SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE III.

LAMENT. OF JEREMIAH, CHAP. IV.—VERSE 13.

CONFESSION that the sins of this nation brought down on it the heavy judgments of God. The leaders of the several parties acknowleged to be blameable. Chief purport of the present discourse, to discover how far the teachers of religion shared their guilt.

Controversies with the papists, and those which sprung up among the reformed themselves, had turned men's attention strongly to religious inquiries. Zeal for religion, or rather for certain controverted points of religion, was the characteristic of the age: but when this realous attachment to things sacred, from which one might have expected to see the genuine produce of religion in men's lives, produced the fruits of corrupt morals and perverted passions; must we imagine that all this concern for region was dictitious, ail this zeal hypocrisy ? The supposition is not necessary; this shown.

We must not impute to the public instructors the miseries of this kingdom, because the age was very religious, and yet very wicked, unless we find that the wickedness and the misery arose from corrupt instruction: this point enlarged on. It is remarkable, that, during these contests, the divisions of religion did not in any degree prevent its corruptions. This will ap pear in the enumeration of the chief and most pernicious mistakes among the contending parties.

The first of these, was an opinion, that a particular form of civil government is appointed by God: errors arising from this pointed out. It is surprising that such a doctrine should be de

rived from the Scriptures, in which we can discover only general exhortations, &c. : but it is equally surprising, that the original error, first propagated by regal flatterers, should afterwards have been adopted by its most violent opposers: this dilated on.

Similar mistakes concerning ecclesiastical policy and external forms of religion produced still more obstinate contentions. The king's bigotry on this point exemplified in his attempt to impose the English liturgy on the Scottish church. This fault, however, was imitated by his enemies, who required by violence conformity to their favorite forms.

Another prevailing and pernicious doctrine denied the force of human laws in all matters relating to religion. Example of this cited, &c. but where both parties denied the obligation of laws, there, with a strange inconsistency, they both maintained the necessity of punishments: this point enlarged on.

Such were the dangerous errors maintained by men of abilities and character; but they were carried to the most pernicious extremes by vulgar and illiterate enthusiasts: this point enlarged on. Difficulty of limiting errors, and hazard of attempting to make the word of God subservient to men's purposes, dilated on, &c. Conclusion.

DISCOURSE III.

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARTYRDOM OF CHARLES I.

LAMENT. OF JEREMIAH, CHAP. IV.—Verse 13.

For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, they have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her.

WE have been confessing before God, that the crying sins of this nation brought down on it his heavy judgments; those judgments, which for more than a century we have annually deplored. The miseries of the nation were the effects, and are therefore rightly considered as the punishments of its sins. That the leaders of the several parties were in their turns highly blameable cannot be questioned: but without great faults likewise among all ranks, the war either could not have begun, or must soon have ended. In what manner men of each profession, divines, lawyers, courtiers, soldiers, contributed to the miseries of the nation, might be a subject of curious inquiry to the historian and the moralist. The part of it which most concerns us, is to examine how far the teachers of religion shared the guilt.

The controversies with the papists, which the Reformation had produced, and those which afterwards sprung up among the reformed themselves, had turned men's attention to religious inquiries. There is nothing so trifling, which is not pursued with ardor, if it becomes the subject of a public dispute, and the distinction of parties. But they who apply pains and diligence in the search of religious truths, are practising a real and important duty; are engaged in the noblest contemplations which the human mind can reach; are qualifying themselves for the

most useful and most honorable employment, that of instructing aud improving mankind. What wonder then, that many should engage eagerly in those inquiries, where a spirit of emulation, a desire of knowlege, a sense of duty, and a love of mankind, were united with all the motives of passion and interest, which usually mix themselves in every public contention! History justifies this reasoning. A zeal for religion, or rather for certain controverted points of religion, was the characteristic of the age. In such times the clergy must have had great influence. They, who were supposed able to lead men in their favorite pursuit, to gratify their ruling passion, would naturally be chosen as the guides of all their steps, and might certainly have conducted them thither, whither the pursuit itself tended, to virtue and to happiness. But when, from this zealous attachment to things sacred, one might have expected to see the genuine produce of religion in every act of their lives, in every sentiment of their hearts; instead of a full harvest of virtue, we gather nothing but poisons; the fruits of corrupt morals, of perverted or excessive passions. Must we then imagine, that all this concern for religion was fictitious, all this zeal hypoerisy? The supposition is not necessary. Improvements in religious knowlege are not always followed by a like progress in manners. The allurements of sense, the strength of the passions, will sometimes subvert the government of the mind, though fortified by a real regard to God's service, though environed by the strong wall of sincerity. We find from St. Paul's reproofs of the Corinthians, that even the supernatural illuminations of the Spirit were not always productive of true virtue; and from the disorderly proceedings of some among them, who were enriched with the best gifts both of wisdom and of faith, we may learn to be less surprised, though not less offended, at those, who abuse more ordinary acquirements, and act not up to the dictates of a less illustrious knowlege. on the other hand, if we are convinced that there may be faith without virtue, piety without probity; must we also admit the conclusions drawn from hence, by men of loose principles, to countenance their neglect of religion? By no means. The observation affords not any real objection to the pursuit of religious knowlege, or the value of such attainments. None of the

Or,

blessings of providence fall always into the best hands. We may lament that men so often misuse what might have been the instruments of happiness to themselves or others; but still those blessings attract our desires and endeavors not the less forcibly or justly. The truth is, that religion, as received among men, can neither do every thing that might be wished or expected from it, nor nothing. The vices of men neither prove them to be infidels, nor their religion useless. A force, not sufficient to stem the enraged ocean, may check its rising waves; and that which cannot oppose the madness of the people, may moderate or direct their passions.

But we will not impute to the public instructors the miseries of this kingdom, on this foundation, that the age was very reli-` gious and yet very wicked, unless we find that the wickedness and the miseries arose from corrupt instruction. Religion, once perverted, will more fatally deceive us than the influence of the blindest passions. He, who wanders without any guide, as whim or accident may lead him, can scarce go exactly right; but he, who is deceived by the guide in whom he trusts, will infallibly lose his way. When the light, which should direct us, is darkness, how great is that darkness! If they, who at first engaged in the support of despotism, supported it, because they had been taught that despotism is the institution of God, that a monarch is his vicegerent, appointed by his word, exercising his authority if they, who to the last could not be reconciled to our ancient constitution, were averse to it, because they believed that kings were given by God in his anger, to scourge the folly of the people who desired them; and that the only lawful government is a free and perfect democracy: if some, from a false notion of Christian liberty, would submit to no earthly power, to no dominion but that of Jesus Christ: if others, from a false notion of the unity of the church, would allow no toleration to the puritans, who in their turn insisted that it was the duty of the king to punish the idolatry of the papists with death, and that, on his neglect, it was the duty of his subjects to compel him: if these, and various other doctrines, favorable to tyranny, or anarchy, or persecution, either produced or prolonged the public calamities; then the teachers of religion cannot be acquitted of being accessories to the general guilt.