which the present state of society affords too abundant proof. Not that
superficial acquaintance with science is a thing of new occurrence; not
that pride of intellect—ever a luxuriant weed in rich but ill-cultivated
soils,—is a growth peculiar to our times; not that heresy and infidelity,
its bitterest fruits, never till now spread their poison through our
land; but never before was the field so large, the weeds more rank, and
the crop so abundant. Formerly, science flowed in a few deep and noble
rivers, of whose copious waters the nation at large sparingly drank; we
still have many rich streams which fertilize the land, but in addition to
them there is an infinity of small rivulets, some of which, like mountain
torrents, after a thunder-storm, are brawling and turbulent, covered with
much foam, mixed with much impurity, often rising over their banks, and
spreading havoc and barrenness, where all was fertility and beauty. Such
streams may serve to illustrate the effects, upon society, of the
violence and turbulence of those, whose imperfect acquaintance with
science has first shaken their own belief, and has then been made
instrumental to the spread of infidel doctrines, amongst those who had
lived in happy ignorance of “science, falsely so called.” But would any
one, therefore, be so unwise as to endeavour to keep these turbulent
brooks pent up? The destruction would be only wider and heavier when
they at last burst over the mounds that restrained them: but it is at
once the course of wisdom and of humanity to confine them within their
banks, and give them a due direction, and then, as they descend towards
the plain, gradually the brawling ceases, the froth disappears, the mud
subsides, and you have a pure and quiet stream diffusing the riches,
refreshment, and beauty of science over the land. No calumny has,
perhaps, been more frequently repeated in the present day than that those
who expose the perversion, are the enemies of science. But in spite of
interested clamour and unjust censure, the Christian is bound to
maintain, that knowledge is valuable in the degree in which it makes men
not merely wiser but better: and that however he may approve of literary
and scientific pursuits, however ready he may be to extol their value,
for great indeed is their value, still their highest value is in proving
subsidiary to the acquisition of Christian knowledge. Whilst, therefore,
he recommends their attainment, because they are calculated to enlighten
and invigorate the mind, correct and refine the taste, exalt and dignify
the character, to supply a rational and unfailing source of relaxation
and enjoyment, he must ever maintain, that unless hallowed with some
portion of that “wisdom which is from above,” they will be useless to
their possessor, and may, by a mischievous perversion, not only be fatal
to his present and future happiness, but injurious to the best interests
of a community.
That the extension of education has contributed to the production of such
evils is true, but it is not less true, that education is not fairly
chargeable with accidental and separable consequences. The fault has
been, that the provision for the religious instruction of the age,
notwithstanding the zeal and activity shewn to accomplish this great
object, has not increased in the same ratio with that for its advancement
in literature and science. The supply of the mental wants of the middle
and lower classes of society, which have received this powerful impulsion
towards knowledge, has been too much in the hands of those who avowedly
exclude religion from their system of popular education. Thus, a much
neglected soil has been broken up, and prepared for cultivation, but
“whilst men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares in the field;” the
Lord’s labourers, however, are not therefore to desert the field, but to
employ, for the future, more watchful vigilance, more earnest zeal, and
more assiduous labour. There is no benefit nor blessing which is not
capable of perversion and abuse; but it would be a strange act of folly
to refuse a manifest advantage, through fear of contingent evil, both the
prevention and correction of which are in our own power. “The almost
universal diffusion of elementary knowledge furnishes the enemies of
revealed religion with abundant materials to work upon: but then it also
furnishes the friends of truth with the obvious means of counteracting
the influence of erroneous doctrines, and of instilling sounder
principles into the bulk of the community. Any attempt to suppress, or
even to check, the spirit of inquiry, which is abroad in the world, would
not only be a vain and fruitless attempt, but a violation of the
indefeasible liberty of the human mind, and an interference with its
natural constitution. To impart to that spirit a right direction, to
sanctify it with holy motives, to temper it to righteous purposes, to
shape it to ends which lie beyond the limits of this beginning of our
existence, will be the endeavour of those who desire to make the
cultivation of intellect conducive to moral improvement, and to establish
the kingdom of Christ at once in the understanding and affections of
mankind.” {164}
Let, then, all the friends of religion employ some portion of their time,
their influence, and their wealth, in zealously labouring to promote a
general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge.
