DISCOURSES

on some of the

Important and Interesting

TRUTHS, DUTIES, and INSTITUTIONS of

the GOSPEL,

and the general Excellency

of the

Christian Religion;

Calculated for the People of God of

every Communion,

particularly for the benefit of

PIOUS FAMILIES,

and the

Instruction of all, in the things which

concern their salvation.

By NATHAN PERKINS, A. M.

Pastor of a Church of Christ in Hartford.

HARTFORD:

printed by hudson & goodwin.

MDCCXCV.

DEDICATION.

To the people of my Pastoral Charge—The following discourses are most affectionately dedicated. I account it a happiness to contribute to your establishment in the truth—to unfold to you the great principles, duties, and Institutions of the Christian Religion—to defend them against such as may rise up and deny them—and to lead you and your children in the right way of the Lord.

I can bear you witness, that when these discourses were delivered, you afforded an uncommon attention. You have been very solicitous to have them made public, for your own instruction and benefit; and for the use and benefit of your children, when you shall be gathered to the great Congregation of the dead. They contain not the disputed peculiarities of a party, but the grand principles and truths of our common Christianity, held sacred by our Churches in this Land, and by the whole protestant Christian world, as appears clearly from all their public Creeds and Confessions of Truth.

They are published, as you will easily recollect, nearly word for word, as they were delivered. Particular reasons have induced me to do this. In one discourse only is there a deviation from the original form; that on the Apostle’s caution Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, or the danger of instability, and pernicious tendency of error. What was merely local is omitted, but the sentiments in substance are carefully retained.

Many learned and judicious Characters, both of the Clergy and Laity, have urged to the publication of these discourses, as being peculiarly adapted to the day in which we live, and the state of Religion in our nation: as calculated for, and greatly needed in Christian Families; there being no such series of discourses to be found in any Volume already published. The design of them is to convince such as need conviction—to reclaim such as may be wandering into error—to confirm the wavering—to console the Christian,—and to exhibit to all; some of the important, essential practical principles of pure and undefiled Religion.——It is only necessary to add—My prayer to God is, that they may, by his divine blessing, be the means of preventing the spread of error and irreligion, and of reviving the decaying interest of piety and holiness, which can only be revived and supported by a more strict and conscientious regard to all divine institutions.

N. P.

THE CONTENTS.

DISCOURSE I.

That man has no principle within himself, by whatever name it may be called, which is adequate to all the purposes of his salvation, or a sufficient guide in matters of faith and practice.

Ephes. ii. 12. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the Covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

DISCOURSE II.

The subject continued.

DISCOURSE III.

The ways in which the holy scriptures are perverted by unlearned and unstable men.

2. Peter, iii. 16, 17. As also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

DISCOURSE IV.

Stated prayer a duty binding on all men.

Acts, ii. 21. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.

DISCOURSE V.

The duty of public worship, and its beneficial tendency.

Mat. iv. 10. Then saith Jesus, get thee hence Satan, for it is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

DISCOURSE VI.

The subject continued.

DISCOURSE VII.

The subject concluded.

DISCOURSE VIII.

The Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, not a human invention, but a divine institution.

Mat. xxvi. 26, to the 31. And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and gave it to the disciples, and said take, eat, this is my body.—And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the remission of sin. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day, when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.

DISCOURSE IX.

Baptism by water not a piece of superstition, but appointed by Jesus Christ.

Mat. xxviii. And this part of the 19 verse.—Baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost.

DISCOURSE X.

The subject continued and finished.

DISCOURSE XI.

It is the will of the author of Christianity that, in the New Testament dispensation, there should be particular Gospel Churches.

1. Thessalonians, i. 1. Paul and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the Church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ; grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

DISCOURSE XII.

The right way to understand the inspired writings.

Luke, xxiv. 45. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.

DISCOURSE XIII.

The Gospel to be supported by those who enjoy it.

Gal. vi. 6. Let him that is taught in the word, communicate unto him that teachest in all good things.

DISCOURSE XIV.

The Apostles, infallible guides in Religion, being commissioned, and immediately qualified, and inspired by the Redeemer.

2. Thessalonians, ii. 15. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the tradition which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our Epistle.

DISCOURSE XV.

The first day of the week proved to be holy time, and set apart by Christ, to be a weekly Sabbath to the end of the world.

Acts, xx. 7. And upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight.

DISCOURSE XVI.

The subject continued and concluded.

DISCOURSE XVII.

The parable of the Tares.

Mat. xiii. 24–31. Another Parable put he forth unto them, saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed Tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the Tares also. So the servants of the householder, came, and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field, from whence then hath it Tares? And he said unto them, an enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, nay; lest whilst ye gather up the Tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers; gather ye together first the Tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

DISCOURSE XVIII.

No immediate inspiration or miraculous teachings of the divine spirit, since the canon of scripture was closed or since the apostolic age.

1. Cor. xiii. 8. Charity never faileth; but whether there be prophecies they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge it shall vanish away.

DISCOURSE XIX.

Sinless perfection unattainable in this life.

1. John, i. 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

DISCOURSE XX.

The Apostle’s caution to all Christians—be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, or the danger of instability, and pernicious tendency of error.

Hebrews, xiii. 9. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines.

DISCOURSE XXI.

The general excellency of the Christian Religion.

1. Cor. xii. 31. But covet earnestly the best gifts: yet shew I unto you, a more excellent way.

DISCOURSE XXII.

The subject continued.

DISCOURSE XXIII.

The subject continued.

DISCOURSE XXIV.

The subject concluded.

DISCOURSE I.

That man has no principle within himself, by whatever name it may be called, which is adequate to all the purposes of his Salvation, or a sufficient guide in matters of faith and practice.

EPHESIANS ii. 12.

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

These words describe the state of the Ephesian Christians, who, before the glorious Gospel was preached among, and, through efficacious grace, embraced by them, were Gentiles. Like other pagan nations, they were professed Idolaters. They were worshippers, we are told, of the great Goddess Diana. But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice, about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.—And when the town-clerk had appeased the people, he said, ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great Goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? But they were not further removed from the true knowledge of the only right object of all religious homage and praise, or more depraved in heart, than the heathen world, at large. They were, says the Apostle, dead in trespasses and sins. This was their state before renewing grace had quickened them, and made them alive to God and virtue, to holiness and happiness. What is here affirmed of them, no one will dispute, is equally applicable to, and equally true of all mankind, in all ages and nations, before enlightened by a divine revelation and sanctified by the power of divine grace. For all the human race, throughout the world, are alike in this respect, as destitute by nature of the principles of holiness. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile—one and another. They are all, before interested in a Redeemer and sprinkled with his precious blood, without hope and without God in the world. They are aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise. As long as they are without Christ, they have no part nor lot in salvation. For without him, the great evangelical maxim is, there is no salvation. His name is the only one given under heaven among men, whereby we can attain to felicity, be pardoned as to our sins, or justified as to our persons. No man can come to the father without him. Whosoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father: but he that acknowlegeth the son, hath the Father also.—

What is intended, in the subsequent discourse, is to prove that the world of mankind, merely by their own reason and wisdom, cannot attain to a saving knowledge of God: or that man has no principle within himself, antecedent to divine grace operating on the heart, which is adequate to all the purposes of his salvation, by whatever name it may be called.—

That we may do justice, as far as we are able, to this great and important subject, we will attempt to show—

I. How far, the light of reason, without a celestial guide, can go, in things of a religious and moral nature.——And—

II. Point out its insufficiency, in those respects, which are not only very important, but altogether necessary.——

1. The first thing proposed, is to attempt to show how far the light of reason, without a divine Revelation, can go, in things of a religious and moral nature. If the state and character of mankind, in regard to Religion, shall, in what may be now offered, be placed in a new, or at least different light from what they are usually, when the great and utter depravation of the human heart is intended to be described, it is hoped it will not be less useful. Certainly an attempt to investigate such a subject as is now before us is worthy of particular attention. The proper study of mankind is man. Among all the enquiries, in which the wise and reflecting have engaged, that of discovering how far reason, of itself, without any supernatural assistances, can carry us, in regard to the concerns of our true and spiritual happiness, must be deemed one of the most highly interesting.—

