190 This is so obviously true, that, probably, it was never seriously questioned. The same sin is committed, in the same manner, whenever we assert, or insinuate, that these works were made to no end; or to In such a case the character of no end worthy of their Author. God is profanely impeached, through his works; because we accuse him of weakness and folly. No folly can be more conspicuous, than that, which is visible in doing any thing, and especially very great things, without any end in view, or without any such end, as is suited to the splendour of the apparatus, or the character of the workman. Of this folly, in the case before us, we accuse God. Profaneness, of an exactly similar nature, is practised, when, in considering the works of God, we intentionally, or negligently, keep his Agency out of view, and attribute to second causes that, which plainly belongs to the First Cause. There are philosophers, and ever have been, who, through choice, or carelessness, have considered the beings and events, in the earth and the visible heavens, as proceeding in a manner, and from a cause, resembling that which the heathen attributed to fate. Instead of supposing them to be all directed by an Intelligent Cause to purposes, formed by unerring wisdom, and conducted, regularly, by that wisdom to the accomplishment of those purposes; they are regarded, and spoken of, as operating, of themselves only; without any tion; without any end, to be accomplished; without any wisdom to guide, or intelligent agency to control. direc The works of God were by him intended to be, and are in fact, manifestations of himself; proofs of his character, presence, and agency. In this light he requires men continually to regard them; and to refuse this regard is considered by him as grossly wicked, and highly deserving of punishment. Accordingly, David, says, Psalm xxviii. 5, Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. Isaiah, also, chap. v. 12-14, speaking of the Jews, says, They regard not the work of the Lord; neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore, my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore, hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. I am apprehensive, that even good men are prone to pay less attention to the works of Creation and Providence, than piety demands and the Scriptures require. We say, and hear, so much concerning the insufficiency of these works to unfold the character of God, and the nature of genuine religion; and find the truth of what we thus say, and hear, so clearly proved; that we are prone, not very unnaturally, to consider them as almost uninstruct ive in moral things, and in a great measure useless to the promotion of piety. This, however, is a palpable and dangerous error. The works alone, without the aid of the Scriptures, would, I acKnowledge, be far less instructive, than they now are, and utterly insufficient to guide us in the way of righteousness. The Scriptures were designed to be a Comment on these works; to explain their nature; and show us the agency, purposes, wisdom, and goodness, of God in their formation. Thus explained, thus illumined, they become means of knowledge, very extensive and eminently useful. He, who does not find in the various, beautiful, sublime, awful, and astonishing objects, presented to us in creation and providence, irresistible and glorious reasons for admiring, adoring, loving, and praising, his Creator, has not a claim to Evangelical piety. David did not act in this manner. All, who, like David, feel the spirit of the Gospel, will, like him also, rejoice in those works, in which God himself rejoices; will delight to contemplate them with wonder, reverence, and gratitude; will find God, every where, in the works of his hands; and, passing beyond those second causes, which are merely instruments of his agency, will see, every where displayed, the finger, and character, of the divine Workman. 2dly. The same Irreverence is abundantly exercised towards the Word of God. Irreverence, in this particular, exists, in a multitude of forms, and degrees; altogether too numerous to be mentioned on this occasion. I shall select a few from this number. First; The Scriptures are not unfrequently made the object, or the means, of sport and jesting. David says of himself, My heart standeth in awe at thy word: and again, addressing his Maker, O how sweet are thy Words unto my taste! God, speaking by the Prophet Isaiah, says, To this man will I look; even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my Word. Hear the word of the Lord, ye that tremble at his word. He shall appear to your joy; and your brethren, that hated you, shall be ashamed. Such is the character of good men; and such are the promises to those, who tremble at the word of God. But how different is the spirit of those, who jest with this sacred and awful volume; who can find sport and merriment in the book, which unfolds the infinitely great, solemn, and awful character of Jehovah; which denounces his wrath against all the workers of iniquity; which opens to our view the Redeemer of mankind on the cross; which discloses to us all the glories of heaven, and the straight and narrow way to that happy world; which presents to us the terrors of hell, with the dreadful road that leads to final perdition; and which shows us ourselves as objects of the divine indignation, in imminent danger of endless ruin, and yet as prisoners of hope and candidates for life eternal! What can be found, here, to excite diversion; to become the theme of gayety, the subject of laughter, the [SER. CU. foundation of amusement and trifling? What must be the spirit of him, who can divert himself over the grave; who can make death the topic of wit; who can laugh before the bar of the final judgment, and sport with the miseries of perdition? He must, indeed, have forgotten the God that made him, and lightly esteem the Rock of his salvation. Secondly; The same irreverence is exercised, when the Scriptures are neglected. Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy Name. Psalm cxxxviii. 