down, should have been deduced
* See Essay VI. § 4. and VII. § 2.

SECT. 3. J On Election. 127
from the Scriptures by many ingenious and dili
gent students of thera, one can hardly avoid
attributing, in some degree, to their entering on
the study with a strong antecedent bias in favour
of the conclusion they draw ; in consequence of
their regarding it as a truth abstractedly de
monstrable by reason. But for such a bias, we
should hardly find so many passages of Scripture
interpreted so hastily, and often so much wrested
from their obvious sense, to make thera afford
confirraation of the favourite hypothesis.
For instance, the scriptural siraihtude of the
Potter and the Clay is often triumphantly
appealed to, as a proof that God has from eter
nity decreed, and, what is more, has revealed to
us that He has so decreed, the salvation or per
dition of each individual, without any other
reason assigned than that such is his will and
pleasure. "We are in his hands," say these
predestinarians, "as clay in the potter's, who
hath power, of the same lump, to make one
vessel to honour and another to dishonour;"
not observing, in their hasty eagerness to seize
on every apparent confirmation of their system,
that this sirailitude, as far as it goes, rather

128 On Election. [essay hi.
makes against them ; since the potter never
raakes any vessel for the express purpose of being
broken and destroyed. This comparison accord
ingly agrees much better with the view here
taken : the potter, according to his own arbitrary
choice, raakes " of the sarae lump, one vessel to
honour and another to dishonour ;" i. e. sorae to
nobler, and some to meaner uses ; but all, for
some use ; none with design that it should be
cast away, and dashed to pieces : even so, the
Alraighty, of his own arbitrary choice, causes
sorae to be born to wealth or rank, others to
poverty and obscurity ; — some in a heathen, and
others in a Christian country; the advantages
and privileges bestowed on each, are various,
and, as far as we can see, arbitrarily dispensed ;
the final rewards or punishments depend, as we
are plainly taught, on the use or abuse of those
advantages. Wealth and power, and christian
knowledge, and all other advantages, may be
raade either a blessing or a curse to the pos
sessor ; since they plainly answer to the talents
in our Lord's parable : why one servant had
five talents intrusted to him, another two, and
another one, — in what consisted "their several

SECT. 3.j On Election. 129
abihties," — we are not told ; though we are
clearly taught that the distribution was not raade
on the ground oii\\e fore-seen use they would make
of the talents ; else, he who received the one, and
kept it laid up in a napkin, would not have been
intrusted with any. But we are plainly told on
what principles all these servants were ultimately
judged by their Master ; those who had received
the five, and the two talents, were rewarded,
not frora arbitrary choice, but because they had
rightly eraployed the deposit; and the unprofit
able servant was punished, not because he had
received only one, but because he had let it
lie idle.
The "hardening of Pharaoh's heart" again,
which is mentioned in Scripture, is often tri
umphantly appealed to, as a recorded instance
in which (according to the hasty interpretation
sometiraes adopted) God raade the King of
Egypt, what we call hard-hearted ; that is, cruel
and remorseless; on purpose to display his
almighty power upon him : whereas a very rao
derate attention to the context would plainly
evince that this (whether true or false) is very
far from being revealed in Scripture ; but, that on

130 On Election. [essay hi.
the contrary, the hardening (or as some trans
late, the strengthening) of Pharaoh's heart,^ raust
mean a judicial blindness of intellect as to his
own interest, and a vain and absurd self-confi
dence, which induced him to hold out against
Omnipotence. For it is remarkable that the
cruelties he had practised, had all of them taken
place before any raention is made of God's har
dening his heart. The tyrant who had subjected
to grievous slavery and attempted to extirpate
the Israehtes, could scarcely, after that, be made
cruel ; but the most unrelenting miscreant would
have let them go, through mere selfish prudence,
had he not been supernaturally infatuated, when
he saw that they were " a snare unto hira," and
that "Egypt was destroyed" through the raighty
plagues inflicted on their account.*'
g The " heart " is continually employed by the Sacred
Writers to denote the understanding ; as when our Lord is
said to " upbraid the disciples for their unbeUef and hardness-
of-heart," &c. They never, I believe, employ (TKhipoKapSia, to
signify cruelty. The same appears to have been anciently the
usage of our own language also ; of which we retain a rem
nant, in the expression of " learning any thing by heart."
^ I have been informed that some of the hearers of the
discourse of which this Essay contains the substance, under-

SECT. 3.3 On Election. 131
To sura up, then, in a single sentence, the
error which appears to rae to have originated
frora a neglect of the lesson which the Old
Testament raay supply : the doctrine that final
salvation is represented in Scripture as resting
solely on the arbitrary appointment of God, is
deduced frora two preraises ; 1st, that Election
infallibly implies salvation ; and, 2dly, that Elec
tion is entirely arbitrary; whence it follows,
certainly, that final salvation is arbitrary. Now
many of the opponents of this conclusion are
accustoraed to deny the true preraise, and admit
the false one ; acknowledging that Election
stood the foregoing argument to be merely a repetition of
Bishop Sumner's, in his valuable work on " Apostolical
Preaching." Such a misapprehension is, I trust, less likely to
take place in the closet ; but to guard against the possibility
of it, it may be worth while here to remark, that though I
coincide with Bishop S. in his conclusion, the arguments by
which we, respectively, arrive at it, are different. The dis
tinction which he dwells on, is that, between national, and
individual election ; that on which I have insisted, is, the
distinction between election to certain privileges, and to final
reward; he, in short, considers principally the parties chosen;
whether Bodies of men, or particular persons : I, the things to
which they are chosen ; whether to a blessing, absolutely, or
to the ojfer of one, conditionally.
k2

132 On Election. [essay ih»
necessarily implies ultimate salvation, but con
tending that it is not arbitrary, but depends on
foreseen faith and obedience ; a position which
gives their opponents a decided advantage over
thera, and which the analogy of the old dispen
sation to the new raay convince us is untenable ;
whereas, in denying that Election does neces
sarily imply salvation they would find the whole
analogy of the Old Testament, and the general
tenour of the Apostle Paul's adraonitions, so
completely in their favour, that the offensive
conclusions would be, as far as Scripture testi
mony goes, irrecoverably overthrown : and it
would be seen that the abstract metaphysical
questions respecting Fate and Free-will, are left
by the Bible exactly where it finds thera, un
decided and untouched.
§ 4. Without entering at lai^e on the raeta-
physical questions just alluded to, one reraark
respecting them will not be irrelevant, as it
may throw light on the subject raore particu
larly before us. I mean that the difficulty and
confusion in which such questions have been
involved, have, in a great degree, arisen frora

SECT. 4.] On Election. 133
inattention to the arabiguity of one particular
class of words — "possible"' and "impossible,"
"necessary," "certain," "contingent," and many
others of corresponding significations to these ;
which have, by their undetected ambiguity, be
wildered in a maze of fruitless logomachy raost
of those who have treated of the subject. " Cer
tainty," for instance, and " uncertainty," which
in the primary sense, denote the state of our
own raind, have thence been transferred to the
facts and events respecting which we are certain
pr uncertain ; and ultimately, have come to be
considered as indicating an intrinsic quality in
the events themselves, and not merely the re
lation in which they stand to our knowledge
or ignorance of thera ; and " necessity," as well
as other words allied to it, whose signification
sometimes refers to coercion, or absence oi power,
sometimes again merely to undoubting and con>
plete knowledge, have led to endless fallacies
and perplexities, when this distinction has been
overlooked. ' See "Logic," Appendix, article "Possible." See also
Appendix, No. I. to Archbp. King's Discourse on Predesti
nation.

134 On Election. [essay hi.
Thus, the " necessity " (i. e. the absence of
freedora) of human actions, has by raany been
inferred from God's certain foreknowledge of
them. And to this it is not, I think, altogether
a satisfactory reply (which is often made), that
the divine prescience does not fetter or control
men's actions, nor in any way operate upon
thera, any more than our knowledge of any fact
is the cause of its being such ; for though this is
undeniably true, it hardly raeets the difficulty ;
since it is not raeant, I apprehend, that the
divine foreknowledge makes actions necessary, but
that it implies that they are so ; just as any one's
seeing some object before him, implies the real
present existence of that object ; though no one
supposes that his seeing it is, in any respect, the
cause of its existence.
But the chief source of this perplexity is the
equivocal eraployraent of the word " necessity ;"
which, in one sense, relates to knowledge alone,
and, therefore, is, of course, iraplied by pre
science ; but in another sense, relates to com
pulsion, or want of power, which prescience
does by no means imply.'' When we speak,
^ See Tucker's Light of Nature, Chap. 26.

SECT. 4.] On Election^ " r"^" 135
for instance, of the "necessity" of mathema
tical truths, we mean merely that they admit
of no doubt. And again, when we say that a
man pining in captivity cannot but eagerly em
brace the offer of freedom, and restoration to
his country, we mean not that he is thus placed
under compulsion, but that we are well-assured
and have no doubt he will do so. On the other
hand, when we say that, while in captivity, he
cannot but submit to the will of his master, we
mean that he wants power to resist, and liberty
to escape ; and when we speak of the necessity
of death, we mean that mortals are unable to
avoid it. If this distinction had been duly at
tended to, it would hardly, I think, have been
contended that that necessity of our actions,
which the divine prescience implies, is at all
incompatible with our freedora and power to act
otherwise. Whether our conduct be, in fact,
under any restraint or not, at least no restraint
is iraplied by the mere foreknowledge of it.
Let it be supposed (and the case is at least
conceivable) that you were fully and accurately
acquainted with all the inclinations of some man
who was left at perfect liberty to follow them ;

136 On Election. [essay nii^
you could then as distinctly know and as ex
actly describe his future conduct, as any past
event ; and the very ground of your thus fore
seeing and foretelling it would be, not his being
under restraint, but his entire freedom from
it; for the knowledge of his inclination, if he
were not free to foflow it, would not enable you
to foresee the event.
The divine foreknowledge, again, of "con
tingent" or "uncertain" events, would not have
been raade a raatter of such raysterious difficulty,
if it had been remerabered that the same thing
may be contingent and uncertain to one person,
which is not so to another ; since those terras
denote no quality in the events theraselves ; any
more than the terms " visible " and " invisible "
when applied to eclipses ; inasrauch as that
which is visible in one part of the world is in
visible in another. For the same event may, in
like raanner, be both a contingency and a cer-
tainty ; though not to the same person. Any
event, for instance, which occurred yesterday in
sorae distant part of the world, is, to us, uncer
tain and contingent ; and one who calculates on
its having taken place in this way or that, would.

SECT. 4.] On Election. 137
be said to run the risk of fortune ; though to
those on the spot there is no contingency in
the case.
Before I dismiss the consideration of this sub
ject, I would suggest one caution relative to a
class of objections frequently urged against the
Calvinistic scheme — those drawn from the con
clusions of what is called natural religion, re
specting the moral attributes of the Deity ;
which, it is contended, rendered the reprobation
of a large portion of mankind an absolute im
possibility. That such objections do reduce the
predestinarian to a great strait, is undeniable;
and not seldom are they urged with exulting
scorn, with bitter invective, and almost with
anathema. But we should be very cautious
how we employ such weapons as may recoil
upon ourselves. Arguments of this description
have often been adduced, such as, I fear, will
crush beneath the ruins of the hostile structure
the blind assailant who has overthrown it. It
is a frightful, but an undeniable truth, that mul
titudes, even in christian countries, are born and
brought up under such circumstances as afford
them no probable, often no possible, chance of

138 On Election. [essay hi.
obtaining a knowledge of religious truths, or a
habit of moral conduct, but are even trained from
infancy in superstitious error and gross depravity.
Why this should be permitted, neither Calvinist
nor Arminian can explain ; nay, why the Al
mighty does not cause to die in the cradle every
infant whose future wickedness and misery, if
suffered to grow up, He foresees, is what no
systera of religion, natural or revealed, will
enable us satisfactorily to account for.
In truth, these are merely branches of the
one great difficulty, the existence of evil, which
may almost be called the only difficulty in theo
logy. It assumes indeed various shapes; — it is,
by raany, hardly recognized as a difficulty ; and
not a few have professed and believed themselves
to have solved it ; but it still meets thera, though
in some new and disguised form, at every turn ;
like a resistless stream, which, when one chan
nel is damraed up, iraraediately forces its way
through another. And as the difficulty is one
not peculiar to any one hypothesis, but bears
equally on all alike, whether of revealed or of
natural religion, it is better in point of prudence
as well as of fairness, that the consequences of

SECT. 5.] On Election. 139
it should not be pressed as an objection against
any. The Scriptures do not pretend (as sorae
have rashly iraagined) to clear up this awful
raystery: they give us no explanation of the
original cause of the evil that exists ; but they
teach us how to avoid its effects : and since they
leave this great and perplexing question just
where they find it, it is better for us to leave it
among "the secret things which belong unto
the Lord our God," and to occupy ourselves with
" the things which are revealed," and which
concern us practically, — which "belong unto us
and to our children," that we may " do all the
words of God's law."
§ 5. It is on these principles, viz. that the
first point of inquiry at least ought to be what
doctrines are revealed in God's word, — and that
we ought to expect that the doctrines so revealed
should be, not matters of speculative curiosity
but of practical importance — such as "belong
to us that we may do them ;" — it is in conforraity,
I say, with these principles, that I have waived
the question as to the truth or falsity of the
Calvinistic doctrine of Election ; inquiring only

140 On Election. [essay hi.
whether it is revealed. And one of the reasons
for deciding that question in the negative, is the
very circumstance that the doctrine is, if rightly
viewed, of a purely speculative character, not
"belonging to us" practically, — and which
ought not at least, in any way, to influence our
conduct. It has indeed been frequently objected to the
Calvinistic doctrines, that they lead, if consistently
acted upon, to a sinful, or to a careless, or to an
inactive life; and the inference deduced from
this alleged tendency, has been that they are
not true. But this is a totally distinct line of
argument, both in premises and conclusion, frora
that now adverted to ; and I raention it, not for
the purpose either of raaintaining or irapugning
it, but raerely of pointing out the distinction.
Whatever may be, in fact, the practical ill ten
dency of the Calvinistic scheme, it is undeniable
that raany pious and active Christians, who have
adopted it, have denied any such tendency, — have
attributed the mischievous consequences drawn,
not to their doctrines rightly understood, but to
the perversion and abuse of them ; — and have so
explained them, to their own satisfaction, as to

SECT. 5.3 On Election. 141
be compatible and consistent with active virtue.
Now if, instead of objecting to, we admit, the
explanations of this system, which the soundest
and raost approved of its advocates have given,
we shall find that, when understood as they
would have it, it can lead to no practical result
whatever. Sorae Christians, according to them,
are eternally enrolled in the book of life, and
infallibly ordained to salvation, while others are
reprobate and absolutely excluded : but as the
preacher, (they add) has no means of knowing,
in the first instance at least, which persons belong
to which class ; and since those who are thus
ordained, are to be saved through the means
God has appointed ; the offers, and promises, and
threatenings of the Gospel are to be addressed
to all alike, as if no such distinction existed.
The preacher, in short, is to act in all respects,
as if the system were not true. Each individual
Christian again, according to thera, though he is
to believe that he either is, or is not, absolutely
destined to eternal salvation, yet is also to believe,
that if his salvation is decreed, his holiness of
hfe is also decreed : — he is to judge of his own
state by " the fruits of the Spirit" which he

142 On Election. [essay hi.
brings forth : to Uve in sin, or to relax his
virtuous exertions, would be an indication of his
not being really (though he may flatter himself
he is) one of the elect. And it may be admitted
that one who does practically adopt and con
form to this explanation of the doctrine will
not be led into any evil by it ; since his con
duct will not be in any respect influenced by
it. When thus explained, it is reduced to a
purely speculative dogma, barren of all practical
results. Taking the system in question then, as ex
pounded by its soundest advocates, it is im
possible to show any one point in which a
person is called upon either to act or to feel,
in any respect differently, in consequence of his
adopting it. And this conclusion indeed raay
be considered as virtually admitted by the
maintainers of the predestinarian scherae ; since
whenever they are engaged in setting forth the
beneficial results of their 'doctrines, they in
variably dwell on such as are not peculiar to
them ; such as, faith in the atonement, — self-
abaseraent and renunciation of all reliance on
our own raerits, — gratitude for Christ's redeeming

SECT. 5. J On Election. 143
mercy, — and reliance on the promised guidance
of the Holy Spirit ; and other such doctrines,
which are indeed both true and of inestimable
practical value, but which have no necessary,
or natural connexion with the peculiar notions
of Calvin respecting Election ; and which, in
fact, are sincerely and heartily erabraced by
numbers who reject those notions.
Were I as much inclined to enter into con
troversy as I am averse to it, on this point at
least, I should have no temptation to do so ;
since I cannot devise or even conceive any more
decisive proofs of what has been just reraarked,
than the very objections adduced by those who
wish to disprove it. Let any one try the ex
periment of proposing to predestinarians the
assertion just made, of the purely-speculative
character of the doctrines in question ; and he
will find the grounds on which it is denied,
sufficient to satisfy an unbiassed mind of its
truth. They will allege the cheering stimulant
of love and gratitude which a man feels who is
convinced that his sins are forgiven, and that
a crown of glory is laid up for hira after he
shall have fought the good fight, and finished his

144 On Election. [essay hi.
course : but they will adrait that this confidence
is false and dangerous, unless he shall have
ascertained by careful and candid self-exaraina-
tion that he is practically irabued with Christian
hope, faith, and charity, and is earnestly striving
to " increase raore and more," and to " grow in
grace" to his life's end. Now all this raay be
the case with one who does not hold the absolute
election to salvation of sorae, and the reproba
tion of others : while on the other hand, the
fullest conviction of the final perseverance and
acceptance of God's elect, affords no satisfaction
to one who may doubt whether he himself is one
of the elect. The cheering prospect is supplied,
not by the general doctrine of divine decrees,
but by each man's view of his own christian
state of holiness. And a confidence founded on
good grounds, I for one at least, should never
think of repressing.' They will enumerate,
again, the many zealous and active Christians
who have been strict predestinarians ; — they will
speak of the Reforraers, forward in testifying
against Roraish errors, who have held the
sarae tenet ; — and of the attachment of many
' See the next Essay.

SECT. 5.] On Election. 145
bigoted Romanists to the doctrine of free-will ;
(though, by the way, Augustine, the strenuous
advocate of predestination, is, among the Fathers,
rather the favourite saint of the Romish church),
as well as the immoral lives of many who reject
predestination, &c. But if any one keeps close
to the original question, and persists in asking.
How do you trace those good effects to a behef
in your absolute decrees ? How do you show
that your peculiar doctrines are, not merely
compatible with Christian virtue, (for that is
admitted) but conducive to it ? How do you
trace these other ill effects to a rejection of
those peculiar doctrines ? How is it proved that
the parties respectively act as they do, properly
in consequence of their belief or disbelief of this
tenet ? — if, I say, these questions are persisted
in, and all irrelevant matter set aside, I am
much raistaken if any satisfactory answer will
be obtained.
The fact is that several of the most important
and truly-practical doctrines of Christianity have
been, in the minds of some men, so intimately
blended, from their childhood, with other tenets
which are not practical, that they themselves.

146 . On Election. [essay hi.
Unless possessed of unusual clearness of thought,
are utterly unable to conceive them disunited;
and might even be in sorae danger of abandon
ing what is essential, were they induced to give
up some other point, in reality totally uncon
nected with it. Their whole system of faith
may be compared to some of the ancient com
pound medicines, of great efficacy and value,
though cumbered with several drugs that are
utterly inert. Many practitioners unskilled in
analysis, cannot conceive but that the success
with which the compound is often administered
is a proof of the efficacy of each ingredient,
and of the absurdity of thinking to separate
them. It is common in cases of this kind, to appeal
to the testimony of Experience; though but a
small proportion of even the most experienced
men are fit judges of what it is that their
experience does testify. He who has long
been accustomed to administer a certain com
pound medicine, or to teach a certain system
of doctrines, and who has found his patients
recover, or his hearers improve, will often be
heve, not only that every part of this compound

SECT. 5.] On Election. 147
is essential, but that this is established by ex
perience.'" I ara far from thinking harshly of predes
tinarians, or of deciding that their peculiar
doctrines are altogether untrue ; though to me
they do not appear, at least, to be either prac
tical, or revealed truths. I do not call on them
to renounce their opinions as heretical, but
merely to abstain from imposing on others as
a necessary part of the Christian faith, a doctrine
which cannot be clearly deduced frora Scripture ;
and which there is this additional reason for
supposing not to be revealed in Scripture, that it
cannot be shown to have any practical tendency.
For since it is plainly the object ofthe Scriptures
to declare to us such truths as it concerns us
to know, with a view to the regulation of our
hves, not, such as are, to us, mere matters of
speculative curiosity ; and since the doctrines in
question, when so explained as to lead to no
evil results, lead to no practical results at all,
the natural inference must be (even independent
of the arguments formerly urged) that these
doctrines are not such as we can reasonably
™ See Elements of Rhetoric, Part II. chap. iii. § 5.
l2

148 On Election. [essay hi.
expect at least, to find revealed in Scripture;
and if not so revealed, be they true or false, they
can constitute no part of the Christian faith^"
It is not contended that the doctrines in ques
tion have a hurtful influence on human conduct,
and consequently are untrue ; but that they have,
according to the soundest exposition of them,
no influence on our conduct whatever; and,
consequently, that they are not to be taught as
revealed truths.
§ 6. Let it not be said, however, that, being
at least harmless, it is unimportant whether they
are inculcated or not ; they are harmless, to those
who adopt them in the sense, and with the
qualifications just mentioned; but it does not
follow that they are harmless to others. On the
one hand, that " the doctrines of predestiiiation
and our election in Christ" may be so held as to
prove (according to the language of our article) a
" dangerous downfall," will hardly be denied by
any ; and, on the other hand, they may prove
a stumbling-block to those who do not hold
" See Essay IV. First Series.

SECT. 6,] On Election. 149'
them, by raising a prejudice against other doc
trines — some of the most important of Chris
tianity, — when taught in conjunction with these,
and represented as connected with thera. Now
it is to be admitted, indeed, that there may
be dangers of this nature attendant on every
gos^e\-truth ; since there is none that may not
be perverted by some, or that raay not give
offence to others ; but in the case of any thing
which plainly appears to be gospel-truth, this
danger raust be braved ; we must preach God's
word as we have received it, and trust in Him
to prosper and defend it. But it is not so, in
the case of doctrines which (whether true or
not) are not plainly declared in Scripture. The
dangers to which any such doctrines may lead,
are needlessly and wantonly incurred ; and those
who preach them are answerable for the re
sults. If the speculations of human ingenuity
be raingled with the revealed word of God, even
though the opinions maintained be true, some
may be raisled, and others unnecessarily dis
gusted ; Christianity may be loaded (as Dr. Paley
expresses himself respecting transubstantiation)
with a weight that sinks it; and the mischiefs

150 On Election. [essay hi.
ensuing will be justly imputable to the rashness
of those who give occasion to thera.
Let Christians, then, be taught to rejoice in
deed in their high privileges, as the " Called,"
and "Elect," and "Peculiar people ofGod;"
but let thera be taught also, while they offer up
their thanks for his unraerited raercies, to con
sider their own diligence and care as indispen
sable, not only to their attainment of the offered
blessings, but also to their escape from an
aggravated condemnation, — for " provoking and
grieving Him, who has done so great things for
them," " as in the provocation, and as in the
day of temptation in the wilderness." Let them
be told to trust indeed firmly in the aid and
guidance of God's Holy Spirit, which will con
duct those who earnestly seek it, and walk
according to it, through the perils of the Wil
derness of this world, to the glories of their
promised inheritance ; but let them learn from
the rebellious Israelites, that He will not force
them to enter into that good land, but will even
exclude from it those who refuse to hearken to
Him. Wherefore, "let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall." God is indeed

SECT. 6.] On Election, 151
" faithful who hath proraised ; " but He requires
us also to be faithful to ourselves ; and He has
taught us, both by direct precepts and by ex
araples, that if we harden our hearts, and will
not hear his voice, we shall not " enter into his
rest."

ESSAY IV.
ON PERSEVERANCE AND ASSURANCE.
§ 1. There are many passages in the Apostle
Paul's writings in which he expresses his assured
expectation of the final success of his converts
in attaining the gospel-promises : for instance,
" Being confident of this very thing, that He who
hath begun a good work in you will perforra it
until the day of Jesus Christ ;" i. e. that at his
last coraing to judge the world, they will be
nurabered araong the inheritors of iraraortal
happiness with Hira. It is in a sirailar tone
that he addresses the Corinthians in the begin
ning of his first Epistle to thera : " Waiting
for the coraing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye
may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ." Indeed there is hardly any one of his

SECT. 1.] Perseverance and Assurance. 153
Epistles in which he does not express the same
exulting anticipation of eternal life awaiting his
beloved on earth : the gratitude and joy which
he consequently feels on their behalf, are scarcely
ever left unraentioned.
Passages of this description are appealed to as
establishing the doctrine of " final Perseverance"
and " Assurance ;" that is, of the impossibility of
ultiraate failure, to those who are once truly
elected of God; and the complete conviction
which such persons may (or must) attain on
earth of their own safety. The dangerous con
sequences again, apprehended by many, from
these as well as other doctrines maintained on
this Apostle's authority, have accordingly but too
often led them to depreciate his writings, or to
regard them with suspicion and dread, and to
keep them in a great degree out of sight.
That such opinions as those alluded to (as far,
that is, as they are erroneous and raischievous)
have been grounded on a misunderstanding of
these writings, and raay be the most effectually
refuted by a fair and correct exposition of the
Author's meaning, I have endeavoured to show
in the preceding Essay, as far as relates to the

154 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
doctrine of Christian Election. Closely con
nected with this, and next in natural order to
it, are the other doctrines just mentioned ; on
which, accordingly, I now propose to offer some
remarks. But it will be the less necessary to
dwell on them, on account of that closeness of
connexion ; the one question being a kind of
offshoot from the other. Absolute predestination
to eternal life evidently imphes the physical im
possibility of ultiraate failure, — in short, the
infallible perseverance of the Elect ; and if any
one have arrived at the knowledge that he is
one of the Elect, he cannot but have the most
complete Assurance of his own safety. And these
notions are, not without some probable grounds
at least, regarded by raany as pernicious in the
extreme; — as naturally leading to careless and
arrogant confidence, — spiritual pride, — relaxation
of virtuous efforts, — and indulgence of vicious
propensities. They have accordingly laboured
to repel this danger by dwelling much and se
dulously on the uncertainty, even to the last,
of the state of even the best Christian ; and of
the possibility of his falling even from the most
confirraed state of grace and holiness.

SECT. 2.] Perseverance and Assurance. 155
§ 2. It should be remembered, however, that
we may, in our extreme caution against one
danger, fall into the opposite. Presuraptuous
confidence, and careless security, are indeed
evils to be carefully guarded against ; but they
are not the only evils to be apprehended : de
spondency, and, what is more likely to occur, a
deadness of the affections in all that relates to
religion, and a total aversion of the mind to
wards it, may be generated, in some persons at
least, by dwelling too much and too earnestly
on the chances of ultimate failure. It should
be remembered, too, that the doctrines of Per
severance in godliness, and of Assurance of sal
vation, in some sense or other, have received
the full sanction of the Apostle Paul ; nor would
he so often and so strongly have expressed his
grateful exultation in the spiritual state of his
converts, and his full confidence that the good
work begun in them would ultimately be com
pleted, had he not considered the exhibition of
these cheering and encouraging prospects, as
highly edifying, and conducive to their Christian
progress. And I cannot but think that his
exaraple in this point has been too little attended

156 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
to by sonie writers ; who overlook the dangers
on one side, while they overrate those on the
other ; which at the same time they do not take
the most effectual way to obviate. It is not
enough that they express the fullest confidence
in God's fulfilment of his promises, to all who
are not wanting on their part. To one whose
raind is disposed to serious thoughtfulness, all
doubts respecting his final salvation (however
well convinced he raay be that if he fail of it, the
fault will be his own) — doubts which raust iraply
the apprehension of the unspeakably horrible
alternative, — cannot but suggest (in proportion
as they prevail) the wish that Christianity were
untrue : — that this life were the whole of his
existence, rather than that the reraotest risk of
such an alternative should be incurred.* And a
* It is to be observed, that when I speak of the horror of
being in any doubt, or of apprehending any risk — contem
plating any chance, ofthis or that evU, &c., I mean, absolute,
not hypothetical or conditional risk, — possibility — probability,
&c., for this latter does not occasion any uneasiness. A man
is shocked, for instance, at the idea of the remotest risk of
being overwhelmed in the sea, or of perishing with hunger ;
but he knows that when walking on the sea-shore, he would
be probably overwhelraed, if he should stay there till the tide

SECT. 2;] Perseverance and Assurance. 157
wish of this kind is utterly at variance with such
a state of mind, as, according to Paul, the
Christian's ought to be. For it must not be
imagined that a wish relative to something which
(as in the present case) does not at all depend on
our choice, must, therefore, be wholly inopera
tive and unimportant. No man's wishes can
indeed make a religion false ; they raay even not
cause him to disbelieve it ; but they may yet
very easily lead him (without any deliberate
design) habitually to withdraw his thoughts from
a painfully alarming subject. There is a pro
pensity in the human mind, (which, however
unreasonable and absurd, is instinctive, and
almost unavoidable) to turn away, insensibly
more and more, from the contemplation of that
which is unpleasant. Nor will such feehngs of
dread, distaste, and aversion, as have been alluded
to, be necessarily confined (as at first sight one
might suppose) to men who are knowingly lead
ing such a hfe as can afford them little or no
just ground of hope in the gospel-promises. For
came up ; and that he would be starved if he should refuse to
take the food that is before him : but this (as it maybe called)
hypothetical danger, gives him no uneasiness at all.

158 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
it should be remembered, that the apprehension
of suffering is so incomparably more keen than
the anticipation of gratification, — so faint and
feeble are our conceptions of happiness, com
pared with those of misery, that the least admix
ture of a dread of any very terrible evil, will
(when really impressed, on the mind) more than
counterbalance a far greater araount of favour
able hopes; and, consequently, to a thoughtful
raind, the idea of certain annihilation would
appear far preferable to the reraotest chance of
endless raisery. ''
Now it is with those of a thoughtful turn that
we are concerned in the present question. As
for the great mass of the careless and worldly,
they are, indeed, for the most part, far too con
fident of salvation : but their confidence, com
monly results from a vague, general, unweighed
notion of God's mercy ; not, from any predesti
narian persuasion of their being selected from
the rest of mankind, and ordained to persevere
in hohness, under the constant guidance of the
Divine Spirit. They need, indeed, to be, if pos
sible, alarmed and filled with apprehension : but
'' See the last Note.

SECT. 2.] Perseverance and Assurance. 159
it is a far different kind of alarm they need, from
that of which we have been speaking. They
need to be warned of the dangers attendant on a
careless, not on an active and zealous Christian
life ; of the danger, not of falling /?-o?w a state of
grace, but of never striving to be in such a
state ; of the danger of losing heaven, not by
turning from the service of God, but by not turn
ing from the service of sin. Their false security
arises, not from their dwelling, with too con
fident expectation, on the glories of a better
world, but from their thinking too little, or not
at all, of any world but this. Let such be
alarmed, by all means possible, into a just sense
of the ruin to which they are hastening by taking
no pains to lead a Christian life ; and to urge such
a ground of alarm will have no tendency to dis
hearten those who are conscious of an earnest
desire, and endeavour to live to God. And the
more confidence is expressed of the final success
of those who will come to Christ, and set them
selves to work out their own salvation, the more
will the sinner be encouraged to begin in earnest,
and pursue with vigour, the great work of refor
mation.

160 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
§ 3. But is there, then, it may be asked, no
" fear and trembling" to be felt by all men in
working out their salvation ? Can any man be
exempt from all danger of excessive and pre
sumptuous confidence 1 Undoubtedly such a
danger is always, and by every one, to be sedu
lously guarded against; but it will be best
guarded against, not by seeking to lower the
Christian's hopes, but by connecting his confi
dence with his own unremitting efforts; by
striving to establish in his thoughts an insepa
rable corabination between the idea of the. hap
piness he looks forward to, and that of the
requisite exertions on his part. The fullest
confidence of attaining any object, if the attain-
raent of it be still regarded as dependent on
our own endeavours, and if that confidence be
grounded on a firm resolution to use those en
deavours, can never lead to negligence and
inactivity." The Christian who is earnestly striving to be
led by the Holy Spirit, and to " grow in grace"
daily, must not be told indeed that he cannot
" See Note (A) at the end of this Essay.

SECT. 3. J Perseverance and Assurance. 161
turn aside frora the right path if he would; that
it is out of his power to fall into a hfe of sin : but
that fear and trembling which I conceive Paul to
have intended, the conviction, namely, that our
care and diligence are never to be laid aside
even to the end, will not lessen such confidence
as proceeds on the full deterraination to retain
that diligent care ; nor will it dash with any
mixture of gloomy apprehensions the joyful an
ticipations with which such a Christian looks
forward to a future life.
And since this inspiriting confidence is evi
dently calculated to produce a good practical
effect, hence it is perhaps that some who hold
those notions relative to predestination and
election which were adverted to in the last
Essay, are led to suppose, (contrary to what I
have there maintained, § 5,) that these pecuhar
doctrines are practical. For men who are not
rauch accustomed to attentive and accurate re
flection, are easily led to confound together two
things perfectly distinct ; viz.: 1st, a man's prac
tical confidence, personally, as to his own final
salvation ; and 2dly, the belief that a decree has
gone forth respecting every man, placing each in
M

162 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
the list either of the elect who cannot fail of
salvation, or of the reprobate who cannot attain
it. Now these two persuasions are in no wise
necessarily connected. A man raay hold either
of them without the other. On the one hand
any one's joyful anticipations in respect of his
own case, (which have a practical tendency) are
not, as I have above shown, any thing pecuhar
to the views of the Calvinistic school respecting
election ; on the other hand, these views have,
as has also been shown, whether true or false,
no practical tendency ; and do not even neces
sarily iraply any thing cheering and consolatory.
For a raan's conviction that every one's destiny
is fixed for good or for evil, can afford hira no
comfort, unless he is assured that his own is the
favourable destiny. Many indeed do combine
these two persuasions; but still they are two,
and distinct, and may be disunited. Nor is the
number small of those who are naturally of a
temper over-timid, anxious, and unreasonably
desponding; such as need encouragement; but
are too often denied, both by Calvinists and
Arrainians, such encourageraent as their case
calls for.

SECT. 4. J Perseverance and Assurance. 163
§ 4. We may learn, not only from the Apostle's
precepts relative to Christian trust and " joy in
the Holy Ghost," but also from his example, as
recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, in concerns
of a different nature, that he at least did not con
sider the active and circumspect eraployraent of
raeans, inconsistent with the most undoubting
certainty as to the event; even a certainty
founded on immediate precise revelation from
heaven. Let any one read the account of what
befell hira while imprisoned at Jerusalem, and he
will find hira assured, by a supernatural vision,
of his deliverance frora the then present danger ;
" Be of good cheer, Paul, for thou must bear
witness of me also at Rome." Yet when the
designs of the conspirators to murder hira came
to his knowledge, he took every precaiition (by
sending to warn the chief captain) that prudent
apprehension could suggest." Again was he
favoured, on the occasion of the shipwreck, with
a like supernatural assurance, that he, being
destined by his Master to arrive at Rome, should
be saved from the peril of the sea ; and moreover,
that his corapanions should be spared also for
"* Acts xxiii. 17.
m2

164 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
his sake,'' and should come safe to land : yet
imraediately after, we find him using and sug
gesting every precautionary raeans that could
have occurred to the most doubting and fear
ful: it was through Paul's presence of raind
that the mariners were withheld from deserting
the ship, and depriving the passengers of their
needful aid: "Then said Paul, Except these
abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. -"^ Was it
then that he doubted, in this or in the former
case, the supernatural assurance he had re
ceived ? Surely not : but he regarded that very
assurance as grounded on the supposition that
he himself should employ all those regular
means which he on his part was ready and fully
resolved tp employ : his exertions (which he
was conscious of being determined to use) forraed
the hypothesis (if I raay so speak) on which the
divine promise proceeded ; and he evidently
judged it possible that he might, in one sense of
the phrase, lose his life at Jerusalem, or in the
shipwreck ; i. e. it was in his power to cast away
his life if he chose not to use the requisite
' Acts xxvii. 22. ^ Acts xxvii. 31.

SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 165
exertions ; but such a possibility as this, could
not lead to any doubt or apprehension.^
Nor is this a distinction too refined for any
but the highest and most perfect order of minds ;
on the contrary, experience shows that it is
within the reach of the raost ordinary capacity.
Nothing indeed is raore coraraon than the ex
pression of a full conviction as to what sorae
person's conduct will be on sorae particular
occasion ; that conviction being grounded on
the supposition that his disposition as to the
point in question is fully ascertained, and that it
is a raatter depending on his own free choice.
" Such a one is sure," it is said, " to act in this
manner ;" " he is incapable of doing so and so."
And when we thus prophesy another's conduct,
ve are evidently exempt from all danger of
nistake, supposing we are originally correct in
our judgment as to the other's inchnation, and
as to his being free to follow that inclination ;
and yet, though it is in a certain sense "ira-
Dossible " that he should act otherwise, so far is
;his anticipation of his conduct from implying
hat he is powerless, or under restraint, that it
s See Note W, p. 156, § 2.

