that the evidence of their religion possesses these | trivance?—The observation, which we have exqualities. They do not deny that we can conceive it to be within the compass of divine power, to have communicated to the world a higher de gree of assurance, and to have given to his communication a stronger and more extensive influence. For any thing we are able to discern, God could have so formed men, as to have perceived the truths of religion intuitively; or to have carried on a communication with the other world, whilst they lived in this; or to have seen the individuals of the species, instead of dying, pass to heaven by a sensible translation. He could have presented a separate miracle to each man's senses. He could have established a standing miracle. He could have caused miracles to be wrought in every different age and country. These, and many more methods, which we may imagine, if we once give loose to our imaginations, are, so far as we can judge, all practicable. The question, therefore, is, not whether Chris-objections be allowed, by reason of seeming intianity possesses the highest possible degree of evidence, but whether the not having more evidence be a sufficient reason for rejecting that which we have.

Now their appears to be no fairer method of judging, concerning any dispensation which is alleged to come from God, when a question is made whether such a dispensation could come from God or not, than by comparing it with other things which are acknowledged to proceed from the same counsel, and to be produced by the same agency. If the dispensation in question labour under no defects but what apparently belong to other dispensations, these seeming defects do not justify us in setting aside the proofs which are of fered of its authenticity, if they be otherwise entitled to credit.

emplified in the single instance of the rain of heaven, may be repeated concerning most of the phenomena of nature; and the true conclusion to which it leads is this: that to inquire what the Deity might have done, could have done, or, as we even sometimes presume to speak, ought to have done, or, in hypothetical cases would have done, and to build any propositions upon such inquiries against evidence of facts, is wholly unwarrantable. It is a mode of reasoning which will not do in natural history, which will not do in natural religion, which cannot therefore be applied with safety to revelation. It may have some foundation, in certain speculative a priori ideas of the divine attributes; but it has none in experience, or in analogy, The general character of the works of nature is, on the one hand, goodness both in design and effect; and, on the other hand, a liability to difficulty, and to objections, if such completeness or uncertainty in attaining their end. Christianity participates of this character. The true similitude between nature and revelation consists in this; that they each bear strong marks of their original; that they each also bear appearances of irrregularity and defect. A system of strict optimism may nevertheless be the real sys tem in both cases. But what I contend is, that the proof is hidden from us; that we ought not to expect to perceive that in revelation, which we hardly perceive in any thing; that beneficence, of which we can judge, ought to satisfy us, that op timism, of which we cannot judge, ought not to be sought after. We can judge of beneficence, because it depends upon effects which we experience and upon the relation between the means which we see acting and the ends which we see produced. We cannot judge of optimism, because it neces sarily implies a comparison of that which is tried, with that which is not tried; of consequences which we see, with others which we imagine, and concerning many of which, it is more than probewe know nothing; concerning some, that we have no notion.

Throughout that order then of nature, of which God is the author, what we find is a system of beneficence: we are seldom or ever able to make out a system of optimism. I mean, that there are few cases in which, if we permit ourselves to range in possibilities, we cannot suppose some-ble thing more perfect, and more unobjectionable, than what we see. The rain which descends from heaven, is confessedly amongst the contrivances of the Creator, for the sustentation of the animals and vegetables which subsist upon the surface of the earth. Yet how partially and irregularly is it supplied! How much of it falls upon the sea, where it can be of no use! how often is it wanted where it would be of the greatest! What tracts of continent are rendered deserts by the scarcity of it! Or, not to speak of extreme cases, how much, sometimes, do inhabited countries suffer by its deficiency or delay!We could imagine, if to imagine were our business, the matter to be otherwise regulated. We could imagine showers to fall, just where and when they would do good; always seasonable, every where sufficient; so distributed as not to leave a field upon the face of the globe scorched by drought, or even a plant withering for the lack of moisture. Yet, does the difference between the real case and the imagined case, or the seeming inferiority of the one to the other, authorize us to say, that the present disposition of the atmosphere is not amongst the productions or the designs of the Deity? Does it check the inference which we draw from the confessed beneficence of the provision ? og does it make us cease to admire the con

