not afford a striking proof of their divine original.
We have an instance in the words before us: in which, Jesus, now about to
leave the world, tells the disciples, that he had _many things to say
unto them_, which were not proper for their ear at this time, but that
these, and all other necessary truths should hereafter be imparted to
them by a _divine spirit_, to be sent from heaven to be their guide and
instructor: that, from _him_, they should learn what, for the present,
he forbore to communicate to them, of his views and purposes in the
religion, they were to teach mankind; nay, and that this divine _Spirit
of truth would shew them things to come_.
Now Jesus, I suppose, whatever else may be thought of him, will be
readily acknowledged to have been, at least, a discreet and wise man:
for without a very high degree of discretion and wisdom, it was plainly
impossible for him to do the great things, he did; I mean, to be so
successful, as he was, in imposing a new faith and religion on mankind.
They, who take Christianity for an imposture, must confess, at least,
that it was an imposture, artfully contrived, and ably conducted:
otherwise, the effects of it could never have been, what we see they are.
But would any man, acting on the principles of human wisdom, only, have
given an assurance of this kind (an assurance, too, that seemed not
_necessary_) to those whom he thought fit to entrust with the care of
his imposture, when yet he must certainly know that he could not make
good to them what he had promised; and when they, to whom such assurance
was given, might easily, and, as he must foresee from his knowledge of
human nature, would certainly abuse it, to selfish ends of their own, not
consistent with his, and to the hurt of that very cause, which he wanted
to promote?
Say, that he had, only, told them—_this divine spirit shall instruct you
in many things concerning my religion, which I have not, myself, thought
fit to reveal to you_—would not this general promise have opened a door
to all sorts of fraud, or extravagance? And could he reasonably expect
that any well-concerted scheme of religion, such as was likely to make
its fortune in the world, would be delivered and established by men,
who were commissioned to enlarge his system, at pleasure, and as their
various passions, or fancies, might suggest? And all this, on the same
authority with that which he had claimed to himself?
Suppose, they were _honest_, or, _faithful to him_, that is, disposed to
teach nothing but what should agree to their Master’s doctrine, yet who
could answer for their skill or judgment? And, if they were _dishonest_,
or _unfaithful_, what ruin must not this license of building on his
doctrine, have brought on the structure, he had already raised?
When Mark Antony was allowed to _forge_ a will for Cæsar, we know the use
he made of that liberty. But had he been a better man, than he was, and
inclined to give out that only for Cæsar’s will, which might probably
seem to be so, yet his capacity to make a will for Cæsar, in all respects
uniform, and consistent with that great man’s known views and character,
might well be called in question, notwithstanding the whole contrivance
depended on himself; much more, if the arduous task had been entrusted to
_eleven_ persons, besides, of different abilities and dispositions.
Still, the case is more desperate, than we have hitherto supposed.
Besides a liberty of adding what new consistent doctrines, they pleased,
to the doctrine of Jesus, the disciples have a greater and more dangerous
power committed to them, a power of _prophesying_, or foretelling _things
to come_.
To see how the case stands on this last supposition, consider, 1. _What
is implied in this_ PROPHETIC _power_. 2. _What abuses are likely to
be made of such an assumed power by_ ANY _men whatsoever_. And, 3.
_What peculiar abuses of it were to be expected from_ SUCH _men, as the
disciples_. Consider, I say, these three particulars, and then, upon the
whole, determine for yourselves, whether any man of ordinary prudence
would have commissioned his followers to exercise such a power; or, if he
had done so, and had been an impostor, whether the event could possibly
have been what it clearly was.
1. The _prophetic power_, implies an ability of looking into the future
history of mankind; of foreseeing what revolutions shall happen in states
and kingdoms; what shall be the issue of depending wars, or counsels:
what the prosperous, or adverse fortune shall be of public, or private
persons; of those, who have any authority over us, or connexion with us;
of individuals, or collective bodies of men; of friends, or enemies.