166 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv,
proceeds on the very supposition of his being
left perfectly free.
And again, with respect to one's own conduct,
that confidence of success necessarily diminishes
exertion, is notoriously the reverse of truth.
Every general seeks to inspire his soldiers with
the firmest confidence of victory; which ex
perience proves to be the best incentive to those
exertions that are requisite to ensure it. Many
a man, from having been persuaded by oraens,
or by the predictions of astrologers, that he is
fated to attain sorae great object, has, in conse
quence, instead of being lulled into carelessness
by this belief, been excited to the raost laborious
and unwearied efforts, such as perhaps he would
not otherwise have thought of making, for the
attainment of his object.'' And the common
ll The Macbeth of Shakspeare may be appealed to as an
example even more convincing than that of any single in
dividual of real history ; if at least it be admitted that
Shakspeare in his delineations of character is true to nature.
For if so, they must be conformable to general nature ; and
each character must be a representative, if not of Man uni
versally, at least of some class of men. A real individual,
on the contrary, may chance to be an exception to all general
rules ; but such a person could not be introduced in a drama

SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 1 67
sense, even of the simple and unlearned Chris
tian, will be sufficient to show him, and show
hira practically, the distinction between that
vain confidence which leads to inactivity, and
a rational confidence connected with exertion ;
without bringing censure on the poet as guilty of a departure
firom nature. Now Macbeth is evidently both prompted in
the first instance to aim at the crown, and fortified to go
through with his attempt, by the prediction of the witches.
We might abstractedly have supposed that he would even
have been withheld, had he previously had the design, from
the perpetration of a crime he abhorred, by the consideration
that it must be needless, since it was infallibly decreed that
he should be king. Once, and only once, the thought occurs
to him, " If Chance will have me king, why Chance may
crown me without my stir ;" but far from acting on this view,
rational as it appears, his conduct is throughout in direct
opposition to it. It has been said, though not, I think,
correctly, that, in cases of this kind, the reason why belief in
Fate does not lead to inactivity, is because it is inoperative.
It does not indeed operate in the same way in which it would
in some persons : there are many who would be deterred from
incurring guilt or danger or toil for the sake of a kingdom by
their being fully convinced of being fated to attain it. But
others are led by this very belief to use efforts which they
otherwise would not have used. Now, surely it is not cor
rect to call that belief inoperative, which does palpably lead
to results, merely because it seems to us strange that such
should be the result.

168 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
provided a due attention is but paid to those
ambiguities of language which have been already
noticed. In fact, he may be easily taught that
the distinction is one which he acts upon con
tinually in the ordinary affairs of life. When
returning, for instance, from his daily labour to
his home, he feels a perfect certainty (supposing
his life and limbs to be spared) that he shall
reach his home ; it is an event of which, practi
cally, he feels no more doubt than of the setting
of the sun ; but he does not therefore stand still,
and neglect to use the means, because he is con
fident of the event; on the contrary, the very
ground of his confidence is the full determination
he feels to press forward towards his object.
In like manner, (it raay be explained to him)
it was in one sense possible, though in another
sense impossible, that Paul should, even at
his last trial, have deserted and renounced his
Saviour ; i. e. it was completely in his power ; it
depended on himself whether he would forsake
his Lord, and forfeit his rich inheritance, or " lay
hold on eternal life" which was just before him :
so that in one sense it was true that he might
fall and perish eternally ; but he was conscious

SECT. 4.J Perseverance and Assurance. 169
that though he had the power, he had not the
will thus to apostatize ; and, therefore, fully
trusting in his Saviour's promises, and in a reso
lution supported by divine aid, he pours forth
(in his second Epistle to Timothy) his exulting
confidence of persevering even to the end.
" The tirae of ray departure is at hand ; I have
fought a good fight ; I have finished ray course ;
henceforth there is laid up for rae a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
Judge, shall give rae at that day !"
It cannot be denied however that there is
practical danger in the tone in which some
preachers dwell on such topics as the " final
perseverance of God's people ;" — the " triumph
of faith ;" which, they say, is sure, if it be a
true saving faith, to prevail in the end, though
God suffers his saints to fall into grievous sins,
&c. All this raay be, and certainly has been in
sorae cases (whether the recorded one of Oliver
Crorawell be authentic or not') interpreted to
' O. Cromwell is said to have anxiously asked, when on
his death-bed, whether it were possible for the elect to fall
finally ; and being answered in the negative, replied, " then I
Tam safe ; for I am certain that 1 was once in a state of grace."

170 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
mean that if a man has been at any tirae satis
fied, frora his own feelings of being in a state
of grace, he will be infallibly saved, and is not
to regard any sin, or course of sin, he raay
subsequently fall into, as endangering his final
acceptance. That this is not the raeaning of raany who
preach in the raanner I have described, I ara
well aware. But then, they are bound distinctly
to warn " him that thinketh he standeth, to take
heed lest he fall." They should explain that a
saving faith can only be known to be such, either
by the possessor of it, or by others, frora its
bringing forth fruits ; — and that, by asserting the
perseverance, or repentance and return to God,
(in case of falhng into sin) of all God's People,
they mean, that those who fall away and do
not return, were deceived in supposing them
selves to have ever been, in this sense, God's
People; — and that no man's state can be pro
perly judged of but by his leading a christian
or an unchristian hfe, or can be perfectly known
except at the last day.
All this, it raay be said, would be but a
circuitous way of stating, in the forra of its

SECT. 4.] Perseverance and Assurance. 171
converse, the proposition, that " He that endureth
unto the end, the same shall be saved." But
this, it is evident, must be the real meaning of
those who use the above-mentioned expressions
without intending to teach Antinomian doctrines.
But, as was observed in the preceding Essay,
(§ 5.) it is not from dwelling on general decrees,
but from the application to each individual or
each description of individuals, of such admo
nitions or encouragements as suit the actual
apparent condition of each, — it is from this alone
that practical good results are to be hoped.
Let the careless Christian then be roused and
alarmed ; — let the presumptuous be warned and
repressed ; — but let no distressing and disheart
ening doubts be implanted in the breast of the
zealous though humble and timid follower of
Christ : only let his confidence be always made
to rest on the supposition of his own unremitting
care and earnest endeavour ; while, at the same
tirae, it is also made to rest not on his own unaided
strength, but on the promised support of Him
who "worketh in us both to will and to do."
Let him be encouraged to rejoice at the bright
prospect set before him ; but to rejoice in

172 Perseverance and Assurance, [essay iv.
the spiritual strength insured to hira by the
Lord, who " never faileth thera that seek Hira."
" Rejoice," (says the Apostle, to such a Chris
tian,) " rejoice in the Lord alway, and again
I say, rejoice .... being confident of this very
thing, that He which hath begun a good work in
you, will perform it until the day of the Lord
Jesus Christ."

NOTE.

Note A, -page 160.
There is a term applied in Scripture to persons who
embraced the Christian faith, for which our language
affords no adequate translation. We have not in
English, as there is in Greek, a present participle pas
sive; and this deficiency often drives us into awkward
and sometimes obscure circumlocution : thus, if tv-jt-
TOfXEvog is rendered " one who is beaten," this might be
understood to relate to what is past, and complete (which
would be Tirvfijiivoq) ; but it signifies properly, though
in uncouth English, " one who is being beaten." The
particular term I am now alluding to is (jw^o/xEvot ;
" the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be
saved ;" rovq cr(ji>ZofiivovQ : (Acts ii. 47) the word ren
dered "such as should be saved," (a rendering which
has perhaps led some readers who cannot, or do not,
study the original, to suppose that absolute predestina
tion is implied in this passage,) signifies merely " persons
coming into the way of salvation," namely, by embracing
Christianity.

174 Note.
It is to be observed, however, by the way, that there
are raany expressions in Scripture, which do not even
imply any full conviction in the writer's mind that a par
ticular event will take place, or has taken place, though
taken strictly, they might seera to imply this, and have,
probably, been often so understood. Instances raay be
found, probably, in all languages, but I think they are
particularly common in Greek, of the same terms being
used in speaking of an object proposed, and of an object
attained; a full design and attempt to do any thing, is
often expressed in the same manner as if it had been
actually done. Thus in the Ajax of Sophocles (to take
an instance from a profane writer), Agamemnon charges
Ajax with having murdered hira ; i, e. having done all
that in him lay to accomplish that purpose, though his
design was frustrated by extraneous impediments. And,
indeed, nothing is more coraraon in most of the ancient
writers, than to speak of a person's having done this or
that, i. e. having been doing it — having forraed the design,
and actually set about it, — though the attempt was
stopped. In this sense the Lord is repeatedly said to
have delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, to bring them
into the land of Canaan, which he had promised to their
forefathers ; and yet the whole generation perished in
the wilderness, through their own refusal when sura-
moned, to take possession of the proraised land ; and a
considerable portion of the promised land was never
occupied even by their posterity, through their own
neglect to drive out the nations whose territory had been
allotted to them. In this case, the positive and un-

Note. 175
qualified declarations of Scripture, not only do not iraply
any compulsion exercised on the Israelites, but do not
even imply a foreknowledge that the events would take
place ; but merely that the Lord had performed Ms part,
and had left it completely in their power to bring about
the events in question.
So also, many of the expressions of the Sacred
Writers, in which they speak of the holiness of life
here, and eternal life hereafter, provided by the grace
of God for those whom they are addressing, not only do
not relate to any absolute predestination to reward, or
irresistible control of the will; but do not necessarily
imply, according to a fair construction of the language,
even so rauch as a perfect confidence in the writers, that
these objects will, in fact, be attained ; but merely that
such is the design and tendency of the gospel dispensa
tion; — that God had placed these things within their
reach. I am not contending, be it observed, that this absolute
predestination and irresistible grace may not, in fact, be
a part of the gospel-scheme in the Divine Mind; but
only that no inference to that effect can be fairly drawn
from the words of the Apostles. They may be truths,
but they are not revealed truths ; they may belong to the
gospel-scheme, but not to the gosT^el-revelation.

ESSAY V.

ON THE ABOLITION OF THE LAW.
There are very many passages relative to the
Mosaic Law occurring in the writings of the
Apostle Paul, (especially in the Epistle to the
Romans, and in those to the Galatians and to
the Hebrews), whose raost obvious and simple
interpretations, at least, would seem to imply
the entire abolition of that law, by the establish
ment of the Gospel. For instance, Rom, vu. 6.
" But now we are delivered from the law, that
being dead wherein we were held ;" — or, accord
ing to another, and perhaps better reading,
which makes no material difference, " being
dead to that law wherein we were held." And
these passages constitute one class of those
from which such pernicious consequences have
been sometimes deduced, and oftener, perhaps.

SECT. l.J 071 the Abolition of the Law. 177
apprehended, as have occasioned the writings
of this Apostle to be regarded by some persons
with suspicion and alarm. A few, and but a
few, have openly inferred, — a greater number
probably have incautiously led their hearers to
infer, — from Paul's declarations relative to our
justification " by faith without the deeds of the
law," that the Christian is under no obhgation to
the practice of virtue, — nor incurs, if he be one of
the Elect, any spiritual danger from the comrais
sion of sin ; and the dread of this Antinomian
system has occasioned others, as I have before
remarked, to withdraw their own and their hearers'
attention, either frora the writings of this Apostle
altogether, or frora those parts of them which
are thought to countenance such a doctrine.
§ 1. That the virtuous or vicious conduct of
a Christian have nothing to do with his final
salvation, and are indifferent in God's sight, has
been inferred from the total abrogation, under
the gospel-scheme, of the Mosaic law; which
abrogation, it is contended, the Apostle plainly
declares, without any limitation or exception —
any distinction between moral, and ceremonial or
N

178 On the Abolition of the Law, [essay v.
civil precepts. On the other side is urged the
strenuous and repeated inculcation of moral
duties, not only by the other Sacred Writers,
but by Paul himself as much as any ; together
with his earnest and express denial of the licen
tious consequences which some might be dis
posed to infer frora his doctrines : for instance,
" What shall we say, then ? Shall we continue
in sin that grace raay abound ? God forbid."
And again, "Shall we sin because we are not
under the law, but under grace ? God forbid."
And hence it is concluded that that abolition of
the law which is spoken of, relates only to the
ceremonial and civil precepts ; and that the moral
law reraains binding on all raen for ever.
But this mode of stating the case, though sub
stantially correct, leaves a considerable difficulty
unsolved : it points out indeed the inconsistency
of the Antinomian scheme with one portion of
the Apostle's writings ; but it leaves unex
plained, and, consequently, open to unfavour
able suspicion, the other portion before alluded
to : it fails, in short, to reconcile the Writer
with himself. For it cannot be denied that he
does speak, frequently and strongly, of the

SECT. 1.] On the Abolition ofthe Law. 179
terraination of the Mosaic law, and of the ex
emption of Christians frora its obligations, with
out ever limiting and qualifying the assertion, —
without even hinting at a distinction between
one part which is abrogated, and another which
remains in full force. It cannot be said that
he had in his mind the Cereraonial law alone,*
and was alluding raerely to the abolition of that ;
for in the very passages in question, he raakes
such allusions to sin, as evidently show that he
had the moral law in his raind ; as, for instance,
where he says, " The law was added because of
transgressions:" — " by the law was the know
ledge of sin ;" with raany other such expressions.
And it is remarkable, that even when he seems
to feel himself pressed with the mischievous
practical consequences which either had been,
or he is sensible might be, drawn fi:om his doc
trines, he never atterapts to guard against these
by hraiting his original assertion ; — by declaring
that though part of the law was at an end, still,
part continued to be binding; but he always
inculcates the necessity of raoral conduct on
^ See Note A, at the end of this Essay.
n2

180 On the Abolition ofthe Law. [essay v.
some different ground : For instance, " What
shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound ? God forbid ! " He
does not then add, that a part of the Mosaic
law reraains in force ; but urges this considera
tion, " How shall we, who are dead to sin, live
any longer therein ? Know ye not that so many
of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were
baptized into his death ? Therefore we are
buried with him by baptisra into death; that
like as Christ was raised up fi-om the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life." ......" Knowing this
that our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin." And again, " Shall we
sin because we are not under the law, but under
grace ? God forbid ! Know ye not that to whom
ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
ye are to whora ye obey ? whether of sin unto
death, or ofobedience unto righteousness" . . . . »
" being then raade free from sin, ye became the
servants of righteousness." And such also is
his tone in every passage relating to the same
subject.

SECT. 2.] On the Abolition ofthe Law. 181
§ 2. Now let us but adopt the obvious interpre
tation ofthe Apostle's words, and admit the entire
abrogation, according to hira, of the Mosaic law ;
concluding that it was originally designed for the
Israelites alone, and that its dominion over them
ceased when the Gospel system was established :
and we shall find that this concession does not
go a step towards introducing the Antinomian
conclusion, that raoral conduct is not required of
Christians. For it is evident that the natural
distinctions of right and wrong, which conscience
points out, raust reraain where they were. These
distinctions, not having been introduced by the
Mosaic law, cannot, it is evident, be overthrown
by its removal; any more than the destruction of
the Teraple at Jerusalera, iraplied the destruction
of the Mount Sion whereon it was built. The
Apostle does indeed speak in some passages, of
the law as having been a guide and instructor in
matters of morality ; as where he says, " I had
not known sin but by the law ; " but that this
must not be understood, in the fullest extent, as
implying that no moral obligation could exist, or
could be understood, independent of the Mosaic
revelation, is evident not only frora the nature of

182 On the Abolition ofthe Law. [essay v.
the case, but from his own reraarks in the sarae
epistle, relative to " the Gentiles, which have not
the law," being capable of " doing by nature the
things contained in the law .... their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts accusing
or else excusing one another;" and of their
" knovdng" (in cases where they comraitted sin)
"that they who do such things are worthy of
death." To say, therefore, that no part of the
Jewish law is binding on Christians, is very far
frora leaving thera at liberty to disregard all
moral duties. For, in fact, the very definition of
a moral duty, implies its universal obligation
independent of all enactment. The precepts re
specting sacrifices, for instance, and other cere
raonial observances, we call Positive ordinances ;
raeaning, that the things in question became
duties because they were commanded: — the com
mandraent to love one's neighbour as oneself,
on the contrary, we call a moral precept, on the
very ground that this was a thing commanded
because it was right. And it is evident that
what was right or wrong in itself before the law
existed, raust reraain such after it is abrogated.
Before the coramandments to do no murder, and

SECT, 2.] On the Abolition ofthe Law. 183
to honour one's parents, had been delivered from
Mount Sinai, Cain was cursed for killing his
brother, and Hara for dishonouring his father ;
which criraes, therefore, could not cease to be
such, at least, as any consequence of the abo
lition of that law.
Nor need it be feared that to proclaira an
exeraption from the Mosaic law should leave
men without any moral guide, and at a loss to
distinguish right and wrong: since, after all,
the light of reason is that to which every man
must be left, in the interpretation of that very
Law. For Moses, it should be remembered, did
not write three distinct books, one of the Cere
monial Law, one of the Civil, and a third of the
Moral ; nor does he hint at any such distinction.
When, therefore, any one is told that a part
of the Mosaic precepts are binding on us, viz.
the moral ones, if he ask which are the Moral
precepts, and how to distinguish them frora
the Ceremonial and the Civil, with which they
mingled, the answer must be, that his conscience,
if he consult it honestly, will determine that
point. So far, consequently, from the moral
precepts of the law, being, to the Christian,,

184 On the Abolition qf the Law. [essay v.
necessary as a guide to his judgraent in deter
mining what is right and wrong, on the contrary,
this moral judgment is necessary to deterraine
what are the moral precepts of Moses.
The study, indeed, of the moral law of Moses
is profitable for instruction, and may serve to
aid our judgraent in sorae doubtful cases that
may occur ; provided we are careful to bear in
mind all the circumstances under which each
precept was delivered. For there is a presump
tion'' that what was commanded or prohibited by
Moses, is right or wrong in itself, unless some
reason can be assigned, which raakes our case
at present different from that of the Israelites ; —
sorae circumstance of distinction, which either
leaves us more at large than they, or (as is
oftener the case) calls for a higher and purer
raoral practice from us. But to consult a code
of moral precepts for instruction, is very different
from referring to that as a standard, and rule of
conduct. If the notion then that such as are not under
the Mosaic law, are, on that account, exempt
frora all moral obligations, be rejected as utterly
^ See Elements of Rhetoric ; " Presumptions."

SECT. 2.j On the Abolition ofthe Law. 185
groundless, and if, consequently, no practical
danger or absurdity be involved in the suppo
sition of that law being fully abrogated, the
conclusion that it is so abrogated will hardly be
any longer open to doubt ; being evidently the
most agreeable to the Apostle's expressions in
their obvious, natural and unstrained sense." And,
indeed, the very Law itself indicates, on the face
of it, that the whole of its precepts were in
tended for the Israelites exclusively ; (on which
supposition they cannot, of course, be binding on
Christians,) not only from the intermixture of
civil and ceremonial precepts with moral, but
from the very terms in which even these last are
° I am inclined to believe that one reason which makes
some persons reluctant to acknowledge the total abolition
of the Mosaic law, is the notion that the sanctity of the
',' Christian Sabbath" depends on the fourth commandment,
and that, consequently, the reverence due to the Lord's Day
would be destroyed, or impaired, by our admitting the ten
commandments to be no longer binding. But a little re
flection will satisfy any candid mind that there is no ground
for any such suspicion, and that all the various opinions
respecting the Lord's Day, however irreconcileable with each
other, are all perfectly reconcileable with the belief of the
abrogation of the Mosaic Law. — On this point I have offered
some remarks in Note B at the end of this Essay.

186 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v.
dehvered. For instance, there cannot be any
duties more clearly of universal obligation, than
that of the worship of the one true God alone,
and that of honouring parents ; yet the precepts
for both of these are so delivered as to address
thera to the children of Israel exclusively : " I
ara the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage ;
thou shalt have none other Gods but me." And
again, " Honour thy father and thy mother, that
thy days may be long in the land which the Lord
thy God giveth thee,"
The simplest and clearest way then of stating
the case with respect to the present question,
is, to lay down, on the one hand, that the Mo
saic Law was limited both to the nation of the
Israelites, and to the period before the Gospel ;
but, on the other hand, that the natural prin
ciples of morality, which, among other things,
it inculcates, are, from their own character, of
universal obligation ; — that, as on the one hand,
" no Christian man (as our article expresses it)
is free frora the observance of those command
ments which are called raoral," so, on the other
hand, it is not because they are commandments

SECT. 3. j On the Abolition qf the Law. 187
of the Mosaic Law that he is bound to obey
them, but because they are raoral. Indeed,
there are nuraerous precepts in the laws, for
instance, of Solon and Mahomet, frora a con
formity to which no Christian can pretend to
exeraption ; yet, though we are bound to prac
tise alrasgiving and several other duties there
enjoined, and to abstain from murder, for in
stance, and false-witness, which these lawgivers
forbid, no one would say that a part of the
Koran is binding on Christians ; since their con
duct is determined not by the authority of the
Koran, but by the nature of the case.
§ 3. The remarks, however, which have been
offered, may perhaps be admitted as just, by
sorae who will yet be disposed to doubt their
importance : " the proposed statement," they
may say, "of the character of a Christian's
moral obligations, differs frora the one opposed
to it, raerely as a statement ; there is substanti
ally no difference, as long as it is fully adraitted
that the Christian is not exerapt from the rules
of morality." But it should be remembered
that the difference between an accurate and an

188 On the Abolition ofthe Law. [essay v.
inaccurate statement of any doctrine, and of
the grounds on which it rests, is of no slight
importance, if not to those who embrace the
doctrine, at least in reference to such as are
disposed to reject or to doubt it. It is giving
a manifest advantage to the advocates of error,
to raaintain a true conclusion in such a form,
and on such grounds, as leave it open to un
answerable objections. And this has been par
ticularly the case in the present instance ; for
the only shadow of probability which has ever
appeared to exist on the Antinomian side, has
arisen from the question having been made "to
turn on this point, whether the Mosaic Law be
entirely abolished, or not : one who denies that
it is, cannot but find a difficulty, at least, in
reconciling his position with many passages of
Scripture ; whereas, if we adrait the preraiss
which the Antinoraians contend for, but show
how utterly unconnected it is with their extra
vagant conclusion; — if we show that though
the Mosaic Law does not bind us, our moral
obligations exist quite independent of that
Law, — the monstrous position that the raoral
conduct of Christians has nothing to do with

SECT. 4.] On the Abolition ofthe Law. 189
their final doom is at once exposed as totally
untenable and absurd.

§ 4. It may be thought, however, that real
decided speculative Antinomians are so rare,
and, moreover, are so far beyond the reach of
sober reasoning, that it is scarcely worth while
to devise arguments for their refutation. And
it must be admitted that the doctrines in ques
tion are not by any means prevalent ; a circum
stance which is very remarkable, and strongly
indicates their intrinsic improbability. For a
system so evidently favourable to the natural
indolence and sinfulness of Man, as that which
raakes our eternal destiny entirely independent
of our raoral conduct, could not have failed to
becorae highly popular, among a large class at
least, were it not utterly repugnant to Reason.
A frightfully large portion of the world are,
undeniably, practical Antinomians ; i. e. they
live as if they did not expect to be hereafter
accountable for their conduct ; and yet it will
be found, that in theory, very few of these
adopt the Antinomian hypothesis, which would
be the most effectual in quieting the conscience

190 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay v.
of the sinner : a circumstance which furnishes
raost powerful testiraony against tbe truth of
that hypothesis.
But however sraall may be the danger of the
Antinomian heresy gaining ground, the right
interpretation of Scripture relative to this point,
is not, therefore, the less important. The
opinion that the Gospel exempts men frora
raoral obligation is not the error which I have
had principally in view, but another, much
raore prevalent — that of suspecting that Paul
lends some support to such an opinion ; and
consequently, of depreciating the authority, or
discouraging the study, of his writings. It is on
this account chiefly that I have endeavoured to
show, in this and two former Essays, how far
this Apostle is frora affording any countenance
to certain doctrines, the advocates of which
usually appeal to his authority.
But another, and perhaps still raore iraportant
use, may be made of the view which has been
now taken. The Apostle, we find, while he
earnestly contends for the entire abolition of the
Mosaic Law, still recognizes the authority of
that moral law which is written on man's heart.

SECT. 4.J On the Abolition ofthe Law, 191
This consideration not only deprives Antino
mians of all shadow of support for their system,
and reraoves the prejudice which might exist
against the Apostle, but it also leads us to re
flect on his raethod of inculcating raoral duties,
and on his reasons for adopting it.
If men are taught to regard the Mosaic Law
(with the exception of the civil and ceremonial
ordinances) as their appointed rule of life, they
will be disposed to lower the standard of Chris
tian morality, by contenting themselves with a
literal adherence to the express commands of that
Law ; or, at least, merely to enlarge that code,
by the addition of such precise raoral precepts
as they find distinctly enacted in the New
Testaraent. Now this was very far from being
the Apostle's view of the Christian life. Not
only does the Gospel require a morality in many
respects higher and more perfect in itself than
the Law, but it places morality, universally, on
higher grounds. Instead of precise rules, it
furnishes sublime principles of conduct ; leaving
the Christian to apply these, according to his
own discretion, in each case that may arise ; and
thus to be "a law unto himself." Gratitude

192 On the Abolition ofthe Law. [essay v.
for the redeeming love of God in Christ, with
mingled veneration and affection for the person
of our great Master,^ and an exalted emulation,
leading us to tread in his steps — an ardent
longing to behold his glories, and to erijoy his
presence in the world to come — with an earnest
effort to prepare for that better world — love
towards our brethren for His sake who died for
us and them — and, above all, the thought that
the Christian is a part of " the temple of the
Holy Ghost," who dwelleth in the church — even
the " Spirit of Christ, without which we are none
of his," a temple which we are bound to keep
undefiled ; — these, and such as these, are the
gospel-principles of morality, into a conforraity
with which the Christian is to fashion his heart
and his life ; and they are such principles as the
Mosaic dispensation could not furnish. The
Israelites, as not only living under a revelation
which had but a shadow of the good things of
the Gospel, but also as a dull, and gross-rainded,
and imperfectly-civilized people, in a condition
corresponding to that of childhood, were in few
things left to their own moral discretion, but
¦^ See Essay III. First Series.

SECT. 5.] On the Abolition qf the Law, 193
were furnished with precise rules in most points of
conduct. These answered to the exact regu
lations under which children are necessarily
placed, and which are gradually relaxed as they
advance towards maturity; not by any means
on the ground that good conduct is less required
pf men than of children ; but that they are ex
pected to be more capable of regulating their
own conduct by their own discretion, and of acting
upon principle.
§ 5. When, then, the Mosaic code was abo
lished, we find no other system of rules substi
tuted in its place. Our Lord and his Apostles
enforced such duties as were the most hable to be
neglected, — corrected some prevailing errors,—
gave some particular directions which particular
occasions called for, — but laid down no set of
rules for the conduct of a Christian. : they laid
down Christian principles instead : they sought
to implant Christian dispositions. And this is
the more remarkable, inasmuch as we may be
sure, from the nature of Man, that precise regu
lations, even though somewhat tedious to learn,
and burdensome to observe, would have been

194 On the Abolition ofthe Law. [essay v.
highly acceptable to their converts.^ Hardly
any restraint is so irksome to Man {j. e. to " the
natural Man") as to be left to his own discretion,
yet still required to regulate his conduct accord
ing to certain principles, and to steer his course
through the intricate channels of life, with a
constant vigilant exercise of his raoral judgraent.
It is rauch raore agreeable to human indolence
(though at first sight the contrary might be sup
posed) to have a coraplete systera of laws laid
down, which are to be observed according to the
letter, not to the spirit ; and which, as long as a
raan adheres to thera, afford both a consola
tory assurance of safety, and an unrestrained
liberty as to every point not determined by
them ; than to be called upon for incessant
watchfulness, — careful and candid self-examina
tion, — and studious cultivation of certain moral
dispositions. ^ If the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, had been three
times as long, and had consisted, not, as it does, of a delinea
tion of Christian dispositions, but of a catalogue of minute
directions for particular cases, it would doubtless have been
more satisfactory to the hearers. But for some further re
marks on our Lord's mode of conveying moral instruction,
see Essay VIII.

SECT. 5.] On the Abolition qf the Law. 195
Accordingly, most, if not all systems of Man's
devising (whether corruptions of Christianity, or
built on any other foundation) will be found,
even in what appear their most rigid enactments,
to be accomraodated to this tendency of the
human heart. When Mahomet, for instance,
enjoined on his disciples a strict fast during a
certain period, and an entire abstinence frora
wine and from games of chance, and the devotion
of a precise portion of their property to the
poor, leaving them at liberty, generally, to follow
their own sensual and worldly inclinations, he
imposed a far less severe task on them than if
he had required them constantly to control their
appetites and passions, to repress covetousness,
and to be uniformly temperate, charitable, and
heavenly-minded. And had Paul been (as a
false teacher always will be) disposed to comply
with the expectations and wishes which his
disciples would naturally form, he would doubt
less have referred them to some part of the
Mosaic Law as their standard of morality, or
would have substituted some other system of
rules in its place. Indeed there is strong
reason to think, (especially frora what we find
o2

196 On the Abolition of the Law. [essay \ .
in 1st Corinthians) that something of this nature
had actually been desired ofhim. He seems to
have been applied to for more precise rules than
he was willing to give ; particularly as to the
lawfulness of going to idol-feasts, and as to
several points relative to marriage and cehbacy ;
concerning which, and other matters, he gives
briefly such directions as the occasion rendered
indispensable, but breaks off into exhortations
to " use this world as not abusing it ;" and
speedily recurs to the general description of the
Christian character, and the inculcation of
Christian principles. He will not be induced to
enter into minute details of things forbidden,
and permitted, — enjoined and dispensed with;
and even when most occupied in repelling the
suspicion that gospel-liberty exempts the Chris
tian from moral obligation, instead of retaining
or framing anew any system of prohibitions and
injunctions, he urges upon his hearers the very
consideration of their being exempt from any
such childish trammels, as a reason for their
aiming at a more perfect holiness of hfe, on
purer and more generous motives : " Sin," he
says, " shall not have dominion over you ; for

SECT. 5.] On the Abolition of the Law. 197
ye are not under the Law, but under grace :" and
he perpetually incites them to walk "worthy
of their vocation," on the ground of their being
"bought with a price," and bound to "hve unto
Him who died for them ;" — as " risen with
Christ" to a new hfe of hohness, — exhorted to
" set their affection on things above, not on
things on the earth ;" — as " living sacrifices" to
God ; — as " the temple of the Holy Ghost,"
called upon to keep God's dwelling-place un
defiled, and to abound in all " the fruits of the
Spirit ;" — and as " being delivered from the Law,
that we should serve in newness of the Spirit,
and not in the oldness of the letter."
He who seeks then (as many are disposed to
do), either in the Old Testament or in the New,
for a precise code of laws by which to regulate
his conduct, mistakes the character of our re
ligion. It is indeed an error, and a ruinous one,
to think that we raay " continue in sin, because
we are not under the law but under grace :"
but it is also an error, and a far commoner one,
to inquire of the Scriptures in each case that may
occur, what we are strictly bound to do or to
abstain from, and to feel secure as long as we

198 On the Abolition ofthe Law. [essay v.
transgress no distinct commandraent. But he
who seeks with sincerity for Christian principles
will not fail to find thera. If we endeavour,
through the aid of the Holy Spirit, to trace on
our own heart the delineation of the Christian
character which the Scriptures present, and to
conform all our actions, and words, and thoughts,
to that character, our heavenly Teacher will
enable us to "have a right judgment in all
things;" and we shall be " led by the Spirit" of
Christ to follow his steps, and to " purify our
selves even as He is pure;" that "when He
shall appear, we may be made like unto Him,
and may behold hira as He is."

NOTES.

Note A, page 179.
It appears plainly from the Acts and from the
Epistles, that the Jewish Christians continued to adhere
to the observances and rules of the Levitical Law, as
national customs, down to the tirae, probably, of the
taking of Jerusalem and final overthrow of the Jewish
polity. [See Acts xviii. 18, and xxi. 24. J
To some it has appeared a difficulty to understand
why the Apostle Paul in particular, should have not
merely allowed' this, but apparently even made a point
of it, while at the same time, so far from insisting on
the Gentile-converts observing the Ceremonial Law, he
earnestly protested against their doing so. To them he
declared that " if they were circumcised, (denoting I
conceive by that word, the observance, generally, of the
Ceremonial Law) Christ profited them nothing;" while
on the other hand he himself made an open display of
his strict compliance with the customs and observances
of his People.
Some might at first sight be led to expect that the
principle he lays down, " In Christ Jesus neither cir
cumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a

200 Notes.
new creature," would have led hira to disregard alto
gether the whole question respecting the Cereraonial
Law, and to leave all raen to their own judgment or
inclination. But on more attentive reflection we shall perceive the
admirable wisdom of his procedure, and its exact con
formity with the above principle. The ceremonial
observances of the Law being a matter of perfect in
difference as far as the Gospel is concerned, — neither a
part of it, nor contrary to it — the only way of practically
complying with this principle, was, that, in respect of
such observances, every one should remain just as he
had been before ; neither adopting nor discontinuing, oii
becoming a Christian, national customs which Chris
tianity neither enjoins nor forbids : — should " continue
(as the Apostle expresses it) in his vocation wherein he
was called." [See Hinds's History of the Rise of
Christianity.] If those who had been accustomed, for instance, to eat
all kinds of meats, had begun, on becoming Christians,
to abstain from swine's-flesh, &c. this would have implied
that that abstinence, and other such observances were
regarded by them as a part of Christianity : — it would
have implied their attributing sorae justifying eflacacy to
these " works of the Law." And the Apostle reprobates
accordingly such an error as most pernicious and un
christian; saying that he who seeks this justification is
" fallen from grace," (viz. the grace of the Gospel) " and
that Christ is become of none effect to him." But if
again any one who was a Jew by nation, had departed

Notes. 201
from their customs on becoming a Christian, he would
have implied a belief that those national customs were
soraething contrary to Christianity ;^that there was some
Christian virtue in the opposite customs. Now this
Would have been no less an error than the other ; for the
eating, for instance, of swine's-flesh, was no more a part
of Christianity than the abstaining from it.
When indeed the city and temple had been finally
destroyed by the Romans, and the People dispersed,
then, and frora thenceforward down to the present day,
there was no longer the sarae reason for converted Jews
to adhere to those observances which could no longer be
regarded as national customs, (the national Polity being
entirely subverted) but rather as badges of a religious
persuasion. But during the subsistence of that Polity,
the example and the advice of the Apostles tended to
leave all Christians, Jew and Gentile, each " in his voca
tion wherein he was called ;" neither discontinuing, nor
adopting, any customs that were, as far as regards Chris
tianity, raatters of perfect indifference.
The most anxious care was taken, and the most ad
mirable wisdom evinced, in guarding men against mixing
up with Gospel-truth, any thing, — no matter what — that
is no part of it, and in warning them of the several
superstitions, which, though seemingly opposite, were
essentially the same. Note B, page 185.
Several different opinions are to be met with as to the
ground on which the observance of the Lord's Day should

202 Notes.
be maintained; none of which however, — though they
cannot all be correct, — are in reality at variance with
what has been said respecting the abrogation of the
Levitical Law.
In the former editions I entered into an examination
of these several opinions, and a defence of the one which
appears to me the best-founded ; and was thus led into a
discussion, not, I trust unprofitable, but longer than I had
originally designed, or than was perhaps warranted by
the degree of connexion it has with the immediate subject
ofthe Vth Essay. That dissertation being now sepa
rately published under the title of " Thoughts on the
Sabbath," I have judged it best to refer my readers to it,
for a fuller examination of the several questions that
have been raised ; confining the present Note chiefly to
the one point more immediately relating to the subject
now before us, viz. that (as has been already said) none
of the prevailing opinions, however irreconcileable with
each other, are necessarily at variance with the doctrine
that the obligations of the Levitical Law are at an end.
The several opinions respecting the grounds of the
observance of the Lord's Day may be classed under four
heads :
i. Some hold that the Lord's Day is essentially a
Christian festival, observed in conformity with the prac
tice of the Apostles and of their followers in every
Christian Church frora their tirae downwards: that it
agrees with the Jewish Sabbath, only, inasrauch as it is
observed on one day in every seven, agreeably to the
division of tirae into weeks, derived from the Jews, the

Notes. 203
nation in which Christianity originated : but that it dif
fers frora the Jewish Sabbath in being observed on a
diflferent day of the week, — on a different authority — in
a different manner, — and in coraraeraoration of a diff'erent
event.* ii. Some hold that the Lord's Day is observed on the
authority, not of the Fourth Commandment, but of a
precept delivered to all mankind at the Creation, and
which is alluded to in the beginning of Genesis.
iii. The observance of Sunday as a Christian Sab
bath is by sorae persons derived from the Mosaic Law,
on the ground of its being one of the moral precepts of
that Law.
iv. Lastly, some maintain that the Fourth Cora
raandment is binding on Christians, but that the duties
and obligations pertaining originally to the Seventh day
were transferred by the authority of the Apostles to the
First day ; — in short that they changed the Sabbath frora
Saturday to Sunday.
Now each of these different opinions will be found on
reflection to be perfectly reconcileable with what I have
maintained relative to the abrogation of the Mosaic
Law. 1. With respect to the first of these opinions this is
obvious. A festival peculiarly and exclusively Christian,

» The universal observance among Christians in distant ages and
countries, and dilTering in so many points of doctrine and practice,
of some Christian Festivals, such as Christmas Day, Good Friday,
and the Lord's Day, is in many points of view a most interesting
fact.