If Christianity be compared with the state and progress of natural religion, the argument of the objector will gain nothing by the comparison. I remember hearing an unbeliever say, that, if God had given a revelation, he would have written it in the skies. Are the truths of natural religion written in the skies, or in a language which every one reads? or is this the case with the most useful arts, or the most necessary sciences of human life? An Otaheitean or an Esquimaux knows nothing of Christianity; does he know more of the principles of deisin, or morality? which, notwithstanding his ignorance, are neither untrue, nor unim portant, nor uncertain. The existence of the Deity is left to be collected from observations, which every man does not make, which every man perhaps, is not capable of making. Can it be argued, that God does not exist, because, if he did, he would let us see him, or discover himself to mankind by proofs (such as, we may think, the nature of the subject merited,) which no inadvertency could miss, no prejudice withstand?

If Christianity be regarded as a providential instrument for the melioration of mankind, its progress and diffusion resemble that of other causes by which human life is improved. The diversity is not greater, nor the advance more slow, in reli

gion, than we find it to be in learning, liberty, | ance, or the Christian promise, that, "If any man government, laws. The Deity hath not touched will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, the order of nature in vain. The Jewish religion whether it be of God,"*)—it is true, I say, that they produced great and permanent effects; the Chris- who sincerely act, or sincerely endeavour to act, tian religion hath done the same. It hath dispos- according to what they believe, that is, according ed the world to amendment. It hath put things to the just result of the probabilities, or, if you in a train. It is by no means improbable, that it please, the possibilities of natural and revealed remay become universal: and that the world may ligion, which they themselves perceive, and accontinue in that stage so long as that the duration cording to a rational estimate of consequences, and of its reign may bear a vast proportion to the time above all, according to the just eflect of those of its partial influence. principles of gratitude and devotion, which even When we argue concerning Christianity, that the view of nature generates in a well ordered it must necessarily be true, because it is beneficial, mind, seldom fail of proceeding farther. This we go, perhaps, too far on one side: and we cer- also may have been exactly what was designed. tainly go too far on the other, when we conclude Whereas, may it not be said that irresistible that it inust be false, because it is not so efficacious evidence would confound all characters and all as we could have supposed. The question of its dispositions? would subvert, rather than promote, truth is to be tried upon its proper evidence, the true purpose of the divine counsels; which is, without deferring much to this sort of argument, not to produce obedience by a force little short of on either side. The evidence," as Bishop Butler mechanical constraint, (which obedience would be hath rightly observed, "depends upon the judg-regularity, not virtue, and would hardly, perhaps, ment we form of human conduct, under given cir-differ from that which inanimate bodies pay to the cumstances, of which it may be presumed that we laws impressed upon their nature,) but to treat know something; the objection stands upon the moral agents agreeably to what they are; which supposed conduct of the Deity, under relations is done, when light and motives are of such kinds, with which we are not acquainted.” and are imparted in such measures, that the influence of them depends upon the recipients themselves? "It is not meet to govern rational free agents in via by sight and sense. It would be no trial or thanks to the most sensual wretch to forbear sinning, if heaven and hell were open to his sight. That spiritual vision and fruition is our state in patria." (Baxter's Reasons, page 357.)

What would be the real effect of that overpowering evidence which our adversaries require in a revelation, it is difficult to foretell; at least, we must speak of it as of a dispensation of which we have no experience. Some consequences however would, it is probable, attend this economy, which do not seem to be fit a revelation that proceeded from God. One is, that irresistible proof would There may be truth in this thought, though restrain the voluntary powers too much; would roughly expressed. Few things are more impronot answer the purpose of trial and probation; bable than that we (the human species) should be would call for no exercise of candour, seriousness, the highest order of beings in the universe: that humility, inquiry; no submission of passion, animated nature should ascend from the lowest interests, and prejudices, to moral evidence and to reptile to us, and all at once stop there. If there probable truth; no habits of reflection; none of be classes above us of rational intelligences, clearthat previous desire to learn and to obey the will er manifestations may belong to them. This may of God, which forms perhaps the test of the vir- be one of the distinctions. And it may be one, to tuous principle, and which induces men to attend, which we ourselves hereafter shall attain. with care and reverence, to every credible inti- III. But may it not also be asked, whether the mation of that will, and to resign present advan-perfect display of a future state of existence would tages and present pleasures to every reasonable be compatible with the activity of civil life, and expectation of propitiating his favour. "Men's with the success of human affairs? I can easily moral probation may be, whether they will take conceive that this impression may be overdone; due care to inform themselves by impartial consi-that it may so seize and fill the thoughts, as to deration; and, afterward, whether they will act leave no place for the cares and offices of men's as the case requires, upon the evidence which several stations, no anxiety for worldly prosperity, they have. And this we find by experience, is or even for a worldly provision, and, by conse often our probation in our temporal capacity. quence, no sufficient stimulus to secular industry. Of the first Christians we read, "that all that be- 4 lieved were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need; and, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did cat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart."'+ This was extremely natural, and just what might be expected from miraculous evidence coming with full force upon the senses of mankind: but I much doubt whether, if this state of mind had been universal, or long-continued, the business of the world could have gone on. The necessary arts of social life would have been little cultivated. The plough and the loom would have stood still. Agriculture, manufactures, trade, and navigation, would not, I think, have flourished, if they could