Let them be assured that the mental cultivation of the population of a
country, when properly conducted, will, by elevating the moral character,
always have a beneficial influence upon society; that it can only be
properly conducted when religion forms the basis of the system of
instruction; and that the present ardent thirst for knowledge will be
productive of lasting evil or good to the best interests of England,
accordingly as it is, or is not, directed as to an object of paramount
importance, to that fountain of “living water” which floweth for our
salvation.
When religion has been made the basis of education, and the principles of
revelation have been clearly understood, and cordially embraced, a slight
acquaintance with science not only ceases to have any injurious effect
upon the mind, but benefits it, as the acquisition of useful knowledge
must always do: in the humility, faith, stability, and knowledge of true
religion, there is a safe-guard against the evils usually attendant upon
a superficial acquaintance with natural philosophy in minds
ill-disciplined and ill-informed. Nor is it only that physical science
benefits minds early imbued with religious principles; a knowledge of
many of its departments opens a new and unfailing source of high and pure
enjoyment; it supplies, as it were, a new sense: before, Creation
presented a beautiful and varied picture, delighting the eye, and filling
the heart with gladness. But it was in a degree like the picture of a
great master, to one unacquainted with painting; the general beauty, and
happiness of effect, were discoverable, but there was not the full
satisfaction which the connoisseur derives from his knowledge of the art;
upon the former, the general effect principally makes an impression; with
the latter, not only the general effect, but all the variety of details,
all the happy combinations, which have united to produce that effect, are
seen, understood, and appreciated; and there results the high
gratification felt by a cultivated mind, when the eye is pleased, the
understanding exercised, and the judgment satisfied. However inadequate
every illustration, drawn from art, must be to convey any just conception
of the impression which the works of nature are calculated to make upon
the enlightened mind; still this may afford a faint parallel of the
advantage which scientific men possess over those who have never studied
the book of nature. For physical science improves the perception of the
beauties, whilst it unfolds the wonders, of creation: not only do the
great results of nature’s works become, through it, better understood;
but the causes and modes of operation, by which those results are
accomplished, are discovered: and the student becomes more full of
delight and admiration, the further his researches extend; he traces the
nice connexion, which every where exists between causes and effects; and
surveys, with wonder and praise, the beautiful contrivances, the
admirable adaptations, the perfect harmony, which reign throughout the
creation of God. His mind thus becomes deeply and powerfully impressed
with the uniform perfection visible in the works of the Deity: if he
observe with his telescope a planet,—one of those bright bodies which gem
the canopy of heaven,—or examine with his microscope an insect,—one of
the minutest beings which sport in the summer’s sunshine,—he still sees
the same perfection; “those rolling fires on high” perform their
appointed revolutions, in their several orbits, directed by unvarying
laws; and the tiny insect, equally complete in its organization,
exercises, with an instinct as unerring, its allotted functions.
The whole material universe supplies the student of nature with a rich
field, at once, of investigation and enjoyment: the mineral, the
vegetable, and the animal kingdoms, all disclose their treasures to his
inquiring mind; which is not, however, limited by the narrow bounds of
our terraqueous globe, but ranges through the fields of ether, far as the
eye can penetrate into the distant regions of illimitable space.
