A
VIEW
OF THE
INTERNAL EVIDENCE
OF THE
CHRISTIAN RELIGION.
MOST of the writers, who have undertaken to prove the divine
origin of the Christian Religion, have had recourse to arguments drawn from these
three heads: the prophecies extant in the Old Testament, the miracles recorded in
the New, or the internal
evidence arising from that excellence, and those clear marks of supernatural
interposition, which are so conspicuous in the religion itself: The two former have
been sufficiently explained and enforced by the ablest pens; but the last, which
seems to carry with it the greatest degree of conviction, has never, I think, been
considered with that attention, which it deserves.
I mean not here to depreciate the proofs arising from either prophecies
or miracles: they both have or ought to have their proper weight; prophecies are
permanent miracles, whose authority is sufficiently confirmed by their completion,
and are therefore solid proofs of the supernatural origin of a religion, whose truth
they were intended to testify;
such are those to be found in various parts of the Scriptures relative
to the coming of the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the unexampled state
in which the Jews have ever since continued, all so circumstantially descriptive
of the events, that they seem rather histories of past, than predictions of future
transactions; and whoever will seriously consider the immense distance of time between
some of them and the events which they foretel, the uninterrupted chain by which
they are connected for many thousand years, how exactly they correspond with those
events, and how totally unapplicable they are to all others in the history of mankind;
I say, whoever considers these circumstances, he will scarcely be persuaded to believe,
that
they can be the productions of preceding artifice, or posterior application,
or can entertain the least doubt of their being derived from supernatural inspiration.
The miracles, recorded in the New Testament to have been performed
by Christ and his Apostles, were certainly convincing proofs of their divine commission
to those who saw them; and as they were seen by such numbers, and are as well attested
as other historical facts, and above all, as they were wrought on so great and so
wonderful an occasion, they must still be admitted as evidence of no inconsiderable
force; but, I think, they must now depend for much of their credibility on the truth
of that religion, whose credibility they were at first intended to support.
To prove therefore the truth of the Christian Religion we should begin
by shewing the internal marks of Divinity which are stamped upon it; because, on
this the credibility of the prophecies and miracles in a great measure depends:
for if we have once reason to be convinced, that this religion is derived from a
supernatural origin; prophecies and miracles will become so far from being incredible,
that it will be highly probable, that a supernatural revelation should be foretotd,
and inforced by supernatural means.
What pure Christianity is, divested of all its ornaments, appendages,
and corruption, I pretend not to say; but what it is not, I will venture to affirm,
which is, that it is not the offspring of fraud or fiction: such, on a
superficial view, I know it must appear to every man of good sense,
whose sense has been altogether employed on other subjects; but if any one will,
give himself the trouble to examine it with accuracy and candour, he will,
plainly see that however fraud and fiction may have grown up with it, yet it never
could have been grafted on the same stock, nor planted by the same hand.
To ascertain the true system and genuine doctrines of this religion,
after the undecided controversies of above seventeen centuries, and to remove
all the rubbish, which, artifice and ignorance have been heaping upon it during
all that. time, would indeed be an arduous talk, which I shall by no means
undertake; but to shew, that it cannot possibly be derived
from human wisdom, or human imposture, is a work, I think, attended
with no great difficulty, and requiring no extraordinary abilities, and therefore
I shall attempt that, and that alone, by stating, and then explaining, the following
plain and undeniable propositions.
First, that there is now extant a book intitled the New Testament.
Secondly, that from this book may be extracted a system of religion
intirely new, both with regard to the object and the doctrines, not only infinitely
superior to, but unlike every thing, which had ever before entered into the mind
of man.
Thirdly, that from this book may likewise be collected a system
of ethicks, in which every moral precept, founded on reason, is carried to
a higher degree of purity and perfection, than in any other of the wisest
philosophers of preceding ages; every moral precept founded on false principles
is totally omitted, and many new precepts added, peculiarly corresponding with the
new object of this religion.
Lastly, that such a system of religion and morality could not
possibly have been the work of any man, or set of men; much less of those obscure,
ignorant, and illiterate persons, who actually did discover and publish it to the
world; and that therefore it must undoubtedly have been effected by the interposition
of divine power, that is, that it must derive its origin from God.
PROPOSITION I.
VERY little need be said to establish my first Proposition, which
is singly this, that there is now extant a book intitled the New Testament; that
is, there is a collection of writings distinguished by that denomination, containing
four historical accounts of the birth, life, actions, discourses, and death, of
an extraordinary person, named Jesus Christ, who was born in the reign of Augustus
Cæsar, preached a new religion throughout the country of Judæa, and was put to a
cruel and ignominious death in the reign of Tiberius. Also one other historical
account of the travels, transactions, and orations, of some mean and
illiterate men, known by the title of his apostles, whom he commissioned to propagate
his religion after his death; which he foretold them he must suffer in confirmation
of its truth. To these are added several epistolary writings, addressed by these
persons to their fellow-labourers in this work, or to the several churches or societies
of Christians, which they had established in the several cities Through which they
had passed.
It would not be difficult to prove, that these books were written
soon after those extraordinary events which are the subjects of them, as we find
them quoted and referred to by an uninterrupted succession of writers from those
to the present times; nor
would it be less easy to shew, that the truth of all those events, miracles
only excepted, can no more be reasonably questioned, than the truth of any
other facts recorded in any history whatever; as there can be no more reason to
doubt, that there existed a person as Jesus Christ; speaking, acting, and suffering,
in such a manner as is there described, than that there were such men as Tiberius,
Herod, or Pontius Pilate, his cotemporaries; or to suspect, that Peter,
Paul, and James, were not the authors of those epistles to which their
names are affixed, than that Cicero and Pliny did not write those which are ascribed
to them. It might also be made appear, that these books having been wrote by various
persons, at different times,
and in distant places, could not possibly have been the work of a single
impostor, nor of a fraudulent combination, being all stamped with the same marks
of an uniform originality in their very frame and composition.
But all these circumstances I shall pass over unobserved, as they
do not fall in with the course of my argument, nor are necessary for the support
of it. Whether these books were wrote by the authors whose names are prefixed to
them; whether they have been enlarged, diminished, or any way corrupted, by the
artifice or ignorance of translators or transcribers; whether, in the historical
parts, the writers were instructed by a perpetual, a partial, or by any inspiration
at all; whether, in the religious and moral parts, they received
their doctrines from a divine influence, or from the instructions and
conversation of their matter; whether in their facts or sentiments there is always
the most exact agreement, or whether in both they sometimes differ from each other;
whether they are in any case mistaken, or always infallible; or ever pretended to
be so, I not here dispute: let the Deist avail himself of all these doubts
and difficulties, and decide them in conformity to his own opinions, I shall not
contend, because they affect not my argument; all that I assert is a plain fact
which cannot be denied, that such writings do now exist.
PROPOSITION II.
MY second Proposition is not so simple, but, I think, not less
undeniable than the former, and is this, that from this book may be extracted a
system of religion intirely new, both with regard to the object and the doctrines,
not only infinitely superior to, but totally unlike, every thing which had ever
before entered into the mind of man; I say extracted, because all the doctrines
of this religion having been delivered at various times, and on various occasions,
and here only historically recorded, no uniform or regular system of theology is
here to
be found; and better perhaps it had been, if less labour had been employed
by the learned, to bend and twist these divine materials into the polished forms
of human systems, to which they never will submit, and for which they were never
intended by their great author. Why he chose not to leave any such behind him we
know not, but it might possibly be, because he knew, that the imperfection of man
was incapable of receiving such a system, and that we are more properly and more
safely conducted by the distant and scattered rays, than by the too powerful sunshine
of Divine illumination; “If I have told you earthly things,” says he, “and ye believe
not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of
heavenly things?”John iii. 12.
that is, if my instructions,
concerning your behaviour in the present, as relative to a future life, are so difficult
to be understood, that you can scarcely believe me, how than you believe, if I endeavoured
to explain to you the nature of celestial beings, the designs of Providence, and
the mysteries of his dispensations; subjects which you have neither ideas to comprehend,
nor language to express?
First then, the object of this religion is intirely new, and is
this, to prepare us by a state of probation for the kingdom of heaven. This is every
where professed by Christ and his apostles to be the chief end of
the Christian’s life, the crown for which he is to contend, the goal
to which he is to run, the harvest which is to pay him for all his labours; yet,
previous to their preaching, no such prize was ever hung out to mankind, nor any
means prescribed for the attainment of it.
It is indeed true, that some of the philosophers of antiquity
entertained notions of a future state, but mixed with much doubt and uncertainty;
their legislators also endeavoured to infuse into the minds of the people a belief
of rewards and punishments after death; but by this they only intended to give
a sanction to their laws, and to enforce the practice of virtue for the benefit
of mankind in the present life; this alone seems to have been their end, and a meritorious
end it was; but Christianity not only operates more effectually to
this end, but has a nobler design in view, which is, by a proper education
here, to render us fit members of a celestial society hereafter. In all former religions,
the good of the present life was the first object; in the Christian, it is but the
second; in those men were incited to promote that good by the hopes of a future
reward; in this the practice of virtue is injoined in order to qualify them for
that reward. There is great difference, I apprehend, in these two plans, that is,
in adhering to virtue from its present utility in expectation of future happiness,
and living in such a manner as so qualify us for the acceptance and enjoyment of
that happiness; and the
conduct and dispositions of those act on these different principles
must be no less different: on the first, the constant practice of justice, temperance,
and sobriety, will be sufficient; but on the latter, we must add to these an habitual
piety, faith, resignation, and contempt of the world; the first may make us very
good citizens, but will never produce a tolerable Christian. Hence it is, that Christianity
insists more strongly than any preceding institution, religious or moral,
on purity of heart and a benevolent disposition, because these are absolutely necessary
to its great end; but in those, whose recommendations of virtue regard the present
life only, and whose promised rewards in another were low and sensual, no preparatory
qualifications were requisite to enable men to praise the one, or to
enjoy the other: and therefore we see this object is peculiar to this religion;
and with it was intirely new.
But although this object, and the principle on which it is founded
were new, and perhaps undiscoverable by reason, yet when discovered, they are so
consonant to it, that we cannot but readily assent to them. For the truth of this
principle, that the present life is a state of probation, and education to prepare
us for another, is confirmed by every thing which we see around us: It is the only
key which can open to us the designs of Providence in the economy of human affairs;
the only clue, which can guide us through that pathless wilderness, and the only
plan on which this world could possibly have been formed, or on which
the history of it can be comprehended or explained. It could never have been formed
on a plan of happiness: because it is every where overspread with innumerable miseries;
nor of misery, because it is interspersed with many enjoyments: it could not have
been constituted for a scene of wisdom and virtue, because the history of mankind
is little more than a detail of their follies and wickedness: nor of vice, because
that is no plan at all, being destructive of all existence, and consequently of
its own: But on this system all that we can here meet with may be easily accounted
for; for this mixture of happiness and misery, of virtue and vice, necessarily results
from
a state of probation and education; as probation implies trials, sufferings,
and a capacity of offending, and education a propriety of chastisement for those
offences.