While mankind are without Christ, they are aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the Covenants of promise; they are strangers to all saving blessings, and have no interest in them. They have no good grounds upon which to expect the favour of the supreme being, the pardon of Sin in this, or happiness in another world. If without hope, they are in a lost and perishing situation. They have nothing within them, let it be called by whatever name it may, which can ensure this eternal peace and salvation. To assert or pretend that they have any principle of real holiness, however small a spark it may be considered, is to assert that they have some hope from what is with themselves,—Some ground to hope for life eternal: then, this being the case, they are not aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel or strangers from the Covenants of promise. For, if while without Christ, they are all, without exception, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise, they must be without hope, or in a lost and desperate state. To be aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise is, according to the very meaning of the expressions, and the opinion of expositors, to have no lot or part, more or less, in any assignable degree, in the peculiar blessings and spiritual privileges of God’s own people and servants. Before renewed by saving grace, all men, without one exception, are without Christ. They are without hope. And to be without hope in and from ourselves, is to be in a lost and desperate state in and of ourselves. It is added, they are also, without God in the world. And to be without God in the world, is to be without an interest in his special favour—without a saving knowledge of him—and of course, without any title to his kingdom when they shall be removed from time into Eternity. To be without Christ in the world, is to have no interest in the saving blessings of his Gospel and purchase. The severest critic cannot charge me with having extended, beyond just bounds, the meaning of the text.

This, then, is the real state of all mankind, wherever they may dwell, or to whatever nation they may belong, or whatever notions to the contrary, they may imbibe, while unsanctified by efficacious grace, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.—A more wretched and forlorn condition can hardly be imagined. They are dead in trespasses and sins. They are destitute of the principles of true holiness, or the power of spiritual life.—Like the inanimate lifeless body—held in the sleep of death, they are without any motions of spiritual life towards God or heavenly glories.—If they had any measure or degree of a really holy temper, or spiritual life, it would, we may fairly presume, never be lost, or extinguished, but be preserved until the day of Christ, when all will be rewarded according to their character and works.

Perhaps, no one doctrine is so much, and so often insisted upon, in sacred Writ, as the perishing condition of sinners. And, there is no one, most certainly, that has been so much denied, or that is so humiliating. It directly militates against our natural pride, and those high notions of our dignity, of which we are so apt to boast.—A patient and candid hearing is therefore requested.——There can be but two notions of our state before renewed by saving grace: one is that we have no really holy principle of spiritual life, in any degree, however small; and the other that we have. All the various ideas and ways of representing our condition before regeneration, which have been adopted by different writers or sects, are resolvable into one, or the other of these. And, that the scripture is most clear and abundant, in the proof, that we are altogether destitute, as we are by nature, of the true principles of holiness or of spiritual life, no one who impartially weighs what it offers, can, it is conceived, call in question. No words are more full than these, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

The reason why any reject altogether the Gospel, or reproach it as a mere fiction, is because they believe that the light of natural reason or conscience is entirely adequate to the purposes of discovering our duty, in its full extent, and guiding us safe to happiness.—And the reason, also, why others, who profess to believe it, have swerved so far from its pure doctrines, is a disbelief of the lost condition of man, or his being wholly under the power and dominion of sin.—Though it be acknowledged, that the world of mankind cannot, by mere natural reason and wisdom, attain to a true and saving knowledge of God; yet it may be very useful to enquire how far the light of nature can go.——And, we readily allow, that the light of nature and common reason may teach us some things concerning the being of God. That he doth exist, the whole universe is a clear demonstration. Sun, moon and stars declare that the hand which made them is divine. Every thing around us, and above us lead us to the Creator. The dawning and dying light equally proclaim the divine existence. Let a man but reason on the nature of cause and effect, and he cannot withhold his assent from this proposition, there doth exist some great intelligent cause of all things, both in the natural and moral world. Indeed, after opening our eyes on the beauties of Creation, it is an infinitely greater absurdity not to believe in the divine existence, than not to believe our own. In reason’s ear, all nature from the highest to the lowest, cries aloud that there is a God. Because that which may be known of God, is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.—The Psalmist hath a most lofty and sublime passage to the same effect: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their light is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. It seems impossible for any, in the exercise of reason, to deny the being of a God; and of course, none can have any valid excuse for refusing to admit this first principle of all religion. The very frame of our bodies—the structure of the human mind—the curious and exquisite formation of every animal or insect cannot fail to convince us, that there doth exist an Almighty Creator. Every house is built by some man, but he that built all things is God. The worlds rolling on high—the wonderful revolution—the grandeur,—the distance,—the size of the heavenly bodies—the beautifully variegated canopy of heaven, which cannot but please and astonish us, when we open our eyes to behold it, prove, beyond all contradiction, that there is a God. The light of reason is sufficient to teach us, then, the divine existence. Accordingly we find that God never sent a messenger to declare or reveal this to us; or would have a miracle wrought to establish it.—And there is none but the fool in his heart can say there is no God. If any men claiming to be philosophers have been found to be speculative atheists, it is owing to their having perverted reason, by their sophistical arguments, and metaphysical reveries. If barbarous nations and tribes of men have been discovered, in remote parts of the world, where it appeared that they had no idea, at all, of a supreme being, it is to be ascribed not to the insufficiency of nature’s light, but to their stupid inattention to that light.

2. The light of reason is sufficient to give all mankind some knowledge of some of the attributes of the divine nature. The heathen world may know from the things that are, the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Deity. If natural reason can discover the being of God, by its own researches, it can also, discover some of the attributes of his being; such as his Almighty power, infinite wisdom and boundless goodness. The very idea of a divine existence implies, a glorious existence—a necessary and eternal existence. It seems to be a clear dictate of reason that if he exist at all, he must exist, in such a manner, as no other being doth or can, by an absolute necessity of nature: that he must be omnipresent—or every where, at one and the same time: be excluded from, and confined to no space. Reason teaches that he inhabits the infinitude of space.—If he be the first cause and Maker of all things, he must be independent, alsufficient and uncontroulable; he must be infinitely the greatest of all beings. Plato, a heathen philosopher who uttered more wise and just sayings about the nature of the Supreme Being than any one of the antient sages, speaking of the divine omnipresence, or ubiquity of the Godhead, says, he is, “a Circle whose centre is every where, and whose circumference is no where.” That he must be omniscient, or possessed of infinite knowledge, is a necessary consequence of his omnipresence.—And reason is likewise able to prove his Eternity. For if he made all things, he must be before all, and above all,—that is, he must be eternal. Hence we find the greatest Lights in the pagan world, when they are speaking of their celestial Divinities, use the epithets eternal—immortal—omnipotent. This is a full proof that reason teaches man, if duly improved, that eternity, almighty power, and wisdom were some of the perfections of God. And the incomprehensibility of these attributes is no evidence that reason does not discover them to be perfections of the divine existence. Far exalted, indeed, above all finite comprehension is the self-existent—necessarily existent—independent—all-sufficient—omnipresent God. All nature is but a temple made by him, and filled with his presence. Heaven is his throne, and the earth his footstool. His power is infinite. Wherever we turn our eyes, we cannot help beholding the displays of it. The heavens declare its glory. All things, in Creation and Providence, speak forth its greatness.—Enough may be seen, in the occurrences of human life, to satisfy all men, even where the light of the Gospel has never shined, that the Deity bears long with his creatures; and that he rules, in his divine greatness and majesty, among the nations. They cannot, if they only exercise, in a proper manner their rational faculties, but know, that he is their preserver, and the benefactor of the world, who dispenses his favors, with a liberal hand, to all men. Accordingly the Apostle Paul, when the Priests of Jupiter, at the City of Lystra, would have done sacrifice, or paid divine honours to him and Barnabas, as divinities, supposing that the Gods were come down in the likeness of men, bid them desist, and told them who alone was the proper object of religious homage; and, that, in the course of his Providence, he had given sufficient tokens of his preserving care and bounty: saying, Sirs, why do you do these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God which made heaven, and earth, and the Sea, and all things that are therein. Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without a witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