Throughout he is delighted to trace the hand of the Creator; to observe
every where design and arrangement; nothing superfluous, nothing in vain,
but the mighty machinery of a stupendous system; in the great principles
of which there is sublime simplicity, in their operations unvarying
accuracy and matchless contrivance, in their details endless variety and
infinite combinations, and in their effects utility, beauty, grandeur,
and magnificence. The works of the Almighty far exceed the full
comprehension of finite intelligence, but much further do they transcend
adequate description in uninspired language: man feels all his feebleness
of intellect and of expression, when he attempts to penetrate deeply
into, or to describe accurately, the mighty works of God; he is then
constrained to confess, “such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent
for me; I cannot attain unto it.” {167} “Oh Lord, how manifold are Thy
works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy
riches; so is the great and wide sea also.” {168a} “The heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy-work.” {168b} “By
the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by
the breath of His mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together, as
it were upon an heap, and layeth up the deep, as in a treasure-house.
Let the earth fear the Lord: stand in awe of Him, all ye that dwell in
the world. For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood
fast.” {168c} And he breaks forth in the devout hymn of the Psalmist;
“Praise the Lord, oh my soul: oh Lord my God, Thou art become exceeding
glorious: Thou art clothed with majesty and honour. Thou deckest Thyself
with light, as it were with a garment: and spreadest out the heavens like
a curtain. Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, and
maketh the clouds His chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind.”
When philosophy is thus sanctified by Christianity, the volume of nature
presents, after the volume of inspiration, the most instructive and
delightful study of man; in both he can read, as if written by a
sun-beam, the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of the Most High.
Would, then, any wish to debar others from the high intellectual feast
which nature bountifully spreads before all, and of which she pressingly
invites all to partake? Such would be to limit or to divert the streams
of Divine bounty, whilst flowing in their proper channels: such would be
to make a monopoly of one of heaven’s best and freest gifts to man,
whilst a pilgrim in this world of woe,—the admonitions which nature
addressing to the enlightened and thoughtful mind,
“Leads it upward to a brighter day.”
Would any say, Gaze as long as you like upon the beauties and wonders of
nature, but attempt not to explore its hidden secrets—to examine the
latent springs of its vast and complicated machinery? Such would be, as
if a man possessing a curious and exquisite piece of mechanism were to
direct the observers to remark the beauty of the material, the regularity
of the movements, and the certainty of the results, and yet to forbid
them to examine into the principle of construction and the mode of
operation, on which those movements and that certainty depend. For the
proportion, in which he who has studied the structure of the globe, the
wonderful mechanism of the universe, as far as Revelation and reason have
enabled men to go, derives from its contemplation greater enjoyment and
instruction than he who treads the earth, traverses the seas, and gazes
upon the heavens, ignorant of all philosophy can teach, is the same as
that in which he who understands mechanics receives greater pleasure and
information, than he who understands them not, from examining the process
of a masterly application of the powers of that science.
Let, therefore, the knowledge of physical science be widely diffused, but
let the basis of Christian principles be first laid; for thus not only
may the evil of scepticism be provided against, but the field of moral
and intellectual enjoyment and improvement will be enlarged to the
student; for never does the study of the material universe more elevate
the mind, and expand the heart, than when we are accustomed to refer
every thing to a great and gracious Creator,—to look habitually
“Through nature up to nature’s God.”