In the next place, the doctrines of this religion are equally
new with the object and contain ideas of God, and of man, of the present and of
a future life; and of the relations which all these bear to each other totally unheard
of, and quite dissimilar from any which had ever been thought on, previous
to its. publication. No other ever drew so just a portrait of the worthlessness
of this world, and all its pursuits, nor exhibited such distinct, lively,
and exquisite, pictures of the joys of another; of the resurrection of the dead,
the last judgement, and the triumphs
of the righteous in that tremendous day, “when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality.”1 Cor. xv.
53.
No other has ever represented the Supreme Being in the character of three persons
united in one God.That there subsists some such union in the divine nature,
the whole tenour of the New Testament seems to express, and it was so understood
in the earliest ages: but whether this union does or does not imply equality, or
whether it subsists in general, or only in particular circumstances, we are not
informed, and therefore on these questions it is not only unnecessary, but improper
for us to decide.
No other has attempted to reconcile those seeming contradictory
but both true propositions, the contingency of future events, and the fore-knowledge
of God, or the free will of the creature with the over-ruling
grace of the Creator. No other has so fully declared the necessity
of wickedness and punishment; yet so effectually instructed individuals to resist
the one, and to escape the other: no other has ever pretended, to give any account
of the depravity of man, or to point out any remedy for it: no other has ventured
to declare, the unpardonable nature of sin without the influence of a mediatorial
interposition, and a vicarious atonement from the sufferings of a superior Being.That
Christ suffered and died as an atonement for the sins of mankind, is a doctrine
so constantly and so strongly enforced through every part of the New Testament,
that whoever will seriously peruse those writings, and deny that it is there, may,
with as much reason and truth, after reading the works of Thucydides and Livy, assert,
that in them no mention is made of any facts relative to the histories of Greece
and Rome.
Whether these wonderful
doctrines are worthy of our belief, must depend on the opinion
which we entertain of the authority of those who published them to the world; but
certain it is, that they are all so far removed, from every tract of the human imagination,
that it seems equally impossible, that they should ever have been derived from the
knowledge or the artifice of man.
Some indeed, there are, who, by perverting the established
signification of words, (which they call plaining) have ventured to expunge all
these doctrines out of the Scriptures, for no other reason than that they. are not
able to comprehend
them, and argue thus:—The Scriptures are the word of God; in his: word
no propositions contradictory to reason can have a place; these propositions are
contradictory to reason, and therefore they are not there: but if these bold assertors
would claim any regard, they should reverse their argument, and say,—These doctrines
make a part, and a material part of the Scriptures, they are contradictory to reason;
no propositions contradictory to reason can be a part of the word of God, and therefore
neither the Scriptures, nor the pretended revelation contained in them, can be derived
from him: this would be an argument worthy of rational and candid Deists, and demand
a respectful attention; but when men pretend to disprove facts
by reasoning, they have no right to expect an answer.
And here I cannot omit observing, that the personal character
of the author of this religion is no less, new and extraordinary than the religion
itself, who “spake as never man spake,”John vii. 46.
and lived
as never man lived: in proof of this, I do not mean to allege, that he was
born of a virgin, that he fasted forty days, that he performed a variety of miracles,
and after being buried three days, that he rose from the dead; because these accounts
will have but little effect on the mind of unbelievers, who, if they
believe not the religion, will give no credit to the relation of these facts; but
I will
prove it from facts which cannot be disputed: for instance, he is the
only founder of a religion in the history of mankind, which is totally unconnected
with all human policy and government, and therefore totally unconducive to any worldly
purpose whatever: all others, Mahomet, Numa, and even Moses himself, blended
their religious institutions with their civil, and by them obtained dominion over
their respective people; but Christ never aimed at, nor would accept of, any such
power; he rejected every object, which all other men pursue, and made choice of
all those which others fly from, and are afraid of: he refused power, riches, honours,
and pleasure; and courted poverty, ignominy, tortures, and death. Many
have been the enthusiasts and impostors, who have endeavoured to impose
on the world pretended revelations; and some of them from pride, obstinacy, or principle,
have gone so far, as to lay down their lives, rather than retract; but I defy history
to shew one, who ever made his own sufferings and death a necessary part of his
original plan, and essential to his mission; this Christ actually did; he foresaw,
foretold, declared their necessity, and voluntarily endured them. If we seriously
contemplate the divine lessons, the perfect precepts, the beautiful discourses,
and the consistent conduct of this wonderful person, we cannot possibly imagine,
that he could have been either an idiot or a madman; and yet, if he was not what
he pretended
to be, he can be considered in no other light; and even under this
character he would deserve some attention, because, of so sublime and rational an
insanity, there is no other instance in the history of mankind.
If any one can doubt of the superior excellence of this religion
above all which preceded it, let him but peruse with attention those unparalleled
writings in which it is transmitted to the present times, and compare them with
the most celebrated productions of the Pagan world; and if he is not sensible of
their superior beauty, simplicity, and originality, I will venture to pronounce,
that he is as deficient in taste as in faith, and that he is as bad a critic
as a Christian: for in what school of ancient philosophy
can he find a lesson of morality so perfect as Christ’s sermon on the
mount? From which of them can be collect an address to the Deity so concise and
yet so comprehensive, so expressive of all that we want and all that we could deprecate,
as that short prayer which he formed for and recommended to his disciples? From
the works of what sage of antiquity can he produce so pathetic a recommendation
of benevolence to the distressed, and enforced by such assurances of a reward, as
in those words of Christ? “Come, ye blessed of my Father! inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat;
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and
ye took me in; I was naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited
me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying—Lord,
when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee; or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When
saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in; or naked, and clothed thee? Or, when saw
we thee sick and in prison, and came unto thee? Then shall I answer, and say unto
them, Verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”Matt. xxv. 34.
Where is there
so just and so elegant a reproof of eagerness and anxiety in worldly
pursuits, closed with so forcible an exhortation to confidence in the
goodness of our Creator, as in these words?—“Behold the fowls of the air, for they
sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are ye not much better than they? Consider the lillies of the field, how they
grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon,
in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these: wherefore, if God so clothe
the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall
he not much more clothe you? O ye of little faith!”Matt. vi. 26, 28.
By
which of their most celebrated poets are the joys, reserved for the
righteous in a future state, so sublimely described, as by this short declaration,
that they are superior to all description? “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him,”1 Cor. ii. 9.
Where, amidst the dark clouds of Pagan
philosophy, can he shew us such a clear prospect of a future state, the immortality
of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and the general judgement, as in St.
Paul’s first epistle to Corinthians? Or, from whence can he produce such cogent
exhortations to the practice of every virtue, such
ardent incitements to piety and devotion, and such assistances to attain
them, as those which are to be met with throughout every page of these inimitable
writings? To quote all the passages in them, relative to these subjects, would be
almost to transcribe the whole; it is sufficient to observe, that they are every
where stamped with such apparent marks of supernatural assistance, as render them
indisputably superior to and totally unlike all human compositions whatever; and
this superiority and dissimilarity is still more strongly marked by one remarkable
circumstance peculiar to themselves, which is, that whilst the moral parts (being
of the most general use) are intelligible to the meanest capacities, the learned
and inquisitive, throughout
all ages, perpetually find in them inexhaustible discoveries concerning
the nature, attributes, and dispensations, of Providence.
To say the truth, before the appearance of Christianity there
existed nothing like religion on the face of the earth, the Jewish only excepted;
all other nations were immersed in the grossest idolatry, which had little or no
connection with morality, except to corrupt it by the infamous examples of their
imaginary deities: they all worshipped a multiplicity of gods and dæmons, whose
favour they courted by impious, obscene, and ridiculous, ceremonies, and whose anger
they endeavoured to appease by the most abominable cruelties.—In the politest ages
of the politest nations in the world, at a time when
Greece and Rome had carried the arts of oratory, poetry, history, architecture,
and sculpture, to the highest perfection, and made no inconsiderable advances in
those of mathematics, natural and even moral philosophy, in religious knowledge
they had made none at all; a strong presumption, that the noblest efforts of the
mind of man, unassisted by revelation, were unequal to the task. Some few, indeed,
of their philosophers were wise enough to reject these general absurdities, and
dared to attempt a loftier flight. Plato introduced many sublime ideas of nature,
and its first cause, and of the immortality of the soul; which, being above his
own and all human discovery, he probably acquired from the books of Moses, or the
conversation of some
Jewish rabbies which he might have met with in Egypt, where he resided
and studied for several years. From him, Aristotle, and, from both, Cicero, and
some few others, drew most amazing stores of philosophical science, and carried
their researches into divine truths as far as human genius alone could penetrate.
But these were bright constellations which appeared singly in several centuries;
and even these, with all this knowledge, were very deficient in true theology. From
the visible works of the Creation, they traced the being and principal attributes
of the Creator; but the relation which his being and attributes bear to man, they
little understood. Of piety and devotion, they had scarce any sense; nor could they
form any mode of
worship worthy of the purity and perfection of the divine nature; they
occasionally flung out many elegant encomiums on the native beauty and excellence
of virtue, but they founded it not on the commands of God, nor connected it with
a holy life, nor hung out the happiness of heaven as its reward or its object. They
sometimes talked of virtue carrying men to heaven, and placing them amongst the
gods, but by this virtue they meant only the invention of arts or feats of arms;
for, with them, heaven was open only to legislators and conquerors, the civilizers
or destroyers of mankind. This was, then, the summit of religion in the most polished
nations in the world; and even this was confined to a few philosophers, prodigies
of genius and literature,
who were little attended to, and less understood, by the generality
of mankind in their own countries; whilst all the rest were involved in one common
cloud of ignorance and superstition.
At this time Christianity broke from the east like a rising, sun,
and dispelled this universal darkness which obscured every part of the globe, and
even at this day prevails in all those remoter regions to which its salutary influence
has not as yet extended. From all those which it has reached, it has, notwithstanding
its corruptions, banished all those enormities, and introduced a more rational devotion
and purer morals; it has taught men the unity and attributes of the Supreme Being,
the remission of sins, the resurrection of
the dead, life everlasting, and the Kingdom of Heaven; doctrines as
inconceivable to the wisest of mankind, antecedent to its appearance, as the Newtonian
system is at this day to the most ignorant tribes of savages in the wilds of America;
doctrines, which human reason never could have discovered, but which, when
discovered, coincide with and are confirmed by it; and which, though beyond
the reach of all the learning and penetration of Plato, Aristotle, and
Cicero, are now clearly laid open to the eye of every peasant and mechanic with
the Bible in his hand. These are all plain facts too glaring to be contradicted,
and, therefore, whatever we may think of the authority of these books, the relations
which they contain, or the.
inspiration of their authors, of these facts no man, who has eyes
to read, or ears to hear, can entertain a doubt, because there are the books, and
in them is this religion.
PROPOSITION III.
MY third Proposition is this, that from this book, called the
New Testament, may be collected a system of ethics, in which every moral precept
founded on reason is carried to a higher degree of purity and perfection, than in
any other of the ancient philosophers of preceding ages; every moral precept founded,
on false principles is intirely omitted, and many new precepts added, peculiarly
corresponding with the new object of this religion.
