especially among the atomical, peripatetic, and skeptical philosophers;
and hence some have ascribed the origin of Atheism to the philosophy of
Greece. This is true, if they mean that species of refined Atheism,
which contrives any impious scheme of principles to account for the
origin of the world, without a divine being. For though there may have
been in former ages, and in other countries, some persons irreligious in
principle as well as in practice, yet we know of none who, forming a
philosophical scheme of impiety, became a sect, and erected colleges of
Atheistical learning, till the arrogant and enterprising genius of
Greece undertook that detestable work. Carrying their presumptuous and
ungoverned speculations into the very essence of the divinity, at first
they doubted, and at length denied, the existence of a first cause
independent of nature and of a providence that superintends its laws,
and governs the concerns of mankind. These principles, with the other
improvements of Greece, were transferred to Rome; and, excepting in
Italy, we hear little of Atheism, for many ages after the Christian æra.
“For some ages before the Reformation,” says Archbishop Tillotson,
“Atheism was confined to Italy, and had its chief residence at Rome.
But, in this last age, Atheism has travelled over the Alps and infected
France, and now of late it hath crossed the seas, and invaded our
nation, and hath prevailed to amazement.” However, to Tillotson, and
other able writers, we owe its suppression in this country; for they
pressed it down with a weight of sound argument, from which it has never
been able to raise itself. For although in our time, in France and
Germany a subtle Atheism was revived, and spread its unhallowed and
destructive influence for many years throughout the Continent, it made
but little progress in this better-instructed nation.
Atheism, in its primary sense, comprehends, or at least goes beyond,
every heresy in the world; for it professes to acknowledge no religion,
true or false. The two leading hypotheses which have prevailed, among
Atheists, respecting this world and its origin, are, that of Ocellus
Lucanus, adopted and improved by Aristotle, that it was eternal; and
that of Epicurus, that it was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms.
“That the soul is material and mortal, Christianity an imposture, the
Scripture a forgery, the worship of God superstition, hell a fable, and
heaven a dream, our life without providence, and our death without hope,
like that of asses and dogs, are part of the glorious gospel of our
modern Atheists.”
The being of a God may be proved from the marks of design, and from the
order and beauty visible in the world; from universal consent; from the
relation of cause and effect; from internal consciousness; and from the
necessity of a final as well as an efficient cause.
Of all the false doctrines and foolish opinions that ever infested the
mind of man, nothing can possibly equal that of Atheism, which is such a
monstrous contradiction of all evidence, to all the powers of
understanding, and the dictates of common sense, that it may be well
questioned whether any man can really fall into it by a deliberate use
of his judgment. All nature so clearly points out, and so loudly
proclaims, a Creator of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, that
whoever hears not its voice, and sees not its proofs, may well be
thought wilfully deaf, and obstinately blind. If it be evident,
self-evident to every man of thought, that there can be no effect
without a cause, what shall we say of that manifold combination of
effects, that series of operations, that system of wonders, which fill
the universe, which present themselves to all our perceptions, and
strike our minds and our senses on every side? Every faculty, every
object of every faculty, demonstrates a Deity. The meanest insect we can
see, the minutest and most contemptible weed we can tread upon, is
really sufficient to confound Atheism, and baffle all its pretensions.
How much more that astonishing variety and multiplicity of God’s works
with which we are continually surrounded! Let any man survey the face of
the earth, or lift up his eyes to the firmament; let him consider the
nature and instincts of brute animals, and afterward look into the
operations of his own mind, and will he presume to say or suppose that
all the objects he meets with are nothing more than the result of
unaccountable accidents and blind chance? Can he possibly conceive that
such wonderful order should spring out of confusion? or that such
perfect beauty should be ever formed by the fortuitous operations of
unconscious, unactive particles of matter? As well, nay better, and more
easily, might he suppose that an earthquake might happen to build towns
and cities; or the materials carried down by a flood fit themselves up
without hands into a regular fleet. For what are towns, cities, or
fleets, in comparison of the vast and amazing fabric of the universe! In
short, Atheism offers such violence to all our faculties, that it seems
scarce credible it should ever really find any place in the human
understanding. Atheism is unreasonable, because it gives no tolerable
account of the existence of the world. This is one of the greatest
difficulties with which the Atheist has to contend. For he must suppose
either that the world is eternal, or that it was formed by chance and a
fortuitous concourse of the parts of matter. That the world had a
beginning, is evident from universal tradition, and the most ancient
history that exists; from there being no memorials of any actions
performed previously to the time assigned in that history as the æra of
the creation; from the origin of learning and arts, and the liability of
the parts of matter to decay. That the world was not produced by chance,
is also evident. Nothing can be more unreasonable than to ascribe to
chance an effect which appears with all the characters of a wise design
and contrivance. Will chance fit means to ends, even in ten thousand
instances, and not fail in a single one? How often might a man, after
shaking a set of letters in a bag, throw them on the ground, before they
would become an exact poem, or form a good discourse in prose? In short,
the arguments in proof of Deity are so numerous, and at the same time so
obvious to a thinking mind, that to waste time in disputing with an
Atheist, is approaching too much toward that irrationality, which may be
considered as one of the most striking characteristics of the sect.