204 Notes.
cannot be in any way affected, — any raore than the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper, — by the abolition of
the Law of Moses.
2. The sarae raay be said of the second of the opinions
noticed. A command delivered at the Creation to the
whole Human Race, cannot be afi'ected by the abolition
of the Law, delivered, many ages afterwards, to the one
Nation of Israel.
3. A moral precept again, must, by its own character —
because it is a moral precept — be binding on all men in
every age and country, independent of any enactment.
4. And those who hold that the obligations of the
Sabbath were transferred by the Apostles from- Saturday
to Sunday, — though their doctrine is extremely liable to
be so understood as to imply that the Mosaic Law is not
abrogated — yet may perceive on attentive reflection that
this conclusion does not necessarily follow. For' this
(supposed) transfer of the Sabbath by the Apostles
would plainly amount to a re-enactment by the divine
authority of those Apostles; so that the Christian
Sabbath being thus raade to depend on their comraand,
cannot be affected ty the abrogation of the Levitical
Law. We all know that when (in secular raatters) some
law is repealed by a subsequent Act, which declares at
the same time that such and such a clause of the former
law shall, under certain modifications, continue in force,
then, the clause so modified, is binding by virtue of the
very Act which repealed the original law. Any altera
tion therefore made by the Apostles in the Jewish Sab
bath (viz. as to the day, and the mode, of the observance)

Notes. 205
plainly amounts to an institution by tJiem of the Christian
Sabbath. Now the authority of an apostolical institution no one
can consider as weakened by the abrogation of the Mo
saic Law.
The doctrine in question however, — though the above
is I think the fairest way of considering it, — yet is liable
(as has been just observed) to be so understood — and I
believe often is so understood — as to nullify all that I
have urged respecting the entire abrogation ofthe Mosaic
Law, and to establish a principle which, if consistently
followed out, would go to subject Christians to all the
obligations of that Law.
I. The first of the opinions alluded to, — that which
places the observance of the Lord's Day wholly on a
Christian foundation, — has a strong presumption in its
favour from its general prevalence among Christians,
even those most widely separated from each other, not
only in age and country, but also in their opinions and
practices in several other points. With scarcely any ex
ception but that of a portion — certainly a considerable
¦portion — of the inhabitants of these Islands (and of their
American descendants) for about the last two centuries,
the opinion I now advert to has been the prevailing one
throughout the whole Christian world in every age and
country. This does not indeed amount to raore than a very
strong presumption of the soundness of the doctrine :
but that it should have been , represented as not only
unsound, but novel and singular, is quite unaccountable.

206 Notes.
Of the later divines who have taken this view the best
known is Dr. Paley ; whose Moral Philosophy is in the
hands of almost every educated person in the empire.
Of our earlier divines, — the Reforraers of our Church
and those who lived near their times — there wef'e
scarcely any who took any other view than that I am
now adverting to; which indeed was in those days so
little disputed, that most of those writers iraplied, by
their silence on the subject, or their slight and inci
dental allusions to it, that they did not consider the
doctrine as requiring to be defended or even forraally
stated. For example, throughout the whole of our
Liturgy and Rubric the word Sabbath never once
occurs. Our Reformers, there is every reason to be
lieve, concurred in taking the same view of the obli
gation of the Fourth Commandment as is set forth in
the Catechism extant under the name of Archbishop
Cranmer, published in the beginning of the reign of
Edward the Sixth : " The Jews, in the Old Testament,
were commanded to keep the Sabbath Day ; and they
observed it every Seventh Day, called the Sabbat, or
Satterday. But we Christian men, in the New Testa
raent are not bound to such commandments of Moses'
Law," &c. &c.
The reader who would examine further the opinions
on this point, of our early divines, is referred to Dr.
Heylin's "History of the Sabbath," Baxter's "Prac
tical Works," (p. 764), Bishop Taylor's " Ductor Dubi-
tantium," Bishop Sanderson's " Cases of Conscience,"
Bishop Bramhall's "Dissertation," &c.

Notes. 207
II. In reference to the second of the opinions above
noticed, which rests the obligation of observing the Lord's
Day on a comraand given at the creation, I so far agree
with it as to think it highly probable that some Sabbatical
institution in memory of the creation existed in the patri
archal times. It must have been indeed something less
strict than the Mosaic ordinance ; else the Sabbaths could
not have been " a sign between the Lord and the People
of Israel," distinguishing them from the other nations :
but that sorae kind of observance of the Seventh Day ex
isted prior to the Mosaic Law, is a conclusion reasonably
to be drawn (though not to be insisted on as a necessary
Article of Faith) from the wide diffusion of the custom of
dividing time into weeks, even among the Pagans ; whose
religion was a corruption of the patriarchal. Even in the
agreement of several diff'erent nations in dedicating each
day of the week to some one of their false gods, some trace
may be perceived of the true origin of the hebdomadal
division.'' But the question is rather speculative than practical.
The precept, if any such was originally delivered, of ob
serving the last day of the week as a Sabbath in memory of
the close of the Creation, never in fact has been observed
by Christians ; with the exception of a very small number,
in the early Churches, of men who were tinctured with
•> It seems not unlikely that the dedication, among so many dif
ferent nations, of the first day of the week to the Sun, may be a
trace of the commemoration of the day on which " God said. Let there
be light." And again, Saturn, to whom the Seventh Day was dedi
cated, is generally described by Pagan writers as connected with a
reign oi peaceful re-pose, — of universal and unbroken rest.

208 Notes.
Judaisra. And if a law designed to be universal and perpe
tual, had been delivered, God would never surely have left
it to be inferred by uncertain conjecture, but would have
plainly recorded it. To leave men in doubt what their obli
gations are, is always reckoned one ofthe most inexcusable
blunders in legislation, and such as it would be profane to
attribute to the Deity. The very notion otaprobable law,
emanating from a perfectly wise and good Being, raay
fairly be regarded as a contradiction in terms.
III. As for those who represent the Fourth Command
raent as a part of the moral law, and the observance of
the Lord's Day as a fulfilment of it, they appear, if I
understand their meaning (of which, however, I am not
certain) not so much to hold any peculiar doctrine, as to
employ their terms in a peculiar and unusual sense ; intro
ducing needless indistinctness and perplexity by the want
of a precise mode of expression. The distinction between
moral (i. e. natural) precepts, and positive precepts, (see
Essay V. § 2,) is too well established and too convenient,
to be lightly departed from. It is indeed morally right
to obey the just commands of a lawful superior, even in
matters originally indiff'erent ; but still we should distin
guish these from things not originally indiff'erent. A Jew
was bound, for instance, both to honour his parents, and
also, to worship at Jerusalem : but the former was co-m-
mmided because it was right ; and the latter was right
because it was commanded.
Now it is plain that the observance of one day in seven
rather than one in six, or one in eight or in ten, and the
observance of the last day of the week rather than the first

Notes. 209
or the second, must be, — independently of any positive
ordinance, — a matter of indiff'erence.
But what is usually meant, I believe, by those who
reckon the observance of the Sabbath as a part of the
moral (i. e. natural) law, is, merely that it is a moral duty
to devote a certain portion of time to devotion and reli
gious study ; though the specification of particulars is a
matter of positive enactment. In this sense, the statement
is true ; and it is equally true, in the same sense, that the
Levitical Sacrifices were, — and that the ordinance of the
Eucharist is — a part of the raoral law : since natural con
science teaches the duty of worshipping God, though not,
the particular raode of worship.
IV. Lastly, the opinion of those who hold that the fourth
coraraandment is binding on Christians, but that the
Sabbath was transferred by the Apostles from the last
day of the week to the first, although, as I have said, it
is not, when fairly considered, at variance with the doc-
trineof the general abolition ofthe Mosaic law,— since such
a transfer by apostolic authority would plainly amount to
a re-enactment by the Apostles, of that particular ordi
nance, so modified — yet I must say that I can see no
plausible grounds for the opinion.
The Mosaic law of the Sabbath was delivered very
plainly and publicly, — with especial solemnity — and with
such particularity as to forbid expressly the kindling of a
fire. (Exod. xxxv. 2, 3.) Any transference therefore
of the ordinance from one day to another, or any other
modification of it, we might have expected to find intro
duced with no less plainness, solemnity, and precision :
and not left to be inferred from any incidental hints, or
P

210 Notes.
traditional interpretations. But we find not only no
express enactment, or even hint, or tradition of the kind,
but the very contrary. We find in the book of Acts the
Sabbath continually mentioned, always as the Jewish
Sabbath, and always as an ordinance regularly observed
(in common with the other precepts of the Levitical law)
by the Apostles and the rest of the Jewish Christians :
and this, at the very time when it is plain they were ac
tually observing the Lord's Day as the day of Christian
worship ; assembling " the disciples on the first day of
the week, to break bread ;" {j. e. to celebrate the Eucharist)
— those very Gentile-disciples whom Paul exhorts to "let
no man judge them in meat or in drink, or in respect of a
holyday, or ofthe new moon, or of the Sabbath-days; which
are a shadow of things to come ; but the body is Christ."
We find, in short, the most ample evidence of the ob
servance of the Lord's day, as a Christian festival, by the
Apostles and their immediate converts ; whose exaraple
has been followed by all Christian Churches down to this
day : but that in so doing they conceived themselves to
be observing a precept of the Levitical law, and that they
taught the doctrine of a transfer of the Sabbath from one
day to another, we find not only no evidence, but every
conceivable evidence to the contrary.
I am therefore much at a loss to understand how any
one can really entertain a doubt on the question, who does
but read the New Testament with attention, and with an
unprejudiced mind ; even without consulting as an inter
preter, that Liturgy which is usually regarded as our
Church's Comraentary on the Scriptures, as far as regards
the main points of Christian doctrine and duty.

Notes. 211
But many persons not generally uninquiring, or un
candid, or incompetent to reason accurately, have yet
been so early accustomed to take for granted, and assent
to on authority, certain particular points, that they after
wards adhere to the belief so formed, rather from associa
tion than on evidence. And some again, through the
influence of a feeling which I have described in Essay I.
§ 5. when inculcating what they are conscientiously con
vinced is a duty, are so fearful of unsettling the minds (as
the phrase is) of their hearers, that, rather than use any
argument, which though valid, might startle and revolt
popular prejudices, they will avail themselves of such as
they know will be readily adraitted, though really un
sound : sometimes even cautioning their hearers (as I
know to have been done in respect of the present question)
against reading any thing on the other side.
They probably satisfy theraselves with the considera
tion that the great point being to bring raen to a right
practical conclusion, it is a raatter of comparatively small
moraent how they get at it. And it may, I am sensible,
seera to many, that it is a mere speculative question, on
what the observance of the Christian Sabbath is raade to
depend, as long as all Christians are practically agreed
that it shall be observed, and observed on the sarae day
of the week, — the first, — and observed in a diff'erent
manner from that prescribed to the Jews ; who were for
bidden, among other things, to kindle a fire, &c.
Now this pra ctical agreement does certainly make any
hostile bitterness on such a question doubly unjustifiable,
and aggravates greatly the culpability of any slanderous
p2

212 Notes.
misrepresentation of the doctrine maintained. I cannot
however but consider it as practically very dangerous to
adrait a principle that may encourage men to take liberties
with any divine commandment which they confess to be
binding on them, and to modify it according to human
tradition, or any kind of human authority. And such a
danger cannot but be incurred, if we teach them that the
Mosaic law of the Sabbath is binding on Christians, while
we also teach them that they are obeying it by observing
a different day from the one which that law appoints, —
in a different manner, — and in memory of a different event.
And it is every way desirable that they should be taught
not only, in practice, to observe the Lord's Day, but also
in principle ; to observe it not as an ordinance enjoined by
the Mosaic Law — which in fact it is not — nor as deriving
its obligation — even if it were enjoined there — frora a law
which the Apostle assures us does not bind Christians ;
but on the reasonable and true grounds which I have en
deavoured to point out in the foregoing pages, as a
Christian festival.
For a fuller elucidation of this subject than would be
suitable to the present occasion, the reader is referred
to the treatise already mentioned, — " Thoughts on the
Sabbath;" — and also (besides the authors above cited) to
Bishop Kaye's " Selections frora ths Works of Justin,"
and to a well-written Review ofthe same in No. X. ofthe
Brtish Critic ; to several parts of Augustine and the other
early Fathers when treating of the Decalogue ; and to
" Calvin's Institutes," [lib. ii. ch. 8.]

ESSAY VI.
ON IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
The importance of obtaining correct, and
avoiding erroneous notions, respecting any point
of doctrine, is not always to be measured by the
intrinsic importance of the doctrine itself, or by
the practical consequences immediately resulting
frora this or that view of it. No error can be
considered as harmless and insignificant, which
tends to put a stumbling-block in the way of
believers in the Gospel, and to afford to infidels
or heretics the advantage of a plausible objection
against its truths. The genuine and fundamental
doctrines of Christianity, may become liable to
the scoffs of some, and to the dread or disre
gard of others, from their supposed connexion
with such as are in fact no part of the gospel-
revelation. It then becomes a matter of im
portance to rectify even those mistakes which

214 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
are in themselves of no moment ; since we thus
(to use once raore the expression of Dr. Paley)
" relieve Christianity of a weight that sinks it."
God forbid that the Christian should deny or
explain away any thing that is a part of his
faith, for the sake of raoderating the hostility, or
escaping the scorn that raay be directed against
it ; but as little is he authorized needlessly to
expose his religion to that hostility or scorn, by
raaintaining or allowing to be raaintained, as a
part of the Christian-revelation, any tenet (how
ever intrinsically true) which the Scriptures do
not warrant. The same authority which forbids
us to " diminish aught" from the word of God,
forbids us also to "add thereto."
That the Apostle Paul's authority in particular
has been appealed to in support of several con
clusions which are in fact not taught by him,
I have already endeavoured to show ; principally
with a view to the removal of that dread or
neglect of his writings which has too often been
the result.
§ 1. Another doctrine, or set of doctrines
rather, there is, in support of which, this

SECT. 1.] On imputed Righteousness, 215
Apostle's authority is principally referred to,
and which being (whether deservedly or not)
regarded by raany with suspicion and alarm, or
with disgust and contempt, has thus proved a
source of objection, either to the gospel-scheme
altogether, or to the teaching of Paul in par
ticular, of which such tenets have been supposed
to forra a part. I allude to the doctrine of
" iraputed sin," and " imputed righteousness," as
set forth by sorae writers, who represent it as
the very key-stone of the Christian system.
I purposely abstain from referring to any
authors in particular; because the proper cha
racter of a calm inquiry after truth, is so liable
to be lost in that of a controversy with some
individual or party; and the discussion of any
question thus becomes, though more interesting
perhaps to sorae rainds, yet less edifying ; since,
after ah, the object ultiraately proposed should
be, not the confutation of this or that theologian,
but the ascertainment of the genuine doctrines
of our religion ; which must rest, not on any
raerely human authority, but on that of the
Holy Scriptures.
The system at present in question, as far as

216 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
I have been able to collect its iraport, may be
briefiy stated thus : that when our first parents
had fallen frora their state of innocence, they
transraitted to all their posterity (over and above
the proneness to sin which we are born with,
and our liability to natural death,) the guilt also
of the actual transgression coraraitted by Adara :
this being imputed to every one of his poste
rity : for he, it is said, being the federal head
or representative of the whole huraan species,
his act is considered as theirs to all intents and
purposes ; and each descendant of Adam is con
sidered by his Almighty Judge as actually guilty,
from his birth, of the very sin of having eaten
of the forbidden fruit ; and is, for that sin, sen
tenced not merely to undergo natural death, but
also everlasting punishment in the next vvorid,
independently of any sins committed by hiraself.
This is not indeed always the sense in which
the imputation of Adam's sin to his posterity,
and their consequent punishment, are spoken
of; there are sorae who understand by the ex
pression, merely, the forfeiture of immortality —
the liability to teraporal death; though it is
perhaps rather an incorrect use of language, to

SECT. Lj On imputed Righteousness, 217
apply the term punishment to the absence of that
immortahty which was never our's : the human
race indeed, taken collectively, so as to include
our first parents, may be said to have lost im
mortal life ; but each individual of their pos
terity, being born mortal, cannot, without great
laxity of language, be said to be punished by
being excluded from imraortality.
The doctrine, however, in the sense before
stated, has been often expressly maintained, and
much oftener, indirectly implied, and assumed as
indubitable. Then, to relieve mankind from this sentence,
and to procure for them iramortal happiness in
heaven, our Saviour Christ, it is said, not only
in his death offered up an effectual sacrifice for
the sins of the whole world, — bearing in his own
person the punishment due both to the imputed
transgression of Adam, and to the actual sins
of men, — but also, during his abode on earth,
performed for them those good works of perfect
obedience to the law, both ceremonial, civil,
and raoral, which are imputed to true behevers
in Him, and considered as theirs : even as the
transgression of Adam is imputed to all his

218 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
natural descendants. Thus, and thus only, it
is said, could the evil introduced by Adara's
transgression be (as far as respects the adoptive
children of God) effectually repaired: for as
Adara was the representative of the whole huraan
race, so that his sin is, by imputation, made
theirs, and they, all and each, thus lay under
the sentence of eternal punishraent, so it was
necessary that the obedience and personal holi
ness of Christ, who stands as the representative
of his faithful servants, should be, in like raanner,
iraputed to thera, and thus give them a title to
eternal happiness : — that He should, in short,
not only by his death undergo the punishment
due to Man frora God, but also, in his life, fulfil
the righteousness due to God from Man ; in
each instance, suffering and perforraing what
He did, vicariously,— /or, and in the stead of,
his people ; who are thence regarded as having
themselves both paid the penalty of sin, and
also performed perfect obedience to the divine
laws ; both having been accomplished by their
substitute and representative. And some there
are, who go so far as to raaintain that as God
imputes to behevers the good works of Jesus

SECT. l.J On imputed Righteousness. 219
Christ, and transfers to them the merit of his
obedient life, so He also imputed to Jesus, at the
time of his crucifixion, the actual guilt of those
sins for which he suffered, and regarded Him,
for the tirae being, as the actual transgressor;
" bearing ous sins " not only in respect of the
penalty of thera, but of their intrinsic guilt, and
the divine wrath^ against it. This, however, is not,
I believe, held by all who maintain the imputa
tion of Adam's sin, and of Christ's obedience.
Some other slighter variations of stateraent
are to be found, as raight be expected, in the
works of different authors ; but such, in the
raain, as I have described, is the systera taught,
not in abstruse theological disquisitions raerely,
but in several popular treatises and sermons ;
and taught, as the very foundation of christian
faith ; of which indeed it must, if true, form no
insignificant part."
» There are many writers, who never think of reminding
their readers, and, indeed, appear to have themselves gradually
learnt to forget, that rorath is attributed to the Deity only in
a figurative, not a literal sense. — See King's Discourse on
Predestination, ^ This theory may be classed, I think, under the head of
Bacon's " Idola Theatri."

220 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
That it is paradoxical, — remote from all we
should naturally have expected, — and starthng
to our untutored feelings, cannot be questioned.
This is, however, no reason why it may not be
true ; or why, if true, we should shrink from
receiving it ; since God's " ways are not as our
ways ;" and since, incapable as we are of estir
mating his counsels, it is for us, not to question,
but to receive, whatever He may have proposed
to us. It is a reason, however, why we should
inquire for, and expect, the more full and precise
revelation on such a point. What is discover
able by unassisted human Reason, we must not
expect to find revealed at all in Scripture.
Such things again as, though not discoverable
by reason, are yet conformable to its suggestions,
and contain no raysterious difficulty, — of these,
we may receive satisfactory assurance even in a
single passage, or in a few short hints. But
any doctrine which, like that now in question, is
wholly at variance with every notion we should
naturally be led to form, we may be sure will be
revealed, if revealed at all, in the fullest and
most decisive language. The doctrine, too,
which I have been considering, must, if it belong

SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousriess. 221
to the gospel-scheme, be as important as it is
mysterious : it must be the very key, as it were,
to eternal happiness ; since, according to this
view, it is only through the obedience of Christ
iraputed to us, that we can have any claim or
hope to be admitted to the glories of his
heavenly kingdom.
§ 2. It is not once or twice, therefore,^ — it is
not obscurely or obliquely, — ^that we might ex
pect to find Paul speaking to his converts of
this imputed sin, and imputed obedience. As
the foundation of salutary dread, and of conso
latory hope, — as connected most intimately with
every question relative to the punishments and
rewards of the next world, — we might expect
him to make the most exphcit declarations re
specting a point of such moment, — to dwell on
it copiously and earnestly, — to recur to it in
almost every page.
Now when we proceed to the actual examina
tion of Scripture, do we find these raost reason
able expectations confirmed ? Far otherwise :
it is not, perhaps, going too far, to say that the
whole system is made to rest on a particular

222 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
interpretation of one single text (Rom. v. 19),
"As by one man's disobedience many" were
raade sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
raany '^ be made righteous." For though there
are other passages which have been considered
as alluding to and confirming the tenet in ques
tion, there is none that could, without manifest
violence, be construed into an express declara
tion of it.
The passage in question is one which we
cannot reasonably hope to interpret aright, if
we contemplate it as an insulated proposition ; —
if we do not take into account the general tenour
of the Apostle's teaching. Now, it is most ira
portant to observe, that frequent as are his
allusions (as raight be expected) to the Chris
tian's redemption, and acceptableness to God,
through Christ ; the reference is made, through
out, to his death, — to his cross, — to his blood, —
to his sifferings, — to his sacrifice of himself, as
the meritorious cause of our salvation ; not, to
the righteousness of his life imputed to believers ;
the transfer of the raerit of his good works.
For instance, " He hath reconciled us to God,
° 01 TToXXoj the many ; i. e. the whole mass of mankind.

SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousness. 223
in the body of his flesh through death :" " Being
justified freely by his grace, through the redemp
tion that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his
blood:" " He hath brought us nigh to God, and
made Him at peace with us, through the blood
of the cross :" " We are sanctified through the
offering of the body oi Jesus Christ once for all ;"
— besides nuraerous other passages to the same
purpose. Frequent again as are the allusions to the
pure and perfect holiness of our Saviour's life,
we nowhere find this spoken of as imputed to
Christians, and made theirs by transfer of merit ;
but always, as qualifying Him to be, on the one
hand, an example to Christians, and on the
other, both the Victim and the Priest, of spotless
purity ; — as constituting Hira the true Larab
without blemish, — " the innocent blood," which
" taketh away the sin of the world," because He
who offered it had no need of atonement for Him
self. For instance, " how much more shall the
blood ofChrist, who, through the Eternal Spirit,
offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse
your bodies from dead works to serve the living.

224 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
God ?" " Such an High Priest became us, who
is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin
ners." In these and many other such passages,
in which the personal holiness of Christ is spoken
of, and spoken of too in reference to our salva
tion, it is not said that the obedience of Christ is
imputed to us, and the merit of his good works
transferred to us, (which we might surely have
expected to find there mentioned, had it been
designed to teach such a doctrine) ; but, on the
contrary, it seems rather to be implied that his
obedience was imputed to Himself as necessary
to qualify him for the great sacrifice of atone
ment. And the language of Scripture on this point
coincides with the most sound moral judgment ;
which indicates that nothing short of a life of
unsinning virtue could have raade Hira, Hiraself,
acceptable, and fit for his great office ; that, in
short, it behoved Him "to fulfil all righteous
ness," in order that he might be a spotless'
Victim, and an undefiled Priest : that in suffering
indeed an accursed death. He did raore than
could be required of an innocent person on his
own account ; and that, therefore. He died, " the

SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousness. 225
just for the unjust ;" but that his being just, —
the perfect obedience of his life, — could not be
more than requisite to constitute Him perfect as
a man. I speak, of course, of his obedient life
in reference to his human nature alone ; in
respect of which He always declared, " My
Father is greater than I ;" to speak of his obedi
ence, considering Him as a Divine Person, would
be, at least approaching very near to the Arian
doctrine f since all obedience necessarily implies
a superior. Surely, then, when we read that "by the
obedience of [^ the] one, many [the many] shall
be made (or constituted, — KaTaa-Tad-^a-ovrat)
righteous," the presuraption is strongly in favour
of such an interpretation as shall accord with
d There is, I fear, in many Christians a strong habitual
leaning of the mind to this view of the Scripture doctrines ;
though they are unconscious of it, from their having formally
condemned Arianism, and distinctly asserted the equality ofthe
Son and the Holy Spirit with the Father : forgetting that this is
no security against a tinge being given to their ordinary course
of thought on the subject, — a tendency practically to contem
plate three distinct Divine Beings, the second inferior to the
first, and tbfi third to both. — See Note A, at the end of this
Essay. Q

226 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
the declaration that we are "justified by his
blood." Now such an interpretation is not only
allowable, but is even, I may say, suggested
by the Apostle himself in another passage, in
which, speaking of Christ's death, he uses the
very corresponding word to (inraKorj) "obedi
ence " in this place : Christ, he says, " becarae
obedient (vw-qKoos) to death, even the death ofthe
cross." His death, indeed, is more than once
referred to in this point of view ; namely, as a
part, and as the great and consummating act of
that submissive and entire obedience which he
rendered throughout to his Father's will. For
instance, in our Lord's own words just before
He suffered, "not my will, but thine be done :"
" Lo, I come to do thy will, O God ;" " when
He suffered He threatened not, but submitted
Himself to Him that judgeth righteously."
Then, with respect to the imputation of Adara's
sin to his descendants, it raight, as I have said,
be expected that, if true, it would be frequently
and fully set forth. But at any rate it could
hardly fail to be mentioned on those occasions
where the Apostle is occupied in proving and in
sisting on the universal necessity of a Redeemer,

SECT. 2.] On imputed Righteousness. ITI
and the inevitable ruin of mankind without an
atoning sacrifice. Now this plainly is his object
in the opening of this very Epistle, (to the
Romans) which is generally regarded as the
most systematic of all that he wrote. What
then is Paul's procedure ? He dwells at large
on the actual sins of men ; he gives a copious
and shocking detail of the enormities of the
Gentile world, into which they had plunged in
defiance of their own natural conscience ; and
then expatiates on the sins of which the Jews
had been guilty, in violation of the law in which
•they trusted. How needless would all this have
been for one who maintained the doctrine of
iraputed sin ! No one, indeed, denies that men
do commit actual sin ; but the hypothesis I have
been speaking of would have cut the argument
short : on that supposition it would have been
sufficient to say at once, that Adam's trans
gression being imputed to all his posterity, so
that they are all regarded as guilty of his act,
they raust be, in consequence, whether sinful or
innocent, — whether raore or less sinful, — in their
own persons, doomed to eternal perdition, unless
redeemed from this imputed guilt. Nor does
q2

228 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
the passage I have appealed to, stand alone in
this respect. Numerous as are the denuncia
tions of divine judgment against sin, all concur in
making the reference not to the imputed sin of our
first parents, but to the actual sins of men : none
of thera warrants the conclusion that any one is
liable to punishraent (I raean in the next world)
for any one's sins but his own.
§ 3. It should be observed also, that there is
an especial reason for interpreting that part of
the Epistle I have been alluding to^ by reference
to other parts of Scripture : which is, that it is
not the Apostle's object, in this place, to declare
or establish the doctrine of original sin, and of
our deliverance from its consequences by Christ
our Saviour. It is plain from the context that
these points are estabhshed only incidentally ;
the main drift of his arguraent being to set forth
the universality of the rederaption, — as being
co-extensive with the evil introduced at the Fall,
which it was designed to reraedy. The Jewish
converts to whora he seeras to be principally
« Rom. V. 19.

SECT. 3.] On imputed Righteousness. 229
addressing himself, were disposed, by their
ancient national prejudices, to limit the benefits
of the Messiah's advent to their own people.
The great and revolting raystery to them, was,
" that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs :" in
opposition to which exclusive spirit he infers the
universal redemption accomplished by Christ
from the universahty of that loss and corruption
which He undertook to repair : " as in Adara
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive :"
" as by one man's disobedience raany (the many,
I. e. all) were made (or constituted, KaretnaOrjcrav,)
sinners, even so by the obedience of the one
shall the many," (i. e. not the Jews only, but the
whole race of mankind, as many as believe)
" be made righteous."
Now there is no doubt that such an oblique
allusion to any doctrine does not only establish
it, but establish it even more decidedly than
an express assertion : since it implies that it is
a known and undisputed truth ; but still the
difference between the two cases is not the less
important : we are not to look for the same full
and clear exposition of any point of faith in those
passages where it is merely alluded to inciden-

230 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
tally, as in those wherein the object is to declare
and explain it. And some passage, in which it
is the direct object to reveal and inculcate the
doctrine now in question, would doubtless have
been appealed to by its advocates, had any such
passage existed. But fundamentally important
as this truth must be, ifit be a truth, no portion
of Scripture can be found that can even be
represented as having for its immediate and
primary design to declare it. The sinfulness of
human nature is, indeed, abundantly set forth ;
but not the imputation to one man of the actual
transgression committed by another ; our salva
tion through Christ is earnestly dwelt on ; but
it is "through faith in his blood." Nay, there
is mention made of imputation and non-imputa
tion ; but not of one man's act or desert to
another. God is spoken of as "not imputing
to men their trespasses," (which, by the way,
would amount to nothing, if He still imputed
to them the trespasses of another) ; and we are
told, "faith (our own) shall be imputed to us
for righteousness."
And this should teach us how to interpret
the passages in which we are said to be made

SECT. 3. J On imputed Righteousness. 231
" the righteousness of God in Christ," and He,
to be " made sin for us ;" viz. not that he was
considered in the sight of God as actually sinful,
but that he was made a "sin-offering" for us; the
word (dfiapTia) which is literally, "sin," being
commonly used by the Septuagint translators in
the sense of a sin-offering. And again, when
we are said to be made righteous through his
" obedience unto death," — and to be " made the
righteousness of God in Him :" and He again is
said to be " made of God unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemp
tion," it is not meant that there is an imputation
to believers of the righteousness of Christ's life,
as if it were theirs ; any more than that the
wisdom of Christ is imputed to them, or the
redemption which He effected is regarded as
effected by thera; but that He purchased, by
the sacrifice of Himself, all these benefits for
men ; for those, i. e. who should by faith be
admitted to be partakers of thera ; — that when
He had been " delivered for our sins," He " rose
again for our justification;" i.e. "ascended up
on high, and received gifts for men, that the
Lord God might dwell among them :" viz. that

232 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi#
his Holy Spirit, whose teraple we are, raight
reside in, and sanctify our hearts, and impart to
us wisdom and righteousness, to be practically
displayed in our lives.' And since without this
holy guidance our own feeble and depraved
nature could never bring forth what the Apostle
calls " the fruits of the Spirit," nor follow tbe
steps of Christ, this raay well be called the
" righteousness of Christ," or the " righteousness
of God in Christ." For " if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his :"
" if any man keep my saying, my Father will
love hira, and we will come unto him, and make
our abode in him." " Little children," says the
Apostle John, "let no man deceive you; he
that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He
is righteous." " They that are Christ's," says
Paul, " have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts ;" " if we Hve in the Spirit, let us also
walk in the Spirit." " If ye, through the Spirit,
do raortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall hve ;
for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God."
' See Whitby on this subject.

SECT. 4.] On imputed Righteousness. 233
§ 4. From the consideration then of these
passages of Scripture which have been adduced,
as well as of many more to the same purpose
which might be appealed to if needful, I cannot
but conclude that that systera of imputed sin
and righteousness, which I have been consider
ing, is altogether fanciful and groundless. It
has indeed at first sight a sort of compactness,
coherency, and consistency of parts, which gives
it, till closely scrutinized, an air of plausibility ;
but this very circumstance should, in any case,
put us the more carefully on our guard; for
there is no more common error in many depart
ments of study, and especially in theology, than
the prevalence of a love of system over the love
oitruth.^ Men are often so much captivated
by the aspect of what seerasr to them a regular,
beautiful, and well-connected theory, as to adopt
it hastily, without inquiring, in the outset, how
far it is conformable to facts or to scriptural
authority ; and thus, often on one or two pas
sages of Scripture, have built up an ingenious
and consistent scheme, of which the far greater
e Seduced by the " Idola Theatri" of Bacon. See Note '',
p. 219. ¦

234 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
part is a tissue of their own reasonings and
conjectures. The whole subject indeed of justification has
been involved in great, and, I cannot but think,
needless, perplexity, by the practice formerly
alluded to (Essay III.) of first affixing (which
may be allowable)' a strict technical sense to
each of the principal words that have been
employed in Scripture, and then (which is not
allowable) interpreting the word, whenever it
is found in the Sacred Writers themselves, ac
cording to such precise definition ; instead of
^ I would not be thought to appeal to our Articles, or to
any other human work, as decisive on such a point. But it is
worth considering by ttose members of our Church who regard
this doctrine as the key-stone of Christianity, that the Articles,
though insisting on justification through Christ, make no
allusion to the imputation to believers of his good works.
The expression is, " propter meritum," &c.
' Perhaps, however, it would have been better if, from
the very first, no scriptural terms had been introduced into
systems of theology. Some have objected to the word
" Trinity," and a few others, on the ground that they are
not found in Scripture : this appears to me their chief recom
mendation ; since in this case all danger is effectually avoided
of misinterpreting Scripture in the way I am describing. As
it is, one of our best safeguards against this danger would be,
to vary from time to time the language of our expositions of
Scripture doctrines.

SECT. 4.J On imputed Righteousness. 235
regarding their works as popular, not scientific,
and seeking for the meaning of their expressions,
in each case, from the context.
Thus, in the present instance, if three or four
perhaps of those who are accounted sound divines,
should be consulted as to the doctrine of Justifi
cation, it is not unlikely they would give as many
different accounts of it. All would agree as to
the importance of the doctrine ; but some per
haps would lay down two Justifications, others,
only one ; and among these there would be found
great discrepancies ; and yet all probably would
be found, in their general views of the Christian
scherae, to arrive at nearly the same practical
results. It is hardly to be supposed indeed that
there can be so much difficulty (to the unlearned,
impossibility) as this discrepancy would seera to
imply, in ascertaining from Scripture, " what we
must do to be saved." And is there not there
fore ground to suspect that many divines have
been unconsciously involved in embarrassing dis
putes about words, from expecting in the Sacred
Writers a more scientific accuracy and uniformity
of language than they ever aimed at ?''
'' See Hampden's Bampton Lectures. Lect. 1.

236 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
When one of the Apostles speaks to men of
the condemnation for sin, frora which they were
to seek a way to escape, he naturally uses the
word SiKoimO-nvai/ to be "justified," in the sense
of acquittal; — their " not having their trespasses
imputed to them." (Acts xiii. 38, 39. Rora. ui. 25.
Rora. V. 9.) When again he alludes to the defile
ment of sin, analogous to the ceremonial impu-'
rities which, under the Levitical Law, excluded
raen frora partaking of its sacred ordinances,
he as naturally uses "justified" to signify
their being accounted clean, — ^^regarded as God's
holy people, and adraitted without profanation
to approach Hira, in the spiritual service of the
^ See A. Knox's Remains, [vol. i. p. 276,] where he points
out that the use ofthe word Siicaioirwj/ by the Apostle (denoting,
like the other words in mvri, a moral habit) instead of SiKauixris,
in those passages where he is, by some, understood to be
speaking of another's righteousness, imputed to us, plainly
indicates that this was not his meaning.
The coincidence in this point between Mr. Knox and
myself, has led some to imagine that my notions must have
been, directly or indirectly, derived fi:om him. But this Essay
was published some years before I even knew of the existence
of him or any of his friends. My views were no more bor
rowed from him, than his from me ; but both from a common
source.

SECT. 4.J On imputed Righteousness. 237
new covenant. (Rom. v. 1, 2.) When again the
Jews prided themselves on their law, as their
guide to a moral and religious life, and as
"justifying," that is, making men good, and fit to
obtain heavenly rewards, he sets forth the vain
ness of that expectation ; since, even if the Law
had had the " better hope" of the Gospel, — the
sanction of eternal rewards, — still, it could not
justify those who had not strictly obeyed all its
precepts ; which raan, left to his natural strength,
had never fully accomplished ; (Rom. ii. 25, and
VU. 22, 23.) insisting, that we are to be justified,
that is, made good men, through faith in Christ,
which admits us to a participation of his Spirit,
(Rora. V. 12), even the Spirit which " helpeth
our infirmities," (Rom. viii. 26,) and " worketh in
us both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Hence he speaks of Christ as being " delivered
for our sins, and rising again for our justifica
tion," (Rom. iv. 25, and vi. 4) ; that is, that when
He "ascended up on high. He received gifts
for men," namely, "that the Lord God might
dwell among them." Hence also he occasionally
speaks of the " law of faith ;" and universally
contrasts, not (as many are apt to suppose) good

238 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
works with faith, but faith with the Mosaic law ;
as leading more effectually to good works,
(Rom. viii. 4, 11, 12, 13, and Tit. iii. 5, and
1 Cor. vi. 11), by obtaining for us the aid of the
Holy Spirit, of which they are the fruits. The
chief cause indeed of this Apostle's giving so
prominent a place to the word "justification,"
may be found in the peculiar circumstances under
which he preached ; especially when addressing
the Jews, and those infected with their preju
dices ; who were always hoping to be justified
by the Law ; (imperfectly as they observed it ;)
that is, made at least sufficiently righteous to
inherit the rewards of a future life."*
§ 5. It may be said, however, that the systera
which has bedn treated of in this Essay, is, even
if unsound, not practically dangerous, and there
fore, not one which needs to be refuted. That
it has been held by pious and worthy men, I
am well aware ; nor would I contend that it had
any tendency to make thera otherwise, and that
their notions on this point were inconsistent with
their religious and raoral characters. But it
" See Note C^', p. 225.