By moral precepts founded on reason, I mean all those which enforce
the practice of such duties as reason
informs us must improve our natures, and conduce to the happiness of
mankind; such are piety to God, benevolence to men, justice, charity, temperance,
and sobriety, with all those which prohibit the commission of the contrary vices,
all which debase our natures, and, by mutual injuries, introduce universal disorder,
and, consequently, universal misery. By precepts founded on false principles, I
mean those which recommend fictitious virtues productive of none of these salutary
effects, and therefore, however celebrated and admired, are in fact no virtues at
all; such are valour, patriotism, and friendship.
That virtues of the first kind are carried to a higher degree
of purity and perfection by the Christian religion
than by any other, it is here unnecessary to prove, because this is
a truth, which has been so frequently demonstrated by her friends, and never
once denied by the most determined of her adversaries; but it will be proper to
shew, that those of the latter sort are most judiciously omitted, because they have
really no intrinsic merit in them, and are totally incompatible with the genius
and spirit of this institution.
Valour, for instance, or active courage, is for the most part
constitutional, and therefore can have no more claim to moral merit, than wit, beauty,
health, strength, or any other endowment of the mind or body; and so far is it from
producing any salutary effects by introducing peace, order, or happiness, into
society, that it is the usual perpetrator of all the violences which
from retaliated injuries distract the world with bloodshed and devastation. It is
the engine by which the strong are enabled to plunder the weak, the proud to trample
upon the humble, and the guilty to oppress the innocent; it is the chief instrument
which Ambition employs in her unjust pursuits of wealth and power, and is therefore
so much extolled by her votaries; it was, indeed, congenial with the religion of
Pagans, whose gods were for the most part made out of deceased heroes, exalted to
Heaven as a reward for the mischiefs which they had perpetrated upon earth, and
therefore with them this was the first of virtues, and had even engrossed that denomination
to
itself; but whatever merit it may have assumed among Pagans, with Christians
it can pretend to none, and few or none are the occasions in which they are permitted
to exert it; they are so far from being allowed to inflict evil, that they are forbid
even to refill it; they are so far from being encouraged to revenge injuries, that
one of their first duties is to forgive them; so far from being incited to destroy
their enemies, that they are commanded to love them, and to serve them to the utmost
of their power. If Christian nations, therefore, were nations of Christians, all
war would be impossible and unknown amongst them, and valour could be neither of
use or estimation, and therefore could never have a place in the catalogue of Christian
virtues, being irreconcileable with all its precepts. I object not
to the praise and honours bestowed on the valiant, they are the least tribute which
can be paid them by those, who enjoy safety and affluence by the intervention of
their dangers and sufferings; I assert only, that active courage can never be a
Christian virtue, because a Christian can have nothing to do with it. Passive courage
is indeed frequently, and properly, inculcated by this meek and suffering religion,
under the titles of patience and resignation; a real and substantial virtue this,
and a direct contrail to the former; for passive courage arises from the noblest
dispositions of the human mind, from a contempt of misfortunes, pain, and death,
and a confidence in the
protection of the Almighty; active from the meanest: from passion,
vanity, and self-dependence: passive courage is derived from a zeal for truth, and
a perseverance in duty; active is the offspring of pride and revenge) and the parent
of cruelty and injustice: in short, passive courage is the resolution of a philosopher;
active, the ferocity of a savage. Nor is this more incompatible with the precepts,
than with the object, of this religion, which is the attainment of the Kingdom of
Heaven; for valour is not that sort of violence, by which that kingdom is to be
taken; nor are the turbulent spirits of heroes and conquerors admissible into those
regions of peace, subordination, and tranquillity.
Patriotism also, that celebrated virtue so much practised in ancient,
and so much professed in modern, times; that virtue, which so long preserved the
liberties of Greece, and exalted Rome to the empire of the world; this celebrated
virtue, I say, must also be excluded, because it not only falls short of, but directly
counteracts, the extensive benevolence of this religion. A Christian is of no country;
he is a citizen of the world, and his neighbours and countrymen are the inhabitants
of the remotest regions, whenever their distresses demands his friendly assistance.
Christianity commands us to love all mankind; Patriotism to oppress all other countries.
to advance the imaginary prosperity of our own.
Christianity enjoins us to imitate the universal benevolence of our Creator, who
pours forth his blessings on every nation upon earth; Patriotism to copy the mean
partiality of an English parish-officer, who thinks injustice and cruelty meritorious,
whenever they promote the interests of his own inconsiderable village. This has
ever been a favourite virtue with mankind, because it conceals self-interest under
the mask of public spirit, not only from others, but even from themselves, and gives
a licence to inflict l wrongs and injuries, not only with impunity, but with applause;
but it is so diametrically opposite to the great characteristic of this institution,
that it never could have been admitted into the list of Christian virtues.
Friendship, likewise, although more congenial to the principles
of Christianity, arising from more tender and amiable dispositions, could never
gain admittance amongst her benevolent precepts for the same reason; because it
is too narrow and confined, and appropriates that benevolence to a single subject,
which is here commanded to be extended over all. Where friendships arise from similarity
sentiments and disinterested affections, they are advantageous, agreeable, and innocent,
but have little pretensions to merit; for it is justly observed, “If ye love them,
which love you, what thanks have ye? for sinners also love those, that love them.”Luke
vi. 32.
But if they are formed from alliances in parties,
factions, and interests, or from a participation of vices, the dual
parents of what are called friendships among mankind, they are then both mischievous
and criminal, and consequently forbidden, but in their utmost purity deserve no
recommendation from this religion.
To the judicious omission of these false virtues we may add, that
remarkable silence which the Christian Legislator every where preserves on subjects
esteemed by all others of the highest importance, civil government, national policy,
and the rights of war and peace; of these he has not taken the least notice, probably
for this plain reason, because it would have been impossible to have formed any
explicit regulations concerning them, which must not have been inconsistent
with the purity of his religion, or with the practical observance of
such imperfect creatures as men ruling over, and contending with, each other; for
instance, had he absolutely forbid all resistance to the reigning powers, he had
constituted a plan of despotism, and made men slaves; had he allowed it, he must
have authorised disobedience and made them rebels; had he in direct terms prohibited
all war, he must have left his followers for ever an easy prey to every infidel
invader; had he permitted it, he must have licensed all that rapine and murder,
with which it is unavoidably attended.
Let us now examine what are those new precepts in this religion,
peculiarly corresponding with the
new object of it, that is preparing us for the Kingdom of Heaven: of
these the chief are poorness of spirit, forgiveness of injuries, and charity to
all men; to these we may add repentance, faith; self-abasement, and a detachment
from the world, all moral duties peculiar to this religion, and absolutely necessary
to the attainment of its end.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven:”Matt. v. 3.
By which poorness of spirit is to be understood
a disposition of mind, meek, humble, submissive to power, void of ambition,
patient of injuries, and free from all resentment: this was so new, and so opposite
to the ideas of all Pagan moralists,
that they though this temper of mind a criminal and contemptible meanness,
which must induce men to sacrifice the glory of their country, and their own honour,
to a shameful pusillanimity; and such it appears to almost all who are called Christians
even at this day, who not only reject it in practice, but disavow it in principle,
notwithstanding this explicit declaration of their Master. We see them revenging
the smallest affronts by premeditated murder, as individuals, on principles of honour;
and, in their national capacities, destroying each other with fire and sword, for
the low considerations of commercial interests, the balance of rival powers, or
the ambition of princes: we see them with their last breath animating each other
to a
savage revenge, and, in the agonies of death, plunging with feeble
arms their daggers into the hearts of their opponents: and, what is still worse,
we hear all these barbarisms celebrated by historians, flattered by poets; applauded
in theatres, approved in senates, and even sanctified in pulpits. But universal
practice cannot alter the nature of things, nor universal error change the nature
of truth. Pride was not made for man, but humility, meekness, and resignation, that
is poorness of spirit was made for man, and properly belongs. to his dependent
and precarious situation; and is the only disposition of mind, which can enable
him to enjoy ease and quiet here, and happiness hereafter: yet, was this important
precept intirely unknown
until it was promulgated by him, who said, “Suffer little children
to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven; Verily
I say unto you, whoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child,
he than not enter therein.”Matt. x. 14.
Another precept equally new, and no less excellent, is forgiveness
of injuries: “Ye have heard,” says Christ to his disciples, “Thou shalt love thy
neighbour, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, love your enemies; bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you.”Matt. v. 43.
This was a lesson so new,
and so utterly unknown, till taught by his doctrines, and enforced
by his example, that the wisest moralists of the wisest nations and ages represented
the desire of revenge as a mark of a noble mind, and the accomplishment of it, as
one of the chief felicities attendant on a fortunate man. But how much more magnanimous,
how much more beneficial to mankind, is forgiveness! it is more magnanimous, because
every generous and exalted disposition of the human mind is requisite to the practice
of it: for these alone can enable us to bear the wrongs and insults of wickedness
and folly with patience, and to look down on the perpetrators of them with pity,
rather than indignation; these alone can teach us, that such are but a
part of those sufferings allotted to us in this state of probation,
and to know, that to overcome evil with good is the most glorious of all victories:
it is the most beneficial, because this amiable conduct alone can put an end to
an eternal succession of injuries and retaliations; for every retaliation becomes
a new injury, and requires another as of revenge for satisfaction. But would we
observe this salutary precept, to love our enemies, and to do good to those who
despitefully use us; this obstinate benevolence would at. ha conquer the most inveterate
hearts, and we should have no enemies to forgive. How much more exalted a character,
therefore, is a Christian martyr, suffering with resignation, and praying for the
guilty, than that of
a Pagan hero breathing revenge, and destroying the innocent! Yet, noble
and useful as this virtue is, before the appearance of this religion, it was not
only unpractised, but decried in principle as mean and ignominious, though so obvious
a remedy for most of the miseries of this life, and so necessary a qualification
for the happiness of another.
A third precept, first noticed and first injoined by this institution,
is charity to all. men. What this is, we may best learn from this admirable description,
painted in the following words: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth
not; charity vaunteth not itself is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly;
seeketh not her own; is not easily provoked; thinketh
no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth; feareth
all things; believeth all things; hopeth all things; endureth all things.”1
Cor. xiii. 4.
Here we have an accurate delineation of this bright constellation
of all virtues, which consists not, as many imagine, in the building of monasteries,
endowment of hospitals, or the distribution of alms, but in such an amiable
disposition of mind, as exercises itself every hour in acts of kindness, patience,
complacency, and benevolence to all around us, and which alone is able to promote
happiness in the present life, or render us capable of receiving it in another:
and yet this is totally new, and so it is declared to be by the author of it: “A
new commandment
I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that
ye love one another; by this shall all men know, that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another.”John. xiii. 34.
