Il . ',. .1 i '.f . I , ,,-i!s-.;',:..N. 't' , c V I >r I'll '¦.' ' 1 I $ ^5 * i'%^'|;» ll^'* '1' t 11 '^^ '9sM^^ 9% Ik p lti|.4r r » tf .4 1" . 1 1 D*, I I 1 • ''':.^ ' 'ii""^ '.', hsu ^- ' ! 'Ilk a"i!ii''ft'! '¦ •'" " ¦ -^Iw .iMir j'Nfi.,.' Il 111. 1 1, < •"¦.''¦n.',iM: ' M ,1' I III ¦ III Vi '''I.'''. f.. „r|i. I I '¦ I-' ' fl I' ' I .. M*»;i''!'j" "r ' I I'i'i . . I II '',ll I'l!;!; i . "I '1 1 ¦ 1 1 ¦ I |i I i'l!.i/.J'i" II . ,lil' *¦ Jl ' ' h!|i|i.!fiiEftates upon truft, and to the intents and pur- "pofes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to fay,i *' will and appoint that the Vice -Chancellor of "the Univerfity of Oxford for the time being fliall " take and receive all the rents, iffues, and pro- " fits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, and ^' nece'ffary deduftions made) that he pay all the «* remainder to the endowment of eight Divinity *'.Le6lure Sermons, to be efliabliflied for ever in « the faid Univerfity, and to be performed in the . " manner following : .>^ « I direct and appoint, that, upon the firft '^Tuefday in Eaflier Term, a Ledurer be yearly " chofen " chofen by the Heads of Colleges oiily, and by " no others, in the room adjoining to the Print- " ing-Houfe, between the hours of ten in the " morning and two in the afternoon, to preach " eight Divinity Le6lure Sermons, the year fol- " lowing, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between the " commencement of the laft month in Lent Term, " and the end of the third week in A61 Term. " Alfo I direiEt and appoint,' that fhe eight Di- " vinity Ledture Sermons fhall be preached upon "either of the following Subjefts — to confirm " and eftablifh the Chrifliian Faith, and to con- " fute all heretics and fchifnaatics — upon the di- " vine authority of the holy Scriptures — ^upon " the authority of the writings of the primitive " Fathers, as to the faith and pradtice of the pri- " mitive Church — upon the Divinity of our " Lqrd and Saviour Jefus Chrift — ^upon the Di- " vinity of the Holy Ghoft — upon the Articles " of the Chriftian Faith, as comprehended in the " Apoftles' and Nicene Creeds. " Alfo I diredl, that thirty copies of the eight " Divinity Lefbure Sermons fhall be always ^' printed, within two months after they are " preached, and one copy Ihall be given to the " Chancellor of the Univerfity, and one copy to " the Head of every College, and one copy to the "Mayor of the city of Oxford, and one copy to « be put into the Bodleian Library ; and the ex- " pence t XV ] " pence of printing them fhall be paid out of the " revenue of the Land or Eftates given for efta- *' blifhing the Divinity Le£ture Sermons ; and " the Preacher fhall not be paid, nor be entitled " to the revenue, before they are printed. " Alfo I direfl: and appoint, that no perfon " fhall be qualified to preach the Divinity Lec- " ture Sermons, unlefs he hath taken the Degree *' of Mafter of Arts at leaft, in one of the two *' Univerfities of Oxford or Cambridge ; and that " the fame perfon fhall never preach the Divi- " nity Ledure Sermons twice." SERMON I John xviii. 36. My kingdom is not of this worlds. Wisdom and craft, it has frequently been obferved, are principles of diflin<^ nature, and incompatible fo far as they are diftindt. They differ in the objeds to which they are refpec- tively diredled, in the means which they em ploy, and in the refults which they are calcu lated to produce. As the grafp of wifdom is llrong and coniprehenlive, fo its aim is per manent fuccefs. The views of Craft, on the other hand, are limited by adual emergency. Though acute in the difcernment, and inge nious in the application of prefent refources, it afcends not from the contemplation of parts to an enlarged conception of the whole. Wif dom preferves unviolated the precepts of an elevated morality, abftains from every parti cular expedient of which the general confe- B quence z SERMON L quence would be prejudicial, and trufts its fu ture, though perhaps diftant triumph to the undoubted efficacy of truth. Craft, lefs fcru pulous in its ambition, is lefs exaxft alfo in its cafuiftry; and, where an immediate intereft may be advanced by politic falfehood, either is not aware of, or does not regard, that cer tain progrefs, by which falfehood, though it may profper for a time, yet terminates even tually in defeat. Various are the queftions which this dif- tindion might be employed fuccefsfully to elucidate, and occafions will arife in thefe Dif courfes to examine many of its moft import ant confequences. At prefent, how'ever, I ftiali content myfelf with ftating, that it will be found to fupply an accurate criterion, by which the truth of Chriftianity may be deter mined, without entering into any difcuffion on the credibihty of miracles, and without de- tiying the full importance of all thofe natural caufes, to which alone the propagation of our faith has of late been artfully afcribed. Such a criterion muft be particularly adapted to obviate thole objedlions to our religion, which the ableft of its recent adverfaries have propofed, and which contribute more power fully than any other difficulties to perplex the doubtful SERMON L 3 doubtful Chriftian, or confirm the wavering unbeliever. Now it is manifeft that Chriftianity exifts. What we have to examine is this : Whence did it arife ? How was it propagated ? If it was eftablifhed by the aid of miracles, the queftion of its origin muft be at reft ; it is de cided by the authority of God himfelf. Un believers, therefore, neceflarily hold, that the eftablifliment of our religion may reafonably be attributed to caufes Amply human. They aflert, that the conduct of its founders, ftimu- lated by the zeal, though purified from the unfocial Ipirit of the Jewilh fyftem, was wife ly contrived, or fortunately adapted, to incor porate in the profeffion of a common faith the, Jews, to whom it was reprefented as the con- fummation of the Mofaic law, and the united nations of the Gentile world ^. Motives are » Gibbon, chap. xv. vol. I. p. 5^6, 541. 4to. ed. I'jBgt The intolerance, however, to which Mr. Gibbon attributes fo much eflFedt, is fomewhat Incbnfiftent with that fpirit of incorporation, which he confiders at the fame time as one of the early charafteriftics of Chriftianity. Thofe Chriftlans whb rejected the Jewifli ceremonies, In fome inftances anathematized the .Judaizers. They cannot, therefore, have been zealous for union with them under one comprehenfive fyftem. B 3 alleged;, 4 SERMON L alleged, by which it is fuppofed, that the craft of fome, and the fanaticifm. of others, may have been incited to combine in the lame at tempt ; by which felfifh paffions may have been urged to cooperate with fincere piety in promoting equally the interefts of the faith, and the ambitious policy of Conftantine. The apparent tendency of fuch remarks is to fuggeft the inference, that, as the eftablifli ment of Chriftianity may be referred to the natural effedl of human motives, no argument for the divine interference can be colledled from its hiftory. I hope, however, to Ihow^ that it is an altogether contrary inference which juftly ought to be derived from this congruity between the means employed, and the eifedl produced : I hope to prove on this very ground, that our religion was not eftabliffied by man alone, but bears genuine and indubitable traces of the finger of God. Chriftianity, then, originally promulgated among the Jews, is profeflTedly the confumma- tion of the Jewifli law ; and it is certain, alfo, that, freed from the temporary or local pecu liarities of the Mofaic inftitution, it offers its impartial promifes to all the kindreds of the earth. By thefe charaAers, its permanent ad vancement and eventual greatnefs have been un- SERMON I. $ unqueftionably confulted. By thefe charac ters, alfo, the probability pf its divine origin is confirmed; for, were not the means employed for the promotion of Chriftianity both wife in themfelves, and calculated alfo to harmonize with the ufual motives of human action, that analogy would be violated, which, fo far as we can perceive, has been invariably obferved in the divine counfels, when there has been no reafon for interrupting it. God laviflies not unnecelTary miracles, but feems rather, in all pradicable cafes, to work by the inftru- mentality of fecond caufes. It will be proved, however, that the mode and circumftances, in which the Chriftian religion was originally propofed, were not fuch, exclufively of mira culous interference, as might naturally have been expected to conciliate the immediate fup- port either of the Heathen or of the Jew, nor fuch as the authors of the religion could poffi- bly have devifed with the political view of furthering its progrefs. We allow, that Chrif tianity is, indeed, a religion accommodated to the general ftate, and aptly fuited to the com mon hopes of mankind ; that it accomplifhes the covenant which was made with Abraham ; .and that it admits the Gentile to participate in B 3 the 6 SERMON L the benefits of revelation: but we contend alfo, that its chara6ler is no where marked with the temporary and queftionable expedients of human policy. To be able to judge in what manner Chrif tianity was accommodated to the nature of mankind, it is necefl"ary that we fliould under- ftand the circumftances of thofe perfons to whom it was firft announced ; that we take into confideration their numerous and necef- fary prejudices, their fond but vifionary ex pectations. It will then be feen, that our religion, though well calculated, when it ihould once have taken root, to become, even tually, univerfal ; though wifely fuited to the general condition of mankind ; yet had no natural probability nor prolpedl of immediate eftablifliment ; that it was every way repug nant to the particular opinions of the age in which it firft appeared ; that the policy by which it was chara61erized, and the obje<9:s which it was direded to attain, were fuch as an enthufiaft, or an impoftor, could not poffi- bly have comprehended or propofed. Chrift, though we now perceive his condu6l to have been adapted to the charadler of the Meffiah, who v^as announced by Jewifli pro phecies, SERMON L 7 phecies, did not appear as the Meffiah whom the Jews expeded ". He was not received as the confummator of the law, becaufe he did not countenance the common prejudices which exifted refpeding the mode of its confumma- tion. Nor to the Gentiles of the age in which Jefus and his Apoftles taught was the real dif- crimination between the Chriftian and the Jewifli religion fo apparent, as to acquire that favour or impartiality for the one, which was generally denied to the other ; or to vindicate the Chriftian from that odium or contempt, which was every where the portion of the Jew. They who faw that Chriftianity recog nized the religion of Mofes, confidered it as a fe6t of Judaifm, and were not likely to en quire folicitoufly into the pecufiar diftindion of the fed:, where they generally defpifed the religion. While Chrift, therefore, to the Gen tiles appeared a Jew, and td the Jews a blaf- phemer of their law, he could derive no poli tical advantage from the opinions or circum ftances of the age in which he lived. On no fuppofition can it be accounted for, that he fliould have purfued a condud liable to thefe pbjedions, but on the fuppofition that he was ¦• Orobio, Arnica Coll. p. 8. ed. Goudae 4to. B 4 a mef- 8 SERMON X a mefl!enger of truth. An enthufiaft or an im poftor, who pretended to the reforming cha- rader, would never have expofed himfelf to the queftion, which many parts even of the apoftolical writings feern intended to refolve, and which is recorded to have been aflced in the fecond century by one of the moft emi nent adverfaries of our faith : " Why do you " reft the foundations of your dodrine upon " the Jewifli law, and yet abandon it as you " ered the fuperftrudure ' .^" It will be the objed of my difcourfes be fore this afl'embly to illuftrate the diftindion which has been thus ftated between the real condud of Jefus Chrift, and the condud which any teacher of a falfe religion might, in the lame circumftances, have naturally been ex- peded to purfue. The great and extenfive combinations, the fimple, pure, unaccommo dating charader confpicuous in the records of Chriftianity, and exemplified in the hiftory of its Author, will be compared with the tempo ral compliances and artifice, not only of hea- ' H tstai ap^sa-^e (*ev awo tojv ^|X6rep«)v Upcev, ¦sTfoiovre; Ss emra aTifj-a^sTs ; ax s^oi/TEf aXXijv ap^tjv emsiv rs toyfi.ciTO$, )) rav rjiusvspw vojj,ov, Celfi Ju43eus ap. Orig. lib. ii. p. 59. ed. SpencerJ. then SERMON L 9 then lawgivers and pretended Chrifts, but more particularly, alfo, of enthufiaftic or de- figning Chriftians. The enlarged wifdom by which the counfels of God are eventually feen to be diftinguiflied, whenever we are compe tent to examine them, will be contrafted with the inferior Ikill and tranfitory objeds of hu man policy. Intentions will be traced in the original code and inftitution of Chriftianity, which no enthufiaft or impoftor could have entertained, and profpedive defigns, which the knowledge exifting among mankind at the time of its publication was not adequate to form, and which the minifters and hiftorians of its firft eftablifliment did not, probably, themfelvjes contemplate. In examining with this view the evidence of Chriftianity, as it is propofed to wave en tirely the argument from miracles, I alfo for bear to adduce that dired teftimony to the truth of the religion which is afforded by the books of the New Teftament. So far, however, as thefe books give an account of the early hiftory of our faith, I fhall not hefi- tate to affume their authenticity, becaufe their fidelity, in this refped, has feldom been de nied. It is allowed, hypothetically, by thofe perfons who think that the founders of our religion 10 SERMON 1. religion v^ere enthufiafts. They who pro nounce them to have been impoftors, will be involved in unneceffary difficulties, if they deny the truth of any part of the New Tefta ment, except that which relates miracles, or bears an fexpi'efs teftimony to the religion. Thefe books, it is acknowledged, have all the external proofs of authenticity, in a ftill greater degree than any others which have furvived the ravages of time ; and all the more plau- fible arguments againft the truth of their con tents have been direded, not, particularly, againft the books, but generally, againft the credibility of miracles, and, fometimes, againft the confiftency of certain dodrines with the divine attributes. Such reafoning, in what ever manner it may affed the truth of the dodrines, or the miracles, does not implicate the remainder of the hiftory. It ftill continues true, that Jefus lived in Judea ; that he taught thofe dodrines which are delivered to us in the writings of his difciples ; that he was cru cified ; and that, exclufively of real miracles, the apoftles propagated his religion in the manner which is related. The acute antago- nift of Chriftianity, who fo long prefided as the literary didator of a neighbouring coun try, was careful not only to allow, but even to SERMON L II to enforce the neceffity of this admiffion. He oppofed not the general hiflrory of Chrift, but the evidence of his divine authority ; and in- llruded his followers to occupy this ground of hoftility, as being that which alone was tena ble. It is plain, indeed, that a contrary pofi- tion would involve, at once, the extindion of all faith in hiftory ; that it would induce us to deny the death of Cefar, becaufe we difcredit the prophecy of Artemidorus. Affuming, therefore, with thefe exceptions, the corrednefs of the general hiftory of the New Teftament, it will be proper to confider feparately the diftind principles of enthufiafm and impofture ; to one of which caufes the eftablifliment of every falfe religion muft ne- cefTarily be referred; and to manifeft the truth of Chriftianity, by fhowing that the nature of the wifdom which it difplays is incompatible with either imputation. Now all enthufiafm ought not to be indif- criminately reprobated. Often a generous, and fometimes a noble feeling, it elevates the mind to that lofty fphere of great and magna nimous conception, which, in refped of earth ly things, is moft favourable to heroifm, and, in relped of divine, to piety. And if, as we contend, there have been men, in truth, fo highly I? SERMON I. liighly favoured by the Divinity, as to be ap pointed the pecufiar minifters of his will, the inftruments by which his gracious difpenfa- tions have been revealed to the whole human race, we cannot eafily fuppofe but that fuch men, however cool their natural temperament, muft, in a limited fenfe, have necefl^arily be come enthufiafts in the mighty caufe com mitted to them. It cannot but have warmed their hearts, and communicated new vigour to their contemplations. Enthufiafm, however, even in its moft fa vourable acceptation, though an admirable, a glorious quality, is not that habit of mind which is heft fuited to the difcovery of truth. It feems always to have a tendency to difturb the balance of reafon, though a tendency ca pable of being reftrained, and, when reftrained, of the moft important and adive ufefulnefs. The term, alfo, itfelf is ufually and moft pro perly employed where fuch reftraint is want ing: it commonly indicates a lively fancy, but a confined underftanding. It is the ordinary charaderiftic of enthufiafts to be ardent in purfuits which ftrongly imprefs the imagina tion, but of which they little underftand the real confequences ; to be weak in judgment, though, perhaps, irrefiftible in energy. Of thefe SERMON L 13 thefe perfons we may fafely a;^rm, that, though they have often decided the fortunes, they have never contributed to the wifdom of man kind. To the praife of eloquence in the fe- nate, and of bravery in the field, they may be entitled with the ftrideft juftice : but they never have propofed a jufter theory of philo- fophy, nor a founder principle in morals. Among the very wildeft of fuch enthufiafts muft Chrift and his apoftles, on the fuppofi tion of their having taught a faMe religion, with fincere convidion of its truth, be necef- farily ranked. Though we were to allow that one mere man may have thought himfelf the fon of God, and that a multitude of others, in contradidion to the natural influence of every received opinion, and every felfifh paffion, de ceived themfelves into the belief, that he gave fight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf; that he raifed the dead to life, and, at laft, was raifed alfo himfelf; yet we may ftill be fure that men, who were perfuaded of errors fo ob vious and gfofs, could have made no difcove- ries of real truth, could have difplayed no in dications of refined wifdom, which had eluded the legiflators of former times, and the philo- fophers of their own. ¦ To fix the charader of an enthufiaft on the authoi: U SERMON t. author of Chriftianity, it is necefTary therefore to fhow, that his creed is poflefled of no fupe- riority over thofe which exifted at the time when it was firft promulgated. A compara tive fuperiority of this religion over preceding or contemporary fyftems may be compatible with the charge of falfity. It were idle to contend that Minos or Socrates had exhaufted the wifdom of unaffifted nature; that the pro grefs of knowledge was ftayed at once in the midft of its career, and that-all the acquifitions of later ages can be afcribed to revelation alone. Some new impoftor, it is poffible to fuppofe, might have furpafled the ingenuity of former times : a lawgiver might have invented a more politic or a more plaufible fuperftition than had before exifted; a philofopher, though ftill mifled by many and important prejudices, might have advanced farther than his prede- ceflbrs towards the pure religion of nature : but an enthufiaft could have made no progrefs in moral, in legiflative, or in religious wifdom. If then it can be proved, that the precepts of Chriftianity are more pure, its dodrines more found, and its fandions more powerful, than can be aflerted of any fyftem, either religious or philofophical, that exifted at the period of its origin ; if its charader, while it furpafles the SERMON L 15 the knowledge, be confonant to the hopes of nature, it has not, it cannot have originated in enthufiafm. Every inftance of wifdom that can be found in the religion contributes to re fute the objedion ; and fuch inftances might immediately be alleged, fo numerous and de- cifive, as to form an irrefiftible accumulation of moral evidence. But as it is intended to prove, that there exifts wifdom in Chriftianity of fuch a nature as excludes the fuppofition, not of enthufiafm alone, but alfo of impofture, it would be premature to detail either the ex amples, or the arguments, by which this proof is to be eftabliflied, till the nature of each fup pofition has been examined. I proceed then to ftate, that, if Chriftianity be an impofture, the cafe is this. , About eighteen centuries ago, there exifted in Judea an able and eminent deceiver, whofe crafty and verfatile ambition excited him, as it has determined others in ancient and modern times, to affume the charader of a prophet, and promulgate a new refigion. His talents and intrepidity enabled him to carry on this arduous impofture with more than ufual fuc cefs. He availed himfelf adroitly of the old fuperftitions of his country ; and the period of time, at which he lived, was well calculated to favour i6 SERMON L favour his pretenfions. The writings of a re velation, which was believed to have been made from heaven during the earlier ages of the ftate, feemed to intimate that , fome great prophet was now to arife. This artful adven turer declared himfelf, accordingly, to be the expeded prophet ; and multitudes of the vul gar, who are ever prone to fuperftitions follies, fell blindly into the delufion, either duped by his pretended miracles, or captivated by iiis eloquence. His ambition was baffled, how ever, by difaftrous circumftances, and he was crucified by the magiftrates of his country, with the confent of the Roman governor. His fed, neverthelefs, ftill fubfifts, and its nume rous adherents perfift with unexampled obfti- nacy in the aflertion of their faith. This, probably, is the light in which Chrif tianity was beheld by the ancient heathens ; and modern infidels will hardly contend, that the imputation of impofture to the author of our religion is, in this ftatement, inadequately exprefled. It has been fuppofed, indeed, that Jefus himfelf was the impoftor, and that he was able to impofe on his credulous difciples by the pretence of working miracles, and rifing from the dead ; while the language of fome unbelievers would feem to intimate, that they SERMON L ij they imagined, a confederacy of fraud. Yet, furely, it is an eafier fuppofition that one man, than that many, fhould have confented, with out the ftimulus of enthufiafm, to live pain fully and die miferably for the maintenance of an impofture. If, however, the contrary fup pofition fliould be preferred, it may be ob ferved, that the arguments by which I attempt to refute the charge of fraud, as djreded againft Chrift alone, may equally be applied to refute the fame charge, as direded againft any num ber of confederates.. No change would be re quifite in the fecond cafe but a change of terms, and the firft is here examined diredly rather than the fecond, only becaufe it is the moft plaufible. If Chrift was an impoftor, there can be no doubt of his ability. To have invented a reli gion more probable and fpecious than any other that has ever exifted; which has enume rated among its fincere profeffors men more fober in judgment, and more cautious in their inquiries into evidence, than can be found among the aflertors of Pagan or of Moham medan , fuperftition ; the only religion, the confutation of which is apprehended by infi dels themfelves to involve the condemnation c of i8 S;ERMON 1. of all others', was the work of nO common un derftanding. Accordingly there may be difeovered in the original records, and in the early hiftory of Chriftianity, the marks of a moft wife and pe netrating infight into the human heart, and into the modes of conciliating a zealous and permanent adherence. The pure notions of the Deity which were taught by Chrift were highly necefiary to pio- cure a favourable and lafting reception for his dodrine among men of cultivated minds. The dodrine of a fhture ftate of retribution forms almoft a neceflary part of every fyftem of po pular' and profane theology. It was prudent, but at the fame time it was extremely natural, for the Author of Chriftianity to introduce it into his own. His wifdom is obvious, not lb much in the introdudion of the dodrine, as in the fimplicity with which it is reprefented. A more ignorant or fhortfighted impoftor would, it is probable, not only have borrowed the opinions, but have adorned them alfo with the fuperftitions of mythology. He would have delighted to enumerate in detail the plea- fures of his vifionary Elyfium, or would have aggravated the horrors of his Tartarus with the SERMON L 19 the wheel of Ixion, Or the rock of Sifyphus. Chrift, however, feems to have forefeen, that the grofsnefs of fuch fabulous reprefentations would not long be able to refift the acutenefs of fceptical criticifm ; and he judged wifely in exprefsly announcing the exiftence, but in leaving the particular circumftances and Con dition of a future ftate to continue in their na tural pbfcurity ^. ¦ The mode, alfo, in which he lived, the ap-^ parent difintereftednefs of his condud, the pu- •^ Modern hiftory as well as ancient furnifties nume-. rous examples, which may be compared in this refpec^ with that of Chrift. Dr. Cotton Mather, in his Hift. of New England, (p. 203, &c.) afl'erts, that he had found a Jefuit's cate- chifm In the Iroquois language, which declared of heaven that it is a fair foil, where they want neither meat nor clothes : that they do nothing : the fields give corn, beans, pumpkins, and the like, without tillage : the trees are always green, full, and flourifliing : the fun ever fliines, the