3. The light of reason, and conscience, which last, all mankind have, and which, also, is essential to moral agency and accountableness to God, farther teaches all men that worship and obedience are due from the Creature to the Creator. Every rational creature, throughout all worlds, is indispensably bound by the very laws of his existence, to pay reverence and honour, worship and fear, gratitude and obedience to the author of the Universe. If reason can only once discover that there doth exist an almighty, first, intelligent Cause of all things—and that he is possessed of such attributes as wisdom, goodness, omnipresence and omniscience, its voice will call all men to pay divine honours to this great, eternal, almighty Being. It will inform us, that such perfections as inhere in his nature, necessarily claim from all men, homage and submission. Had we no divine revelation, or suppose God never gave one to man, at all, but had left him to the mere light of his own mind to find out the paths of duty and of felicity, we should be indispensably obliged to pay honor and homage to the ruler of the world. If we can prove that he made us, and is the Creator of all things, we can, also, prove that we ought to fear, reverence and worship him. That the Maker of the world, the Father of our spirits and former of our bodies, deserves our grateful acknowledgements and devout adorations, is one of the most obvious dictates of reason. Before we can deny this, we must have perverted our reason, or shut our eyes upon a very plain truth. We can prove, from reason, the obligation to pay divine honours to God, as clearly as we can the duty of justice between man and man—the offices of humanity—and kindness—or any part of morality. And, by similar arguments. Our obligations to moral Virtue—to do justly and love mercy, to speak the truth and to relieve distress, result from the relation we stand in, towards each other. Man bears such a relation to man that he is bound to be just, faithful, tender-hearted:—to mitigate the grief which he beholds, if in his power, and to advance the welfare of society. We are all brethren. We had our beings from one divine Author. We participate in the same common nature. We are exposed to the same calamities, and are Candidates for an endless existence, beyond the grave. We are, therefore, bound, by our very make and station, in the universe of the Almighty, to certain moral duties to each other. These moral duties cannot be omitted or violated without high criminality. Our obligations to pay divine homage to God, in the same manner, result from the relations in which we, as rational Creatures, stand, towards him, the greatest and best of all beings. He is our Creator—our Preserver—our Benefactor. He is the sovereign Lord, legislator, all-wise disposer, and proprietor of the world. The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. As he bears such relations, reason, by its own exertions, without any foreign assistance, teaches all men to revere—to trust in—and to pay divine worship to him. To render unto God the things that belong to him, is as much an exercise of justice, as to render unto man the things that belong to him. A system of morals which excludes the worship of the Deity, or the duties which we owe him, is as essentially defective and as repugnant to reason, as if it excluded all the duties of the social life, or which man owes to man.—Agreeably to this, we find all the pagan world, who admitted the being of a God, paying divine honours, of some kind, to their fancied Divinities. Their mistaking in the object of worship and the manner, does not weaken the force of the argument. It only proves the absolute need of a divine Revelation to instruct us, in the alone proper object of all religious adoration and praise, the one living and true God, and the manner in which we may acceptably serve him. Almost all the writers of pagan antiquity, who have come down to us, and have not been buried in the rubbish of time, in some part of their writings, either speak of, or recommend worship of their Gods—or the divinities acknowledged, in the respective Countries where they lived. This all know who have read them. I shall mention but one particular instance, and that is of a Prince famed for his greatness and amiable virtues; Xenophon informs us, that what Cyrus the great preferred before all other things was the worship of the Gods. Upon this, therefore, he thought himself obliged to bestow his first and principal care. He began by establishing a number of Magi, to sing daily a morning service of praise to the honour of the Gods, and to offer sacrifices, which was daily practised among the Persians to succeeding ages.—

That natural reason, or the very nature of things, points out the obligations of divine homage, is plain from the appeal made by the supreme Being, in the following words; a son honoureth his father, and a servant his master, If then I be a Father, where is mine honour? And if I be a Master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts.—The anxious enquiry of the awakened conscience is, wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? The solicitude is not whether the rational creature ought to worship and serve the Deity; but how he is acceptably to worship and serve him; in what manner he will be worshipped. And, here, as will be soon proved, natural reason fails us. It cannot teach us the way, in which we are to worship and serve God.

4. The light of reason and the conscience of mankind, moreover, give some faint and glimmering prospect of a future state. Conscience and reason are different faculties and powers. Conscience is that moral reflecting power in the soul, that respects right and wrong, good and evil; or it is the moral sense; or a sense of right and wrong. That all mankind have this sense, unless by a long course of sinning and perverse reasoning, they have stupified it, no one ever did deny, or dispute; or can dispute, when he either inspects the operations of his own mind, or recollects that Christ is represented as the true Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He, as the Creator, has given to every man the light of reason and conscience; otherwise man could not be a moral agent, or accountable creature, any more than the brutal world. And, that the heathen have this light of Conscience, the Apostle to the Romans expressly declares. And when the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which shew the works of the law written in their hearts, their Conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts mean while accusing or else excusing one another. All men have, and must have a Conscience; a sense of right and wrong in moral things; an accuser when they do evil, and an excuser when they do well.—If thou do well, shalt thou not be accepted? Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? Now this Conscience points out an hereafter to man. There is some thing in the Soul that always looks forward to another state of existence, and upward to a superior power, conscious of his avenging arm when we do evil, knowingly and habitually—feeling that all its exercises and most secret movements are open to an omniscient eye. That there will be an hereafter, a world of retribution is the voice of nature.—

The light of reason, or the knowledge, which we may attain by the exercise of our reasoning faculties, gives all men some feeble and distant glimmerings of another life, after this, where the good will be rewarded, and the wicked punished. Man seems to wish to exist longer, and still longer. He cherishes the fond desire of immortality. He shrinks back from the bare thought of annihilation. Not to be is an idea indescribably painful. But, without a divine revelation, reason only, as it were, casts a wishful glance over into another world.—It is matter of fact, that the wisest and best among the learned Greeks and Romans rather hoped, than believed, that there will be a future state—Cicero, the prince of Roman Eloquence, who was at once an orator, a moralist, a philosopher, and theologian, in one of his learned works, sums up all that the most celebrated philosophers of his own time, and earlier days, had said or written on the grand subject of the immortality of the soul. He, in a lengthy dialogue, ingeniously exhibits all that the philosophers had said for, or against it. And, he closes all, with this remarkable saying, “that he rather hoped than believed, that there was another state of being after this.”—Reason, then, only conjectures about an Eternity. But the immortality of the soul is necessary to all religion. To talk of religion, if we be not to exist hereafter—if we be to fall into nothing at death, and shall sleep eternally in the grave, is the greatest absurdity.—Reason, then, leaves us much in the dark, on a point so important, as that of a future state. What folly and madness, then, to prefer the boasted oracles of reason to the clear light of divine revelation!—We stand in perishing need of a safer guide, in our voyage through this tempestuous Sea of life. And to refuse a perfect directory, the Chart of life, is like the mad seaman, who should venture to traverse the wide extended ocean without a Compass by which to steer his course. While making our voyage through life, we do not sail on a pacific Ocean. We need all the help therefore we can procure. And happy, if we may but reach the haven of eternal rest! In our enquiries on this subject, whether there be any principle in man, by whatever name it may be called, which is adequate to all the purposes of his salvation, or a sufficient guide in matters of faith and practice, we will give all the credit to the reason and conscience of mankind, which can be given, consistently with fact, and the page of history. The light of reason can no further go, than I have conceded, it is apprehended. And, that it did no further go, in matters of religion, among the most learned and civilized heathen nations, I appeal to all, who have ever read their history. What the light of reason is able to do, on moral subjects, will be stated, in the progress of our argument, in its proper place.—

We proceed—as was proposed—

II. To point out the insufficiency of reason, in things of a moral and religious nature, in those respects, which are not only important, but necessary.—And, here it will appear that mankind, while without Christ, are without hope and without God in the world, with an evidence, I trust, convincing to every candid and honest enquirer after truth and duty.—And,

1. The light of nature and highest wisdom of mankind, cannot attain to such a clear knowledge of God as is necessary to salvation. What God is, and who they are that have true conformity to, and communion with him, are questions of the greatest importance in Religion. And, they are questions which have been as little understood, and perhaps as much misapprehended, by mankind, in general, as almost any which have been discussed. Though, as St. Paul observes, the invisible things of God be clearly displayed by, and to be understood from the visible Creation, so that those are without excuse, who have not the knowledge of God from the light of nature alone, yet the heathen, after all their laborious researches, have not obtained this knowledge. Upon a fair trial of human reason, in matters of religion, under the greatest improvements of natural and moral philosophy, the world by wisdom knew not God. So far from it, that the most learned nations, and the greatest adepts in the sublime mysteries of divinity, in the pagan world, have been so vain in their imaginations, as we are told and their foolish hearts were so darkened, that they have represented and worshipped, the glorious incorruptible God, by images made like to corruptible man, and to the meanest and most despicable creatures, in the animal kingdom. They have attributed to what they worshipped as God, all the weaknesses and vices of fallen and depraved man—Pride—Envy—Cruelty—Revenge—and, even, Intemperance, and lewdness.