“We know that there is a superficial philosophy, which casts the glare of
a most seducing brilliancy around it; and spurns the Bible, with all the
doctrine and all the piety of the Bible, away from it; and has infused
the spirit of Antichrist into many of the literary establishments of the
age: but it is not the solid, the profound, the cautious spirit of that
philosophy, which has done so much to ennoble the modern period of our
world; for the more that this spirit is cultivated and understood, the
more will it be found in alliance with that Spirit, in virtue of which
all that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God is humbled, and all
lofty imaginations are cast down, and every thought of the heart is
brought into the captivity of the obedience of Christ.” {171}
The first great principle, therefore, which all must steadily keep in
view and strenuously advocate, is that _the Bible should form the basis
of education_. It is not sufficient to say, that education is to be
conducted on religious principles, for on the subject of religion there
exists, in this day, a most unfortunate and mischievous variety of
opinions, which would be much diminished if the Holy Scriptures were made
the real, as they are the professed, groundwork of every system of
Christian instruction. Two other great principles, which the true
servants of God should strongly recommend and enforce, as being
intimately and necessarily connected with the first—that the Bible is to
be the basis of education,—are, that _the Bible is to be the rule of
faith_, _and the guide of public and private life_. From a neglect of
these three great principles of Christian conduct, it is hardly too much
to say, that almost all the evils which afflict society have arisen: for
they all reciprocate, and mutually contribute to their common
perpetuation. The man of the world educates his son in the way best
calculated to promote his temporal advancement: and that son, in his
turn, when he becomes a father, is regardless of the eternal interests of
his child, which he has never been taught to value. For the system begun
in childhood is continued through all the stages of life; and “the spirit
returns unto God who gave it,” having been occupied almost to the last
moment of human existence with the pursuit of worldly advantage and
enjoyment. Here we have, consequently, only the name of Christianity;
for neither do its motives influence, nor its rules guide the conduct:
there may be the external form, but there is not the power of godliness;
there may be the cold and lifeless statue, there is not the living
Christian, possessed of intelligence, volition, and motion, and animated
by faith and hope,—the origin, exercise, and direction of which belong to
the Spirit of God. This is a necessary consequence of that neglect of
the Bible, which has been already noticed as being such a prolific source
of error. There is very general in the world a standard of faith and
morals, which Scripture does not recognize, and a reliance upon Divine
mercy, which Scripture does not sanction. Thus the world calls vices
venial, which Scripture says shall exclude from heaven; and the world
speaks peace, where Scripture pronounces woe. Take, however, the life of
a large body of men, trace it from the cradle to the grave; observe in
childhood its toys, in boyhood its sports, in youth its pleasures, in
manhood its occupations and enjoyments, and in age its employments; all
in succession deemed of supreme importance, and the excessive indulgence
of which has never been considered criminal: then take the Bible, and
compare the survey you have made with what it reveals of the nature and
object of man’s probation; and the conclusion will force itself
irresistibly and painfully upon you, that as life is to be a state of
moral discipline to fit the heir of immortality for his bright
inheritance, the life, which has been depicted, is not that which will
lead to the blessed mansions of heaven.
Against this spurious Christianity, let the friends of true religion
every where raise their voice, for like a currency of base coin, it is
not only without value in itself, but deludes its possessor with the
false idea of possessing wealth. Let them point out the folly and the
danger of receiving religious opinions from the world, instead of from
God’s book; for as the light of the sun is coloured by the stained glass
through which it passes, so the rays of Divine truth, being tinged by the
perverted medium through which they are received, may deceive those who
imagine they are enjoying the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness.
And let them warn all against walking by another’s light,—though he may
appear “a shining and a burning light”—instead of searching for
themselves the lively oracles of Scripture; it may be, as in the case of
a party in a dark and dangerous cavern, where few only possess lamps,
that the whole may proceed in safety; but surely the security is not so
great as if each possessed his own lamp; and great would be the folly of
him, who warned of the danger, and assured of the necessity of having a
lamp of his own, rejected the friendly offer of assistance, which would
guide him in safety, and trusted to the uncertain light of another,
which, falling on broken and uneven ground, deceived the eye, and risked
his precipitation into some deep abyss, from which extrication was
impossible.
Let them every where teach and impress, as a duty of paramount
importance, that not only the education of all classes, from the prince
to the peasant, should be conducted on the principles of the Bible; but
that all should acquire that knowledge of the evidences as well as
doctrines and duties of Christianity, which may fit them in their several
stations to overcome, through the grace of God, the temptations to
unbelief or immorality, which are likely to assail them. It is a painful
reflection, how many youths of bright prospects, great talents, and
amiable dispositions, have made shipwreck of their present and eternal
hopes, from a want of early religious instruction. How many are less
ashamed of being found ignorant of the Bible than any other book, and
whilst they would blush not to be acquainted with some new, though
unimportant, discovery in science, feel no shame in never having learnt
the important discoveries made by Revelation to man. And how many, in an
evil age, want courage to admit a knowledge of the Bible, with the great
truths of which they have been made imperfectly acquainted, but have
neither learnt their value nor imbibed their spirit.