This benevolent disposition
is made the great characteristic of a Christian, the test of his obedience, and
the mark by which he is to be distinguished. This love for each other is that charity
just now described, and contains all those qualities which are there attributed.
to it; humility, patience, meekness, and beneficence: without which we must live
in perpetual discord, and consequently cannot pay obedience to this commandment
by loving one another; a commandment
so sublime, so rational, and so beneficial, so wisely calculated to
correct the depravity, diminish the wickedness, and abate the miseries of human
nature, that, did we universally comply with it, we should soon be relieved from
all the inquietudes arising from our own unruly passions, anger, envy, revenge,
malice, and ambition, as well as from all those injuries, to which we are perpetually
exposed, from the indulgence of the same passions in others. It would also preserve
our minds in such a state of tranquillity, and so prepare them for the Kingdom of
Heaven, that we should slide out of a life of peace, love, and benevolence, into
that celestial society, by an almost imperceptible transition. Yet was this commandment
intirely new when given by him, who so intitles it, and has made it
the capital duty of his religion, because the most indispensably necessary to the
attainment of its great object, the Kingdom of Heaven; into which, if proud, turbulent,
and vindictive, spirits were permitted to enter, they must unavoidably destroy the
happiness of that state by the operations of the same passions and vices, by which
they disturb the present, and therefore all such must be eternally excluded, not
only as a punishment, but also from incapacity
Repentance, by this we plainly see, is another new moral duty
strenuously insisted on by this religion, and by no other, because absolutely necessary
to the accomplishment of
its end; for this alone can purge us from those transgressions, from
which we cannot be totally exempted in this state of trial and temptation, and purify
us from that depravity in our nature, which renders us incapable of attaining this
end. Hence also we may learn, that no repentance can remove this incapacity, but
such as intirely changes the nature and disposition of the offender; which in the
language of Scripture is called “being born again.” Mere contrition for past crimes,
nor even the pardon of them, cannot effect this, unless it operates to this intire
conversion or new birth, as it is properly and emphatically named for sorrow can
no more purify a mind corrupted by a long continuance in vicious habits, than it
can restore
health to a body distempered by a long course of vice and intemperance.
Hence also every one, who is in the least acquainted with himself, may judge of
the reasonableness of the hope that is in him, and of his situation in a future
state by that of his present. If he feels in himself a temper proud, turbulent,
vindictive, and malevolent, and a violent attachment to the pleasures or business
of the world, he may be assured, that he must: be excluded from the Kingdom
of Heaven; not only because his conduct can merit no such reward, but because, if
admitted, he would find there no objects satisfactory to his passions, inclinations,
and pursuits, and therefore could only disturb the happiness
of others without enjoying any share of it himself.
Faith is another moral duty injoined by this institution, of a
species so new, that the philosophers of antiquity had no word expressive of this
idea, nor any such idea to be expressed; for the word
πιστις, or fides,
which we translate faith, was never used by any Pagan writer in a sense the least
similar to that, to which it is applied in the New Testament where in general it
signifies a humble, teachable, and candid, disposition, a trust in God, and
confidence in his promises; when applied particularly to Christianity, it means
no more than a belief of this single proposition, that Christ was the Son of God;
that is, in the language
of those writings, the Messiah, who was foretold by the prophets, and
expected by the Jews; who was sent by God into the world to preach righteousness,
judgement, and everlasting life, and to die as an atonement for the sins of mankind.
This was all that Christ required to be believed by those who were willing to become
his disciples he, who does not believe this, is not a Christian, and he who
does believes the whole that is essential to his profession, and all that is properly
comprehended under the name of faith. This unfortunate word has indeed: been so
tortured and so misapplied. to mean every absurdity, which artifice could
impose upon ignorance, that it has lost all pretensions to the title of virtue;
but if brought back
to the simplicity of its original signification, it well deserves that
name, because it usually arises from the most amiable dispositions, and is always
a direct contrast to pride, obstinacy, and self-conceit. If taken in the extensive
sense of an assent to the evidence of things not seen, it comprehends the existence
of a God, and a future state, and is therefore not only itself a moral virtue, but
the source from whence all others must proceed; for on the belief of these all religion
and morality must intirely depend. It cannot be altogether void of moral merit;
(as some would represent it) because it is in a degree voluntary; for daily experience
shews us, that men not only pretend to, but actually do believe, and disbelieve
almost any propositions,
which best suit their interests or inclinations, and unfeignedly change
their sincere opinions with their situations and circumstances. For we have power
over the mind’s eye, as well as over the body’s, to shut it against the strongest
rays of truth and religion, whenever they become painful to us, and to open it again
to the faint glimmerings of scepticism and infidelity, when we “love darkness rather
than light, because our deeds are evil.”John iii. 19.
—And this,
I think, sufficiently refutes all objections to the moral nature of faith, drawn
from the supposition of its being quite involuntary and necessarily dependent on
the degree
of evidence which is offered to our understandings.
Self-abasement is another moral duty inculcated by this religion
only; which requires us to impute even our own virtues to the grace and favour of
our Creator, and to acknowledge that we can do nothing good by our own powers, unless
assisted by his over-ruling influence. This doctrine seems at first sight to infringe
on our free-will, and to deprive us of all merit; but, on a closer examination,
the truth of it may be demonstrated both by reason and experience, and that in fact
it does not impair the one or depreciate the other, and that it is productive of
so much humility, resignation, and dependence, on God, that it justly
claims a place amongst the most illustrious moral virtues. Yet was
this duty utterly repugnant to the proud, and self-sufficient. principles of the
ancient philosophers, as well as modern Deists, and therefore, before the publication
of the Gospel, totally unknown and uncomprehended.
Detachment, from the world is another moral virtue (constituted
by, this religion alone) so new, that even at this day few of its professors can
be persuaded that it is required, or, that it is any virtue, at all. By this detachment
from the world, is not to be understood a seclusion from society, abstraction from
all business; or retirement to a gloomy. cloister.—Industry and labour, cheerfulness
and hospitality, are frequently recommended; nor is the acquisition
of wealth and honours prohibited, if they can be obtained by honest means,
and a moderate degree of attention and care; but such an unremitted anxiety and
perpetual application, as engrosses our whole time and thoughts, are forbid, because
they are incompatible with the spirit of this religion, and must utterly disqualify
us for the attainment of its great end. We toil on in the vain pursuits and frivolous
occupations of the world, die in our harness, and then expect, if no gigantic crime
stands in the way, to step immediately into the Kingdom of Heaven; but this is impossible;
for, without a previous detachment from the business of this world, we cannot be
prepared for the happiness of another. Yet this could make no part of the morality
of Pagans, because their virtues were altogether connected with
this business, and confined chiefly in conducting it with honour to themselves
and benefit to the public. But Christianity has a nobler object in view—which,
if not attended to, must be lost for ever! This object is that celestial mansion
of which we should never lose sight, and to which we should ever be advancing, during
our journey through life; but this, by no means, precludes us from performing the
business, or enjoying the amusements, of travellers, provided they detain
us not too long, or lead us too far out of our way.
It cannot be denied, that the great author of the Christian institution,
first and singly ventured to oppose all the chief principles of Pagan virtue,
and to introduce a religion directly opposite to those erroneous, though
long-established, opinions, both in its duties and in its object. The most celebrated
virtues of the ancients were high spirit, intrepid courage, and implacable resentment.
Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer,
was the portrait of the most illustrious hero drawn by one of
the first poets of antiquity. To all these admired qualities, those of a true Christian
are an exact contrast; for, this religion constantly enjoins poorness of spirit,
meekness, patience, and forgiveness of injuries. “But I say unto you, that ye resist
not evil; but whoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the
other also.”Matt. v. 39.
The favourite characters among
the Pagans were the turbulent, ambitious, and intrepid, who, through toils and dangers,
acquired wealth and spent it in luxury, magnificence, and corruption; but both these
are equally adverse to the Christian system, which forbids all extraordinary efforts
to obtain wealth, care to secure, or thought concerning the enjoyment of it. “Lay
not up for yourselves treasures on earth,” &c. “Take no thought, saying, what shall
we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed?—for after all
these things do the Gentiles seek.”Matt. vi. 31.
The chief object of
the Pagans was immortal fame; for this, their poets
sang, their heroes fought, and their patriots died: and this was hung
out, by their philosophers and legislators, as the great incitement to all noble
and virtuous deeds. But what says the Christian legislator to his disciples on this
subject?—“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and shall say all manner of
evil against you, for my sake; rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is
your reward in heaven.”Matt. v. 14.
So widely different is the genius
of the Pagan and Christian morality, that I will venture to affirm, that the most
celebrated virtues of the former are more opposite to the spirit, and more inconsistent
with the end, of the latter, than even their most infamous vices;
and that a Brutus, wrenching vengeance out of his hands to whom alone
it belongs, by murdering the oppressor of his country, or a Cato, murdering himself,
from an impatience of controul, leaves the world more unqualified for, and more
inadmissible into, the Kingdom of Heaven, than even a Messalina, or an Heliogabalus,
with all their profligacy about them.
Nothing, I believe, has so much contributed to corrupt the true
spirit of the Christian institution, as that partiality which we contract from out
earliest education for the manners of Pagan antiquity; from whence we learn to adopt
every moral idea which is repugnant to it; to applaud false virtues, which that
disavows; to be guided by laws of honour, which
that abhors; to imitate characters which that detests; and to behold
heroes, patriots, conquerors, and suicides, with admiration, whose conduct that
utterly condemns. From a coalition of there opposite principles, was generated that
monstrous system of cruelty and benevolence, of barbarism and civility, of rapine
and justice, of fighting and devotion, of revenge and generosity, which harrassed
the world, for several centuries, with crusades, holy wars, knight-errantry, and
single combats, and even still retains influence enough, under the name of honour,
to defeat the most beneficent ends of this holy institution. I mean not, by this,
to pass any censure on the principles of valour, patriotism, or honour; they
may be useful, and perhaps
necessary, in the commerce and business of the present turbulent and
imperfect state, and those who are actuated by them may be virtuous, honest, and
even religious, men. All that I assert is, that they cannot be Christians; a profligate
may be a Christian, though a bad one, because he may be overpowered by passions
and temptations, and his actions may contradict his principles; but a man, whose
ruling principle is honour, however virtuous he may be, cannot be a Christian, because
he erects a standard of duty, and deliberately adheres to it, diametrically opposite
to the whole tenour of that religion.
The contrast between the Christian, and all other institutions,
religious
or moral, previous to its appearance, is sufficiently evident; and
surely the superiority of the former is as little to be disputed, unless any
one than undertake to prove that humility, patience, forgiveness, and benevolence,
are less amiable and less beneficial qualities than pride, turbulence, revenge,
and malignity; that the contempt of riches is less noble than the acquisition by
fraud and villany, or the distribution of them to the poor less commendable than
avarice or profusion; or, that a real immortality in the Kingdom of Heaven is an
object less exalted, less rational, and less worthy of pursuit, than an imaginary
immortality in the applause of men—that worthless
tribute which the folly of one part of mankind pays to the wickedness
of the other—a tribute which a wise man ought always to despise, because a good
man can scarce ever obtain.
CONCLUSION.
IF I mistake not, I have now fully established the truth of my
three Propositions.
First, That there is now extant a book intitled the New Testament.
Secondly, That from this book may be extracted a system
of religion intirely new, both in its object and its doctrines, not only superior
to, but totally unlike, every thing which had ever before entered into the mind
of man.
Thirdly, That from this book may likewise be collected a system
of ethics, in which every moral precept founded on reason is carried to a
higher degree of purity and perfection, than in any other of the wisest
philosophers of preceding ages; every moral precept founded on false principles
totally omitted, and many new precepts added peculiarly corresponding with the new
object of this religion.
