But we have a disadvantage to contend with additional to this. The consequence of repetition will be felt more sensibly by us, who are in the habit of directing our arguments to others: for it always requires a second, a separate, and an unusual effort of the mind, to bring back the conclusion upon ourselves. In constructing, in expressing, in delivering our arguments; in all the thoughts and study which we employ upon them; what we are apt to hold continually in our view, is the effect which they may produce upon those who hear or read them. The further and best use of our meditations, their influence upon our own hearts and consciences, is lost in the presence of the other. In philosophy itself, it is not always the same thing, to study a subject, in order to understand, and in order only to teach it. In morals and religion, the powers of persuasion are cultivated by those whose employment is public instruction; but their wishes are fulfilled, and their care exhausted, in promoting the success of their endeavours upon others. The secret duty of turning truly and in earnest their attention upon themselves, is suspended, not to say forgotten, amidst the labours, the engagements, the popularity, of their public ministry; and in the best disposed minds, is interrupted, by the anxiety, or even by the satisfaction, with which their pub lic services are performed. itself to almost every situation. This quality is perceived in numerous, and for the most part beneficial examples. Scenes of terror, spectacles of pain, objects of loathing and disgust, so far lose their effect with their novelty, as to permit professions to be carried on, and conditions of life to be endured, which otherwise, although necessary, would be insupportable. It is a quality, however, which acts, as other parts of our frame do, by an operation which is general; hence it acts also in instances in which its influence is to be corrected; and, amongst these, in religion. Every attentive Christian will have observed how much more powerfully he is affected by any form of worship which is uncommon, than with the familiar returns of his own religious offices. He will be sensible of the difference when he approaches, a few times in the year, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper; if he should be present at the visitation of the sick; or even, if that were unusual to him, at the sight of a family assembled in prayer. He will perceive it also upon entering the doors of a dissenting congregation; a circumstance which has misled many, by causing them to ascribe to some advantage in the conduct of public worship, what, in truth, is only the effect of new impressions. Now, by how much a lay frequenter of religious worship finds himself less warmed and stimulated by ordinary, than by extraordinary acts of devotion, by so much, it may be expected, These are dangers adhering to the very nature that a clergyman, habitually conversant with the of our profession: but the evil is often also augoffices of religion, will be less moved and stimu-mented by our imprudence. In our wishes to lated than he is. What then is to be done? It is by an effort of reflection; by a positive exertion of the mind; by knowing this tendency, and by setting ourselves expressly to resist it; that we are to repair the decays of spontaneous picty. We are no more to surrender ourselves to the mechanism of our frame, than to the impulse of our passions. We are to assist our sensitive by our rational nature. We are to supply this infirmity (for so it may be called, although, like many other properties which bear the name of vices in our constitution, it be, in truth, a beneficial principle acting according to a general law) we are to supply it by a deeper sense of the obligations under which we lie; by a more frequent and a more distinct recollection of the reasons upon which that obligation is founded. We are not to wonder at the pains which this may cost us; still less are we to imitate the despondency of some serious Christians, who, in the impaired sensibility that habit hath induced, bewail the coldness of a deserted soul. convince, we are extremely apt to overstate our arguments. We think no confidence with which we speak of them can be too great, when our intention is to urge them upon our hearers. This zeal, not seldom, I believe, defeats its own purpose, even with those whom we address; but it always destroys the efficacy of the argument upon ourselves. We are conscious of the exaggeration, whether our hearers perceive it or not; and this consciousness corrupts to us the whole influence of the conclusion; robs it even of its just value. Demonstration admits of no degrees: but real life knows nothing of demonstration. It converses only with moral evidence and moral reasoning. In these the scale of probability is extensive; and every argument hath its place in it. It may not be quite the same thing to overstate a true reason, and to advance a false one: but since two questions present themselves to the judgment, usually joined together by their nature and importance, viz. on which side probability lies, and how much it preponderates; to transgress the rules of fair Hitherto our observation will not be questioned; reasoning in either question, in either to go bebut I think that this principle goes farther than yond our own perception of the subject, is a simiis generally known or acknowledged. I think lar, if not an equal fault. In both cases it is a that it extends to the influence which argument want of candour, which approaches to a want of itself possesses upon our understanding; or, at veracity. But that in which its worst effect is least, to the influence which it possesses in deter-seen; that, at least, which it belongs to this dismining our will. I