II. These modes of communication would leave no place for the admission of internal eridence; which ought, perhaps, to bear a considerable part in the proof of every revelation, because it is a species of evidence, which applies itself to the knowledge, love, and practice of virtue, and which operates in proportion to the degree of those qualities which it finds in the person whom it addresses. Men of good dispositions, amongst Christians, are greatly affected by the impression which the Scriptures themselves make upon their minds. Their conviction is much strengthened by these impressions. And this perhaps was in tended to be one effect to be produced by the religion. It is likewise true, to whatever cause we ascribe it (for I am not in this work at liberty to introduce the Christian doctrine of grace or assist

Butler's Analogy, part ii. c. vi.

John vii. 17.

Acts ii. 44-46.

have been exercised at all. Men would have addicted themselves to contemplative and ascetic lives, instead of lives of business and of useful industry. We observe that Saint Paul found it necessary, frequently to recall his converts to the ordinary labours and domestic duties of their condition; and to give them, in his own example, a lesson of contented application to their worldly employments.

By the manner in which the religion is now proposed, a great portion of the human species is enabled, and of these multitudes of every generation are induced, to seek and to effectuate their salvation, through the medium of Christianity, without interruption of the prosperity or of the regular course of human affairs.

CHAPTER VII.

The supposed effects of Christianity.

gree than they are upon any other subject. Re ligion operates most upon those of whom history knows the least; upon fathers and mothers in their families, upon men-servants and maid-servants, upon the orderly tradesman, the quiet villager, the manufacturer at his loom, the husbandman in his fields. Amongst such, its influence collectively may be of inestimable value, yet its effects, in the mean time, little upon those who figure upon the stage of the world. They may know nothing of it; they may believe nothing of it; they may be actuated by motives more impetuous than those which religion is able to excite. It cannot, therefore, be thought strange, that this influence should elude the grasp and touch of public history: for, what is public history, but a register of the successes and disappointments, the vices, the follies, and the quarrels, of those who engage in contentions for power?

I will add, that much of this influence may be felt in times of public distress, and little of it in times of public wealth and security. This also increases the uncertainty of any opinions that we draw from historical representations. The influence of Christianity is commensurate with no effects which history states. We do not pretend that it has any such necessary and irresistible power over the affairs of nations, as to surmount the force of other causes.

THAT a religion, which, under every form in which it is taught, holds forth the final reward of virtue and punishment of vice, and proposes those distinctions of virtue and vice, which the wisest and most cultivated part of mankind confess to be just, should not be believed, is very possible; but that, so far as it is believed, it should not produce any good, but rather a bad effect upon public hap-usages and institutions, by an operation which is piness, is a proposition which it requires very strong evidence to render credible. Yet many have been found to contend for this paradox, and very confident appeals have been made to history, and to observation, for the truth of it.

In the conclusions, however, which these writers draw from what they call experience, two sources, I think, of mistake, may be perceived.

One is, that they look for the influence of religion in the wrong place.

The other, that they charge Christianity with many consequences, for which it is not responsible.