fruits are never wafted. Their notions of helf are as furprifing : that it is a wretched foil : a fiery pit in the centre of the earth, always dark : the devils are ill- fliaped things, with vizards on, to terrify men : they have nothing to drink there but melted lead : that in hell they eat one another every day; but anon God reftores the man that was eaten, as a cropt plant in a little time re- pullulates. Millar's Propag. of Chriftianity, vol. ii. p. 306. ed. 1731. c 2 rity ao SERMON L rity of his manners, and the ftrid though not morofe impartiality of his precepts, were aptly fuited to the acquifition of permanent efteem. The felfifli impoftor would have been deteded by the cool inquirer, as foon as the torrent of enthufiafm had fubfided which helped to faci litate his fuccefs. The loofe, the unfair, the accommodating cafuift would be proved, by undeniable objedions, a falfe pretender to di vine authority. The pretence, however, of interefted motives was well avoided by him, who had not where to lay his head : the im putation of worldly compliances could with difficulty be fixed on him, who taught one morality to the rich and to the poor, and of whom it was aflerted, as a matter of fad, not as a caufe of eulogy, that with him was no refped of perfons. Such are the charaders of ability which are diftinguifliable in the author of Chriftianity, and which, undoubtedly, muft have contri buted much to confirm the progrefs of his re ligion. It is obvious, that they are all indi cative of enlarged, not of temporary policy; none conducive to its immediate eftabhfliment, though necefTary to its permanence. To the perfonal greatnefs or the perfonal pleafure of its SERMON L 21 its promulgator, they are not favourable, but repugnant. The general principles, indeed, of our nature extend to all places, and operate throughout all ages. They exifted in Judea at the time of Chrift, and we doubt not but that Chriftianity was conformable to, and eon- genial with them even there. On the whole, alfo, the efficacy of thefe general principles is ftronger, becaufe it is more lafting, than that of particular impulfes or motives, which are limited to peculiar cafes. Still their immediate effifiacy is not fo great; in the fame manner as reafon, though eventually more powerful, is always lefs violent than prejudice. But an impoftor, as will be proved, muft chiefly con- fult the immediate efficacy of the principles which he employs. Chrift, however, con fulted uniformly the general refult, rather than the immediate; he always rejeded partial fuc cefs for permanent, whenever they were in confiftent with each other. This is, in brief, the eflential wifdom, of which I hope to fhow, that it infallibly diftinguifhes Chriftianity from every example of impofture which human ex^ perience can fupply, and is utterly incompati- • ble with the charge. To explain the arrangement, by which it is intended to prove that it is at leaft equally in- c 3 compatible IZ SERMON L compatible with the charge of enthufiafm, I muft recur to what has already been advanced. It was feen, that enthufiafm, though calcu lated to ftimulate exertion, yet tends to difturb the judgment, and that it admits of lefs wif dom than is admitted of by impofture. If, then, it can be proved, that wifdom fo con- fummate as the wifdom of Chriftianity can not poffibly be afcribed even to an impoftor, we may be certain that it can ftill lefs be afcribed to an enthufiaft. Confequently there can be no refource to the unbeliever for evad ing arguments of the kind propofed, by adopt ing a different theory of unbelief. When driven from the hypothefis of impofture, he cannot take refuge in that of enthufiafm. The argument, therefore, which is here pro pofed, may be applied to refute both impu tations. Should it be deemed of fufficient ftrength to obviate the charge of impofture, it is of ftill greater force when direded againft that of enthufiafm. This being the cafe, it will be perfedly corred, and it will avoid much needlefs repetition, to dired the gene ral tenour of thefe difcourfes againft the charge of impofture only. If it be .fliown, that arguments drawn from the refined excel lence of the wifdom by which Chriftianity is diftin- SERMON L 23 diftinguiflied, are both fufficient to difprove the charge of impofture, and alfo conclufive with equal or ftill greater force againft the charge of enthufiafm, the confequence is irrefiftible, that the religion muft be true. Should it be objeded, however, that the method, by which it is propofed to difprove both imputations by reafoning that feems to militate diredly only againft one, is in any degree inconfiftent with the ftrideft accuracy ; the objedion may be anfwered, by obferving that this arrangement is adopted, not as neceffary to the argument, but as the moft concife, and, upon the whole, the moft perfpicuous mode of treating it. I argue not, that, becaufe a given condud fur- paffes the wifdom of an impoftor, it therefore muft furpafs, neceffarily, the wifdom of an en thufiaft, till it be proved to exceed not the iifual wifdom of impofture only, but the high- eft degree of wifdom which can poffibly be attributed to man. Could we imagine cafes where the enthufiaft might be fuppofed to reafon more acutely, as well as to ad more energetically than the impoftor, ftill the pro pofed arguments will be valid ; becaufe I af- fert not of any wifdom, that it is too great or too refined for an impoftor, but on the fuppo fition, from which I fliall not* fwerve, that an ( c 4 impoftor 24 SERMON L impoftor is capable of attaining the higheft degrees of great and refined wifdom, that any man, of whatever charader, or guided by whatever principle, can poffibly attain. The principles, alfo, of impofture and of enthufiafm, though undoubtedly diftind, and frequently oppofite in themfelves, are yet often fo intimately united in the fame occurrence, and even in the fame perfon, that it would be difficult, perhaps impoffible, to name any im portant event in which the one has ope rated without fome admixture of the other. Since, then, it is propofed, not merely to ftate the plain argument, but alfo, to purfue it in connedion with fuch events and illuftrations as may be feleded from the religious hiftory of mankind, the fads, which it may feem ne ceffary hereafter to detail, will be difpofed in whatever order the contiguities of place or time may feem moft naturally to determine, with fuch comment as the peculiarities of the feveral cafes fhall fuggeft. I fliall deem it un neceffary to make any farther feparation be tween cafes of impofture and cafes of enthu fiafm, than is conflflent with the' adoption of this arrangement. Maintaining throughout, and endeavouring to enforce the enlightened adaptation of Chriftianity to the nature and condition SERMON I. 25 condition of mankind, it will be my objed to exhibit its contraft to the indired and tranfi^ tory policy of defigning or miftaken men. The condud which has been purfued by the teachers of religions confeffedly falfe, and by falfe pretenders to the charader of Meffiah, will, in the firft place, be confidered. This part of the fubjed, however, will not be dwelt upon minutely, and will be comprifed within the limits of my fecond difcourfe. It may then be neceflary to obviate fuch objedions as can be made to the reality, of that difcrimina- tion between true and falfe religions which has been contended for, and to ffiow that the charader attributed to the falfe is not appli cable to the true. The remainder of thefe lec tures will be direded to illuftrate the diftinc tion, not between Chrift, and the founders of other religions, but between the condud of Chrift, and the condud of ambitious or enthu fiaftic Chriftians ; and, at the fame time, to prove, that the abufes of the religion by fome of its profeffors are not imputable to its au thor, and that they are alien from its real fpi rit. It will be fliown, in various examples, that, where Chriftianity has been taught not with apoftolic fincerity, but with hypocritical craft, not for the glory of our Redeemer, but for z6 SERMON L for the purpofes of temporal eftablifliment, the infincerity of the means has correfponded with the felfifhnefs of the end. It will be fhown, alfo, that, in other inftances, a compromife has been allowed, by men of pure intentions, but of weak and prejudiced minds> between the profeffion of belief in Chrift, and the pradice, fometimes of exceffive fuperftition, fometimes even of abfolute idolatry. Early, very early in the hiftory of the Chrif tian church, we find compliances with, and imitations of Pagan ceremonies : conceffions to exifting error, the prefent policy of which was undeniable, and of which their authors did not perceive the unhappy confequences in re- ferve. In the early rife of the power of the Roman Pontiff, a fimilar policy is to be re marked. It is ftill more remarkable in the condud of the Papal court during the period of its after greatnefs. This ground, as having been frequently preoccupied, will be paffed over with only curfory examination. The hif tory of the order of the Jefuits will, in the next and laft place, be difcuffed with more particularity. The tyranny of their conftitu- tions, the relaxed morality of their cafuifts, and the accommodating dodrines of their mif- fionaries, will be fliown to be as remote from the SERMON L 27 the holy fimplicity of him whofe name they have dared to affume ^, as they are ufeful for the purpofes of private aggrandizement. In the ambition of their European policy, in their toleration of idolatrous ceremonies in Afia, and in the foundation of an ecclefiaftical empire in the receffes of the new world, they will be fliown to difclofe, uniformly, an acute but partial genius, fertile in particular re fources, but not poffeffed of lafting wifdom. Thefe are the objeds of which it is pro pofed to treat. And from the arguments which their examination will fupply, the fol lowing conclufion will iarife. If Jefus Chrift had aded from motives of human ambition, from any felfifli or infincere principle, he would have adopted a condud altogether contrary to that which he really purfued. He came forward^ not only dif- claiming all human power, but ading alfo in ¦= 'f Le capitaine de leur compagnie." "On a remarque '' quelque part, que comme les Empereurs Romains " etoient appelles Africains, Germains, &c. non pas " parcequ'ils etoient amis on allies de ces peuples : de " meme les Jefuites font appelles du nofn de Jefus, " parcequ'ils font fes plus grands ennemis." Hiftoire de I'admirable Dom Inigo de Guipufcoa, i;}mo. a la Haye, 1764. vol. i. p. 164. note. a manner »8 SERMON L a manner the leaft hkely to acquire it : he counteraded all the prejudices of the world, and negleded all its pleafures. His death, on the fuppofition of his being an impoftor, was the mifcarriage of his fcheme ; and yet it could not have been unforefeen, becaufe it was the natural confequence of his policy. It is a fate, perhaps, which many impoftors have been content to rifk ; but Chrift, though con- fummate in his wifdom, feems by his condud to have advanced fteadily towards the crofs ; and to have chofen it, not as the alternative to be fubmitted to upon defeat, but as the end and crown of his ambition. He, therefore, was no impoftor. It is manifeft, alfo, that he was no enthufiaft ; for, in that cafe, ftill lefs than on the fuppofition of impofture, could he have emancipated himfelf from the prejudices which he rejeded, or forefeen the imputations againft which he provided. The kingdom then which he has eftablifhed is not of this world : he was guided by no rule, fup- ported by no motive, but what were derived from perfed benevolence, and emanated from truth itfelf. SERMON SERMON IL John xviii. 36. My kingdom is not of this world. IT is well known, that the legiflators of hea then antiquity pretended a divine fandion to the precepts which they delivered^; an un doubted impofition on mankind, which may be partly referable to deceit, and partly to en thufiafm or error ; but ftill an impofition, which, if we confider it without prejudice, is deferving neither of hatred nor contempt. The magiftrate and the prieft have feemed, indeed, to fhare the indignation of unbe lievers ; and it is certain, that an enmity to Chrift ought confiftently to be accompanied by a fimilar hatred of Zoroafter and Numa, Chriftians, alfo, themfelves have often been inclined, injudicioufly, I think, and unjuftly, * See Appendix I. to 30 SERMON IL to deprefs the merits of the heathen lawgivers and moralifts, that they might elevate the comparative fuperiority of Chrift ; a fuperi ority which need$ not the depreffion of other charaders to be decidedly felt and acknow ledged. If, however, we are difpofed to revere the memory of thofe firft authors of human im provement, who reclaimed the favage from his wild and wandering exiftence to the -order of fociety, and the arts of peaceful life ^ ; if we are grateful for the eftablifhment of civil le giflation, we ought not to deny the fame fuf- frage to the teachers of religious dodrines, though, imperfed in truth, or deformed by fuperftition ; fince it is by the fandions of re ligion only that the reftraints of law can be effedually fecured '=. ^ Cie. de Inv. I. H. ' Ovh yug arepos \oyos e%a ti (yjfut,Tt^ovTO 54- " Tpi; yap [/.vpioi ei(Ttv etti x^"^' 'H'^'i^'J^OTsipvi AduvaTOt Zrivo;, (fuKaxe; ^'vriTcuv uv^qumcav Ol pa. (py^a(70"B(nv re Sixaj, xat crp^erAia spya,. Hfjsa ia-d'afKevoi, 'sranri (poircovrs; st aiav. Hefiod. Op. et Dies, 350. &c. theifm. A& SERMON IL theifm, more might be fceptics, and fome, perhaps, fincere idolaters. Some may have expofed to their feled difciples the fallacies of popular mythology, and inftruded them in a purer notion of the deity ; but they delivered this inftrudion as a branch of philofophy alone, not as the ground of novel worfliip : nor did they conceive that any but the fedi- tious would ever be inclined to difturb the temporal repofe of ufeful fuperftitions. Reli gion, in the Gentile world, was uniformly confidered as a part of civil legiflation, and fubfervient to the ends of government. Plato, though he undoubtedly difbelieved the poly* theifm of Greece, though he direded that the magiftrates of his imaginary republic fhould be educated in pure and philofophical princi ples, propofed alfo the public eftablifhment of a religion, which recognized, in a great de gree, popular fuperftitions. Cicero, in his fpe- Culative legiflation, adopted the fame policy, inculcated, in this refped, an unreferved fub- miffion to authority, and permitted not a li berty of worfliip to the citizen even in pri vate y. y Plato de Rep. lib. Ii. iii. de Leg. lib. viii. in init. Cie. de Leg. ii. 8. and as cited in Middleton 's Trads, p. 1 68, 169. See Appendix III. Had SERMON IL 43 Had Chrift then been an impoftor, though poffefled of the acuteft penetration, and the moft extenfive knowledge, he could not have coUeded from the experience of the Gentile world even the poffibility of fuccefs, in the at tempt to promulgate a religion, which pre tended to exclufive truth, while it conformed not to exifting prejudices. Neither philofo phers nor legiflators had yet engaged in fo arduous a tafk. There was another enterprife, indeed, and of a brilliancy far more fplendid and flattering, in which the hiftory of paft events might have fuggefted to him the means, and encouraged the anticipations of fuccefs. Thofe perfons who recoiled the pronenefs of the Gentile converts to deify the apoftles, and the readinefs with which new worffiip was adopted, in addition to the ancient fuperfti tions, both in Italy and Greece, will poffibly think, that to a deceiver fo defigning, and yet fo patient, fo really artful, and yet fo appa rently ingenuous, it was far from being im poffible to acquire the reputation of an in- fpired lawgiver, or to become the objed of di vine worfhip. The new deity who arofe in Paleftine might afpire to the fame honours which were rendered to the Delian Apollo, or to Thracian Mars, or might aflume a ftation in 44 SERMON IL in the "Roman capitol befide the temple of Feretrian Jupiter. Such a career of glory would, probably, have appeared fufficiently fplendid to an impoftor. It was all that the boldeft and the moft fortunate of men had been able to obtain even in the dark ignorance of former ages ; and there exifted nothing in the records of hiftory, from which the idea of purfuing a different fyftem could poffibly be colleded. The obfervance of this fyftem prefuppofes an acquiefcence in the received idolatries of the Gentile world. The religious toleration, which was admitted by Polytheifts, and which has been fo much exaggerated by unbelievers in Chriftianity, exifted only becaufe it was perfedly compati ble with the polytheiftic principle, and, in deed, its natural and neceffary confequence ^ If Chrift had been an impoftor defirous to become the objed of idolatry, he would hot have inculcated the impiety of idol wor fhip. Is it fuppofed that his ambition was of a higher nature, that he was of a fpirit too ex alted to be contented with the dignity of an « The Chriftians accordingly were confidered Atheifts by the ¦Gentiles, becaufe they were not Idolaters. apotheofis. SERMON IL 45 apotheofis, and that he afpired to nothing lefs than the glory of didating to the world an exclufive religion ? In the firft place, as may be colleded from what has been faid before, this is not an objed which it is likely for an impoftor to have purfued. Admitting it, how ever, to have been purfued by Chrift, he did not take the means which human wifdom would have fuggefted for its accompliffiment. The pure notions of the Deity which he taught might, poflibly, have been agreeable to philofophers ; but repentance, humility, and remiffion of fins were to them, in the expref- five language of St. Paul, fooliflinefs. It is not, however, to philofophers fo much as to the populace that an impoftor would have addrefled himfelf. Human wifdom, founded upon human experience, and direded by hu man probabilities, would have led him to pre pare the way for an univerfal and exclufive re ception of his dodrines among the people, by, at leaft, a temporary acquiefcence in exifting eftabliffiments and fuperftition. An impoftor would not have hoped to fuperfede the wor fhip which was offered in Perfia to the Ma- gian God, without profeffing, at firft, a fuper ftitious reverence for fire. It was by gradual infinuation among a crowd of deities, that the fabled 4§ SERMON IL fiibled Jupiter had been long received as father of the gods in all the countries of Italy and Greece. The reputation of Ifis and Ofiris, during the firft introdudion of Chriftianity, was fenfibly extending itfelf beyond the bounds of Egypt, and foon after became fa prevalent at Rome, that the votaries of the ancient worfliip were alarmed at the innova tion, and jealous for the injured dignity ot their eftabliflied gods ^. The author, however, of our religion, being born a Jew, would fcarcely have fo much con fulted the means of recommending himfelf to the Gentile world, as he would have endea voured to conciliate the fupport of his own nation. Could it be fuppofed (an improbable fuppofition ") that he was free from national bigotry, he yet could fcarcely have overiooked the manifeft advantages which might be fup- plied to an ambitious fpirit by the received fuperftitions of Judea '. If he had been wil- • Potter's Antiquities, I. 184. and the authors there cited. '' See Maltby's Illuftrations, 86, 93, &c. 3d edit. = Celfus (apud Orig. p. 66.) objeds a defed of policy, to Chrift, In not procuring to himfelf over the minds of his difciples fo powerful a dominion as it was in his power to have obtained. Doiibtleft, by refufing to concur in their SJERMON IL 47 ling to profit by the difpofitions of his age and people for the eftablifhment of his power, the means that might promote fuccefs were all abundantly within his reach. The Ifraehtes, indignant at the Rpman yoke, were ripe for a revolt, and ready in any adventurer to behol^ the expeded prince, who was to be born tp them as at this time in their own nation. Fain would they have made Chrift a king. Had his kingdom been of this world, wljy did he refufe the offer ? Why did he, if labouring for the introdudion of a falfe religion, rejed a crown, which would have enabled him to eftablifti that religion at once in the manner which would be moft flattering to an ambi tious fpif it ; a crown, which, delivered to him at this time, and in thefe circumftances, "would ,bave included hierarchal as well as regal dig nity. The abilities which, in defance of all preconceived expedations, and even beyond the hopes of his difciples, have fo fortified his religion, that the powers of man have not yet prevailed againft it, would, furely have been able, would have been able with an eafy tri- their natloijal prejudices, he did not ad in fuch a manner as might feem calculated to promote his influence, ac cording to the obvious pohcy of inanklnd; but their ob jedion is an argument of his fincerity. umph. 48 SERMON IL ^ umph, to reftore the throne of David. The moft briUiant part that Jefus could have aded was the moft fafe. Armies devoted to their general, and ftimulated by religious and patri otic zeal, might have fallen with fury irrefifti ble On the furrounding heathen : the religion of Mofes and the prophets might have been impofed triumphantly on the weftern world, and Jerufalem, not Mecca, might have given law to the kingdoms of the eaft. Such claims of temporal dominion, and fuch means of profecuting them, have uniformly been affumed by all other pretenders to the facred charader of Meffiah. It was by war that the robber Barchochebas attempted to fuftain the appellation and office of a conquer ing Meffiah ^. The reputed magician of Ama- ria, who in Perfia, during the twelfth century, afpired to the fame title, deluded the fanatic multitude which adhered to him to ered the ftandard of rebellion^. They, indeed, who ^ Bafnage, VI. ix. lo. tranflated by T. Taylor, fol. 1708. p. 515. See fed. 13, 15, 30, 3i. « David Al-roi, a Perfian, who, it may be obferved, muft have appeared at an earlier period of the twelfth century than is afligned to him by Jortin. (Jortin's Re marks, ii. 188. Kidder's Mefllias, iii. 403. et fqq. 8vo. 1700. Benj. Tudelenfis Itinerar. p. 91. et fqq. Lugd. Bat, 1633.) have SERMON IL 49 have adopted this obvious policy of ambition, are too many to be here enumerated. The period of. one hundred and fifty years has not yet elapfed, fince the laft and moft confpicu ous of thefe impoftors began his ffiort but re»- markable career. He found the credulous If^ raelites impreffed with the immediate expeda- tion of fome extraordinary deliverance* He declared himfelf exprefsly to be the Chrift: he announced the future grandeur of the earthly monarchy which he was to eftabliffi ; and afferted, that the ftrong hand of the Al mighty was even now about to reaffemble the fcattered tribes from every , quarter of the globe f. The anticipations and prophecies of fuccefs, which proceeded both from himfelf and his confederate, bore an exclufive refe rence to temporal dominion. It was believed among the Jews, that, at the coming of the Meffiah, their favoured nation would poffefs itfelf of all the riches, and of every goodly he ritage, which had for a time been indulged to unbelievers. In this triumphant hope, confi- 4enit that their day of empire was at hand, they abandoned their habits of induftry, and * On pvblioit m^me, &c. Rocoles, Impofteurs In- fignes, p. 5P3. Amft, 1683. i3mo. JE their 50 SERMON IL their purfuits of commerce, and waited with breathlefs expedation for the hour of conr ^ueft. Even when their darling prophet was imprifoned at Conftantinople by that defpotic fovereign whom he had undertaken to de throne, they ftill Uftened fondly to the pro mifes of a future recovery of Paleftine ; and icarcely recovered from their delufion, when they faw him in whom they had trufted ab*' jure the charader which he had affumed, and embrace the Ottoman faiths. Such would have been the attempt of Jefus, had Jefiis been an impoftor ; fuch the enthu- ^afm and credulity which he might have moulded to his will. The pretenfion likewife to the dignity of Meffiah was included in that moft fiiccefsful inftance of religious impofture, united with, and made fubfervient to temporal purpofes, which is to be found in the hiftory of Mahometifm K And the contraft between the fhifting arti€ces, joined with the confum- mate addrefa, the fyftematic diffimulation, and interefted views of the founder of that religion on one fide, and on the other fide^ the fimple, E Rocoles, Impofteurs Infignes, p. 533, 5. ^^^, 4. Bafnage, VII. xxiii. 