2. This passage is thus paraphrased by Dr. Watts: "I'll sing thy truth and mercy, Lord; If God, then, has magnified his Word in this manner; if he has rendered it the means of displaying his character so much more perfectly, than the works of Creation and Providence; if he has thus rendered it immensely important to mankind; if he himself appears in it so immediately, so clearly, and so gloriously; how inexcusable must we be, if we do not regard it with the solemn concern, the deep attention, and the profound reverence, due to his infinite majesty? But negligence of the Scriptures is the absolute prevention, the certain death, of all such emotions. What veneration can he possess for the Bible, or for the Author of it, who leaves it to moulder on a shelf; or who reads it, when he reads it at all, with carelessness and stupidity; who is equally regardless of its doctrines, and its precepts; and who renders to it, universally, less respect than to a novel, or a play? Thirdly; The same irreverence is exercised towards the Scriptures, when we do not duly respect their authority. When the Scriptures are acknowledged to be the Word of God, an end is put to all questions concerning the truth of their doctrines, and the reasonableness of their precepts. If they are his Word; every thing, contained in them, unless it be some error of a transcriber, or printer, is true, and right. Nor is this all. As all Scripture is given by inspiration of God; so he has declared the whole to be profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in rightAs they are; he has declared, that they are the genuine means of perfecting the man of God, and of furnishing him thoroughly unto every good work. The plain duty of all men, therefore, is carefully to understand, implicitly to believe, and exactly to obey, them. If, then, we find some doctrines partially revealed; some mysterious, and inexplicable in their nature; and these, or others, contradicting our own pre-conceived opinions: if we doubt, or disbelieve, such doctrines, because our own philosophy is unsatisfied with them, opposed to them, or unable to explain them: we wholly fail of the reverence, due to Him, who has declared eousness. them; and, in a manner highly affrontive, impeach his wisdom and veracity. The Bereans received the word, preached by the Apostles, with all readiness of mind: and, to be satisfied whether it was true, did not appeal to their own reason, but to the Scriptures; which they searched daily, for this end. All, who possess the liberal and nobleminded disposition, ascribed to them, will pursue exactly the same conduct; and will say, with St. Paul, Let God be true, but every man a liar. It was from this disposition, that they believed, in the Evangelical sense, and were saved. All, who possess the same spirit, will share in the same faith, and the same salvation. What can be more preposterous, more indecent, more irreverential to God, than for beings of yesterday, who know nothing, to question the wisdom, and the truth, of his declarations; and, instead of believing what he has said, upon the ground of his veracity, to insist on perceiving, before we give credit to it, the truth and reasonableness of the doctrines declared, by means of our own philosophy. To men, whose sincerity we consider as proved, we readily yield our belief, whenever they declare such things, as they have had opportunity certainly to know. God knows all things with absolute certainty. Ought he not, then, to be believed, in whatever he is pleased to declare? Is not his veracity greater than that of men? If, then, we receive the witness of men, the witness of God, saith St. John, is greater. He, that believeth not God, hath made him a liar. What wonderful irreverence is this towards God! What an impudent insult! How tremendous a profanation of his glorious character! Fourthly; Of the same nature is the Contempt, Obloquy, and Ridicule, often cast upon the Scriptures. The Scriptures, in instances not very unfrequent, receive this treatment from those, who professedly believe them; and much more frequently from Infidels. A man, who has not, hitherto, seen sufficient evidence to prove the divine origin of the Scriptures, may be fairly considered as warranted to withhold from them his assent. At the same time, he is indispensably bound to investigate this evidence as fast, and as far, as he is able; and to yield himself to it, whenever it is perceived, with candour and equity. But nothing can justify, or even palliate, the manner, in which Infidels have conducted their opposition to this book. There is no mode of attack, which they have thought too gross to be adopted in this warfare. The frauds, which they have practised upon Christianity, have been without number, and without limits. All the weakness, folly, superstition, and enthusiasm, inherent in the nature of man, they have charged upon its doctrines; although these very doctrines contradict, and condemn them all. All the vices, inwoven in the human character; all the enormities, perpetrated by the pride, injustice, and cruelty, of man; they have charged upon its precepts; notwithstanding these very precepts prohibit every one of them, and threaten them, VOL. III. 25 universally, with endless punishment. The Religion itself they have regularly styled Superstition, Enthusiasm, and Fanaticism; and have thus endeavoured to prepossess, and to a vast extent have actually prepossessed, great multitudes of mankind against it, under the mere influence of Nicknames. Where they could not convince, or refute; an evil which has universally attended their efforts; they have succeeded, at least equally well, by perplexing. and entangling. Instead of open, direct arguments, fairly stated and fully discussed, they have insinuated doubts; started difficul ties; and hinted objections; leaving the minds of the young, the ignorant, and the unskilful, to embarrass themselves by dwelling upon these subjects, which they had neither learning to investigate, nor capacity to understand. In this situation, such minds are as effectually overthrown, from a consciousness of their inability to defend themselves, as by the power of an acknowledged demonstration. What they have been unable to effect in these modes, they have endeavoured to accomplish by wit. A book, professing to be the Word of God, to communicate his Will to mankind, and to disclose eternal life, and eternal death, to every human being, together with the terms, and means, by which one of these may be obtained; and the other must be suffered; a book believed truly to sustain this character by a great part of those, to whom it has been fairly published; particularly by most of the learned, and by almost all, whom their fellow-men have regarded as wise and virtuous; has unquestionable claims to be examined with solemn thought, and unbiassed investigation. The question concerning its divine Origin is of infinite moment to every child of Adam. He, who can sport with this subject, would with the same propriety laugh, while he heard the sentence of death pronounced upon him; and dance around the grave, which was dug to receive him. Suppose the Scriptures are in fact the Word of God: suppose the Infidel at the foot of Mount Sinai: suppose he heard the trumpet sound, and the thunders roll; saw the lightnings blaze, the cloud embosom the mountain, and the flame of devouring fire reach the heavens; and perceived the earth to tremble beneath his feet: suppose the final day arrived, and the same Infidel to hear the call of the Archangel, the trump of God, and the shout of the heavenly host; and to see the graves open, the dead arise, the Judge descend, the plains and the mountains kindled with the final conflagration, and the heavens and the earth flee away: would he be inclined to jesting, to sport, and to ridicule? The Scriptures declare themselves to be the Word of the glorious Being, who spoke from Sinai, and who will again come to Judge the quick and the dead. The very terms, by which the Infidel, and all his fellowmen, will be tried on this dreadful day, the Scriptures profess to unfold; the very terms, on which, to us, are suspended both heaven and hell. Should the Scriptures be indeed the Word of that God; |