SECT. 5.] On imputed Righteousness. 239
would be rash to conclude thence, that their
error, if it be one, must be altogether harmless.
Nothing is harmless which may put a stumbling-
block in the path of any sincere Christian :
nothing is harmless that tends to give an undue
advantage to unbelievers, — to disgust some with
what they are told is the orthodox faith, and to
furnish others with objections against it, by in
serting doctrines which the Scriptures do not
warrant : — nothing is harraless that leads to a
depreciation, a dread, or a neglect of the divine
instructions of the Apostle Paul. And such is
raost remarkably the case in respect of the
system I have now been considering. It is a
favourite point of attack to the infidel, and the
heretic ; who pretend, and probably believe
themselves, to have exposed to conterapt the
great doctrines of the Atonement and the
Divinity of Christ, by exposing the chimerical
pretensions of doctrines which are taught in
conjunction with these, and represented as parts
of the same system. And in others, the too-
prevailing neglect of Paul's writings, as neither
intelligible, nor safe, nor a profitable study to
any but theologians of the raost profound

240 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
learning and wisdom, is fostered, by attributing
to him doctrines more likely to bewilder and
mislead, than to be apphcable to any practical
benefit. Mysterious, no doubt, it is, that the sacrifice
of " the innocent blood" should be accepted as
an atonement for sin : but in this case we know
that the sacrifice was voluntary ; — " I lay down
my life ; no man taketh it frora rae, but I lay
it down of myself." Christ, of his own accord,
offered his life as " a ransom for many." But
when we are told of eternal punishment de
nounced against men for the actual sin of Adam,
and this, not by their own voluntary choice, or
by any act of their own, but by the absolute
decree of the Almighty Judge, our ideas of the
divine justice, whether drawn from reason or
from Scripture, cannot but be shocked. When
again, we find Christ spoken of as suffering
for us and in our stead, so that " by his stripes
we are healed," though we cannot comprehend
indeed, this act of mysterious raercy, we do cora-
prehend that " there is now, therefore, no con
deranation for thera that are in Christ Jesus,"
but that his suffering in our stead exempts his

SECT. 5.J On imputed Righteousness. 241
faithful followers from suffering in their own
persons. But when men are told that the
righteousness of Christ's life is imputed to be
lievers, and considered as their merit, they are
startled at the want of correspondence of this
doctrine with the former, and its apparent in
consistency with the injunctions laid upon us to
"bring forth the fruits of the Spirit" unto ever
lasting salvation, because " God worketh in us
both to will and to do of his good pleasure,"
while we are also told that Christ has already
fulfilled all moral obhgations in our stead. The
Antinomian system is unhappily the only one
which surmounts this incongruity ; and its advo
cates accordingly have availed theraselves of the
advantage :— Since, say they, Christ suffered for
us, and in our stead, so as to exempt us from
suffering ourselves, by parity of reasoning, the
good works which He performed, — the personal
holiness He possessed,— being imputed to us, as
performed for us and in our stead, must, in like
manner, exempt us from any such performance
of our own."
I do not however mean to contend, that the
" See Whitby on this subject.
K

242 On imputed Righteousness, [essay vi.
generality of those who maintain the system in
question, are tainted, or are even in danger of
tainting the minds of others, with the Antino
mian heresy. It is enough to say, that if they
bring Paul's writings into disrepute or disuse,
by attributing to him, without sufficient grounds,
doctrines which appear to lead to such pernicious
consequences, they are answerable for the evil
thence resulting. Whenever we teach for gos
pel-truths any thing which Scripture does not
warrant, we are answerable for the effects pro
duced, not only on those who adopt our opinions,
but also on those who dissent from thera.
Let Paul, as well as the rest of the Sacred
Writers, be studied with dihgence and candour,
and without any bias in favour of an ingenious
and consistent theory, the offspring of our own
speculations ; let the student " prove all things,
and hold fast that which is right ;" and to this
end let hira observe the wise maxira of adraitting
no conclusion which is not, itself, as well as the
preraises it is drawn from, agreeable to the word
of God. And let the general tenour of each
work in particular, and of the Scriptures alto
gether, be carefully attended to, instead of

sect. 5.] On imputed Righteousness. 243
dwelling exclusively on detached passages : and
then we may boldly and constantly maintain
every doctrine which we find to be really
revealed, however mysterious, or however un
acceptable. We are, in reality, not preaching the Gospel,
unless we both preach the whole Gospel, and
likewise, the Gospel alone; nor can we hope
for the Apostle's consolatory trust of being
" pure frora the blood of all raen," unless, like
him, we declare to raen "all the counsel of
God," and (as a part of the Christian faith)
but "the counsel of God."

NOTE.

Note A, page 225.
That it is possible for men to becorae something very
near indeed to Arianism without knowing it, we have a
curious instance in ecclesiastical history. In the early
stages of Arianism, a confession of faith was agreed upon''
which was satisfactory to all parties, till some tirae after,
the Arians began to boast of their triuraph, and to point
out the sanction which the formula adopted gave to their
doctrine ; and then " the Church," says Jerome, " mar
velled to find itself unexpectedly becorae Arian."
Something of the sarae kind, on a smaller scale, took
place very recently araong ourselves. The discovery of
Milton's systera of theology startled many persons by its
avowed Arianism, who had been accustomed to commend
his poems for their sound theology ; though they convey
the very same views, stated almost as plainly as, in a
poem, they could be. Numerous passages indeed may
be cited from the " Paradise Lost," which cannot be
censured as heterodox, because they are little more than
metrical versions of portions of Scripture. But such
passages do not necessarily prove any thing, one way or
a At Rimini, a. u. 360. Above 400 prelates attended it.

Note. 245
the other, respecting a writer's opinions : since the Scrip
tures themselves appear, to an Arian, to speak Arianism,
— to a Socinian, Socinianism, &c. But that there is in
the poem a general leaning such as I have just alluded
to, raust I think be evident, except to those who, from
various causes, and, among the rest, from an early and
habitual study of Milton,'' have themselves imperceptibly
imbibed similar notions.
These instances are amply sufficient to prove, at the
very least, such a possibility as I have alluded to.
Probably, indeed, the whole doctrine of justification
through the righteousness of Christ imputed to believers,
may be traced in a great degree to these semi-arian views.
Men are apt to conclude that the " righteousness of Christ"
raust denote something distinct from the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, bringing forth fruit unto holiness ; because
they fear to confound together, what they habitually,
though unconsciously, consider two different Agents.
Whereas Scripture, if they would submit to be implicitly
led by it, promises that Christ will corae unto his servants
and " raake his abode with them ;" — that " hereby know
we that He (Christ) dwelleth in us, by his Spirit which
He hath given us ;" and that " the Lord is the (not " that"
as our translation has it) Spirit."

*> When I speak however of Milton as Arian, I do not mean that
he precisely coincided with Arius : much less, designed to enrol him
self among his disciples. I mean merely to designate the kind of
error towards which his language tends. Milton certainly was "nul-
lius addictus jurare in verba magistri ;" well inclined to think for
himself, though not always to " think soberly."

ESSAY VII.
ON APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS IN SCRIPTURE.
§ 1. It has been above remarked (Essay II.)
that the expression of the Apostle Peter relative
to the " things hard to be understood," in Paul's
writings, has been employed to furnish an ex
cuse at least, if not a reason, for neglecting and
keeping out of sight those writings ; as being,
to the generality of Christians, both too abstruse
to be studied with any profit, and too liable to
perversion to be approached with safety. And
the principle of avoiding altogether whatever is
hard to be understood, or liable to be wrested to
a destructive purpose, naturally extends itself (as
indeed the passage in question cannot but seera
to warrant) to other parts of Scripture as well as
to Paul's Epistles ; till the result ensues of an
exclusive attention to certain narratives of fact
and plain raoral precepts ; while all that relates

SECT. 1.] Contradictions in Scripture. 247
to the peculiar doctrines of Christianity, is left,
as matter of mere speculative inquiry, in the
hands of learned theologians.
Of the precise extent of such an error, no one
individual can be an adequate judge ; but that it
is not imaginary — that it does prevail to a con
siderable degree — is a conclusion which I am
convinced no one will doubt who has made ex
tensive and careful observations. Indeed there
is in the huraan raind a kind of indolence which
tends to produce this consequence. The remark
of the intelligent historian of Greece, will remain
as true as ever while human nature continues the
sarae ; that " the generality of raen are averse to
labour in the investigation of truth, and ready
rather to acquiesce in what is set before them."
The most corrupt Churches, in the darkest and
most priest-ridden ages and countries, have only
taken advantage of, what they could not have
created, this disposition of the many to leave the
task of searching the Scriptures to the learned
few, — to let them acquire knowledge, instead of
theraselves, — and to acquiesce without inquiry
into whatever these should proraulgate. The
Clergy of those Churches were thence looked to.

248 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
not as leaders and assistants to the laity in the
study of Scripture, but as their substitutes ; and
the word of God became, in consequence, a pro
hibited book to the great body of Christians ;
who were thus left to the guidance of men often
themselves ignorant of Scripture, but whose
ignorance the others had lost the means of de
tecting. This state of things, however, no
priestcraft could have brought about, had not
the dread of laborious investigation prepared the
way for it."
That there are difiiculties in many parts of
Scripture, — as great perhaps in Paul's writings
as in any, — and that there is consequent danger
of mischievous perversion, is undeniable ; and is
indeed what analogy would prepare us to ex
pect : for if the Scriptures could be properly
understood without any trouble, and were in
capable of perversion to bad purposes, they
would be extremely unhke the rest of God's
gifts. But the difficulties of Scripture, as well as the
* I have treated of this subject more at large in a Sermon
on the Christian Priesthood, subjoined to the Second Edition
of the Bampton Lectures,

SECT. 1.] in Scripture. 249
danger of misinterpreting it, are evidently an
additional reason for diligence in the study of
it. And Peter's implied censure of " those
who are unlearned" (that is, ill acquainted with
the religion of Jesus Christ) and (as will natu,
rally follow) " unstable," and likely to be
" blown about with every wind of doctrine,"
should operate as a caution, not against the
study of the Scriptures, but against the faults
which would lead us to wrest them to our de
struction. To examine into all the difficulties of Scrip
ture, or even of Paul's writings alone, would be
a task to which perhaps the whole life of any
single individual would be scarcely adequate : to
lay down all the rules that might be applicable
in such a task, would far exceed my present
limits ; but it may be worth while to offer a
few remarks on some of the most important,
and, at the same time, most commonly over
looked, of those principles which should be kept
in view in the study of the doctrinal parts of
Scripture ; and the neglect of which has aggra
vated, if not produced, many of the difficulties
coraplained of (in Paul's writings especially,)

250 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
and has led, in raany instances, to perplexity,
if not to error.
§ 2. (1.) It is evidently of great importance,
with a view to the right interpretation of any
author, to consider, and to understand fully, his
general drift and design. If we are mistaken in
this point, the utraost dihgence and the utraost
ingenuity may sometiraes answer no other pur
pose than to lead us the further astray. Now it
is, I conceive, not uncommon to consider Reve
lation as designed, in part, to convey to us
speculative truths : — to increase our knowledge
concerning divine things as they are in their own
intrinsic nature;— ^ in short, to teach us not
raerely religion properly so called, (that is, the
relations between God and raan,) but also what
raay be styled theological philosophy, — a certain
branch of abstract science.* All raen, it is true,
acknowledge revelation to have a practical pur
pose ; but it is conceivable that this might still
be the case, though it were not confined to such
purposes ; — it might, conceivably, propose to
"^ Hinds. " Rise and Early Progress of Christianity."
Introd. p. 31. See also Essay IV. First Series.

SECT. 2.] in Scripture. 251
our belief, both practical truths, and speculative
truths also, distinct frora each other ; and such
a notion of the christian revelation, may, without
being distinctly avowed, be nevertheless practi
cally entertained and acted upon.
(2.) Nearly allied to, and resulting from, such
a view of the Scriptures, viz. as being, more or
less, of the nature of a philosophical systera, is
the expectation (before alluded to) of finding in
them a regular technical vocabulary ; — a set of
terras confined, each to its own appropriate
sense, in which it shall be uniformly and pre
cisely employed. This might indeed take place
in a purely practical system ; but in any case
where speculative scientific truth was the object,
it would be altogether requisite ; and the more
the Scriptures are viewed in this light, the raore
the student will be disposed to regard each word
and phrase as bearing throughout a fixed and
pecuhar sense ; just as raight be expected in a
Creed,— Catechisra,— systera of Articles,— code
of ethics, or any such composition.
(3.) In any scientific treatise, employing its
own appropriate technical terms, any single
detached passage will usually be sufficiently

252 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
intelhgible, to one who is familiar with the
definition of those terms. It may, indeed, need
others to establish its truth, or to be combined
with it for the proof of ulterior truths ; but not,
to ascertain its meaning. In proportion, there
fore, as the Scriptures are regarded as approach
ing to the character of a philosophical system,
furnished with a regular technical phraseology,
in the same degree will the student be disposed
to build conclusions on insulated passages, with
out thinking it necessary in every instance to
refer to the context, and to explain one part of
Scripture by others.
(4.) Lastly, one who has been accustomed to
take in any degree such a view of Scripture as
I have been describing, (and there are many who
are disposed to do so, though without acknow
ledging it, even to themselves,) will, of course,
when they meet with passages which seem at
variance with each other, be inclined (if, indeed,
they are not absolutely driven into doubts as to
the truth of some portion of Scripture) to regard
these merely in the light of difficulties designed
for the trial of their faith ; which they must sur
mount as well as they can, by explaining away

SECT. 2. J in Scripture. 253
such texts as are raost adverse to their own
conclusions ; while they dwell on every one that
favours them ; softening down, if I may so
speak, by their interpretation, every other part
of Scripture, into a conformity with the hypo
thesis which they have built on some selected
portion. It is true, indeed, that no one ever professed
a design of studying Scripture on such a plan
as has been described ; but it is no less true
that many have at all times evinced in various
degrees a tendency to slide into it insensibly ; —
that to these causes, in great measure, may be
traced almost all the erroneous systems of faith
which have at various times prevailed ; — and
that many of the difficulties complained of,
especially the discrepancies between the several
parts of Scripture, and particularly between the
Apostle Paul and the other Sacred Writers,
have been either produced or greatly aggravated
by this mistaken mode of studying the Sacred
Records. That the Scriptures contain nothing like a
philosophical system, set forth in technical
phraseology, and that we must not expect to

254 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
understand them by confining our attention to
certain insulated passages, and disregarding or
explaining away the rest, but must interpret each
by the context, and from the rest of Scripture —
these maxims appear so obvious when distinctly
stated, that we are apt to be the less sensible
what vigilant care is requisite in order to con
form to them steadily in practice. It raay be
allowable, therefore, to offer some brief remarks
on each of the points that have been just
alluded to.
§ 3. (1.) That the natural desire of knowledge
for its own sake, tends to influence men's judg
ment respecting a divine revelation, in which
they are apt to seek, not merely practical truths,
but the gratification of speculative curiosity, I
have elsewhere taken occasion to remark." All
pretended revelations accordingly, and legendary
tales of saints, — all the disquisitions concerning
things divine, of the heathen philosophers, and, I
fear we may add, of some Christian theologians,
however otherwise different, concur in this, that
they relate in great measure, if not exclusively,
¦^ Essay IV. First Series.

SECT. 3.] in Scripture. 255
to the nature and attributes and works of the
Supreme Being, as He is in Himself; — to the real
state of things in the invisible world, however
unconnected with human conduct : while our re
velation is characterized, as I there observed, by
abstaining from speculative points, — by refusing
to gratify mere curiosity, — by teaching, in short,
not philosophy, but what is properly called
Religion, — the knowledge, i. e. of the relations
between God and man, and of the practical
truths thence resulting.
Those, therefore, are not likely to interpret
Scripture rightly, who are not content with
relative truths, but seek to ascertain, in each
instance, the real state of things ; the knowledge
of which, in many cases probably, could not
be imparted to us with our present faculties;
and is often withheld, where it might. Such
a student is likely to raistake the sense of the
Sacred Writers, from not judging aright what
kind of instruction it is that they design to im
part ; his religious notions are " spoiled through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of
men, after the rudiraents of the world, and not
after Christ." And frora such a view of the

256 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
Scriptures, the conclusion that the doctrinal
parts of thera are unnecessary, unprofitable, and
unsafe, to the great mass of Christians, will be
the natural result. Both the learned and the
unlearned will agree in taking this view of the
Scripture-doctrines : the presumptuous inquiries
of the one class, have a direct tendency to
sanction and foster the indolent indifference of
the other.*
(2.) And as nothing was further from the
design of Paul and the other Sacred Writers,
than to frame a philosophical system, so, they
aimed at no philosophical regularity of language :
their writings, as I have before remarked, were
popular, not scientific ; they expressed their
meaning on each occasion, in the words which,
on each occasion, suggested themselves as best
fitted to convey it to readers of plain under
standing ; and these terms are to be understood,
though not indeed always in their ordinary
* The sense of the term " mystery," as employed by the
Sacred Writers, is very commonly mistaken ; and the mistake
has been a source of much error. — See Parkhurst's Lexicon
to the New Testament, on the word Muorjjptoi'. — See Note A
at the end of this Essay.

SECT. 3.] in Scripture. 257
sense, yet, on the other hand, not according
to any precise scientific definition, but each with
reference to the context of the place where it is
found. (3). And again, it is this popular and un
systematic character of the Sacred Writings that
makes it the more unsafe to dwell on detached
portions of them, instead of comparing each part
of Scripture with the rest. Not merely incom
plete knowledge, but actual error, will often
be the result ; because it will often happen (as
might be expected in an unscientific discourse)
that the author has in view, in some particular
passage, not the full development of any truth,
but the correction of some particular mistake, —
the inculcation of some particular caution, — or
the enforcement of some particular portion of a
doctrine or precept ; so that such a passage,
contemplated by itself, would tend to partial,
and consequently, erroneous views.
(4.) And as it is hence necessary to call in
the aid of different parts of Scripture for the
interpretation of each other, so, those which
appear the raost at variance with each other, —
which if taken singly, and strictly interpreted,

258 On apparent Contradictions [essay vin
would contradict each other, — are, for that
very reason, the raost iraportant to be brought
together and conteraplated in connexion. The
seeraing contradictions in Scripture are too
nuraerous not to be the result of design ; and
doubtless were designed, not as raere difficulties
to try our faith and patience, but as furnishing
the raost suitable mode of instruction that could
have been devised, by mutually explaining, and
modifying or limiting, or extending, one another's
meaning. By this raeans we are furnished, in
some degree, with a test of the truth or falsity
of our conclusions : as long as the appearance
of mutual contradiction remains, we may be sure
that we are wrong : — when we can fairly and
without violence" reconcile passages of opposite
tendencies, we raay entertain a hope that we
are right.
Such raust be the procedure of the candid
inquirer after truth ; and by which, through
divine help, he raay hope to attain it. Those
whose object is to find arguments in support
of a favourite hypothesis built on a partial view
of Scripture, will often be no less successful in
« See Pascal's Thoughts, XIII. )2.

SECT. 4.] in Scripture. 259
their object ; — in finding texts that will serve
to give plausibility to their own system, and
to perplex an opponent. But that opponent
will usually have exactly the same advantages
on his side also ; each party having apparently
some portion of Scripture favourable to his
scheme, and others which he can hardly re
concile with it : and both parties perhaps being
equally remote from the truth, and guilty of the
very same error as to their mode of interpreting
Scripture. § 4. That the apparent contradictions of
Scripture are numerous, — that the instruction
conveyed by them, if they be indeed designed for
such a purpose, is furnished in abundance, — is
too notorious to need being much insisted on.
We are told that God " repented of having
made man upon the earth," — that He "repented
of having made Saul King over Israel," — that
" He repenteth Him of the evil ;" and again,
that " He is not the son of man that He should
repent;" and that "in Him is no variableness
nor shadow of turning." We are told that
" whosoever is born of God doth not commit
s2

260 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
sin ;" yet again, by the very same author, that
"if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves." We read in one apostohcal epistle,
that Abrahara was justified by faith, and in
another, that he was justified by works. One
discourse of our Lord's, in which He raakes
mention of the day of judgment, and describes
the blessing and the curse respectively pronounced
on those who have performed or neglected such
charitable offices as feeding the hungry, clothing
the naked, and ministering to the sick, might
seem to favour the conclusion that our final
doom is to depend exclusively on our care or
neglect of our distressed brethren, without any
regard to our faith, or to the purity or the
integrity of our lives ; in his final charge to his
disciples again, it might seem that every thing
is made to depend on right belief alone ; " he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
We are told again by our Lord, to pray and to
give alras, secretly ; and again, to let our " hght
so shine before men that they raay see our good
works;" and by the Apostle, "not to forsake
the asserabling of ourselves together" for the
purpose of worship. We are told by our Lord,

SECT. 4.J in Scripture. 261
"He that is not with me is against me;" and
again, " he that is not against us is with us ;" —
that " he who hateth not his father and mother,
and wife and children, and all that he hath, can
not be his disciple;" and again by his Apostle,
that " he who provideth not for his own house,
is worse than an infidel." The same again who
tells his disciples, " the Father hath sent me ;"
" I go to the Father ;" " the Father is greater
than I ;" " I can of mine own self do nothing ;'*
tells thera also, "he that hath seen me hath
seen the Father, — I am in the Father, and the
Father in me, — I and the Father are one." The
sarae who tells thera, that He " will not leave
thera comfortless, but will come unto them;"
and " lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world," tells them also, " if I go not
away, the Comforter will not corae unto you,
but if I depart I will send Him unto you ;" yet
again He tells them of "the Comforter whora
the Father will send, in his (Christ's) name ;"
and again in another place, "if any man keep'
my saying, my Father will love him, and we will
come unto him, and make our abode with him."
And He who was preached to Cornelius as " one

262 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
whom God anointed with the Holy Ghost and
with power," is spoken of by Paul, as "over
all, God blessed for ever," "in whom dwelleth
all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."^ And
instances of a similar character might be mul
tiplied to a great extent.
I am well aware what copious and satisfactory
explanations have been given of a multitude of
such seeming discrepancies as these : the only
point that pertains to the present question, and
which we ought, I think, strongly to dwell upon,
is, that they are not to be regarded merely in the
light of difficulties, but rather as belonging to the
mode of instruction employed in Scripture. Even
in teaching moral duties, there are good reasons
for introducing, as we find is occasionally done,
some maxims which, taken separately, and in
terpreted with literal strictness, are at variance
with each other, but which, when taken in con-
nexioh, serve to explain and modify each other.
Instructions thus conveyed are evidently more
striking and more likely to arouse the attention ;
and also, from the very circumstance that they
call for cafeful reflection, more likely to make a
' See Appendix to Elements of Logic. Art. " Person."

SECT. 4.] in Scripture. 263
lasting impression.^ But there are additional
reasons for adopting this mode of conveying to
us the requisite knowledge concerning raysteries
which are not directly comprehensible by our
understanding. Since no language could convey
to man, with his present faculties, in proper
terms, a clear and just notion of those attributes
and acts of the Supreme Being, which revelation
designed to impart, it was necessary for this pur
pose to resort to analogical expressions, which
may convey to us, in faint shadows and figures,
such a knowledge of divine mysteries as is
requisite, and is alone within the reach of our
capacity.'' Now the disadvantage attending the use of
such language is, that men are sometiraes apt
to understand it too literally, and to interpret
what is said more strictly than was intended.
And the best resmedy against this mistake, is to
vary the figures employed as rauch as possible ;
—to illustrate the sarae thing by several different
analogies ; by which means these several ex
pressions, being inconsistent when understood
e See the following Essay.
T^ See King's Discourse on Predestination..

264 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
literally, will serve to limit and correct each
other ; and thus, together, to convey more
clearly the real meaning designed.*
What has been just said, may be illustrated
by the language we employ in speaking of the
human raind and its operations ; respecting
which, we have few or no terms that are not
originally, at least, borrowed fi-om the material
world. For instance, it is very common to
speak of the Memory as a kind of storehouse or
repository : — we speak of treasuring up things in
the memory ; of having the memory well stored;
and the like. Now there might be a danger
that by the long and famihar use of such figura
tive expressions, we should at length come to
forget that they are figurative ; — to imagine the
brain to be literahy a kind of storehouse, and ideas
or notions to be some real things actually laid
up within it : but this mistake is guarded against
by another, and quite different, set of figurative
expressions for describing the same thing ; for
we often again speak of the Memory as a kind of
writing-tablet ; we speak of things being writteUf
— imprinted, — engraved, on the memory; or
' See Stewart's Philosophy, vol. i.

sect. 4.] in Scripture. 265
again, of their being erased from the raeraory.
Now these expressions again would mislead raen,
if understood literally ; but this is prevented by
those other modes of expression before men
tioned; which in their turn are limited and
explained by these. For by considering that the
two, when taken literally, contradict each other,
— that the memory cannot be, literally, at once
a storehouse and a writing-tablet, — we are habi
tually reminded that it is literally neither ; but is
so called, only by analogy .'^
Now as we are thus unable to speak even of
the workings of the human mind without using
such figurative expressions, rauch less can we
expect that all which is to be taught us of the
things relating to the Most High, can be con
veyed to us in any other way. And in each case
it is requisite that the figures employed should
be several and various, in order the better to
guard us against understanding any one of them
more literally than was intended. It was de
signed therefore that many of the expressions
employed should be such as would, if strictly
•^ See " Elements of Logic." Dissertation, chap. v. § 1,
towards the end.

266 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
and literally interpreted, contradict each other ;
and such as raay, when reconciled together, lead
us as near the truth, as our rainds are capable of
approaching. The mariner who has to steer his
passage through the untracked ocean, when it
happens that he cannot have the exact line of
his course pointed out, is often enabled to avoid
any iraportant deviation frora it, by being ac
quainted with certain boundaries on each side
of it, and by keeping his vessel between them.
Certain rocks and landmarks may serve to fur
nish to his eye a kind of hne, which will secure
him, as long as he keeps within them, from
certain shoals or currents which he is to avoid
on one side of his destined course : but this is of
no service in guarding him against the dangers
which may beset him on the opposite quarter :
for this purpose, another line must be pointed
out to hira, in the sarae raanner, on the contrary
side : and though neither of these lines is pre
cisely that of the course he is to steer, yet an
attention to both of thera will enable hira to
proceed midway, in safety, and in the direction
required. Even thus, it will often happen, that
two apparently opposite passages of Scripture

sect. 5.] in Scripture. 267
raay together enable us to direct our faith or our
practice aright ; one shall be calculated to guard
us against certain errors on one side, and the
other, on the other side ; neither, taken alone,
shall convey the exact and entire truth; but
both taken in conjunction, raay enable us suf
ficiently to ascertain it. Perplexity, therefore,
and error must be the result of an undue pre
ference, and an overstrict interpretation, of one
or two such expressions, to the neglect of the
others. For we have in many instances (to use
another illustration) something corresponding to
the composition of forces in mechanics : several
different texts will be analogous to several im
pulses in various directions acting on a body
which is to be set in raotion, and whose corabined
effect will propel it in the direction required ;
though no one of the impulses, taken singly, is
acting precisely in that direction.
§ 5. After all, indeed, the notions conveyed
to us in this way can be but very faint and in
distinct ; but for that very reason they are the
less likely to be incorrect ; for if we obtain a
full and clear notion of things beyond the reach

268 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
of the human faculties, it cannot fail to be an
erroneous notion. The raain object of revelation
being to represent to us, not so rauch what God
is in Hiraself, as what He is relatively to us,
with a view to our practical benefit, this object
may be sufficiently accomplished by dim and
faint pictures of things which could not otherwise
be revealed at all. The " light which no man
can approach unto," if presented in unmitigated
blaze to eyes too weak to endure it, would blind
instead of enlightening : we now " see by means
of the reflection of a glass," what we could not
otherwise see at all.
Although, however, we may well believe that
we are deficient in faculties for comprehending,
as they are in themselves, many things of which
the Scriptures furnish us with some faint repre
sentations, yet since, of course, no one can forra
a distinct conception of the nature and extent
of his own deficiency, it may be profitable to
illustrate our own case by that of a person
destitute of sorae faculty which we do possess ;
by which raeans we may the better understand
the nature of that raode of instruction which
the Scriptures adopt, and the advantage and

SECT. 5.] in Scripture. 269
necessity of employing it for such Beings as we
now are. Let any one, for instance, attend to
the case of a man born blind, and endeavour
to convey to hira sorae idea of the sense of seeing,
and of the nature of light, and colours. When
you atterapt this, you will then be in a situation
answering in sorae degree to that of the Inspired
Writers when they are instructing us in the
unseen things of God. — You raight easily explain
to the blind raan that colours are perceived by
the eyes ; which convey to men (as well as the
organs of the other senses, and even better) a
knowledge of the objects around us ; you might
also easily make him understand that light is
soraething different frora heat, and yet proceeds
from the sun, — a fire, — a candle, — or the like ;
and that when nothing of this kind is present,
there is darkness, in which no one can see ; and
also that light is cheerful and agreeable, and
darkness something raelancholy. So far, we are
giving merely general descriptions ; which would
be intelligible enough, but could convey only the
most faint and imperfect idea of Seeing. You
raight then irapart some further knowledge by
means of the analogy of the other senses ; for

270 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
instance, you might teach him that Seeing, in
one respect, resembles Hearing and Smelling, in
asmuch as it conveys a knowledge of things at
a distance, as they do ; but that, nevertheless,
it is as different from either of them as they are
frora each other ; and that, raoreover. Seeing
gives us, what Hearing and Smelling cannot, a
notion of the magnitude and of the form of
bodies ; in which respect, it agrees with the
sense of Touch ; though this last again conveys
the knowledge of such bodies only as are close
to us ; whereas Sight extends to a distance.
Now such instruction as this, given to a blind
raan, may serve to illustrate what has been just
said about the apparent contradictions in Scrip
ture; for the bhnd man might easily interpret
the two parts of this lesson as contradictory ;
and raight say, " How can the same thing bear
any resemblance to Hearing, and at the same
time to Feeling ? " Or he might regard even each
part of the lesson as in itself contradictory and
irapossible ; — ^saying, " You would fain persuade
rae that there is some way of touching things at
a distance ;.or that there is a kind of Hearing or
of Smelling by which one can judge of form and

SECT. 5.] in Scripture. 271
magnitude; neither of which is conceivable."
And it is plain, that if he regarded either part of
your instruction, by itself, and was not careful to
limit and explain it by the other, he would be
utterly misled ; for he would suppose Seeing to
be much raore like some one of the other senses
than it really is. But if he were careful to
attend to the whole, together, and to consider
that two things may be very much alike in one
respect, and yet very different in others,' and that
the same thing raay be corapared to several
others which are themselves quite unlike, and
may reserable one of these things in one respect,
and another, in another, and in some respects
again may differ from all of them, he would
acquire, a faint, indeed, and indistinct notion of
Sight, but as far as it went, not an incorrect one :
for he would understand that Sight in one
respect corresponds, or is analogous, to Sraelling
and Hearing, inasrauch as it extends to distant
objects ; and again, in another respect, to Touch,
inasrauch as it gives an idea of shape and size ;
that it differs frora each of these respectively in
the circurastance wherein it agrees with the
1 See King's Discourse on Predestination.

272 On apparent Contradictions [^essay vir.
other ; and that it differs in raany points frora
both. So that by interpreting each of these
analogies in such a raanner as to be reconcileable
with the other, he would be using the best raeans
to avoid raisunderstanding either, and to attain
the raost perfect knowledge which his natural
deficiency would allow. For if you atterapted,
beyond this, to give him any distinct and precise
knowledge of the nature of light and colours,
you would be raore likely to confuse and rais
lead, than to instruct him.
The circumstance that the knowledge conveyed
to us in Scripture, in many cases, is not merely
incomplete in degree, but, being conveyed to us
by Figures, is also different in kind from that
more direct and perfect knowledge which we
may hope hereafter to attain, is alluded to,
perhaps, in that expression of Paul's respecting
the glorified state; "whether there be knowledge
it shall vanish away :" we might have expected
him, perhaps, to promise rather an increase and
extension of our knowledge ; but it appeared to
him probably that the knowledge we now possess
concerning several points not fully comprehen
sible to us, is so utterly different in kind, frora

sect. 5.] in Scripture. 273
that which is reserved for us, that the change
might more properly be called an entire vanish
ing of the notions we are at present able to
form, and a substitution of others in their place.
In like manner, if we suppose a blind man who
had been instructed in the way just described,
to obtain Sight, all those faint analogical notions
of Seeing, which we may conceive him to have
formed, would fade away from his mind, and be
succeeded by others incomparably more direct
and clear."
Meanwhile our care must be, during our state
of trial here below, not to imagine our know
ledge more coraplete than it is ; nor to expect
from the Scriptures such information as they
were not meant to supply." We must not study
^ See the interesting and valuable account of a boy born
blind and couched by Mr. Chesselden, extracted from the
Philosophical Transactions, by Mr. H. Mayo, in his Physio
logy, p. 163.
" " Has the reader ever attempted to state to himself
distinctly, what he understands by the term revelation, mean
ing a revelation of the Divine-nature ? Neither the voice, the
vision, the dream, nor the instinct can be said to be God.
All are evidently vehicles, and modes of communicating his
messages to man. ' Him no man hath seen at any time.'
Suppose, then, we wished to convey a description of an object
T

274 On apparent Contradictions [essay vii.
them as designed to convey, as it were, in terms
of art, the speculative truths of philosophy ; but
must seek, in the first instance at least, and with
the greatest diligence, such truths as are relative
of sight to one born blind ; (for that is our condition in
relation to the Divine-nature ;) he may perhaps be made to
receive some indistinct idea of it through his sense of hearing ;
and the vehicle of this revelation, as it may be termed, would
be a voice. Some contrivance may be afterwards invented
which should convey to him the same description, by submit
ting to his touch figures representing it, or, as is done in some
asylums, hy letters and words strongly impressed, so as to
be distinctly felt. If it had so happened, that he was at
length favoured with the gift of sight, (as occurred with some
in the miraculous period of the Church,) that same description
might be set before his eyes in a painting. Meanwhile,
suppose him never yet to have witnessed the object itself,
thus variously represented. He would then have become
acquainted with it in three distinct ways, and have been
enabled to improve and to apply his knowledge of it by
means of each ; still, he would hardly be absurd enough to
make either of these assertions,
"1. That the sounds, the figures, the writing, or the paint
ing, were the very thing described.
" 2. That the variety in the mode of conveying the descrip
tion implied any corresponding distinction in that one object,
the idea of which was thus variously communicated to him." —
Hinds's History of the Rise and Progress of Christianity.
Vol. I. pp. 295, 296.

sect. 5.] in Scripture. 275
to raan, and practical ; — nor must we allow our
selves, in any case, to interpret strongly all the
texts which seem to offer themselves on one
side, while we explain away all that are on the
other side ; as if, on the ground that they are
not to be taken literally, we were thence autho
rized to affix to them any signification whatever
that may chance to suit our views : but we
must endeavour honestly to reconcile Scripture
with itself, and thus to avail ourselves of that
mode of instruction which our Divine Teacher
has thought best for us. So shall we be en
abled, through divine help, to avoid, or to
diminish, many of the difficulties which pre
sumptuous speculators, or partial and preju
diced inquirers, have to encounter in the
Scriptures : we shall find them " able to make
us wise unto salvation, through faith which is
in Christ Jesus."

t2

NOTE.

Note A, page 256.
The ancient heathen had certain sacred rites, in which
were disclosed, to those " initiated," certain secrets, which
were carefully to be kept concealed from the uninitiated,
(o/ii5r)roi,) the great mass ofthe professors ofthe religion.
The Apostle naturally makes allusion to these, by the use
of the word " mystery," to denote those designs of God's
providence, and those doctrinal truths, which had been
kept concealed from mankind "till the fulness of time"
was come, " but now were made manifest " to believers.
And he frequently adverts to one important circumstance
in the Christian mysteries, which distinguishes them from
those of paganism ; viz. that while these last were re
vealed only to a chosen few, the gospel-mysteries, on the
contrary, were made known to all who would listen to and
obey the truth ; whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free,
barbarian or Greek. All Christians were " initiated "
{avfifivarai, as one of the ancient Fathers calls them), and
those only remained in darkness who wilfully shut their
eyes ; " if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost, whom the prince of this world hath blinded."

Note, 277
Now our ordinary use of the word mystery conveys
the notion of something that we cannot understand at
all, and which it is fruitless to inquire into. I am not
censuring this use of the word ; but if we interpret ac
cording to our own usage, an author who employs it
differently, it is plain we shall be misled. Both we
and the Sacred Writers, indeed, understand by the
word, something hidden from one party, and known to
another, (for we suppose all mysteries to be known to
God) ; but there is this difference ; that we use the
word in reference to the party from whom the know
ledge is withheld; the Apostles, in reference to those
to whom the knowledge is revealed. Such an expres
sion as, " this is a mystery to us," conveys to us the
idea that it is something we do not and cannot under
stand ; to Paul it would convey the idea that it is some
thing which " now is made manifest," and which we are,
therefore, called upon to contemplate and study ; even
as his office was "to make known the mystery of the
gospel." Not that he meant to imply that we are able
fully to understand the divine dispensations; but it is
not in reference to this their inscrutable character that he
calls them mysteries, but the reverse ; they are reckoned
by him mysteries, not so far forth as they are hidden and
unintelligible, but so far forth as they are revealed and
explained. For another use of mystery, to signify a symbolical
representation. See Parkhurst.