5, &c. See A^endix IV. »> Jortin's Remarks, ii. 186. the SERMON It. 51 the artlefs, the unaffuming charader of Chrift, who never reforted to the temporary expedi ents of felfifli policy, who was great, indeed, in the demonllration of fpirit and of power, but who was great v\rithout prefumption, and never lefs powerful in reality than impofing in appearance, has been already drawn with a , ^precifion which infidelity cannot controvert, and an eloquence which it would be vain to rival '. This place, and the particular t)Gcafion on which we are now affembled, muft forcibly recal to the minds of thofe who hear me the celebrated difcourfes to which I allude ; and I muft be anticipated in Obferving,' that a new attempt to illuftrate the fame contraft would be rafh rather than bo^ld, for it would be ne ceffarily fruitlefs. Without dwelling there fore any longer on the hiftory of falfe reli gions, I fliall liaften to notice fome of the chief corruptions of Chriftianity itfelf; and, from the obfervations which may be thence fuggefted, to deduce the reality and explain the nature of that diftindion, which has been af^ ferted to exift between enlarged and partial wifdom, between thofe indired compliances * In the Bampton Ledures for 1784. E 2 which 5a SERMON IL which folely refped prefent interefts, and that confiftent policy which is fuited to attain per manent fuccefs. Yet, previoufly to entering on thefe details, it will be neceffary to paufe ; for the purpofe .of guarding the argument againft objedions ; of defending real Chrifti anity from the charge of having ever fanc- tioned that miflaken though artful policy which has been reprobated. This will be the objed of my next difcourfe. Before I conclude, however, for the prefent, it may be proper to examine the validity of two fuppofitions refpeding the author of our religion, to which, though they include the charge of impofture, yet obfervations tending to vindicate his charader from the charge of temporal ambition cannot be diredly applied. In the firft place it may be faid, that Chrift voluntarily underwent mifery and death, in order to leave behind him upon earth the re putation of fandity. tie may be faid ftill to have enjoyed the fecret fatisfadion of refled- ing, that, though he lived defpifed, and was hkely to die difgraced, yet future ages would reverfe the judgment of his contemporaries, ^nd that his renown would never die. It muft be confeffed, that no traces of fuch a fpirit are to be found in the hiftory of Jefus Chrift. SERMON IL 53 Chrift. Such an hypothefis feems devifed to remove a preffing difficulty, without any war rant from the circumftances of the cafe. So far as hiftory goes, the author and firft preachers of Chriftianity appear to have lived not for themfelves, but for others. No earthly mo tive but the good of mankind is difcernible in the charader of their labours. The love of fame, it muft be allowed, as well as the defire of riches, power, or pleafure, has fometimes prompted individuals to under takings almoft more than human. Sometimes too the fpirit of a leader has been communi cated by a refiftlefs impulfe to his followers ; has encouraged them to move with the fame alacrity, and to combat equal dangers. Often has the fervour of attachment fuppbrted the •moft appalling terrors, and advanced with daring ftep towards an objed which it never could attain, or which, if attainable, bore but a fmall proportion to the toil, the difficulty, and the diftrefs, by which it was to be pur- chafed. Neverthelefs, it is not to be forgotten, that paffive firmnefs is a much nobler inftance of heroifm than adive valour. The neceffity of exertion allows the mind no time for filent difquietude, or for brooding anxioufly upon E 3 itfelf. 54 SERMON n. itfelf. Gigantic effort is far more common than calm artd long-continued perfeverance, and the acclamations of martial glory are an encouragement far more captivating than the filent felf-congratulations of fuccefsful fraud. The natural, the obvious road to pofthu mous fame is that, unqueftionably, which con- duds to prefent greatnefs. We perceive, in the age in which we live, that the renuncia tion of temporal interefts, which was fub mitted to by Chrift, is a ftriking evidence of his truth. In the age of Chrift there had ex ifted no experience from which the conclufion, ¦^hich we are now competent to make, could poffibly be inferred. The charader therefore which Chrift affumed, though wifely adapted to the end that he propofed, was of a wifdom which an impoftor could not have poffeffed. The authors of exifting religions had been Idngs and princes. To be invefted with the facerdotal office was a temporal dignity of high order. A poor and unaffuming prophet had never yet been the introducer of a reli gion, which owed, in any degree, its ultimate greatnefs to the perfonal lowlinefs of its au thor. It may fafely be afferted, that a general knowledge of human nature could not have authorized an impoftor to predid, in the in ftance SERMON IL 55 fiance of Chriftianity, the refult of an unpre cedented mode of condud. It may be af ferted, that there could be no grounds for him to colled that there exifted any diftindion be tween the craft which might facilitate the im mediate eftablifhment, and the wifdom which would enfure the eventual prevalence of his creed. The other fuppofition that was alluded to is, that the author of Chriftianity, though con- feious of deceit, was aduated by benevolence : influenced by pity for the rehgious ignorance in which the world was unhappily depreffed, and by a difinterefted defire to benefit man kind by the eftabhfhment of fo pious and fb falutary an impofture. Yet the fame means are requifite for the eftablifliment of a benevolent, as for that of an interefted impofition. The objed defigned may be different, but the method employed muft be the fame. The arguments already ad duced, to prove that the policy of the Chrif tian fyftem is fuch as an impoftor could not have underftood, are neither diminiffied nor altered in their validity, however we vary our fuppofitions as to the fecret motives of its au thor. However he might be incited to adion, be could not have diefpifed the facilities wluch E 4 would 56 SERMON IL would have been offered to the accomplifh^. ment of his purpofe, by making a politic ufe of exifting fuperftitions, and ingrafting upon the new inftitution many of their captivating, : and what would be deemed innocent formali-- ties. The comparative excellence of Chrifti anity is not confined to its freedom from ido^' latry. Not only is the condud of Chrift un violated by the admiffion of this grofs error, but is alfo charaderized throughout by the' ftrid maintenance of a refined and unexam pled purity. He not only made no compro mife with falfe gods, but was the firft who taught mankind a fpiritual worffiip of the one Almighty Father. To have adopted as effential parts of the religion many of the ritual ceremonies, as the burning of incenfe, and' the confecration of votive offerings, which were already pradifed in the Jewifh and heathen temples, while it avoided the imputation of idolatry, might ftill, perhaps, have conciliated public approbation. Except in the inftance of Chriftianity, the founders of all religions have confidered rites and ceremo nies as operating ftrongly on the minds of the people ; not merely as ufeful to regulate the exercifes or affift the influence of devotion, but as holy and indifpenfable in themfelves. By their SERMON IL 5T their experience only the author of a new reli gion could poffibly be guided. Their exam ple, the examples of Ofiris, of Zoroafter, of Mi nos, of Lycurgus, and of Numa ; and, in this refped, we may add, though without includ ing that venerable prophet in the clafs of thofe who have falfely affumed a divine fandion, the example alfo of Mofes had fucceeded fo well, that a man who chofe the objed which they purfued, would have thought it prudent, in this inftance, to follow, implicitly, their fleps. Since then the charader of wifdom which appears in Chriftianity is too refined for an impoftor to have poffeffed : fince in this cafe, as was feen on a former occafion, it is equally or ftill more inconfiftent with the fuppofition of enthufiafm ; the confequence is manifeft. Chrift laid claim, undoubtedly, to a divine commiffion ; and, every fuppofition of falfity being excluded, he was what he claimed to be, a teacher fent from God. SERMON SERMON III. John xviii. 36. My kingdom is not of this world. It may poffibly be argued, that the exiftence of an unaccommodating fpirit in Chriftianity has, in the preceding ledures, been fomewhat too generally afferted. It may be faid, that its author and his difciples do feem in fome relpeds to have been guided by a temporary policy.. It may be thought, that I have en deavoured to prove too much : that the cha raders which I have held to be exclufively ap plicable to falfe religions may belong alfo to Chriftianity itfelf r that, confequently, I have been labouring to eftabliffi a criterion, either imperfed, by which falfe religions are not in reality to be diftinguiffied from the true ; or by which the religion that we fiippofe true ought jiuftly to be condemned together with the falfe. Sorae perfons, alfo, who may think that 6o SERMON IIL that Chriftianity is fufficiently diftinguiffied from confeffedly falfe religions by the criterion which I have ventured to propofe, may ftill doubt whether its admiffion would not tend to invalidate the truth of Judaifm. Since, therefore, the truth of the Jewiffi is recognized by the Chriftian fyftem, it muft be neceffary for me to prove of both thefe fyftems, that they are not liable to the imputations, to which it has been ffiown that falfe religions are obnoxious. It is requifite, however, in the firft place, to examine the nature of the pofition to be proved ; the extent to which it is neceffary that Judaifm and Chriftianity ffiould be thus vindicated. Now it is evident, that every degree of compliance with temporary interefts and ex ifting inftitutions is not expofed to the objec tions which may be juftly raifed againft fuch comphance, for the fake of prefent or partial advantage, as is produdive of eventual injury to the caufe which it is intended to promote. Wherever particular an4 general confequences are at variance, we may exped in the counfels of the divine Being that wife adaptation to circumftances, which may heft tend to pro mote the general rather than the particular refult. The very fame principle, however, fhould SERMON IIL 6i ffiould lead us to affirm, rather than to deny, that a fimilar adaptation even to particular in terefts and circumftances may analogoufly be expeded, whenever the particular and general interefts are compatible with each other. Religion is intended not for perfed ¦ beings, but for weak and fallible men. As the work of a wife God, it muft be fuited, therefore, to human imperfedion. The Jewiffi inftitution was addreffed to an age and> nation probably inferior in moral powers, and certainly in en lightened intelled, to thofe to which Chrifti anity is propofed. It bears undoubted marks of a more extenfive indulgence to the paf fions; it appeals lefs forcibly to the reafon of mankind \ Its luftrations, its facrifices, and its pomp were, doubtlefs, accommodations to the weaknefs of human nature •'. So, alfo, in a lefs degree, may be the pofitive inftitutions of Chriftianity «=. Thefe accommodations to » Hey's Ledlures, vol. I. p. 336. *• LImborch.p, 316. Sed ait vir doctlflSmus, &c. See alfo Lettres de quelques Juifs, Portugais, Allemands, et Polonols, a M. de Voltaire, vol. I. Lettre II. §. 9. 'Paris, 1776. ' On the neceflSty of certain accommodations to hu man weaknefs, and the abufe of fuch accommodations in the Romifti Church, fee a note of Maclaine; Moflieim, yol. i. p. ao3.4to. (g). human 62 SERMON III.' human weaknefs may vary with the Vairying circumftances of mankind, and it may be im poffible to determine with precifion the bounds of their propriety, while, differing only in de gree, they are the fame in kind. Yet one dif tindion, at leaft, is obvious and indubitable. The true God can never have authorized any of his minifters to countenance idolatry. On this ground the queftion may moft fairly be brought to iffue : on this ground refts the main argument, by which it is here endea voured to confirm the evidence of our reli gion. If a concurrence in idolatry can juflly be imputed either to Judaifm or Chriftianity, we may be grieved to relinquiffi our only hope of religious confolation, but we muft be compelled to abandon their defence ; for un lefs the legitimacy of this inference be al lowed, it muft be impoffible to determine that any religion can be falfe, and, confequently, that any can be true. If, on the contrary, the teachers of religions confeffedly falfe, or of Chriftianity itfelf, either grofsly mifunder- llood, or wilfully violated, have uniformly or generally admitted compliances with idolatry, while the true rehgion of Mofes or of Chrift is not implicated in the charge; if all the partial interefts of man ffiall appear to be confulted by SERMON IIL 63 by fuch compliances, while the counfels of the Deity are diftinguiffied no lefs by their purity than ; their wifdom, we contend, that this diftindion in the cafe of thefe two reli^ gions is, in proportion tp the degree and cir- cumflances of its exiftence, an important pre fumption, or perhaps a certain argument of their truth. • I do not mean, however, unrefervedly to pronounce, that the internal evidence of a re ligion is folely to be determined by the ab- fence or the admiffion of idolatry. It has been obferved on a former occafion, that there are fome exceffes of fuperftition, of which it may fafely he afferted, that, though they be not ahfolutely idolatrous, they are too grofs to have, received the fandion of the divinity. Such excefles, wherever they can be proved to exift, muft deftroy, equally with idolatry itfelf, the credit of the religion by which they are avowed. If they are to be found in Chrif tianity, Chriftianity muft be incapable of de fence. This admiffion, however, of arguments £mm the extre,me inftances of fuperftition ex tends not to thofe particular accommodations to particular circumftances, the inconfiftency of whi(^ with the divine attributes is merely dgubtfuj. Though we cannot conclude, that, becaufe 64 SERMON IIL becaufe the nature of fuperftition is incapable of a precife definition, its exiftence can no where be afferted with certainty ; yet we ftill conclude from the fame premifes, that ufages may exift, of which it is impoffible to deter mine precifely, whether or no they be fuper ftitious. While it is neceffary, therefore, to defend both Judaifm and Chriftianity from the charge even of the flighteft deviation into idolatry, it is not effential to the evidence of their truth, that every difficulty ffiould be fur- mounted, with which their defence againft the charge of fuperftition may poffibly be at tended. Superftition, when exceffive, is a de- cifive argument againft the truth of any reli gion by which it is fandioned ; but we are ig norant of its exad nature ; and not certain, perhaps, that all degrees of it are profcribed by God, even in thofe dilpenfations of which he is himfelf the author. Thefe obfervations, I truft, prove, that fome compliances with particular circumftqnces may, even in a teacher of rehgion, be compa tible with truth. They prove, alfo, the irre levancy of thofe invedives againft fuperftition in general, which are frequently, though moft unphilofophically, indulged, without any pre cife conception of the objed againft which they SERMON IIL 65 they are direded. I now proceed to ffiow, -firft, that the Jewiffi, and, fecondly, that the Chriftian fyftems are not liable to the charge of any idolatrous or objedionable compliances ; that they cannot be proved to have facrificed the truth of natural religion for any purpofes of prefent utility ; that they have not aban doned the policy of wifdom for that of craft. By fome perfons of learning it has been fuppofed, that the Jewiffi religion, though of divine authority, was partly founded on Egyp tian rites and ceremonies ; that Egyptian fu perftitions were to a certain degree permitted by Mofes to the Ifraelites, becaufe of the hardnefs of their hearts ; and that, probably, without this accommodation to their previous habits, it might have been impoffible to fecure their attachment to the new religion <>. d Burnet. Arch. pp. 46, 47. Middleton's Letter to Dr. Waterland, Trafts, p. 156, 157. Beaufobre, Introd. to the reading pf the Holy Spriptures, Part I. §. i. and Spencer de Leg. Hebr. paflSm. The arguments of the very learned writer laft mentioned, for the propriety of tolerating and adopting Egyptian fuperftitions In the Mo faic ritual, are fome of them of a Angular nature. He cites in one place the political axiom. To xaxov su icajnevox UK Efi xtvrjTsov, p. 637, 638. ed. Cant. 1685. and declares, p. 631. In eo enim eluxi^ fapientia divina, quod antido- tum « venenp faceret, et illis ipfis CEeremoniis ad popuU F fui 66 S:ERMON IIL . As it would feem, however, to be improba ble that God, in feparating to himfelf a pecu liar people, who ffiould preferve the purity of his worffiip amid the grofs idolatry of fur- rounding Gentiles, ffiould adopt from the ido latry of thofe very Gentiles the pofitive infti tutions of his own religion ; fo it has been ffiown, by thofe who have been moft conver- fant in the hiftory of oriental ceremonies, that the Jewiffi ritual was in fad inftituted, not in conformity with, but in dired oppofition to the idolatries of Egypt ^. Should it feem to us that the adoption of a ceremonial for the purpofe of counterading idolatry ; that the oppofition of rite to rite, and of cuftom to. cuftom, was a policy of lefs refinement than the Deity might have .been expeded to purfue ; we may recur to what has been before advanced, that the condud, which may be obferved in the divine difpen- fations, is wifely adapted not only to the pu rity of God, but alfo to the infirmity of man. God fpeaks to man through the medium of the fenfes : religion is intended to operate not fui vtllltatem, quibus olim Diabolus ad hominum perni- fiiem uteretur. * See Appendix V, only SERMON IIL 6) only on the underftanding, but alfo on the heart. No man, probably, however pure, however unprejudiced his reafon, is fuperior to the feeling of devotion. Thofe perfons who, by the theories of fcepticifm, may think themfelves fortified againft fuperftition ; and thofe alfo who may have weaned themfelves from popular grofsnefs of conception by long and rational meditation on the God of truth, continue always, in fome degree, fubjed to the influence of that religious fentiment, which certain impreffions on the fenfes tend mani feftly to create or flrengthen. The powers of intelled alone are infufficient for the neceffi- ties of man. Religion, to confole him in ad- verfity, to preferve him in temptation, and to corred the infolence of profperity, muft influ ence the heart through the fenfes, as well as the judgment through the underftanding. It is not, therefore, the introdudion of ritual ob fervances into religion that is objedionable. " Why ffiould weak minds be deprived of a " refource which is found neceffary to the " ftrongeftf?" Obfervances of this kind are expedient, or, perhaps, indifpenfable, though they have their bounds, which they ought not ^ Burke. F 2 to 68 SERMON IU. to exceed. It may be difficult to eftabliffi an exad criterion by which to eftimate them, but this very difficulty ffiould render us cautious in our reafonings and decifions on their pro priety. Merely then to have revealed the dodrine of the unity to the Jews, without employing fubfidiary, and, it may he faid, mechanical methods for preferving and ftrengthening the convidion of its truth, might have expofed them, in an imprudent degree, to the danger of relapfing info idolatry. It is apparent from their hiftory, that they were not entirely fe cured from fuch relapfe even by their own multitudinous ceremonial. Hites lefs nume rous or lefs ftriking might have been exceed ingly inadequate to a purpofe, which thofe that really were enaded did not always eftec- tually anfwer. From the imputation of ido latry, however, thefe rites were entirely re moved. A rite may, indeed, convey an ido latrous meaning, but only as conneded inci dentally with fome falfe objed of adoration. The Jews bad incenfe, they had perfames, they had facrifices and oblations. All thefe things are capable, indeed, of an idolatrous application, and were applied by the heathens to the adoration of falfe gods ; but while of fered iSERMON IIL 69 fered folely to the true God, they could not interfere with finglenefs of worffiip. The Jews had no fimilitudes of man or beaft or fourfooted things ; no faints or fecondary deities were interpofed between them and the great Jehovah s. Should thefe cortfiderations appear infuffi cient to reconcile the apparent imperfedion of the Jewiffi ceremonial with the purity of its divine author, it may be refleded farther, that living in an age in which the art of rea foning is better underftood, and exercifed more accurately, we are not competent, from refledion on the ftrudure of our own minds, to determine the propriety of any adaptation to the minds and motives of a people lefs cul tivated than ourfelves. We are incompetent judges, likewife, of the very meaning of the ceremonies which we queftion. They were 6 The Paplft reprefents the putting off the ftioes, " be- " caufe it was holy ground," which is related of Mofes and Jofliua'; the falling dovvn of the Jews before God's footftool, and their worfliip in the holy of holies, where were the cherubims, propitiatory, and ark ; the bowing of Pfoteftants at the name of Jefus, £tnd their ktieding at the Eucharift, and before the altar, as being cerembriies of the fame nature with the hpnor^+y addratibn of falritS, which is Authorized by the Chul-ch of R6m6. Thfefe ce- remonies, however, are vindlcatfed' bj? Stitlhigfleef, " O'f F 3 " the 70 SERMON IIL intended, probably, in many cafes, in which they are the leaft eafy to be explained, not fo much for offices of worffiip, as for a method of inftrudion ". Much gefticulation is always to be obferved among people who pOffefs not a copious language, and is neceffary, perhaps, to determine the meaning of fuch words as bear numerous fignifications. At the period of the Mofaic difpenfation, written language was dpubtlefs in its infancy : the language which was fpoken muft, confequently, have been imperfed, as we know, indeed, to have been the cafe y^dth the more ancient dialeds of the Eafti. What may be denominated the language of adioii muft therefore have borne a confiderable ffiare in the general converfe of mankind, particularly in thofe warmer cli- inates, where the manners as well as the feel ings are niore impaffioned, than they, who ''the Idolatry praftlfed in the Church of Ronie," Works, vol. V. p. 40, 41. •> Lettres de quelques Juifs, P. III. 1. vi. §. i. ' Powell's ninth Difcourfe, in the beginning. Hey's Lectures, vol. i. p. 16, 17. " We fliould alfo obferve " how aftions were ufed In the Eaft inftead of words ; " and were expreflSve not only of the prefent, but alfo of " the future." Ibid. p. 80. See alfo Warburton, Div. Leg. book Iv. §. 4. Works, vol. Ii. p. 405, &c. and book ix. Works, vol. iii. p. 659. have SERMON IIL 71' have no intercourfe but with the inhabitants' of northern Europe, can eafily conceive. Even. at this comparatively late period in the hiftory of man ; even fince the powers of language have been fo far developed, that there is fcarcely any meaning which the underftand ing can apprehend, but what oral expreffion may communicate, or written charaders de note ; even now, the language of adion is often ufed, and eafily underftood. To the Jews there may have been an elpecial propri ety and meaning in propofing a vifible reli gion. Their habits had probably enabled them to apprehend the meaning intended to be con veyed by ritual ordinances with an accuracy and quicknefs which we cannot poffibly pof fefs. The eye is in itfelf a medium of know ledge not lefs unexceptionable than the ear ; and the types fet before the Jews, not as ob jeds of adoration, but as means of knowledge, may have been as little liable to mifcoiiftruc- tion as the audible recitation of the decalogue. The language of ceremonies may have had no remote affinity to the language of hierogly phics. The Egyptian education of the Jews may have facilitated their knowledge of its import, while that import, however it was F 4 expreffed. 74 SERMON IIL expreffed, might oppofe.the idolatry of E- gyptk. Inflances can be produced, in which a cer tain meaning, that may eafily be enunciated in words, was doubtlefs intended to be con veyed by this typical or ceremonial language. The ablutions of the Mofaic law were indi cative of the command to obferve inward pu rity; and muft have communicated this mean ing to the apprehenfion of the Jews at the period of its delivery, with a more lively con nedion between the type and the thing figni- fied, than we ffiould recognize at prefent, were not the fame fymbol rendered famihar to us by the fimilar Chriftian inftitution of baptifm. The white veftments of the pri efts were interpreted to denote that fpotlefs fin cerity with which the worffiipper ffiould ap proach the temple of his God. The burning '^ Warburton, Div. Leg. b. Iv. §. 6. contends with his ufual acutenefs, that " the laws In compliance" (with Egyptian ceremonies of Innocent tendency) " were a " confequence of the laws in oppofition" (to thofe of an jdolatrous nature), and proceeds to difcufs at length the refpeftlve opinions of Spencer and Witfius. Works, vol. Ii. p. 6o3. See Lettres de quelques Juifs, Part. II. Lettre Ii. §. 