Not only among the heathen, but even in the most enlightened parts of the christian world, there ever have been, and still are, in many, very gross misapprehensions concerning the divine character, as well as concerning the nature of true religion.—How grossly ignorant the most enlightened of the heathen were with regard to God, and how much they were plunged into strange and absurd idolatries and pollutions, we read, in the following passage of inspired truth. Professing themselves wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Not only the common people, the vulgar, but their wisest men—their orators, philosophers, and legislators did this.—They were even worse, than the vulgar. Does this look like reason’s being a sufficient guide in matters of religion, or man’s having any principle within him by whatever name it may be called, which is able to lead him to the saving knowledge of God? In order to know God, so as to be saved, we must know him as he is; the one only living and true God. None but he himself can tell us what he is. This he hath most plainly done in his holy word. The scriptures, which were spoken and penned by the special influence and inspiration of the holy Ghost, declare to us what and who God is. We only know him, in a saving manner, when we know him, as glorious in holiness, wonderful in works, and fearful in praises:—as the greatest, the wisest and best of all beings;—as a sin-hating, and, at the same time, sin-pardoning God;—as infinitely gracious and merciful. We must see him as infinitely excellent and transcendantly glorious, as infinitely amiable and worthy of all possible praise and adoration. He is goodness and benevolence itself. He is possessed of all natural and moral perfections.—And, Jesus said, why callest thou me good? there is none good, but one that is God. He is a being of impartial, universal and infinite benevolence. Reason cannot tell us what the true moral character of God is.—This revelation alone teaches us. And we cannot be happy with, unless we know the true God—and how he will be worshipped—how he can, and will accept of us—how we may live to his divine approbation. The light of reason cannot lead us into this true and saving knowledge of God. It is above all that reason ever did, or can do. Says Paul to the learned Athenian philosophers and judges—for as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an Altar with this inscription to the unknown God, him therefore whom ye ignorantly worship declare I unto you. Christ, as the great teacher come from God, alone gives us the saving knowledge of the supreme Jehovah. Whosoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father: All things, says he, are delivered unto me of my father; and no man knoweth the son but the father, neither knoweth any man the father, save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. The gospel or christianity alone gives us a saving knowledge of the only one living and true God.—The divine character is to be known only from a divine revelation. If it could be discovered without a divine revelation, or by the highest efforts of reason—how could a divine revelation be absolutely necessary?—The essential glories therefore, and perfections of the Deity cannot be discovered by natural reason:—those glories and perfections which make him what he is, or constitute his infinite moral amiableness and transcendant excellence, and worthiness to receive from all intelligent creatures all the services, which they are capable of rendering unto him. He is light, all beauty and glory, and in him is no darkness at all. But the human mind is darkened by sin. The depravity of the heart brings on blindness of mind to the spiritual beauty and glory of the divine character.—Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts. What absurd and essentially erroneous apprehensions of the nature and perfections of the God of Israel had the Syrians, in the following proposal of theirs! And the servants of the king of Syria said unto him, their Gods, are the Gods of the hills; therefore were they stronger than we: but let us fight against them in the plain and surely we shall be stronger than they. These heathen knew as much about the true God, as heathen in general. They supposed the God of Israel was only a local and tutelary divinity, who had taken the people of Israel under his peculiar patronage. But the Jehovah of the Jews was altogether different from any of the Idol-gods of the Gentiles.—And he must, by his own revelation, inform us of his real character and essential moral glories.

2. Our rational powers and conscience, under the highest cultivation, unassisted by a divine revelation, cannot inform us what kind of worship and obedience is to be paid to the true God. One of the disciples of Socrates, that great light of the pagan world, desired information from his Master concerning some difficulties attending prayer; and above all, particular requests made to God, which have proved injurious to the petitioners when granted. The philosopher owned himself utterly unable to satisfy the disciple upon this head, and concludes with these remarkable words, “We must continue in our ignorance, till it shall please God to send a person into the world to give us full information concerning our duty.” The light of mere reason, as proved in another part of this discourse, teaches all men, over the whole face of the globe, provided they duly hearkened to it, and cultivated it, that they ought to honour and worship the divine Being. But it cannot tell what sort of homage he will accept, or how we are to worship him. He alone can satisfy us, on this most material point—a point of supreme importance. He must tell us, in what way, we are to pay divine honours to his glorious Majesty. He dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped by men’s hands as though he needed any thing from us. For he can neither be inriched by our services, nor impoverished by the want of them.—With regard to the worship of the heathen, St. Paul has these remarkable words; Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. All their rites and forms of worship were absurd, unworthy of the divine nature, and disgraceful to ours. It may be proper here, to mention some striking instances of strange and cruel methods of worship, as a specimen of man’s natural ignorance of the right way of honouring and serving God. The Idol Baal, in scripture mentioned so often, was worshipped by acts of cruelty, which the sottish worshippers inflicted upon themselves. So desirous of ease are mankind, and so averse to pain that we should rationally conclude, that no methods of tormenting themselves could be introduced into their religious worship of their Idols. But the deluded Idolaters, in paying their homage to Baal, cut and wounded their own flesh—gashed and mangled themselves to please their Idol. And they cried aloud, and cut themselves, after their manner, with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them.—The Idol Moloch was worshipped by acts of the strangest and most unnatural cruelty.—Parents sacrificed their children to this Idol; and, it has been very common for parents to appease the anger of their fancied Gods, by sacrificing their tender offspring.—How contrary to reason—to nature! The image of Moloch was made of brass, in a hideous shape, and het red hot; and the devoted victim—the innocent child was brought by its own parents, and thrown naked into this burning brass, and burnt to death,—and no regard paid to its piteous cries. The Carthaginians were wont, as we are told in history, to sacrifice their children, when public calamities visited their state, to placate the resentments of their gods. And, their custom was to select, out of all, the fairest and most promising—such as were best beloved, and to offer them up in sacrifice: to give up the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul. Many nations have, and do to this day, worship their Idols, by acts of extreme cruelty—by consuming themselves in the fire. Modes of worship have been adopted, which are contrary to all the tender affections of human nature. And, no nation, people, or tribe ever yet could be found, in all the world, by voyages or travels, that ever had any rational or decent rites of worship, where the gospel never shined, whether in Europe, Asia, Africa or America. The most civilized and learned heathen nations were as absurd—as extravagant—as ridiculous, in their idolatries, as the rude and savage. And it is confidently affirmed by some modern travellers, that many tribes of men, in the interior parts of extensive countries, have no word in their language, for either a God, or any worship. Whether this be so or not, we cannot absolutely determine:—it rests upon the credibility of the reporters. What can, therefore, be more contrary to fact, than to pretend that man has any principle in himself, which can be a safe guide in matters of Religion?

DISCOURSE II.

That man has no principle within himself, by whatever name it may be called, which is adequate to all the purposes of his salvation, or a sufficient guide in matters of faith and practice.

EPHESIANS ii. 12.