The Christian religion also acts upon public

only secondary and indirect. Christianity is not a code of civil law. It can only reach public institutions through private character. Now its influence upon private character may be considerable, yet many public usages and institutions repugnant to its principles may remain. To get rid of these, the reigning part of the community must act, and act together. But it may be long before the persons who compose this body be sufficiently touched with the Christian character, to join in the suppression of practices, to which they and the public have been reconciled by causes which will reconcile the human mind to any I. The influence of religion is not to be sought thing, by habit and interest. Nevertheless, the for in the councils of princes, in the debates or re- effects of Christianity, even in this view, have solutions of popular assemblies, in the conduct of been important. It has mitigated the conduct of governments towards their subjects, or of states war, and the treatment of captives. It has softenand sovereigns towards one another; of conquered the administration of despotic, or of nominally ors at the head of their armies, or of parties in- despotic governments. It has abolished polygamy. triguing for power at home, (topics which alone It has restrained the licentiousness of divorces. It almost occupy the attention, and fill the pages of has put an end to the exposure of children, and history;) but must be perceived, if perceived at the immolation of slaves. It has suppressed the all, in the silent course of private and domestic combats of gladiators, and the impurities of relilife. Nay more; even there its influence may not gious rites. It has banished, if not unnatural vices, be very obvious to observation. If it check, in at least the toleration of them. It has greatly some degree, personal dissoluteness, if it beget a meliorated the condition of the laborious part, that general probity in the transaction of business, if is to say, of the mass of every community, by proIt produce soft and humane manners in the mass curing for them a day of weekly rest. In all counof the community, and occasional exertions of la- tries in which it is professed, it has produced nuborious and expensive benevolence in a few indi- merous establishments for the relief of sickness viduals, it is all the effect which can offer itself to and poverty; and, in some, a regular and general external notice. The kingdom of heaven is with- provision by law. It has triumphed over the in us. That which is the substance of the reli-slavery established in the Roman empire; it is gion, its hopes and consolations, its intermixture with the thoughts by day and by night, the devotion of the heart, the control of appetite, the steady direction of the will to the commands of God, is necessarily invisible. Yet upon these depend the virtue and happiness of millions. This cause renders the representations of history, with respect to religion, defective and fallacious, in a greater de

contending, and, I trust, will one day prevail, against the worse slavery of the West Indies.

* Lipsius affirms, (Sat. b. i. c. 12.) that the gladiato rial shows sometimes cost Europe twenty or thirty thousand lives in a month; and that not only the men, but even the women of all ranks were passionately fond of these shows.-See Bishop Porteus's Sermon XIII.

A Christian writer, so carly as in the second been observed, there may be also great consecentury, has testified the resistance which Chris-quences of Christianity, which do not belong to tianity made to wicked and licentious practices, it as a revelation. The effects upon human salthough established by law and by public usage :— vation, of the mission, of the death, of the present, "Neither in Parthia, do the Christians, though of the future agency of Christ, may be universal, Parthians, use polygamy; nor in Persia, though though the religion be not universally known. Persians, do they marry their own daughters; nor among the Bactri, or Galli, do they violate the sanctity of marriage; nor, wherever they are, do they suffer themselves to be overcome by illconstituted laws and manners."

Socrates did not destroy the idolatry of Athens, or produce the slightest revolution in the manners of his country.

But the argument to which I recur, is, that the benefit of religion, being felt chiefly in the obseurity of private stations, necessarily escapes the observation of history. From the first general notification of Christianity to the present day, there have been in every age many millions, whose names were never heard of, made better by it, not only in their conduct, but in their disposition; and happier, not so much in their external circumstances, as in that which is inter præcordia, in that which alone deserves the name of happiness, the tranquillity and consolation of their thoughts. It has been since its commencement, the author of happiness and virtue to millions and millions of the human race. Who is there that would not wish his son to be a Christian?