8. p. 31a. Les autres, &c, of SERMON IIL 73 of incenfe was to the Jews, no doubt, the im mediate fymbol of acceptable prayer '. The fprinkling of blood upon the unclean, and of the water of feparation ">, which wb now, interpreting by the event, fuppofe to have had a genera:l reference to the future bloodffiedding and mediation of the Saviour, might be adapted to excite a more definite ex pedation in thofe for whom they were ap pointed, than the fame dark ceremonies would" convey to us. In ffiort, a ritual language was accommodated to the Jews with a propriety which may have rendered edifying and im preffive to them thofe paffages of their cere monial law, which to us feem inexplicable Or fuperftitious. The reafonablenefs of reforting to fuch an interpretation of the Jewiffi rites may be in ferred from the fimilar adaptation of paraboli cal and vifual elucidations to the difclofure of other fads unconneded with rehgious wor ffiip. The exaltation of Jofeph above his fa mily is intimated by his ffieaf ftanding up right, and the eleven ffieaves of his brethren ' Beaufobre and L'Enfant, Introd. to tbe Reading of the Holy Scriptures. « Of the Holy Things," and " Of « Perfumes." "" Numbers xix. ftanding 74 SERMON IIL flanding round and bowing to it. Thus the image of the lion is employed to reprefent the regal charaderiftic of the tribe of Judah, while the crafty Dan is typified by the fimilitude of a ferpent lurking in the road ". The ceremonial, therefore, of the Mofaic law is not juftly liable to the flighteft imputa tion of idolatry. It may have been compara tively imperfed, yet ftill worthy of the Deity : it may be partially inexplicable, yet wifely adapted to the circumftances of the Jews ; in tended to refift the cuftoms or to oppofe the dodrines of idolatry by language or by rites, expreffive of the unity of God, and, like all religion, addreffed to popular underftandings °. In the interval between the inftitution of the Jewiffi, and that of the Chriftian rehgion, very confiderable changes took place in the circumftances of mankind. Natural theology, or the fpeculative inveftigation of religious truth, feems to be of comparatively recent ori gin, and not to have been known any where till long after the time of Mofes. The Perfian Magi, and the philofophers, as they are called, " All thefe inftances of relation between the type and the objea fignified by it are taken from Dr. J. Taylor's Scheme of Scripture Divinity, chap. 38. ' See Appendix VI. of SERMON IIL 75 of Phenicia and Arabia, feem to have bounded their inquiries to the ftudy of traditionary opi nions. Of thefe they feleded what they thought the moft probable or pleafing, but they did not attempt to reafon upon the Deity or the creation from the frame and phgeno- mena of the univerfe P. The Jews, more for tunate than the other nations of the Eaft from their poffeffion of the Mofaic writings, had preferved their implicit reverence for and ex clufive reliance upon authority with, perhaps, ftill greater conftancy. Yet there are reafons for believing, that, at the time of the origin of Chriftianity, the cultivation of the reafoning faculties, even in Judea- itfelf, had been com menced : it is certain that in Greece and Italy it had been long and vigoroufly purfued. During modern ages it has been revived with an unpre cedented fuccefs ; and, both in its commence ment and its progrefs, has always tended to promote a pure and accurate conception of the Deity. It is, however, to all countries, and to mo dern as well as to ancient times, that Chrifti anity is addreffed. If Chriftians, then, in ge neral, poffefs clearer notions of God's truth f Burnet. Arch. p. 55.' and 7<5 SERMON IIL dnd purity than the Jews poffeffed, it may naturally be inferred that a greater purity of worffiip is expeded from them. But man, even now, is far too imperfed to be able to render to his Creator a worffiip ftridly pure, a homage genuine and without alloy. There is no doubt but that Chriftianity itfelf is accom modated to the manifold infirmities of our na ture. If a certain degree of imperfedion was permitted among the Jews, it is probable that a lefs degree may be tolerated attiong Chrif tians ; and plaufible reafons may be affigned for the appointment of ufages, which, though they do not conftitute, are ufeful to promote the fpirit of refigion 1. Not only the know ledge of the Deity, before exifting among the difciples of Mofes, was to be retained and pu rified under the Chriftian fyflem, but alfo their ceremonial attachments and local fandities were to be compenfated. The mere revela tion of theoretical theology and of a future ftate might have proved inadequate to the ne- ceffities of mankind. The knowledge, which may be fufficient to determine the judgment, is not always able to influence the will ; and 1 See Bifliop Butler's Charge to the Clergy of Durhara in 175I5 P- 394j &c. Hdifax's ed. of the Analogy, 1803. it SERMON IIL 77 it is manifeft, that the objed of religion is not anfwered, unlefs motives to virtue be added to principles of truth. They, however, who may have been in duced to admit the purity of the Jewiffi, are not likely to objed to the original blameleff- nefs of the Chriftian church. Yet it may not be fuperfluous to indulge on this fubjed in fome particular refledions. Now the pofitive ordinances of our Lord, though they have been corrupted in the moft flagrant manner by Romiffi fuperftition, exhi bit not, in themfelves, the remoteft femblance of an idolatrous inftitution. To the command which was enjoined to his difciples at the fo- lemn paffover which preceded the crucifixion, " Take, eat ; this is my body which is given " for you," it might have been fuppofed that the latter part of the fame fentence, " Do this " in remembrance of me," would have at tached fo definite a meaning as entirely to preclude the adoration of the facramental ele ments. Certain obfcure charges of diffimulation againft the holy founder of our religion, which it has been pretended that the hiftory of the canonical evangelifts will fupply, are too ab furd, and, if the queftion were lefs import ant 78 SERMON IIL ant, would be too ludicrous to need refuta tion r. Of thefe I truft that I may be per mitted to omit farther mention. The tolera tion of Judaifm has furniffied a more confider able objedion againft the uniform purity of the firft Chriftian teachers ; an objedion cer tainly not the lefs worthy of attention, be caufe it has been borrowed by the Deift from the Jew. It has been faid, that, if Chriftianity were intended to fuperfede Judaifm, its author was guilty of an inconfiftent condud in com plying with the forms of a religion which he came to abrogate : that it was irrational for any perfon to continue an adherence to the figure, who believed that the body fignified by it was come : that it was either grofs hypo- crify, or an impious mockery of things which had been once moft facred, for thofe to prac- tife the ufages of the Mofaic law, who confi dered them to be vain and ufelefs : that they who confidered them to be efficacious, could not really believe in Chriftianity, fince in fuch belief the convidion was neceffarily included. ' One of the principal of thefe charges is the diffimula tion of Chrift at Emmaus. " And he made as though he " would have gone further." Luke xxiv. 38. Middle- ton's Trafts, p. 306. that SERMON IIL 79 that the Mofaic difpenfation was accompliffied and fulfilled by Chrift «. Animadverfions, alfo, on the condud of the Apoftles in this refped have been made by Chriftians themfelves with a freedom which has not always been confined within the li mits of decency and refped *. Yet the ardent expreffion of St. Paul in the firft Epiftle to the Corinthians, " that he was made all things to " all men, that he might by all means fave " fome "," can in no way indicate that the zeal which it teftifies tranlgreffed the bounds of knowledge. The feparation of St. Peter from the communion of the Gentiles, becaufe he feared them which were of the circumci- fion ^, on which account he was withftood by Paul at Antioch ; the circumcifion of Timo thy X; and the purification according to the rites of the Jewiffi religion, which was ob- •ferved at Jerufalem by St. Paul himfelf after his return from Macedonia ^, feem to be the ' Orobio, Arnica Collatio, p. 60, 61, and Limborch's Reply, p. 303. ' Confefllonal, third ed. p. 383, 384. " I Cor. ix. 33. Middleton, ubi fupra. * Gal. Ii. 13. y Adtsxvi. 3. « A£ts xxi. 36. grounds f9 SERMON IIL grounds on which this charge of indired compliances in the Apoftles has principally been founded. It has, however, been fatis fadorily proved, that the mother of Timothy being a Jewefs, he was confidered by the Jews as bound by the condition of his birth to keep the law a; and thefe united fads, as illuftrated by the whole tenour of the apoftolical hiftory, can only warrant the conclufion, that the apo ftles permitted the Jews to continue their ad herence to the Mofaic law under the profef- « Wetftein on Acts xvi. i— 13. " Partus fequitur ven- " trem," &c. " Non enim, ut nonnulil putant, ex eadem fimulktione " etiam Panlus apoftolus aut Timotheum circumcidit, aut *' Ipfp qusedam ritu Jpd^ico feor^menta celebravit: fe^ ex " ilia libertate fententise fu?e, qua praedicavit nee genti- '' bus prodeflTe circumcifionem, nee Judaeis obefl"e. Ideo- " que et Timotheus, cum in prseputlo vocatus eflet, tamen " quia de Judaea matre ortus erat, et oftendere cognatis *f fuls debebat ad eos lucrifaciendos, non hoc fe dldicifle f in diibiplInA Chriftiana, ut ilia facramenta quae legis " veteris eflent abominaretur, circumcifus eft ab Apoftolo: " ut hoc modo demonftrarent Judaeis, non ideo gentes " non ea fufcipere, quia mala funt, et perniciofe a patribus " obfervata, fed quia jam faluti non neceflaria poft adven- " turn tanti facraraenti, quod per tam longa tempora tola " vetus ilia fcriptura propheticis figurationlbus praedica- " vlt." Augufllnus, de Mendacio, cap. 8. See Grotius on the ninth chapter of the firft Epiftle to the Corin thians, ver. 19 — 33. fion SERMON IIL 8r fion of Chriftianity, as they alfo themfelves adhered to it, after the example which had been fet by Chrift. They retained, no doubt, in part, a fiatioUal veneration for its fandity ; arid, even after they became fully enlightened refpeding the principles of Chriftianity, they were ftill defirous to confult, in this refped, the prejudices of the Jews, by a Conformity, not, in their own apprehenfion, in any degree meritorious, but indifferent^ Now it is injudicious, as well as unnecef fary, to claim for every part of the condud of the apoftles the praife of an exad propriety. It is not to be contended, that they always aded under the influence of a continued in- fpiration* For Chrift &lone feems to have been referved by the divine appointment the prerogative of an unerring judgment, equally as of a finlefs life. If Paul withftood Peter to the face, either Peter muft have been incor red, or Paul miftaken. The precife limits of a lawful accommodation to Jewiffi principles and opinions it may be impoffible corredly to define ; and where the apoftles differed, the moft adventurous theologian of modern times can fcarcely venture to decide. Unqueftionably however, if Judaifm have been fhown not to countenance either idolatry G or 82 SERMON HI. or grofs fuperftition, Chriftianity cannot juftly be liable to the charge:, merely becaufe it re cognizes the truth, and tolerates the ceremo nies of that religion. Nor is it a fair pre fumption, that, becaufe the Chriftian was in tended to fuperfede the Jewiffi fyftem, the teachers of Chriftianity were bound to eradi cate every fibre of their old attachments, be fore they could admit the Jews to be fincere profeffors of the faith. It may have been in tended, that not the preaching, nor even the death of the Redeemer, but rather the deftruc- tion of Jerufalem '', by which fo many and fuch important prophecies were fulfilled, ffiould be the fignal for the extindion of the Mofaic difpenfation'. The rending of the ^ Llmborcl^. 303. ' It may be worthy of obfervation, that the firft fifteen Chriftian bifliops of Jerufalemj refpefting whom it has been noticed that they were circumcifed Jews, (Gibbon, chap. XV. p. 544.) all lived before the final deftrudtion of that city by Hadrian. " Ita turn primum Marcus ex " gentibus, apud Hierofolymam, epifcopus fult." Snip. Sev. Sac. Hift. lib. ii. §.45. See alfo on this fubjeft the Chronicon of Eufebius on the eighth and nineteenth years of Hadrian. Jofeph Scaliger, in his Animadver fions on the Chronicon, (p. 313, 3i6. ed. 1658.) quef tions the fact of this deftrudllon of Jerufalem, and fup- pofes the deftruftlon by Titus to have been complete; but I anj^not convinced by his reafoning. veil SERMON IIL ' 8j veil may have prefaged, the demolition of the temple may have completed its final period, and the fame providence, which ordained the gradual progrefs of the faith, may have or dained, among the Jewiffi converts, a gradual emancipation from national and local preju dices "^i Imperfed knowledge is not incon fiftent with the poffeffion of a faving faith. The moving fupplication which was made to Jefus, " Lord, I believe, help thou mine un- " behef," may reafonably be addreffed to the divine being by the imperfed faculties of mankind. Thus the Jewiffi and the Chriftian religions are equally removed from the imputation of idolatry. It is the fuperior excellence of the latter, that it may juftly boaft, not the worffiip of a purer being, but a purer mode of wor- '' " Nee a Judaeis exacla fuae legis abdicatlone, nee a '" Gentibus fide plena et omnibus numeris abfoluta." Burnet, de Fide, p. 117. " Nee Apoftoli unquam docu- " erunt, ne ipfe apoftolus Paulus, tantus libertatis Chrlfti- " anae p&tronus, illicitum efle fidelibus ex Juda3is Mo- " faicae legis ritus obfervare. Quinetiam ipfe Timo- " theum" &c. LImborch. p. 34. See alfo Hartley's Obf. on Man, II. p. 377. firft ed. The very comprehen five reafoner laft referred to does not feem, however, to have thoroughly confidered the whole of this delicate fubjeft. G 2 ffiip. S4 SERMON IlL ffiip. The rites of the Mofaic law had no connedion with falfe deities, but ftill may have abforbed a confiderable degree of that attention and refped, which we are taught by Chriftianity to devote to God in fpirit and in truth. The breach of the ceremonial was in. many inftances more feverely puniffied among the Jews than the violation of the moral law^ while the pofitive inftitutions of Chriftianity are univerfally fubfervient to the effential fpi rit of rehgion. Eminent alfo as is the charader of the Jew iffi lawgiver, both for public virtue and per fonal difintereftednefs, the charader of Chrift is too fuperior to require or admit comparifon. The zeal of Mofes was national ; the benevo lence of Chrift is univerfal : Mofes was the de liverer of Ifrael, but Chrift the faviour of man kind. The prefumptions likewife, by which the founders of both religions may be vindicated from any finifter imputation, are far more nu merous and ftriking in the hiftory of Chrift, than in that of Mofes. The Jewiffi worffiip was completely united with the civil conftitu- tion of the Jews. Could Mofes and Aaron be fuppofed impoftors, their condud, the one = Orobio, p. II. affuming SERMON IIL 85 affuming the temporal, and the other the fpiritual fupremacy in the ftate, might feem naturally to proceed from the common princi ples of ambition f. Chrift, to fpeak with pre cifion, is no legiflators. Real Chriftianity may confift with any form of civil polity whatever. It interferes not, nor did it interfere at its firft origin, either to weaken or confirm the autho rity of exifting magiftracies, unlefs by the in dired operation of its moral and religious doc trines. As foon as a certain eftabliffiment be came neceffary to its propagation, an eftabliffi ment was formed for the fake of the rehgion : it is manifeft that the religion was not de vifed with reference to the eflabliffiment ^. Thefe obfervations, I truft, cannot be fo far mifinterpreted, as to be fufpeded of the re- ^ Lardner, Worksj vol. x. p. .5415 543. B " He exprefsly declined the exerclfe of all temporal " authority upon another occafion; 'Man, who made me ' a judge or a divider over you ?' Luke xii. 14. But he " readily availed himfelf of the applicgitlon as a religious .'' and moral Inftruftor." Maltby, p. 83. note c. ^ That the liberty of the Chriftian religion would never have been devifed by an impoftor, may be argued from the advice of Maecenas to Auguftus, that he fhould allow fii no religious toleration : aTreg ^xjj-a is,ovapxia a-viufspst. Dion. CafGus. Warburton, Div. Leg. Works, vol. I. p. 450. G 3 moteft 86 SERMON IIL moteft tendency' to depreciate the evidence of Judaifm. It is, indeed, undoubtedly their in tent to ffiow, that Judaifm in its internal evi dence is far furpaffed by Chriftianity; but this difference between Mofes and Chrift in the ftrength of fome prefumptions, by which the truth of their refpedive miffions is to be de termined, may have been compenfated, in the whole, or in part, by evidence of another kiTid. The miracles of Chrift, particularly his refur-- redion, were manifefted not, to all the people, but to chofen witneffes ; while the law of Mofes was declared in thunder from Mount Sinai to the whole nation of the Jews. The truth of the Mofaic inftitution was thus im-»- preffed fenfibly on the Ifraelites ; while it was expeded, that the truth of the Chriftian reliT gion ffiould be inferred from reafoning princi ples, by the gr^at majority of thofe to whom it was addreffed. By comparing the ceremonial of the Jews with the fimple rites of Chriftianity, an analogous difference may be traced in the internal evidence of the two religions, as pre^ fented to fubfequent inquirers ; and the ob fervation may be thus confirmed, that either difpenfation was wifely adapted to the circum ftances in which it was promulged. From the fuperiority, however, of Chriftianjty to Ju daifm, SERMON IIL 87 daifm, or from the fad that the founders of the .more perfed recognized the truth, and, to a certain degree, adhered to the forms of the more imperfed fyftem, no conclufion can be derived inconfiftent with the general principle of thefe difcourfes. The principle originally laid down was this : that, while it is charac- teriftic of the authors of falfe religions to fa- crifice for temporary interefts the means of lafting fuccefs, the religion of Chrift is diftin guiffied by unexceptionable wifdom ; that its adaptation to the nature and motives of man kind is in no inftance violated by that felfiffi craft, which, though ufeful for a time, is al ways ultimately prejudicial. We now have difpofed of the objedions which feemed likely to be made to the adop tion of this criterion ; we have feen, that the partial accommodation to circumftances, which has been admitted in the religions of Mofes or of Chrift, as taught by them originally, cannot be proved inconfiftent with truth and real po lity ; that it is, therefore, fufficiently difcrimi- nated from thofe other accommodations which have been adduced from religions confefledly falfe. Confequently, the original pofition is difturbed by no exception which either Ju daifm or Chriftianity can fupply. G 4 SERMOU SERMON IV. John xviii. 36, My kingdom is not of this world. W E have feen that the wifdom confpicuous in the charader of Chriftianity, and in the means by which it was firft promoted, is un- fullied by the admiffion of temporary artifice, or infincere policy. We have feen that the condud of its author was altogether contrary to fuch condud, as a perfon not ading under a divine cOmmiffion would have been able to contrive, or willing to purfue ; and that the hiftory, both of heathen lavrgivers, and of pre tended Meffiahs, illuftrates and confirms the diftindion which has been contended for be tween this religion, and thofe which, confeff edly, are falfe. It is now intended to contraft the religion originally taught by Chrift with certain exam ples 90 SERMON IV. pies of that corrupted Chriftianity, which has fince been fubftituted in its place. The abufes which have been impofed upon mankind un der the holy name of our Redeemer have, uu' happily, been fcarcely lefs flagrant than thofe of Paganifm itfelf. But, though it muft be painful to contemplate inftances in which the venerated name of Jefus has been profaned by a miftaken zeal, or proftituted to worldly pur pofes, yet fuch an enquiry will not be without its ufe. We thus may learn to prove, that, though defigning ecclefiaftics have broken all laws both of moral and religious obligation, and though fincere believers have contributed to aggravate the corruptions of our faith, yet that its true charader, and the hiftory of Chrift himfelf, afford not a colourable pretext to their impiety. Thus we may exhibit in a ftrong relief the injuftice of that common error which imputes to Chriftianity the vices and failings of its minifters : we may procure an impartial confideration for; its evidence, and acquire, as I conceive, an irrefragable prefumption of its truth. There is a known and manifeft oppofition in the apoftolical writings to the incipient ac commodation of Chriftian dodrines to Oriental or SERMON IV. 91 or Platonic theories ; and it is certain, there fore, that, even at the early period when the church was perfonally fuperintended by the firft difciples of our Lord, the purity of the faith was contaminated by the feeds of fuper ftition. The firft corruptions of Chriftianity proceeded, in fome cafes, from the arrogant but common pradice of interpreting religion by pljiilofophical fyftems, ^and, in others, from a pious wiffi to elevate the opinion of its ex cellence. But I propofe not to trace the hif tory of error through the various gradations from its origin to its maturity. The limits, which I am unwilling that this part of my difcourfes ffiould exceed, render it neceffary that I ffiould reftrid myfelf to the notice of a few only among the more ftriking inftances of that ftudied conformity to external circum ftances which, throughout the whole pro grefs of ecclefiaftical corruptions, from their commencement to their confummation in the Papacy, has been indulged by Chriftian teach ers. It is to be remarked, then, that the heathen maxim, that deceit is juftifiable in matters of religion, was adopted even by the moft efti- m^ble of the fathers : by fome during the third. 9a SERMON IV. third, and by many during the fourth and fifth centuries '. The facraments of Baptifm, and of the Eucharift, were taught to affume a likenefs to the myfteries of Eleufis, and the * Origen, Ambrofe, Hilary, Auguftin, Grfegory Naz. Jerom, Chryfoftom, &c. Nej /j-sv hv fiKos-o(pos eTroTmj; mv t'oiXti^sg iTDyx'^qsi TYj j^gaa ts iJ/suSsi&ac avaXoyov yap eg-t j ex i^aoioriv svaTevtcrint icqo; ty^v tuiv ov- Toiv evspystav. Synefius, Ep. cv. p. 349, Opp. Paris, 1631. See Moflieim de turbata per recentlores Platonlcos ecclefia, cap. 46, 47. and Jortin's Remarks, II. 375. and App. No.. IIL To the references here made for the purpofe of efta- blHhing a charge of error againft the Chriftian fathers, I cannot but fubjoln the intreaty that I may not be fuf- ¦ peiSted of any difrefpeft for them in general. I am afraid that the very ufeful and learned work of Dr, Jortin, to which I have above referred, may perhaps have iefliened the repute of thefe writers, in an age which certainly Is not inclined to eftimate them more highly than it ought. Their miftakes, no doubt, are grofs and indefenfible, as is fully fliown in the Remarks on Ecclefiaftical Hiftory ; but there is too apparent, though, I queftion not, an un- defigned tendency in that valuable work to encourage a contemptible opinion of men who cannot juflJy be de fpifed. It is evident, however, that it is with their errors only, not their excellencies, that the argument of thefe ledures is concerned. See Hey's Le• See Appendix VIL e Jortin's Remarks, ii. p. 6— 13. * Burnet on the Articles, p. 344. ed. fol. 1699. and 94 SERMON IV. and regarded as the moft valuable of all poffef-* fions. Even at the commencement of the fe cond century the bones of St. Ignatius had been conveyed from Rome to Antioch, by the Jealous care of his difciples. ' On the tempo ral eflabliffiment of Chriftianity, fimilar tranf- portations were pradifed to a moft inordinate excefs. It was believed that the hidden re mains even of the earlieft martyrs were difeo vered in fupernatural vifions, and that miracles were performed by their inftrumentality ; while churches unconfecrated by their prefence were fcarcely deemed efficient to the purpofes of re ligion ^ The natural confequence of this fuperftition was a tranfition from love to confidence, frora veneration fo worffiip. Prayers were, in the firft place, offered to God, in behalf of the de ceafed faints, according to the notion of a double refurredion, that, on account of their * Beaufobre, Hift. de Manicheifme, vol. ii. p. 643. * " Si le deluge n'avoit pas arrdte ces heureufes decou- ** vertes, le monde auroit eu des reliques d'Adam et " d'Abel, et au moins quelque v^tement d'Enoch, comme " on crut avoir le llvre qui contenoit fes revelations et fa " predication." Ibid. pp. 647, 648. See alfo pp. 646, 649, and 674. Many inftances of fimilar tranflations are to be found in Paganifm, earthly SERMON IV. 95 earthly merits, he would admit them to the enjoyment of beatitude before the day of final judgment. He was next implored, in confi deration of the fame merits, to accept their interceffion for thofe who lingered ftill in life, engaged in combating adverfity, or in refift- ing the allurements of pleafure. Thefe pray ers to God were next transferred even to the faints themfelves. Offerings were made, and vows addreffed, under the belief of their power and protedion : and the monuments of their death became altars teftifying the belief of their living interceffion and agency in hea ven *. The mode, in which this corruption was in troduced into the pure religion of Chrift, bears evident marks of an accommodation to parti cular circumftances. Here, as in other cafes, miftaken piety may have didated the firft com pliances'*. Perfons, who refleded that the po pular deities of mythology had been originally mere men, were indignant that the heroes of Chriftianity ffiould be lefs regarded for paffive g Theodoret. cited Ibid._ p. 667. Montefquieu, Gran.» deur et Decadence de I'Empire Rom. chap. 33. *" Mofheim, vol. i. 4to. pp. 100, 101. fortitude^ gS SERMON IV. fortitude, than the gods or demigods of Pa ganifm for brilliant Achievements, or adive valour. To avert fo glaring an injuftice, they adopted, in honour of martyrs, the precife ce remonies with which the heathen deities were worffiipped'. They profefled, indeed, that the veneration thus teftified was honorary, not religious. Yet, furely, no honorary explica tion, though it continue ftill to be the apology of the Romanift", can juftify the adoption of ceremonies, which, though they had been in nocent in themfelves, would have been ren dered profane by their prior application. " That the tombs of martyrs ffiould fucceed " to the place and eftimation of Pagan ffirines " and temples'," was to recognize the pradices, » See Appendix VIII. ^ The Papifts declare that they give an inferior or rela tive honour only to the facred images of Chrift, the Vir gin Mary, and the faints : " adorationem non latriam, " fed honorariam." Creflj's Reply to Stillingfleet. Still. Works, v. 6. ' " Quod memoriae martyrum noftrorum templ'is eorurii " delubrifque fuccederent." Aug. de Civ. Dei, viii. 36. While the Chriftian martyrs fucceeded to the honours of the Pagan gods ; the Chriftian emperors feem alfo to have acquired thofe of their Heathen predeceflbrs. " The " Pope crowned him (Charlemagne) and anointed him " with holy oil, and worfhipped him on his knees after « the SERMON IV. 97 though it avoided the name of Polytheifm. Whatever meaning was intended, whatever devotion was expreffed, among