That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the Covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

The true character and state of mankind before savingly interested in the gospel are not generally acknowledged, or believed, in the world, to this day. Many thousand years have they had, to find out their own state and Character in respect to their Maker and things of a moral and religious nature; and they are now, as much as ever, divided in opinion, and are as far from an union of sentiment, on so important, and one would imagine, plain a point. An impartial inspection into the human heart and extensive view of the history of the world and moral things, we should conceive, would bring them all to one and the same conclusion, and to an exact uniformity of opinion concerning the state and character of mankind.

Whether man be fallen or not, is now, in reality, the dispute. Such as reject with scorn, all idea of a revealed Religion as an impossibility in its own nature, (and some are absurd enough to reject it on this ground) affirm that the light of reason is entirely sufficient for all the purposes of discovering to us, the whole of our duty as rational creatures and to ensure infallibly our happiness here and hereafter; if there be an hereafter. These say that we are now just as we always were: that man never fell or apostatized from his Maker; of course, that he is under no worse circumstances, nor labours under any evils, under which he did not labour when he came forth from the hands of creative wisdom, goodness, and power. And, therefore, that he has an Inward light sufficient for all the purposes of his salvation—a sufficient guide in all things of a moral and religious nature. The consequence is, that a divine revelation is wholly unnecessary. If wholly unnecessary, we may be certain, that a wise and good Being, who perfectly knows all things, would not vouchsafe to give one.—For he does nothing in vain.—

Others, who admit a divine Revelation, believe that man is not so fallen from God, but that he has a degree, though small, of real moral goodness or holiness, which being duly nourished and attended to, will issue in life eternal. But the Apostle, in the words now read, says that all men are, before the Gospel be preached unto and embraced by them, without hope and without God in the world.—And, what was intended, in discoursing upon those words, was to prove that mankind, merely, by their own reason and wisdom, cannot attain to a saving knowledge of God, or, in themselves, are in a helpless and hopeless state—Two things were proposed to be largely considered,

I. How far the light of reason, unassisted, can go in the things of a religious and moral nature.—

II. And, to point out its insufficiency, in these respects, which are not only very important, but altogether necessary.——

The first of these has already been discussed.—And we entered, in the preceding discourse, upon the second—and illustrated the insufficiency of the mere light of reason.—1st. In regard to the essential glories and excellencies of the divine nature and character—and 2nd. in regard to the right way of worshipping and serving God.

We now pass—to observe——

3. The light of mere reason, or conscience of mankind is wholly insufficient to discover to us whether God will accept of us, at all; and if he will, upon what terms. It can tell us that he is the Maker of all things, the Preserver of all things, the governor of all things; but can give us no instruction upon what terms he will receive us into his favour and friendship, or whether he will do it, at all. When we ponder deep on moral and religious subjects, we cannot be but conscious of many imperfections and Sins. We feel that there is a power on high whom we have offended. We dread his anger. When another world is seriously contemplated, we dare not appear in it without some firm hope. An invisible God—an incensed Judge is an alarming thought. The anxious enquiry is wherewith shall we come before him—and bow ourselves before a holy and pure God? Mere reason cannot satisfy the enquiry. It knows not how we may come before him, or with what sacrifices he will be pleased. Being truly humbled and deeply grieved for our offences seems the most natural way of hoping for pardon and acceptance. But, whether a holy and righteous sovereign, on our repentance, can forgive us consistently with his glories, or the safety of his Universe, reason cannot inform us. To cast ourselves upon his infinite clemency is what reason would advise. But, whether this would be safe or not, is a grand uncertainty. Without a revelation, therefore, we do not know whether we may be pardoned—or if we may, how it may be consistently done; or how we may be recovered from the evils, which all men feel, and of which the world is full. Reason can see the disease, under which all men labour, but can prescribe no method of cure. All the wise men of the heathen world for thousands of years together, have tried to discover a method of escape from the evils, which all felt, and of which they justly complained. But all in vain.—An infinitely wise God gave human nature a fair trial—all advantages—and time long enough to satisfy all reasonable men, how far it could go. Look round the world, at this day, and what success has boasted and almost idolized reason had in things of a moral and religious concern, among pagan nations?—Look back on past ages, and where alas! is the man—or the body of men that have found reason a sufficient guide? Even, in the countries blessed with the Gospel, what delusion, what Error, what superstition!—Without a divine Revelation all is darkness, in a moral view:—all is helpless and hopeless:—there is no pardon:—there is no salvation. Reason could never show one sin forgiven or lead a step beyond the grave—or have any idea of the resurrection of the body.

All mankind are, therefore, in themselves, without hope and without God in the world. Under all the pressures of adversity, or dismal pains and calamities of life, separate from revealed Religion, there is no relief for them. All would be darkness,—mystery—and despair. They could not conjecture for what the world was made—for what it is preserved—why there were made rational creatures—What design is aimed at, in the government of the world—or what the real and true character of the Maker of it is—or what will be the end of the whole.

4. The reason and conscience of mankind do not clearly discover a future state, nor place before them rewards and motives sufficiently strong and powerful to induce them, amid the attractions, temptations and vanities of this world, to act with a wise reference to another.

Conscience is God’s monitor, reprover or counsellor within the soul. In many important cases, it dictates what ought to be done, and what ought not to be done in regards to our behaviour towards our fellow men, and towards ourselves as connected in society. It shows us plainly what moral ties, in a multitude of instances, which cannot now be enumerated, bind us. When we do wrong, it punishes us by severe remonstrances and upbraidings. When we do well, it testifies in our behalf, and administers rich consolation by self-approving reflections. It, consequently, serves as a natural law to all men. It is the Deity’s law written or imprinted on all minds. From its present severe reproofs for vicious, and pleasing joys, for virtuous and upright conduct, we may gather, fairly, that there will be a future reckoning—a day of judgment—a world to come—a place to remunerate the just, and to inflict punishments on the incorrigible. At least, we may conclude all this to be highly probable. Conscience, then, points us to a future state as a probability. Accordingly the most, though not all of heathen nations and tribes have had some faint and confused idea of another life after death. Some wavering belief of it. They conjectured that there might be, or would be a future existence. The rational and sober livers among them hoped there would be another life. But no nation, not favoured with revealed light, ever entertained any tolerably consistent or rational notions of it, either of the rewards to be conferred upon the good, or the evils to be endured by the wicked.—With their Poets and Orators all was fable and fiction. They described, with much ornament of language, their Elysian fields—and represented, in a terrifying manner, their furies.—

Few, indeed, if any, had a just idea that one holy, righteous and good Being made and presided over the whole universe. Some have doubted whether ever one of the heathen philosophers really believed, unless he had seen the Old or New Testament, the unity of the Godhead. Socrates is represented by some as dying a Martyr to this belief—but, in his last moments, he ordered sacrifice to be offered to the idol-gods of his country—thereby giving his dying testimony to polytheism. However this may be, it is certain to a demonstration that the heathen have universally been polytheists or have admitted a plurality of Gods. They had their great and their household or domestic divinities—their terrestrial and celestial divinities, more than thirty thousand in all. Almost every thing in nature, as well as the sun, moon and stars, was worshipped—such as groves of trees, fountains of water, rivers, various plants and insects. As concerning, therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifices to Idols, we know that an Idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth (as there be Gods many and Lords many) but to us there is but one God the father of whom are all things and we by him.

The right way to know what reason can do, in things moral and religious, is to see what it actually hath done, in past ages, among the most learned and polished nations. They had great men—learned men—philosophers—poets—statesmen—and orators: especially the Romans and Greeks. They were opulent, and had many schools of wise men. These cultivated science, and spared no pains in their researches, to discover truth. They did all that reason could do, when learning is most liberally encouraged and happily flourishes, as to a discovery of a future world—and what rewards await the virtuous, and what punishments will be the portion of the wicked. After all, their notions were ridiculous, childish, self-repugnant, and contradictory.

