REFLECTIONS

ON

CHRISTIAN LIBERTY,

CIVIL ESTABLISHMENTS OF RELIGION,

AND

TOLERATION.

The Preface to the Third Volume of a Translation of

SAURIN'S SERMONS.

[THE THIRD EDITION, PUBLISHED 1800.]

REFLECTIONS, &c.

THREE times have I taken pen in hand to account to my subscribers in a preface for my choice of the sermons that compose this volume; but one thought hath as often confused me at the outset, and obliged me to lay it aside. I am struck with an idea of the different degrees of labour necessary to two men, one of whom should conceive the project of disuniting christians, and the other that of cementing them together in mutual love. The first need not trouble himself with study, examination, and argument; he would not be obliged either to divest himself of his own prepossessions, or to expose those of others; he need not sit whole nights and days either to examine coolly his own thesis, or impartially to weigh those of his opponents; let him only take popular prejudices, cover them with the sacred style of scripture, or conceal them under the impenetrable jargon of the schools; let him animate them with party spirit, call it religious zeal, and denounce judgments on all, who do not believe the whole to be

essential to salvation, and the work will be done. Such a man, methinks, resembles a light heeled enemy tripping over a spacious field, and scattering as he goes the seeds of an endless number of weeds; while the man, who adopts a contrary plan, must be forced, like the patient, prying weeder, to stoop and to toil step by step, day after day, feeling many a pain, and fetching many a sigh, to pull the noxious produce up.

pur

According to my first proposal, this volume ought to consist of sermons on the doctrines of christianity. My intimate friends, who first encouraged, and subscribed for this translation, thoroughly understood me; but I might have foreseen, that their partiality would procure other chasers, unacquainted with my notions of men and things, and who might probably expect to find each his own system of religion, in a volume of sermons on the doctrines of our common Lord. I am necessitated therefore to explain myself, and to bespeak a candid attention, while I endeavour to do so.

Very early in life I was prepossessed in favour of the following positions :-Christianity is a religion of divine original-a religion of divine original must needs be a perfect religion, and answer all the ends, for which it was revealed, without human additions.-The christian religion hath undergone considerable alterations since the times of Jesus Christ, and his apostles, and yet, Jesus Christ was then accounted the finisher, as well as the author of faith.-The doctrines of revelation,

as they lie in the inspired writings, differ very much from the same doctrines, as they lie in creeds of human composition.-The moral precepts, the positive institutes, and the religious affections, which constitute the devotion of most modern christians, form a melancholy contrast to those, which are described by the guides, whom they profess to follow. The light of nature, and that of revelation; the operations of right reason; the spirit of the first, and the influence of the Holy Ghost, the soul of the last; both proceeding from the same uniform Supreme Being, cannot be supposed to be destructive of each other, or, even in the least degree, to clash together. The finest idea, that can be formed of the Supreme Being, is that of an infinite intelligence always in harmony with itself; and, accordingly, the best way of proving the truth of revelation is that of shewing the analogy of the plan of redemption to that of creation and providence. Simplicity and majesty characterize both nature and scripture: simplicity reduces those benefits, which are essential to the real happiness of man, to the size of all mankind; majesty makes a rich provision for the employment and super-added felicity of a few superior geniuses, who first improve themselves, and then felicitate their inferior brethren, by simplifying their own ideas, by refining and elevating those of their fellow-creatures, by so establishing a social intercourse, consolidating fraternal love, and along with it all the reciprocal ties, that unite mankind. -Men's ideas of objects essential to their happi