the heathen, by the burning of candles, by the appofition of wine, or by proftration at the threffiolds of their temples, were retained by the fame cere monies, . when ufed at the tombs of faints. Where Pagans confidered them as religious, they would not long be regarded by Chriftians as merely honorary : the creatures to whom they were paid would naturally obtain the ho mage due to the Creator alone; would, through the natural weaknefs of mankind, be foon in voked as the efficient caufe, where they had beein at firft contemplated as the means only, or inftruments of fuccefs. The fuperftition, or rather the idolatry, which thus began by a partial accommoda tion, was at length completed by an entire conformity to the rites of Polytheifm. Not " the manner of adoring the old Roman emperors ; as the " aforefaid poet (Anon, publiflied by Boeclerus) thus " relates : " Poft laudes igltur di£tas, et fummus eundem " Praeful adoravit : ficut mos debltus olim " Principibus fult antiquis." Sir I. Newton, Obf. on Daniel, chap. vii. I2. H only 98 SERMON rV. only the miracles of Chrift "•, but alfo the fa bulous prodigies of heathenifm were in num- beiiefs inftances adopted into the legends of faints ". Pidures and ftatues were introduced " " Erat quidam fenex Florentlus Hipppnenfis nofter, " homo rellgiofus et pauper, fartoris fe arte pafcebat, ca- " fulam perdlderat, et unde fibi emeret non habebat : ad " 20 martyres,, quorum Memoria apud nos eft celeberri- " ma, clara voce ut veftiretur oravit. Audierunt eum " adolefcentes, qui forte aderant irrifores ; eumque difce- " dentem exagltantes profequebantur ; quafi a martyribus " quinquagenos folles, unde veftlmentum emeret petiviffet. " At ille tacitus ambulans, ejeftum grandem pifcem pal- " pitantem vidit in litore, eumque illis faventlbus atque '• adjuvantibus apprehendlt, et cuidam coquo Catofo no- '' mine bene Chrifllano ad coquinam eondltariam, indi- " cans quid geftum fit, trecentis folMbus vendidit, lanam " comparare inde difponens, ut uxor ejus quomodo pofl[et, •' ei quo indueretur efficeret. Sed coquus concidcns pif- " cem, anulum aureum in ventriculo, ejus invenit, mox- " que miferatlone flexus, et religione perterritus, homini " eum reddidit, dicens, Ecce quomodo 30 martyres te " veftierunt." A\ig. de Civ. Dei, xxil. 8. " Jortin's Remarks, il. 304. See alfo Stillingfleet's Vin dication of Proteftant Grounds of Faith, chap. 3. and Hey's Leftures,^ vol. i. p. 13. and pp. 135, 136. " Had " thefe perfons (the Evangelifts) invented, we may fee " what they would have written by their being defirous " to call down fire from heaven ; by their ambition to be " greateft in the kingdom of Chrift It feems " undeniable that if the Evangelifts had Invented tlie ac- " counts SERMON IV. 99 into the church, that the charge of atheifm might be refuted which the firft Chriftians had incurred by their ftrid adherence to the fpiri tual worffiip of one God. New adaptations alfo were made to Paganifm, long after the pretence of their being neceffary to conciliate Pagans to Chriftianity had ceafed to operate, whether intended to gratify the devotion of the vulgar, or fport with its credulity. The numerous altars, and the folemn proceffions, the lamps, the garlands, the luftral water of the Romiffi ceremonial, its incenfe, its images, and votive tablets ferve rather to illuftrate the rites, than to fuperfede the belief of claffi cal mythology. The peculiar attributes of heathen deities, the various departments in which they prefided, are affigned to Chrifiian faints °. The traveller who vifits in the me tropolis of Italy that fuperb monument of its ancient greatnefs, which was dedicated by Agrippa to Jupiter and all the Gods, now finds that the Pantheon has been re-confecrated to the Virgin, and the holy martyrs. Different fervices prefent themfelves to his obfervation : "counts of the miracles they related, thofe miracles " would have been as idle and foolifli as thofe related by " the ancient fathers." Hey, ibid. ° See Appendix IX, H 2 feparate loo SERMON IV.. feparate altars, and diftind congregations around each, devoted to their peculiar faint ; and he difcovers that, in a city which now clairas preeminence over the Chriftian,- as it once pofleffed the maftery of the heathen world, though the name be changed, the ef- fence and meaning of rehgion continue to be ftill the fame P. It has been obferved that many of thefe corruptions may be referred rather to error than defign, and that many, though defign ed, may have been prompted by pious mo tives. No charitable conftrudion, however, can be alleged to palliate the abufes which terminated in oppreffing Chriftianity not only with the burden of Papal fuperftition, but a,lfo with the yoke of Papal tyranny. Im- P Middleton's Letter from Rome, p. i6r. See alfa Geddes's Defcriptlon of a folemn Pontifical Mafs, and the account of a Proeeflion on Good-Friday, at Courtray, (Picart, vol. Ii. p. 37. Engl. Tr.) and of another at Bruf- fels. (Ibid.) The Rorarfli ecclefiaftics themfelves feem to have been fometimes confcious that their church is liable to the charge of idolatry. "As the name Decalogue " implies ten commandments, the Romanifts make ten ; " yet they get rid of the fecond, through fear, probably, " of making a difficulty about their images, and feem to " divide the tenth into two." Hey's Ledlures, vol. iii,. P- 75- mediately SERMON IV. 101 media,t^y on the temporal eftabliffiment of the faith under the empire of Conftantine, as the rites of heathenifm were adapted to the doc trines of Chriftianity ; fo the temporal privi leges of the heathen pontificate were affumed by Chriftian biffiops q. A more recent age be held the complete emancipation of the church from its dependance on the ftate. The abufes adopted in conformity to Paganifm *were main tained by the Roman pontiffs as conftituting the effence of Chriftianity. Gregory the fe cond commenced the affertion of Papal inde pendence as the defender of image worffiip againft the profane impiety of thofe who dared to rejed its ufe, or queftion its lawfulnefs «¦. The right of eleding the Popes, without the obligation of waiting for the confent of the ^ " Geddes's Eflay on the Roman Pontificate, p. 68, See ibid. 76, 77. ' Univerfal Hiftory, vii. 705. fol. Gibbon, c. 49. vol. v. 4to. p. 105. Though it may be true, as Montefquieu a(^ ferts, (Grandeur et Decadence, chap. 33.) that the Greek church was more corrupted than the Latin, yet t.he vici nity of the court, which probably fomented the intrigues and augmented the corruptions of the Conftantinopolitan ecclefiaftics, muft neverthelefs have oppofed obftacles to their independence, from which the bifliops of Rome were in a great degree fecured by their diftance. See Villers on the lieformatiqn, tranflated by Mills, p. 433. ¦ H 3 em- 102 SERMON IV. emperors, was conferred on the facerdotal or der, not as the tribute of a miftaken piety, but as the reward of temporal fervices ^ The ftep from independence to territorial dominion was marked by the depofition of emperors, and the patronage of rebellion. The fiditious gift of Conftantine to Sylvefter was realized by the gratitude of Pepin, and of Charlemagne ; but it was purchafed by the degradation of the Merovingian race of princes ^ Such were the unhallowed methods by which the authority of the popedom was advanced amid the dif- tradions of the empire, and the inroads of barbarous tribes, till, at length, a tyranny was eftabliffied over the mind, lefs capable of being removed than fervi tude of the body". Indig- • Moflieim, Cent. 9. c. ii. §. 3. ' Gibbon ubi fup. p. 119. " See Barrow on the Pope's Supremacy, p. 175. ed. 1687. and Sir I. Newton's Obfervations on Daniel, chap. 8, Any perfon who would wifli to fee the parti culars of thofe unjuft privileges which were aflumed by the clergy, and adopted into the adminiftration of juftice during the more corrupted ages, may confult the work of De GraflTis, a Sicilian lawyer, De Effedtibus Clericat6s. It is the doftrlne of one chapter, that though, generally fpeaking, a perfon who commits an Injury be bound to make reftitutlon, yet that a clerk is exempted from the obligation. P. 360. Eff". 48. ed. 3. Panormi, 1633. There is SERMON IV. 103 nation may roufe the courage, or exafperate the vengeance of an injured, if an enlightened people. Where the principles of liberty are underftood, the throne of the patriot monarch is the only throne which is fecure. But wheq reafon has been fubjeded to the tyranny of long prefcription, and religious bigotry, no fudden exertion is competent to reftore its freedom. The twilight muft firft glimmery and the day dawn through ages of gradual ilr lumination, ere the perfed light of truth can rife to difpel the terrors of darknefs. Bacon ftudied, and Wickliffe taught, without any immediate refult correfponding to the merit of their exertions. Other ages were to elapf^ be fore the pradicability of deliverance could ex-» ift, before that flame of reformation could be kindled at the pile of Latimer and Ridley, of which, as they predided, fo we confide that it ffiall never be extinguiffied. With the corruptions of the Romiffi church it muft be unneceffary to compare, exprefsly, the' unviolated religion of Jefus Chrift. The con traft is too obvious to require a minute exem- is an inftance of ftill more licentious immorality, p. 451. Eft". 33. where the writer, however, ha.s the niodefty to diflent himfelf from an opinion which he relates to be avowed by. many eminent dodlors, H 4 plifica- I04 SERMON IV; phfication. No infult to the fpirit of true Chriftianity can eafily be imagined, of which, in the manifold, abufes of the papacy, fome ftriking inftance is not to be difeovered. Chrift gave himfelf a ranfom for mankind. Pardons have been laviffied by the Roman pontiff on all who would arm to glut his vengeance ^ ; and fold to all who would contribute to fatiate his rapacity y. Chrift fubmitted himfelf to ffiare the forrows, and participate in the infir mities of mankind ; that he might comfort our weaknefs, and ffiow by the moft lively ex ample that he was fenfible to all our wants. " Hift des Albigeols p. 95. y " A notable inftance of this hath appeared lately, "when in the year 1709, the privateers of Briftol took " the galleon, In which they found five hundred bales of " thefe bulls, and fikteen reams were, in a bale ; fo that " they reckoned thie whole came to 3,846,000. Thefe " bulls are impofed on the people, and fold, the loweft at " three ryals, a little more than 3od. but to fome at fifty •f pieces of eight, about iil. of our money ; and this to •' be valued, according to the ability of the purchafer, " once in two years. All are obliged to buy them againft " Lent. Befides the account given of this in the Cruiz- " ing Voyage, I have a particular atteftation of it by Cap- " tain Dampier. He was not concerned In cafting up " the number of them ; but he fays that there was fuch a « vaft quantity of them, that they careened their fliip with " them." Burnet, Hi. Introd. p. xx. cited Jortin's Life of Erafmus, i. 108. 8vo. When SERMON IV. 105 When the order of the inquifition was infti tuted by Innocent III. he feleded fuch per fons to fill its offices as were moft remarkable for the aufterities of perfonal difcipline. He concluded that the fanatic exceffes of mortifica tion, to which they had habituated themfelves, would deaden their fenfibility for others ^ : and they, in truth, who inflided on their own fleffi unnatural and fuperftitious penances, were, probably, of all men, moft hardened againft humanity ; leaft likely to be mollified by tears or diftUrbed by pity in authorizing the ufe of torture, or regulating its feverity. Without attempting, therefore, to enlarge on this uncontefted diftindion between the moral purity of genuine Chriftianity and of Papal corruptions, it is to be obferved that their difference in real wifdom is not lefs re- ^ Hift. del'Inquifition, p. 119. 8vo. Col. " Ecoutons le " Dofteur Gonzale de lUefcas, dans la premiere partie de " fon Hiftoire Pontificale et Catholique, pag. 117. " Si '' alors (dans les premiers fiecles de I'Eglife) on ne bru- " loit pas les h^retiques opiniatres, c'eft qu'outre qu'ils 'f etoient fort puiflans, le Pape n'avoit pas les forces ni " I'appui des princes fSculiers. Prefentement, la foi 'f etant etablie et re^ue, et le fouverain pontife ayant ac- " quis beaucoup de pouvoir, il eft jufte que I'on precede •f contre eux par les plus cruels fiipplices." La Croze, Hift. du Chriftianifme d'Ethiopie, pp. 304, 305. mark- loS SERMON IV. markable; fince it is probably to this differ ence that the imperfed progrefs of our religion in the world is chiefly to be referred. It has been feen that the abufes which have been enumerated, whether their guilt be exte nuated by fincere error, or enhanced by tem poral ambition, undoubtedly originated in a principle of compliance with exifting circum ftances. Such compliance, while it was prac- tifed by miftaken Chriftians from the belief that it might be unobjedionable or expedient,' was encouraged by the ambitious from infin cere and felfiffi motives. Now, if the preju dices of mankind were uniform both in kind and degree, an accommodation to thofe of one' time might prove, at all times, equally politic and fuccefsful. But though truth be always the fame, error is alw^ays variable. The pre judices of different ages and different coun tries are different from and oppofite to each other. To compromife, therefore, the real dodrines of religion by compliance with the fuperftitions of a particular age, or fingle people, not only impairs the purity, but alfo impedes the progrefs of the religion, when de livered to a fucceeding generation, or preached in another country. What, in the one cafe, is compliance, muft neceflarily be oppofition in SERMON IV. I07 in the other. Weak, alfo, and imperfed as is our perception of the truth, yet reafon and evidence are, on the whole, feen ultimately to prevail, while oppofing errors combat each other without ceafing, and triumph alternately without effed. Where Polytheifm is the po pular fuperftition, the worffiip of images and the deification of faints may be a politic adaptation to immediate circumftances. But, wherever the errors of Polytheifm are dimi niffied in their prevalence, the policy of this adaptation muft be proportionably leffened : and wherever the unity of the divine being is completely acknowledged, and idolatry abhor red, polytheiftic or idolatrous dodrines muft prove a fatal bar to the reception of a religion which includes them *. Nor is the tyranny of a religion lefs adverfe to its 'progrefs in an age which recognizes the principles of liberty, than its corruptions, in an age which is enlightened with the know- » The fuperftition of the Slamefe may not always dif.^ pofe them to believe in tranfubflantiation. " L'Euchar " riftle apr^s cela ne fcandaliferoit point les Siamois, " comme elle fcandalifoit autrefois les Payens d'Europe: " d'aiitant plus que les Siamois croyent que Sommona- " Codom a pu donner fa femme et fes enfans a mangei: " aux Talapoins." Loubere, Siaro, vol. i. p. 438. ledge io8 SERMON IV. ledge of truth. That both the corruptions and the tyranny of the Romiffi church have in fad been prejudicial to its real interefts is fo obvious, that I may be allowed to affume it for the prefent, and to referve for my conclud ing difcourfe the few obfervations which, on this fubjed, it will be neceffary to make. I ffiall now confine myfelf to explain the man ner in which the abufes of the papacy oppofe the propagation even of pure Chriftianity. It may be obferved, then, that the Jew, the Mahometan, or the Infidel, can fcarcely be expeded. to difcriminate between the various^^ denominations of our religion, to inquire not only into its general evidence, but alfo into the falfity of thofe claims which are afferted by many of its profeffors. When they are called on to embrace the Chriftian fyftem, they deny that it is confiftent with the purity of the Mofaic, or with the truths of natural religion. They upbraid the Romiffi errors with pointed and juft animadverfion, and at tributing thofe errors, though moft unjuftly, to the true religion of the Gofpel, " This," they exclaim, " is Chriftianity. It is unfriendly " to the hberty of man, and incompatible "¦ with the attributes of God. Why ffiould we *^ be taxed by you with credulity, yyhen ^ we " may SERMON IV. 109 '.' may retort the charge upon yourfelves I " Why ffiould we exchange the religion of " our fathers for a religion not more excellent " than theirs ?" Undoubtedly, the corrup tions by which Chriftianity is expofed to fuch repulfe, though they may have tended to con ciliate the fleeting prejudices exiftent at the period of their origin, yet, in their eventual operation, prefent difficulties to the under ftanding, not only more real, but, likewife, more apparent ; not only more repugnant to the reafon of the wife, but likewife more of- fenfive to the prejudices of the vulgar, than any which ever feem to be attached to truth. The anfwer, indeed, may fairly be returned to all objedions derived from the abufes of Chriftianity, that the abufes conftitute not the religion ; that we profefs , not to preach, that ¦^e venture not. to defend the corruptions of our faith ; that the religion of Proteftants is the religion of the Bible only ; and that, in this facred volume, neither dodrines are taught, nor pradices fandioned, which are inconfift ent with the purity of God. This anfwer, no doubt, is juft and reafon- able. But, wherever the affedions of man- » kind are concerned in the refult of a difcuffion, in queftions where demonftration is not to be expeded. no SERMOis^ IV. expeded, and the evidence of probability atone is to be confidered, the jufteft argument, un aided by circumftances, is, always, of imper fed, and often of inconfiderable effed. Men, in general, are prejudiced and hafty reafoners. Always difpofed to believe themfelves, their party, or their fed, to be in the right, they are ready to receive as true whatever feems confo nant to their belief; but will rarely condefcend to doubt the accuracy of their own opinions, or to examine, impartially, the argunients of their adverfaries. They are ready to hold faft that which is good ; but the previous labour of proving all things is too fatiguing or too ir ritating for them to bear. Whatever feems to be in their favour, though it may be found ed in mifreprefentation, they are unwilling to relinquiffi, and are apt to tax an opponent with every extreme that the zealots of his fyftem may have ever held ; to attribute to him doc trines which he does not profels, and errors which he is ftudious to difavow. From this weaknefs, which is common to all perfuafions, the oppofers of Chriftianity have, certainly, not been free. Nor, poffibly, can it in any one be more excufable than in the fincere unbeliever, to whom the evidence of our religion may be propofed, while his mind. SERMON IV. Ill mind, and, perhaps, his fenfes are impf effed with the full enormity of papal fuperftition. He fees a church which has fucceeded, with out external interruption, to the earlieft focie- ties of Chriftians ; the moft fumptuous in its eftabliffiment, and the creed of which is moft extenfive in its reception. He fees it, how-> ever, to be idolatrous in worffiip, and tyranni cal in power; and knows that thefe charaders cannot poffibly proceed from God. ; Rejeding, therefore, the pretenfions of the Roman church, he deigns not to look for truth in lets oftentatious, and apparently lefs ancient, eftabliffiments. Such difdain, in a queftion of fuch primary importance, is a faiilt. Undoubtedly, of no trivial magnitude. It is hi;S duty to examine, arid to prove. Still it is fo natural an error, fo fimilar to thofe. of which Yfe all partake, that we muft pity while we reprove, and lament it rather, than condemn. A juft perception, however, both of the error and its confequences may be the means of lef- fening its frequency. Seeing that the caufe of Chriftianity has fuffered by the abufes which have been introduced into its profeffion, that the policy which feeks only for prefent advantage is eventually fucceeded by misfor tune ; we may be inftruded ftudioufly to dif- tinguiffi iti SERMON IV. tinguiffi the true rehgion of Chrift' from the; corruptions by which it has been oppreffed. We can fcarcely hope that the exifting evil can be immediately and completely cured; but it may be diminiffied by conftant atten tion, and, poffibly, removed by gradual reno vation. Still, perhaps, for a feafon, the abufes of the Papal religion will caufe the inconfider- ate fceptic to rejed the belief of Chriftianity. Yet we may hope that, after the religious as Well as the civil diftradions with which Europe has been long haraffed, the utility and excellence of the Reformation will become confpicuous throughout the Chriftian world. While it ex hibits a refource to doubtful Papifts, it mode rates the dodrines, and tempers the abufes of Popery itfelf ; and tends, in all the fphere of its operation, extenfive or limited, profeffed or indired, to illuftrate the great contraft between error and truth, between craft and wifdom, between the means which tend folely to the eftabliffiment, and thofe which fecure the per manence of a religion. SERMON SERMON V. "On y connoit que l'objet principal des Jefuites n'eft pas pro- " prement de corrompre les mceurs des Chretiens, ni aufli de les " reformer ; mals de s'attirer tout le monde par une conduite ac- " commodante." Preface to ihe Prov. Letters. " Fateor equidem me cum a multis annis focietatis hujus in- *' crementa incredibilia, tum, quibus valet, dotes aut famam, " quae longe lateque diffunditur, erudition is nempe multiplicis, " opulentise privatum modum fupergreffae, gratix apud magnates, " notitiae omnium partium et linguarum orbis confideraffem, non " potuifle non fortem, Ecclefiae Chriftianse vel mirari fatis vel do- " lere. Cogitabam enim fi hominum ingenio, fapientia, indu- " ftria, agilitate, facultatibus, et laboribus juvari potuiflet Eccle- " fia, purgari religio, difciplina et virtus vera atque infucata re* " ftitui, erudltio ad fummum faftigium erigi, errores omnes refu- " tari, praeftari id potuifle ab hac focietate, cujus exemplum in " omnium feculorum hiftoria non inveniemus, five numerum et " deleftum hominum ex omnibus nationibus, generibus et ofdini- " bus ; five commoditates totum terrarum orbem fumtu ex aliena " liberalitate aut fua folertia quaefito peragrandi, omnes artes 11- " berales et mechaniCas excolendi, reges et magnates accedendi et « conciliandi : five partas inde opes, et tot alia quae nuUi vel po- " llticas vel religiofae focietati contigerunt, refpiciamus." Sccken- dorf, Comm. de Luther, lib. 3. fea. 21. §. 84. fubfea. 74, 75: JoH2(r 114 SERMON V. John xviii. 36. My kingdom is not of this world. 