The more noted Atheist, since the Reformation, are Machiavel, Spinoza,
Hobbes, Blount, and Vanini. To these may be added Hume, and Voltaire the
corypheus of the sect, and the great nursing father of that swarm of
them which has appeared in these last days.
Dr. Samuel Clarke, in his “Demonstration of the Being of a God,” says,
that Atheism arises either from stupid ignorance, or from corruption of
principles and manners, or from the reasonings of false philosophy; and
he adds, that the latter, who are the only Atheistical persons capable
of being reasoned with at all, must of necessity own that, supposing it
cannot be proved to be true, yet it is a thing very desirable, and which
any wise man would wish to be true, for the great benefit and happiness
of man, that there was a God, an intelligent and wise, a just and good
Being, to govern the world. Whatever hypothesis these men can possibly
frame, whatever argument they can invent, by which they would exclude
God and providence out of the world; that very argument or hypothesis,
will of necessity lead them to this concession. If they argue, that our
notion of God arises not from nature and reason, but from the art and
contrivance of politicians; that argument itself forces them to confess,
that it is manifestly for the interest of human society, that it should
be believed there is a God. If they suppose that the world was made by
chance, and is every moment subject to be destroyed by chance again; no
man can be so absurd as to contend, that it is as comfortable and
desirable to live in such an uncertain state of things, and so
continually liable to ruin, without any hope of renovation, as in a
world that is under the preservation and conduct of a powerful, wise,
and good God. If they argue against the being of God, from the faults
and defects which they imagine they can find in the frame and
constitution of the visible and material world; this supposition obliges
them to acknowledge that it would have been better the world had been
made by an intelligent and wise Being, who might have prevented all
faults and imperfections. If they argue against providence, from the
faultiness and inequality which they think they discover in the
management of the moral world; this is a plain confession, that it is a
thing more fit and desirable in itself, that the world should be
governed by a just and good Being, than by mere chance or unintelligent
necessity. Lastly, if they suppose the world to be eternally and
necessarily self-existent, and consequently that every thing in it is
established by a blind and eternal fatality; no rational man can at the
same time deny, but that liberty and choice, or a free power of acting,
is a more eligible state, than to be determined thus in all our actions,
as a stone is to move, downward, by an absolute and inevitable fate. In
a word, which way soever they turn themselves, and whatever hypothesis
they make, concerning the original and frame of things, nothing is so
certain and undeniable, as that man, considered without the protection
and conduct of a superior Being, is in a far worse case than upon
supposition of the being and government of God, and of men’s being under
his peculiar conduct, protection, and favour.
ATHENS, a celebrated city of Greece, too well known to be here
described. St. Paul’s celebrated sermon, Acts xvii, was preached on the
Areopagus, or Hill of Mars, where a celebrated court was held which took
cognizance of matters of religion, blasphemies against the gods, the
building of temples, &c. (See _Areopagus_.) The inscription on the
altar, “to the unknown God,” which St. Paul so appropriately made the
text of his discourse, was adopted on the occasion of the city having
been relieved from a pestilence; and they erected altars to “the God
unknown,” either as not knowing to which of their divinities they were
indebted for the favour, or, which is more probable, because there was
something in the circumstances of this deliverance, which led them to
refer it to a higher power than their own gods, even to the supreme God,
who was not unfrequently styled, the “unknown,” by the wiser Heathens.
The existence of such altars is expressly mentioned by Lucian. On the
place where the great Apostle bore his noble testimony against idols,
and declared to them the God whom they ignorantly worshipped, Dr. E. D.
Clarke, the traveller, remarks, “It is not possible to conceive a
situation of greater peril, or one more calculated to prove the
sincerity of a preacher, than that in which the Apostle was here placed;
and the truth of this, perhaps, will never be better felt than by a
spectator, who from this eminence actually beholds the monuments of
Pagan pomp and superstition by which he, whom the Athenians considered
as the _setter forth of strange gods_, was then surrounded: representing
to the imagination the disciples of Socrates and of Plato, the dogmatist
of the porch, and the skeptic of the academy, addressed by a poor and
lowly man, who, ‘rude in speech,’ without the ‘enticing words of man’s
wisdom,’ enjoined precepts contrary to their taste, and very hostile to
their prejudices. One of the peculiar privileges of the Areopagitæ seems
to have been set at defiance by the zeal of St. Paul on this occasion;
namely, that of inflicting extreme and exemplary punishment upon any
person who should slight the celebration of the holy mysteries, or
blaspheme the gods of Greece. We ascended to the summit by means of
steps cut in the natural stone. The sublime scene here exhibited is so
striking, that a brief description of it may prove how truly it offers
to us a commentary upon the Apostle’s words, as they were delivered upon
the spot. He stood upon the top of the rock, and beneath the canopy of
heaven. Before him there was spread a glorious prospect of mountains,
islands, seas, and skies; behind him towered the lofty Acropolis,
crowned with all its marble temples. Thus every object, whether in the
face of nature, or among the works of art, conspired to elevate the
mind, and to fill it with reverence toward that Being who made and
governs the world, Acts xvii, 24, 28; who sitteth in that light which no
mortal eye can approach, and yet is nigh unto the meanest of his
creatures; in whom we live, and move, and have our being.”