Every one of these propositions, I am persuaded, is incontrovertibly
true; and if true, this short, but certain conclusion must inevitably follow; That
such a system of religion and morality could not possibly have been the work of
any man, or set of men, much less of those obscure, ignorant, and illiterate,
persons who actually did discover and publish it to the world; and that, therefore,
it must have been effected by the supernatural interposition of divine power
and wisdom; that is, that it must derive its origin from God.
This argument seems to me little short of demonstration, and is
indeed founded on the very same reasoning by which the material world is proved
to be the work his invisible hand. We view with admiration the heavens and the earth,
and all therein contained; we contemplate with. amazement the minute bodies of animals
too small for perception, and. the immense planetary orbs too vast for
imagination; we are certain that these cannot be the works of man; and therefore
we conclude, with reason, that they must be the productions of an omnipotent
Creator. In the same manner, we see here a scheme of religion and morality
unlike and superior to all ideas of the
human mind, equally impossible to have been discovered
by the knowledge, as invented by the artifice of man; and, therefore, by the very
same mode of reasoning, and with the same justice, we conclude, that it must derive
its origin from the same omnipotent and omniscient Being.
Nor was the propagation of this religion less extraordinary than
the religion itself, or less above the reach of all human power, than the discovery
of it was above that of all human understanding. It is well known, that in the course
of a very few years it was spread over all the principal, parts of Asia and of Europe,
and this by the ministry only of an inconsiderable number of the most
inconsiderable persons; that at this time Paganism was in the highest
repute, believed universally by the vulgar, and patronized by the great; that the
wisest men of the wisest nations assisted at its sacrifices, and consulted
its oracles on the most important occasions. Whether these were the tricks of the
priests or of the devil, is of no consequence, as they were both equally unlikely
to be converted or overcome; the fact is certain, that on the preaching of a few
fishermen, their altars were deserted, and their deities were dumb. This miracle
they undoubtedly performed, whatever we may think of the rest; and this is surely
sufficient to prove the authority of their commission, and to convince us, that
neither their undertaking nor the execution of it could possibly be
their own.
How much this divine institution has been corrupted, or how soon
these corruptions began, how far it has been discoloured by the false notions of
illiterate ages, or blended with fictions by pious frauds, or how early these notions
and fictions were introduced, no learning or sagacity is now able precisely to ascertain;
but surely no man, who seriously considers the excellence and novelty of its doctrines,
the manner in which it was at first propagated through the world, the persons who
atchieved that wonderful work, and the originality of those writings in which it
is still recorded, can possibly believe that it could ever have been the production
of imposture or chance; or that from an imposture the most wicked and
blasphemous (for if an imposture, such it is) all the religion and virtue now existing
on earth can derive their source.
But notwithstanding what has been here urged, if any man can believe,
that at a time when the literature of Greece and Rome, then in their meridian lustre,
were insufficient for the task, the son of a carpenter; together with twelve of
the meanest and most illiterate mechanics, his associates, unassisted by any supernatural
power, should be able to discover or invent a system of theology the most sublime,
and of ethics the most perfect, which had escaped the penetration and learning of
Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero; and that from
this system, by their own sagacity, they had excluded every false virtue,
though universally admired, and admitted every true virtue, though despised and
ridiculed by all the rest of the world. If any one can believe that these
men could become impostors, for no other purpose than the propagation of truth,
villains for no end but to teach honesty, and martyrs without the least prospect
of honour or advantage; or that, if all this should have been possible, these
few inconsiderable persons should have been able, in the course of a few years,
to have spread this their religion over most parts of the then known world, in opposition.
to the interests, pleasures, ambition, prejudices, and even reason, of mankind;
to have triumphed over the power of
princes, the intrigues of states, the force of custom, the blindness
of zeal, the influence of priests, the arguments of orators, and the philosophy
of the world, without any supernatural assistance; if any one can believe all these
miraculous events, contradictory to the constant experience of the powers and dispositions
of human nature, he must be possessed of much more faith than is necessary to make
him a Christian, and remain an unbeliever from mere credulity.
But should these credulous infidels after all be in the right,
and this pretended revelation be all a fable, from believing it what harm could
ensue? Would it render princes more tyrannical, or subjects more ungovernable? the
rich more insolent,
or the poor more disorderly? Would it make worse parents or children,
husbands or wives, masters or servants, friends or neighbours? Or would it not make
men more virtuous, and, consequently more happy in every situation? It could not
be criminal, it could not be detrimental. It could not be criminal, because
it cannot be a crime to assent to such evidence as has been able to convince the
best and wisest of mankind; by which, if false; Providence must have permitted men
to deceive each other for the most beneficial ends, and which, therefore, it would
be surely more meritorious to believe from a disposition of faith and charity, which
believeth all things, than to reject with scorn from obstinacy and self-conceit.
It cannot
be detrimental, because if Christianity is a fable, it is a fable,
the belief of which is the only principle which can retain men in a steady and uniform
course of virtue, piety, and devotion, or can support them in the hour of distress,
of sickness, and of death. Whatever might be the operations of true deism on the
minds of Pagan philosophers, that can now avail us nothing; for that light which
once lightened the Gentles, is now absorbed in the brighter illumination of the
Gospel: we cam now form no rational system of deism, but what must be borrowed from
that source, and, as far as it reaches towards perfection, must be exactly the same;
and, therefore, if we will not accept of Christianity, we can have no religion at
all. Accordingly
we see, that those who fly from this, scarce ever stop at deism, but
hasten on with great alacrity to a total rejection of all religious and moral principles
whatever.
If I have here demonstrated the divine origin of the Christian
religion by an argument which cannot be confuted; no others, however plausible or
numerous, founded on probabilities, doubts, and conjectures, can ever disprove it,
because, if it is once shewn to be true, it cannot be false. But as many arguments
of this kind. have bewildered some candid and ingenuous minds, I shall here bestow
a few lines on those which have the most weight, in order to wipe out, or, at least,
to diminish their perplexing influence.
But here I must previously observe, that the most unsurmountable,
as well as the most usual, obstacle to our belief, arises from our passions, appetites,
and interests; for faith being an act of the will as much as of the understanding,
we oftener disbelieve for want of inclination, than want of evidence, The first
step towards thinking this revelation true, is our hopes that it is so; for whenever
we much wish any proposition to be true, we are not far from believing it. It is
certainly for the interest of all good men, that its authority should be well founded;
and still more beneficial to the bad, if ever they intend to be better; because
it is the only system either of reason or religion which can give
them any assurance of pardon. The punishment of vice is a debt due
to justice, which cannot be remitted without compensation; repentance can be no
compensation; it may change a wicked man’s dispositions, and prevent his offending
for the future, but can lay no claim to pardon for what is past. If any one, by
profligacy and extravagance, contracts a debt, repentance may make him wiser, and
hinder him from running into farther distresses, but can never pay off his old bonds,
for which he must be ever accountable, unless they are discharged by himself, or
some other in his stead; this very discharge Christianity alone holds forth on our
repentance, and, if true, will certainly perform; the truth of it, therefore, must
ardently be wished
for by all, except the wicked, who are determined neither to repent
or reform. It is well worth every man’s while, who either is, or intends to be,
virtuous, to believe Christianity if he can; because he will find it the surest
preservative against all vitious habits and their attendant evils, the best resource
under distresses and disappointments, ill health and ill fortune, and the firmest
basis on which contemplation can rest; and without some, the human mind is never
perfectly at ease. But if any one is attached to a favourite pleasure, or eagerly
engaged in wordly pursuits incompatible with the precepts of this religion, and
he believes it, he must either relinquish those pursuits with uneasiness, or persist
in them with remorse and dissatisfaction, and
therefore must commence unbeliever in his own defence. With such I
shall not dispute, nor pretend to persuade men by arguments to make themselves miserable:
but to those, who, not afraid that this religion may be true, are really affected
by such objections, I will offer the following answers, which, though short, will,
I doubt not, be sufficient to shew them their weakness and futility.
In the first place, then, some have been so bold as to strike
at the root of all revelation from God, by asserting, that it is incredible, because
unnecessary, and unnecessary, because the reason which he has bestowed on mankind
is sufficiently able to discover all the religious and moral duties which he requires
of
them, if they would but attend to her precepts, and be guided by her
friendly admonitions. Mankind have undoubtedly at various times, from the remotest
ages, received so much knowledge by divine communications, and have ever been so
much inclined to impute it all to their own sufficiency, that it is now difficult
to. determine what human reason unassisted can effect: but to form a true judgement
on this subject, let us turn our eyes to those remote regions of the globe, to which
this supernatural assistance has never yet extended, and we shall there see men
endued with sense and reason not inferior to our own, so far from being capable
of forming systems of religion and morality, that they are at this day totally unable
to make a
nail or a hatchet: from whence we may surely be convinced, that reason
alone is so far from being sufficient to offer to mankind a perfect religion, that
it has never yet been able to lead them to any degree of culture or civilization
whatever. These have uniformly flowed from that great fountain of divine communication
opened in the cast, in the earliest ages, and thence been gradually diffused in
salubrious streams, throughout the various regions of the earth. Their rise
and progress; by surveying the history of the world; may easily be traced backwards
to their source; and wherever these have not as yet been able to penetrate, we there
find the human species not only void of all true religious and moral sentiments,
but not
the least emerged from their original ignorance and barbarity; which
seems a demonstration, that although human reason is capable of progression in science,
yet the first foundations must be laid by supernatural instructions: for surely
no other probable cause can be assigned, why one part of mankind should have made
such an amazing progress in religious, moral, metaphysical, and. philosophical,
inquiries; such wonderful improvements in policy, legislation, commerce, and manufactures,
while the other part, formed with the same natural capacities, and divided only
by seas and mountains, should remain, during the same number of ages, in a state
little superior to brutes, without government, without laws or letters, and
even without clothes and habitations; murdering each. other to satiate
their revenge, and devouring each other to appease their hunger. I say no
cause can be assigned for this amazing difference, except that the first have received
information from those divine communications recorded in the Scriptures, and the
latter have never yet been favoured, with such assistance. This remarkable contrast
seems an unanswerable, though perhaps a new proof of the necessity of revelation,
and a solid refutation of all arguments against it, drawn from the sufficiency of
human reason. And as reason in her natural state is thus incapable of making any
progress in knowledge, so when furnished with materials by supernatural aid,
if left to the guidance, of
her own wild imaginations, she falls into more numerous and more gross
errors, than her own native ignorance could ever have suggested. There is then no
absurdity so extravagant, which she is not ready to adopt: she has persuaded some,
that there is no God; others, that there can be no future state: she has taught
some, that there is no difference between vice and virtue, and that to cut a man’s
throat and to relieve his necessities are actions equally meritorious: she has convinced
many, that they have no free-will in opposition to their own experience; some, that
there can be no such thing as foul, or spirit, contrary to their own perceptions;
and others, no such thing as matter or body, in contradiction to their senses. By
analysing all things she can shew, that there is nothing in any thing;
by perpetual sifting, she can reduce all existence to the invisible dust of scepticism;
and by recurring to first principles, prove to the satisfaction of her followers,
that there are no principles at all. How far such a guide is to be depended on in
the important concerns of religion and morals, I leave to the judgement of every
considerate man to determine. This is certain, that human reason, in its highest
state of cultivation amongst the philosophers of Greece and Rome, was never
able to form a religion comparable to Christianity; nor have all those sources of
moral virtue, such as truth, beauty; and the fitness of things, which modern philosophers
have endeavoured. to
substitute in its stead, ever been effectual to produce good men,
and have themselves often been the productions of some of the worst.