It is true, they had some judicious, weighty, moral, sayings; for in this argument, I would allow them as much as can be allowed them, consistently with fact. But no system of heathen morals proposed any thing, as motives drawn from another world of any force to induce people to act with any due reverence to it—or to prepare for a happy immortality. Reason, consequently, doth not, properly speaking, look into another world. It merely conjectures about it.—The Gospel, or a divine revelation only fully discloses an Eternity to man.—It lays before him Immortality: an Immortality of blessedness, when life is no more, if it have been improved in a pious and virtuous manner.—It denounces on the wicked everlasting misery. But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.——We can now look through all the wastes and glooms of death and the grave to a resurrection of the body—to a judgment-seat—to an endless existence after death—to eternal rewards for the pious—and everlasting woe to the despisers of God and Virtue. By the Gospel, therefore, we have hope, pleasing enrapturing hope—we have light, like the glorious luminary of the sky in his meridian altitude—we have life, spiritual and divine—we have the saving knowledge of God—we have a fulness of felicity opened before us, and promised to us, upon our repentance, faith, and new obedience.

5. Reason and conscience are unable to renew and change our hard hearts, or to give us a true and real light of the excellency of spiritual and divine things. To subdue the obduracy of the heart, to slay the enmity there is in us against the law, character, and perfections of God, is beyond all that reason and conscience can effect. The powers of reason can tell us of our dark, blinded corrupt state. Men of science and liberal enquiry, in all ages, and among all people, have seen, confessed, and bewailed the imperfections and frailties, the infirmities and exceeding depravation of human nature; like a magnificent pile of buildings in ruin—or a fertile and luxuriant soil overrun with noxious plants. It was impossible for candid and inquisitive men among heathen tribes not to have discovered the perverseness and vices of human nature, in general, they are so plain; though they called some things Virtues which were not—and some things Vices which were not. But reason never could suggest, or give a hint of any plan of restoration to a right temper or a holy and innocent condition. There is nothing—no principle in man—no light—or quality that can sanctify, purify, and regenerate the soul. But an inward renovation is absolutely necessary to moral happiness, to become like God, to be either conformed to his perfections, or fitted to enjoy his presence in heaven. The wisest and best heathen confessed it was not in man to heal the moral disorders of his nature, or to rectify the temper, so great was its obliquity; and affirmed that a superior power was needed to effect this, and to make us meet to enjoy forever the favour and friendship of the Creator of the Universe. They felt that a revelation was necessary to lead and direct men how to live, so as to be hereafter blessed, and never once thought of disputing the possibility of such a thing. And nothing, in that Revelation which we enjoy, is plainer than the doctrine of efficacious grace, or more insisted upon than the need of a divine power to sanctify, purify, and change our disordered and depraved nature. Divine influence is essentially requisite, to renew us and to implant within the soul the principle of holiness. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.—But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned.—No man can come unto me, except the father, which hath sent me, draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.—Not that we are of ourselves sufficient to think any thing as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.—Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is God that giveth the increase.—Yea they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.

Men do not chuse piety and virtue from any principle within themselves. They chuse their own evil practices which lead to ruin. They actually hate God and holiness, truth and religion, or their conduct would not be such as we see it is, when we carefully examine it. They are not willing to be, and to do, as they ought. They will not, though urged by the weight of the most powerful arguments and all the ardor of importunity, live up to the light which they have; or wisely and diligently improve the talents with which they are entrusted. They hide, like the slothful servant, their talent in a napkin. They have no disposition to improve it. They resemble the prodigal son, in the parable, wasting their substance in riotous living. All men have a propensity to wander from the truth. They do not, and never did, duly and faithfully, improve the light of reason, or those notices of God—of virtue—of the moral law which they had, or now have. All, of course, who shall finally perish, will be self-condemned. They will never have it in their power to say that their Maker has been, either unjust or hard with them; or to reply as the slothful servant did, Lord I know thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth; lo! there thou hast that is thine.

In the sixth and last place, reason and conscience are insufficient to give us a full and complete system of morality, or moral truths. Let the system of morality taught and believed by the best and wisest of heathen nations, be candidly examined and critically inspected, and it will appear a maimed and imperfect, a broken and defective system. They had endless contentions about what they termed the chief good, that is, the real duty and happiness of man. One of their most eminent moralists reckons up more than one hundred different and contradictory opinions on this subject. Some placed it in self-indulgence: some in riches—some in insensibility—and all in that which never can render us blessed, and in which it can never be found.—Had any one leisure, and could summon up a sufficient stock of patience to collect from all the heathen writers on moral subjects, their various and self-contradictory rules of moral living, we should see how utterly unable mere reason is to form a complete system of moral virtue.

It would be great injustice to the subject before us, not to remark here, that some of the greatest moralists among the Greeks and Romans, had seen the writings of Moses, or the New-Testament, and had gleaned from them, a great proportion of the moral lessons which they delivered. Many of them, which is indeed much to their honour, travelled into the famous countries of Asia, where mankind were first planted by the adorable Creator, and where communications from the Almighty were first made to man, and they returned home to their own countries, enriched with the learning of others. But with all these advantages none of them, Socrates, Plato, or Seneca, who were universally known to be most renowned for moral sayings, formed any thing like a full and perfect system. They leave out many important virtues. They admit many odious and horrible vices; such as self-murder, cruelty, incest, and revenge.—And they place all the virtues on a wrong foundation, and persuade to the practice of them from improper and weak, or sinister and wicked motives. Even the celebrated Cato, who gave forth many moral maxims—who was called honest, just, inflexible in integrity—who was said by his contemporaries to be possessed of a stern virtue, put an end to his own life, because he could not bear to be a witness of the corruption and degeneracy of the age, in which he lived.—Few crimes perpetrated by man can be more heinous than self-murder. There is something terrifying in the extreme to think of ushering ourselves, uncalled, unbidden into the presence of the Deity and into the invisible world. Many nations now in the world where the Gospel was never known or christian doctrines propagated, have no idea at all of the Creator of the universe, or immortality of the soul, or pious duties, or fear of, or love to God.—The heathen tribes of this Land, as those tell us who have had the best opportunities of information, where no European has disseminated any seeds of religious belief, have no idea who made them—or who made the world—or of duty to God. In the interior parts of Africa, a late traveller there, asserts, that various tribes, visited by him, as far as he could learn, had no idea at all of any God or religion, or even words to express any worship to be paid to any power above them. But admit this to be a mistake, still truth compels us to believe them extremely ignorant on moral and religious subjects. They have however as bright faculties and powers of mind as the nations who have the Gospel. The immense difference is to be ascribed principally to that very Christianity, which is, alas! so much neglected by us.—

If we would know what light there is in man—what light all men have—or what help all need, we must see what nations, which never enjoyed any divine Revelation, have known—done—and believed as to God, Piety, and Morality. Superficial reasoners, men who indeed pretend to reason and philosophy—and reject the Gospel, and tell us of the sufficiency of nature’s light—of reason and conscience—or any other principle, lose, and bewilder themselves by not fairly looking into the history of the heathen nations and their moral writings, and seeing what their ideas, notions, and improvements have been, and still are. Their history, in truth, is but one continued narrative of ignorance—idolatry—vices—unnatural lusts—wars—bloodshed—barbarity—and misery; and their moral writings, so far as they have reached our times, contain no just or full system of morality at all. If a man were to conform himself to the whole of their rules of moral living, and understood them all, his life would be a scene of inconsistence and error, vice and folly; and his end self-murder. Our modern scepticks, it must be carefully remembered, collect all their ideas of morality and of God, if any just ones they have, and so far as any of their ideas be just, from that very Religion which they reject. They are, therefore, like a wayward and perverse Child that disowns its parent, merely because he wishes him to be good and happy—to be and do right; and takes the indispensably necessary measures for this purpose.—And if, among the haters of Religion, any be found at this day who have adopted the Atheists Creed, under the splendid name of philosophy—it is a most striking proof of what is the subject of this discourse.—Upon the whole, we may come to this conclusion, that all the conduct of man, since the day he was expelled from the earthly paradise for his Apostacy, proves clearly, even to a demonstration, that there is no light in him, or guide to duty and happiness, which may be depended upon—or which is safe for him to trust to—or sufficient to lead him to God and glory. Without Christ and the Gospel, all is darkness—confusion, and despair. There is no hope, no help, no salvation, no true system even of morality, if we deny a Saviour and his Gospel. See what the pagan world is from the holy Apostle Paul. He will tell you the truth. He will not deceive you by misrepresentation.—But how can I read! How can you hear without confusion!—I shudder at their awful and horrible vices, and utter depravation of heart, and morals. Professing themselves wise, they became fools. And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies with themselves. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever, amen. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lusts one towards another, men with men, working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient—being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.—Here is a true account of the polished heathen of the antient Roman Empire: of their philosophers as well as of the vulgar. More ignorant and Savage nations and tribes are, if possible, still more vile.—What, then, is human nature? What is man’s true state or character before renewed by divine grace?—What! is he as holy and innocent as Adam was when he was first formed? Is he, in his mind, fair and unspotted, as a clean sheet of paper?—Has he a light in himself sufficient to all the ends of spiritual life on earth, and eternal life in heaven! See what mankind are without the Gospel,—Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having ho hope, and without God in the world.