ESSAY VIII.

ON THE MODE OF CONVEYING MORAL PRECEPTS IN
THE NEW TESTAMENT.
In the preceding Essay some remarks were
offered relative to the methods employed for
communicating as much as was needful to be
known concerning the more abstruse doctrines
of our religion ; viz. by apparent contradictions ; —
by expressibhs which, if taken literally, would be
at variance with each other ; and which conse
quently must be mutually explained and modi*
fied by each other, in order that they may be
reconciled. And in this case the advantage of
such a procedure is evident ; the things them
selves are such as we are no raore capable of
distinctly and fully coraprehending, than a blind
man can, the nature of light and colours ; such
instruction, therefore, as We can receive con
cerning them, must be necessarily imparted

Precepts in the New Testament. 11%
according to the same principles by which we
should convey to the blind some idea of Sight ;
viz. by employing several dfferent analogies,
each of which may serve to correct the others,
and all of which in conjunction may convey a
notion as nearly approaching to the reality as
the case will permit.
But (as was observed in that Essay) in the
inculcation of moral precepts, there cannot be
the same reason for employing this method, as
there is in doctrinal instruction respecting in
scrutable mysteries. And yet there are not a
few directly practical passages, in different parts
of the New Testament, which, if taken literally
and in their full force, would contradict each
other ; and such apparent discrepancies there
are, not only between the writings of the Evan
gelists and the Apostolic Epistles, but also be
tween different portions of our Lord's own
discourses. Not only is Paul's censure of that
man as " worse than an infidel," who neglects
to " provide for those of his own household," at
variance with our Lord's declaration, " If any
man hate not his father, and mother, and wife,
and children, and all that he hath, he cannot be

280 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii.
my disciple," if both be understood literally, and
without limitation ; but also, according to such
an interpretation, our Lord's own precept to his
disciples to "let their light shine before men,"
would be no less opposed to his comraand that
their prayers and alms should be strictly con
cealed. And his description again of the day of
Judgrhent, in which the performance or neglect
of the works of charity seem to be the sole
ground of distinction between the saved and the
condemned, is apparently opposed not only to
the Apostle's declaration " by grace ye are saved,
through faith, and that, not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God," and to numberless others of the
same character, but also to the literal import of
Christ's own parting declaration to his disciples,
which seems to make the absence or presence
of a right behef, the only point considered ; " he
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."
And many other like instances might be adduced,
which plainly show that the system of instruct
ing by apparent contradictions is not confined to
doctrinal, but extends to practical points ; and
that in both cases it is requisite to compare and
balance, as it were, against each other, different

sect. l.J Precepts in the New Testament. 281
parts of Scripture, if we would gain a correct
view of what it is intended to convey.*
§ 1. For what purpose, then, it may be asked,
did our Lord and his inspired followers resort to
this method of instruction, in respect of those
practical duties which are not, hke the raore
abstruse points of faith, beyond tbe reach of
man's faculties ?
In order to answer this question, it will be
necessary to revert to some considerations which
have been formerly suggested.''
* As I have treated of subjects nearly allied to the one now
before us, in the second, third and fifth Essays of the first
Series, it may be worth while briefly to notice in this place,
the connexion, and also the distinction, between those and the
present Essay. I was speaking, in them, of a peculiarity
(considering Christianity as compared with any human system)
in the motives employed by the sacred writers for producing
moral conduct, and also, in the examples (oi Jesus Himself,
Essay II. and III. and of children. Essay V.) whiqh they
propose for our imitation and self-instruction. At present, I
am considering their mode of conveying to us the precepts ot
morality. In all, it is the vaoial-instruction of Scripture
that I have been treating of ; but, distinctly, of the difi"erent
parts of which it (and indeed all complete moral-instruction)
consists ; namely, 1st, the Motives inculcated ; 2dly, the
Examples proposed ; 3dly, the Precepts delivered.
^ Essay V.

282 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii.
Let it be observed, then, that it was no part
of the scheme of the gospel-revelation to lay
down any thing approaching to a complete
system of moral precepts, — to enumerate every
thing that is enjoined or forbidden by our
religion ; nor again, to give a detailed general
description of Christian duty, — or to delineate,
after the manner of systematic ethical writers,
each separate habit of virtue or of vice. When
the Mosaic Law was brought to a close, — (a law,
of which we have no scripture warrant for sup
posing that any part was intended to continue
in force, under the gospel-dispensation, or to be
extended to the Gentiles) ; when this Law, I
say, was brought to a close, no other set of pre
cise rules was substituted in its place. New
and higher motives were implanted ; — a raore
exalted and perfect example was proposed for
imitation ; — a loftier standard of morality was
established ; — rewards more glorious, and punish
raents more appalling, were held out; — and
supernatural aid was bestowed ; and the Chris
tian, with these incentives and these advantages,
is left to apply, for himself, in each case, the
principles of the Gospel. He is left to act at

SECT. l.J Precepts in the New Testament. 283
his own discretion, according to the dictates of
his conscience, — to cultivate Christian dispo
sitions, — and thus to be " a law unto himself."
From the exact regulations under which the
Israelites, when in a condition analogous to
childhood, were placed, he is released ; not that
he may be under a less strict raoral restraint,
but that he may attain, under it, a raore raanly
self-government, — a higher degree of moral ex
cellence ; even as the precise rules and strict
control under which a child is placed, are gradu
ally relaxed as he advances towards maturity ;
not on the ground that good conduct is less
required of a man than of a child, but, on the
contrary, because the very maturity of age,
which emancipates him from the trammels of
childhood, renders him capable of regulating
his conduct for hiraself by his own judgment.
" Behold, the days corae, saith the Lord,"
(according to the prophet Jeremiah, cited in the
Epistle to the Hebrews,) " when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel ; not
according to the covenant which I made with
their fathers  for this is the covenant
which I will make with the house of Israel

284 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii.
after those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts." The system, then, according to which the
Christian's life is to be regulated, is one under
which, not a less, but a greater degree of moral
perfection is expected of him ; but which substi
tutes sublime principles for exact rules. It is
this system that the Apostle sometiraes calls
"Faith," — sometimes " the Law of Faith," to
distinguish it, not from good works, but from the
Law of Moses. It is called the Law of Faith,
not because Christians are not (which he assures
us they are) to stand before Christ's tribunal " to
give an account of the things done in the body,"
but because their moral conduct is required to
spring from faith ; — from faith in the redeeming
raercy of God, "who was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself," and the devout grati
tude which is the natural result of this ; from
faith in the divine holiness and purity of the
Saviour, and the consequent desire to tread in
his steps whose life is our exaraple : from that
faith in his promised rewards which leads to the
endeavour after such a preparation of ourselves

SECT. l.J Precepts in the New Testament. 285
as raay qualify us to dwell " for ever with the
Lord ;" — from faith in his promised presence
with us, even unto the end of the world, by his
Spirit " which worketh in us both to will and to
do, of his good pleasure.""
Such a system then, it was necessary so to
develop, that its true character might not be
raistaken. Since Christians were not to be
guided by a precise code of laws, it was neces
sary to guard them carefully against expecting
one. And even during our Lord's own ministry,
before the " Law of faith " was perfectly laid
down, (the objects of that faith being but faintly
and partially revealed,) still it was needful, even
at the very outset, that raen should not be led,
or left, to suppose, that either a collection of
exact rules, or a system of moral philosophy,
was about to be proposed to their acceptance; —
that either the Mosaic law was to remain in
force as to the literal observance of its several
precepts, extended by the addition of others, —
or that any corresponding system — any fresh
enumeration of specific acts forbidden and eur
joined, — was to be introduced in the room of it.
" Essay III. First Series.

286 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii.
And care was the more necessary on this point,
both because Man in general is more ready to
receive, even a burdensome law, of this cha
racter, than to be left to his own watchful and
responsible discretion in acting up to certain
principles, and also because the Jews in parti
cular had been accustomed io precise regulations,
and nice distinctions as to specific acts, even far
-beyond what the written Law of Moses had laid
down. And yet our Lord's hearers had need of some
moral instruction. It was important that illus
trations should be afforded them of the applica
tion of the general principles of the new rehgion,
to each particular point; — it was desirable to
enforce such duties as were especially neglected,
and to point out the comparative degrees of im
portance of such as had been unduly estimated ;
— many prevailing faults and prejudices called
for correction ; — and it was needful, universally,
to guard against the supposition that the new
covenant was designed to substitute faith for
virtuous practice, and to save those who should
"call Jesus Lord," whilethey continued "workers
of iniquity." And as all this was to be accom-

SECT. 2. J Precepts in the New Testament. 287
plished in the course of a short ministry, and the
instruction was to be conveyed to men for the
most part of untutored and unreflective rainds, it
was the more important that the raode of con
veying it should be as striking and permanently
impressive as possible ; with a constant caution
at the same time against the mistake into which
the hearers were ever liable to fall ; — that of
imagining that they were to receive certain defi
nite precepts, and satisfying thetaselves with a
literal obedience to each.
Something peculiar then raay be expected in
the mode of conveying raoral instructions, when
the object proposed comprehended all the cir
cumstances just mentioned ; — when it required
that, besides being suited to the capacity and to
the raoral condition of the hearer, the precepts
should at the sarae time be both forcibly ira-
pressive, and also such as to exclude the idea of
any intention to lay down a complete moral
code. § 2. In the moral lessons of the Gospel,
accordingly, three pecuharities especially raay
be observed, which have a reference to the

288 Mode qf conveying Moral [essay viii.
circurastances I have noticed, and which raay
be explained by thera.
First, The precepts are often apparently con
tradictory to each other :
Secondly, They are often such that a literal
compliance with thera would be, in raany cases,
either impossible, or at least, extravagant and
irrational :
And, Thirdly, This literal compliance would
in many instances araount to so insignificant and
unimportant a point of duty, as could not be
supposed deserving of a distinct inculcation for
its own sake. And two, or all three, of these
characters may sometiraes be found to meet in
one single precept.
The reason of all this is clear, frora the prin
ciples that have been already laid down : every
raode is eraployed of warning the hearers against
satisfying theraselves with an observance of these
precepts according to the letter, in doing or ab
staining frora some particular action. For a
literal compliance with precepts which, literally
taken, are inconsistent, would be impossible ;
where that literal compliance would be wrong or
absurd, it is manifest it could not be intended;

SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 289
where it would be trifling, it is manifest that
it cannot be all that is intended. And thus the
disciples werd driven, if they were sincerely de
sirous to learn, and would interpret rationally
and candidly what they heard, to perceive that
such precepts as I am speaking of were designed
to explain and to enforce those general principles
on which men are to regulate their conduct :
while the very circumstance that such instruc
tions excite some degree of surprise, and evi
dently call for careful reflection, renders them
the more likely to make a lasting impression.
Many instances of each description will readily
occur to most persons : I will advert to a very
few. When Jesus tells his disciples to pray and to
give alms in secret, and not to let their "left
hand know what their right hand doeth," and
yet exhorts them to " let their light shine before
men," it is plain frora these precepts, taken in
conjunction, and explained by each other, that
his design was to discountenance an ostentatious
motive, but to leave to our own conscientious
discretion the mode of performing each action
on each occasion. When the publicity of our-
u

290 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii.
alms and of our devotions, appears likely to
" glorify God," and to benefit men by the influ
ence of a good example, the principles of the
Gospel prescribe that pubhcity ; in cases where it
tends only to the gratification of our own vanity,
and especially when we have reason to fear 'that
we may be too much actuated by the desire of
raen's praise, then, concealraent is to be preferred.
Again, when men's future destiny is described
in one place as determined by their performance
or omission of the social duties, — in another, by
the government of the tongue, — in another, by
belief and baptism alone, — in another, (the para
ble of the rich raan and Lazarus) apparently by
the luxuries enjoyed, or privations undergone
in the present life, — we may easily learn, by
comparing and balancing together all these pas
sages, that no good works of man, not springing
from belief in the Gospel, can tend to salvation,
— yet that professions of faith in Christ are but
a mockery of Hira, when unaccorapanied with
active benevolence towards those whom He calls
his brethren ; — that we shall be condemned or
justified .by our words as well as by our actions ; —
and that those who set their hearts on the good

SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 291
things of this world, and lay up no treasures in
heaven, can have no reasonable expectation of
heavenly rewards.
Again, the injunction in the passage before
cited, to " hate father and mother," &c. if we
would be Christ's disciples,* is not only, if taken
* It may be observed by the way, what an evidence to the
truth of Christianity is afforded by this declaration of our
Lord, together with his warning that every one who would
be his disciple must be ready to "take up his cross and
follow Him," and must, in imitation of a man designing to
build, and of a king about to make war, coolly calculate
before-hand whether he has resources and resolution suffi
cient to go through with the enterprise. AU this constitutes
so uninviting a doctrine, that we may be sure no one would
have preached it who had any object in view except that of
teaching the truth.
We have here therefore one of those many internal evi
dences of our religion, which may be made completely intel
ligible to the unlearned Christian. For comraon sense may
convince any one, that had Jesus been either an impostor or
an enthusiast, he would never have entertained, and taught
others to entertain, such a view of his religion. He would
have used all means to invite men to become his disciples,
instead of deterring them ; and would either himself have
overlooked, or else concealed from the people, the difficulties
to be encountered by those who should embrace the Gospel ;
instead of pointing them out, and earnestly dwelling upon
them.
u2

292 Mode qf conveying Moral [essay viii.
literally, at variance with the exhortations to
universal benevolence, and to Paul's coramand to
provide for our famihes, but also to the plainest
dictates of conscience and of common sense.
This then is an instance which illustrates at once
two of the principles above laid down. It is
plain, therefore, that such a precept could not
be raeant to be understood and obeyed literally :
and if there could be any doubt in what raanner
Christ intended it should be obeyed. He himself
has given us in another place an explanation of
it ; " he that loveth father or mother more than
me, is not worthy of me ; and he that loveth
son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of
me." It is evident, therefore, that what is in
tended by the command to hate the objects of
our strongest regard, is, that the things of the
greatest importance to our happiness, and which
have the strongest hold on our affections, must
be accounted by us as nothing, in comparison
with our devotedness to Christ ; and that when
ever any of these objects shall chance to stand
in the way of our obedience to Hira, we must be
ready to resign it without a murmur.
Sacrifices of this kind were doubtless much

SECT. 2.J Precepts in the New Testament. 293
raore frequently called for in the first ages of the
Church, than they are now : because not only
raany were called on to abandon their homes and
friends, and devote themselves to the propa
gation of the gospel in distant countries, but it
also frequently happened that men's nearest and
dearest connexions were at variance with thera
respecting the religion of Christ ; and that they
had to suffer persecution, or at least censure and
conterapt, frora those very friends whose good
opinion and regard they had been the raost accus
toraed to prize : " Think not that I ara come to
send peace on earth ; I tell you nay, but rather
division : the father shall be divided against the
son, and the son against the father ; 
a man's foes shall be they of his own house
hold." It is plain, therefore, that a man must have
been (in such circurastances) very strongly
terapted to shrink frora the bold and open pro
fession ofhis faith ; and to concede too rauch to
the authority of those around him : and, accord
ingly, we read of many leading men among the
Jews, who sought to compromise the raatter, by
outwardly renouncing the opinions they inwardly

294 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii.
held, — who "believed in Jesus, but secretly,"
for fear of being " cast out of the synagogue ;
for they loved the praise of men raore than the
praise of God."
There is not, however, nor will ever be, any
tirae or any country, in which the sincere Chris
tian is not liable to be called upon to raake some
sacrifices in the cause of Christ— to do, or to
forego, or undergo, something, which occasions
a painful struggle to his nature ; and this our
Lord exhorts us deliberately to prepare for, and
if we would be his disciples, to give him a raost
decided and strong preference to every object
that may stand in the way of our faith or of our
obedience to Him. This, He in another place
very strongly enforces in a figurative form of
expression : which also, common sense teaches
us, it would be absurd to understand literally ;
saying, " if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out
and cast it frora thee ;" meaning thereby, that
whatever offends us as Christians, that is, stands
in our way, and obstructs our progress in fol
lowing our Master's steps, though it may be as
dear to us as an eye, or a right hand, must be'
renounced thoroughly, and heartily, and cheer-

SECT. 2.] Precepts in the New Testament. 295
fully, for his sake, if we expect that He should
own us as his disciples.
Now this precept of plucking out an eye, or
cutting off a right hand, is by no means hard to
be understood, as to the spirit and intention of
it, and the disposition meant to be recoraraended;
and when it is understood, its effect will be, on
those who sincerely study to comply with it,
exactly what our Lord designed ; they cannot in
this case satisfy their conscience by a literal com
pliance with it in the performance of any specific
act ; and, consequently, will the more naturally
be led to cultivate that frame of raind, and study
to adopt that principle of thorough devotedness
to Christ, which He raeant to recomraend.
Again, in inculcating the duty of gentleness
and patience under provocation. He says, " if any
raan smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him
the left also ; if any man will take away thy
cloak, let hira have thy coat also ; if any raan
corapel thee to go a raile, go with him twain ;"
in which it is evident, that his meaning was, not
the mere literal performance of those specific
actions raentioned, but the cultivation of a mild
and long-suffering temper. The strong way in

296 Mode of conveying Moral [essay viii.
which He delivered those precepts — the striking
and often paradoxical illustrations which He gave
of them — had the effect of making a more lively
impression on the hearers' minds, and at the
same tirae guarded them (as I have just before
observed) against supposing that it was enough
to perform, hterally, the particular actions men
tioned, without adopting the principle of action
which He was illustrating. This last instance
again combines two of the circumstances above
mentioned : the mere literal observance of the
precept would not only be in many cases irra
tional, but also manifestly insufficient, and would
fall far short of what is raeant to be inculcated ;
and hence a candid hearer is the more imrae
diately led to understand, that obedience to it
iraplies not the bare performance of this or that
particular action, but the careful cultivation of a
certain habit of action.
The same observations will apply to our Lord's
precept against chusing "the most honourable
seats at feasts;" and his exhortation to men to
occupy a lower place than they have a just title
to. He did indeed intend that his rule respect
ing good manners should be hterally observed.

SECT. 2.J Precepts in the New Testament. 297
since good manners is a part of good morals ;
but it is evident that this literal comphance was
the least part of what He designed, and that He
took this method of inculcating, generally, a
caution against arrogance and self-exaltation.
Universally indeed. He was accustomed to
illustrate whatever principle He had in view,
by sorae particular instance ; knowing that this
would take better hold on men's attention, and
be more surely fixed in their memory, than if
He had confined himself to the mere general
maxira ; and that it would be very easy for any
one, after being, by this exemplification, put in
possession of the general maxim, to extend and
apply it, for himself, to every case that raight
occur; supposing him to have the sincere dis
position to do so, without which no instruction
can avail.
Thus, when He was called upon to explain
what kind of neighbourly love we ought to show,
and towards whom. He illustrates his meaning
by relating the parable of a man who "fell
among thieves," and He concludes his instruction
by saying, "Go and do thou likewise;" which
exhortation no one can be so stupid, if he be

298 Mode qf convening Moral [essay viii.
not also perverse, as to interpret by the letter,
as meaning merely that when he might chance
to meet with a traveller thus circumstanced, he
should relieve him, and that precisely such a
case as that in the parable was all that was con
templated. The interpretation of " Go and do
thou likewise" was clear enough to any one who
wished to understand it; as signifying that we
are to regard every one as a neighbour to whom
we have an opportunity of doing service, and
are to be ready to perform the kind offices of a
neighbour towards him.
But, as I have said, our Lord chose not only
to illustrate his general maxira by some parti
cular exemplification ; but, also, in order to make
it the more clear to his hearers that this was his
object, — that the instainces adduced were for the
purpose of illustrating the general rule, — it hap
pened very frequently, as in the case of some of
the illustrations just mentioned, that He selected
by choice such as were in theraselves the sraallest
and most insignificant instances ofthe rule. Thus,
when he wished to irapress on his disciples in
the most forcible manner the duty of being
ready to serve, and perforra kind offices for one

SECT. 3.] Precepts in the New' Testament. 299
another. He taught them by an action, — by Him
self condescending to wash their feet ; and after
wards telling them, " ye ought also to wash one
another's feet." This, it is well known, was,
from the peculiar circumstances of the age and
country, one of the chief refreshraents to travel
lers : this particular instance, consequently, was
chosen as affording an easy and familiar illus
tration of the general disposition He designed to
inculcate ; a readiness to perforra all raanner of
kind offices for one another. Now if the par
ticular office of kindness, selected by Him, had
been one of the more important services of life,
there might have been the more danger of their
supposing that his precept was raeant to ex
tend only to that particular service raentioned :
whereas this was guarded against by his par
ticularizing one of the smallest: when He said
to thera, " ye ought to wash one another's feet,"
they could not have a doubt that the precept
was raeant to extend to more than that one
point of hospitality, and to comprehend a general
disposition to befriend one another.
§ 3. To those, then, who are sincerely desirous

300 Mode qf conveying Moral [essay viii.
of instruction, and willing to use care and dili
gence in seeking it, and in practically applying
what they learn, it will, in most cases, be no
difficult task, to ascertain what principles those
are which our Lord and his Apostles intended,
on each occasion, to inculcate, and in what
manner Christians are required to exemplify
them in their lives.
If we, first, examine the whole of each passage>
so as to understand the occasion on which any
precept was delivered, and to what persons,
and under what circumstances ; and if we are
also careful to compare different (and especially,
apparently inconsistent) passages together, so
interpreting each as it is explained, or limited,
or confirmed, or extended, or otherwise modi
fied, by the rest ; we shall be employing those
means for ascertaining aright the sense of God's
word, which common prudence would prescribe —
which doubtless were intended to be employed in
such an inquiry, — and which, we raay trust, by
God's grace will not be employed in vain.
On the other hand, the inattentive and the
uncandid, — those who read the Scriptures with
out diligent study, or with a study only to find

SECT. 3. J Precepts in the New Testament. 301
confirmations of their preconceived notions, and
vindications of their own conduct, — such, could
not have been secured from error, even by any
other mode of instruction that could have been
adopted. Let it not be objected, therefore, to the
method pursued by our Lord and his followers,
that it affords an opening, for such as are so
disposed, to escape from any doctrines or duties
they may object to, and to model others accord
ing to their own inclinations, by dwelling on and
enforcing literally, such texts as suit their purpose,
and explaining away the rest. The most precise
and detailed precepts would have been no less
successfully evaded by the same persons ; they
would easily have found some contrivance, when
they were so disposed, to " make the word of
God of none effect, by their tradition."
And the most copious and philosophical system
of ethics would have proved no better safeguard
against the devices of a corrupt heart. Moral
treatises afford no substitute for the exercise of
discretion and of candour : philosophy cannot
teach its own application : on the contrary, such
studies are useful to those only who employ that
good sense and sincerity of intention, in bringing

302 Mode qf conveying Moral [essay viii.
them into practice in the details of life. It is
not enough (as the most illustrious of the ancient
moralists has observed °) to lay down, that, in
each department of conduct, virtue consists in the
medium between an excess and a deficiency ; it
still remains to be decided in each single instance,
where this mediura is to be placed ; and as the
deterraination of this is necessarily left to the
judgraent and conscience ofthe individual, so any
one whose moral judgment is not incorrupt, and
who is seeking, not to improve his character, but
to vindicate it, may easily find means first to re
present, and afterwards to believe, his own con
duct to be exactly the right mediura. For the
maxira laid down in another place by the philo
sopher just alluded to, for applying his own rules,
is one which the generality of raen corapletely
reverse : he tells each raan to observe to which
ofthe two extreraes he is, in each point, raost
prone by his own natural disposition, and to
regard that, as (relatively to hira) the worse
extrerae of the two ; being the one into which
he is the more liable to fall. The comraon prac
tice, on the contrary, is for each to regard, (as,
* Arist. Eth. Nicom. Book VI. chap. i.

SECT. 3.] Precepts in the New Testament. 303
indeed, is very natural) that, as the worse ex
trerae, to which he has the less tendency, and
to look with less abhorrence on each fault in
proportion as it is the raore congenial to his own
inclinations. Without vigilant and candid self-examination,
then, no system of raoral instruction that could
have been devised, would have been practi
cally available : and with this, the instructions
afforded in the Gospel will, through divine help,
prove sufficient. There are two objects, neither
of which a raan will usually fail to attain, who
zealously and steadily seeks it ; the one is, the
knowledge of what in each case he ought to do ;
the other is, a plausible excuse for doing as he
is inclined. The latter of these, the carnally-
rainded raight find in any set of precepts or
raoral instructions that could have been framed ;
the former, the spiritually-minded will not fail to
obtain in the Gospel.
Only let him not seek in it for what he will
not find there; — precise and minute directions
for every case that can occur ; or a set of
insulated maxims which admit of being t^aken
away, as it were, frora the context, and inter-

304 Mode qf conveying, 8fc. [essay viii.
preted and applied without any reference to
the rest of Scripture ; or for a general detailed
description of moral duties.
But he will find there the most pure and sub
lime motives inculcated, — the noblest principles
instilled, — the most bold and uncorapromising,
yet sober and rational tone of morality raain
tained, — the most animating examples proposed,
and above all, the most effectual guidance, and
assistance, and defence provided ; even that of
the Spirit of Truth, who will enable us duly to
profit by the teaching of his inspired Servants ;
that we "may have our fruit unto holiness, and
the end, everlasting life."

ESSAY IX.
. ON THE influence OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Those things which God's raost favoured ser
vants under the old dispensation — which " raany
prophets and kings had in vain desired to see and
hear," — the disciples of Jesus had been perraitted
to witness. They had seen the man whom " God
had anointed with theHoly Ghost ;"* — and "given
it unto Him not by measure ;"'' — the " iraage of
the invisible God,"° " whom no man hath seen
at any tirae,"* but whora " the only-begotten Son
had declared unto thera ;"^ " being the express
iraage ofhis Person."^ Imperfect and indistinct
indeed, — perhaps we may say confused, — raust
have been the notions they entertained respecting
the mysterious person with whom they had been
^ Acts X. 38. •> John iii. 34.
<= Coloss. i. 15. <^ 1 John iv. 12 ; also John i. 18.
* John i. 18. f Heb. i. 3.

306 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
so long holding intercourse. Such must be our
notions also concerning Hira, unless they be
erroneous ; for the ideas we forra on a subject
surpassing the powers of our present minds, and
which Scripture has but indistinctly revealed,
cannot be at once, clear, and correct. The dis
ciples, however, had, during our Lord's abode
with them, even more imperfect notions respect
ing Him than they were afterwards taught to
form. He had " many things to say unto them,
which yet they could not bear." But they
" knew and were sure that He was the Christ,
the Son of the living God," and that " He had
the words of eternal life ;" and they had latterly
been further taught that they were not to regard
Him as merely bearing the comraission of the
Most High, like the prophets of old ; nor yet as
merely some Being of a superhuman nature,
whether a creature, or (according to the pre
sumptuous fancies which afterwards prevailed)
some jSlon, or Emanation from the Deity, and
partaking ofthe divine nature ;^ for when asked
8 The Gnostics (i. e. men of " science, falsely so called," —
men claiming, in the title they assumed, to be einphatically
such as " knew the Gospel,") taught the doctrine of successive

SECT. 1 .J Influence of the Holy Spirit. 307
by Philip, who probably was disposed to enter
tain some such notion, to show them the Father,
He replied, " Have I been so long with you, and
yet hast thou not known rae, Philip ? he that
hath seen rae hath seen the Father; and how
then sayest thou. Shew us the Father ? Behevest
thou not that I ara in the Father, and the Father
in rae T"* the words that I speak unto you I
emanations (" endless genealogies " alluded to by Paul) from
the Deity (whom they call the "Fulness"), and from one
another of these celestial beings : in whora they personified
many of the Scripture-terms relating to the character or the
dispensations of the Most High. Such as Logos (the Word),
of whom they regarded Christ as an incarnation ; Phos (Light),
feigned to have been incarnate in John the Baptist ; Aletheia
(Truth) ; Zoe (Life) ; Monogenes (only-begotten), and others.
Without some acquaintance with this tissue of impious absur
dity, it is impossible to understand fully the opening of John's
Gospel. See " Hinds's History of the Rise and early Progress
of Christianity," Vol. II. p. 49.
Paul's expressions also, " in Him dwelleth all the Fulness
of the Godhead bodily "  " it hath pleased the Father
that in Him should all Fulness dwell," have reference proba
bly to the same heresy.
^ This mode of expression seems to have been employed,
as it constantly is, by our Lord, to guard his hearers against
the notion of a local Deity, — against literally attributing
place to the Divine mind : thus, He says, " abide in me, and /
in you :'' and, " the same dwelleth in me, and I in him," &c.
x2

308 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
speak not of myself; but the Father that
dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. Believe
me that I am in the Father, and the Father in
rae; or else beheve rae for the very works'
sake." (John xiv.)
§ 1. Well therefore raight the disciples, when
thus far taught, anticipate with grief and disraay
the approaching loss ofthis their Divine Master —
the destruction of " the teraple of his body," and
the withdrawing of this " raanifestation of God
in the flesh," with which they had been so long
favoured ; and He most tenderly sets Himself to
relieve their fears and sorrows, by assuring them
of his speedy return to abide with them for ever ;
" I go away, and come again unto you ; a little
while, and ye shall not see rae, and again a little
while and ye shall see rae." It was not, indeed,
the bodily presence of their Master in the flesh,
that they were to look for as continuing with
thera " always, even unto the end of the world,"
as these and several other of his expressions
would have led them to suppose, had there not
been others to modify and explain them ; it was
another comforter, — the Holy Spirit, whom the

SECT. 1.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 309
Father should send in Christ's name, that should
teach them all things, and should " abide with"
them " for ever." Yet still, Jesus suffers them
not to suppose that they were to transfer their
love and allegiance to a new Master, or to look
for consolation and instruction to any distinct
Being from Himself; though after his ascension
He would no longer be, as heretofore, the object
daily present to their senses ; " That Spirit of
Truth," He said, they knew ; " for He dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you :" " I will not leave
you comfortless, I will come unto you; yet a
httle while and the world seeth me no more;
but ye see me ; because I live, ye shall live
also : at that day ye shall know that I am in my
Father, and ye in me, and I in you'" 
" he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father,
and I will love hira, and will raanifest myself
to him"  "my Father wih love hira, and
we will corae unto him and make our abode
with hira :" " abide in me, and I in you :' as the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me ;.
— without rae ye can do nothing." (John xv.)
I See note *> p. 307.

310 Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
That these promises and these precepts of
Jesus were not so confined to the disciples then
around him as to concern no other Christians, is
most evident. If the Apostles could bring forth
no fruit except they " abode in Him, and He in
them," no more, surely, can we. He had ex
pressly declared that He " prayed not for thera
alone, but for those also, who should believe on
Him through their word;" nor would his pro
mise of being " with them always even unto the
end of the world," have been fulfilled, by any
assistance bestowed exclusively on one genera
tion of mortal men.''
And it is equally clear, I think, to any one
who seeks in earnest to be led by the Scriptures,
that our Saviour's words are not to be explained
as relating merely to a system of doctrines and
motives, — to an abstract religious principle, — but
to a real, individual, personal agent ; even the
Holy Spirit operating on the minds of believers ;
which is called, amidst the diversity of opera
tions, one and the same Spirit, not, figuratively,
as when we speak of the spirit of patriotism, —
the spirit of emulation, — the spirit of philoso-
^ See Note (™) p. 312.

SECT. l.J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 311
phical inquiry, and the like; but literally and
numerically, one Being, even the one God,
whose Temple is the whole body of the faithful ;
which Temple they are warned not " to defile,
lest God destroy thera."' For if any one could
even so strain this last expression (as well as
many other such) of the Apostle Paul, and like
wise all the words of Christ Himself, as to inter
pret them into mere metaphor, it would still be
impossible for hira to conceive a raere principle
of action, — a christian spirit, in that transferred
sense of the word, — enabling Christians to work
sensible miracles ; and these we find distinctly
attributed to the iramediate agency of the Divine
Spirit. One indeed of the raany iraportant uses
of the rairaculous gifts bestowed on the infant
Church, and one, doubtless, of those for which
they were designed, was this: they served to
prove, among other things, that the promised
indwelling of the Spirit of Christ in his Church,
was not to be understood as a mere figure of
speech, denoting their adherence to the doctrines
He taught, and the possession of the inspired
1 See " The three "Temples of the one true God con
trasted," by Rev. S. Hinds.

312 Influence qf the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
record of them, but a real, though unseen, pre
sence, by his Spirit ; — not the mere keeping of
his comraandraents through love for his raeraory,
but a spiritual union with Hira ; at once the
promised reward, and the bond and support of
that obedient love, — the effect at once and cause
of our " keeping his saying." " For if any man
love me," said He, "he will keep my saying,
and my Father will love him, and We will come
unto him, and make our abode with him."™ And
it is, I conceive, this, the raore intiraate union
of the Spirit of Christ with his disciples-— raore
intimate than that which had existed while He
was present with them in the flesh,-^that He
teaches thera to regard as a ground for not only
" Would Jesus have said this of any man (i. e. every man)
who loved Him, if He had been speaking only of the Apostles,
and of those others who should receive miraculous gifts 1 Or
would Paul, in that case, when writing to the Romans, who
had at that time received no miraculous gifts (see Rom. i. 11.)
have said " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us :" . . . . " as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God 
if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you : if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his : ... . the Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit ?" &c. &c.

SECT. 2.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 313
not grieving, but rejoicing, at his departure,
which was to lead to such a re-union; "if ye
loved me ye would rejoice,"
§ 2. It may be said, however, that since
" every good and every perfect gift is from
above," — since from God " proceed all holy de
sires, good counsels, and just works," we must
not account spiritual influence as any peculiar
privilege of the gospel-system, but must acknow
ledge that good men among the Israelites of old,
if not among the heathen also, acted under the
guidance of the Holy Ghost, Indeed we find
them even recognizing this influence by their
prayers to God to "make a clean heart within
them," &c. And yet on the other hand, there
can surely be no doubt that under the Gospel,
some new manifestation of God in the Spirit has
taken place. We cannot suppose that the per
sons, who by our Lord's directions were baptized
into" the name of the Father, Son and Holy
° Not " in the name," as it is in our translation ; which
probably in this and a few more instances showed too much
deference for the Vulgate Latin Version. That translates " in
nomine ;" a rendering plainly at variance with the original.

314 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
Ghost, — rwho were " born again of water and of
the Spirit," in order to their entering into the
newly-founded kingdom of heaven, were admit
ted to no privilege which had not been all along
enjoyed by their fathers even from the creation.
And every part of the New Testament confirms
this view. Among the rest, we find in John's
Gospel, "this spake He of the Holy Ghost,
which they that believed on Hira should receive ;
for the Holy Ghost was not yet;"" "because
that Jesus was not yet glorified." And again,
those twelve disciples whom Paul found at Ephe
sus in his third apostolical journey, had "not
so much as heard whether there be any Holy
Ghost." Yet certainly they could not have been
ignorant that God is a Spirit. Nor can it well
be supposed, that they, and the Evangelist John
in the passage just cited, refer to the miraculous
effusion alone, and call that extraordinary agency,
especially and exclusively, the Holy Ghost; since
they must have known how frequently God had
of old inspired the prophets, and enabled many
of them to perform various rairacles.
° " Given," is added by the translators.

SECT. 2.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 315
In what then are we to conclude the difference
consisted between the Christian Church and her
predecessor, in respect of spiritual endowment ?
Without presuming to decide on the degree of
divine assistance bestowed on individuals under
the two dispensations respectively, (which would
be presuraptuous,) this important distinction we
raay plainly perceive ; that, of the Christian
Church the Holy Spirit is the promised and
PERMANENT Corafortcr : He is the "promise of
the Father," sent that " He may abide with us
for ever." Whatever sanctifying aid raay have
been, in fact, supplied, under the Old Covenant,
it was no part of that Covenant ; — of the Chris
tian Covenant, it is. God the Holy Ghost, —
God raanifest in the Spirit, was not the per
manent Ruler of the forraer Church, as He is of
the Christian. As for the divine communications
to the prophets, and the miraculous powers be
stowed on them and on others, under the Old
Dispensation, these were not continuous, but
occasional; inward sanctifying grace, again,
bestowed on the humble and pious, raay have
been, for aught we know, constant, but was not
promised. And hence the Jewish people was

316 Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
never called, like the Christians, the " Teraple
of the Holy Ghost."
What the Apostle John therefore (as well as
those disciples at Ephesus) raeant by the Holy
Spirit, which, he says, "was not yet," (outtw r]v).
raust have been, this covenanted and perpetual
raanifestation of God in the Spirit, (a raanifesta
tion now to faith only, though at first confirraed
by sensible miracles) as the Governor, Protector,
Consoler, in short. Paraclete, of the Christian
Church. For we are Christ's Body ; and " here
by know we that He dwelleth in us, by his
Spirit which He hath given us." These consi
derations alone would be sufficient to prove,
were other proofs less abundant, that the pro-
raised presence of God with the Christian
Church, cannot, without setting Scripture at
defiance, be understood as referring raerely to
the writings of the New Testament which He
inspired ; since that would give us no advantage
over the Jewish Church ; for " holy men of old
spake as they were raoved by the Holy Ghost."
§ 3. The proraise of Christ, however, that He
would always, even unto the end of the world.