will not say, that, in a subject strictly intellectual, and in science properly so called, a demonstration is the less convincing for being old: but I am not sure that this is not, in some measure, true of moral evidence and probable proofs. In practical subjects, however, where two things are to be done, the understanding to be convinced, and the will to be persuaded, I believe that the force of every argument is diminished If dangers to our character accompany the exby triteness and familiarity. The intrinsic value ercise of our public ministry, they no less attend of the argument must be the same; the impres-upon the nature of our professional studies. It sion may be very different. course to notice; is in its so undermining the solidity of our proofs, that our own understandings refuse to rest upon them; in vitiating the integrity of our own judgments; in rendering our minds as well incapable of estimating the proper strength of moral and religious arguments as unreasonably suspicious of their truth, and dull and insensible to their impression. has been said, that literary trifling upon the Scrip tures has a tendency, above all other employments, and progressive assistance to their principles, men to harden the heart. If by this maxim it be de- who are withdrawn from the business and the insigned to reprove the exercise, to check the free-tercourse of civil life find themselves in some meadom, or to question the utility, of critical re- sure deprived. Virtue in them is left, more than searches, when employed upon the sacred volume, in others, to the dictates of reason; to a sense of it is not by me to be defended. If it mean simply duty less aided by the power of habit. I will not to guard against an existing danger, to state a deny that this difference renders their virtue more usual and natural consequence, the maxim wants pure, more actual, and nearer to its principle; but neither truth nor use. It is founded in this obser- it renders it less easy to be attained or preserved. vation: when any one, by the command of learn- Having proposed these circumstances, as difliing and talents, has been fortunate enough to clear culties of which I think it useful that our order up an obscurity, or to settle a doubt, in the inter- should be apprised; and as growing out of the pretation of Scripture; pleased (and justly pleased) functions of the profession, its studies, or the situawith the result of his endeavours, his thoughts are tions in which it places us; I proceed, with the wont to indulge this complacency, and there to same view, to notice a turn and habit of thinking, stop; or when another, by a patient application which is, of late, become very general amongst the of inferior faculties, has made, as he thinks, some higher classes of the community, amongst all who progress in theological studies; or even has with occupy stations of authority, and in common with much attention engaged in them; he is apt to rest these two descriptions of men, amongst the clergy. and stay in what he deems a religious and merito- That which I am about to animadvert upon, is, rious service. The critic and the commentator do in its place, and to a certain degree, undoubtedly not always proceed with the reflection, that if a fair and right consideration; but, in the extent these things be true, if this book do indeed con- to which it prevails, has a tendency to discharge vey to us the will of God, then is it no longer to from the hearts of mankind all religious principle be studied and criticised alone, but, what is a very whatever. What I mean, is the performing of different work, to be obeyed, and to be acted upon. our religious offices for the sake of setting an exAt least, this ulterior operation of the mind, en- ample to others; and the allowing of this motive feebled perhaps by former exertions of quite ano-so to take possession of the mind, as to substitute ther nature, does not always retain sufficient force itself into the place of the proper ground and reaand vigour to bend the obstinacy of the will. To son of the duty. I must be permitted to contend, describe the evil is to point out the remedy; that, whenever this is the case, it becomes not only which must consist in holding steadfastly within a cold and extraneous, but a false and unreasonaour view this momentous consideration, that, how-ble, principle of action. A conduct propagated ever laboriously, or however successfully, we may through the different ranks of society merely by have cultivated religious studies; how much so this motive, is a chain without a support, a fabric ever we may have added to our learning or our without a foundation. The parts, indeed, depend fame, we have hitherto done little for our salvation; upon one another, but there is nothing to bear up that a more arduous, to us perhaps a new, and, it the whole. There must be some reason for every may be, a painful work, which the public eye sees duty beside example, or there can be no sufficient not, which no public favour will reward, yet re- reason for it at all. It is a perversion, therefore, mains to be attempted; that of instituting an exa- of the regular order of our ideas, to suffer a conmination of our hearts and of our conduct, of alter-sideration, which, whatever be its importance, is ing the secret course of our behaviour, of reducing, with whatever violence to our habits, loss of our pleasures, or interruption of our pursuits, its deviations to a conformity with those rules of life which are delivered in the volume that lies open before us; and which, if it be of importance enough to deserve our study, ought, for reasons infinitely superior, to command our obedience. our assemblies, for the edification, it seems, and benefit of others, but as if they had no sins of their own to