Others there are, who allow, that a revelation from God may be
both necessary and credible; but allege, that the Scriptures, that is the books
of the Old and New Testament, cannot be that Revelation; because in them are to
be found errors and inconsistencies, fabulous stories, false facts, and false philosophy,
which can never be derived from the fountain of all wisdom and truth. To this I
reply, that I readily acknowledge, that the Scriptures are not revelations from
God, but the history of them: the revelation itself is derived from God; but the
history of it is the production of men, and
therefore the truth of it is not in the least affected by their fallibility,
but depends on the internal evidence of its own supernatural excellence. If in these
books such a religion, as has been here described, actually exists, no seeming,
or even real, defects to be found in them can disprove the divine origin of this
religion, or invalidate my argument. Let us, for instance, grant that the Mosaic
History of the Creation was founded on the erroneous but popular principles of those
early ages, who imagined the earth to be a vast plain, and the celestial bodies
no more than luminaries hung up in the concave firmament to enlighten it; will it
from thence follow, that Moses could not be a proper instrument in the hands of
Providence,
to impart to the Jews a divine law, because he was not inspired with
a fore-knowledge of the Copernican. and Newtonian systems? or that Christ must be
an impostor, because Moses was not an astronomer? Let us also suppose, that the
accounts of Christ’s temptation in the Wilderness, the Devil’s taking refuge in
the herd of swine, with several other narrations in the New Testament, frequently
ridiculed by unbelievers, were all but stories accommodated to the ignorance and
superstitions of the times and countries in which they were written, or pious frauds
intended to impress on vulgar minds a higher reverence of the power and sanctity
of Christ, will this in the least impeach the excellence of his religion, or the
authority of its founder?
or is Christianity answerable for all the fables of which it may have
been the innocent occasion? The want of this obvious distinction has much injured
the Christian cause; because on this ground it has ever been most successfully attacked,
and on this ground it is not easily to be defended: for if the records of this revelation
are supposed to be the revelation itself, the least defeat discovered in them must
be fatal to the whole. What has led many to overlook this distinction, is that common
phrase, that the Scriptures are the word of God; and in one sense they certainly
are; that is, they are the sacred repository of all the revelations, dispensations,
promises, and precepts, which God has vouchsafed to communicate to mankind; but
this expression, we are not to understand that every part of this
voluminous collection of historical, poetical, prophetical, theological, and moral
writings, which we call the Bible, was dictated by the immediate influence of divine
inspiration: the authors of these books pretend to no such infallibility, and if
they claim it not for themselves, who has the authority to claim it for them? Christ
required no such belief from those who were willing to be his disciples. He says,
“He that believeth on me hath everlasting life;”John vi. 47.
but where
does he say, He that believeth not every word contained in the Old Testament, which
was then extant, or every
word in the New Testament, which was to be wrote for the instruction
of future generations, hath not everlasting life? There are innumerable occurrences
related in the Scriptures, some of greater, some of less, and some of no importance
at all; the truth of which we can have no reason question, but the belief of them
is surely not essential to the faith of a Christian: I have no doubt but that S.
Paul was ship-wrecked, and that he left his cloak and his parchments at Troas; but
the belief of these facts makes no part of Christianity, nor is the truth of them
any proof of its authority. It proves only that this Apostle could not, in common
life, be under the perpetual influence of infallible inspiration: for, had he been
so, he would
not have put to sea before a storm, nor have forgot his cloak. These
writers were undoubtedly directed by supernatural influence in all things necessary
to the great work, which they were appointed to perform: at particular times, and
on particular occasions, they were enabled to utter prophecies, to speak languages,
and to work miracles; but in all other circumstances, they seem to have been left
to the direction of their own understandings like other men. In the sciences of
history, geography, astronomy, and philosophy, they appear to have been no better
instructed than others, and therefore were not less liable to be misled by the errors
and prejudices of the times and countries in which they lived. They related facts,
like
honest men, to the best of their knowledge or information, and they
recorded the divine lessons of their master with the utmost fidelity; but they pretended
to no infallibility, for they sometimes differed in their relations, and they sometimes
disagreed in their sentiments. All which proves only, that they did not act or write
in a combination to deceive, but not in the least impeaches the truth of the revelation
which they published; which depends not on any external evidence whatever: for I
will venture to affirm, that if any one could prove, what is impossible to be proved,
because it is not true, that there are errors in geography, chronology, and philosophy,
in every page of the Bible, that the prophecies therein delivered are all but fortunate
guesses, or artful applications, and the miracles there recorded,
no better than legendary tales: if any one could shew, that these books were never
written by their pretended authors, but were posterior imposition on illiterate
and credulous ages: all these wonderful discoveries would prove no more than this,
that God, for reasons to us unknown, had thought proper to permit a revelation,
by him communicated to mankind, to be mixed with their ignorance, and corrupted
by their frauds, from its earliest infancy, in the same manner in which he has visibly
permitted it to be mixed, and corrupted from that period to the present hour. If
in these books a religion superior to all human imagination actually exists, it
is of no consequence,
to the proof of its divine origin, by what means it was there introduced,
or with what human errors and imperfections it is blended, A diamond, though found
in a bed of mud, is still a diamond, nor can the dirt, which surrounds it, depreciate
its value or destroy its lustre.
To some speculative and refined observers, it has appeared incredible
that a wise and benevolent Creator should have constituted a world upon one plan,
and a religion for it on another; that is, that he should have revealed a religion
to mankind which not only contradicts the principal passions and inclinations which
he has implanted in their natures, but is incompatible with the whole economy of
that world which he has
created, and in which he has thought proper to place them. This, say
they, with regard to the Christian, is apparently the case:—the love of power,
riches, honour, and fame, are the great incitements to generous and magnanimous
actions; yet by this institution are all these depreciated and discouraged. Government
is essential to the nature of man, and cannot be managed without certain degrees
of violence, corruption, and imposition; yet are all these strictly forbid. Nations
cannot subsist without wars, nor war be carried on without rapine, desolation,
and murder; yet are these prohibited under the severest threats. The non-resistance
of evil must subject individuals. to continual oppressions, and leave nations a
defenceless prey to their
enemies; yet is this recommended. Perpetual patience under insults
and injuries must every day provoke new insults and new injuries; yet is this enjoined.
A neglect of all we eat and drink and wear must put an end to all commerce, manufactures,
and industry; yet is this required. In short, were these precepts universally obeyed,
the disposition of all human affairs must be intirely changed, and the business
of the world (constituted as it now is) could not go on.
To all this I answer, that such indeed is the Christian revelation,
though some of its advocates may perhaps be unwilling to own it; and such it is
constantly declared to be, by him who gave it, as well as by those who published
it under his immediate direction:—to these he says,
“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but, because
ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world; therefore the world
hateth you.”John, xv. 19.
To the Jews he declares, “Ye are of this world; I am not of this world.”John,
viii. 23.
St. Paul writes to the Romans, “Be not conformed to
this world “Rom. xii. 2.
and to the Corinthians, “We speak not the
wisdom of this world.”Cor. ii. 6.
St. James says, “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.”James,
iv. 4.
This irreconcileable
disagreement, between Christianity and the world, is announced in
numberless other places in the New Testament, and indeed by the whole tenour of
those writings. These are plain declarations, which, in spite of all the evasions.
of those good managers, who choose to take a little of this world in their way to
heaven, stand fixed and immoveable against all their arguments (drawn from
public benefit and pretended necessity), and must ever forbid any reconciliation
between the pursuits of this world and the Christian institution. But they,
who reject it on this account, enter not into the sublime spirit of this religion,
which is not a code of precise laws designed for the well-ordering society, adapted,
to the ends of worldly convenience, and
amenable to the tribunal of human prudence, but a divine lesson of
purity and perfection, so far superior to the low considerations of conquest, government,
and commerce, that it takes no more notice of them than of the battles of game-cocks,
the policy of bees, or the industry of ants; they recollect not what is the first
and principal object of this institution; that this is not, as has been often repeated,
to make us happy or even virtuous in the present life, for the sake of augmenting
our happiness here, but to conduct us through a state of dangers and sufferings,
of sin and temptation, in such a manner as to qualify us for the enjoyment of happiness
hereafter. All other institutions of religion and morals were made for the
world, but the characteristic of this is to be against it; and, therefore,
the merits of Christian doctrines are not to be weighed in the scales of public
utility, like those of moral precepts, because worldly utility is not their end.
If Christ and his Apostles pretended that the religion, which they preached, would
advance the power, wealth, and prosperity, of nations or of men, they would have
deserved but little credit; but they constantly profess the contrary, and every
where declare that their religion is adverse to the world and all its pursuits.
Christ says, speaking of his disciples, “They are not of the world, even as I am
not of the world.”John xvii. 16.
It can therefore
be no imputation on this religion, or on any of its precepts, that
they tend not to an end which their author professedly disclaims; nor can it surely
be deemed a defect, that it is adverse to the vain pursuits of this world, for so
are reason, wisdom, and experience; they all teach us the same lesson; they all
demonstrate to us, every day, that these are begun on false hopes, carried on with
disquietude, and end in disappointment. This professed incompatibility with the
little, wretched, and iniquitous, business of the world, is, therefore, so far from
being a defect in this religion, that, was there no other proof of its divine origin,
this alone, I think, would be abundantly sufficient. The great plan and benevolent
design of this dispensation
is plainly this, to enlighten the minds; purify the religion, and
amend the morals, of mankind in general; and to select the most meritorious
of them to be successively transplanted into the Kingdom of Heaven; which gracious
offer is impartially tendered to all who, by perseverance in meekness, patience,
piety, charity, and a detachment from the world, are willing to, qualify themselves
for this holy and happy society. Was this universally accepted, and did every man
observe strictly every precept of the Gospel, the face of human affairs and
the economy of the world would indeed be greatly changed; but surely they would
be changed for the better, and, we should enjoy much more happiness, even here,
than at present: for we must not forget that evils are by
it forbid as well as resistance; injuries as well as revenge; all
unwillingness to diffuse the enjoyments of life, as well as sollicitude to acquire
them; all obstacles to ambition, as well as ambition itself; and, therefore, all
contentions for power and interest would be at an end, and the world would go on
much more happily than it now does. But this universal acceptance of such an offer,
was never expected from so depraved and imperfect a creature as man, and therefore
could never have been any part of the design; for it was foreknown and foretold,
by him who made it, that few, very few, would accept it on there terms.—He says,
“Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth into life, and few there
be
that find it.”Matt. vii. 4.