Whoever has this extraordinary power committed to him, or who thinks he
has, has the characters of all men at his mercy; can blast the reputation
of, the wisest and best men, by a charge of follies and crimes, _not
yet committed_; or can raise the credit of the worst and weakest, by
covering their _future_ life with wisdom and honour. He can intimidate
the greatest men by announcing their disgrace and ruin; or exalt the
meanest by bringing out to view their successes and triumphs. In a word,
he can speak peace or war, fame or infamy, life or death, to any state
or person, against whom he thinks fit to level this powerful engine of
inspiration.
And as all men, so all _times_, are equally within his reach. He can
pursue the objects of his love or hate through ages to come; and can
excite hopes and fears in the breasts of those, who are not to appear on
the stage of the world, till many centuries after he has left it, and
when himself has nothing to apprehend, let his predictions take what turn
they will, from the shame of detection.
Such then being the nature of this mighty privilege to foretell _things
to come_, you cannot but see
2. In the next place, _how liable this power is to be abused by_ ANY _men
whatsoever, who have a pretence to assume it_.
Make, if you will, the most favourable supposition, that these pretended
prophets are _able and learned_: But then, what endless schemes of fraud,
of policy, of imposture, may ye not expect from the dextrous management
of this faculty! Revolve with yourselves the history of ancient
divination, or modern prophecy, when lodged in the hands of artful and
designing men; and see, what portentous abuses must needs arise from this
commission, and yet what certain disgrace and confusion to the memory of
those, to whom it is given.
What blessings will not men, entrusted with this convenient foresight
of futurity, lavish on their own friends, or party! And what curses,
what terrors, equally belied in the event, will they not scatter over
the persons or affairs of rivals and enemies, for the gratification of a
present passion or interest!
Suppose them cool enough to distrust the reality of their inspiration,
yet the temptation, to make the pretence of it subservient to their
own views, would be almost irresistible: Or suppose them, on the other
hand, to prophesy with good faith, this genuine enthusiasm might enable
them to act their part more naturally indeed, but, in the end, not more
successfully.
Had then the Apostles been, each of them, as provident and wise, as
their Master himself, and as much persuaded of their own inspiration, as
he could desire them to be, they would not, we may be sure, have been
encouraged by him, if an impostor only, to think themselves possessed of
a prophetic power, when it must have turned to the ruin of his cause,
on every supposition; I mean, equally on the supposition of its being
regarded as a real or pretended, power; that is, whether the Apostles
were guided by the views of a dishonest policy themselves, or were the
honest dupes of their Master’s policy. But there is
3. Still more to be said on the improbability of a wise man’s giving such
an assurance to men _qualified and circumstanced_, as the Apostles were,
in other words, _to men of their_ PECULIAR _character and situation_.
1. The _character_ of the Apostles, was that of plain, uneducated,
illiterate men; men, totally unacquainted with the world, and with
those arts, which are necessary to conduct a great design with ability
and success; men, of good sense, indeed, and of honest minds, but,
from their singular simplicity, only qualified to report what they had
seen or heared, and by no means provident or skillful enough to round
and complete a scheme, but half-disclosed by its author, and that half
delivered incidentally and by parcels to them, and ill understood.
Yet to these men, Jesus declares, that much was wanting to the integrity
of that religious system, which they were appointed to teach: and that
all defects in it were to be supplied not by himself, but by a _divine
spirit_, who should hereafter descend upon them, and LEAD THEM INTO ALL
THE TRUTH[195]; nay, who should not only instruct them in such parts of
his religion, as he had imperfectly, not at all, explained, but should,
further, open to their view I know not what scenes of futurity, and SHEW
THEM THINGS TO COME.
These magnificent promises, you see, were likely to make a deep
impression on the rude minds of the disciples; half-astonished, we
may suppose, at the idea of such superior privileges, and more than
half-intoxicated with the conceit of that pre-eminence, which those
privileges were to bestow.