deplore, no mercies to acknowledge, no pardon to entreat. only secondary and consequential to another, to shut out that other from the thoughts. The effect of this in the offices of religion, is utterly to destroy their religious quality; to rob them of that which gives to them their life, their spirituality, their nature. They who would set an example to others of acts of worship and devotion, in truth perform none themselves. Idle or proud spectaAnother disadvantage incidental to the charactors of the scene, they vouchsafe their presence in ter of which we are now exposing the dangers, is the moral debility that arises from the want of being trained in the virtues of active life. This complaint belongs not to the clergy as such, because their pastoral office affords as many calls, and as many opportunities, for beneficent exertions, as are usually found in private stations; but it belongs to that secluded, contemplative life, which men of learning often make choice of, or into which they are thrown by the accident of their fortunes. A great part of mankind owe their principles to their practice; that is, to that wonderful accession of strength and energy which good dispositions receive from good actions. It is difficult to sustain virtue by meditation alone; but let our conclusions only have influence enough once to determine us upon a course of virtue, and that influence will acquire such augmentation of force from every instance of virtuous endeavour, as, ere long, to produce in us constancy and resolution, a formed and a fixed character. Of this great Shall the consideration, then, of example be prohibited and discarded from the thoughts? By no means: but let it attend upon, not supersede, the proper motive of the action. Let us learn to know and feel the reason, the value, and the obligation of the duty, as it concerns ourselves; and, in proportion as we are affected by the force of these considerations, we shall desire, and desiring endeavour, to extend their influence to others. This wish, flowing from an original sense of each duty, preserves to the duty its proper principle. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." The glory of your hea renly Father is still, you observe, the termination of the precept. The love of God; that zeal for his honour and service, which love, which gratitude, which piety inspires, is still to be the operating and neglected talents, knowledge which doth not motive of your conduct. Because we find it con-lead to obedience, and talents which rest in useless venient to ourselves, that those about us should be speculations, will be found, in the day of final acreligious; or because it is useful to the state, that count, amongst the objects of his severest disreligion should be upheld in the country: to join, pleasure. Would to God, that men of learning from these motives, in the public ordinances of the always understood how deeply they are concerned church, for the sake of maintaining their credit in this warning! It is impossible to add another reaby our presence and example, however advisable son which can be equal or second to our Lord's adit may be as a branch of secular prudence, is not monition: but we may suggest a motive of very either to fulfil our Lord's precept, or to perform distant indeed, but of no mean importance, and to any religious service. Religion can spring only which they certainly will not refuse its due regard, from its own principle. Believing our salvation the honour and estimation of learning itself. Irto be involved in the faithful discharge of our reli- regular morals in men of distinguished attaingious as well as moral duties, or rather that they ments, render them, not despised, (for talents and are the same; experiencing the warmth, the con- learning never can be despicable,) but subjects of solation, the virtuous energy, which every act of malicious remark, perhaps of affected pity, to the true devotion communicates to the heart, and how enemies of intellectual liberty, of science and lite much these effects are heightened by consent and rature; and, at the same time, of sincere though sympathy; with the benevolence with which we silent regret to those who are desirous of supportlove our neighbour, loving also and seeking his im- ing the esteem which ought to await the successmortal welfare; when, prompted by these senti- ful pursuit of ingenuous studies. We entreat such ments, we unite with him in acts of social homage men to reflect, that their conduct will be made the to our Maker, then hath every principle its weight; reply of idleness to industry, the revenge of dulthen, at length, is our worship what it ought to be; ness and ignorance upon parts and learning; to exemplary, yet our own; not the less personal for consider, how many will seek, and think they find, being public. We bring our hearts to the service, in their example, an apology for sloth, and for inand not a constrained attendance upon the place, difference to all liberal improvement; what a with oftentimes an ill concealed indifference to theme, lastly, they supply to those, who, to the what is there passing. discouragement of every mental exertion, preach If what we have stated concerning example be up the vanity of human knowledge, and the dantrue; if the consideration of it be liable to be over-ger or the mischief of superior attainments. stretched or misapplied; no persons can be more But if the reputation of learning be concerned in danger of falling into the mistake than they in the conduct of those who devote themselves to who are taught to regard themselves as placed in its pursuit, the sacred interests of morality are not their stations for the purpose of becoming the ex-less so. It is for us to take care that we justify amples as well as