Accordingly, we see that
very few are prevailed on, by the hopes of future happiness, to relinquish the pursuits
of present pleasures or interests, and therefore these pursuits are little interrupted
by the secession of so inconsiderable a number. As the natural world subsists by
the struggles of the same elements, so does the moral by the contentions of the
same passions, as from the beginning; the generality of mankind are actuated by
the same motives, fight, scuffle, and scramble, for power, riches, and pleasures,
with the same eagerness; all occupations and professions are exercised with the
same alacrity, and there are soldiers, lawyers, statesmen, patriots, and politicians,
just as if Christianity had never existed. Thus, we see this wonderful
dispensation has answered all the purposes for which it was intended: it has enlightened
the minds, purified the religion, and amended the morals of mankind; and, without
subverting the constitution, policy, or business, of the world, opened a gate, though
a strait one, through which all, who are wise enough to choose it and good enough
to be fit for it, may find an entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Others have said, that if this revelation had really been from
God, his infinite power and goodness could never have suffered it to have been so
soon perverted from its original purity, to have continued in a state of
corruption through the course of so many ages, and at last to have
proved so ineffectual to the reformation of mankind. To these I answer, that all
this, on examination, will be found inevitable, from the nature of all revelations
communicated to so imperfect a creature as man, and from circumstances peculiar
to the rise and progress of the Christian in particular; for when this was first
preached to the Gentile nations, though they were not able to withstand the force
of its evidence, and therefore received it, yet they could not be prevailed on to
relinquish their old superstitions and former opinions, but chose rather to incorporate
them with it; by which means it was necessarily mixed with their ignorance and their
learning, by both which it
was equally injured. The people defaced its worship by blending it
with their idolatrous ceremonies, and the philosophers corrupted its doctrines by
weaving them up with the notions of the Gnostics, Mystics, and Manichæans, the prevailing
systems of those times. By degrees its irresistible excellence gained over princes,
potentates, and conquerors, to its interests, and it was supported by their patronage;
but that patronage soon engaged it in their policies and contests, and destroyed
that excellence by which it had been acquired. At length the meek and humble professors
of the Gospel inslaved these princes, and conquered these conquerors their patrons,
and erected for themselves such a stupendous fabric of wealth and power, as
the world had never seen; they then propagated their religion by the
same methods by which it had been persecuted; nations were converted by fire and
sword, and the vanquished were baptized with daggers at their throats. All these
events we see proceed from a chain of causes and consequences, which could not have
been broken without changing the established course of things by a constant series
of miracles, or a total alteration of human nature; whilst that continues as it
is, the purest religion must be corrupted by a conjunction with power and riches,
and it will also then appear to be much more corrupted than it really is, because
many are inclined to think, that every deviation from its primitive state is a corruption.
Christianity
was at first preached by the poor and mean, in holes and caverns,
under the iron rod of persecution, and, therefore, many absurdly conclude, that
any degrees of wealth or power in its ministers, or of magnificence in its worship,
are corruptions incontinent with the genuine simplicity of its original state; they
are offended, that modern bishops should possess titles, palaces, revenues, and
coaches, when it is notorious, that their predecessors, the Apostles, were despicable
wanderers, without houses or money, and walked on foot. The Apostles, indeed, lived
in a state of poverty and persecution attendant on their particular situation, and
the work which they had undertaken; this was their misfortune, but no part of their
religion, and
therefore it can be no more incumbent on their successors to imitate
their poverty and meanness, than to be whipped, imprisoned, and put to death, in
compliance with their example. are all but the suggestions of envy and malevolence,
but no objections to these fortunate alterations in Christianity and its professors;
which, if not abused to the purposes of tyranny and superstition, are in fact no
more than the necessary and proper effects of its more prosperous situation. When
a poor man grows rich, or a servant becomes a master, they should take care that
their exaltation prompts them not to be unjust or insolent; but surely it is not
requisite or right, that their behaviour and mode of living should be exactly the
same, when their situation is altered.
How far this institution has been effectual to the reformation of
mankind it is not easy now to ascertain, because the enormities which prevailed
before the appearance of it are by time so far removed from our sight, that they
are scarcely visible; but those of the most gigantic size still remain in the records
of history, as monuments of the rest. Wars in those ages were carried on with a
ferocity and cruelty unknown to the present; whole cities and nations were extirpated
by fire and sword, and thousands of the vanquished were crucified and impaled for
having endeavoured only to defend themselves and their country. The lives of new-born
infants were then intirely at the disposal of their parents, who were at liberty
to bring
them up, or to expose them to perish by cold and hunger, or to be
devoured by birds and beasts and this was frequently practised without punishment,
and even without censure. Gladiators were employed by hundreds to cut one another
to pieces in public theatres, for the diversion of the most polite assemblies; and
though these combatants at first consisted of criminals only, by degrees men of
the highest rank, and even ladies of the most illustrious families, enrolled
themselves in this honourable list. On many occasions human sacrifices were ordained;
and at the funerals of rich and eminent persons, great numbers of their slaves were
murdered as victims pleasing to their departed spirits. The most infamous obscenities
were made part
of their religious worship, and the most unnatural lusts publicly
avowed and celebrated by their most admired poets. At the approach of Christianity
all these horrid abominations vanished, and amongst those who first embraced it,
scarce a single vice was to be found; to such an amazing degree of piety, charity,
temperance, patience, and resignation, were the primitive converts exalted, that
they seem literally to have been regenerated and purified from all the imperfections
of human nature; and to have pursued such a constant and uniform course of devotion,
innocence, and virtue, as, in the present times, it is almost as difficult for us
to conceive as to imitate. If it is asked, why should not the belief of the same
religion now produce the
same effects? the answer is short, because it is not believed. The
most sovereign medicine can perform no cure, if the patient will not be persuaded
to take it. Yet notwithstanding all impediments, it has certainly done a great deal
towards diminishing the vices and correcting the dispositions of mankind; and was
it universally adopted in belief and practice, would totally eradicate both sin
and punishment. But this was never expected, or designed, or possible, if their
existence did not arise from some necessity to us unknown; they never would have
been permitted to exist at all, and, therefore, they can no more be extirpated than
they could have been prevented; for this would certainly be incompatible with the
frame and
constitution of this world, and in all probability with that
of another. And this, I think, well accounts for that reserve and obscurity with
which this religion was at first promulgated, and that want of irresistible evidence
of its truth, by which it might possibly have been enforced. Christ says to his
disciples, “To you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God; but unto
them that are without, all these things are done in parables; that seeing, they
may see and not perceive, and hearing, they may hear and not understand; lest at
any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.”Mark
iv. 11, 12.
That is, to you by peculiar favour it is
given to know and understand the doctrines of my religion, and by
that means to qualify yourselves for the Kingdom of Heaven; but to the multitude
without, that is, to all mankind in general, this indulgence cannot be extended,
because, that all men should be exempted from sin and punishment is utterly repugnant
to the universal system and that constitution of things which infinite wisdom has
thought proper to adopt.
Objections have likewise been raised to the divine authority of
this religion from the incredibility of some of its doctrines, particularly of those
concerning the Trinity, and atonement for sin by the sufferings and death of Christ;
the one contradicting all the principles of human reason, and the other all our
ideas of
divine justice. To these objections I shall only say, that no arguments,
founded on principles which we cannot comprehend, can possibly disprove a proposition
already proved on principles which we do understand; and, therefore, that on this
subject they ought not to be attended to. That three Beings should be one Being
is a proposition which certainly contradicts reason, that is, our reason;
but it does not from thence follow, that it cannot be true; for there are many propositions
which contradict our reason, and yet are demonstrably true: one is the very first
principle of all religion, the being of a God; for that any thing should eat without
a cause, or that any thing should be the cause of its own existence, are propositions
equally
contradictory to our reason; yet one of them must be true, or nothing
could ever have existed: in like manner, the over-ruling grace of the Creator, and
the free will of his creatures, his certain fore-knowledge of future events, and
the uncertain contingency of those events, are to our apprehensions absolute contradictions
to each other; and yet the truth of every one of these is demonstrable from Scripture,
reason, and experience. All these arise from. our imagining, that the mode
of existence of all beings must be similar to our own; that is, that they must all
exist in time and space;. and hence proceeds our embarrassment on this subject.
We know, that no two beings, with whose mode of existence we are acquainted,
can exist in the same point of time in the same point of space, and
that therefore they cannot be one; but how far beings, whose mode of existence bears
no relation to time or space, may be united we cannot comprehend, and, therefore,
the possibility of such an union we cannot positively deny. In like manner our reason
informs us, that the punishment of the innocent, instead of the guilty, is diametrically
opposite to justice, rectitude, and all pretensions to utility; but we should also
remember, that the short line of our reason cannot reach to the bottom of this.
question; it cannot inform us, by what means either guilt or punishment ever gained
a place in the. works of a Creator infinitely good and powerful, whose goodness
must
have induced him, and whose power must have enabled him, to exclude
them; it cannot assure us, that some sufferings of individuals are not necessary
to the happiness and well-being of the whole; it cannot convince us, that they do
not actually arise from this necessity, or that, for this cause they may not be
required of us, and levied like a tax for the public benefit; or that this tax may
not be paid by one being, as well as another, and, therefore, if voluntarily offered,
be justly accepted from the innocent instead of the guilty. Of all these circumstances
we are totally ignorant; nor can our reason afford us any information, and therefore
we are not able to assert, that this measure is contrary to justice or void of utility;
for, unless
we could first resolve that great question, whence came evil? we can
decide nothing on the dispensations of Providence, because they must necessarily
be connected with that undiscoverable principle, and, as we know not the root of
the disease, we cannot judge of what is, or is not, a proper and effectual remedy.
It is remarkable, that, notwithstanding all the seeming absurdities of this doctrine,
there is one circumstance much in its favour, which is, that it has been universally
adopted in all ages, as far as history can carry us back in our inquiries to the
earliest times; in which we find all nations, civilized and barbarous, however differing
in all other religious opinions, agreeing alone in the expediency of appeasing their
offended deities by
sacrifices, that is, by the vicarious sufferings of men or other animals.
This notion could never have been derived from reason, because it directly contradicts
it; nor from ignorance, because ignorance could never have contrived so unaccountable
an expedient, nor have been uniform in all ages and countries in any opinion whatsoever;
nor from the artifice of kings or priests, in order to acquire dominion over the
people, because it seems not adapted to this end, and we find it implanted in the
minds of the most remote savages at this day discovered, who have neither kings
or priests artifice or dominion amongst them. It must therefore be derived from
natural instinct, or supernatural revelation, both which are equally the
operations of divine power. If it is farther urged, that however true
these doctrines may be, yet it must be inconsistent with the justice and goodness
of the Creator, to require from his creatures the belief of propositions which contradict,
or are above the reach of that reason, which he has thought proper to bestow upon
them. To this I answer, that genuine Christianity requires no such belief; it has
discovered to us many important truths with which we were before intirely unacquainted,
and amongst them are these, that three Beings are some way united in the divine
essence, and that God will accept of the sufferings of Christ as an atonement for
the sins of mankind. These, considered as declarations of facts only,
neither contradict, or are above the reach of human reason: the first
is a proposition as plain, as that three equilateral lines compose one triangle;
the other is as intelligible, as that one man should discharge the debts of another.