Their implicit faith, too in a beloved and revered Master, would incline
them to expect, with assurance, the completion of these promises: And
thus, every principle, whether of simplicity, vanity, or credulity, would
make their presumption violent, and leave it without controul.
2. If we turn, next, to the _situation_ of these men, buoyed up with
such exalted hopes and expectations, we shall find it apt to create a
fanaticism, which, of itself, might drive them, in the absence of their
politic Master, into any excess. These simple, over-weening men were, at
the same time, poor, friendless, despised, insulted, persecuted; exposed
to every injury from the number, power, and malice of their enemies, as
Jesus indeed, had honestly forewarned them; yet stung with the desire of
founding a temporal kingdom (contrary, it must be owned, to his express
declaration) and of rising themselves to the first honours of it. Could
any thing flatter their ambition more, than to be told that they had the
modelling of their own scheme left to themselves, under the cover of a
supernatural direction? Or, could any thing gratify their resentments,
all on fire from ill usage, more effectually, than to be assured that
the fates of their adversaries, all the secrets of futurity, lay open
to their view? How oft has oppression turned faith into fanaticism,
and made prophets of those, whom it only found zealots! And do we think
that secular ambition, concurring with religious zeal, in the like
circumstances, could have any other issue; especially, when the prophetic
impulse was looked for by such zealots, and, on the highest authority,
actually engaged to them? Or can we, who see the probability, the
certainty, of this consequence, conceive so meanly of Jesus, considered
in the view of a wise man only, as to imagine that He should not be aware
of it?
As then it is very unlikely that any politic impostor should make such
a promise, as the text contains, a promise liable to be abused by _any_
sort of men, and most of all by _those_, to whom it was made; so neither
is it conceivable that, if a rash enthusiast had authorized his followers
to rely on such a promise, the issue of it could have been that, which we
certainly know it to have been.
For consider, what were the additions, made to the scheme of Jesus by his
enlightened followers, and what the prophecies delivered by them? Only,
such additions, as served to open and display the scheme of the Gospel,
in a manner that perfectly corresponded with the declared views of its
author, or at least no way contradicted them: And only, such prophecies,
as have either been clearly fulfilled, or not convicted of imposture, to
this day.
Then, again, those additions, were directly contrary to the preconceived
notions and expectations, of those who made them; such, for instance, as
the doctrines concerning _the rejection of the Jews_, _the call of the
Gentiles_, _the abolition of the Mosaic ritual_, and _the spirituality of
Christ’s kingdom_; doctrines, which, in the life-time of their Master,
and till enlightened by the promised Spirit of truth, they had either not
understood, or had rejected as false and incredible; yet doctrines, which
made the principal part of those _truths_, into which they were _led by
the Spirit_.
And as to the prophecies, delivered by them, what less could one expect
from so general, and so flattering a promise, than that they should
be _numerous_, and, at the same time, replete with _presages of good
fortune_ to themselves and their party, and with _terrible denunciations
of wrath_ against their opposers? Yet nothing of all this followed. The
predictions, they gave out, were indeed so many as to shew that the
promise was performed to them; yet, on the whole, but _few_; in truth,
much fewer than can be imagined without a particular inquiry into the
number of them: And of these few, the greater part were employed in
declaring the corruptions, that should hereafter be made of the new
religion, they were teaching, and the disasters that should befall the
teachers of it; and scarce _one_, directed against their present and
personal enemies.
All this is astonishing, and unaccountable an the common principles of
human nature, if left to itself in the management of such a faculty as
that of prophetic inspiration. And, though, on these principles, it was
to be supposed, nay, might certainly have been concluded, that a set of
the craftiest impostors, or of the honestest fanatics, that ever lived,
must, in the end, dishonour themselves by the exercise of such a power,
and defeat their own purpose; yet, to the surprize of all reflecting men,
they have maintained, to this day, their character of veracity, not one
of their prophecies having fallen to the ground; and, what is more, with
so many chances against the success of their cause, they have triumphed
over all opposition, and have established in the world a new religion
with that force of evidence, which, as their Master divinely foretold,
_all their adversaries have not been able to gainsay_.