instructors of their flocks. It is not the boasts, or the sneers, of infidelity; that necessary that they should be admonished to re- we do not authorise the worst of all scepticism, vert continually to the fundamental cause of all that which would subvert the distinctions of moral obligation and of all duty; particularly to remem-good and evil, by insinuating concerning them, ber, that, in their religious offices, they have not that their only support is prejudice, their only orionly to pronounce, to excite, to conduct the devo-gin in the artifice of the wise, and the credulity of tion of their congregations, but to pay to God the adoration which themselves owe to him in a word, amidst their care of others, to save their own souls by their own religion. the multitude; and that these things are but too clearly confessed by the lives of men of learning and inquiry. This calumny let us contradict; let us refute. Let us show, that virtue and ChrisThese, I think, are some of the causes, which, tianity cast their deepest foundations in knowin the conduct of their lives, call for a peculiar at-ledge; that, however they may ask the aid of printention from the clergy, and from men of learning; and which render the apostle's example, and the lesson which it teaches, peculiarly applicable to their circumstances. It remains only to remind them of a consideration which ought to counteract these disadvantages, by producing a care and solicitude, sufficient to meet every danger, and every difficulty; to remind them, I say, for they cannot need to be informed, of our Lord's solemn declaration, that contumacious knowledge, ciples which, in a great degree, govern human life, (and which must necessarily, therefore, be either powerful allies, or irresistible adversaries, of education, of habit, of example, of public authority, of public institutions,) they rest, nevertheless, upon the firm basis of rational argument. Let us testify to the world our sense of this great truth, by the only evidence which the world will believe, the influence of our conclusions upon our own conduct. SERMON VI. ON OUR DUTY TO GOD AND MAN. A SERMON, PREACHED AT THE ASSIZES, AT DURHAM, JULY 29, 1795; AND PUBLISHED AT THE To the Honourable and Right Reverend Shute, by Divine Providence, Lord Bishop of Durham, the following Discourse, as a small but sincere expression of gratitude, for a great, unsolicited, and unexpected favour, is inscribed, by his faithful and most obliged servant, W. PALEY. For none of us liveth to himself.-Rom. xiv. 7. THE use of many of the precepts and maxims | of Scripture, is not so much to prescribe actions, as to generate some certain turn and habit of thinking and they are then only applied as they ought to be, when they furnish us with a view of, and such a way of considering, the subject to which they relate, as may rectify and meliorate our dispositions; for from dispositions, so rectified and meliorated, particular good actions, and particular good rules of acting, flow of their own accord. This is true of the great Christian maxims, of loving our neighbours as ourselves; of doing to others as we would that others should do to us; and (as will appear, I hope, in the sequel of this discourse) of that of the text. These maxims be ing well impressed, the detail of conduct may be left to itself. The subtleties of casuistry, I had almost said the science, may be spared. By presenting to the mind one fixed consideration, such a temper is at length formed within us, that our first impressions and first impulses are sure almost of being on the side of virtue; and that we feel likewise an almost irresistible inclination to be governed by them. When this disposition is perfected, the influence of religion, as a moral institution, is sufficiently established. It is not in this way, but in another, that human laws, especially the laws of free countries, proceed to attain their objects. Forasmuch as their ultimate sanctions are to be dispensed by fallible men, instead of an unerring and omniscient Judge, the safety, as well as the liberty, of the subject, requires, that discretion should be bound down by precise rules both of acting, and of judging of actions. Hence lawgivers have been obliged to multiply directions and prohibitions without number: and this necessity, for such I acknowledge it to be, hath drawn them into a prolixity, which encumbers the law as a science to those who study or administer it; and sometimes perplexes it, as a rule of conduct, to those who have nothing to do with it, but to obey it. Yet still they find 3 U themselves unable to make laws as fast as occa- See Hamilton's translation of the Hedaya or Guide. with the Scriptures, for not giving us the preci- | sion of civil laws; and we may blame the laws, for not being content with the conciseness and simplicity of Scripture; and our censure in both cases be unfounded and undeserved. The observation of the text is exactly of the nature I have been alluding to. It supplies a principle. It furnishes us with a view of our duty, and of the relations in which we are placed, which, if attended to, (and no instruction can be of use without that,) will produce in our minds just determinations, and, what are of more value, because more wanted, efficacious motives. and excluded, it is the present. If ever there was a time to make the public feel the benefit of public institutions, it is this. But I shall add nothing more concerning the obligation which the text, and the lesson it conveys, imposes upon public men, because I think that the principle is too apt to be considered as appertaining to them alone. It will therefore be more useful to show, how what are called private stations are affected by the same principle. I say, what are called private stations; for