ATONEMENT, the satisfaction offered to divine justice by the death of
Christ for the sins of mankind, by virtue of which all true penitents
who believe in Christ are personally reconciled to God, are freed from
the penalty of their sins, and entitled to eternal life. The atonement
for sin made by the death of Christ, is represented in the Christian
system as the means by which mankind may be delivered from the awful
catastrophe of eternal death; from judicial inflictions of the
displeasure of a Governor, whose authority has been contemned, and whose
will has been resisted, which shall know no mitigation in their degree,
nor bound to their duration. This end it professes to accomplish by
means which, with respect to the Supreme Governor himself, preserve his
character from mistake, and maintain the authority of his government;
and with respect to man, give him the strongest possible reason for
hope, and render more favourable the condition of his earthly probation.
These are considerations which so manifestly show, from its own internal
constitution, the superlative importance and excellence of Christianity,
that it would be exceedingly criminal to overlook them.
How sin may be forgiven without leading to such misconceptions of the
divine character as would encourage disobedience, and thereby weaken the
influence of the divine government, must be considered as a problem of
very difficult solution. A government which admitted no forgiveness,
would sink the guilty to despair; a government which never punishes
offence, is a contradiction,--it cannot exist. Not to punish the guilty,
is to dissolve authority; to punish without mercy, is to destroy, and
where all are guilty, to make the destruction universal. That we cannot
sin with impunity, is a matter determined. The Ruler of the world is not
careless of the conduct of his creatures; for that penal consequences
are attached to the offence, is not a subject of argument, but is matter
of fact evident by daily observation of the events and circumstances of
the present life. It is a principle therefore already laid down, that
the authority of God must be preserved; but it ought to be remarked,
that in that kind of administration which restrains evil by penalty, and
encourages obedience by favour and hope, we and all moral creatures are
the interested parties, and not the divine Governor himself, whom,
because of his independent and all-sufficient nature, our transgressions
cannot injure. The reasons, therefore, which compel him to maintain his
authority do not terminate in himself. If he treats offenders with
severity, it is for our sake, and for the sake of the moral order of the
universe, to which sin, if encouraged by a negligent administration, or
by entire or frequent impunity, would be the source of endless disorder
and misery; and if the granting of pardon to offence be strongly and
even severely guarded, so that no less a satisfaction could be accepted
than the death of God’s own Son, we are to refer this to the moral
necessity of the case as arising out of the general welfare of
accountable creatures, liable to the deep evil of sin, and not to any
reluctance on the part of our Maker to forgive, much less to any thing
vindictive in his nature,--charges which have been most inconsiderately
and unfairly said to be implied in the doctrine of Christ’s vicarious
sufferings. If it then be true, that the release of offending man from
future punishment, and his restoration to the divine favour, ought, for
the interests of mankind themselves, and for the instruction and caution
of other beings, to be so bestowed, that no license shall be given to
offence;--that God himself, whilst he manifests his compassion, should
not appear less just, less holy, than he really is;--that his authority
should be felt to be as compelling, and that disobedience should as
truly, though not unconditionally, subject us to the deserved penalty,
as though no hope of forgiveness had been exhibited;--we ask, On what
scheme, save that which is developed in the New Testament, are these
necessary conditions provided for? Necessary they are, unless we contend
for a license and an impunity which shall annul all good government in
the universe, a point for which no reasonable man will contend; and if
so, then we must allow that there is strong internal evidence of the
truth of the doctrine of Scripture, when it makes the offer of pardon
consequent only upon the securities we have before mentioned. If it be
said, that sin may be pardoned in the exercise of the divine
prerogative, the reply is, that if this prerogative were exercised
toward a part of mankind only, the passing by of the rest would be with
difficulty reconciled to the divine character; and if the benefit were
extended to all, government would be at an end. This scheme of bringing
men within the exercise of a merciful prerogative, does not therefore
meet the obvious difficulty of the case; nor is it improved by confining
the act of grace only to repentant criminals. For in the immediate view
of danger, what offender, surrounded with the wreck of former
enjoyments, feeling the vanity of guilty pleasures, now past for ever,
and beholding the approach of the delayed penal visitation, but would
repent? Were the principle of granting pardon to repentance to regulate
human governments, every criminal would escape, and judicial forms would
become a subject for ridicule. Nor is it recognised by the divine Being
in his conduct to men in the present state, although in this world
punishments are not final and absolute. Repentance does not restore
health injured by intemperance; property, wasted by profusion; or
character, once stained by dishonourable practices. If repentance alone
could secure pardon, then all must be pardoned, and government
dissolved, as in the case of forgiveness by the exercise of mere
prerogative; but if an arbitrary selection be made, then different and
discordant principles of government are introduced into the divine
administration, which is a derogatory supposition.