1 HE founders of thofe earlier focieties in the Romiffi church, to which the title of Regular Clergy is applied, feem ufually to have been influenced by a pious, though ignorant enthu- flafm. Thefe votaries of monaftic feverity were of opinion that they purified the foul by macerating the body, and that the fureft re commendation to the divine favour was the exercife of an uninterrupted devotion, which left no interval either for the pleafures or the temporal cares of life. Their purfuits extended not to the good of others, but were folely con fined to their own individual perfedion ; and, though they originally profeffed a relped for the ecclefiaftics of fecular eftabliffiments, and held that even the laity might be fafely, and, perhaps, laudably employed in the bufineifs of their refpedive ftations, yet they believed the nobleft and moft dignified occupation of the human faculties to confift. in abftradion from the world, and contemplation of the divine eflence. The feveral orders of Profeffed Religious. that SERMON V. 115 that arofe in confequence of this perfiiafion, interfered not at firft with the epifcopal and parochial clergy, Enthufiafts, however, foon feel the love of power, as well as the fpirit of profelytifm ; and men, who were confidered by the fuperftitious as invefted with peculiar fanc- tity of charader, from being revered as faints, were foon confulted as teachers. They ac quired eftabliffiments and opulence as the fruits of this public eftimation ; nor could they fail to ffiare in the power of the church, while they partook of the liberality of the people. It feems, alfo, to be allowed, that, during the period of their later hiftory, the ftridnefs of their apparent rule was ftrikingiy contrafted by the predominance of real luxury, and that their religious zeal was -principally confined to the advancement of their own greatnefs, and of its neceffary fupport, the prerogative of the Roman Pontiff. Such was the origin and progrefs of thofe different fraternities, which, before the expiration of the ninth century, were merged in the Benedidine order ^; and of ' Moflieim, vol. i. p. 393, 393. For an account of the fuperftitions of St. Benedi£l himfelf fee Stillingfleet, " Of '' the Idolatry praftlfed in the Church of Rome." Works, vol. V. p. 100. On the fanaticifm of Romualdus, Francis, and Dominic, ibid. p. 103—104, &c. I 2 thofe ji6 SERMON V. thofe various branches of the fame extenfive Order, which, under feveral denominations, have fince exifted. After the greatnefs of the Benedidine order was paffed, that of the Mendicants fucceeded. A fincere but fanatical piety had, doubtlefs, a confiderable ffiare in their eftabliffiment '', but it was inftruded and difciplined by policy. However hoftile the fecular clergy might be to them, their intereft was warmly efpoufed by the Papal court, which was then rifing to the zenith of its greatnefs, and not unjuftly celebrated, in a comparifon with other cabinets, for the ability and condud which it difplayed. The fupre macy over the whole Chriftian world, which was claimed by the metropolitan of Rome, was not only inconfiftent with reafon, but alfo repugnant to the interefts of national churches. The biffiops of Germany or France could have few motives for being defirous to extend a prerogative, which was founded in encroach ments partly on the liberties of every country that had fubmitted to it, and, partly, on the privileges of ecclefiaftics. The regular orders, more particularly the Mendicants, were, on the contrary, the abfolute unconditional fer- vants of Rome. Confidered by the clergy of '' Ibid. p. 105. all SERMON V. 117 all national eftabliffiments as intruders into a province which did not properly belong to them, they could look to the Pope alone for countenance or protedion. They fpared no labour, they ffirunk from no fervice, which might conciliate his ¦s^i^ill, or increafe his power to fupport them. Hence the zeal, by which the Inquifition became, in the hands of the Dominicans, more fatal to the devoted Albi- gpnfes than the calamities even of a religious wa.r ; hence the profligate hcence with which the fale of indulgences was conduded, princi pally by ecclefiaftics of the fame order, till Lu ther was at length roufed, and the Proteftant reformation was begun. At the commencement and during the early progrefs of that glorious ftruggle, the eftima tion of the regular orders was funk to fo low an ebb, both on account of their ignorance and their immorality,- as to" refled a general difcredit on the church. This difgrace was felt fo fenfibly by the more liberal members of the Romiffi communion, that they loudly declared, when the Pope's approbation was folicited to the new inftitute of the Jefuits, that Europe was already opprefled by the multitude of Regulars, and that, inftead of add ing to their number, it was highly expedient I 3 that ii8 SERMON V. that the ordinances of the council of Lateran under Innocent the third, and of Lyons under Gregory the tenth", ffiould be enforced, for the purpofe of its reftridion **. The difficulty thus oppofed was overcome by a vow of im plicit obedience to the fee of Rome, which was entered into by Loyola, and his affociates, and afterwards exaded of all thofe Jefuits who were admitted to the higheft rank of Pro feffion ; a vow never realized, indeed, by per formance, but flattering in its appearance, and too fpecious to be refifted, at a time when he- refy was become more daring and fuccefsful than before, and the adive energy of a new order feemed neceffary to ftop its progrefs. Policy and enthufiafm have been joined in every .fignal impofition • on mankind. Thofe fchemes, probably, bid faireft for fuccefs, where the cool head has devifed the plan, ¦= This council of Lyons was held in 1374, and that of Lateran in 1315. Concilia cited by M. de la Chalotais, Compte rendu des Conftitutions des Jefuites, p. 5. ed. Amft. 1763. Benard, Hiftoire des Religieux de la Com pagnie de Jefus, Utrecht, 1741. Liv. i. chap. 69. and Moflieim on the Mendicants, vol. I. p. 655. ¦i Benard ibid. Confilium Deleftorum Cardinalium et aliorum Prselatorum de emendanda Ecclefia S. D. N. Papa Paulo III. ipfo jubenteconfcriptum et exhibitum an. 1538. Lond. 1609. p. II. which SERMON V. 119 which the warm heart is impelled to execute. Either may, indeed, precede the other ; but, tliough the torrent of enthufiafm be violent, it is exhaufted ufelefsly, unlefs wifdom dired its courfe ; and the moft ingenious fchemes of po licy will languiffi in the detail, unlefs they be paffionately efpoufed ^ Both thefe principles of adion were united in the eftabliffiment of the Jefuits : enthufiafm was guided by policy, and pohcy was aided by enthufiafm. The aduft temperament of its founder is eafily to be difeovered in the early hiftory of the order. He had been educated in military habits, and had attached himfelf to the ftudies of chivalry. His fancy kindled into religious ardour, becaufe the heroifm of faith feemed of a nature ftill more illuftrious and captivating than that of arms. He devoted himfelf to the fervice of the Virgin with ceremonies precifely analogous to thofe which attended the invefti- « " Les hommes en eflfet font rarement conduits par les " efprits froidset tranquilles. La paifible raifon n'a point " toute feule cette chaleur neceflaire pour perfuader fes " opinions, et faire entrer dans fes vues ; elle fe contente " d'inftruire fon fiecle a petit bruit et fans eclat, et d'etre " enfuite fimple fpeftatrice de I'effet bon ou mauvais que " fes lemons auront produit." D'Alembert fur la Deftruc- tion des Jefuites, p. 150, 151. lamo. 1765. I 4 ture I20 SERMON V. ture of knigliithood, and, having fufpended his fwqrd and poignard in the chapel of Montfer- rat, he falhed into the world, retaining, under the weeds of beggary, the fpirit of the warrior. Much of his fucceeding condud was agreeable to what might naturally be expeded from this commencement of his fpiritual labours. Some times he affeded a grofs vulgarity of manner, fometimes an offenfive negligence of perfon ; now oppreffed by melancholy and abftinence, and now frantic with ecflafy. In the latter part of^iis life, particularly when eftabliffied at Rome as the General of his order, a fimilar ebullition of enthufiafm is, indeed, fcarcely to be difcerned ; an example of the known pro grefs by which the zeal of fuperftition is con verted by age into the fpirit of party ^ ; and a prefumption of the fad, which many circum ftances might be adduced to confirm, that he had then fubmitted to the diredion of men far abler than himfelf ^ The conftjtutions of the Jefuits are evidently feen to have been didated by a confummate policy, and exhibit even to carelefs obfervers f L'enthoufiafme fe tourne aflez ordlnairement en efprit de faftion dans.un age plus avance. Chalotais, 164.' 8 See Appendix X. a ftrik- SERMON V. 121 a ftriking confonance to the real hiftory of the order. Their principal charaderiftic is the blind obedience on which its whole economy is founded. As the limbs of a lifelefs carcafe, which are informed by no will, excited by no agency of their own ; as a ftaff wielded at pleafure by the hands of its poffeffor ; in fuch a manner and fo paffively, according to the words of their inftitute itfelf, individual Je fuits commit themfelves to the guidance of their fuperiors *¦. Every member of the order, after having taken the firft vows, became unable to retire without the permiffion of the General ; while, except in comparatively few inftances, the Ge neral retained the prerogative of difmiffal, even over the Profeffed themfelves '. Reftrided by no law he poffeffed the right of altering the conftitutions, as circumftances might feem to *¦ See Appendix XI. ' " lis ne peuvent jamais fortir apr^s leur premier vceu " fans la permlfliion du General : mais le General pent leS " renvoyer en tout tems meme apres les derniers voeicx." Chalotais, p. i3i. But this laft expreflion muft be inter*- preted of the Profes de trois voeux, from whom the Profts de quatre voeux are in many eflential refpe«9;s to be diftin guiflied. See Benard, liv. ii. §. 14, and 18, and the Mo narchic des Solipfes, i2mo. Amft. 1753. p. 78. note 4. dired : 122 SERMON V. dired " : in him the whole patronage of the fociety was concentrated. He was invefted ex clufively with the executive, and exercifed alfo, in effed, the fupreme legiflative autho rity'. The education of the Jefuits, and the pre cepts inculcated on them were well calculated to acquire fit fubjeds for the fe;rvice of this unparalleled delpotifm. Inftead of the barren piety of conventuals, they were exhorted to cultivate the talents fuited to promote the fuc cefs of adive life". The novice, on his firft "^ " Quoique nous ayons des loix, et meme en plus " grand nombre qu'il ne feroit neceflaire, le General ce- " pendant n'y a aucun egard, — Car il n'y a pas une loi " dont il n'ait le pouvoir de difpenfer qui il lui plait. — C'eft " une chofe deplorable." Mariana (Jefuite) quoted Mo narchic des Solipfes, p. 88. See alfo Chalotais p. 31. note e. ' See Appendix XIL "" Benard L 58, 59. " Primum, quoniam nomen hoc " religionis femper haftenus folitum eft folis tribui mo- " nachis ob quandam excellentiorem rationem vitae, no- " lumus ut quifquam intelligat nos eflTe ad eundem mo- " dum religiofos : nee enim nos dignos efle arbitramur, " qui tam fanftum atque perfeftum vitas genus profitea- " mur. Horum enim inftitutum aliud in aliis officiis ho- " neftis et fanftis obeundis verfatur totum. Noftrum, " cum aliis in rebus, tum maxima ex parte in ftudio et " pro- SERMON V. 133 admiffion, was required to renounce whatever intimacies he had contraded under the ties of blood, or friendffiip ", to difclofe to his fupe riors the moft minute particulars, even fuch as were entirely unconneded with reli'gion, and the moft flagrant enormities of his paft life ; to promife that he would fubmit, at ftated in tervals, his future condud to their animadver fion ; and to confent that no Confidence re- pofed by him in another, that only excepted which he might entruft to the feal of confef- fion, ffiould be deemed facred from their know ledge °. Subordinate officers tranfmitted regularly to the General monthly, yearly, and triennial re ports from every province in which the order poffeffed eftabliffiments. Befides the ordinary details of bufinefs or of fad, they notified the • age, the talents, and the moral habits of every individual, who was fubjed to their refpedive " profeflione confiftit earum artium, qu£e ad fpirltualem " populi propriam utilitatem conducit. " Nee etiam fasculares fumus eo. modo, quo reliqui fa- *' cerddtes : vivimus enim in congregatione et focietate." Declaration fai£le par les Jefuites . au Redeur, et a I'Univerfite de Paris, 1554. Merc. Jef. I. 348. » See Appendix XIII. • See Appendix XIV. jurifdidions. .124 SERMON V. jurifdidions. They particularized the ftudies to which he was chiefly inclined, and the em ployments which he feemed moft competent to difcharge. Thus vigilantly were obferved the rifing hopes of the fociety; and from among men thus accurately known, and often fubjeded to fuch difcipline and trial as might be heft calculated to develope their real cha rader and powers ; were feleded, according to their feveral capacities, the perfons moft aptly qualified for the various and peculiar ufes, whether of temporal or of fpiritual ambition '', Rank, wealth, and worldly reputation are re counted in the inftitutes of the order as cir cumftances which ought to influence, though not indifpenfably requifite to determine the choice of members. It was contemplated that in fome thefe external advantages might com- penfate the wiint of talent ; while others, though poor and mean, might amply atone for an ignoble defcent, or for the want of for tune, by the poffeffion of perfonal ability'. p See Appendix XV. '1 " Dona externa nobilitatis, divitiarum, bon^ fam*, et " fimilia, ut non fatis funt, fi defint alia; ita, cum alia fup- " petent, haec non erunt neceflaria : quatenus tamen ad " cedlficatlonem faciunt, reddunt magis idoneos ut ad- " mittantur, qui fine ipfis alioqui eflfent idonei propter " dotes SERMON V. I2S The authors of that niemorable fyftem, like other ambitious fpeculators, preferred decifion and intrepidity of charader, even to the high eft qualifications of the mind ; knowing that to dare boldly is ufually to fucceed, or confci ous that they had wifdom to contrive, where- ever they might have ftrength to execute'. ¦ The reputation of poverty waS' neceffary to the popularity of the Jefuits ; but the reality would have proved adverfe to their power. Their conftitutions, accordingly,, in conform ity to the rules of the Mendicant focieties which exifted at the time of their formation, prohibit the acquifition of fixed revenues, but permit, under an ingenious evafion, except to thofe who had bound themfelves by the laft vows, the inheritance of private property '. " dotes alias prsediftas." Conftitutiones, p. 13. ed. Rom. 1570. See ibid, the whole of cap. 3. De admittendis in focietatem. ' Idee du Gouvernement des Jef. p. 311. fubjoined to the Monarchic des Solipfes. ' See Conft. p. 4. Benard, liv. ii. chap. 18 — 30. Hift. Gen, des Jef. ill. 285. Charles Zani, fon of Count Zani of Bologna, entered into the order of the Jefuits, In 1637, during the life of his father and elder brother. On their death, the Jefuits are faid to have perfuaded him to quit the order, for the purpofe of fucceeding to the property to which by that means he was become entitled. Ac cordingly ia6 SERMON V. Thefe inheritances of individuals, and all tefta- mentary bequefts, were implicitly confided to the difpofal of the General. To his admini ftration, alfo, the revenues of the colleges, for the endowment of which there is an exprefs provifion ', were entrufted ; with this fole re- fervation, that they ffiould not be alienated from the ufes of the fociety, or the application to fuch purpofes as feemed conducive to the glory of God ". Enormous wealth was dili- cordingly he did fo, but firft made a vow to refume the chara<9:er of Jefuit as foon as he fliould be poflTeflTed of his inheritance. Arnauld, Morale Pratique des Jefuites, vol. i. p. 376. ed. Cologne, izmo. 1669. Aquaviva re- fcinded the injunftion of his predeceflTors, that Jefuits fliould not poflefs ecclefiaftical dignities. Dom, Inigo, ii. ' Benard, vol. I. p. 39. Merc. Jef. I. 308. " Le titre de " pauvres n'eft que pour les feules Maifons Profefl"es, et " pour ceux d'entre le petit nombre des Profes qui les ha- " bitent. Or ces Maifons ne font qu'au nombre de 24. •' Ainfi feroient 34 Maifons pauvres contre ion Mai- " fons riches. C'eft done deja une parade de pauvrete " qui fe reduit a rien." Hift. Gen. des Jef. vol. iv. p. 189. It was enabled by a bull of Julius III. in 1550, ten years only after the inftitution of the order of the Jefuits, that the revenues of the colleges fliould not be applied to the Maifons Profejfes. Benard, i. 139. The prohibition feems to Indicate that fuch a mifapplication had even then, in fome Inftances at leaft, been made. " " De iis vero quae focietati ita relinquuntur, ut ipfa " pro' SERMON V. 137 gently amaffed, under thefe and other pretexts, the influence of which naturally gave increafed vigour to, the defpotifm of an unlimited prero gative. The checks on this formidable authority were apparent rather than real. It may be obferved, indeed, that, though the office of Ge neral is by the conftitutions declared to be for life, the fupreme power is nominally vefted in the general congregation of the order, by which, in certain cafes, he may be depofed "". This, however, is a power which has never been exerted''. The congregation has rarely been affembled, but for the fole purpofe of a new eledion ; and the authority of the General " pro fuo arbitratu ea difponat, (five bona ftabilia ilia *' fint, five mobilia ) idem Generalis difpo- " nere poterit aut vendendo aut retinendo, aut huic vel " ill! loco Id quod ei videbitur applicando : prout ad ma- " jorem Dei gloriam fenferit expedire." Conft. p. 337. " Pofliint omnes noftri Praepofiti ac re6i;ores commutare " ex uno ufu ad allum neceflarium legata quae relinquun- " tur noftris coHeglis aut domibus, dummodo id fiat fine " fcandalo ebrum ad quos folutio talium legatorum perti- " net : haec facultas refervatur Generali." Compendium Priv. Chalotais, 90. See ibid. p. 33. note (i), and for ac tual evafions of the vow of Poverty, Benard, llvre viii. chap. 30 — ^33, * Bouhours, p. 330. Chalotais, 119. y Dom, Inigo^ i. 183. has 128 SERMON V. has conftantly been fo great, that a recur rence to this privilege of appeal mufl always have proved neceffarily unfuccefsful % A par* ticular vow, alfo, of obedience to the Pope was made by thofe members of the order, who were advanced to the ftate of complete profeffion, and higheft dignity, by which the fimilar obligation entered into by them to wards their General may appear, in fome de gree, to be fuperfeded ". But the number of fuch Jefuits was very inconfiderable, in com parifon of thofe, who were under obligation to the General alone''. The vow of obedience. * Ibid. 183. Chalotais, 39, 30. A general congrega tion was held by Aquaviva, but compofed entirely of his own creatures, and aflembled by him for the purpofe of couiiteraiiStlng thofe projects of a reform in the order which Clement VIII. was willing to entertain. Hift. Gen. des Jef. iv. 69, 70. This attepipt to reform the order was particularly direfted to obtain a reftrldlion of the power of the General. Similar attempts had been repeatedly made by many among the Jefuits themfelves. Ibid. 63. See Mariana, Difc. des defauts du Gouverne ment des Jef. a French tranflation of which is printed to gether with the original Spanlfli in the fecond volume of the Merc. Jefuite. See alfo the fupplications for a reform of the order. Ibid. pp. 195. et feqq. » Bull of Paul III. 1540. Merc. Jef, p. 306. Examen Gen. Conft. cap. I. i. >' Hift, Gen. des Jef, iii, 251, alfo. SERMON V, 129 alfo, to the General may be confidered as the neceffary cement of the fociety, or the indif penfable inftmment of power. The vow of obedience to the Pope was intended merely to acquire his fupport. When the end was at tained, the ftipulation was negleded. His power of withdrawing, or even of limiting that fupport was queftiOned : the poffeffion of irrevocable privileges was affumed, and verbal declarations, alleged to have been made in pri vate conferences, were confidently appealed to, as of equal authority with his moft exprefs and formal decrees ". Such were the conftitutions of this cele brated order. Nor does the fpirit, which they have been reprefented to poflefs, exift only in fome doubtful maxim introduced into them by accident, or to be difeovered by a malig nant ingenuity : it is the vital principle which aduates and pervades the whole. The vo lume of their inftitute cannot be opened by the moft unprejudiced fpeculator on their hif tory, without perceiving that it contains pro fpedive views of aggrandizement : that it was originally intended as well as adually applied to create a fpiritual foldiery, adive in enter- ' See Appendix XVL K prife. 130 SERMON V. prife, patient in fuffering, whofe perfonal con dud might conciliate approbation, whofe elo^ quence might gain profelytes, and whofe paf fions might be concentrated in zeal for the in terefts Of their order"'. General injundions to virtue are far from being omitted. But the political ufes to which the appearance of virtue may be made fubfervient feem to be contem plated with far more intereft than its reality ". Should the juftice of thefe inferences be dif- puted, we may appeal from fpeculation to fad. The condud of the Jefuits has been always ^ See the Conftitutions, cap. 2. & 3. "De admit- *' tendis in focietatem," et " De lis quae impediunt ne " quis in focietatem admittatur." The military genius of the fociety is animadverted on" not unflsIlfuUy in the Advis de Meffire Eujlacbe de Bellay Evefque de Paris, en I' an I554j contenant les raifons, pour lefquelles il ejlime cette fociete ne devoir efire refue. " Et parceqiae le faifte que " Ton pretend de I'eredtion dudit ordre ou compagnie, eft " qu'ils iront pricher les Tures et infidelles, et les amener " a la cognoifl"ance de Dieu : faudroit, fous correftion, " etablir lefdites maifons et focietez es lieux prochains ": defdits infidelles, ainfi qu'anciennement a ete fait des " chevaliers de Rhodes, qui ont ete mis fur les frontieres " de la Chretiente, non au milieu d'Icelle: auflli y auroit-il " beaucoup de temps perdu et confomme d'aller de Paris "jufqu'au Conftantinople, et autres lieux de Turquie." Merc. Jef. i. 330. = See Appendix XVII. fuitable SERMON V. 131 fuitable to the charader of their conftitutions. They have always ftudied to ingratiate them felves with the powerful and the opulent : ever extenfively engaged in the education of youth, they rarely have difeovered among their pu pils the promife of future talent, without en deavouring to fecure it for themfelves '. The inferior members yielded themfelves up to the tranfcendant defpotifm which has been de- fcribed, its wilhng flaves, and refolute mini fters. They haftened to forget all national or domeftic feelings, and carried with them into the offices to which they were appointed, a full perfuafifOn that they owed a fidelity to their General, which fuperfeded every obliga tion by which men can be bound to a tempos ral fovereign, to the countries in which they were born, or the families from which they iprang. They abandoned all rights of their own, even their reputations, to his difpofal : *¦ Monarchic des Solipfes, chap, xviii. note (2). Cate- chlfme des Jefuites, llvre ii. chap. 4. This fpirit of profe lytifm feems to have been common to all the monaftic orders. (See the Letter of Erafmus to Grunnius, App. to Jortin's Life of Erafmus, No. i.) That it was preferved even in the later ages of the Jefuit hiftory may be feen in the Memoires de Marmontel, vol. i. p, 113,. ed. Paris, i2mQ. 1804. k2 and 132 SERMON V. and cheriffieid the contemplation of his great nefs as their ruhng pride and paffion^. What; fo fit for the purpofes of ambition as a devoted band of thefe formidable, and, to ufe an ex preffion of their own, th^fe regimented eccle fiaftics ? What dark confpirator is to be found in, hiftory enabled by long and painful machi nations to fecure to himfelf affociates fo adive or fo faithful as the General of the Jefuits pof fefled ^ ? Yet he abandoned not himfelf with out precaution even to the Provincials or fii- periors of the order. Each member was a fpy on each. The fecret malice of the informer was adively exerted againft all, from which no ability efcaped, and by which no ftation was refpeded ''. s " Des efclaves n'oiit point de patrie : lis ont oublie ** la maifon de leurs peres et les lieux ou lis font, nes; ils " ne Voyent que la grandeur du defpote qu'ils fervent, et " de I'empire qu'il s'eft forme. Leurs yeux font toujours '• fur la main du maitre, et ils n'ont pas plus d'autorite " qu'un ififtrurtient inanime." Chalotais, p. 134. See p. 135. h Chalotais, 165. D'Alembert, p. ^6. ' Mariana, Difcours des defauts du gouvernem.ent des Jefuites, chap. 13. Fr. Tranfl. Mercure Jefuite, 3. 148. " J'ofe bien afleurer, que fi on venoit a feuilleter les ar- " chives de Rome, on ne trouvera pas un feul, qui foit " homme de bien, au moins d'etre nous autres, qui ' *' fommes SERMON V. 433 ' The indired and felfiffi policy by which the Jefuits were diftinguiffied is not, in any de gree, lefs remarkable, if we turn from the defpotifm of their conftitutions to the viciouf- nefs of their cafuiftry. They held, to the moft unqualified extent, that the bafenefs of the means is fandified by the purity of the end "^ ; that all compliances were lawful which might promote their corporate greatnefs ; ,9.nd, in magnifying the authority of prefcription, they extinguiffied, fo far as fophifm can extin- guiffi reafon, the power pf confcience. In- duftrioufly infinuating themfelves into the of fice of confeffors, they were careful not to im pede their reception in this capacity by any impolitic feverity of moral difcipline '. Every " fommes efloignes, et ne fommes point.conusdu General. " Car tous font marques, les uns plus, les autres moins." Ibid. p. 150. See alfo La Monarchic des Solipfes, chap. 10. §. 9. and the Idee du Gouvernement des Jefuites fub joined, p. 334. ¦' " Quand nous ne pouvons pas emp^cher I'aftlon, " nous purifions au mglns I'intention ; et ainfi nous cor- " rigeons le vice du moien par la purete de la fin." Let tres Provin.ciales, lettre 7. p. 97. ed. Cologne^ i3mo. 1657. See P. Bauny cited lettre 5. p. 66. _ ' " Helas, me dit le Pere, noftre principal but auroit " ete de n'etablir point d'autres maximes que celles de " I'Eyangile dans- toute leur feverite. Et Ton volt aflez '* par le reglement de nos moeurs, que fi nous fouffrons K 3 " quelque 134 SERMON V. abufe which the wildeft vifionary had patron ized, every real crime which might have been countenanced in the wantonnefs of difputa- tion as probably juftifiable or expedient ; ail members of the fociety, however it might wound their perfonal feelings, were command ed to tolerate ". It Was the recognized doc- " quelque relachement dans les autres, c'eft plutoft par " condefcendance que par deflein. Nous y fommes for- " cez. Les hommes font aujourd'hui tellement corrom- " pus, que ne pouvant les faire venir a nous, il faut biep " que nous allions a eux." Sixieme Lettre a un Provin cial, p. 83. " Les Jefuites font trop bons : ils voudrolent " fauver tout le monde, et ne faire de peine a perfonne." Lettre de MeflT, des MIfl[ions etrangeres au Tape, fur les idolatries et fur les fuperftitions Chinoifes, p. 38. They lengthen fhe creed, faid the Abbe Boileau, and fhorten the decalogue. ¦" On the doftrlne of probability fee any of the writers againft the cafuiftry of the Jefuits, particularly the fifth and fixth letters to a Provincial. The following decifion of the Jefuit Laimon is cited, letter v. p. 70. " Un Doc- " teur etant confulte, pent donner un confeil, non-feule- *' ment probable felon fon opinion; mais contraire a fon "opinion, s'il eft eftime probable par d'autres, lorfque " cet avis contraire au fien, fe rencontre. plus favorable, et " plus agreable a celui qui le Confulte., Mais je dis de " plus, qu'il ne fera point hors de raifon, qu'il donne a " ceux qui le confultent, un avis tenu pour probable par " quelque perfonne f^avante, quand ineme il s'afleureroit " qu'il feroit abfolument faux," trine SERMON V. 135 trine of the order that whoever was deteded in profligacy might commit murder to ayoid difcovery ; and, where princes refifted its am bition, it is fufpeded of having ftimulated the affaffin, and convided of„the attempt to palli ate his guilt ". Whatever theory of morals may be adopted, we cannot but be ffiocked at the enormity of thefe fandions. It is an infult to the heft and jufteft feelings of our nature to paufe ere we condemn fuch flagrant errors ; or to fuppofe, even for a moment, that either the dignity of virtue can be fuftained by them, or real utility promoted. The partial interefts to which dif fimulation, perjury, and perhaps murder may feem conducive, have no tendency to the fur therance of Chriftian truth. Thofe pradices, that feem to be the neareft road to prefent greatnefs, often diverge widely from the patlj of lafting fecurity ; and the general confe quences of infincerity and fraud are always evil, however the prefent effed may feem to be expedient. We muft allow, indeed, that tenets fo im pious as thofe which have been recited could not be univerfal ; nor ever willingly acknow- " See Appendix XVIIL K 4 ledged 136 SERMON V. ledged by the greater part of the individual members of the, fociety °. It is impoffible that fo numerous a body, diftinguiffied for its learn ing and exemplary in moral condud, could have adopted into ordinary ufe that licentious ca fuiftry which has been often fo completely ex pofed, even in its moft avowed and favourite writers. Many who may have feared to queftion the authority on wliich it refted, muft have been reludant to admit its truth. Many muft have limited their acquiefcence by modi fications not the lefs real in pradica!l effed, be caufe inconfiftent with the dodrines to which they were joined, and goodnefs of the heart may have counteraded perverfion of the un derftanding ^. It may feem ftrange, perhaps, that the la titude of principle and enormity of ambition, by which the order was charaderized, ffiould ° 'f The lax metaphyfics of the Jefuits were the efi'e6t " rather of a bad dialeflic, than of a corrupted heart, and " generally pervaded the fcholaftic fyftem of theology," Chalotais, p. 54. 