such they are, only as contradistinguished from public trusts publicly and formally confided. In themselves, and accurately estimated, there are few such; Í mean, that there are few so destined to the private emolument of the possessor, as that they are innocently occupied by him, when they are occupied with no other attention but to his own enjoy ment. Civil government is constituted for the cation of those who administer it. Not only so, but the gradations of rank in society are supported, not for the advantage or pleasure of those who possess the highest places in it, but for the common good; for the security, the repose, the protection, the encouragement, of all. They may be very satisfactorily defended upon this principle; but then this principle casts upon them duties. In particular, it teaches every man who possesses a fortune, to regard himself as in some measure occupying a public station; as obliged to make it a channel of beneficence, an instrument of good to others, and not merely a supply to himself of the materials of luxury, ostentation, or avarice. There is a share of power and influence necessarily attendant upon property; upon the right or the wrong use of which, the exertion or the neglect, depends no little part of the virtue or vice, the happiness or misery, of the community. It is in the choice of every man of rank and property to become the benefactor or the scourge, the guardian or the tyrant, the example or the corrupter, of the virtue of his servants, his tenants, his neighbourhood; to be the author to them of peace or contention, of sobriety or dissoluteness, of comfort or distress. This power, whencesoever it proceeds, whether expressly conferred or silently acquired, (for I see no difference in the two cases,) brings along with it obligation and responsibility. It is to be lamented when this consideration is not known, or not attended to. Two causes ap "None of us liveth to himself." We ought to regard our lives, (including under that name our faculties, our opportunities, our advantages of every kind,) not as mere instruments of personal gratification, but as due to the service of God; and as given us to be employed in promoting the purpose of his will in the happiness of our fellow-happiness of the governed, and not for the gratificreatures. I am not able to imagine a turn of thought which is better than this. It encounters the antagonist, the check, the destroyer of all virtue, selfishness. It is intelligible to all; to all different degrees applicable. It incessantly prompts to exertion, to activity, to beneficence. In order to recommend it, and in order to render it as useful as it is capable of being made, it may be proper to point out, how the force and truth of the apostle's assertion bears upon the different classes of civil society. And in this view, the description of men which first, undoubtedly, offers itself to our notice, is that of men of public characters; who possess offices of importance, power, influence, and authority. If the rule and principle which I am exhibiting to your observation, can be said to be made for one class of mankind more than another, it is for them. They, certainly, "live not to themselves." The design, the tenure, the condition of their offices; the pub lic expectation, the public claim; consign their lives and labours, their cares, and thoughts, and talents, to the public happiness, whereinsoever it is connected with the duties of their stations, or can be advanced by the fidelity of their services. There may be occasions and emergencies when men are called upon to take part in the public service, out of the line of their professions, or the ordinary limits of their vocation. But these emergencies occur, I think, seldom. The necessity should be manifest, before we yield to it. A too great readiness to start out of our separate pre-pear to me to obstruct, to men of this description, cincts of duty, in order to rush into provinces which belong to others, is a dangerous excess of zeal. In general the public interest is best upheld, the public quiet always best preserved, by each one attending closely to the proper and distinct duties of his station. In seasons of peril or consternation, this attention ought to be doubled. Dangers are not best opposed by tumultuous or disorderly exertions; but by a sedate, firm, and calm resistance, especially by that regular and silent strength, which is the collected result of each man's vigilance and industry in his separate station. For public men, therefore, to be active in the stations assigned to them, is demanded by their country in the hour of her fear or danger. If ever there was a time, when they that rule "should rule with diligence;" when supineness, negligence, and remissness in office, when a ti inidity or love of case, which might in other circumstances be tolerated, ought to be proscribed the view of their moral situation. One is, that they do not perceive any call upon them at all; the other, that, if there be one, they do not see to what they are called. To the first point I would answer in the words of an excellent moralist,* "The delivery of the talent is the call;" it is the call of Providence, the call of Heaven. The sup ply of the means is the requisition of the duty. When we find ourselves in possession of faculties and opportunities, whether arising from the endowments and qualities of our minds, or from the advantages of fortune and station, we need ask for no further evidence of the intention of the donor: we ought to see in that intention a demand upon us for the use and application of what has been given. This is a principle of natural as *The late Abraham Tucker, Esq. author of The Light of Nature, and of The Light of Nature and Revelation pursued, by Edward Search, Esq, |