In a word, the EVENT has been, and is such, as might be expected, if
the divine assistance promised, was actually imparted to them; but
improbable in the highest degree, or rather impossible to have taken
place, if fraud, or enthusiasm, had been concerned, either in giving, or
fulfilling, this promise.
It would be equally an abuse of your patience, and an affront to your
good sense, to enlarge farther on so plain a point. From recollecting,
and laying together, the circumstances, which have been now briefly
touched, and pointed out to you, ye will conclude, That, when Jesus gave
this extraordinary _promise_ of the Spirit to his followers, he certainly
knew, that he should be able to make good his engagements to them: And
that this _spirit_, being of God, would not be at the command of his
followers, to be employed by them, as their passions, or short-sighted
policies, might direct; but would operate in them, according to the good
pleasure and unerring wisdom of HIM, who sent this celestial guide; or,
in the words of the text, _that he should not speak of himself, but
whatsoever he should hear, that_, only, _he should speak_.
No ill effects would, then, proceed from the privilege of being let
into _new truths_, or, of being entrusted with the power of foretelling
_things to come_. And, from the very consideration, that Jesus had
_engaged_ to confer such privileges upon his disciples, who, if not
over-ruled in the use of them, that is, if not truly and immediately
inspired, would, or rather must, have employed them to the discredit and
subversion of his own design; from this single consideration, I say, it
may fairly be concluded, especially when we can now compare the assurance
with the event, That He himself was the person, he assumed to be, that
is, A DIVINE PERSON; and his religion, what we believe it to be, THE WORD
AND WILL OF GOD.
SERMON XLIV.
PREACHED MAY 29, 1774. T. S.
ACTS i. 11.
_Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus,
which is taken up from you, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen
him go into heaven._
As the entrance of Jesus into the world, so his departure out of it,
was graced, by the ministry of angels. Events, so important as these,
deserved, and, it seems, required, to be so dignified. His birth was,
indeed, obscure and mean; and therefore the attendance of those _flaming
ministers_ might be thought necessary to illustrate and adorn it. But
his ascension into heaven was an event so full of glory, that it needed
not, we may think, any additional lustre to be thrown upon it by this
celestial appearance. For what so likely to raise the ideas and excite
the admiration of those, who were witnesses of this event, as the
fact itself, so sublimely and yet so simply related in these words of
the sacred historian—_while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud
received him out of their sight_?
We may presume, then, that the heavenly host were not sent merely to
dignify this transaction, in its own nature so transcendently awful;
but for some further purpose of divine Providence. And we find that
purpose expressed very plainly in the words of the text; which contain an
admonition of great importance, and direct the attention of the disciples
to the true end, for which this scene of wonder was displayed before
them. For _while they looked stedfastly toward heaven, as he went up, two
men stood by them in white apparel; which, also, said, Ye men of Galilee,
why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up
from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen him
go into heaven._
The Apostles, we may suppose, were only occupied with the splendor
of the shew; or they were wholly absorbed in the contemplation of
its miraculous nature; or they were speculating, perhaps, on the
circumstances of it. They were asking themselves, as they gazed (at
least, if they had possessed the philosophic spirit of our days, they
might be tempted to ask), how the natural gravity of a human body could
permit its ascent in so light a medium—how a cloud, which is but a sheet
of air, impregnated with vapours, and made visible by reflected light,
could be a fit vehicle of a gross and ponderous substance, and serve
for the conveyance of it into the purer regions of æther, which we call
_heaven_—or, what need indeed there was, that Jesus should be carried up
thither; as if the God, to whom he ascended, were not in every place,
alike; as if there were any such distinction, as high and low, with
regard to him; as if all space were not equally inhabited by an infinite
spirit; and as if his throne were not in the depths beneath, as well
as the heights above, every where, in short, without respect to our
descriptions of place, where himself existed.
