When I first undertook to review some of the prominent features in the
sermons alluded to, I did expect to confine my remarks within a narrow
compass; but the topics which the author discusses are so various and
the applications so numerous, that it unavoidably led to their
extension, and I have at last left many untouched which are entitled to
very serious consideration.
I know there are some very serious and pious men who lament that these
sermons were published; but I am not of their opinion; for although they
may, in one point of view, be prejudicial, an accurate knowledge of the
whole scheme, must I think convince every thinking mind, that it is not
only inconsistent with the christian religion, but that its parts are so
discordant, and its doctrines so darkly mysterious, as to elude the
comprehension of man; and that the author, so far from elucidating that
religion by his boasted reliance on the human understanding, has been
led by that modicum of it possessed by himself, into many notions
totally irreconcileable to right reason.
In one respect they may be injurious; not by making converts to the
system, but by impairing the belief of individuals in the truths
recorded in Scripture, and thus paving the way to complete infidelity;
for there are few minds so stolid as really to have faith in a religion,
founded on a book, which they believe to be itself a fiction.
It would perhaps be advisable for every member of the Society, after
perusing these sermons, to read the life and writings of John Woolman.
Contrast often serves to elucidate the truth, and the dissimilitude is
so great, that they will have little difficulty in discovering which has
been actuated by that humble, peaceable, and gentle spirit, recommended
by the example and precepts of the Founder of our religion. They were
probably equally deficient in human learning; but while the one,
confident in his own abilities, is continually involving himself in
contradictions by allusions to subjects which he does not understand;
the other, favoured with what learning can never supply, a large fund of
_good sense_, pursues the even tenor of his way without entanglement or
inconsistency: the one, labouring to clothe his arguments in the
brilliant language of the orator, leaves them involved in inextricable
confusion; the other, explains his ideas with a precision and clearness,
which if they do not convince cannot be misunderstood.
Indeed there is such a sober seriousness and mildness of spirit which
breathes through all the writings of John Woolman; such unbounded
charity for others, and such severity in the examination of himself;
such persuasive earnestness in his exhortations, and such a perfect
conformity between all his principles and practices, that however men
may differ respecting some of his doctrines and opinions, all must
acknowledge that he possessed a mind imbued with a truly christian
spirit, and regard his tone and manner of writing as a model which ought
to be imitated by all christian professors.
The doctrine of divine inspiration was the belief of every christian
church in its primitive simplicity, and is yet the doctrine of almost
all of them, under different names and modifications; and if the belief
in it is impaired, I fear it must, in a great degree, be attributed to
some of those who profess to be under the guidance of it. Not content
with the measure of light which it affords, and which is sufficient for
the great purpose of enabling him "to work out his own salvation," man,
in the pride of his heart, is prone to get from under that humble state,
in which alone its manifestations are rightly impressed on the mind; to
believe it is given as a substitute for, and not in aid of, our reason;
and mistaking his own visionary fancies for revelations, actually
persuades himself that he also is invested with the attribute of
omniscience. The inconsistencies in which minds thus sublimated are
always involved, are stumbling blocks to many, who are from thence led
to consider all as an illusive or hypocritical pretension.
These are the whims of the imagination; when man in his exaltation
releases himself from the control of his reason, and eradicates from his
heart the pure and unadulterated principles of the christian religion;
when, forgetting his infirmities, and vaunting in his strength, he
assumes that station to which he is not called, and ministers to others,
when his own light is extinguished. These are they who are described by
the poet--
"Aspiring to be Gods, if angels fell,
Aspiring to be angels, men rebel."
But, notwithstanding the discouraging prospects which surround this
people, I trust that all is not lost; that the ark is yet upborne by
hallowed hands; and that Sion's mount is still encircled by a chosen
band, who read with humility, reverence, and instruction, that _great
spiritual and moral code_, given to man in the name and in the majesty
of Him, "who is from everlasting to everlasting, the Almighty."