SECT. 3.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 317
be with his Church, which is thus constituted
" the teraple of the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in
it," is not understood by all in the same extent.
While on the one hand, sorae enthusiasts have
pretended to inspiration, and other rairaculous
gifts ; raany on the other hand, who are far re-
raoved from this error, but who are satisfied with
vague and careless notions, have a sort of general
idea of spiritual aid not being wholly withdrawn
frora Christians, but bestowed in a rauch less
degree than on the saints of the priraitive times ;
without seeking to determine the measure, or the
kind of spiritual assistance to be reasonably hoped
for by each class respectively, or the signs by
which each raight recognize its presence.
And yet it raight naturally be supposed, that
inscrutable as the nature of God raust be to his
creatures, and little as they can understand of
the reasons and the modes of his dealings with
them, at least we should be capable of knowing
what the spiritual aid is that we are taught to
look for, and commanded to pray and to strive
for. The humblest peasant, who subsists by the
labour of his hands, may be left ignorant indeed
of the process by which corn vegetates in the

318 Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
earth, or supphes nutriraent to the huraan frarae ;
but it is needful for his natural life that he should
understand how to gain his daily bread, which he
is taught to pray for, and to distinguish it frora
what is useless or noxious; and it is no less
needful that the plainest Christian should be able
to understand how his spiritual life is to be sup
ported, — the welfare of his soul secured ; and
should be capable of guarding against any dan
gerous error on the subject.
It is desirable, therefore, that both the resem
blances and the dfferences between our condition
and that of the priraitive Christians, in respect
of this point, should be as accurately laid down
as possible, and should be frequently dwelt upon ;
since the worst consequences may result from
either underrating or overrating the spiritual aid
to be expected by Christians of the present day.
Thus rauch is generally adraitted ; that the
promise of the Holy Spirit extended to both
classes of Christians ; but that the sensibly-
miraculous gifts bestowed on the early Church
have been long since withdrawn ; and these are
usually, and very suitably, called the extraor
dinary gifts ; as bestowed at a particular time.

SECT. 4. J Influence of the Holy Spirit. 319
and for an especial purpose ; and are thus dis
tinguished frora what are called the ordinary
operations of the Spirit, as needful alike for all
Christians, and at all tiraes. A raore particular
consideration, however, of some of the several
points of resemblance, and of difference, between
the two cases, is requisite for the purpose of
guarding against some prevaihng errors, and of
calling attention to doctrines not always suffi
ciently noticed, or adequately developed.
And this inquiry falls naturally under two
heads, (which however cannot be kept entirely
distinct) ; viz. 1st, as to the different classes of
gifts themselves ; and 2dly, as to the tokens by
which the presence of each is to be known — the
way in which each kind of spiritual influence is
to be recognized.
§ 4. First, then, the display of " signs and
wonders" in the primitive Church, constitutes
one great distinction between their case and
ours:' but this distinction being acknowledged,
p For it is not necessary at present to enter into an exa
mination of the false pretensions of some impostors and
enthusiasts, whether in the Church of Rome or in any other,
who have professed to work sensible miracles.

320 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
we should consider attentively on whom, and for
what purposes, these miraculous gifts were be
stowed ; for it is not unnatural, nor I believe
uncommon to regard the persons who were thus
gifted, as holier, and raore highly favoured of
God, than Christians of the present day ; — as
Saints, in some different sense or degree frora
any thing that we are required or allowed to
become. But an examination of the case will
plainly show, that we have no reasons for re
garding the Christians thus gifted as having any
such advantage over us. It is not necessary to
enumerate and discuss the several kinds of ex
traordinary gifts ; it is plain that they were not
such as can be supposed to have been bestowed
for the direct benefit of the possessor. The gift
of tongues, for instance, or of prophecy, or of
healing the sick, could not, of themselves, and
immediately, conduce to the salvation of the
persons thus gifted. But more than this, they
did not even afford proof that such persons were
corapletely acceptable to God, and in a safe
state in respect of their salvation; for, strange
as it raay appear to us, there is no possibility of
doubting that several of thera not only incurred

sect. 4.J Influence of the Holy Spirit. 321
the Apostle's severe rebuke for their misconduct,
but among the rest were censured for a vain
and contentious display of these very miraculous
endowments ; they showed a carnal mind, not
only while possessed of extraordinary spiritual
gifts, but even in the very employment of those
gifts. It appears probable, indeed, that the Apostles
(who alone had this power)' conferred some ex
traordinary gift or other on every one, without
exception, of the converts who carae in their
way, as a token and pledge of their being in
truth a holy people to the Lord. At least no
raention is raade of their bestowing these gifts
on some and not on others; and certainly,
whether they made any selection or not, they
did not, as we plainly find, confine the gifts to
such as it was foreseen would make a right use
of them.
For what purpose then were these gifts be
stowed? Principally, we may conclude, for these
three: 1st, for the satisfactory conviction and
assurance of the rainds of the possessors ; 2dly,
« Acts viii. 16. xix. 6. Rom. i. 11, &c.
Y

322 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
for the propagation of the religion ; and, 3dly,
for the edification of the Church.
And, First, Sorae external sensible operations
of the Spirit raust have been highly important at
least, to satisfy the minds of the first Christians
ofhis actual presence among them. They had
so far shaken off their Jewish and Heathen pre
judices (prejudices which we of the present day
can hardly bring ourselves adequately to estiraate)
as to receive the religion of Christ crucified, " to
the Jews a sturabling-block, and to the Greeks
foohshness ;" they had acknowledged that the
Eternal God, the Author and Ruler of the
Universe, had been raanifested in the flesh, in
carnate in an obscure, despised, and persecuted
peasant, who had been executed as one of the
vilest of criminals ; and on being baptized into
this faith they were further required to believe
that they were thus " born again of water and
of the Holy Spirit," — that He, the same all-
present God, dwelt in an especial manner in the
Church, of which they were become raembers,
as in a most holy Temple, and was ever at hand
to sanctify and guide them. "Know ye not,"
says Paul, " that ye are the Temple of the Holy

sect. 4.J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 323
Ghost, which dwelleth in you?" Now all this
was so opposite to all their former notions, — so
strange to all their habits of thought, that they
raight well need some special assurance of such
a doctrine as this last; — sorae support against
the uneasy doubts and suspicions which might
suggest the question, " is the Lord among us, or
not?" And such an assurance was graciously
afforded them in the sensible testimony of his
presence which God displayed, by conferring
powers manifestly miraculous.' Those, for in
stance, who received the gift of speaking in, or
interpreting, a language they had never learned,
could not suspect that they had been deceived
by a false teacher, or that they were under the
delusion of a heated imagination: they would
have ground for undoubting confidence, there
fore, that they were indeed born of the Spirit,
and living stones of that holy Temple, not raade
with hands, in which He resides. Not, however,
be it observed, that they were to regard their
extraordinary gifts as the only, or as the raost
iraportant, instance of spiritual influence, but as
the proof and pledge of it : the truly important
' " Hinds's History," &c. Vol. I. p. 22Y.
y2

324 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
benefit was, the sanctification by the Spirit, with
a view to eternal life; the miraculous power
was the seal and the earnest of that benefit, —
the sign and notification, as it were, that the
treasure had been bestowed, — not the treasure
itself. Secondly, These extraordinary gifts were
needful in various ways for the propagation of
Christ's religion ; both to furnish those who
preached it with credentials, as it were, from
heaven, to prove the divine origin of the religion,
and also to enable all nations to " hear in their
own tongues the wonderful works of God."
Thirdly, divers extraordinary gifts (probably
those designated as the " word of wisdom," " the
word of knowledge," and "the word of pro
phecy") were evidently needful for the edification
of the infant Church ; — for the supply of instruc
tion, both in doctrines and in raoral duties, to
those whose Divine Master had not left behind
Hira (like Moses) a book, containing the prin
ciples of Christian faith and practice, but had
left, instead, the promise of his Spirit, who should
" lead them into all [the] truth."
Such, principahy, appear to have been the

sect. 4.] Influence qf the Holy Spirit. 325
pecuhar wants, and such the pecuhar supply of
those wants, in the infant Church. We have
the records of inspiration in the writings of the
Apostles and their followers, which supersede
the necessity of inspiration in ourselves : we have
the history of their miracles preserved, which,
together with the result of the miracles, — the
establishraent and existence, at this day, of the
religion, — afford a sufficient evidence of its truth,
to all who are open to conviction ; since expe
rience, — now, long experience, has proved that
all attempts to account for its establishraent by
huraan raeans, are vain. And as the blaze of
the pillar which guided the Israelites in the
wilderness, and proved to them the divine pre
sence among them, was withdrawn when they
were sufficiently convinced of that presence, and,
as it were, familiar with the belief that the Lord
was among them as their Protector and King, —
the manifestation of " the glory of the Lord"
being thenceforward enclosed within the raost
holy place, — so, the outward and sensible marks
of God's presence in his Church, were gradually
withdrawn, when sufficient evidence had been
afforded of that presence ; which is still not less

326 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
real or less effectual than before ; and which is
no longer miraculously displayed, only because
it has been already sufficiently proved.'
The extraordinary gifts were probably with
drawn gradually, in proportion as the structure,
of which they were the temporary support, gra
dually acquired consistency. We have, accord
ingly, nothing recorded on the subject ; indeed,
much has come down to us respecting miracles,,
pretended to have been wrought long after the
apostolic age, which we have good reason for
regarding as fabulous. The Sacred Writers,
however, furnish us with grounds for at least a
highly probable conjecture. It v/as through the
laying on of the hands of the Apostles only,
that extraordinary gifts were for the most part
conferred ; as raay be proved frora several parts
of the New Testament, particularly the account
in the Acts (chap, viii.) of the preaching of the
Gospel by Philip the Deacon to the Samaritans ;
who were afterwards favoured with a visit, chiefly,
^ I am indebted for this remark, and for several others in
the present Essay, to that most interesting and useful work,
" Hinds's History of the Rise and Early Progress of Chris
tianity ;" first published in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.

SECT. 5.J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 327
as it appears, for this express purpose, by the
Apostles Peter and John. And the sarae raay
be collected frora the opening of the Epistle to
the Roraans.
Such then being the mode in which, exclu
sively, miraculous powers were conveyed, (with
the exception of a very few cases, including, of
course, that of the Apostles themselves,) the
result must have been, that when all the Apo
stles had terminated their course on earth, all
the channels must have been stopped through
which this stream had hitherto flowed ; and as
the last generation dropped off, one by one, of
such as had thus been gifted, this extraordinary
manifestation of the Spirit gradually became
extinct. § 5. These extraordinary endowments, then,
constitute one iraportant difference between the
early Christians and ourselves ; but the corre
sponding point of reserablance is one of far
higher iraportance : for we have no reason to
suppose that that spiritual influence, which is
conferred for the benefit of the individual Chris
tian, — for his moral improvement and purifi-

328 Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
cation — for his support and guidance in the road
to eternal life,^ — is bestowed in any less degree
on sincere Christians, at the present day, than
formerly. Now this surely is of incoraparably
higher importance than the miraculous gifts we
have been speaking of. These last without the
other, — without, that is, the proper use having
been made ofthe other, — would be utterly worth
less ; the sanctifying influence of the Spirit, if
we so walk after it as to bring forth the fruits of
the Spirit, hath the "end of everlasting life."
" Many," says our Saviour, " shall say in that
day. Lord, we have in thy narae cast out deraons,'
and in thy name done many mighty works ;
then will I say unto them, I know you not;
depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity" .....
And again, " in this rejoice not, that the demons
are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice, because
your names are written in heaven."
And Paul in like raanner, when he has been
enumerating and comparing together the various
extraordinary spiritual gifts, which had been a
* The Devil (p.ia^o\oq) is used as a designation of Satan,
aind, of course, always in the singular : the plural, which has
been injudiciously rendered Devils, is Demons, (Aatjuoi'ia.)

SECT. 5.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 329
subject of emulation and dissension among the
Corinthian Christians, concludes by utterly de
preciating all of them in coraparison of that
which he calls a " more excellent way." This he
designates by the word aydirri; which in raost
places is rendered "love," but in the passage
in question " charity." It appears, however, to
have been employed in this place to denote
collectively all the sanctifying efficacy,— all of
what we call the ordinary operations of the Holy
Spirit ; this gift being at once the great proof
and instance of Christ's love to his Church, —
the ground ofthe love of Christians towards their
Master, and also the bond of their brotherly
love towards each other, not as fellow-creatures
merely, but as fellow-members of Christ's body.
The circurastance of the Apostle's setting ayaTrr/
above faith and hope {ttIo-tls and kkiils) not
merely as the greatest of the three, but as in
cluding the other two, because it "hopeth all
things, and believeth all things," (jravra eX-irl^ei,
¦n-dvra •n-iaTevei) seems to indicate that he was
not in this case confining his view to Christian
benevolence alone : and if any one will corapare
the fruits of ajd-n-rj, as enumerated in the 13th

330 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
with " the fruits of the Spirit," in the 5th chap
ter of the Epistle to the Galatians, in the ori
ginal, he will perceive such a striking coincidence
in the Greek words employed in the two pas
sages, (rauch more striking than an English
translation exhibits,) as will leave little doubt
that the same train of thought was in the writer's
mind in both instances."
It may appear superfiuous, however, to adduce
scriptural proofs of what is in itself so obvious
as the superior value of sanctifying grace to
miraculous endowraents. But as long as lan
guage is eraployed by mankind to express their
thoughts, there will always be a danger of their
thoughts being infiuenced by language ; and
unless an especial attention is directed to this
danger, the best-chosen expressions will ever be
liable insensibly to become a snare to us. The
ordinary^ and the extraordinary operations of the
Holy Spirit have been very fitly so termed ; but
these words are likely, if we are not on our
guard against the danger, to suggest to us,
" See Hinds's " History of the Rise and Progress," &c.
Vol. II. p. 221.

SECT. 5.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 331
gradually and imperceptibly, an erroneous idea.
Extraordinary abilities place a man rauch above
one of ordinary ; extraordinary raerit is sorae
thing much greater and better than ordinary;
and the like in many other cases. Such an
eraployraent, therefore, of those words, is apt to
lead raen insensibly to form an indistinct notion
of some very superior advantage possessed by
those endowed with the extraordinary gifts of
the Spirit ; especially as the title oi saints is cora
raonly applied in Scripture to the early Christians,
as equivalent to that title : while by us it is
liraited to a few of the most eminently pious that
are recorded." If one were even to hint at the
^ The application (among Protestants) of the title " Saint,"
in the present day, seems somewhat anomalous. It is never
applied to the indisputably holy (sancti) and even inspired
persons who hved under the Jewish dispensation ; such as
Moses, David, Daniel, &c., nor is it limited to such Chris
tians (viz. the Apostles and Evangelists) as were confessedly
inspired ; for Protestants commonly speak of Saint Jerome,
Saint Augustine, &c. without attributing inspiration to them ;
nor again is it considered allowable to characterise by that
title such men of later days as appear to us eminent for
Christian knowledge and virtue ; as, for instance, the chief
promoters and martyrs of the Reformation. All this surely
tends to foster the notion that in the earlier ages of Chris-

332 Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
possibility of any man's becoming, in the present
day, as perfect a Christian as one of the Apostles,
— of any set of Cbristians now, attaining an
equality with the best of those primitive Chris
tians, — becoming Saints in as high a degree
as those who are usually so called,^ — the very
idea would be reprobated by many persons as
an alraost irapious presumption ; though in fact
there is much more presuraption in expecting
God's eternal favour, while we are content to
reraain inferior.
Not that men deliberately assent to the propo
sition, that the power of working miracles is a
tianity, some men at least were able to attain a higher degree
of Christian holiness than any one can hope for, or need
strive for, now.
The Romanist-system, a most complete and compact, and
well-proportioned edifice, though built on a foundation of sand,
seems to me in this matter, as in most others, very consis
tent with itself. The definition of a Saint according to that
system, — of one enrolled in the list, or canonized, as it is
called, — seems to be, one who is supposed to have performed
eminent works of supererogation ; i. e. to have had more merit
than sufiiced for his own salvation ; the overplus being, (as
is well known to all who are acquainted with the doctrines
of that school) stored up, as it were, in a kind of common
treasury, for the benefit of the rest of the Catholic Church.
And no Romanist need be at a loss to know who is, and who

SECT. 5.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 333
better thing than a pure and holy mind; nor
that they can be ignorant, if they are but mo
derately versed in Scripture, of the recorded
imperfections of raany thus gifted, even in their
raanner of exercising these very gifts ; but the
use of the word extraordinary, together with the
perceptible and striking character of these en
dowments, and our habit of prizing the most
highly what is rare, tend to leave a sort of vague
irapression on the raind, of sorae pre-eminent
sanctity in those who were partakers of them,
above what is attainable in the present day.
The splendid accompaniraent which testified to
is not, to bear the title of Saint : the names are to be found in
a register, into which they are admitted by the Pope himself.
All this is at least consistent, and convenient. It wants
nothing but satisfactory evidence.
I would suggest however to Protestant-preachers the im
portance of frequently reminding their hearers, at least the
middle and lower classes, i. e. a large majority of most con
gregations, that it is a mistake (and I believe it to be a very
common one) to suppose that the admonitions and exhor
tations which the Apostles address to " Saints," do not con
cern, or do not equaUy concern, Christians in the present day;
or that they are " not expected to be Saints." To assume that
title indeed as distinguishing them fi-om their fellow-Christians,
is most presumptuous ; but the Gospel-promises are Umited
to those who Uve "as becometh Saints."

334 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
them the reahty of the spiritual influence be
stowed, is apt to enhance in our minds the value
of the benefit thus attested, above that which is
still placed vrithin the Christian's reach. But if
we attentively consider the case, we shall be
convinced that the Lord has not given to the
one class of Christians any advantage over the
other, in that which tends to the spiritual wel
fare of the individual Christian, and leads to the
salvation of his soul ; — that his proraise to be
with his Church always, and to dwell spiritually
in the hearts of those who love Hira and keep
his saying, extends equally to all who equally
strive to fulfil that, the condition of it ; — and
that our situation reserables that of the primitive
Christians in all that is essential, and differs firora
it only in circumstances which were not only
temporary but comparatively unimportant.
§ 6. Hitherto, I have been comparing together
the case of the early Christians and our own,
principally with a view to the intrinsic character
of the spiritual gifts themselves that were pro
mised. I shall proceed (according to the division
raentioned, § 3.) to offer some remarks on the

SECT. 6.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 335
signs by which the two classes of gifts— the
infiuence of the Spirit in these two modes of
operation, the extraordinary, and the ordinary, —
are, respectively, to be recognized and ascer
tained. We shall hence be led to perceive some
further points of difference and of resemblance,
between the condition of the first Christians and
our own ; and may thus be more effectually
guarded against each of those opposite errors,
which are but too prevalent ; that of neglecting
or depreciating those inestimable gifts, which are
placed within our reach ; and that of pretending
to, or expecting such as are not promised.
When our Lord said to his disciples, " If ye
have Faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do
this which is done to the fig-tree, but also, if ye
shall say unto this mountain. Be thou reraoved,
and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done,"
it is plain that the Faith, which in this and in
several other passages He was inculcating on
thera, is not to be understood of raere belief in
Jesus as the Messiah, or in the doctrines of his
religion ; or of trust, generally, in divine power
and goodness. It evidently has reference to
rairaculous powers, such as are not bestowed on

336 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
all Christians; though Faith, in another sense,
is required of all. But in this and other decla
rations of like iraport, there can be little doubt
that our Saviour had in view, confidence in those
admonitions and injunctions which his disciples
and many others of the early Christians from time
to time received, authorizing and empowering them
to work certain miracles. Their extraordinary
gifts were not at their own coramand. Even
Paul, who perforraed so raany raighty works,
and, among others, possessed the gift of healing
in a high degree, yet was not always permitted
to exert this gift, even in favour of his dearest
friends.^ A special coraraission seeras to have
been requisite to enable them to exercise their
delegated powers. And this was conveyed to
them, — their coraraission and call to perforra
rairacles, was announced to thera, — in various
ways. During our Lord's abode on earth in the
flesh. He Hiraself, whose authority they could
not doubt, uttered commands to this purpose
with his own lips. Besides the general commis
sion given to the Apostles and to the Seventy,
we find Him on one occasion giving a precise
y See 2 Tim. iv. 20.

SECT. 6. J Influence of the Holy Spirit. 337
direction to Peter to cast a hook into the sea,
and to take the fish that first came up, in whose
mouth he should find the piece of raoney (a
Stater) which the exigency required : in another
instance. He, at the request of the same Apostle,
coraraanded hira to come and meet Him on the
surface of the water. Peter seems to have well
understood that his Master's command was at
once requisite and sufficient to enable him to
tread the waves without sinking. But even after
he had begun to experience the efficacy of that
command, his faith was shaken by alarm, and
he began to sink, and was reproached by his
Master for his doubts. The faith in which he
was in this instance found deficient, seems to
have been precisely that which our Lord on other
occasions so earnestly inculcated.
After our Lord's ascension, some other kind
of indication must have been given, by which
those who were on each occasion authorized to
work any rairacle, might know that they were
thus empowered. A species of revelation, in
short, must have been bestowed, informing them
what they were enabled and required to perform ;
and in this revelation they were required to have

338 Influence qf tlie Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
a full faith. Whatever mode may have been, in
each case, employed for conveying this revela
tion, the indication given must always have been
something in which they could not be mis
taken — something as free from all doubt or
suspicion as the words which they heard Jesus
utter while with thera ; since otherwise, this
unhesitating faith could not reasonably have
been required of them. It must have been
something, therefore, which could not possibly
be confounded with any suggestions of their
own minds.
This is a point concerning which we have no
precise statements in Scripture ; but the nature
of the case puts it, I think, beyond a doubt,
that the intimations or signs we are speaking of,
must always have been accompanied by, or con
nected with, something sensibly miraculous. For
otherwise we must suppose the disciples to have
been left exposed to a double danger; that of
mistaking any remarkable dream, or impression
on their waking minds, from natural causes, for
a communication from the Spirit ; in which case
they would have given faith to a delusion, and
have been disappointed in their expectations.

SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 339
contrary to our Lord's express promise: and
that of mistaking, on the other hand, some hea
venly communication for an ordinary dream or
thought; in which case they would have failed
in faith without any fault of their own. God
certainly would not leave his servants in any
such uncertainty ; and they could not possibly
be secured from it in any way but by the inter
vention of sensible miracles.
I have said, however, that the intimation in
question must be either accompanied by, or
connected with some sensible rairacle, because
such a proof to the party concerned, of his not
being deluded, as would be necessary in ihe first
instance, might be .dispensed with afterwards,
when some particular mode of communication
had been once stamped, as it were, with the
signature of divinity, by some plainly miraculous
accompaniment.'' A particular sort of internal
sensation, for instance, or mental emotion, which
a raan might experience, however strikingly
different it might be from his ordinary feelings,
he would be very rash in regarding as a signal of
^ Hinds's History," &c. p. 187. Vol. L
z2

340 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
inspiration ; since he could not possibly tell that
it was not a symptora of disease, or of some
other natural change ; but if he experienced
something of this kind in imraediate connexion
with a miraculous phenomenon, to which his
senses, and those of others, could testify, the
recurrence of this peculiar sensation or percep
tion afterwards, would then be of itself justly
regarded by him as a heaven-sent intimation.
For instance, a man may dream, or, if in an
excited state of mind, may fancy, that he hears
a voice addressing him, when there is no such
thing ; but when Paul, on his road to Damascus,
was struck to the ground, and blinded by a
blaze of light, he thus received the assurance
of a sensible miracle ; then it was that he heard
himself addressed in the awful voice of the Lord
Jesus. He afterwards, as he tells us, received
from Him, at various times, revelations con
cerning the Gospel. Now if, as is most probable,
this revelation was coraraunicated to hira by that
same voice, — (even though unaccompanied by
the supernatural light) — a voice which could not
but be strongly impressed on his raeraory, he
would be in no raore danger of delusion, than

SECT. 6.J Influence of the Holy Spirit. 341
any of us, in holding communication with a
well-known friend.
Again, when two of the disciples met with
their Master lately risen frora the grave, as they
were going to Eraraaus, their senses were at
first preternaturally obscured, so that they did
not recognize Him ; but they seem to have
experienced, while He was talking with them, a
certain remarkable inward sensation, not noticed
by them at the tirae, which they described by
their " hearts burning within thera :" now this
may indeed have been no more than a natural
and ordinary emotion, elicited by the interesting
character of the discourse they were hearing : it
may, however, have been something peculiar;
and the remarkable circumstances of the case
(especially their eyes being "holden that they
should not know Him,") render this not very
improbable. It is certainly not impossible ; and
therefore at any rate we may frame such a
supposition for illustration's sake : suppose then,
as is at least conceivable, this were a sensation
altogether different from any thing they had
ever before experienced ; its recurrence on any
subsequent occasion, would be justly regarded

342 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
by them, from the miraculous circumstances
accompanying its first occurrence, as a token
of their Lord's presence, though unseen, and a
notice that they were to regard as a comrauni
cation frora his Spirit, the ideas conveyed to
their rainds through this vehicle.
Whether in this particular instance the fact
were or were not such as I have supposed,
makes no difference to the present argument ;
the object being only to illustrate my meaning.
\_See " Elements of Rhetoric," Part I. Chap. in.
§ 3.] It is worth observing, however, that our
Lord must have had some design in thus present
ing Himself to his disciples invisible ; invisible
that is, as their Master, Jesus : and his design,
or at least part of it, may have been, to teach
them the meaning of a certain peculiar internal
impression, denoting his presence in the Spirit.
If so, the sensation, and its peculiarity, their own
consciousness would testify ; its meaning would
be explained to them by their Lord's afterwards
opening their eyes, so that they knew who it was
that had been with them.
But whenever (as has often been the case
with those of an enthusiastic temperament in

SECT. 6. J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 343
later times) we find a person strongly suspecting
that he has received a revelation, or fully con
vinced of it, from feehng (as they sometimes
express it) a certain thought forcibly borne in
upon his mind, we may be quite sure that he
is deluding himself. God would never leave
any doubt, or any reasonable ground for doubt,
on the mind of any one to whom He might
think fit to impart a revelation ; He doubtless
never did, nor ever will, communicate any one
of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, without
attesting, to the person or persons concerned, its
reality, by the stamp of some sensible miracle.
The Apostle Paul, accordingly, we find en
abled to distinguish, and careful to distinguish
the fullest convictions of his own understanding,
from divine revelations. During his last journey
to Jerusalem that is recorded in the Acts, he
was strongly impressed with the expectation that
he should there close his career by a violent
death. He took leave of the Elders of Ephesus
with an assurance of his complete conviction
that they should see his face no more ; but he
knew that this his conjecture (which, all things
considered, was a very probable one, though

344 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix*
the event, we have every reason to believe, did
not agree with it) was merely a conjecture, and
not a revelation. He had received a divine ad
monition to take this journey, together with a
warning of approaching persecutions ; but the
ultimate event was as yet hidden frora hira :
" Behold, I go bound in the Spirit unto Jeru
salem, not knowing the things that shall befall
me there ; save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth
in every city that bonds and afflictions abide
me." An admirable instance of this Apostle's care,
may be seen in 1 Cor. vii. Any such directions
as he might have been supposed to deliver on
divine authority, on points whereon he had
received " no commandment from the Lord,"
he is careful, though he could not but wish his
advice to be followed, to point out as merely the
suggestions ofhis own judgment. In points un
connected with religion, such as the directions
he gives about bringing his cloak and his books
from Troas, as it would be absurd to suppose
any inspiration, so there was no need that he
should disavow it.
And this apphes to such purely historical

SECT. 6. J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, 345
passages in the sacred writers as involve no reli
gious doctrine or precept. It is childish there
fore to allege errors, real or imaginary, of this
nature, as reasons for doubting either the truth
of Christianity or the inspiration of our sacred
writers. If indeed they can be proved to have
written like men so ill-acquainted with the time,
places, and occurrences, they speak of, as to
show that they could not really have been what
they profess, this is an objection of a different
kind ; and on this question we may safely join
issue. But when we are told of a blind man
healed by Jesus, according to one Evangelist
(Mark x. 46.) as He was going out of Jericho,
and according to another (Luke xviii. 35.) as He
was coming into Jericho, it seems obvious that
one of the two was mistaken as to this circum
stance ; — a circumstance so utterly insignificant,
that it would be extravagant to expect that the
Holy Spirit should interfere to correct the mistake.
And any one who should, on such a ground, deny
the occurrence of the miracle, or the general
fidelity of the writers, would be acting on a princi
ple which if adhered to in ordinary life, would be
regarded as a symptom of utter mental imbecility.

346 Influence qf the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
There are other points again in which we
could have no ground for conjecturing, /row? the
nature of the case, whether supernatural guid
ance took place or not : as, for example, when
the Apostle Paul changed his first design of
going into Bithynia, and proceeded to Troas,
there is no reason why this alteration of plan
might not have been regarded as the result of
his own natural judgment, but that we are ex
pressly told that " the Spirit suffered them not"
to enter Bithynia; (Acts xvi. 6, 7.) In this
case therefore either there was a supernatural
interference, or the writer is guilty of a direct
falsehood. This is a distinction most important
to be remembered, as it has been overlooked by
eminent writers. Many of the enactments of
the Mosaic law again, are, in themselves, such
as we might conceive to have been framed by
the natural wisdom of Moses ; and his detaining
the Israelites forty years in the wilderness, is not
a measure on which we could pronounce, frora
internal evidence, that it could not have been
the result of his own judgment. But when we
find him distinctly declaring that he had re
ceived express comraands from the Lord on

SECT. 6.] Influence of the Holy Spirit, 347
these points, no alternative remains but either
to admit that these were Divine appointments,
or to impute to the author a dehberate impos
ture. Inspirations, however, and other miraculous
gifts, we have (as has been already observed) no
reason to expect in these days. Not, however,
that we are authorized to assert confidently that
nothing of the kind ever will recur ; but thus far
we may be confident, that if it does, it will be
accompanied by sufficient evidence to distinguish
clearly a miraculous interposition, from impos
ture or delusion.
And it is iraportant to observe, that one who
rashly gives heed to such impostures or delu
sions is so far from being chargeable with erring
through excess oi faith, that he has in reahty for
feited all claim to the praise of faith as a Christian
virtue ; since he plainly shews that even what is
true in his belief is received by him not because
it is true, but because it agrees with some fancies
or prejudices of his own ; and that he is right,
where he is right, only by chance. Having
violated the spirit of the first commandment, by
regarding what is human with the veneration

348 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
due to that only which is divine, his worship,
even of the true God, becomes an abomination.
He has " set up idols in his heart," (see Ezek.
xiv.) and the Lord, the jealous God, will " set
his face against that man."
§ 7. The signs then by which the extraor
dinary gifts-of the Spirit were announced, consti
tute (as well as those gifts themselves) a point
of difference between the early Christians and
their successors. There is a resemblance, and,
as we have every reason to conclude, an equality,
between the condition of the infant Church and
our own, in respect of that far raore important
point, the ordinary grace of the Holy Spirit
operating in the sanctification of the heart.
What then is the sign of this gift ? — the token by
which we may be assured of " God's working in
us both to will and to do, of his good pleasure ?"
This operation of the Spirit, there is every reason
to beheve, not only is, but always was imper
ceptible; and undistinguishable, except by its
fruits, from the ordinary workings of the human
raind. For if it was suggested to the raind of
one of the first Christians, that he ought to do

SECT. 7.J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 349
this or that, and suggested in such a manner
(which sometimes was the case) as to afford him
a satisfactory assurance of an immediate com
mand frora the Holy Ghost, this would clearly be
a case of revelation, and, consequently, would
belong to the other class of spiritual gifts ; — not
to that which we are now considering. But we
raay be sure that they were not, even the raost
highly gifted of them, thus guided by immediate
revelation in all the actions of their lives ; but
were left to work out their " own salvation with
fear and trembling ;" though still encouraged to
do this by the assurance that " God wrought in
thera." They were accordingly not uniformly
infallible; for we find a dissension arising between
Paul and Barnabas ; nor was this settled by any
miraculous interposition, or authoritative decla
ration of the Spirit, to either of them. And
again, we find Paul withstanding and censuring
Peter; but at the sarae time using arguments
to convince him of his error ; not charging hira
with having wilfully rebeUed against any express
imraediate revelation respecting the particular
act in question.
In fact, the early Christians could hardly

350 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
have been raoral agents, if they had not been
left watchfully to regulate their own conduct
according to the best of their judgment, but had
in every case recognized the immediate dictates
of the Holy Spirit forbidding or enjoining each
action of their lives. And yet they were taught
that in all their conduct the assistance of God's
Spirit was requisite, and was promised to
them ; our Lord Himself told them that with
out Him they "could do nothing;" and the
Apostle's encouragement to them to work out
their own salvation, is, " it is God that worketh
in you."
But how then were they, and how are we, to
know what are these suggestions of the sanctify
ing Spirit ? Our Lord Himself seeras to instruct
us that we are to judge by the effects, when He
says, " the wind (7rvev/ia) bloweth where it listeth,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth;
so is every one that is born (jov TrvevfiaTos) of
the Spirit." He here seems to have in view the
ordinary and universal operations of the Holy
Spirit, — those which extend to " every one that is
born of the Spirit," without which, " no one can

SECT. 7.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 351
enter into the kingdom of Heaven." And as we
judge of the direction of any wind that blows
(though itself invisible) by its effects, — by the
direction in which it impels the bodies moved by
it, — so, we must decide whether we are in each
instance influenced by God's Holy Spirit, or by
our own corrupt desires and the Spirit of Evil,
by observing the direction in which we are im
pelled ; whether to holiness or to sin, — towards
a conformity, or an opposition, to the example
of our great Master, — the word of his inspired
servants, and the moral law which is written on
our conscience, though the characters be so far
obscured as not to be traced without diligent
study. The Apostle, in like manner, when ex
horting his converts to be " led by the Spirit,"
and to " walk after the Spirit," evidently refers
them to a sirailar test, by enumerating the prin
cipal of ihe fruits of the Spirit, and contrasting
them with " the works of the flesh," which, he
says, " are manifest."
Frora these considerations it will appear how
rauch those are in error, who imagine that such
as have attained a very high degree of Chris
tian perfection, and are erainently under the

352 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix,
sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, will be
able distinctly to perceive, by a peculiarity of im
mediate sensation, and thus to distinguish from
their own natural thoughts, the suggestions of
the Holy Ghost, If this his ordinary operation, —
this grace which guides and assists the Christian
" to will and to do what is well-pleasing to God,"
always was (as there seems good reason to con
clude) insensible, we may be well assured that
it always will be so. As on the one hand, even
the lowest of the extraordinary spiritual gifts
alluded to by Paul raust always have been ac
companied with a distinct manifestation of its
super-human origin, so as to prevent the possi
bility of its being mistaken for an exercise of
any natural power ; so, on the other hand, even
the very highest degree of purifying grace, is,
and always was, undistinguishable from the exer
cise ofthe natural powers, except by the holiness
which is the result. The " carnal raind," and the
" spiritual raind," are to be known respectively,
by " the works of the flesh," and the " fruits of
the Spirit." It is, 1st, by the inclinations of
our hearts ; 2dly, by our deliberations towards
the accoraplishraent of our wishes ; and, 3dly, by

SECT. 7.J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 353
the actions which are the result of these, that we
must know what spirit we are of ; for it is from
God that " all holy desires, all good counsels,
and all just works do proceed."
Another error, opposite to the one just con
sidered, is that of those who acknowledge, in
general terms, the existence and the necessity
of the ordinary operations of the Spirit, but
explain thera away in each particular case ; and
thus corapletely nullify the doctrine. They allow
that Christians are to expect the sanctifying
grace of the Holy Ghost ; but each separate
work in which this divine agency can possibly
operate, they attribute exclusively and entirely
to sorae other cause. If a man resist tempta
tion, they attribute this to his sense of the folly
and danger and sinfulness, of yielding to it ; and
thence deny that spiritual influence was con
cerned in the case : if he improve in rehgious
knowledge, they attribute this, exclusively, to
his diligence in learning, and to the advantage
of good instruction ; and, accordingly, contend
that there is no need in such a case to suppose
spiritual influence concerned : if he does any act,
or entertains any sentiment, which right reason
A A

354 Infiuence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
would approve, they regard this as a proof that
to right reason alone it is to be referred : and
by this raeans they exclude, one by one, every
possible instance in which the ordinary grace
of the Spirit can operate ; for any thing which
could not be traced to any natural cause, would
clearly be rairaculous. But a doctrine which is
true generally, cannot be false in every particular
instance. In fact, what we mean by the ordinary
operation of the Holy Spirit, is his operation
through second causes, — his aid to our endea
vours, — his blessing upon the means of grace.
We are taught to pray for our daily bread as
God's gift, though it is not, like Manna, showered
rairaculously frora the skies ; and every christian
thought and word and deed is no less "frora
above, and coraeth down from the Father of
lights," though it corae not accorapanied with
fiery tongues and the " sound of a raighty wind."
Its christian goodness is the sign of its spiritual
origin. It is perhaps hardly worth while to notice an
objection I have heard, that every operation of
the Divine Spirit raust be an interruption of the
course of nature, and miraculous ; and that con-

SECT. 7.J Influence of the Holy Spirit. 355
sequently I have all along been teaching (though
I have said the direct reverse) that rairacles are
to be expected in the present day; for if no
rairacles, it is said, are to be looked for, no
spiritual influence at all is to be looked for. But
this surely is little better than a verbal cavil.
If this sense of the word " Miracle " is to be
adopted, then, I do teach (as indeed every one
raust, whether sincerely or not, who recites the
formularies of our Church) that miracles have
not ceased, and that we are still to hope and
pray (as in the Collect for the Fifth Sunday
after Easter) that by God's "holy inspiration
we may think those things that be good,
and by his merciful guiding may perform the
same." But this does not imply what is, per
haps the most properly, certainly, the most
usually, termed a " Miracle ;" viz. : a sensible
rairacle, — an extraordinary and perceptible in
terruption of the general course of God's pro
vidence. I have all along been speaking of the
aid now to be looked for as the "ordinary"
operation of the Holy Spirit, — as not "sen
sible," but to be known only by its fruits —
and as so far frora being an "interruption,"
aa2

356 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
that it may be considered as rather forming a
part, of the course of providence, as far as
Christians are concerned : to all of whom this
spiritual aid is offered.
At least if this offer is not made in Scripture,
I cannot see what can be learned with any
certainty, or indeed how any thing at all can
be learned, from the writings of the Apostles.
For if we are in this case to reject or to explain
away their raost explicit and repeated declara
tions, on the ground that we have no sensible
proof of this divine agency, this is to make their
word go for nothing ; since if they announced to
us any phenomenon to which our senses did
bear testimony, we should believe it on that
ground, not, from faith in the declarations of
the sacred writers. But he who is content to
be taught by them, must I think accede to our
Church's doctrine as to the reality of a spiritual
influence not sensible or properly miraculous,
but known only by its effects to be the work of
Him to whom we must apply to " put into our
minds good desires, and to bring the same to
good effect."