From such a state of mind, or from such meditations as these, the Angels
divert the Apostles, and call off they attention to a point, which
deserved it better, and concerned them more nearly. ’Tis, as if they
had said, “Suspend your admiration of this glorious spectacle; suppress
all your fond and useless speculations about the causes of this event,
and learn from us the proper uses of it. Ye have seen your Master thus
visibly carried up from you into heaven; by what means, ye need not know,
and may well forbear to inquire. But this intelligence receive from us
(and it much imports you to be made acquainted with it); this same Jesus,
who is thus gone up from you for a time into heaven, will come again with
the same, or even additional glory, to judge the world in righteousness;
to see what improvements ye have made of all he has done and suffered for
you; and to fix your final doom according to your respective deserts, or
miscarriages. Think well of this instruction, which so naturally results
from all he said while he was with you on earth, and from what has now
passed before your eyes; drop all your other inquiries, and resolve them
into this, above all, deserving your best attention, how ye may prepare
yourselves for that day, when _he shall so come, in like manner as ye
have seen him go into heaven_.”
The weight of this angelic admonition was enough to put all curious
imaginations to flight, and to convince the Apostles then, and all
believers at this day, “That their true wisdom consists in adverting to
the moral and practical uses of their religion, instead of indulging
subtle, anxious, and unprofitable speculations concerning the articles
of it; such especially as are too high, or too arduous for them; such,
as they have no real interest in considering, and have no faculties to
comprehend.”
Permit me then to enforce this conclusion, by applying it to the case of
such persons, and especially of such Christians, as have been, at all
times, but too ready to sacrifice conduct to speculation; to neglect
the ends of religious doctrines, while they busy themselves in nice and
fruitless and (therefore, if for no other reason) pernicious inquiries
into the grounds and reasons of them.
1. In the days of ancient paganism, two points in which religion was
concerned, chiefly engaged the attention of their wise men; “GOD,” and
the “HUMAN SOUL:” interesting topics both; and the more necessary to be
well considered, because those wise men had little or no light on these
subjects, but what their own reason might be able to strike out for them.
And, had they been contented to derive, from the study of God’s works,
_all that may be known of him_, by natural reason, _his eternal power
and Godhead_, and had then glorified him with such a worship, as that
knowledge obviously suggested; or, had they, by adverting to their own
internal constitution, deduced the spirituality of the soul, together
with its free, moral, and accountable nature, and then had built on
these principles, the expectation of a future life, and a conduct in
this, suitable to such expectation; had they proceeded thus far in their
inquiries, and stopped here, who could have blamed, or, rather, who
would not have been ready to applaud, their interesting speculations.
But, when, instead of this reasonable use of their understandings in
religious matters, they were more curious to investigate the essence
of the infinite mind, than to establish just notions of his moral
attributes; and to define the nature of the human soul, than to study its
moral faculties; their metaphysicks became presumptuous and abominable:
they reasoned themselves out of a superintending providence, in this
world, and out of all hope, in a future; they resolved God into fate, or
excluded him from the care of his own creation, and so made the worship
of him, a matter of policy, and not of conscience; while, at the same
time, they dismissed the Soul into air, or into the spirit of the
world, either extinguishing its substance, or stripping it of individual
consciousness; and so, in either way, set aside the concern, which it
might be supposed to have in a future state, to the subversion of all
morality, as well as of religion.
Such was the fruit of pagan ingenuity! The philosophers kept _gazing_
upon God, and the Soul, till they lost all just and useful conceptions
of either: And thus, as St. Paul says, _they became vain in their
imaginations; and their foolish heart was darkened_[196].
If from the Grecian, we turn to the oriental, and what is called,
barbaric philosophy, what portentous dreams do we find about angels and
spirits, or of two opposite principles, contending for mastery in this
sublunary world; ingeniously spun out into I know not what fantastic
conclusions, which annihilate all sober piety, or subvert the plainest
dictates of moral duty? So true is it of all presumptuous inquirers into
the invisible things of God, that, _professing themselves wise, they
become fools_!