Let, therefore, the true servants of the Lord labour diligently to
counteract the rationalizing spirit in theology, the neglect of Divine
Providence, the ascription of every thing to natural causes, the
endeavour, in short, to do without Christianity in the affairs of life,
which so extensively prevail. And let them discountenance and repress,
and, when fitted by previous education and study, refute the objections
which scepticism and infidelity now advance in society, not only
unblushingly avowing their unbelief, but attempting to spread its poison
in private families. It would not be for the advantage of religion to
commit to inexperienced hands the weapons of controversy, for the great
strength of infidelity lies in perplexing subtilities and ingenious
sophisms, which are calculated to puzzle an ill-read and illogical
disputant. But every Christian should “know the certainty of those
things wherein he has been instructed.” {175} “And be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asketh a reason of the hope that is in
him, with meekness and fear.” {176} The neglect of instruction in the
evidences, in the general system of religious education, is at once most
unwise, and most calculated fearfully to promote the spread of unbelief:
in the first place, it is like attempting to build a house without laying
a good foundation: the winds and floods of infidelity assail it, and it
falls, because built on sand: in the second place, the fall of one house
generally more or less injures those adjoining: thus the cause of
unbelief is advanced, not only by the accession of every new convert, but
by the shock which his fall occasions to the faith of his friends and
acquaintance. Let, therefore, the friends of religion at once secure to
the evidences their proper place in every system of education, and also
take care that their own principles be fortified by that sound “knowledge
which maketh not ashamed.” Let them never suffer the cause of God to be
blasphemed, or the truth of religion denied in society, without entering,
at least, their protest; and let them never suffer the questions and
doubts of scepticism to be propounded in their families, without at once
silencing the dangerous inmate, who seeks to spread his secret poison, by
inviting enquiry and provoking discussion. It is true many of the
objections urged in society are of a nature which little learning, in
addition to good common sense, may suffice to answer. As, for instance,
the existence of mysteries in Christianity; whilst, in truth, the absence
of mysteries in a Revelation would be a strong argument against its
Divine origin: the terms employed in creeds and articles, the form of
worship and the discipline of the Church; for all of which Christianity
is not strictly liable, as, though in perfect conformity with, some of
them have been engrafted upon, Revelation: and the sins into which
believers, who disgrace their profession, are betrayed; for which
Christianity cannot be to blame, as it would be most manifest injustice
to visit upon a Revelation, the offences of unworthy members, of which
their own sinfulness is the sole cause. But such is the mode of warfare
of the light troops of the infidel host, who dare not attack directly the
evidences, doctrines, and precepts of the Gospel; and yet from their
numbers, activity, and malignity, have deeply injured the cause of
religion, by insinuating doubts, and instilling suspicions into
ill-informed and inexperienced minds.
If those who bear the Christian name and believe the Christian faith
would unite against this legion of evil spirits, and employ their rank,
influence, talents, and learning, in bringing them into subjection to
Him, whose easy yoke they have thrown off, for the service of Satan, the
cause of religion would be immensely benefited. Not only because many
unbelievers would probably be converted, but because the work of
proselytism would be checked: at present, from the culpable supineness
and indifference of many Christians, even in private families, infidelity
is sometimes heard, unblushingly, to avow its detestable principles; but
if the ban of proscription was placed upon its creed, the ears of
believers would not be shocked, and the principles of the inexperienced
endangered by direct or indirect attacks upon the great truths of our
most Holy Faith.