SERMON II. General Mistakes. ROMANS xii. 2. Be not conformed to this world. Of all the discourses delivered in this pulpit, those which deserve the greatest deference, and usually obtain the least, are such as treat of general mistakes. What subjects require a greater deference? Our design in treating of them is to dissipate those illusions, with which the whole world is familiar, which are authorized by the multitude, and which like epidemical diseases, inflicted sometimes by providence on public bodies, involve the state, the church, and individuals. Yet are any discourses less respected than such as these? To attack general mistakes is to excite the displeasure of all who favour them, to disgust a whole auditory, and to acquire the most odious of all titles, I mean that of public censor. A preacher is then obliged to choose, either never to attack such mistakes as the multitude think fit to authorize, or to renounce the advantages which he may promise himself, if he adapt his subjects to the taste of his auditors, and touch their disorders only so far as to accommodate their crimes to their consciences. Let us not hesitate what part to take. St. Paul determines us by his example. I am going to-day, in imitation of this apostle, to guard you against the rocks, where the many are shipwrecked. He exhorts us, in the words of the text, not to take the world for a model; the world, that is the crowd, the multitude, society at large. But what society hath he in view? Is it that of ancient Rome, which he describes as extremely depraved in the beginning of this epistle ? Does he say nothing of our world, our cities and provinces? We are going to examine this, and I fear I shall be able to prove to you, that our multitude is a dangerous guide to shew us the way to heaven; and, to confine ourselves to a few articles, I shall prove that they are bad guides to direct us, first, in regard to faith, -secondly, in regard to the worship which God requires of us :-thirdly, in regard to morality; and lastly, in regard to the hour of death. In these four views I shall enforce the words of my text, Be not conformed to this world. This is the whole plan of this discourse. I. The multitude is a bad guide to direct our faith. We will not introduce here the famous controversy on this question, whether a great number form a presumption in favour of any religion, or whether universality be a certain evidence of the true Christian church? How often has this question been debated and determined! How often have we proved against one community, which displays the number of its professors with so much parade, that, if the pretence were well-founded, it would operate in favour of paganism, for pagans were always more numerous 1 than Christians! How often have we told them, that in divers periods of the ancient church idolatry and idolators have been enthroned in both the kingdoms of Judah and Israel! How often have we alleged, that in the time of Jesus Christ the church was described as a little flock, Luke xii. 32. that heathens and Jews were all in league against Christianity at first, and that the gospel had only a small number of disciples! How often have we retorted, that for whole centuries there was no trace, no shadow of the opinions of modern Rome! But we will not apply ourselves to this controversy to-day by fixing your attention on the sophisms of foreigners, perhaps we might divert your eyes from your own; by shewing you our triumphs over the vain attacks made on us by the enemies of the reformation, perhaps we might turn away your attention from other more dangerous wounds, which the reformed themselves aim at the heart of religion. When I say the multitude is a bad guide in matters of faith, I mean, that the manner in which most men adhere to truth, is not by principles which ought to attach them to it, but by a spirit of negligence and prejudice. It is no small work to examine the truth, when we arrive at an age capable of discussion. The fundamental points of religion, I grant, lie in the scriptures clear and perspicuous, and within the comprehension of all who choose to attend to them: but when we pass from infancy to manhood, and arrive at an age in which reason seems nature, we find ourselves covered with a veil, which either hides objects from us, or disfigures them. The public discourses we have heard in favour of the sect, in which we were educated, the inveterate hatred we have for all others, who hold principles opposite to ours, the frightful portraits that are drawn before our eyes of the perils we must encounter, if we depart from the way we have been brought up in, the impressions made upon us by the examples and decisions of our parents, and masters, and teachers, the bad taste of those who had the care of our education, and who prevented our acquiring that most noble disposition, without which it is impossible ever to be a true philosopher, or a real Christian, I mean that of suspending our judgment on subjects not sufficiently proved; from all this arise clouds that render the truth inaccessible, and which the world cannot dissipate. We do not say, that natural talents, or supernatural assistance are wanting; we are fully convinced that God will never give up to final error any man who does all in his power to understand the truth. But the world are incapable of this work. Why? Because all the world, except a few, hate labour and meditation in regard to the subjects which respect another life; because all the world would choose rather to attach themselves to what regards their temporal interests than to the great interest of eternal happiness: because all the world like better to suppose the principles imbibed in their childhood true, than to impose on themselves the task of weighing them anew in the balance of a sound and severe reason: because all the world have an invincible aversion to suppose, that when they are arrived at manhood they have almost lost their time in some respects, and that く when they leave school they begin to be capable of instruction. If the nature of the thing cannot convince you, that the multitude continue through negligence in the profession of that religion in which they were born, experience may here supply the place of reasoning. There is an infinite variety of geniusses among mankind. Propose to an assembly a question, that no system hath yet decided, and you will find, as it is usually said, as many opinions as heads. It is certain, if mankind were attached to a religion only because they had studied it, we should find a great number of people forsake that in which they had been brought up, for it is impossible, that a whole society should unite in one point of error, or rather, it is clear to a demonstration, that as truth hath certain characters superior to falsehood, the temples of idols would be instantly deserted, erroneous sects would be soon abandoned, the religion of Jesus Christ, the only one worthy of being embraced, the only one that deserves disciples, would be the only one embraced, and would alone be received by all sincere disciples of truth. Do not think, my brethren, that this reflection concerning that spirit of negligence, which retains most men in a profession of their own religion, regards only such communions as lay down their own infallibility for a fundamental article of faith, and which prescribe ignorance and blind submission as a first principle to their partizans, for it is but too easy to prove, that the same spirit of negligence reigns in all communities. Hence it comes |