In what manner this union is formed, or why God accepts these vicarious punishments,
or to what purposes they may be subservient, it informs us not, because no information
could enable us to comprehend these mysteries, and therefore it does not require
that we should know or believe any thing about them. The truth of these doctrines
must rest intirely on those who taught them; but then we should reflect that those
were the same persons who taught us a system of religion more sublime,
and of ethics more perfect, than any which our faculties were ever
able to discover, but which, when discovered, are exactly consonant to our reason,
and that therefore we should not hastily reject those informations which they have
vouchsafed to give us, of which our reason is not a competent judge. If an able
mathematician proves to us the truth of several propositions by demonstrations which
we underhand, we hesitate not on his authority to assent to others, the process
of whose proofs we are not able to follow; why, therefore, should we refuse that
credit to Christ and his Apostles, which we think reasonable to give to one another?
Many have objected to the whole scheme of this revelation as partial,
fluctuating, indeterminate, unjust,
and unworthy of an omniscient and omnipotent author, who cannot be
supposed to have favoured particular persons, countries, and times, with this divine
communication, while others, no less meritorious, have been altogether excluded
from its benefits; nor to have changed and counteracted his own designs; that, is,
to have formed mankind able and disposed to render themselves miserable by their
own wickedness, and then to have contrived so strange an expedient to restore them
to that happiness, which they need never have been permitted to forfeit; and this
to be brought about by the unnecessary interposition of a mediator. To all this
I shall only say, that however unaccountable this may appear to us, who see but
as small
a part of the Christian, as of the universal plan of creation, they
are both in regard to all these circumstances exactly analogous to each other. In
all the dispensations of Providence, with which we are acquainted, benefits are
distributed in a similar manner; health and strength, sense and science, wealth
and power, are all bestowed on individuals and communities in different degrees
and at different times. The whole economy of this world consists of evils and remedies;
and these for the most part administered by the instrumentality of intermediate
agents.—God has permitted us to plunge ourselves into poverty, distress, and misery,
by our own vices, and has afforded us the advice, instructions, and examples, of
others, to deter or
extricate us from these calamities. He has formed us subject to innumerable
diseases, and he has bestowed on us a variety of remedies. He has made us liable
to hunger, thirst, and nakedness, and he supplies us with food, drink, and clothing,
usually by the administration of others. He has created poisons, and he has provided
antidotes. He has ordained the winter’s cold to cure. the pestilential heats of
the summer, and the summer’s sunshine to dry up the inundations of the winter. Why
the constitution of nature is so formed, why all the visible dispensations of Providence
are such, and why such is the Christian dispensation also, we know not, nor have
faculties to comprehend. God might certainly have made the material
world a system of perfect beauty and regularity, without evils, and
without remedies; and the Christian dispensation a scheme only of moral virtue,
productive of happiness, without the intervention of any atonement or mediation.
He might have exempted our bodies from all diseases, and our minds from all depravity,
and we should then have flood in no need of medicines to restore us to health, or
expedients to reconcile us to his favour. It seems indeed to our ignorance,
that this would have been more continent with justice and reason; but his infinite
wisdom has decided in another manner, and formed the systems both of Nature and
Christianity on other principles, and these so exactly similar, that we have cause
to conclude that they both must proceed from the same source of divine
power and wisdom, however inconsistent with our reason they may appear. Reason is
undoubtedly our surest guide in all matters, which lie within the narrow circle
of her intelligence. On the subject of revelation, her province is only to examine
into its authority, and when that is once proved, she has no more to do, but
to acquiesce in its doctrines, and therefore is never so ill employed, as when she
pretends to accommodate them to her own ideas of rectitude and truth. God, says
this self-sufficient teacher, is perfectly wise, just, and good; and what is the
inference? That all his dispensations must be conformable to our notions of perfect
wisdom, justice,
and goodness: but it should first be proved that man is as perfect
and as wise as his Creator, or this consequence will by no means follow; but rather
the reverse, that is, that the dispensations of a perfect and all-wise Being must
probably appear unreasonable, and perhaps unjust, to a being imperfect and
ignorant; and therefore their seeming impossibility may be a mark of their truth,
and in some measure justify that pious rant of a mad enthusiast, “Credo,
quia impossibile.” Nor is it the least surprising, that we are not able
to understand the spiritual dispensations of the Almighty, when his material works
are to us no less incomprehensible, our reason can afford us no insight into those
great properties of matter, gravitation, attraction,
elasticity, and electricity, nor even into the essence of matter
itself. Can reason teach us how the sun’s luminous orb can fill a circle whose diameter
contains many millions of miles, with a constant inundation of successive rays during
thousands of years, without any perceivable diminution of that body, from whence
they are continually poured, or any augmentation of those bodies on which they fall,
and by which they are constantly absorbed? Can reason tell us how those rays, darted
with a velocity greater than that of a cannon-ball, can strike the tenderest organs
of the human frame without inflicting any degree of pain, or by what means this
percussion only can convey the forms of distant objects to an immaterial mind? or
how any union can be formed between material and immaterial essences,
or how the wounds of the body can give pain to the soul, or the anxiety of the soul
can emaciate and destroy the body? That all these things are so, we have visible
and indisputable demonstration; but how they can be so, is to us as incomprehensible,
as the most abstruse mysteries of Revelation can possibly be. In short, we see so
small a part of the great Whole, we know so little of the relation, which the present
life bears to pre-existent and future states; we can conceive so little of the nature
of God, and his attributes, or mode of existence; we can comprehend so little of
the material, and so much less of the moral plan on which the universe is constituted,
or on what principle it proceeds; that, if a revelation from such
a Being on such subjects was in every part familiar to our understandings, and consonant
to our reason, we should have great cause to suspect its divine authority; and therefore,
had this revelation been less incomprehensible, it would certainly have been more
incredible.
But I shall not enter farther into the consideration of these
abstruse and difficult speculations, because the discussion of them would
render this short essay too tedious and laborious a talk for the perusal of them,
for whom it was principally intended; which are all those busy or idle persons,
whose time and thoughts are wholly engrossed by the pursuits of business or pleasure,
ambition or
luxury, who know nothing of this religion, except what they have accidentally
picked up by desultory conversation or superficial reading, and have thence determined
with themselves, that a pretended revelation founded on so strange and improbable
a story, so contradictory to reason, so adverse to the world and all its occupations,
so incredible in its doctrines, and in its precepts so impracticable, can be nothing
more than the imposition of priestcraft upon ignorant and illiterate ages, and artfully
continued as an engine well-adapted to awe and govern the superstitious vulgar.
To talk to such about the Christian religion is to converse with the deaf concerning
music, or with the blind on the beauties of painting: they want all
ideas relative to the subject, and therefore can never be made to
comprehend it: to enable them to do this, their minds must be formed for these conceptions
by contemplation, retirement, and abstraction from business and dissipation, by
ill-health, disappointments, and distresses; and possibly by divine interposition,
or by enthusiasm, which is usually mistaken for it. Without some of these preparatory
aids, together with a competent degree of learning and application, it is impossible
that they can think or know, understand or believe, any thing about it. If they
profess to believe, they deceive others; if they fancy that they believe, they deceive
themselves. I am ready to acknowledge, that these gentlemen, as far as their information
reaches, are perfectly in the right; and if they are endued with good
understandings, which have been intirely devoted to the business or amusements
of the world, they can pass no other judgement, and must revolt from the history
and doctrines of this religion. “The preaching Christ crucified was to the Jews
a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness;”1 Cor. i. 26.
and so it must appear to all, who, like them, judge from established prejudices,
false learning, and superficial knowledge; for those who are quite unable to follow
the chain of its prophecy, to see the beauty and justice, of its moral precepts,
and to enter into the wonders of its dispensations,
can form no other idea of this revelation, but that of a confuted
rhapsody of fictions and absurdities.
If it is asked, was Christianity, then, intended only for learned
divines and profound philosophers? I answer, no; it was, at first, preached by the
illiterate and received by the ignorant, and to such are the practical (which are
the most necessary) parts of it sufficiently intelligible; but the proofs of its
authority undoubtedly are not, because these must be chiefly drawn from other parts,
of a speculative nature, opening to our inquiries inexhaustible discoveries concerning
the nature, attributes, and dispensations, of God, which cannot be understood without
tome learning and much attention. From these the generality of mankind
must necessarily be excluded, and must, therefore, trust to others
for the grounds of their belief, if they believe at all; and hence, perhaps, it
is, that faith, or easiness of belief, is so frequently and so strongly recommended
in the Gospel; because, if men require proofs of which they themselves are incapable,
and those, who have no knowledge on this important subject, will not place some
confidence in those who have, the illiterate and inattentive must ever continue
in a state of unbelief. But then all such should remember, that in all sciences
(even in mathematics themselves) there are many propositions which, on, a cursory
view, appear, to the most acute understandings uninstructed in that science, to
be impossible to be true,
which yet, on a closer examination, are found to be truths capable
of the strictest demonstration; and that, therefore, in disquisitions on which we
cannot determine without much learned investigation, reason uninformed is by no
means to be depended on: and, from hence, they ought surely to conclude, that it
may be at least as possible for them to be mistaken; in disbelieving this revelation,
who know nothing of the matter, as for those great mailers of reason and erudition,
Grotius, Bacon, Newton, Boyle, Locke, Addison, and Lyttleton, to be deceived in
their belief; a belief to which they firmly adhered, after the most diligent and
learned researches into the authenticity of its records, the completion of the prophecies,
the sublimity of its doctrines,
the purity of its precepts, and the arguments of its adversaries;
a belief which they have testified to the World, by their writings, Without any
other motive than their regard for truth, and the benefit of mankind.—Should the
few foregoing pages add but one mite to the treasures with which these learned writers
have enriched the world; if they should be so fortunate as to persuade any of these
minute philosophers to place some confidence in these great opinions, and to distrust
their own; if they should be able to convince them that, notwithstanding all unfavourable
appearances, Christianity may not be altogether artifice and error; if they should
prevail on them to examine it with some attention; or, if that is co much trouble,
not to reject
it without any examination at all; the purpose of this little work
will be sufficiently answered. Had the arguments herein used, and the new hints
here flung out, been more largely discussed, it might easily have been extended
to a more considerable bulk; but then the busy would not have had leisure, nor the
idle inclination, to have read it. Should it ever have the honour to be admitted
into such good company, they will immediately, I know, determine that it must be
the work of some enthusiast or methodist, some beggar, or some madman; I shall,
therefore, beg leave to assure them, that the author is very far removed from all
these characters; that he once, perhaps, believed as little as themselves; but,
having some leisure, and
more curiosity, he employed them both in resolving a question which
seemed to him of some importance, whether Christianity was really an imposture, founded
on an absurd, incredible, and obsolete, fable, as many suppose it? or, Whether it
is, what it pretends to be, a revelation communicated to mankind by the interposition
of supernatural power?—On a candid inquiry, he soon found that the first was an
absolute impossibility, and that its pretensions to the latter were founded on the
most solid grounds. In the farther pursuit of his examination, he perceived, at
every step, new lights arising, and some of the brightest from parts of it The most
obscure, but productive of the clearest proofs, because equally beyond the power
of human artifice
to invent, and human reason to discover. These arguments, which have
convinced him of the divine origin of this religion, he has here put together in
as clear and concise a manner as he was able, thinking they might have the same
effect upon others, and being of opinion that if there were a few more true Christians
in the world it would be beneficial to themselves and by no means detrimental to
the public.
THE END.