Secondly, I assert that Christianity is charged with many consequences for which it is not responsible. I believe that religious motives have had no more to do in the formation of nine tenths of the intolerant and persecuting laws, which in different countries have been established upon the subject of religion, than they have had to do in England with the making of the game-laws. These measures, although they have the Christian religion for their subject, are resolvable into a principle which Christianity certainly did not plant (and which Christianity could not universally condemn, because it is not universally wrong), which principle is no other than this, that they who are in possession of power do what they can to keep it. Christianity is answerable for no part of the mischief which has been brought upon the world by persecution, except that which has arisen from conscientious persecutors. Now these perhaps have never been either numerous or powerful. Nor is it to Christianity that even their mistake can fairly be imputed. They have been misled by an error not properly Christian or religious, but by an error in their moral philosoChristianity also, in every country in which it phy. They pursued the particular, without adis professed, hath obtained a sensible, although verting to the general consequence. Believing not a complete influence, upon the public judg- certain articles of faith, or a certain mode of worment of morals. And this is very important. ship, to be highly conducive, or perhaps essential, For without the occasional correction which pub- to salvation, they thought themselves bound to lic opinion receives, by referring to some fixed bring all they could, by every means, into them. standard of morality, no man can foretell into what And this they thought, without considering what extravagances it might wander. Assassination would be the effect of such a conclusion, when might become as honourable as duelling; unna-adopted amongst mankind as a general rule of tural crimes be accounted as venial as fornication is wont to be accounted. In this way it is possible, that many may be kept in order by Christianity, who are not themselves Christians. They may be guided by the rectitude which it communicates to public opinion. Their consciences may suggest their duty truly, and they may ascribe these suggestions to a moral sense, or to the native capacity of the human intellect, when in fact they are nothing more than the public opinion, reflected from their own minds; and opinion, in a considerable degree, modified by the lessons of Christianity. "Certain it is, and this is a great deal to say, that the generality, even of the meanest and most vulgar and ignorant people, have truer and worthier notions of God, more just and right apprehensions concerning his attributes and perfections, a deeper sense of the difference of good and evil, a greater regard to moral obligations, and to the plain and most necessary duties of life, and a more firm and universal expectation of a future state of rewards and punishments, than, in any Heathen country, any considerable number of men were found to have had."+

After all, the value of Christianity is not to be appreciated by its temporal effects. The object of revelation is to influence human conduct in this life; but what is gained to happiness by that influence, can only be estimated by taking in the whole of human existence. Then, as hath already

*Bardesanes, ap. Euseb. Præp. Evang. vi. 10. Clarke, Ev. Nat. Rel. p. 208. ed. v.

conduct. Had there been in the New Testament, what there are in the Koran, precepts authorizing coercion in the propagation of the religion, and the use of violence towards unbelievers, the case would have been different. This distinction could not have been taken, nor this defence made.

I apologize for no species nor degree of persecution, but I think that even the fact has been exaggerated. The slave-trade destroys more in a year, than the inquisition does in a hundred, or perhaps hath done since its foundation.

If it be objected, as I apprehend it will be, that Christianity is chargeable with every mischief, of which it has been the occasion, though not the motive; I answer, that, if the malevolent passions be there, the world will never want occasions. The noxious element will always find a conductor. Any point will produce an explosion. Did the applauded intercommunity of the Pagan the ology preserve the peace of the Roman world? did it prevent oppressions, proscriptions, massacres, devastations? Was it bigotry that carried Alexander into the East, or brought Cæsar into Gaul? Are the nations of the world, into which Christianity hath not found its way, or from which it hath been banished, free from contentions? Are their contentions less ruinous and sanguinary? Is it owing to Christianity, or to the want of it, that the finest regions of the East, the countries inter quatuor maria, the peninsula of Greece, together with a great part of the Mediterranean coast, are at this day a desert? or that the banks of the Nile, whose constantly re

newed fertility is not to be impaired by neglect, or destroyed by the ravages of war, serve only for the scene of a ferocious anarchy, or the supply of unceasing hostilities? Europe itself has known no religious wars for some centuries, yet has hardly ever been without war. Are the calamities, which at this day afflict it, to be imputed to Christianity? Hath Poland fallen by a Christian crusade? Hath the overthrow in France of civil order and security, been effected by the votaries of our religion, or by the foes? Amongst the awful lessons which the crimes and the miseries of that country afford to mankind, this is one that, in order to be a persecutor, it is not necessary to be a bigot; that in rage and cruelty, in mischief and destruction, fanaticism itself can be outdone by infidelity.