The question proposed abstractedly, How may mercy be extended to
offending creatures, the subjects of the divine government, without
encouraging vice, by lowering the righteous and holy character of God,
and the authority of his government, in the maintenance of which the
whole universe of beings are interested? is, therefore, at once one of
the most important and one of the most difficult that can employ the
human mind. None of the theories which have been opposed to Christianity
affords a satisfactory solution of the problem. They assume principles
either destructive of moral government, or which cannot, in the
circumstances of man, be acted upon. The only answer is found in the
Holy Scriptures. They alone show, and, indeed, they alone profess to
show, how God may be “just,” and yet the “justifier” of the ungodly.
Other schemes show how he may be merciful; but the difficulty does not
lie there. The Gospel meets it, by declaring “the righteousness of God,”
at the same time that it proclaims his mercy. The voluntary sufferings
of the Divine Son of God “for us,” that is, in our room and stead,
magnify the justice of God; display his hatred to sin; proclaim “the
exceeding sinfulness” of transgression, by the deep and painful manner
in which they were inflicted upon the Substitute; warn the persevering
offender of the terribleness, as well as the certainty, of his
punishment; and open the gates of salvation to every penitent. It is a
part of the same divine plan also to engage the influence of the Holy
Spirit, to awaken penitence in man, and to lead the wanderer back to
himself; to renew our fallen nature in righteousness, at the moment we
are justified through faith, and to place us in circumstances in which
we may henceforth “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” All
the ends of government are here answered--no license is given to
offence,--the moral law is unrepealed,--a day of judgment is still
appointed,--future and eternal punishments still display their awful
sanctions,--a new and singular display of the awful purity of the divine
character is afforded,--yet pardon is offered to all who seek it; and
the whole world may be saved.
With such evidence of suitableness to the case of mankind, under such
lofty views of connection with the principles and ends of moral
government, does the doctrine of the atonement present itself. But other
important considerations are not wanting to mark the united wisdom and
goodness of that method of extending mercy to the guilty, which
Christianity teaches us to have been actually and exclusively adopted.
It is rendered, indeed, “worthy of all acceptation,” by the circumstance
of its meeting the difficulties we have just dwelt upon,--difficulties
which could not otherwise have failed to make a gloomy impression upon
every offender awakened to a sense of his spiritual danger; but it must
be very inattentively considered, if it does not farther commend itself
to us, by not only removing the apprehensions we might feel as to the
severity of the divine Lawgiver, but as exalting him in our esteem as
“the righteous Lord, who loveth righteousness,” who surrendered his
beloved Son to suffering and death, that the influence of moral goodness
might not be weakened in the hearts of his creatures; and as a God of
love, affording in this instance a view of the tenderness and benignity
of his nature infinitely more impressive and affecting than any abstract
description could convey, or than any act of creating and providential
power and grace could exhibit, and, therefore, most suitable to subdue
that enmity which had unnaturally grown up in the hearts of his
creatures, and which, when corrupt, they so easily transfer from a law
which restrains their inclination to the Lawgiver himself. If it be
important to us to know the extent and reality of our danger, by the
death of Christ it is displayed, not in description, but in the most
impressive action; if it be important that we should have an assurance
of the divine placability toward us, it here receives a demonstration
incapable of being heightened; if gratitude be the most powerful motive
of future obedience, and one which renders command on the one part, and
active service on the other, “not grievous but joyous,” the recollection
of such obligations as those which the “love of Christ” has laid us
under, is a perpetual spring to this energetic affection, and will be
the means of raising it to higher and more delightful activity for ever.
All that can most powerfully illustrate the united tenderness and awful
majesty of God, and the odiousness of sin; all that can win back the
heart of man to his Maker and Lord, and render future obedience a matter
of affection and delight as well as duty; all that can extinguish the
angry and malignant passions of man to man; all that can inspire a
mutual benevolence, and dispose to a self-denying charity for the
benefit of others; all that can arouse by hope, or tranquillize by
faith; is to be found in the vicarious death of Christ, and the
principles and purposes for which it was endured.