I think it proper, here, to subjoin a few passages of Scripture, out of many, which declare that mankind are corrupted and depraved—or that they have no principle within them, sufficient to enable them to attain to eternal life without the powerful operations of divine grace.—How full to this purpose are those words (Gen. vi. 5). And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is evil from his youth.—The Psalmist David fully testifies what man is when he puts himself forward as an example. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.—Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my Mother conceive me.—The prophet Jeremiah speaks of man’s depraved state in very strong terms.—The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it? It follows, I the Lord search the heart, to give to every man according to his works. If the heart be deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, is it, at the same time possessed of any degree of a holy principle—or has it any light to guide it to heaven, or to be a sufficient directory in matters of faith and practice?—How the Apostle Paul viewed man as he is in himself, appears from the long quotation above made from him, and also from the following words—What then are we better than they? no, in no wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one.—And again, Now we know that what things soever the law saith: it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God—for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The same inspired teacher leads the mind to the source of all, the sin of the first man, who stood as a public head for all his posterity. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin: and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.—Again, you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.—Our blessed Lord himself says, he came to seek and save that which was lost. If we be not lost we need no Saviour, or atonement, or help.—It appears, then, with an evidence exceedingly strong, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God—and that man, in a natural state, is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. He has no principle in himself, by whatever name it may be called, which can, being duly exercised, form him for the service of God on earth, or his immediate presence in heaven.

What remains is to add a few reflections by way of improvement.

1. And what hath been said teacheth us the importance of realizing the misery and ruin of the condition of all men, as they are born into the world. A want of belief, or due sense of this, leads to a denial of the Gospel—to a rejection of the propitiatory sacrifice of the Redeemer—to almost every heresy and error. Men cannot bear to admit so mortifying a truth as that of their ruined and fallen, guilty and miserable state. Pride rises up, and repudiates the unpleasing doctrine. One says we are not depraved: another affirms which indeed is the same thing, that we have a light of our own adequate to all the purposes of our salvation:—a third contends that there is a portion of real saving grace in every human heart. All these, in effect, disown the scripture doctrine of the text, the utterly ruined and perishing condition of man in himself. The truth endeavoured to be established in the above discourses, is that the light of reason or highest wisdom of mankind is insufficient to teach us the true and saving knowledge of God. It is of the utmost moment to realize this. The world by wisdom knew not God.—Where there is no vision the people perish: but he that keepeth the law happy is he.—To open their eyes, is the design of the Gospel, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me. Understand ye brutish among the people! and ye fools when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? he that chastiseth the heathen, shall he not correct? he that teachest knowledge, shall he not know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity.—I know you, says our Saviour, that the love of God is not in you.—Can any one who seriously believes the scriptures, hold that man has any principle, let it be termed how it may, that can be adequate to all the end of spiritual life here, and eternal life hereafter?—That there is in fact no saving knowledge of God out of Christ, is plain from Acts iv. 12.—Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. He that hath not the son, hath not the father. Deny Christ and reject his Gospel, and you reject life. Misery is, then, inevitable. You must realize that you are, in yourselves, lost and guilty,—wretched and undone,—hopeless and perishing.

2. We infer from the foregoing subject the infinite grace and condescension of the Deity in making a revelation of his will, and of the way of salvation to mankind. He was under no obligation to do it. It would not have been either cruel, or hard, or unrighteous in him, to have withheld all pity from them, and to have let them die in their sins. Most justly might a holy and sovereign God have given them all over to the fatal effects of their own folly. It is no injustice or partiality in him to take one and leave another, because he is not obliged to have mercy on any one. If he reveal his will to any nation or people: or if he sanctify, pardon and save one individual, it is all of free grace. All the glory is his, when he sheweth mercy: all the shame and guilt of sin, if we die in our iniquities, are ours.—Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they will walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.

If the great Lord of heaven and earth give his Gospel to one nation and not to another:—or if he pardon, renew and save one individual and not another: if he bestow upon one ten, upon another five, upon another one talent only: if he impart to one a disposition to improve, by his power and spirit, and not to another—does he do any wrong?—May he not do what he will with his own? Who can find fault? If all have forfeited every claim to mercy, who can complain of either cruelty or injustice on the part of heaven, if it be withheld? Where shall the vile monster, the impious wretch be found who will rise up and impeach the holiness, wisdom and benevolence of God, because he is a sovereign?—Let such if any there be come forward and make good their charge, for their controversy is with the Almighty. By him we are told that we are vile, guilty, perishing, and ill-deserving sinners, that there is no principle in us, while unrenewed, that is sufficient, duly cultivated, to our salvation. Such as affirm that there is, must dispute it out, with him whose is the Universe, whose is the power and glory. That he should condescend to reveal his will to us—to open a plan of life, of restoration to his favour, and to holiness, and happiness, is admirable grace, is such a display of compassion as may well excite within us, every grateful sentiment.

3. We, therefore, further infer from the foregoing subject, the duty of gratitude that we enjoy the light and advantages of a divine Revelation. This light is rich and glorious: those advantages are many and precious. How affecting is the idea of the perishing state of man!—How is the gold become dim and the most fine gold changed!—Who but must weep over the situation of the heathen, that are without hope and without God in the world:—who are in darkness:—who are worshipping dumb Idols: who are bowing down to stocks and stones:—who have Gods many and lords many: who believe in polytheism, and have changed the truth of God into a lie:—who pay honours divine to the sun, moon and stars.—They do not know that there is but one God—or how to serve him, or that he can, and will pardon them. To them all is darkness and mystery. No ray of revealed light reaches them, and they have no rational view of moral and divine things.——Who made us to differ? Who ordered our birth and education in a land of Gospel light and liberty—a land of civil and religious freedom, while such an handful only of the human race either know or enjoy the rights of man?—We know or may know, duly using our reason and the light of the Gospel, the way of truth. We know that there is but one God, one Mediator, one salvation, one way to life eternal.—Happy are ye in knowing the Gospel of the grace of God—in having the holy scriptures in a language which you understand! Happy are ye in having the privilege of public worship!—He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statues and his judgments unto Israel: he hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord.—At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee O father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hath revealed them unto babes.—Why art thou, O America, so highly exalted—so eminently distinguished by all the light and privileges of the Gospel, and civil freedom!—How unnatural, how barbarous any of thy citizens, if they despise these:—if they exert any power to take from thee, thy glory—thy beauty—thy praise, the Gospel of the grace of God: or to oppose or corrupt it; or if they refuse to be thankful for it!—O for a note of praise sublime to ascend from every American tongue and fervour of gratitude to go up from every American heart to the throne of the Universe—that we have all the light, privileges, and ordinances of the christian religion:—delightful, pleasing, divine Religion, pure and undefiled!—May all our hearts welcome thee to our choice—and, then, we are happy. Thou art the glory of any land, the guide of the youth, the support of age, the solace of all thy friends!——Happy is that people whose God is the Lord!