138, ^ Nam qui fummum bonum Gc Inftituit ut nihil habeat cum virtute conjunflum, idque fuis commodis,, non hp- neftate metitur, hie, Ji Jibi ipfe confentiat et non interdum natures bonitate vincatur, neque amicitiam colere poflit, nee juftitiam nee liberalitatem. Cie. de Ofl". i. I. The exception operates moft extenfively. have SERMON V. 137 have been attended with no correfponding laxity in the moral condud of individual Je fuits. But with the reproach of immoral lives they are not juftly to be branded ". Attached to the greatnefs of their fociety with more than the ufual warmth of partizans, their am bition may partly have fecured them from ordinary temptations. Their zeal for the appearance may have been favourable to the pradice of virtue. The ages alfo, in which they flouriffied, were far from being fimilar to thofe in which infolent ecclefiaftics could bid defiance to the reftraints of decency, confiding in the blindnefs of the people, or fafe from its indignation. The gates of knowledge were now at length unbarred, to be fliut, we hope, no more ; mankind had learned to reafon and to judge ; and, where the fruits of piety were wanting, could be no longer deceived by its pretence. Had not the flagitioufnefs of the inftitute of the Jefuits been in fome meafure redeemed by the corrednefs of their perfonal behaviour, they could not have made that pro grefs which they really attained in forging anew the chains of fuperftition : the danger 1 D'Alembert, p. 4.6, Chalotais, p. $6, 57- Villers on the Reformation. (Mill's tranflation, p. 156,) with 138 SERMON V. with which they threatened mankind would have been lefs alarming, becaufe their power would have been lefs extenfive. Individuals were loved,, even where the order was moft detefted ; a phenomenon far from being un- ufual in the page of hiftory. In fome cafes, a ufeful inftitution has been abufed by wicked men : in others, even good men have been de-- ceived and prejudiced by a corrupt inftitution. The femblance of virtue is attached to the zeal of party, and, where the odium of injuftice is divided among a multitude, the falutary re ftraint of reputation but faintly operates. The charader, in truth, of the order is too plainly flamped to be confounded with that of the in dividuals of whom it was compofed. Re^ proached during every age of its exiftence with the fame crimes, involved in quarrels and intrigues in all countries, it exhibited not the various errors to which individuals are va- rioufly inclined by the operation of different motives, but the confiftent iniquity of fyftem. Its hiftory exemplifies the artifice and ambi tion of its conftitutions : its pradice is the in terpretation of its cafuiftry. The influence of the Jefuits propagated by raeans the moft crafty and indired was pub licly notorious in every Chriftian court which adhered SERMON V. 139 adhered to the Romiffi perffiafion, within thirty years after their firft inftitution. They fo mented rebellion in France, and excited confpi- racy in England. In that country thej fucceed ed. not in procuring an eftabliffiment without frequent and ignominious difcomfiture; in this, to our unfpeakable benefit, they were com pletely baffled. To inveftigate their artifices in thefe or in the other kingdoms of Europe, would lead to a feries of obfervations too ex tenfive to be comprifed in ordinary limits. Se conded by the fure bigotry of ignorance, their ambition was attended with almoft uniform fuccefs, throughout all the regions of Papal fu perftition. Yet it feems worthy to be men-? tioned, that Portugal, from the imbecillity for which that ftate has been fo long remarkable, was more completely fubjugated than any other nation to their authority ; and that they were in no inftance oppofed with fo firm and at the fame time fo temperate a refiftance, as by that enlightened and patriotic citizen of Venice, whom every lover of truth and liberty muft dehght to venerate and applaud". Such, however, at length, and fo formidable became their power, that the allegation of jSee Appendix XtX, thofe I40 SERMON V. thofe whb taxed them with afpiring to univer fal monarchy may not, perhaps, be altogether groundlefs. As the educators of youth, and the confeffors of Princes, they acquired a do minion more dangerous and, perhaps, more flattering than civil or military defpotifm '. Implicit fervitude to the Pope was the pre-* fence on which they obtained their primary inftitution; and they afferted, amid the light of reviving literature, thofe arrogant preten fions of the Romiffi fee which had been fcarcely tolerated even in the days of dark nefs '. They affumed an independance of all ' " L'ambltlon d'avoir des difciples, la plus forte peut- " etre de toutes les ambitions." Siecle de L. XIV. ii. 255. ' " Habet (fummus Pontifex) fupremam et ampliflS- ." mam poteftatem jurifdi£lionis temporalis fuper omnes " principes : poteft deponere reges, eofque regnis fuis pri- " vare, legefque eorum Infirmare : idque non folUm cen- " furls ad Id cogendo, fed etiam poenis externis, ac vi et " armis. Molina de juft. fet jure, cited Jefuites Criminels de Leze-majefle, i3mo. a la Haye, 1759- P- 4- '^ote (5). See ibid. p. 5. note (9). " Poteft (Papa) mutare regna et " uni auferre atque alterl conferre." Bellarmin, cited Chalotais, 64. " Papa deponit Imperatorem propter ip- " fius inlquitates, et dat principibus curatores quando ipfi *« fuerint inutiles ad regendum fubditos. Papa fine con- " cilio deponit Imperatorem, quia Papae et Chrifti unum " eft tribunal." « Papa poteft deponere reges non folum " prppter haerefim aut fchifma- 'iut aliud crimen tolprabilp 'fin SERMON V. 141 National Or local ordinances", and condefcend- ed not, at length, to reverence even the ana themas of Rome *, They fought to conciliate popularity, as occafion might dired, either by exercifes of mortification or pomp of cere mony. They allured fome by patronage, they terrified others by menaces of perfecution. They retained a uniform fpirit both in the bafenefs of ftooping to the great, and in the arrogance of tramphng on the little. Confci ous of their numbers, and their ftrength, the individual members feemed to ffiare in the im- " In populo, fed etiam propter Infufflclentiam." Propofi- tiones extradas ex libro Santarelli, prop. 3, et 8. See Je fuites Criminels, p. 85. and^ for the hiftory of the bdok of Santarellus, Dom. Inigo, ii. 73. et Monarchic des So lipfes, 60. 1 " " Nemo ex Profeflis vel coadjutoribus, vel etiam " fcholafticis focietatis. In caufis civilibus, nedum crimi- " nalibus, fe examinari, fine licentia fuperioris, permittat. " Superior autem cam minime dabit, nifi in caufis quK ad " religionem Cathollcam pertinent." Conft. cited Hift. Gen. des Jef. iv. p. 76. On an aggreflfion of the Indians of Paraguay in 1719, which was headed by a Jefuit, the king of Portugal makes his complaint, not to the king of Spain, but to the General of the Jefuits, of whom in return it is juftly faid, " qu'il traitoit de fouverain a fouverain." Hift. du Para guay fous les Jefuites par Echavarri, i. 148, 149. » See Appendix XVL p. 28, 39. portance H2 S^ERMON V;^ portance of the fociety. Each of them wafif proteded by the power, and armed with the united vengeance of the whole ^. Such is the complete harmony with which the hiftory and conftitutions of the Jefuits correfpond. I referve it for my concluding difcourfe to ffiow that the indired and crafty policy, thus ftamped both on their conftitu tions and their hiftory, has eventually con tributed' to their deftrudion, as I before pro pofed to defer in the fame manner the fimilar obfervations which may be made on the refult of the Papal tyranny and corruptions. There is the greater reafon, in the prefent inftance, for poftponing fuch obfervations, becaufe the particular examples of the condud of the Je fuits, to the examination of which I ffiall pror eeed, in the interval, cannot but refled light on their general charader, and enable us there fore the more accurately to perceive the manner in which that charader may have operated. I y " Hac indiflblubill charitate munita focietas terribi- " lis fit ut caftrorum acies ordinata." F. Retz, General, cited Echavarri, i. 333. " II n'y a point de Jefuite qui " ne puifl"e dire, comme cet efprit malin de I'dcriture, ' Je « m'appelle legion." D'Alembert, Eflai fur la deftruftion des Jefuites, pi 43. See Reflexions d'un Portugais, p. 104. London, 1760. ffiall SERMON V. 143 ffiall Conclude at prefent with fuch remarks as may be neceffary to ffiow that the ambition and the fophiftry of thefe profeffors of Chrif-^ tianity afford no argument againft Chriftianity itfelf, but rather illuftrate and confirm its truth. Now though fuch abufes as thofe which have been recited have often been alleged tri umphantly, by the enemies of our religion, with the indignant taunt, " Behold the influ- " ence, behold the chofen minifters of the " Chriftian faith ;" yet inferences to the dif- advantage of a religion frbm the vices of its profeffors are not more juft than to decry be nevolence, becaufe its pretence may be af fumed as a cloak to malicioufnefa. If the holy name by which we are called has been pro faned for the purpofes of ambition, what virtue has ambition fcrupled to violate ? If the en thufiafm of religion have prepared the cords and kindled the fire of perfecution, juftice alfo has fometimes degenerated into cruelty, and fortitude into revenge. Could it be proved, indeed, that the def potifm of the Jefuits is countenanced, or theii; cafuiftry authorifed by the real principles of Chriftianity, we would be ready to unite with our adverfaries, and to demand with them that i44 SERMON V. that the religion be at once rejeded.' But We abandon not our hopes without examination ;¦ we faint not at the boldnefs of the charge: we demand the procefs of trial, and we chal lenge fcrutiny. The religion of Proteftants is the dodrine of Chrift. We refufe to acknow ledge whatever is not to be proted by the cer tain Warrant of Scripture : and we willingly hold ourfelves refponfible to ffiow that no charge of inconfiftency with divine wifdom, of infincere and indired ambition, of really unwife, though apparently politic compliance with human error, can be eftabliffied againft that holy Inftitute, To thofe perfons, therefore, who, juftly ab horring the exceffes of Jefuitical impiety, are inclined to attribute to Chriftianity itfelf the guilt of thofe exceffes, we confidently oppofe^ not the infallibility of the Roman Pontiff, not the miracles of Loyola ; but the total inap plicability of thofe objedions which may be reafonably entertained againft miftaken or in fincere profeffors of Chriftianity, to the doc trine, or the example of Chrift. Chrift uni formly commanded his difciples to be holy as their Father which is in heaven is holy. He never authorifed them to compromife truth : never inftruded them to palliate falfe hood. SERMON V. 145 hood. He pretended not to a feverity of de meanour. He came eating and drinking : he converfed freely with publicans and finners. The prefervation of a condud perfedly pure and unexceptionable muft, to a man thus mix ing in the detail of ordinary life, be far more difficult than perfeverance even in the extreme of afcetic mortification. But the liberty of Jefus was without fpot, as his piety was beyond comparifon ; his wifdom was unfullied by in fincerity, and his zeal unmixed with violence. Utterly remote both from the ancient fero city of the Zealots^, and the modern frenzy of the Anabaptifts, he deviated not, on the other hand, into the dogmatifm or artifices of Papal or Jefuitical tyranny. There is, in truth, no charge either of vice or error that can be al leged againft corrupted Chriftians, which does not appear doubly glaring, when contrafted with that unftained purity of Chrift himfelf, which is, by the fame contraft, the more con- fpicuoufly reprefented to our view. To diftinguiffi, in this manner, the condud of Chrift from the condud of infincere or miftaken teachers of religion, is fufficient for the imme diate argument which it has been here in- " Bafnage L vi. u. Taylor's tranflation. L tended 146 SERMON V. tended to illuftrate by an examination of the hiftory of the Jefuits. That we may perceive, however, with what accumulated ftrength and emphafis this diftindion may be infer red, it is neceffary to purfue the illuftrafion of the Saviour's charader not only into its freedom from error, but alfo into the peculi arity of its excellence. Let us forget, for a moment, thofe numerous indications of enthu fiafm, or of impofture, which have been point ed out in the condud of corrupted Chriftians. Let us, for example, fuppofe the founder of the order of the Jefuits to have merited all thofe fplendid eulogies with which he has been decorated by his followers, or let us fe led from the records of hiftory whatever fa vourite charader may feem to us moft worthy of admiration. We ffiall ftill find that the even and unaffeded propriety of the virtues of Chrift, none of them diftorted, and none un- reafonably preponderant, difcriminate him not only from corrupted and miftaken men, but even from the wifeft, and the beft. In the contemplation of human virtue, it is rather the fplendid excefs than the accurate mean that we applaud. The higheft eminence of courage is rarely to be found unaccompanied by temerity, nor is the habit of fortitude to be acquired SERMON V. 147 acquired, unlefs we encourage the fpirit of dar ing. So alfo the moft prepoffeffing examples of generofity may be tindured with fome mixture of profufion, and many of the moft animated exertions of patriotifm may violate the precife rules of liberal and enlarged bene volence. Aberrations of this kind are to be pardoned, indeed, and perhaps praifed, as pro dudive of more good by increafing the adivi ty, than of ill by tranigreffing the limits of virtue. But we admire the virtues of Chrift with the moft lively intereft, though they are none of them exaggerated. As he was fuperior to the imperfedions of our nature, fo even in his excellencies he exceeded not that ftrid and even tenour, which thofe imperfedions alone render it pardonable or proper for man to ex ceed. His charader, though full of ftrength and meaning, is in nothing extravagant, in no thing difproportioned. He was pious, but not enthufiaftic; temperate, but not auftere; meek, but not abjed ; and heroic, but not raffi. In the hiftory of the moft illuftrious of mankind, we can in general readily trace their prominent and ftriking qualities. But in the charader of Chrift, though a charader pofitively great, as well as unexceptionably pure, there is no one L 2 quality 148 SERMON V. quality which predominates above the reft. All the virtues are fo intimately and harmb- niOufly blended, that, to ufe an appfopriafe, though obvious metaphor, the whole of their colouring difappears. They are fimply and uniformly luminous. Nor cau this union of all the virtues in one perfed charader be confidered as lefs Angular or impreffive, becaUfe the feveral virtues may be thought naturally difpofed to coalefce, and the fame caufes which are friendly to the produc tion of one may, in a fimilar manner, be fiip- pofed friendly to that of all. This fuppofition may be true in part, but it is not true univer fally. The caufes, which tend naturally to improve the contemplative, are not calculated to promote the adive virtues. The caufes which promote the adive do riot improve the contemplative. No one thing can be more different from another than the education of a philofopher from that of a hero. Calm nefs and regularity are the nurfes of the one : diffi culty and diftrefs the energetic preceptors of the other. The different excellencies which we exped from each are the natural refults of fuch different preparations of the mind. We require in the philofopher a cOol and Uniform tranquillity, and a life occupied in the ferene invefti- SERMON V. 149 inveftigation, or the Undifturbed communica tion of truth. In the hero we look for a cer tain warmth of temperament, as not lefs proper than it is natural. We demand, not that he ffiould choofe his objed of purfuit with fober judgment and philofophical difcrimination, but that he ffiould purfue whatever objed he may choofe with an earneftnefs and vigour which a philofopher does not poffefs ; with an intrepidity undivided by doubt, and un changed by misfortune, with contempt of danger and of death. In Chrift, and in Chrift alone, are the fepar rate excellencies of thefe different charaders united in their full perfedion. It is the exad union of the contemplative and the adive vir tues which feems to conftitute his chief pecu liarity. And eminent, in truth, as each of thefe charaders is by itfelf, little as it is to be expeded that they ffiould be found united in the fame perfon, yet we ffiould at leaft have wanted that full internal evidence of his truth, which we now find in the charader of Chrift, had they not been united in him. Had he been the hero only, much as we might have admired his fortitude, or his zeal, yet we might juftly have demanded the figns of divine L 3 wifdom 150 SERMON V. wifdom in him who claimed to be the imme diate meffenger of heaven. And though men of mild and ftudious dif pofitions feem often to have fuppofed that a calm and difpaffionate tranquillity includes every excellence of the mind, yet, I confefs, that fomething more might reafonably be ex peded in a perfed example of life propofed not only to the approbation of fages, but alfo to the imitation of all men. I. know not why the hardy and the adive ffiould be deemed lefs effential and important than the retired and contemplative virtues. They may be lefs charaderiftic of the philofopher, but they are not lefs ufeful to mankind, nor are they lefs calculated to elevate their poffeffor above low and felfifli paffions. It is certain, that they are not lefs confpicuous in the holy Author of Chriftianity. However eminent foi;,a philofo phical equanimity, he is equally to be diftin guiffied by the praife of an heroic fortitude, and exertions of the moft fublime beneficence. Where elfe is the fame combination to be found ? Could we even fuppofe that an im poftor or an enthufiaft might have difregarded the offer of a crown, or been unmoved by the treachery of a difciple, can it be poffible, how ever, SERMON V, 151 ever, that poffeffing this meek and tranquil difpofition he ffiould have perfifted in a uni form career, from the commencement to the clofe of his miniftry, always firm though never impetuous, never abaffied by obloquy, never difconcerted by ingratitude, never forfaken by the dignity which became the fon of God. Or let us advance ftill one ftep farther. Let us look upon the Saviour himfelf as hang ing on the crofs. Even there the great inten tion of both his life and death was manifefted amid the pangs of diffolution. In that tre mendous crifis, when all earthly ambition muft be at .an end, which fo often unnerves the bold, and which, where the heart is not hard ened into apathy, muft always terrify the im poftor, even then the holy Jefus with his dy ing voice fpake mercy and confolation to man kind. As he took human nature upon him for man's falvation, and for man's falvation fubmitted to a life of fuffering, and to be con demned and fcourged and crucified ; fo alfo, that man might not want the laft folemn af- furance which he could give, he himfelf de clared, as he committed his fpirit into the hands of God, that the work of falvation " was " finiffied \" Thefe were the laft words which L 4 he i5a SERMON V. he fpake, as this was the promife which had preceded his coming into the world. This is the vidory which he obtained for us by his death ; and which he again confirmed by his afcenfion into that heavenly kingdom, where he hath prepared eternal manfions for them that love him. ' John xix. 30 SERMOil SERMON VI. John xviii. 36. My kingdom is not of this world. It has been ffiown that the European efta bliffiment of the Jeffiits was charaderized by an indired and felfiffi policy altogether oppo fite to the genuine fpirit of Chriftianity. The profane or injudicious condud, by which the ecclefiaftics of the fame order have been diftin guiffied, in regions where the religion of Chrift is yet unrecognized by public authority, has not been lefs remarkable than the intrigues of its partizans, or the fophiftry of its cafuifts in Europe. The fupply of adive and enterprifing mif- fionaries, for the purpofe of promulgating Chriftianity among infidel nations, was expli- c'ltly avowed as one of the moft important objeds 154 SERMON VL objeds which were originally propofed hy Loyola. Expedation of the fervices, which might be thus rendered by the Jefuits, may probably have been among the chief induce ments which conciliated the Papal approba tion to their inftitute ; nor have they been, in reality, deficient either in zeal or induftry. Private interefts, however, and views of tem poral aggrandizement have too often fuper-. feded the love of truth ; and, even where the fimplicity of the Chriftian dodrines may not have been compromifed from indired motives, it has ftill been violated by pious error. Xavier, the canonized Xavier ', both led the way, and has obtained the moft diftinguiffied honours in the miffionay career. Though we queftion not the fincerity of his religious ar dour ", yet the ufefulnefs of his religious exer tions may well be doubted. He might be zealous for the converfion, but he underftood not the languages of thofe unlettered Indians whom he attempted to inftrud : and, though his admirers have often claimed for him the • " Novus Indiarum Apoftolus." Bull of Canonization by Urban VHL Fabric. Lux. Ev. p. 551, ed. Hamb. 1731. *" His fincerity, probably, is not to be queftioned. Yet his zeal feems upon fome occafions to have been mani fefted in. a Angular manner. See App. XX. gift SERMON VL 155 gift of tongues, he feems not himfelf to have authorifed that vain pretenfion ^ The remote and extenfive empire of Japan, though it witneffed not the laft labours of this intrepid miffionary, was the laft confpicuous fcene in which they were difplayed. Here, as elfewhere, he had to lament that he was ignorant of the language of the people. He had no method of communicating his inftruc- tions, but through the imperfed, and poffibly unfaithful, medium of interpreters'*. Yet the <= " Ac fi nos llnguam calleremus Japonicam, non du- " bito quin plurimi fierent Chriftiani." Faxit Deus, ut " earn brevi addifcamus, fiquidem jamdudum guftare cae- " pimus. Quadraginta diebus tantum profecimus, ut jam " decem praecepta Japonice explicemus." Xaverii Epift. 1. iii. ep. v. p. 194. ed. Paris, apud Cramoify, 1631. See alfo Benard. I. p. 54, & 99. ^ Benard I. p. I33. The aflertion, though very confi dently made, that the firft Japanefe convert of Xavier, who proved afterwards a moft efficient afliftant to him in his miflionary labours, was a culprit who had fled from V his country upon the commiflSon of murder, (Dom. Ini go, I. 2,61. Benard, I. ii6.) is of fo very invidious a com plexion, that, probably, it ought not to be believed. It is a circumftance more likely to be true, and much more important, that he owed his firft fuccefs to the exhibi tion of a beautiful pifture of the Virgin. " Le monarque " idoltoe, charme de cette peinture, et de la perfonne " qu'elle reprefentoit, fe mit a genoux devant elle, la pre- " nant pour quelque Deefle." (Benard, ibid. 119. Dom. Inigo, 156 - SERMON VL propagation of our religion in Japan feQms at firft to have been attended with fignal fuccefs; fuccefs too foon interrupted |?y a perfecUtion unexampled, perhaps, both in feverity and ex tent. If the accounts may be credited which have been tranfmitted to us by the hiftorian of that country % (a writer who is known to have been accurate, where his ftatements have admitted of verification ^,) it was the temporal ambition of the Jefuits which there caufed the fubverfion of Chriftianity. The perfed liberty of preaching, which they had at firft poffeffed, was reftrided in confequence of their pride and avarice; and the fubfequent abolition of the Chriftian name in thofe diftant iflands was inflided, not by mere tyrannical caprice, but as the puniffiment of conspiracy ^. Inigo, 267, a68.) A fimilar conduct was purfued after wards in China by Ricci and his fucceflbrs, (Le Comte, 357. Engl. Tr. Lond. 1697. 