Finally, If war, as it is now carried on between nations, produces less misery and ruin than formerly, we are indebted perhaps to Christianity for the change, more than to any other cause. Viewed therefore even in its relation to this subject, it appears to have been of advantage to the world. It hath humanized the conduct of wars it hath ceased to excite them.

and suspense, that waiting and equilibrium of the judgment, which some require in religious matters, and which some would wish to be aimed at in the conduct of education, are impossible to be preserved. They are not given to the condition of human life.

It is a consequence of this institution that the doctrines of religion come to us before the proofs; and come to us with that mixture of explications and inferences from which no public creed is, or can be, free. And the effect which too frequently follows, from Christianity being presented to the understanding in this form, is, that when any articles, which appear as parts of it, contradict the apprehension of the persons to whom it is proposed, men of rash and confident tempers hastily and indiscriminately reject the whole. But is this to do justice, either to themselves or to the religion? The rational way of treating a subject of such acknowledged importance is to attend, in the first place, to the general and substantial truth of its principles, and to that alone. When we once feel a foundation; when we once perceive a ground of credibility in its history, we shall proceed with safety to inquire into the interpretation of its records, and into the doctrines which have been deduced from them. Nor will it either endanger our faith, or diminish or alter our motives for obedience, if we should discover that these conclusions are formed with very different degrees of probability, and possess very different degrees of importance.

The differences of opinion, that have in all ages prevailed amongst Christians, fall very much within the alternative which has been stated. If we possessed the disposition which Christianity labours, above all other qualities to inculcate, these differences would do little harm. If that disposition be wanting, other causes, even were these absent, would continually rise up to call forth This conduct of the understanding, dictated by the malevolent passions into action. Differences every rule of right reasoning, will uphold personal of opinions, when accompanied with mutual eha- Christianity, even in those countries in which it rity, which Christianity forbids them to violate, is established under forms the most liable to diffiare for the most part innocent, and for some pur-culty and objection. It will also have the farther poses useful. They promote inquiry, discussion, and knowledge. They help to keep up an attention to religious subjects, and a concern about them, which might be apt to die away in the calm and silence of universal agreement. I do not know that it is in any degree true, that the influence of religion is the greatest, where there are the fewest dissenters.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Conclusion.

effect of guarding us against the prejudices which are wont to arise in our minds to the disadvantage of religion, from observing the numerous controversies which are carried on amongst its professors, and likewise of inducing a spirit of lenity and moderation in our judgment, as well as in our treatment of those who stand, in such controver sies, upon sides opposite to ours. What is clear in Christianity, we shall find to be sufficient, and to be infinitely valuable; what is dubious, unnecessary to be decided, or of very subordinate importance; and what is most obscure, will teach us to bear with the opinions which others may have formed upon the same subject. We shall say to those who the most widely dissent from us, what Augustine said to the worst heretics of his age: "Illi in vos sæviant, qui nesciunt, cum quo labore verum inveniatur, et quàm difficile caveantur errores;-qui nesciunt, cum quantâ dificultate sanetur oculus interioris hominis;-qui nesciunt, quibus suspiriis et gemitibus fiat ut ex quantulacunque parte possit intelligi Deus."*

IN religion, as in every other subject of human reasoning, much depends upon the order in which we dispose our inquiries. A man who takes up a system of divinity with a previous opinion that either every part inust be true, or the whole false, approaches the discussion with great disadvantage, No other system, which is founded upon moral evidence, would bear to be treated in the same A judgment, moreover, which is once pretty manner. Nevertheless, in a certain degree, we well satisfied of the general truth of the religion, are all introduced to our religious studies, under will not only thus discriminate in its doctrines, this prejudication. And it cannot be avoided. but will possess sufficient strength to overcome The weakness of the human judgment in the the reluctance of the imagination to admit articles early part of youth, yet its extreme susceptibility of faith which are attended with difficulty of apof impression, renders it necessary to furnish it prehension, if such articles of faith appear to be with some opinions, and with some principles or truly parts of the revelation. It was to be expectother. Or indeed, without much express care, ored beforehand, that what related to the economy, much endeavour for this purpose, the tendency of and to the persons, of the invisible world, which the mind of man to assimilate itself to the habits revelation professes to do, and which, if true, it of thinking and speaking which prevails around him, produces the same effect. That indifferency

*Aug. contra Ep. Fund. cap. ii. n. 2, 3.