SECT. 8.] Influence of the Holy Spirit, 357
§ 8. These "fruits of the Spirit" then, are,
and ever were, the criterion to Christians of
their being "led by the Spirit." The sign of
their having a claim to this spiritual guidance—
to the ordinary operation of the Spirit — of their
being admitted to a share in the offer of this
grace, I cannot conceive to be, or ever to have
been, any other than their baptisra into the
christian faith. There are some, indeed, who
represent baptism as a sign only of admission
into the visible Church, and not, necessarily,
of spiritual regeneration. But the shortest and
most decisive answer to these persons appears to
be, that they are making a distinction without a
difference. Such as the Church is described in
Scripture, viz. " as the body of Christ Jesus," as
the " Teraple of the Holy Ghost which dwelleth
in it," to speak of admittance into this Church,
without an admission to the privileges bestowed
on it, seems a contradiction in terras. The pro
mises of Christ are made to the Society of which
He is the Head ; and to individuals, not as
men, but as members of that Society. If (in the
case of teraporal goods) any one is admitted a
member of any endowed Society, he is thereby

358 Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
admitted to a share of its revenues : it would
be a contradiction to disjoin them. The visible
Church of Christ is a Society endowed by Him
with the richest privileges: but then, it rests with
each raeraber of that Society (as it does with the
raerabers of a human Society) to avail himself
aright of those privileges, or to neglect or abuse
them. The case of Christians is in this respect ana
logous to that of God's People of old. {See
Essay III.) All the Israehtes were adraitted
into covenant with the Lord ; and, being made
thus his "peculiar," " holy," and " elect" people,
were entitled to all the privileges and promises
of that covenant; though it rested with each
individual to make a good or an ill use of these
advantages. The Lord was ready to perform
his part, if they would perform theirs; but if
they refused this, still they were not allowed to
draw back from the engagement, but incurred
the heavier judgraent for their disobedience.
The rebelhous were not permitted, as they de
sired, " to return into Egypt," but were cut off
in the wilderness.
And the infants of the Israelites were admitted

SECT. 8.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 359
into this covenant by the rite of circumcision,
at the age of eight days ; though they were, of
course, then, incapable of immediately enjoying
or understanding their privileges. If this had
been sufficiently attended to, it might have ob
viated the difficulties that have been raised from
the consideration that such as are baptized in
infancy cannot be, at once, nor till they becorae
raoral agents, actually influenced by the Holy
Spirit; whence it has been inferred by sorae,
that the new-birth does not necessarily take place
at baptisra : while the Anabaptists (who alone act
consistently with these views) contending that
we should not put asunder what God has joined
together, — the sign, and the "inward spiritual
grace, or thing signified," — accordingly defer bap
tisra till the party is arrived at years of discretion.
But after all, there is no more difficulty in
the case than in one which occurs every day;
that of an infant inheriting an estate. He is
incapable, at the time, of using or comprehending
the advantage ; but still it is his; he is not here
after to acquire the title and claim to it ; but he
will hereafter become capable of understanding
his claim and employing his wealth; and he

360 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
will become responsible at the same time for the
use made of it.
Christians in like manner are called upon at
their peril, to make the best use of their ad
vantages, as soon as they become capable of
understanding them : and if they fail to do this,
they are not on that account esteemed as never
having been admitted to those advantages, but,
on the contrary, incur, on that very ground, the
heavier condemnation. What, " know ye not,"
says the Apostle, " that ye are the temple of the
Holy Ghost which dwelleth in you ? and if any
raan defile (j^OeLpet) the temple of God, him will
God destroy," (<p6epeT),
It is then, and ever was, a matter of faith to
believe in the continual sanctifying presence of
God with his Church ; and in " the communion
of saints," viz. the participation of all Christians,
as far as they will avail themselves of the offer,
in the assistance of that Holy Spirit, from which
every good and every perfect gift proceeds.^
a Doubtless one of the objects of our Lord, in the insti
tution of the Eucharist, was to remind Christians of this
"communion" or fellowship of the Holy Ghost, and to
impress it habitually on their minds. See Note A at the
end of this Essay.

SECT. 8.] Influence of the Holy Spirit. 361
In this respect our case and that of the early
Christians coincide. But there is this point of
difference between the two ; that this was not
to them, as to us, the great trial of their faith ;
because in the infant Church, the extraordinary
manifestations of the Spirit served as a visible
token to convince them of his actual presence.
The same Spirit still resides in the Church ; but
like the Shechinah concealed within the Holy of
Holies, it is screened from our view ; we walk
wholly "by faith, and not by sight." They,
however, had counterbalancing trials : the fel
lowship in the Spirit, of Jews and Gentiles ; — to
the one party the admission of the unclean hea
then as fellow-heirs with the favoured children
of Abraham ; — to the other, the reception of a
religion and of a divine Master, from a nation of
obscure barbarians, despised and detested for
superstition, both that Master and his ministers
being rejected and abhorred even by that nation
itself; — in short, " Christ crucified, to the Jews
a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks, foohsh
ness," consrituted a trial to their faith which
we can hardly estiraate. The indignities which
Jesus suffered, who was thence esteeraed stricken.

362 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
smitten of God, and afflicted, — the contradiction
which the new religion presented to all the
fondly-cherished hopes of the Jew, to all that
the Gentile most revered in philosophy, and was
raost attached to in his religion and in his habits
of life — the inveterate malice of persecutors, —
the scorn and derision of the wisest and greatest,
— the censures, entreaties, and laraentations, of
kindred and friends, — all these, and nuraberless
other circurastances revolting to every preju
dice — every feeling — every habit, of the new
convert, forraed a trial to his faith, of which we
can forra but a faint idea ; and under which it
was needful that his gracious Master should
support hira, by a constant visible display of his
presence. § 9. It is the part of Christians of the pre
sent day, on the one hand not to distrust the
reality of that presence, because it is no longer
thus miraculously displayed ; nor, on the other
hand, to require or look for such a miraculous
manifestation as God has thought fit no longer
to bestow. How we should have conducted
ourselves, if placed in the circumstances of the

SECT. 9. J Influence of tlie Holy Spirit. 363
primitive Christians, can be known only to the
Searcher of hearts ; how we shall conduct our
selves under the circumstances in which we are
actually placed, — how we shaU withstand our
own trials, and make use of our own advan
tages, — is the point which most concerns us;
since of that we shall have to give an account.
And if we would profit by the exaraple of the
raost eminent of God's servants, we must in
some respects reverse their procedure, in con
formity with the reversed circumstances in which
we are placed. We raust endeavour to learn
and to perforra, as far as we are able, by our
natural powers, under the blessing of God's or
dinary operations, what the apostles were taught,
or were empowered to do, by miraculous gifts :
and the instruction they derived from their own,
or from each other's iramediate inspiration, we
raust seek to obtain in the records of that inspi
ration which they have left us. They could
in many instances infer this or that to be right
or true, from its being the suggestion of the
Spirit; which was attested, to theraselves and
to others, by rairacles : we, on the contrary, can
only prove any thing to be the suggestion of

364 Influence qf the Holy Spirit, [essay ix,
the Spirit, by its being right and true ; and the
evidence of this, must be sought in Scripture, —
that record of the dictates of the Holy Ghost,
which is the appointed standard for deciding
what does proceed from the Author of all good.
If our life and faith are agreeable to the Gospel,
this is the ground of confidence that they are
right ; and if right, they raust corae frora that
sanctifying and enhghtening and supporting
grace, which alone can raise to life the dead
in sin, and purify raan's corrupt nature, and
effectually open his eyes to the truth, and
" strengthen the feeble knees " to walk in God's
paths. This spiritual assistance is not (like the
other) a proof on which to build and support
our faith, but is itself a raatter of faith ; — a truth
to be believed on God's assurances. And those
persons, therefore, are in fact wanting in faith (of
which they often pretend to a pre-eminent de
gree) who are not satisfied with this assurance,
but look for, and pretend to, sensible expe
riences, which are to afford a direct and decisive
demonstration to their minds of their being under
spiritual influence : " except they see signs and
wonders, they will not believe."

SECT. 9.J Influence of the Holy Spirit. 365
We are to look then to the Holy Scriptures
which the Spirit of Christ inspired, not indeed
(according to the notion some have maintained)
as constituring the only assistance that the Holy
Ghost now bestows on the Church, but as con
stituting the ultiraate standard by which we are
to judge how far we have received and are pro
fiting by that assistance. It is not in these
only that He is present, but it is by these, as
a test, that his presence is, in each case, to be
known.
It is, indeed, only through the enlightening
and supporting grace of the Holy Spirit, that
even the Scriptures themselves can be consulted
with benefit. If we study them with a raind
biassed by any of those nuraerous prejudices and
infirmities which beset our frail nature, we shall
receive the heavenly light of God's word through
a discoloured mediura ; and its rays will thence
give an unnatural tint to every thing on which
they are shed. Many different persons, accord
ingly, have arrived at different conclusions (all
which consequently could not be correct), though
they have applied, apparently at least, the very
test that has been recoraraended : they have

366 Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
compared their opinions or -practices with the
standard of God's word, and finding thera agree,
have concluded them to be the suggestions of
the Spirit which dictated that word ; and yet
this agreement has perhaps been (must have
been, in some instances) the result of a partial
and prejudiced interpretation of Scripture ; they
may have suffered those opinions and prac
tices to bend the ruler^ by which they were to be
measured. But how, after all (it raay be said), is this
danger to be corapletely avoided ? Are we not
involved in a vicious circle, if we are to judge
whether we are under the influence of the Spirit
by consulting the Scriptures, and yet cannot
without that influence, interpret aright those
very Scriptures ? How, in short, are we to
arrive at a corapletely satisfactory decision as
to our own sentiraents and conduct ?
The danger is one against which we never can
be completely secured in this life : the decisions
we attain can never be wholly exempt from all
ground for doubt :" in other words, we must not
*" Arist. Rhet. Book I. chap. i.
" See Essay VI. § 10. First Series.

SECT. 9. J Influence ofthe Holy Spirit. 367
expect, with our utmost efforts and prayers, to
attain perfect infallibility. If we could, this hfe
would hardly be any longer a state of trial. To
contend against the difficulty in question, — to
labour not only with diligence and patience, but
"with fear and trembling" also, that is, with
anxious and humble self-distrust, — is the very
task assigned us in this our state of preparation.
But if, while the Christian puts forth all his own
powers in this task, he at the same time earnestly
and importunately prays for heavenly guidance,
and relies with deep humility on Hira who alone
can crown those efforts with success, he will be
continually approaching nearer and nearer to
" a right judgment in all things," and to a cor
responding perfection of life.
And in referring to and studying the Scrip
tures, though no infallible interpreter is to be
found, or hoped for, — no systera of general
directions that will absolutely secure us against
raistake ; yet there are two raaxiras especially,
(already adverted to in these Essays,) which,
studiously dwelt upon, and perpetually recalled
to our thoughts, will prove a safeguard against
raany and varipus errors. The one is, to

368 Influence of the Holy Spirit, [essay ix.
remember that in studying the Scriptures we are
consulting the Spirit of Truth ; and therefore
must, if we would hope for his aid, search
honestly and earnestly for the truth, not, for
a confirmation of our pre-conceived notions, or
a justification of the systera, or the practice, to
which we raay be inclined. This maxim is the
raore frequently transgressed, frora raen's falsely
persuading theraselves that they have complied
with it : the conclusions which they arrive at,
they, of course, believe to be true ; and thence,
frora their having, as they suppose, found truth,
they take for granted that it was for truth they
were seeking. But a desire to have Scripture
on our side is one thing ; and a sincere desire
to be on the side of Scripture, is another. It
is one thing to pray that we raay learn what is
RIGHT ; and another thing, (though often raistaken
for it) to pray that we raay flnd ourselves in
the right.
And, finally, in corabination with this rule,
we should also keep constantly in raind, that, of
seeking in Scripture not only for truth, but for
practical truth, with a view to the improvement
of our life and heart : this is an express condi-

SECT. 9.] Influence ofthe Holy Spirit, 369
tion on which spiritual aid in enlightening the
understanding is proraised : " if any raan is
willing to do^ the will of God, he shall know of
the doctrine." We raust seek therefore in the
Scriptures, by the aid of Hira who gave them,
not for speculative knowledge respecting the
intrinsic nature of God, or of the human soul,
but for practical knowledge concerning the
relations existing between God and the soul of
man, that we raay be enabled to serve and
please Him the better ; and that " the inspira
tion of his Holy Spirit may cleanse the thoughts
of our hearts," and fit us for enjoying the raore
iramediate presence of our Master in his tri
umphant kingdom.

BB

NOTE.

Note A, page 360.
With a view to the mere commemoration of our Lord's
sacrifice, and expression of our faith in his atonement,
the mere breaking of the bread, and po-wring out oi the
wine in the Lord's Supper, might have been sufficient :
but the bread and wine, are by Christ's appointment
eaten cmd d/rwnk; in conformity with his declaration,
" except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you :"» " He that eateth my
flesh, and drinketh my blood, the same dwelleth in me,
and I in him" What then is it of which the devout
communicants are really partakers, under the outward
symbols of bread and wine ? Surely, of the Spirit of
Christ ; for " hereby know we that He dwdleth in us,
by his Spirit which He hath given us;" and hence,
Paul's expression, that " we are all made to drink "
(ETroTiaflrjjUEv, 1 Cor. xii. 13.) "into one Spirit."
" See " Hinds's Catechist's Manual," p. 265, to the author of which
I am indebted for the substance of these remarks.

Note. 371
This obvious interpretation, the Romanists (and after
wards the Lutherans) were led to overlook, partly at least,
I conceive, from the habit of keeping too much out of
sight the divine Unity, and of regarding the Son and the
Holy Ghost, too much as distinct Beings; so that to
partake of Christ must, they thought, be something dif
ferent from partaking of the Holy Spirit. Hence they
inferred that the communicants receive the literal, mate
rial, body and blood of Christ ; and they accordingly
boast that they alone interpret the Scripture declarations
not figuratively. There is no need to adduce the well-
known refutations of this extravagant doctrine ; but
there is one answer to it, which is usually overlooked,
and which goes to overthrow the foundation of it ; viz.
that if we could actually receive into our mouths the
very flesh and blood of Christ, this could not, of itself,
he productive of any benefit to the soul : it might, if
God willed it, be the appointed token and means of
our receiving such benefit ; even as the water of the
pool of Siloam was, of restored sight; but it could
not itself confer any spiritual advantage, any more than
water could cure blindness. It must therefore, after
all, be in a spiritual and figv/rative sense that Christ
says, " my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed ;" if they were literally eaten and drunk, they
must still be the sign of something else, represented and
conveyed by them. So that the violence done to Scrip
ture and to reason, for the sake of avoiding a figurative
interpretation, does not, after all, even accomplish that
object.
bb2

372 Note.
The error of transubstantiation, the English Church
has guarded against most carefully, by declaring that
the bread and wine remain unchanged, — that they are
only a sign of Christ's body and blood, — and that it is
only " after a spiritual manner" that his body and blood
are received by the faithful. But it would have been
better perhaps to have added to this, for the benefit of
the unlearned, a statement that the bread and wine not
only are merely a sign, but are a sign of a sign: i.e.
that they represent our Lord's flesh and blood, and that
his flesh and blood again are a sign of soraething else.
This is indeed implied, when it is said that Christ's
body and blood are "spiritually received," and that it
" strengthens and refreshes the soul;" for it is manifest
that literal, material, flesh and blood cannot be spiri
tually received, or refresh the soul. But for the sake of
avoiding those vague and confused ideas, which are apt
to lead ultimately to the regarding of the Eucharist as
a mere memorial, it might have been better to state dis
tinctly what it is that the faithful communicants do
really partake of. That which strengthens and refreshes
the soul of Christians, as bread and wine do man's body,
is " the Spirit of Christ," whereby " He dwelleth in us,
and we in Him ;" for " it is the Spirit that quickeneth ;
(^woTToioiJv) the flesh profiteth nothing." John vi. 63.
And as it is the soul or spirit of a man that animates
(quickeneth) his body, which would otherwise be lifeless;
so. Christians, who are, themselves, the figurative Body
of Christ, are quickened,—- receive life and vigour —
"strength and refreshment," from the Spirit which

Note. 373
dwelleth in them ; they " are the temple of the Holy
Ghost :" " the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit."
And since it is as members of the holy community that
individual Christians obtain this gift, of this circumstance
they are reminded by their partaking together ofthe Lord's
Supper, — " the communion (/cojvwvia) of the blood of
Christ:" (1 Cor. x. 16,) " we have all been in one spirit,
baptized into one Body ;" («. e. all admitted by baptism —
being born of water and of the Spirit, — into the Church,
which is Christ's Body) "and have all been made to drink
into one Spirit." (1 Cor. xii. 13.)

A CHARGE
DELIVERED AT THE
VISITATION OF THE CLERGY OF THE DIOCESES
OF DUBLIN AND GLANDELAGH,
IN JUNE, 1836.

A CHARGE, &c. &c.
I SHALL not occupy your time, my Reverend
Brethren, by dwelling on the difficulties and
dangers that surround the Establishment to
which we belong. On that subject I could lay
before you nothing that would be at all new to
any of you : for none of you, I trust, need to be
assured, (and indeed if you did, my assurances
would have little weight,) that no exertions on
my part ever have been or shall be wanting, — how
ever ineffectual they may prove — towards further
ing any measure that may appear, according to the
best of my judgraent, conducive to the stability,
good order, and efficiency of our Church, and to
the tranquilhty and welfare of Ireland. As it is
ray duty, so, through divine help, it shall still be
ray endeavour, to view calmly, dispassionately,

378 A Charge

^'-

and carefully, each question that may arise ; —
to decide without any regard to personal interest
or feelings, — and to adhere to the best decision
I am able to form, undismayed, unprovoked, and
unwearied, either by the opposition of the adver
saries of our Church, or the misconstructions of
any injudicious supporters of it. And those who
raay, on any point, differ frora rae in opinion,
will not, I trust, be so wanting in Christian
candour, as to deera rae undeserving of that
credit for good intentions and conscientious
exertions, which they would wish to obtain for
theraselves. Nor, again, shall I dwell on the importance of
the rainisterial duties generally, and on the ne
cessity of zealous devotedness to the service you
are engaged in. These topics raay be presuraed
to have been long since practically farailiar to
the raind of every clergyman, unless he be of a
character very unlikely to profit by any such
general admonitions.
But I will take this occasion to offer a few re
marks on some particular points connected with
the efficiency of our rainistry, and which deraand
the raore careful attention, not only frora their

to the Clergy of Dublin. 379
intrinsic iraportance, but also on account of the
peculiar dangers which at the present tirae beset
both the Christian religion generally, and our
Church in particular. These are tiraes in which
less is felt than forraerly of that prescriptive
veneration for existing institutions, as such,
which has so often supplied the place of delibe
rate preference. No one can tell what weight
of nurabers, or of power, physical or moral, raay,
before long, be thrown into the scale ofthe adver
saries either of Christianity altogether, or of our
own Church. And our teaching accordingly has,
and is likely to have, less of extraneous support
to rest upon, huraanly speaking, than in ordinary
tiraes, and is left very much to the judgments
that men raay forra of its truth and intrinsic
value. It is on this account that I would suggest
the reflection how peculiarly it behoves us, now,
to be careful to " cut off occasion from thera that
seek occasion of cavil or quarrel;"^ to guard
against everything that may seem to justify
complaint or reproach ; and not only to maintain
what is good, but to " take heed that our good
be not evil-spoken of."
^ Preface to Book of Common Prayer.

380 A Charge
It may be answered, that all regard to what
raay be said or thought of us, can furnish but a
secondary motive ; and that if we are but duly
anxious for the diffusion of divine truth, and the
saving of men's souls, we shall have no need to
resort to any secondary raotive to exertion, or to
trouble ourselves about any other object. And
certainly, as far as relates raerely to our own
credit and character, either as individuals or as a
Body — as far as we alone are concerned, our chief
care should be to guard against the encroach-
raents of so very inferior a principle of action as
a regard for the opinions of raen ; to watch vigi
lantly against the besetting self-deceit of pursuing
our own glory, and calling it the glory of God.
A wish to escape the censure and obtain the ap
probation of our fellow-creatures, is a propensity
which, though we are not called upon to extirpate
it, (that being, I conceive, irapossible,) we should
yet repress, as if we wished to extirpate it ; quite
secure that when we have checked it to the
utraost of our power, we shall not fail to have
enough of it left.
But it is of quite another thing that I am
speaking. Care to avoid leading or leaving men

to the Clergy of Dublin. 381
to mistake truth for falsehood — care to place no
stumbling-block in the way of the weak or the
incautious araong our own hearers, and to give
no handle to adversaries— watchfulness against
everything that raay be a hindrance to the
reception, and the profitable reception, of evan
gelical truth — all this, is very different frora
seeking our own credit for its own sake. And
if an especial attention to these points in " days
of rebuke and blaspheray," a vigilant care to
"abstain frora all appearance of evil," lest we
should bring a discredit on our religion — if this
is to be regarded as at all a secondary raotive, it
is at least one which the apostles thought it
right repeatedly to inculcate : " having your
conversation honest" (says Peter) "among the
Gentiles ; that whereas they speak against you as
evil-doers, they may, by your good works which
they shall behold, glorify God."
Now, as far as personal good works are con
cerned — a life pure not only frora evil, but frora
all appearance of evil — this precept belongs to
us as Christians in coraraon with our brethren
among the laity. But in addressing you, ray
reverend brethren, I have in view raore par-

382 A Charge
ticularly the application of the precept to our
teaching — to what belongs especially to us, as
not only merabers but ministers of the Church.
We are bound to consider what irapression our
teaching is likely to raake not only on the raost
attentive and right-rainded, and best-instructed
hearers, but also on those less considerate, less
informed, and less candid. And we should con
sider also not only what may be truly, but what
may be plausibly, urged against the delineation
we present of evangelical religion ; — prepared,
not, of course, to sacrifice to the fear of giving
offence anything that really belongs to our
religion, but, — for the sake of all parties, — to
obviate, as far as possible, any misconceptions
of it : not to omit any part of what is good,
but to "take heed that our good be not evil-
spoken of."
Let us suppose for instance, that Christianity
generally, or our particular view of it, should be
charged by the adversaries either of the one or
the other, with being an imraoral systera, and
such as ought to be discountenanced by the
civil magistrate; on the ground that it tends
to lead men to expect divine favour through the

to the Clergy of Dublin. 383
correctness of their decision on certain points of
belief, and through the strength of their faith in
what has been done for thera ; and to relieve
their rainds frora the reproaches of natural con
science, by a general confession of the universal
depravity of huraan nature, and of the utter
worthlessness and vileness of all that raen call
virtue and righteousness ; with a specious ac-
knowledgraent indeed, that good works are the
proper fruit of faith, but with a sort of practical
dispensation (in cases of difficulty and strong
teraptation) frora the bringing forth of those
fruits, on account of the frailty and corruption
of raan's nature : so that the raorahty of the
Christian religion becoraes a thing to be talked
of and admired, rather than practised ; and
men's only sedulous attention is concentrated
on the rectitude of their belief, the confidence
of their hopes, and the fervour of their devo
tions. I have given a strong, but by no raeans an
overcharged statement of one kind of objection
which has been urged, and will be urged, again
and again, by the opponents of evangelical reli
gion. The question for us to consider, is not

384 A Charge
whether they are sincere or insincere, — fair or
unfair in their imputations : that is their con
cern : nor is it sufficient for us to inquire of
ourselves whether we are personally iramoral
in practice or antinoraian in creed : that is our
concern as individual Christians ; but as Chris
tian ministers it behoves us to consider whether
we are taking due care to guard against a mis
construction of our teaching by the weak and
ignorant, which we might have avoided without
any corapromise of truth. It is for us to con
sider in all cases not merely whether others
are to blame but whether we are ourselves fairly
blaraeless. Now in respect of the particular point before
us, it is certain that our Lord and his apostles,
did not content theraselves with siraply declaring
the connexion of Christian faith with raoral con
duct, and then bestowing all their culture on
the tree, leaving that to bring forth its own
fruits as a raatter of course; but insisted ear
nestly and frequently on the care and exertion
requisite both in respect of a Christian life gene
rally, and of several particular points of duty ;
and sedulously guarded their hearers against

to the Clergy of Dublin. 385
deceiving themselves on this point. For where
there is (as appears to be the case here) a na
tural tendency to some particular self-deceit, it
is by no means enough merely to abstain from
fostering the error, without taking pains to re
press it, and to satisfy ourselves with merely not
feeding a fire which is spontaneously kindled and
kept up. "Why call ye me" (says our Saviour)
" Lord ! Lord ! and do not the things which I
say?" "Be ye doers of the word, (says the
apostle James,) and not hearers only, deceiving
your own selves!' " Little children," says the
apostle John, " let no raan deceive you : he that
doeth righteousness, is righteous." Jesus again,
when teaching his disciples, that He is the true
vine, of which they are the branches, and that
" without Him they can do nothing," is careful
to add " herein is my Father glorified, that ye
bring forth much fruit : every branch in rae that
beareth not fruit. He taketh away ; and every
branch in rae that beareth fruit. He cleanseth it
that it may bring forth raore fruit :" and in a
like strain are the continual exhortations and
warnings which the apostle Paul thought it re
quisite to give, and to direct Timothy and Titus
c c

386 A Charge
to give, " in order (says he) that they who have
believed in God may be careful to maintain good
works." It appears then that, from some cause or
other, there was a danger, in the tirae of the
apostles, of raen's losing sight of all this: — a
danger I raean, not merely of their being hur
ried into sin by strong teraptation, or hving in
utter thoughtlessness about their religion, but
also, of their being deceived into sorae notion
of being religious without virtue. And since
this was the case in the Apostles' days, we
ought at least not too hastily to conclude that
there can be no such danger now.
In fact, there always has been, in every age,
and always will be, while huraan nature con
tinues, a liabihty to self-deceit on this point : —
soraething quite distinct frora our proneness to
live in a total disregard of duty, or to offend
against the suggestions of conscience : — a ten
dency to satisfy and quiet the conscience, by
placing the whole of religious duty in something
altogether apart from moral conduct.
The piety, for instance, of the ancient Hea
then, had, we know, in general, little or no

to the Clergy of Dublin. 387
connexion with raorality : and indeed was quite
as often connected with gross immorality. The
Jews again, were, as we know from the best
authority, prone to place their religion in cere
monial observances, and " omit the weightier
raatters of the Law." This was their raode of
" estabhshing their own righteousness," and satis
fying the clairas of religion without morality of
life. And the Christians again of the apostles'
times, needed, we find, to be earnestly warned
against the danger of being content to " con
tinue in sin that grace might abound," and of
satisfying themselves with a " faith which with
out works is dead, being alone."
Should we therefore flatter ourselves that, in
these days, we and our hearers are safe from
any like danger, we should be only the raore
exposed to it, through careless security.
The danger, in respect ofthe point now before
us, to which the Christian is exposed, arises frora
the misapprehension or misapphcation of several
passages of the New Testaraent.
You will not fail to recollect very raany, such
as may be, and have been, so interpreted as
to be at variance with all those exhortations
cc2

388 A Charge
to good works, which abound in the sacred
writers. When Paul tells his hearers that "we are
justified by faith, vrithout the works of the law ;"
— that he" " desires to be found not having his
own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ ;" — that it is
" not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to His mercy, that God hath
saved us ; '" — that " being justified by His grace,
we should be raade heirs according to the hope
of eternal life:"" — when these, and nuraberless
other declarations to the sarae effect, in various
places, are set forth by us, (which undoubtedly
they ought to be) as the very basis of evangelical
religion, it is evidently a possible thing, — for we
know that it has actually taken place — that raen
should raake such an application of these pas
sages, as to pay little or no regard to raoral
conduct, at least as any part of the Christian
religion, or as having any thing to do with
gospel-salvation. And there is a danger, that
even if they do not go so far as to consider
b Phil. ch. iii. * Ep. to Titus, ch. iii.

to the Clergy of Dublin. 389
virtue and vice as entirely indifferent in God's
sight, or even if they are not so exclusively on
the watch against that trust in raerits of their
own, which, in the language of some writers,
is called "self-righteousness," (meaning "self-
justification,") as to guard against it by prac
tising no righteousness at all, they may yet be
so disproportionately occupied with the dread
of the one danger, as to take little or no pre
caution against the other; so careful of not
trusting to their good works, as not to be suffi
ciently (as Paul directs us) " careful to maintain
good works."
This last is a danger men are rauch raore
exposed to than that of rejecting raoral virtue
altogether, as having nothing to do with Chris
tianity. This, — the Antinoraian doctrine, — is by
no raeans either coraraonly taught, or generally
acceptable ; and, considering the sinfulness of
the human heart, it is very remarkable that this
should be the case. Certain it is, however, that
the generality ofmen are shocked and disgusted at
being plainly taught that no sin a raan coraraits,
can at all endanger his salvation ; and that the
practice of any virtue does not render hira at all

390 A Charge
the raore acceptable to God. There are, it seems,
certain notions of right and wrong implanted
by the Creator in the huraan mind; (alluded
to by Paul, in Ep. to Rora. u. 14, and elsewhere)
which are such, till depraved by a long course of
wickedness, that, though insufficient to produce
great exertion in the perforraance of duty, or to
resist temptation to do wrong, they yet, in the
absence of temptation, disincline raen to regard
moral good and evil with total indifference, or to
conceive that God can do so. Moreover, there
is no one, probably, however lax in his morals,
who does not believe hiraself to possess at least
some good quality which raany persons want ; or
who lives, and beheves hiraself to live, in the
coraraission of every sin. Even a raan of im
raoral character, accordingly is, in general, not
well pleased to be taught that any instance of
his good conduct, (or which he thinks to be
such) gives hira no advantage over one whose
conduct, in the sarae point, has been bad ; or
that his having abstained from any crirae, does
not at all raise him (except as far as worldly
success may be concerned) above the level of
one who has coraraitted that crime. Men even

to the Clergy of Dublin. 391
of a very low tone of morahty usually retain, and
wish to retain, such a portion of approbation of
what is good, and disapprobation of evil, as to
think the better of themselves for any thing that
is good in them, and the worse of their neigh
bour for any vice of his, frora which they are
themselves exempt.
Be the cause, however, what it raay, the fact
is certain, that plain, open, thorough-going,
Antinomian doctrine is not generally popular,
even with men of depraved character.
Much greater is the danger (as I have already
remarked) of raen's falling practically into a
careless inattention to their raoral conduct, than
of their theoretically maintaining that moral
conduct is a matter of indifference. Error is
ever the more dangerous, the more it is mixed
up with truth. Now, it is raost true, and a
truth of great iraportance, that "good works"
¦ — external actions oi any kind — so far from hav
ing any claim to be considered as meritorious,
are not, properly, to be regarded as even in
trinsically virtuous. Even the heathen raorahsts
distinctly taught that it is the disposition of the
agent that alone can, in strict language, be

392 A Charge
called virtuous or vicious ; the sarae act sorae-
tiraes being either raorally good, or bad, or
indifferent, according to the motive.^ And it is
true also that even the best raoral dispositions
and habits can claim no reward as a matter of
right, at the hands of Him " from whora coraeth
ev^ry good and perfect gift" — of Hira "from
whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and
all just works, do proceed." The branch can
not boast itself against the vine which affords
it all its nourishment — even Christ, on whose
body we are engrafted, through faith, and by
whora we are enabled to bring forth fruit.
But if any one, while he dwells continually,
and very strongly, (as we certainly ought to do,)
on justification by faith, and on the total irapos
sibility of our being able to raerit and earn, either
wholly, or in part, eternal happiness, by any
good works of our own, even should we lead a
life of sinless virtue, and on the consequent ne
cessity of renouncing all clairas founded on our
own righteousness, and of prostrating ourselves
in all humility of soul before the cross ofChrist ;
* Arist. Eth. Nicom. B. ii.

to the Clergy of Dublin. 393
if, I say, while^the Christian is earnestly occupied
with these doctrines, and is labouring daily to
irapress on hiraself and his hearers the irapossi-
bihty of our doing anything that can purchase
salvation, he is content, at the same time, with a
slight occasional hint that this doctrine is not
irreconcileable with the raoral precepts of Christ
and His apostles, — if he is satisfied with just
inserting an incidental salvo, by saying, in sub
stance, that notwithstanding the utter worthless
ness of our good works, nevertheless, it is to be
expected that a sincere Christian will lead a
moral life ; — if, I say, this disproportionate inat
tention be shewn, with respect to the practical
" fruits of the Spirit," a very great danger will
result, of raen's substituting a mere approbation
of Christian virtue in the abstract, for the prac
tical exeraplification of it in their lives ; — a danger
that while they adrait, in theory, the obligations
of virtue, they will not coraply, practically, with
the apostle's direction to " he careful to raaintain
good works."
It was evidently his design, as well as his
blessed Master's, that Christians should exert
themselves to " walk worthy of their vocation ;" —

394 A Charge
should " give diligence" (as Peter exhorts thera,)
" to raake their calling and election sure ;" —
should " watch, that they enter not into terap
tation ;" — should " run, that they raay obtain ;"
— should " strive to enter in at the strait gate ;"
— should "work out their own salvation, with
fear and trembling ;" — and " casting aside every
weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us,
should run with patience the race set before
them." The apostles expected, not that the
Christian should be a good man notwithstanding
his being justified through faith, but that he
should be the better man in consequence of his
faith ; not only acting on better motives than
those who were not Christians, but also acting
better, — " glorifying his heavenly Father by
bringing forth rauch fruit," and by letting their
" light so shine before men, that all might see
their good works," and thence be led to glorify
Him also.
But a different kind of teaching from this is
often found to be popular, though plain Antino
raian teaching is not. There are many who,
like Felix, will be ready to " hear you concerning
the faith in Christ," but "when you reason of

to the Clergy of Dublin. 395
righteousness, and teraperance, and the judgment
to come," will be alarmed and uneasy, and be
disposed to bid you " go your way for this tirae !"
Anything that leads, or that leaves raen, without
distinctiy rejecting Christian virtue, to feel little
anxiety and take little pains about it ; anything
which, though perhaps not so raeant, is hable to
be so understood, by those who have the wish,
as to leave them without any feeling of real sharae
or mortification or alarra on account of their own
faults and moral deficiencies, so as to make them
anxiously watchful only against seeking salvation
by good works, and not at all against seeking
salvation without good works — all this is likely
to be rauch more acceptable to the corrupt dis
position of the natural raan, than such teaching
as that of our Lord and his apostles.
But those apostles would have counted it
treason to their Master, in theraselves, or in us,
to be " raen-pleasers," seeking what may be most
acceptable to the hearers, rather than raost
profitable ; or shrinking, through fear of unpo
pularity, from " setting before thera all the counsel
of God."
And it would be very rash for us, Christian

396 A Charge
ministers of the present day, to imagine that we
can with safety pass shghtly over the points which
the apostle found it necessary to dwell on with
such continual watchfulness, and frequent and
earnest repetition. For the liability of the human
heart to self-deceit in what relates to raoral duty,
was not pecuhar to the tiraes of the apostles.
And we are bound not merely to reconcile toge
ther the several parts of their teaching, but to
shew the close connexion of those different parts,
where the writers themselves evidently perceived
such connexion. If we were to explain that a
life abounding in good works is not inconsistent
with faith in Christ, we should by no raeans
come up to their meaning; which is, that the one
springs naturally from the other, and that both,
and each, must be sedulously attended to ; — that
"the branch," (to use our Lord's illustration)
"can bear no fruit except it abide in the vine ;"
and again, that any " branch of the vine which
does not bear fruit, will be cut off and cast away
to wither."
I will then briefly point out the mode in which
I think we should set before our hearers the right
interpretation of the apostle's language in respect

to the Clergy of Dublin. 397
of these doctrines, so as to exhibit the several
portions of his teaching not raerely as not incon
sistent with each other, but as having that intiraate
connexion which he hiraself evidently perceived
thera to have :
First, then, we should point out that though it
is very true, raen can put in no claira to ever
lasting hfe on the ground of even a perfect and
unsinning obedience ; this truth is not the one
which the apostle is occupied in inculcating.
The error of the Jews and of those Christians
who had been misled by them, was not that of
seeking to justify themselves before God by strict
morality, (though that xeould have been an error,)
but by the ceremonial observances of the Leviti
cal law. This is plain frora the notorious neglect,
araong thera, of raoral duties — the "weightier
raatters of the law," with which our Lord re
proaches thera, when He corapares thera to raen
who " make clean the outside of the cup and
platter," leaving the inside defiled ; and remarks
that while they prided theraselves on a rigid ad
herence to rainute cereraonial precepts, they
vvere " full of extortion and wickedness." So
also does the apostle Paul in the Epistle to the