4. We infer from this subject, the absolute need of the divine teachings in order to be saved. We are not of ourselves sufficient to change our own corrupt hearts. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is God who giveth the increase. Means are to be employed—divine grace is to be sought importunately and perseveringly—the ministrations of the Gospel are to be attended upon diligently, carefully, and heedfully. But the power of God must call and quicken, sanctify and save the soul. Listen not then, for a moment, to such as tell you, that you have a treasure in yourselves, if you will attend to it, in a proper manner, which is sufficient to all the ends of a holy life, and future blessedness.—Such only deceive themselves. They do but dream in Religion. They are sadly ignorant of the first principles of the Oracles of God.—

In the fifth and last place, we infer from this subject the obligation upon us to improve faithfully the light and advantages of a divine Revelation. We are particularly distinguished on account of our religious privileges. We enjoy the benefit of the outward ministrations of the sanctuary. Gospel truths, and ordinances are dispensed to us. The doors of God’s house are always open to us. We have the holy Sabbath. On the part of God, what could have been done more for his Vineyard than has been done? Now all these advantages we are to improve, with faithfulness and diligence. Let us never disesteem them, let others say or do what they may, or speak ever so hard things of the Gospel, or its institutions. Profane and irreligious men will scoff at all serious piety. Let us never be seduced by the artifices of such, as lie in wait to deceive; or be ashamed of the Gospel of the Son of God; for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. If we abuse the light which we enjoy, and misimprove our religious opportunities and advantages, our guilt will be exceedingly aggravated, and our final ruin, if we perish, proportionately dreadful. For that servant which knew his Lord’s will and prepared not himself, nor did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes.—For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.

DISCOURSE III.

The ways in which the holy Scriptures are perverted by unlearned and unstable men.

2 PETER, iii. 16. 17.

As also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

The holy scriptures, though by divine grace able to make us wise unto salvation, are almost wholly disused by multitudes, who nevertheless would wish to be thought friends to the religion and morals which are taught in them. They even lie by, in many houses covered with dust, as if of no consequence in the direction of human life, and unworthy of a careful attention or serious perusal. Their purity, their beauty, their sublimity, which some of the best and greatest characters that ever adorned human nature, have not only admired, but extolled, are overlooked, either through a want of discernment to acknowledge, or of taste to relish their merit.—Some read them only from custom or for amusement.—Others read them merely to cavil at, reproach, and pervert them. Others, again, search them, not to be guided by the light which they shall exhibit, but to support or confirm the opinions, which they have previously imbibed, and are resolved not to relinquish. Hence not only different, but contradictory principles are pretended to be drawn from them.

Like all other things of importance and worth, they are liable to be abused and misapplied. It is however no valid, nor, indeed, plausible objection against their divinity, or usefulness, that they are capable of being misconstrued and misunderstood. If it please the majesty of heaven and earth to speak to man, at all concerning his duty and happiness as a moral agent, he must speak to him in man’s language. But all human language is imperfect, capable of being perverted and wrongly construed—of course, the holy scriptures are so. In truth, every thing done by man is imperfect. He lives in an imperfect world. His language, when most refined, is imperfect.—It would therefore, bespeak a high degree of folly and inconsideration either to disesteem, or to think meanly of the holy scriptures, because they have been misimproved and profaned. And, it is equally disgraceful to reason and repugnant to philosophy to look upon them as fabulous, or to imagine that no certain and fixed system of doctrines is contained in them, merely because different sects of Christians have understood them differently, and drawn from them, not only different, but contradictory tenets.

The serious mind will most sincerely regret, what cannot be acknowledged, that they have been so often and so grossly perverted. The candid and honest will not be prejudiced against them, or neglect, most diligently to attend to them, though they have been so much misapplied and misunderstood.

To guard, therefore, against the danger and commonness of wresting and perverting the word of God to our destruction is a subject highly important and interesting in itself; at all times proper; but at this day, it is apprehended, to be peculiarly seasonable. It is a subject seldom discussed, but if properly managed may be eminently useful to all christian families and individuals. It may be made very subservient to advance the cause of rational religion, and to prevent the mind from what is visionary and fanciful in matters of infinite concern.

The time and attention of the hearer will consequently be well employed, if his mind may be deeply impressed with the importance of rightly understanding the scriptures and with the greatness of the danger of wresting them to his own destruction, as is often done by unlearned and unstable men: and the pains and anxiety of the speaker will be amply rewarded, if he may but bring any assistance to, or suggest what may prevent any one, if it be, even, but one, from wresting them to his own destruction. For the salvation of one soul is of more worth than the material world, and the loss of one, or his final destruction is greater than words can describe. For what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul.—

These considerations have induced me to make choice of the passage now read, as the subject of discourse at this time. It contains the danger and commonness of the sin of perverting and abusing the scripture to our destruction. It stands connected with the foregoing verses in this manner. St. Peter had been describing, with great force and solemn grandeur, the end of the world—the dissolution of the system of creation—and the coming of the son of man to judge the Universe. He speaks of the heavens passing away with a great noise—the Elements melting with fervent heat—the Earth and all its works being consumed in one universal conflagration—the day of judgment—the perdition of ungodly men—the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness—the perfection of felicity for the pious and virtuous. In the text he informs us, that St. Paul, his brother in the kingdom and patience of Christ, had, in all his holy Epistles to the Churches, spoken of these grand and solemn subjects; and that some things contained in his Epistles were difficult to be understood—that is, required attention and care not to misapprehend him. He does not mean that St. Paul was an obscure or unintelligible writer. This would have been a high impeachment and reproach. It would have been at the same time altogether unjust. For he is a nervous and plain writer. He is a strong and close reasoner. And his writings will be admired as long as there shall be either genius or piety in the world. The difficulty then of understanding some things penned by him, under divine inspiring influence, is not owing to any deficiency in perspicuity and clearness of style, but to the spiritual nature and grandeur of the subjects, of which he treated.—After this sublime description of the end of all things, St. Peter, in the two verses immediately preceding the text, addresses a most judicious and pertinent exhortation to the Christians, to whom he wrote, in these words: Wherefore, behold, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blemish. And account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our brother Paul also, according unto the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction. Ye therefore beloved, seeing ye knew these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. The Apostle was extremely solicitous lest the Christians to whom he directs this catholic or general Epistle, should be seduced from steadfastness, and fell into the errors and delusions of wicked men, who were active in attempts to lead away others from the truth. Men who have embraced errors, are always busy in strengthening their party, by propagating their pernicious principles, and proselyting others to them. And upright and honest Christians are in danger of such, as lie in wait to deceive. They should, therefore, always be upon their guard lest they be seduced, and fall from their steadfastness. The unlearned and unstable, who pervert scripture and people who are illiterate—of small reading and observation—who are given to change, are frequently altering their principles, laying aside the opinions which they once entertained, and taking up new ones. Such people as have not capacity and stability to weigh the reasons of any opinion, but believe as accident—passions, or prejudices dictate—as they chance to read, or hear. One Commentator thinks that the Greek word translated unlearned, may mean unteachable. But I do not find that it is ever so used in any Greek author. Besides, if it were, it could not be the meaning of it here. Unlearned then, here means people of small reading—of little reflection and observation—especially of little knowledge in divinity—and of much conceit. And ignorance is usually confident and impudent. Such wrest and pervert scripture to their own destruction. They cannot, meekly and quietly, receive instruction from the knowing and learned: but undertake to interpret and explain for themselves and others. Being perverse and self-willed, they turn a deaf ear to what is offered by the wise and judicious. They lean to their own understandings. Such self conceited and ignorant people, and withal, unstable, turn the scripture to a wrong and false meaning—make it speak what it was never intended to speak; and going by their false and erroneous interpretations, are plunged into fatal errors—and ruined forever—go down to the grave with a lie in their right hand—are left of God, in his sovereign pleasure, a prey to their own chosen blindness, and perish eternally in their heresies and delusions. Happy those who keep clear of such perverters of scripture!—To wrest the word of God to our own destruction, is to misinterpret and misconstrue it to such a degree—as to deduce from it fatal errors—or essentially false principles, and to live and practice according to such misinterpretations and misconstructions. The end of all this, is final ruin—or misery in a future world. How affecting the idea, that the scriptures, which were given to man for his only infallible guide through a world of sorrow and tears, and to meeten him for a full and perfect blessedness in heaven, should by a corrupt and perverse mind, be turned to his destruction! But alas! so they often are—have been in past ages, and will be in future.