8vo.) and alfo in Slam. (Hift. de I'Etabllflenient du Chriftianifme dans les Indes Ori^n- tales, a vols. lamo. Paris, an. xi. vol. i. p. 275.) * Kaempfer. ' Niebuhr paflim. e Kasmpfer, book iv. chap. 7. and Niebuhr, vol, iv. p, 30, Sc feqq, (Eng. Tr. 8vo. 1796.) There feems to have been a general fufpicipn through out India, (In fome degree, it is probable, founded upon faft,) that the miflSonarles exercifed theoffic© of European fpies SERMON Vt J57 From Japan, our attention may eafily be direded to the neighbouring cdhfinent of Chi na, and it is here that we muft look for th6 moft notorious inftances of infincerity in Je fuit miflionaries. Here too they may be view ed ddvantageoufly, in that light by which the argument of thefe ledures is moft properly to be contemplated, as influenced not fo much by indired motives as by partial conceptions ; as guided by a confined, not by a confiftent and real policy. The hiftory of the compli ances of the Jefuits with certain rites of the Chinefe, which are idOlatroUs in appear- fpies as well as that of Chriftian teachers. (Hift. de I'Et; du Chriftianifme, i, 5.) The Jefuits themfelves, it is faid, told the ernperoi: of Japan that the king of Spain made ufe of monks to convert thfe natives of America, and then fent troops to join with the hew converts. If this be true, they do not feem to have obferved. Very confiftently, the maiclm, " Qu'il etoit neceflaire de n'etablir I'autorite " du Pape que peu a peu, pour ne point eflaroucher les " princes convtirtis, et pour les attirer peu k peu par cette " tolerantie." Vie de P. Paolo, par Courayer, p. xlii " The king of Siam interrogated the French bifliops on " the authority of the Pope, and they carefully informed " him of the great gifts which Conftantine and his fuc- *' ceflbrs had given to the Church, and to the ho^y See. " This converlSlidn feerhfcd to pleafe his majeft;^ riiiich.^' Hift. du Chriftianifme, ii. 185. See alfo La Croze, Chrift. des Indes, p^ 270. ance, 158 SERMON VL ance, was once familiar, though it is now neariy obfolete. The propriety of tolerating thefe rites in Chriftians was warmly contro verted, at the beginning of the laft century, throughout the whole of Europe ; and though this queftion has been fucceeded by difcuffions of more immediate intereft, its records ftill exift, even in a fatiguing multiplicity, from which the circumftances, to be here ftated, may be colleded on the moft authentic evi dence, and ufually, in all effential particulars, from the writings of the Jefuits themfelves. It is not to be denied that the very confi derable progrefs of Chriftianity in China, dur ing the latter part of the fixteenth, and the whole of the feventeenth centuries, is chiefly to be referred to the adivity of thefe miffiona- ries. Favoured by the great, and admitted to the confidence of the emperor, they ac quired a perfonal importance, which long en abled them to promulgate their dodrines with more than ufual advantage. Their ftudy of influence, their love of fcience, their concern in fecular and military bufinefs, and the in terefts of private commerce, have proved topics of bitter reproach on which their adverfaries have frequently enlarged. An attention, how ever, SERMON VL 159 ever, to fuch purfuits is fcarcely a proper fub jed for reprehenfion, unlefs it may feem to oppofe the interefts, and abufe the liberty of religion. Had they only facilitated the intro dudion of European arts and European libe rality by conciliating patronage and refped to mental fuperiority, they would have rendered, by this alone, an important fervice to Chrif tianity ; for long experience will warrant the obfervation, that the Chriftian dodrines have been the moft fincerely profeffed, and the moft confcientioufly regarded, where the mind has been humanized by arts, and fortified by know ledge. Nor, indeed, is remiffnefs to be imputed to the Jefuits in the immediate bufinefs of their miffions. They were not filent in preaching the name of Chrift, and their efforts, fometimes facilitated by patronage, though fometimes re tarded by perfecution, extended the profeffion of that facred name throughout every diftrid of the empire. The real benefit, however, which has been derived from their profelyting affi- duity, cannot juftly be appreciated, till the na ture has been examined of thofe accommoda tions to the exifting manners and prejudices of China, which they were prevailed upon to allow. i6o SERMON VL allow, though, by their own confefEon, they were defirous to aboliffi ''. There is a popular idolatry in China, to which the vulgar are principally attached'. There is a fed which believes in and pretends to pradife magic, and another, which is ufiially filled the feS: of the men of letters ''. The ceremonies fo much difputed ought certainly not to be confounded with the popular idola try. It appears, however, that rites are prac- tifed by the Chinefe expreffive of veneration for the heavens ; and that honours are offered to the fouls of their deceafed parents and aneeftors, and to the memory of Confucius, in which the feds, termed the magical, and the lettered, unite with the idolatrous. Thefe feem to be the only ceremonies, the obfervance of which is particularly enforced either by cuflom or law'. * See the Letter of Grimaldi to the Pope, No. i. Ap pendix XXIL " Nunquam permifimus, licet non ita " ftricte prohibuerimus." Father Brancati, cited, Lettre de M. Louis de Cice, Ev6que de Sabula, aux RR, PP, Je fuites, p. 23. ' The religion of Fo, " Le Compte, 321—323, 337. ' Gobien, « Hiftoire de TEdit de I'Empereur de la Chine, " en faveur de la religion Chretienne : avec un ecclair- " ciflTement SERMON VL i6i and may be confidered, therefore, as the moft effential part of the national religion. It is contended by the Jefuits, though in oppofition to the moft credible evidence, that by the adoration of the heavens, the Lord of the heavens is intended to be worffiipped", and that it is a remnant of that pure theifm which they fuppofe to have exifted in China even from the earlieft times". It is probable, indeed, that in China, as in other countries of which we have more particular accounts, the idola try of the vulgar was interpreted by the learn ed into a more philofophical credence. We have reafon to think that they, who were ffiocked by grofs idolatry, explained the ho- " ciflement fur les honneurs que les Chinois rendent a " Confucius et aux morts. Paris, 1698, p. 227." ¦" See No. II. Appendix XXIL p. 54, 55. " Le Compte, p. 312, &c. Thefe accounts, however, are manifeftly unworthy of credit. (Lettres de MM. des Miflions Etrangeres au Pape fur les Idolatries et fur le^ Superftitions Chinoifes, i2mo, pp. 99 — ic6, no, in.) Perhaps a ftronger prefumption than any which the Je fuits have produced, for the ancient purity of worfhip among the Chinefe, may be derived from the application of the word a^sot to that people by Celfus ; (Burnet, Arch. p. 19.) which, could Celfus be any authority refpefting fo diftant a nation, might be held to infer a freedom from grofs idolatry. M mage, i62 SERMON VL mage, or the devotions in which they joined, as being rendered to the natural virtue, or in herent divinity, which was manifefted in, the heavens ; that they held dodrines not greatly differing from the pantheiftic notion of the univerfal foul °, an opinion, of which it may be obferved, as was intimated on a former oc cafion'', that, though it avoid the name, it may be charged with the confequences of atheifm. Still, however, it muft have been the religion of the ignorant to worffiip the vifible and material heavens ''. It is no vindi cation of idolatry, that it is capable of being allegorically explained. The mode of reception, indeed, among the Jefuits themfelves, of tablets ', which bore this infcription, " Adore the heavens," is fympto- matic of its doubtful interpretation. The ufe of thefe tablets they were unwilling to adopt, though they feared to decline, and they affert ed its innocence with an anxiety which feems to intimate diftruft. At length, however, they overcame their fcruples ; they introduced thefe ° Le Comte, p. 338, Lettre de MM. des MiflT. Etr. p. 47.. P Sermon II. p. 34. « Nil pr»ter nubes, et ccell numen adorant. ¦• See Appendix XXI. tablets SERMON VL 163 tablets by the fide of the fanduary, and after wards on the altar itfelf'. The religious of other orders acceded at firft to the fame prac tice, on the- authority, and after the example of the Jefuits, but with more precaution. They feared that its offered defence might not be altogether valid, and fufpeded that it might ftill conceal the fecret poifon of idolatry. They explained and they protefted that they might purify and corred its malignity, till at length they became affiamed of their weak nefs, and rejeded it altogether with late but manly refolution.'. The ceremonies which are pradifed by the Chinefe, in honour of their deceafed parents and aneeftors, take place fome before and others after interment. The firft confift chiefly in offerings of flowers and perfumes, in burn ing of tapers, and in proftration of the body before a tablcj on which is placed either the image or pidure, or a tablet infcribed with the name of the deceafed. After interment, thefe and additional rites are repeated at ftated intervals. The images or tablets before men tioned are preferved in buildings or apart- ' Lettre de MM. des Mifl'. Etr. p. 43. ' Ibid. 44. M 2 ments. i64 SERMON VL I ments, referved in every opulent family for this fingle purpofe. In families not fo confi derable as to poffefs feparate buildings or apart ments, which can be fecluded from ordinary ufe, fome particular part of the houfe is ap propriated to thefe venerable memorials. The produds of the Spring and Autumn are fet before them with the due folemnities of prof tration, and of incenfe ; and annual procef fions are inftituted to the places in which the bodies of the dead are buried, and wine, and meat, and fruits are offered on their tombs ". Such is the moft fpecious account of thefe ceremonies which their principal defender in Europe has been able to produce. It may be added, on undoubted authority, and, fo far as relates to the pradice of many among the unconverted Chinefe, it feems not to be de nied " ; that the tablets which have been re prefented as infcribed with the name of the deceafed are intitled alfo, " the feat of the fpi- " rit" of him whofe name they bear; and that, according to the formal rituals of the country, the departed foul is implored, not without the " Gobien, 323 — 6. See alfo Queftions a propofer a Ik facree Congregation. Lettre de Mefljeurs des Miflions Etrangeres, p. 81—85, ^c- * Gobien, 227. facrifice SERMON VL 165 facrifice of animals, and the libation of wine, to defcend and repofe itfelf in thefe feats and ftations ; is invited to accept, and to partake of the offerings to its memory, and intreated to gratify the particular defires, and to relieve the temporal wants of thofe who pray to it ''- The ceremonies of the Chinefe in honour of Confucius were of a fimilar kind. They prof- trated themfelves either before his image, or a tablet which bore his name. They immolated vidims to his honour, in temples dedicated by the afperfion of the blood of animals : they prepared themfelves by fafting and continence for the exercife of thefe folemnities. The name, which was engraved on the gate of the temple of Confucius, was engraved alfo on all the temples of idols. The term made ufe of to denote the facrifice offered to him is the fame y Lettres de MeflT. des Miflions Etr. p. 69, Sec. Dom. Inigo, I. 317. " Nam et a primordio ludl bifariam cenfebantur facri et " funebres, id eft Diis nationum et mortuls. Sed de Ido- " lolatria nihil differt apud nos fub quo nomine et titulo, " dum ad eofdem fpiritus perveniat, quibus renuntiamus, " licet mortuis, licet Diis fuis faciant. Proinde mortuis " fuis ut Diis faciant, una conditio partis utriufque eft, " una idololatria, una renuntlatio noftra adverfus idolola- " triam." Tertullian de Speftaculis, cap. vi. §.3. M 3 which i66 SERMON VL which is ufed by the Jefuits themfelves, to fig- nify the' auguft facrifice of Chrift : and, in the more folemn feftivals, after he has been invited to defcend, a minifter of the temple exclaims aloud, " The fpirit of Confucius is defcend- ed\" Thefe ceremonies, of which to Europeans at leaft it could not be denied that they bore the femblance of idolatry, the Jefuits defended in the Chinefe profelytes, as juftifiable by the known fad that the Chinefe were an ex tremely ceremonious people ; that, in the com mon intercourfe of living perfons among them, proftrations were extremely common ; and that the meaning attached to fuch proftrations was no other than is attributed by Europeans to the common intercourfe of civility, and tranfgreffed not the bounds of grateful remembrance, and of decent refped \ Yet to offer facrifices, to burn ^ Le Compte, Lettre au Monfeign. le Due de Maine, cited i"^' Lettre fur les Ceremonies Chinoifes, p. 19. Lettre de MM. des Mifl*. Etr. p. 23, ^6, 64—66. Etat de la Queftion. Ibid. p. 135, 6. Gobien, EcclaircIflTement fur les honneurs, &c. Hift. de I'Ed. p. 221. Cice, Lettre aux Jefuites, p. 17, 21, 22. 2^° Lettre fur les C. C. p. 6. ^ See Gobien, p. 219, 229. The ceremonies, however, of Idolatry do not feem to be the more excufable becaufe offered to a living perfon. " The emperor of China," like the Roman emperors, " is in the habit of being wor- " ftiipped SERMON VL 167 incenfe, to bury the 'fkins and the blood of vidims that they may not be profaned", to invoke the power of the dead, and to fall prof- trate before the image of Confucius, feems to admit of no other poffible interpretation than that of religious worffiip. It muft alfo be ob ferved, that, in fome inftances at leaft, the image of Confucius was placed in the fame temple with idols of acknowledged Paganifm, and received from the vulgar a fimilar adora tion". If, then, the adoration of thofe Pagan idols was of a religious nature, the meaning of the fame ceremonies muft have been religious alfo, when offered to the images or fymbols of Confucius. Could this be for a moment " ftiipped as a god." Van Braam's Embafly, vol. ii. 223. Engl. Tr. 8vo. 1798. Mr, Van Braam, on one occafion, feems to have worftiipped him. I fliall fubjoin, in the Appendix XXIL certain papers of unqueftionable authenticity, in which the Jefuits at tempt to defend their accommodations to the Chinefe ce remonies. They will be here cited from the firft volume of Salmon's Modern Hiftory, London, 1728. 8vo. ^ I. Lettre fur les Ceremonies Chinoifes, p. 8. <= " Hujus Dei (Confufii fcil.) ftatuae variae quoque " funt, aliae in templis prsegrandes, alias parvas, ice. ff * * * * *. A dextrls afliftit (by the fide of the Idols " Fo and Laoklen) celeberrlmus Ille inter numina pariter " relatus Confufius." Kircher, China illuftrata, fol. 132. 136. See the Print, p. 137. M 4 doubtful. i68 SERMON VL doubtful, the queftion has been decided by the Jefuits themfelves. Had they been really con vinced that the ceremonies which they tole rated were purely civil, why did they inftrud their converts to avoid the pradice of thefe ceremonies whenever it was not indifpenf able''? The averfion thus intimated implies a doubt, at leaft, of their propriety. -Why, if they held as innocent the ceremonies of prof-, tration and of burning perfumes before the venerated tablets of the Chinefe, why did they affert the expediency of adding to thofe relics either an image of Chrift, or a crofs, or a tablet infcribed with the name of Jefus, whe ther to ffiare the worffiip, or to fandify the adoration ° ? It muft be obferved, alfo, that, allowing the utmoft weight to the apologies of the Jefuits, the ceremonies which they tolerated as inno cent were of the fame kind, and differed in degree only from thofe which they reprobated as idolatrous. This circumftance alone may prove the invalidity of their defence ; for, ^ Dilucldatlones pro Soc. Jefu. Lettre de MM. des Mifl". Etr. p. 35. Gobien, p. 220, 309. ' Gobien, 281, 282. Lettre de M. de Cice, p. 30. See Appendix XXIII. though SERMON VL 169 though it be granted that where there is no fufpicion of idolatry, great latitude may fafely be permitted in the expreffions of refped both to the living and the dead, yet in a country where it is notorious that an avowed adoration is paid by avowed idolaters to the material heavens, to the fouls of the dead, and to the fpirit of Confucius ; it is undeniable that the ceremonies of proftration before images, the burning of incenfe, and the appofition of wine muft have partaken of the nature of idolatry. With a diftindion, however, which fcarcely could Jiave been expeded, the Jefuits admitted that thefe ceremonies and others of the fame defcription were of a fuperftitious and idola trous nature, when pradifed by thofe perfons who believed the popular religion of the Chi nefe. They doubted not that an idolatrous meaning was attached to them by idolaters. When pradifed, however, by the learned among the Chinefe, whom they accounted atheifts, or by the Chriftian converts whom they confidered as untainted with idolatry, they pronounced the fame ceremonies to be innocent '. They inferred, probably, upon the ' II. Lettre fur les Ceremonies de la Chine, p. 17. and the decree of the congregation de Propaganda, recited in the I70 SERMON VI. principles of their ufual cafuiftry, that as the intention conftituted the culpable part of ido latry, and as all ceremonies, by which a con fidence in falfe gods was not intended to be expreffed, were of a nature purely civil ; thercr fore all external ads which, it might be pre^ fumed, were adopted folely for the purpofe of a comphance with exifting laws and inftitu tions, might fafely be allowed. The fad: which they affume is queftionable in itfelf. It is certain that neither profeffed nor real un- behef of any particular religion, or of religion in general, is by any means a prefervative ^ from fuperftition. Many who diffielieved the popular idolatry might ftill annex fome mean ing to the rites in which they joined, and it is fupported by unimpeachable evidence that the atheiftical philofophers of China did believe that there exifted a certain virtue in the offer ings to the deceafed^- But admitting to its the Lettre de MM. des Mifllions Etrangeres, p. 162. and ibid. 179. So alfo the Jefuits reafoned in India. " L'u- *' fage de ces cendres eft fuperftitieux pour les Gentlls, " me repondit alors brufquement I'Eveque, mais non pas; " pour les Chretiens qui ont une autre intention." Nor- bert, Mem. Hift. fur les MlflTions des Jefuites, vol. ii. p. 409. ed. Befan^on, 1747, 4to. « Lettre de Mefl". des Miff". Etr. p. 79, 80. utmoft SERMON VL 171 utmoft extent the fuppofition of fuch an un meaning and merely ritual conformity, on which this fingular defence is refted, yet, if fuch infincerity be allowed to the profeffors of Chriftianity, in what province of falfehood are the boundaries of hypocrify to be fixed ? Where can the diftindion between idolatry and the Chriftian religion, a diftindion always neceffary to be made ftriking to thofe to whom the Chriftian religion is propofed, where can this diftindion be pointed out, nay, how can it exift, if ceremonies to which an idolatrous meaning is annexed by idolaters, are allowed to profeffing Chriftians, living in the very midft of known idolatry ? It is not poffible that any explanatory qualification can apolo gize in the one cafe for pradices which are indefenfible in the other. Why, likewife, if it may be permitted to a Chinefe to comply with the idolatries of the vulgar, becaufe he affixes to them himfelf no meaning, and ufes them only from civil and political, not from rehgious motives, why were not the in fidel philofophers of Greece and Rome, who though they did not believe in, yet facrificed as citizens to the recognized deities of their country, permitted by the primitive teachers of 172 SERMON VL of Chriftianity to continue their oblations on the altars of Jupiter and Apollo *¦ ? To refer, however, to the pradice of the firft age of Chriftianity, exhibits an immediate contraft to the labours of the Jefuits in China, too ftrong to require a particular expofure. In the early hiftory of the church we have the teftimony of heathens, that the converts to our religion were ready to die rather than offer * A fimilar permiflion to retain the praftlce of Maho metan rites is faid to have been given by the Jefuits to the Chriftian converts in the ifland of Chios. " Le celebre P. Serry avoit avance dans la Defenfe du " Jugement rendu par le faint Siege fur les idolatries Chi- " noifes, que les Jefuites de I'ifle de Chio dans I'Archi- " pel y permettoient a leurs penitentes I'exercice exterieur " de la religion Mahometane, pourvu qu'elles confer- " vaflent dans I'interieur la foi en Jefus Chrift : que ces " Peres y admlniftroient en cachette les Sacremens a di- " verfes femmes qui vivoient dans cette diflimulation cri- " minelle, et que cet abus Imple fut decouvert in 1694. '' Les Jefuites s'etant Infcrits en faux contre cette accufa- " tion, I'Archeveque de Corinthe, qui etoit fur les lieux " lorfque 11 avoit fait cette decouverte, la confirma par une " declaration du 4 Juin, 17 10, ce qui fut aufli attefte par " d'autres declarations." " Voyez cette declaration en entlef dans une brochure " Intitulee, Le Mahometifme tolere par les Jefuites dans " I'ifle de Chio, et qui parut en 1711." Hift, Gen, des Jef. 3. 48. fuch SERMON VL 173 fuch honours to the ftatues of the Pagan deities, or of the Roman emperors, as were permitted by the Jefuits to be paid in China to the me mory of Confucius, and the fymbols of the dead. We have the witnefs of enemies that, in the firft preaching of the Gofpel, the fcandal of the crofs was never concealed through the apprehenfion of offending either Jew or Gen tile ; while the Jefuits who preached the glory, and declared the triumph, were often filent on the crucifixion of our Lord '. There is one part, indeed, of the hiftory of the Apoftles, which feems to exhibit a peculiar contraft to the condud adopted by the Jefuits towards the literary fed of the Chinefe. Once, at leaft, in the courfe of his miniftry, St. Paul addrefled himfelf to a learned, to an Athenian tribunal. He wifely adapted to local circum- '¦ Stillingfleet on the Divlfions of the Romlfli Clergy. Works, V. 169. Lettres Provinciales, p. 61. In Fleming's Chriftology (vol. ii. p. 18 — 21. cited Millar, ii. 291 — 293.) Is a long detail of the military pomp, the regal and archangelic magnificence with which the Jefuits of China aflerted the corning of Chrift to have been attended. The ftable at Nazareth is entirely forgotten, and it is faid that when at length our Saviour " took his leave of Peter " and his bifliops, he went to heaven with his army in " the fame glorious and triumphant manner in which he *',came." ftances 174 SERMON VL ftances the mode in which he declared the ex iftence of the Supreme. He alluded to a re ceived theology : he quoted a philofophical poet. Had he proceeded to expatiate on the harmony which conftituted the eflence of the divinity, or the indolent fecurity in which it repofed, the Academic and the Epicurean might have approved the ingenuity of his harangue. But the incredulous was difmayed and the fceptic revolted, when the preacher urged the important but unpopular dodrines of repent ance, refurredion, and judgment. " Some " mocked, and others faid. We will hear thee " again of this matter." The apparent re pulfe, however, was attended with a real pro grefs, which fpeculations of a nature more conciliating to the prejudices of his hearers might not have obtained. " The apoftle de- " parted from among them. Howbeit certain " men clave unto him, and believed." Every thing that can be granted to the ex planations and apologies of the Jefuits, refped ing their accommodations to the rites and pre judices of the Chinefe, is this only, that their reafoning may have a partial weight before a Popiffi tribunal, which with Proteftants it does not poffefs. It cannot be denied that the ceremonies offered by the Chinefe to the memory SERMON VL 175 memory of Confucius, and to the fouls of the defund, have a parallel in i the invocations of the Romiffi faints'". The only difference which can be urged is, that the honours, which in the one cafe are rendered to Hea thens, are in the other rendered to Chriftians : a difference in the objed, but not in the na ture or guilt of the idolatry ; certainly not in its abfurdity, for it would be a vain attempt to degrade the great philofopher of China, though a Heathen, to a level with moft of thofe names which fill the Roman martyro- logy '. The propriety, however, of allowing Chrif tians to pradife the Chinefe ceremonies, when firft it was referred to Rome, was nega tived without referve ". During the rage of •? " Nous n'avons pas plus de raifon d'accufer d'idola- " trie les ceremonies Chinoifes envers Confucius et les " morts, qu'en auroient les Chinois de condam«er d'ido- " latrie nos profternemens devant les images des faints." Le Comte, cited l""^ Lettre fur les Ceremonies Chinoifes, p. II. It may be obferved alfo in Letter 2. p. 20. to what difficulties the Roman Catholic adverfaries of the Jefuits are reduced by the Popifli worfliip of images. ' Was this the opinion of the Jefuits when they de clared Confucius to have died en odeur de faintele ? "¦ See the decree of th-e congregation de Propaganda, confirmed by Innocent X. in 1645. It is recited in the « Etat 176 SERMON VL ' the fucceeding controverfy; the Popes, as they were friendly or adverfe to the interefts of the Jefuits, either openly condemned or indiredly proteded the compliances which have been recited. At length, however, a juft fenfe of their enormity feems confiflently to have per vaded the Papal councils ; ahd legates were repeatedly fent from Rome to China, partly to endeavour to gain the emperor's confent to the toleration of pure Chriftianity, partly' to declare that Chriftians were never to be per mitted to join in the. difputed ceremonies ". " Etat de la Queftion," fubjoined to the. Lettre de Mefl*. des Mifl". Etr. p. i6a. The Pope declared upon this oc cafion that the fufpected ceremonies ought not to be per mitted, even though the refufal fliould be attended with the entire extlnftion of Chriftianity in China. (Lettre de MM. des M. E. p. ii.) For an account of the addrefs with which the Jefuits obtained a partial opinion in their favour from Alexander VII. in 1656^ fee ibid. p. 13. The fucceeding Popes poftponed the determination of the queftion from time to time, but their decifions at laft feem to have been uniformly oppofed to the compliances of the Jefuits. See the decree of Clement XI. in 17 10 : the bull Ex ilia die, publifhed in 17 15, and the reiterated edias of Benedi