398 A Charge
Romans,^ (a great portion of those to whom he
addresses the epistle being Jews by nation,)
speak of the Jews as notoriously " causing the
name of God to be blasphemed araong the
Gentiles," through their violation of the raoral
law. It is plain, therefore, that when he speaks
of these very raen as " going about to establish
their own righteousness," and seeking to be "jus
tified by the works of the Law," he is speaking
not of raoral virtue, but the works of the cere
monial Law.
You raay observe accordingly, that, in the
case he so earnestly dwells on, (especially in the
Epistle to the Roraans^) that of Abraham, who
was "justified by faith," which was "iraputed to
hira for righteousness," he is contrasting /ozYA
not with moral virtue (for Abrahara's faith, dis
playing itself, as we know it did, in ready and
thoroughgoing obedience, plainly was a moral
virtue) but, with ceremonial observances. For,
the reason of Paul's dwelling so much on this
instance, evidently is because Abraham not only
was not under the Mosaic Law, but had not, as
yet, even received the sign of circumcision :^
e Ch. ii. f Ch. iv. s Ch. iv. v. 10.

to the Clergy of Dublin. 399
this therefore proved, — what the apostle is con
tending for — that Abrahara's righteousness was
independent of cereraonial rites.
Moreover, you raay soraetiraes find occasion
still further to elucidate this to your hearers,
from the passage in the Epistie to Philippians,
(ch. iii.) where the apostle speaks of himself as
being, " touching the righteousness which is by
the Law, blameless f all this being however
counted by him as dross, "that he might win
Christ, and be found not having his own right
eousness which is by the Law, but the righteous
ness which is by faith of Christ." Now we
cannot suppose him so arrogant as to attribute
to himself moral perfection : indeed we know
that his persecution of the Christians he re
garded as a grievous sin; which though God
was pleased to pardon " because he did it igno
rantly, in unbehef," yet could not leave him
morally blameless; for then there would have
been nothing to pardon. It is evident he is
speaking of the ceremonial part of the Mosaic
Law. And lastly, you raay point out, in still further
confirmation of this, that his strong declarations

400 A Charge
against the error of seeking to be "justified
by works," are all addressed to those among
whom the Judaizing teachers (first mentioned as
troubhng the brethren at Antioch) had been
busied, or were likely to be, in putting on the
disciples the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonies.
He writes on this subject accordingly, chiefiy to
the Roraans and to the Churches in Asia ; who
were the raost exposed to this danger. To the
Greek Churches he writes chiefly on different
points ; indeed the only exception I recollect is
that portion of the Epistle to the Philippians
which I have just cited; and in that it is evi
dent he is cautioning thera against the Judaizing
teachers. Now if the error he was corabating
had been that of raen's seeking to earn salvation
by their own moral virtue, it is plain the danger
of this error would have been quite as great
araong Gentiles as Jews. But the error he really
was opposing, and the danger of which he evi
dently regarded as confined to the Jews and to
those who listened to thera, was, that of seeking
justification by cereraonial observances. The
other is indeed an error ; but not the one he
had in view.

to the Clergy of Dublin, 401
It raay be added that the error which the
apostle does mean to oppose in these passages,
is one more likely, in all times, to prevail, than
the other. You will generally find, for one
person who seeks to justify hiraself by the prac
tice of moral virtue, three or four relying on
external ordinances, and compliance with posi
tive rules: and the term "good works" has
come, even among Christians, in various ages
and countries, to be, emphatically applied in
this sense.''
^ An error, very nearly the same, had crept in among us,
to a vast extent, before the Reformation. " Good works" had
come to signify, principally, if not exclusively, pilgrimages,
fasts, genuflections, and ceremonial observances of various
kinds ; and hence our Reformers used much the same language
as the Apostle Paul, with the same meaning, and on a like
occasion. " Both were, indeed, well aware that virtuous actions can
never give a man a claim to the Christian promises, indepen
dently of Christian faith ; and also that the best actions— in
themselves the best— are not acceptable in God's sight (in
deed are not even morally vhtuous at all) independently of
the principle from which they spring. But it is a notorious
fact, that it was not by virtuous actions— what are usually so
called— that the Judaizing Christians, and the later corrupters
of Christianity, sought to justify themselves, but by ceremo
nial observances. ^
DD

402 A Charge
II. We should point out to our hearers that
" the righteousness of Christ," which the Apostle
Paul directs his hearers to seek, was a moral
habit given by Christ to his followers : — im
planted in thera by Him through the operation
of his Spirit. It did not consist in their merely
standing acquitted, through divine raercy, of the
sins coraraitted by thera ; or in their having
iraputed to them the righteousness practised by
another and not by themselves ; but it implied,
according to the apostle's representation, their
actually becoming — not merely being accounted —
good men ; their bringing forth the fruits of the
Spirit, and putting on, in their own practice,
this righteousness of Christ, this " wedding-
garment," as He Himself calls it, in the parable
of the raarriage-feast : a garment provided in
deed for the guests (according to the oriental

" Such an error as that was at least as likely to exist araong
Gentiles quite unconnected with Jews: (see Essay i. § 11,
First Series.) That Paul's cautions, therefore, against the
notion of being 'justified by works,' are addressed exclusively
to those churches which contained a great mixture oiJews and
Judaizing teachers, is an additional indication of his real
meaning." — Sermons, pp. 401, 402.

to the Clergy of Dublin. 403
custora) by the master of the feast, but which
they were required to wear.
I am well aware that I ara not speaking in
conforraity with the established phraseology of
those technical systems of divinity, which draw
precise distinctions, in reference to the present
subject, between "justification," and "sanctifi
cation," as defined in those systems. But you
should observe that I am not at present occupied
either in framing or in expounding, either
in defending — or in censuring, — any technical
systera whatever ; but only in pointing out how
we raay best explain the language of the apostle
Paul ; whose writings were not scientific, but
popular. I am not finding fault with any tech
nical system, so long as it is not made a sub
stitute for the Scriptures as the basis of raen's
faith ; or allowed to fetter the meaning of the
sacred writers ; or so introduced as to increase
rather than dirainish the difficulty of clearly
understanding them. Many such systems,
though differing from each other, and frora the
Scriptures, in the sense attached to each term,
raay yet perhaps all agree in the substance of the
doctrines taught. But looking to that which is
dd2

404 A Charge
our present subject of inquiry, the apostle's
use of terras, it raay be established beyond all
reasonable doubt, that the word he employs
(hiKaiioffiivT)) which is rendered in sorae versions
"justice," and in others, "righteousness," is a
word which must have imphed to any one ac
quainted (as Paul doubtless was) with the usages
of the Greek language, a moral habit ; a habit
possessed and exercised by the person to whora
it is attributed. A raere acquittal, — a verdict of
*'not guilty," — an iraputation to any one of
good actions not really perforraed by hira, —
would have been expressed by another, very
different word. [StKa/wo-w.]' And this serves to
• " I wonder the continual use of the word ^iKcuoavv-n
(righteousness,) where the subject of justification is treated of,
has not led learned men to suspect the soundness of the mere
forensic theory. I apprehend that nothing could be more
inapplicable than a Greek noun ending in oavvri, to a mere
business of reputation, or extrinsic change. All such substan
tives seem to me, without exception, to express actual and
personal habits, rooted in the mind, and manifested in the
conduct ; at least, the latter is implied invariably. I allow, a
vulgar writer, in any language, might overlook such a nicety ;
but, to say nothing of that Divine superintendence, and that
knowledge of tongues, which St. Paul had so abundantly from
heaven, he was himself too excellent a critic, to have over-

to the Clergy of Dublin. 405
explain his continuaUy supposing this righteous
ness of Christ which is bestowed on us by Him,
through faith, to be something practically ex
emplified in the life of the Christian ; to be an
actual " putting on of Christ," in respect of the
Christian's own conduct and character : that as
the "putting off of the old man" imphes the
actual discontinuing of a corrupt and depraved
hfe, so, the "putting on of the new man" may,
in hke manner, imply the adoption of an oppo
site course of life.
To take one passage out of raany to the sarae
purpose that you might set before your hearers :
"After that the kindness and love of God our
Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but accord-
looked such a rule in language. Is it, then, credible, that
St. Paul should be almost continually applying a word, which
he uses oftener than any other single word whatever, and the
real force of which he could not but know, in an unnatural
and inadmissible sense ? Especially when he had in readiness
the much more flexible word AiKai(ocne (justification ;) and
actually uses it, at least, in two instances, where the sense
obviously required it." — A. Knox's Remains, vol. i. Letter
to Mr. Parker, on Justification. The whole letter will well
repay a perusal.

406 A Charge
ing to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of
regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost ;
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour ; that being justified by his
grace, we should be raade heirs according to the
hope of eternal life." ^ This he adds, " is a
faithful saying, and these things I will that
thou affirra constantly, in order that they who
have believed in God may be careful to maintain
good works."
Many other passages conveying the sarae doc
trine, frora several of the sacred writers, — ^the
Apostle Paul not least, — you raay find occasion
firora time to tirae to set before your congrega
tions, and point out the instruction to be drawn
frora thera. For instance, in Rora. viii. " There
is now no conderanation to thera that are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit; ***** they that are in the
flesh cannot please God ; but ye are not in the
flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now if any have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," &c. This
portion of that epistle should be the more
^ Titus iii. 4—7.

to the Clergy of Dublin. 407
sedulously dwelt on, because the unfortunate
separation of chapters is likely to lead those
who are accustomed to read according to that
division into the mistake of supposing that
Paul in the description just above (ch. vii.) of
the " carnal man, sold under sin," is describing
his own, actual state ; whereas it is plain he is
contrasting that wretched state, of being " in
captivity to the law of sin," with the condition
of those "who through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the flesh."
Thirdly, the last caution I will advert to
under the present head, is, that we should
warn those who are living a Christian life on
Christian principles, that they have not on
that ground any pretence for boasting (" glory
ing," as the apostle expresses it) as if they could
merit salvation ; but must say, (as our Lord
directs us,) "when they have done all that is
coraraanded them, we are unprofitable servants ;
we have done but that which it was our duty to
do." And yet, since they know that "God is
not unrighteous to forget their labour of love,"
they may fully trust in his being faithful to his
proraises, and in his " rewarding thera that

408 A Charge
diligently seek Hira;" not because they have
earned his favour, but because he has fi*eely pro
mised it.
And if any one professes to trust in Hira for
what He has not proraised, — to seek justification
by faith in Him, without loving Him, — or to love
Hira without giving that proof of love which He
has required, the "keeping of his coraraand-
raents," if any one pretends to be a true branch
of the vine, Christ Jesus, yet takes no care to be
a fruitful branch, we are bound to warn such a
person that he is dangerously deceiving hiraself,
and is in instant danger of being " cast forth as
a branch and withered."
In respect of another point again, — Christian
humility — much care is requisite in our teaching,
to guard against misconceptions of what raay be,
when rightly understood, very true doctrine ; —
raisconceptions such as raay dangerously raislead
sorae of the less considerate of our hearers, and
may furnish adversaries with plausible objections
against our religion as leading men into spiritual
pride and presumptuous confidence, under the
name of humihty. I have said that peculiar
care is requisite in our inculcation of this virtue

to the Clergy of Dublin. 409
especially, because it is one in which raen are
least apt to beheve theraselves deficient; and
thus those who are deficient in it, superadd to
all their other pride, the pride of supposed hu
mihty. Our hearers, then, should be dihgently warned
against so perilous a self-deceit. Under this
head, we should caution thera — 1st, against the
mistake of supposing that they have only to con
fess their own natural helplessness, and acknow
ledge that whatever there is that is good in thera
is the bountiful gift of God ; and that so long
as they have this before their rainds, they are
practising Christian huraility, and are safe frora
spiritual pride. Now this pious gratitude and
reliance on God is indeed a necessary part of
Christian huraility ; but it is only a part, and very
far indeed frora being the whole. It puts an end
to one kind of self-sufficiency, by acknowledging
that " our sufficiency is of God ;" but it is far
frora being inconsistent with spiritual pride, —
undue conterapt of others, and a disposition
rashly to "count ourselves to have apprehended"
instead of "forgetting those things that are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things

410 A Charge
that are before, and pressing toward the raark
for the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ
Jesus," by " working out our salvation with fear
and trerabling."
You raay point out accordingly to your hearers
that in our Lord's parable of the Pharisee and
the Publican, the Pharisee is described as full
of pious gratitude for his own supposed superi
ority : " God, I thank thee that I ara not as
other raen are ; extortioners, unjust, adulterers,"
&c. And yet this raan, though so distinctly re
ferring every thing to the divine power, is repre
sented by our Lord as " exalting himself."
Do we not indeed see every day how prone
men are to be proud of royal favour ; — of having
received from their sovereign, out of his kind
regard for thera, such distinctions as title, rank,
power, fortune ? How absurd then must it be
for any one to suppose that there is no danger
of being proud of divine favour, — that he is quite
safe from pride, when he is perhaps convinced
that he is distinguished as a favourite by the King
of kings, and exalted far above the great body of
his fellow Christians, and so peculiarly enlight
ened by that Spirit of truth as to be exerapt frora

to the Clergy qf Dublin. 411
all danger of error, and all need of self-distrust.
Self-distrust, indeed, such a person will regard,
in his own case, as a sin ; for he will consider
any doubts concerning the perfect rectitude of
anything that occurs to his own raind, as no less
than distrust of God ; after it has once been laid
down and assuraed as a principle, that all these
irapressions in his mind are undoubted sugges
tions of God's Holy Spirit. He may pray perhaps
fervently on each occasion, for spiritual guidance;
but if he neglect our Lord's admonition " Watch
and pray, that ye enter not into temptation," —
he inevitably will be led into teraptation ; by
praying without watching, he will be in fact
praying that he raay find himself in the right ;
and doubtless he will end by being fully con
vinced that he is in the right, by steadily rejecting
every eraotion of self-distrust, as the suggestion
of the Evil-one prorapting hira to distrust God.
Thus effectually does Satan " transforra himself
into an angel of light,"— by representing not only
his own suggestions as coming frora heaven, but
every better suggestion as coraing from himself;
r— by leading us not merely not to seek rightly
for true Christian huraility, but to shun it as a sin.

412 A Charge

&'

II. Secondly, We raust warn our hearers not
to suppose Christian huraility to consist in a
raere general confession ofthe weakness and sin
fulness of huraan nature, or (which coraes to the
same) such a sinfulness in themselves — or, if
you will, such an utter corruption and total
depravity in their own nature, as they believe to be
comraon to every descendant of Adara, including
the most eminent apostles, and other saints.
I am not saying, you will observe, that the
sinful disposition of the natural-man is to be
denied, or explained away, or lost sight of ; only,
that the fullest and most habitual consciousness
of this does not constitute the whole, or the chief,
and raost difficult part of Christian huraility. A
man may indeed feel sharae, raortification, self-
abaseraent, alarm, — at being in- any respect worse
than raight have been reasonably expected ofhim ;
— at having failed in sorae duty, or fallen into
sorae sin, where others in like circumstances,
have behaved, or probably would have behaved,
better. But who can really feel ashamed, —
grieved, — hurabled, — or alarraed, — at believing
hiraself no better than the very best of raen ; — a
sinner as vile as the apostles and raartyrs, who

to the Clergy of Dublin. 413
told us to be " followers of them, even as they
were of Christ Jesus ? " ' It is very true that they
were by nature sinful men, and had to struggle,
as we have, against the original frailty of man's
heart, and to subdue it by the help of God's
Spirit. All I am saying, is, that we must not
allow the Christian to deceive himself into the
thought that he reahy feels sharae from a sense
of any imperfection, great or small, which is
common to the whole human race ; or that perfect
Christian humihty consists in confessing one's
self to be no better than the very best and raost
eminent Christians.
It is very right that a child should be fully
sensible of his not having the understanding and
other powers of a man ; but you will seldom find
a child really raortified and ashamed of his being
no raore than a child, and not possessing manly
stature and understanding, if he is but equal or
superior to his school-fellows of the same age ; it
is whenhe falls short of these, or has coraraitted
sorae fault which they have avoided, or which a
child raight have been fairly expected to avoid, —
it is then that he is likely to feel real sharae ; and
' 1 Cor. xi. 1.

414 A Charge
what is raore, a profitable shame, such as may
incite hira to endeavour to do better in future ;
whereas no one is incited to any exertion for the
attainraent of anything which he believes to be
absolutely unattainable by hiraself and by his
whole species. No man accordingly either at
tempts to add a cubit to his stature, and to still
the waves of the sea by his comraand; or is
ashamed at not having such power ; — a power
which, as he knows, belongs not to raan. His
humihation at a deficiency, and his exertions to
overcorae it, are alike limited to deficiencies
which are not regarded as unavoidable^
Nor does the consideration that the huraan
race axe fallen frora a state of innocency which
our first parents possessed, raake any difference
as to the point now before us. A man raay in
deed feel sharae and contrition on account of
sorae deficiency which is now unavoidable, but
which he himself had originally brought on, by
his own misconduct. For instance, a poor day-
labourer quite incapable of raising hiraself above
that condition, raay, if he had once been a raan
of good property, which he squandered away,
"" See Note A, at the end.

to the Clergy of Dublin. 415
be deeply asharaed of his present poverty, and
full of reraorse for his raiscon duct ; butif he were
born to poverty through the misconduct of some
remote ancestors, who had squandered away
their estate, it will be at least a very different
kind of shame that he wiU feel; he will feel
asharaed, if at all, of his ancestors rather than
himself ; and will feel perhaps a discontented
mortification at his present lot, mingled with
bitter indignation at their misconduct.
Such, I fear, is but too rauch like the kind of
feeling with which the subtle Terapter of Man
leads sorae Christians to conteraplate their pre
sent condition as resulting frora the fall of our
first parents. He would fain persuade us that
we ought to feel, — and that we do feel, — penitent
for the sin of Adara ; and by this false and
iraaginary penitence, to lose sight of what we
really may feel, and really ought to feel, for
actual sins of our own.
Evils indeed, or dangers, may be felt, or raay
be apprehended, by us, as the consequence of
another man's fault : but no metaphysical subtil-
ties can bring us really to feel, — though they
raay bring us to fancy we feel, — that real reraorse

416 A Charge
and personal self-abaseraent, for his sin, which
we should and raay feel for an actual transgres
sion of our own.
The true lesson of huraility which the history
of Adam's fall is designed to teach us, is, self-
distrust and watchfulness, combined with a dis
position anxiously to look for, and meekly to
rely on the promised assistance of the " Spirit
which helpeth our infirmities." The history
teaches us that even if Adara and Eve had never
been, theraselves, exposed to such a trial as they
did undergo, we, their descendants, reserabling
them, of course, in character, and where we
differ, not differing (naturally) for the better,
should, in like circumstances, have yielded, as
they did, to the wiles of the sarae Tempter,
whom our unaided powers are insufficient to
resist." III. Thirdly, we should warn our hearers not
to conclude too hastily that they are practising
huraility by talking rauch, and in strong terras,
(whether to their fellow-raortals, or in their
addresses to God) of their own ignorance, weak
ness, and sinfulness. It soraetiraes happens that .
" See Note B, at the end.

to the Clergy qf Dublin. 417
Christians, frora — I will not say an excessive, but
— a mis-directed, fear of not sufficiently humbling
themselves, are led to use expressions stronger
than their genuine feelings, and to confess
greater sinfulness than they are sincerely con
scious of. But in this they are quite erroneous,
even if what they confess should really bp, in
point of fact, the true state of the case. A man
is in a far raore hopeful state, who confesses even
only half the sinfulness that really belongs to
hira, and does this in perfect sincerity, and with
genuine repentance and desire to araend, (since
this raan is in a way to obtain, hereafter, a fuller
insight into hiraself,) than one who confesses,
with his lips only, the whole of what is really
true, but which he does not thoroughly beheve.
It breeds a habit of insincerity, to say anything,
however true in itself, of which we have not a
hearty conviction at the moraent. And it is a
most perilous self-deceit to encourage in our
selves anything of insincere profession ; and to
measure our penitence and self-hurailiation by
what we utter, and not by what we sincerely
feel. This is the case in respect of our private-
ee

418 A Charge
devotions. As for the practice of speaking rauch
of our sinfulness of disposition, before our fel-
low-raen, it too often proceeds not from true
humility, but frora pride in disguise. It is one
raode in which " Satan transforras hiraself into
an angel of light," by leading us thus to make
an indirect boast of our own humility, by speak
ing before others of our own sinfulness, not
raeaning to be understood that they are less
sinful than ourselves, but that we are raore
humble. Of course, when there is any particular act in
which we are conscious of having wronged our
neighbour, it is our duty then to confess to hira
that we have wronged hira, and to ask his for
giveness. This is a real point of Christian
humility ; and a great trial of it it is ; far more
than the most highflown general laraentatien
over the sinfulness of our nature.
And again, when we are consulting sorae con
fidential adviser, as to any part of our conduct,
we are right (supposing hira worthy of being an
adviser at all) in opening our hearts to hira, and
confessing the faults and infirraities which we
are consulting hira how to shake off and coun-

to the Clergy of Dublin. 419
teract. And in giving advice also to a friend,
we raay have occasion to supply hira with a
useful warning, by freely confessing to hira the
snares in which we have been entangled.
But except in these cases, confessions of sin
had better be raade to God only ; and to Hira
they should be raade with perfect sincerity. For,
though there is no danger of our deceiving Hira,
there is great danger of our deceiving ourselves.
IV. Fourthly, and lastly, we should warn our
hearers not to be deceived into iraagining that
there is any genuine huraility in the strongest
conviction of sin, without an earnest endeavour
to amend; — in the raost unqualified and earnest
confession of unworthiness, which they are con
tent to utter, and to purpose continuing to re
peat, day after day, and year after year, without
wishing, and seeking, and striving diligently,
that each day and year raay find them better
Christians than the last — raore grown, and
" grovring in grace, and in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ," and raore fit to be a branch
of Him, the true Vine, by " glorifying the Father,
in bringing forth much fruit."
There is no true humihty without sharae,
E E 2

420 A Charge
mortification, and displeasure with ourselves, at
the thought of our faults and imperfections.
This shame and dissatisfaction, if rightly directed,
will lead us earnestly to seek amendraent and
improveraent, through the promised help of
" God, that worketh in us ;" those painful feel
ings will then be counterbalanced by the cheer
ing consciousness of some actual advancement,
and the hope of still further advanceraent in our
Christian course; regret and despondency will
be raore and more exchanged for animated, and
cheerful, and hopeful exertion.
But if you suffer yourself (we should tell our
hearers) to be satisfied, even for a short time,
with having disburdened your conscience, (as the
phrase is,) by a very full and strongly expressed
acknowledgment of your own unworthiness; — if
you rest (we should tell thera) even but a short
tirae on this confession of sins, the thought of
your sins will create continually less and less
sharae and uneasiness, the more you dwell upon
it, and familiarize your mind to the idea ; till at
length, you become utterly and incurably callous
to those feelings and to the desire of amend
ment, which is the proper fruit of them. It is

to the Clergy of Dublin. 421
the proverbial effect of familiarity to breed care
less indifference; any one who, on first finding
hiraself unexpectedly living in a situation where
he is exposed, either to great danger, (as at the
foot of a volcano, or in the vicinity of the
plague,) or to disgusting filth, squalid discom
fort, and barbarian rudeness of manners ; any
one, who, so situated, is at first struck- with
alarm, horror, or disgust, will either set hirar
self earnestly, to escape from, or to remedy the
evils, or, if he does not, will gradually, from
custora, become so reconciled to them, as to feel
no longer anything of the shock he experienced
at first." And in like raanner the raore you
accustom yourself (we should urge) to think of
any sin, or of any neglect of duty, without ac
companying every such thought with an effort to
amend and improve, the less shame,— the less
abhorrence of what is wrong, the less regret for
your own deficiencies,— you will feel, every day
you are thus occupied ; and the great enemy of
your soul will have been leading you to fancy
that you were daily exercising yourself in humility,
° See Butler's Analogy.

422 A Charge
while you were in fact exercising yourself in
getting rid of all true humility, and in hardening
yourself against virtuous sharae and profitable
self-reproach." I have judged it advisable, ray reverend
brethren, to lay before you sorae extracts frora
serraons delivered by rayself, in order to shew
that, whether correct or erroneous in my views,
of the dangers to be guarded against in our
ministry, at least I do not inculcate on you any
cautions which I do not think it necessary to
observe myself. Such cautions I do, raost sin
cerely believe to be needful for every one; at
least for every one who does not confine hira
self to the delivery of raere moral essays, keep
ing out of sight the great evangelical truths;
for every one who is not seeking to make the
vine-branch bear fruit when it has no coramuni-
cation with the vine.
It is I trust alraost superfluous for me to add,
in conclusion, that I have been addressing you,
not as men justly liable to such imputations as
I have alluded to, frora really holding, or mean
ing to teach, the erroneous notions described.
p See Note C, at the end.

to the Clergy of Dublin. 423
The contrary is indeed iraplied in the very
advice I have presuraed to offer. For it would
be not only useless but absurd to point out to
a raan who should be actually a maintainer, for
instance, of antinomian (or of any other) tenets,
the precautions by which we raay guard our
hearers against those tenets. Any persons ac
cordingly (if there be any) who do raaintain
antinoraian tenets, though of course they will
not approve of what I have been saying, and
indeed raay be expected to be displeased with
it, if the reasons I have urged shall appear to be
of considerable weight, yet must perceive that I
have not been addressing myself to them. And
of the rest, I trust that I shall at least have
given no offence to any reasonable raind, and
that my suggestions will be received in the sarae
spirit of candour and charity with which they
are offered.

NOTES.

Note A, page 414.
I HAVE dwelt at perhaps greater length than was
necessary, on a point which appears to me to be of great
moment. It is a truth which perhaps it is not very diffi
cult, — but certainly very important — to establish, that a
man may be very deficient in personal Christian humility,
who confesses, however strongly, and reflects on, how
ever earnestly, the universal depravity of human nature ;
speaking indeed in, apparently, the most disparaging
terms, of himself; but in such terms as he holds to be
equally applicable to the most eminent of the Apostles
and Martyrs. And to this may be added that there is
not, necessarily, any humility evinced in the strong
censures which some are accustomed to pass on the
alleged presumption of such as hold the possibility of
the Christian's attaining, through divine help, complete
and sinless perfection in the performance of duty.
If indeed any one maintains that he hiraself has at
tained perfection, he is doubtless guilty of a high degree
of presumption. And I do believe that no small danger
of something approaching at least to such presumption,
is incurred by some, from the view they take of the
doctrine of the new-birth ; and from their understanding

Notes. 425
the expression of the Apostle John (1st Ep. iii. 6)~
" Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin," as
an insulated sentence, and without the explanation and
qualifications which the very same Epistle furnishes:
(as in ch. ii. and ch. v. verse 16.) The apostle certainly
means no less, — and I conceive he means no more — than
that all sin is a thing at variance with the character of a
regenerate man ; and that the antinomian doctrines of
the Gnostics — whom he is especially writing against — are
utterly unchristian.
But the danger I am now adverting to is this : a man
who holds that every sin, — or that every sin of any mag
nitude, implies the need of being born again, — implies,
in short, that the new-birth (since this cannot take place
more than once) has not taken place, may then, if he is
fully persuaded that he himself has experienced the new-
birth, and has been thus placed in a state of grace,
consider himself as exempt from all danger of sin, or of
any considerable sin ; since this, according to his view
of the doctrine of regeneration, would be an impossibility.
He may perhaps exclaim therefore (as Oliver Cromwell
is well-known to have done) " I am safe ;" and may no
more think of vigilant precaution against sin, than a man
would against one of those diseases that can only occur
once, if he has already had it.
If, however, any one only maintains — without pro
nouncing anything respecting himself, — the possibility of
attaining Christian perfection, he is not on this account
to be at once pronounced guilty of presumption ; nor do
those who diifer from and censure him, necessarily sur
pass him in humility. He may reply, perhaps, to such a

426 Notes.
censure, by asking, -what parts of our duty are impossible
to be performed ? how that can be called a duty, which is
beyond the possibility of fulfilment ? on what days we
should omit, as vain and presumptuous, that prayer in the
Te Deum in which we beseech the Lord to " keep us
this day without sin ?" and whether it be meant either
that God has required of us something beyond what He
enables us to perform, or that there is some Christian
virtue which He does not require of us ?
I am not, it is to be observed, giving any opinion as to
the tenet in question, further than to vindicate those who
maintain it from being, necessarily, guilty of presump
tion ; and to point out that the opposite opinion does not
necessarily imply humility.
On this point I will take the liberty of citing a passage
from a former work —
" It is not, in any case, the belief that exemption from
error is, either partially or completely, attainable, that
leads to arrogance or presumptuous carelessness ; but,
the belief of the individual that he has attained it, or, that
one who shall have attained it, may know with certainty
that he has done so.
" If a man believes, for instance, that there may be
some human actions so performed, under the promised
guidance of the Holy Spirit, as to be completely virtu
ous, — free from all admixture of sin, — in short, perfect, —
this belief, whether agreeable or not to the fact, can have
no tendency to make him conceited or careless, provided
he always maintains that no action, even though it should
really be of this description, can be (by man) known with
infallible certainty to be such.

Notes. 427
" On the other hand, one who entertains the opposite
opinion, may yet, conceivably, be deficient in humility
and in watchfulness. For he may hold, that every, the
best, human action, is, and ever must be, alloyed with
some mixture of human infirmities; and yet he may
without inconsistency, believe that some part, or even
the whole, of his own conduct, is, with all its imperfec
tions, as near an approach to perfection as can possibly
be expected of such a Being as Man. And whatever he
may profess, even with the most sincere intention, he will
not really be either mortified or alarmed at the thought
of his not having attained a degree of perfection which
he holds to be morally impossible.
" Many persons persuade both others and themselves,
that they are sufficiently cultivating Christian humility,^
by dwelling much on the weakness and depravity of
human nature, on the numerous temptations which beset
us, and on the errors and sins which every man must be
expected to fall into. And if they are reminded that,
according to the Scriptures, provision is made by divine
grace, for purifying and strengthening our nature, and
guarding us against temptation, they will often reply,
yes, but after all, every one does fall into many sins.
Now, however true this may be, and to whatever extent,
still the consideration of it does not necessarily produce
a A weU-known little book, entitled " Hymns for Infant Minds,"
(I believe by some ofthe Taylor family,) contains (Nos. 11 and 12) a
better practical description of Christian Humility, and its opposite,
than I ever met with in so small a compass. Though very intel
ligible and touching to a mere child, a man of the most mature
understanding, if not quite destitute ofthe virtue in question, maybe
the wiser and the better for it.

428 Notes.
vigilance and humility. The kind of self-abasement thus
generated is the same we feel when acknowledging man's
inability to " add a cubit to his stature," or to " remove
mountains," or to foretell future events. No one is much
ashamed, or put on his guard, by a consciousness of
being no better than what, he is persuaded, the wisest
and best of his species must be.
" However far, in point of fact, sinless perfection may
be from being attainable, it is not our deficiency in any
thing that we regard as w>^attainable, but in what we
regard as attainable, that tends to make us humble and
diligent. The provisions of divine assistance which have
been made, do, as we see but too plainly, in many
instances fail, more or less, of their object, through man's
negligence or perverseness : it may be true that they never
do, or will, completely succeed in attaining that object ;
but still, it is not so far forth as we feel assured they will
fail, but so far forth as we believe that they may succeed in
that object, that our zeal and watchfulness are excited.
"The danger of arrogance then is incurred, not by
any one's opinion, generally, on this point, (whether true
or false,) but, by his confidence respecting himself: — his
belief that he either knows, or may hereafter in this pre
sent life, know, that he is perfect. ' If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves,' would be not the less
true and important, even on the supposition that any one
of us actually had corapletely subdued, by divine help,
all sin : for he would not be enabled to know it, nor
authorized to say it. ' I know nothing (says Paul) by
myself;' (i. e. against myself; ot/Stv efiavri^ crvvoiSa)
' yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is

Notes. 429
the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time,
until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the
hidden things of darkness, and will raake manifest the
counsels of the hearts ; and then shall every man have
[his] praise of God.' If one raan is confident that the
moon is inhabited, and the other, that it is not, though
one of these assertions must be in itself true, both of
these men would alike ' deceive themselves,' by pro
nouncing with certainty, where they could have no
certain knowledge." — Whatelfs Essays, f/rst series, pp.
360—2. (Note) Note B, page 416.
It may be worth while here to observe incidentally,
that some preachers in describing the condition of man
before the fall, are accustomed, inadvertently, to use a
kind of language likely to convey to the unreflective
hearer a notion which I presume they cannot intend. I
mean that they describe not only the innocence but the
purity and holiness of man's original character, in such
terms as might be understood to imply that frailty was
introduced at the fall, and did not exist till after the
eating of the forbidden firuit. Now it is true that there
is no danger of any one's believing, in the strict sense of
that word, a contradiction in terms ; and that a moment's
reflection must make it clear to the capacity of a child,
that Adam could not have transgressed if he had not
been frail in a certain degree, however less that degree of
frailty than ours. But still, such language may produce
confusion and perplexity in the minds of learners ; and
may furnish adversaries with a plausible objection against

430 Notes.
our religion, as containing a self-contradiction. For that
it is a self-contradiction to speak of the liability to yield
to temptation having been originally produced by yielding
to temptation — the cause by the eflect, — no raan in his
senses can doubt. In whatever sense it is that man was
said to be " created in God's image," and that all things
that were made were pronounced " very good," — what
ever these expressions do raean, it is plain what they do
not raean ; they cannot mean, (as the narrative proves)
that our first parents were of such a character as to with
stand teraptation to disobedience.
Innocent indeed, they undoubtedly were, till they had
sinned ; for that is the very meaning of the word " inno
cent :" but it is worth remarking that even innocence was
lost before the forbidden firuit had been actually tasted ;
for since we all know that sin consists, not in the outward
bodily act, but in the intention of the mind, it is plain they
had committed the sin as soon as the purpose of the act
was fully formed. This was known even to the heathen
moralist by the light of nature :
" Nam scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum
facti crimen habet."
A man is, morally, a murderer, at the raoraent he pulls
the trigger of a gun with intent to assassinate ; and that,
not the less, even should he chance to raiss his aim. [See
First Charge, Note A, p. 27.]
Note C, page 422.
It raay be added that there is not necessarily any real
humility in a disparagement of the human vmdevstcmding
— the intellectual powers, as contrasted with the affections

Notes. 431
and other feelings. " The pride of human reason " is a
phrase very much in the raouth of sorae persons, who
seem to think they are eflfectuaUy humbling themselves
by an excessive distrust of all exercise of the intellect,
while they resign theraselves freely to the guidance of what
they call the heart; that is, their prejudices, passions, incli
nations, and fancies. But the feelings are as much a part of
marCs constitution as his reason ; every part of our nature will
equally lead us wrong, if operating uncontrolled. If a
man eraploys his reason, not in ascertaining what God
has revealed in Scripture, but in conjecturing what raight
be, or ought to be, the divine dispensations, he is employ
ing his reason wrongly, and will err accordingly. But
this is not the only source of error. He who, to avoid
this, gives up the use of his reason, and believes or dis
believes, adopts or rejects, according to what suits his
feelings, taste, will, and fancy, is no less an idolater of
himself tha.n the other ; his feelings, &c. being a part of
nimself, no less than his reason. We may, if we please,
call the one of these a " Rationalist," and the other an
" Irrationalist;" but there is as much ofthe pride of self-
idolatry in the one as in the other. The Greeks and
Romans were indeed wretched idolaters, in their adoration
of the beautiful statues of Jupitei- and Minerva ; but the
Egyptians, who adored those of an ox and a hawk, were
not the less idolaters. The Jews, relying on the decision
of learned rabbis, and the Pythagorean, who yielded im
plicit reverence to the dictates of the sage, did not raore
exalt raan into an oracle, in the place of God, than the
Mussulmans, who pay a like reverence to idiots and raad
men. Each part of our nature should be duly controlled.

432 Notes..
and kept within its own proper province ; and the whole
" brought into subjection to Christ," and dedicated to
Him. But there is no real Christian humility — though
there be debasement — in renouncing the exercise of
huraan reason, to follow the dictates of human feeling.
The apostle's precept is, " in malice be ye children ; but
in understanding be ye men."
The error I have been adverting to is worthy of notice,
only from the plausibility it derives from the authority of
some persons who really do possess cultivated intellectual
powers ; and therefore when they declaim on the pride of
huraan reason, are understood not to be disparaging an
advantage of which they are destitute. They appear
voluntarily divesting theraselves of what raany would feel
a pride in ; and thus often conceal from others, as well as
from theraselves, the spiritual pride with which they not
only venerate their own feelings and prejudices, but even
load with anatheraas all who presurae to dissent frora
them. It is a prostration, not of man's self heiove God,
but of one part of himself before another. This kind of
humiliation is like the idolatry of the Israelites in the
wilderness, " The people stripped themselves of their golden
ornaments that were upon them, and cast thera into the
fire ; and there came forth this calf."

THE END.

U. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILI..

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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