PREFACE. HAVING been prevented, for a time, by the | pretensions; I will beg leave to deliver my discharge of a laborious, but highly honorable sentiments on the subject in the words of the office, from performing the more immediate excellent and amiable Fenelon, extracted duties of my profession, I was yet desirous, from the last of his most admirable Diologues that I might not seem to lose the clergyman on the Eloquence of the Pulpit. in the magistrate, of still continuing to do something towards promoting the great end and purpose of life. And though the frequent returns of business gave little hopes of composing fresh discourses, its intervals, I thought, might suffice to digest and publish some which had been already composed. This form of publication is generally supposed less advantageous, at present, than any other. But it may be questioned, whether the supposition does justice to the age, when we consider only the respect which has so recently been paid to the sermons of the learned and elegant Dr. Blair. And greater respect cannot be paid them than they deserve. The multitude of old sermons affords no argument against the publication of new ones; since new ones will be read when old ones are neglected; and almost all mankind are, in this respect, Athenians. Besides, there is a taste in moral and religious, as well as in other compositions, which varies in different ages, and may very lawfully and innocently be indulged. Thousands received instruction and consolation formerly from sermons which would not now be endured. The preachers of them served their generation, and are blessed for evermore. But because provision was made for the wants of the last century in one way, there is no reason why it should not be made for the wants of this in another. The next will behold a set of writers of a fashion suited to it, when our discourses shall, in their turn, be antiquated and forgotten among men ; though if any good be wrought by them in this their day, our hope is, with that of faithful Nehemiah, that our God will remember us concerning them But as the productions of every author, who adds to the number, are expected to contain something new, either in matter, or manner, it will naturally be asked, what are my "I would have a preacher explain the whole plan of religion, and unfold every part of it in the most intelligible manner, by showing the origin and establishment, the tradition and connection, of its principles, its sacraments, and institutions. "For every thing in Scripture is connected; and this connection is, perhaps, the most extraordinary and wonderful thing to be seen in the sacred writings. "An audience of persons who had heard the chief points of the Mosaic history and law well explained, would be able to receive far more benefit from an explication of the truths of the Gospel, than the generality of Christians are now. "Preachers speak every day to the people, of the Scriptures, the church, the patriarchs, the law, the Gospel; of sacrifice, of Moses, and Aaron, and Melchisedek; of Christ, the prophets, and apostles: but there is not sufficient care taken to instruct men in the meaning of these things, and the characters of these holy persons. "This way of having recourse to the first foundations of religion would be so far from seeming low, that it would give most discourses that force and beauty which they generally want; since the hearers can never be instructed or persuaded in the mysteries of religion, if you do not trace things back to their source. if you "For example-How can you make them understand what the church says, after St. Paul, that Jesus Christ is our PASSOVER, do not explain to them the Jewish passover, which was appointed to be a perpetual memorial of their deliverance from Egypt, and to typify a more important redemption, that was reserved for Messiah? "Almost every thing in religion is historical. The best way of proving its truth, is to represent it justly; for then it carries its own evidence along with it. A coherent view of | turn of mind, would explain the holy book in the chief facts relative to any person, or its own style and figures; and by that means transaction, should be given in a concise, become accomplished preachers. The former lively, close, pathetic manner, accompanied would instruct their hearers with solidity and with such moral reflections as arise from the perspicuity; the latter would add to this inseveral circumstances, and may best instruct struction the sublimity, the vehemence, and the hearers. divine enthusiasm of the Scripture, which would be (if I may so say) entire and living in them, as much as it can be in men, who are not miraculously inspired from above." "A preacher ought to affect people by strong images; but it is from the Scripture that he should learn to make powerful impressions. There he may clearly discover the way to render sermons plain and popular, without losing the force and dignity they ought always to possess. "If the clergy applied themselves to this mode of teaching, we should then have two different sorts of preachers. They who are not endowed with a great share of vivacity, would explain the Scripture clearly, without imitating its lively and animated manner; and if they expounded the word of God judiciously, and supported their doctrine by an exemplary life, they would be very good preachers. They would employ what St. Ambrose requires, a chaste, simple, clear style, full of weight and gravity, without affecting elegance, or dispising the smoothness and graces of language. The other sort, being of a poetical This, reader, is the model which I have chosen, and after which I have humbly endeavored to work. I count not myself to have attained-Far, very far indeed from it; as you will too soon discover. I have not yet been able by any means to satisfy myself; nor can I hope to satisfy you. I have done as well as I could; and know not that it will be in my power to do better. Nobler and more extensive ideas arise before me; but planning and executing are very different things. Time hastens forward; and life, attended with its cares, perhaps its sorrows, will quickly have run its course. Accept such as I can give, and pardon errors and imperfections. I stand at the door of the temple, with my torch. If you would view its glories, enter in, and there dwell for ever. DISCOURSES, &C. DISCOURSE I. THE CREATION OF MAN. GENESIS, I. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. CURIOSITY naturally prompts us to inquire into the records of the family, or society, to which we belong. Every little incident that befell our ancestors, is collected with care, and remembered with pleasure. The relation it bears to us gives it consequence in our eyes, though, in the eyes of others, it may seem to have none. The mind, in its progress, finds attention excited, as the velocity of a falling body is increased; nor can it repose itself at ease on any account, which stops short of the original and first founder of the community. : Every motion of this sort conspires to animate our researches into the origination of mankind, and the history of our common progenitor. We cannot but earnestly and anxiously wish to be acquainted with the circumstances relative to the father of that family, of which all nations are parts; to discover and survey the root of that tree whose branches have overspread the earth. structed, which is designed for the use of men. A system in which the consideration of these hath no place, is like a course of diet prescribed by a physician unacquainted with his patient's constitution, and with the nature of the disease under which he has the misfortune to labor. It is obvious to remark, that this knowledge of human nature, of what it was at the beginning, and what alterations have since happened in it, is a knowledge to the attainment of which no strength of genius, no depth of reasoning, no subtilty of metaphysical disquisition, can ever lead us. It is a matter of fact, and must be ascertained, as matters of fact are, by evidence and testimony. But he only who made man, can inform us how man was made, with what endowments, and for what purpose. If he hath not done it, the world is, of necessity, left in utter ignorance of so capital a point. And this reflection alone may supply the place of a thousand Nor can such investigation be deemed mat- arguments, to convince us that he hath done ter of curiosity only. To form proper ideas it. of man, it is necessary we should view him as he came from the hands of his Creator. We must know in what state he was placed, what were the duties resulting from that state, and what the powers whereby he was enabled to perform them. We must learn, whether he be now in the same state; or whether an alteration in his state may not have subjected him to new wants, and new obligations. Upon a knowledge of these particulars, every system of religion and morality must be con We find an opinion current through Heathen antiquity, that all is not right with the human race; that things were not at first as they are now, but that a change hath been introduced for the worse. When the philosophers tell us, that mankind were sent upon the earth to do penance for crimes by them committed in a pre-existent state; what is it but saying that man once was upright and happy, but that, ceasing to be upright, he ceased to be happy; and that natural evil is around him moving in perfect order and harmony, and every creature performing the part allotted it in the universal drama; that seeing he might understand, and understanding, adore its supreme Author and Director. the consequence and punishment of moral? | spectator was admitted, to behold the splendid Nor is it at all difficult to discern, through and magnificent scenery in the heavens above, the fictions of the poets, those truths which and the earth beneath; to view the bodies gave birth to them; while we read of a golden age, when righteousness and peace kissed each other; of a man framed of clay, and animated by a spark of celestial fire; of a woman endowed with every gift and grace from above; and of the fatal casket, out of which, when opened by her, a flight of calamities overspread the earth; but not without a reserve of HOPE, that, at some future period of refreshment and restitution, they should be done away. Such are the shadowy scenes, which, by the faint glimmering of tradition reflected from an original revelation, present themselves in that night of the world, the era of pagan fable and delusion, when the imaginations of poetry, and the conjectures of philosophy, were equally unable to supply the information which had been long lost, concerning the origin of the world, of man, and of evil. With this information we are furnished by the writings of Moses, penned under the direction of Him who giveth to man the spirit of understanding, for the instruction of ages and generations. We are told by whom the matter, of which our system is composed, was brought into being; and in what manner the several objects around us were gradually and successively formed, till the whole, completely finished, and surveyed by its great Author, was pronounced good, or fit, in every respect, to answer the end for which it was designed. After this, are related the particulars concerning the formation of man; the time of his production; the resolution taken upon the occasion; the materials of which he was composed; the divine image in which God created him; and the dominion over the creatures with which he was invested. It is intended in the following discourse, to offer such considerations as may be of use towards the explanation and illustration of these particulars in their order. With regard to the time of man's formation, we may observe of the divine procedure, what is true of every human plan, concerted with wisdom and foresight; that which was first in intention, was last in execution. Man, for whom all things were made, was himself made last of all. We are taught to follow the heavenly Artist, step by step, first in the production of the inanimate elements, next of vegetable, and then of animal life, till we come to the master-piece of the creation, man endued with reason and intellect. The house being built, its inhabitants appeared; the feast being set forth, the guest was introduced; the theatre being decorated and illuminated, the Not that, even in the original and perfect state of his intellectual powers, he was left to demonstrate the being of a God, either a priori or a posteriori. His Creator, we find. immediately manifested himself to him, and conversed with him, informing him, without all doubt, of what had passed previous to his own existence, which otherwise he never could have known; instructing him how, and for what purpose, the world and man were made, and to whom he was bound to ascribe all praise and glory on that account. The loss of this instruction occasioned some of his descendants, in after ages, to worship the creature instead of the Creator. Ignorant of him who gave the sun for a light by day, they fell prostrate before that bright image of its Maker's glory, which, to the eye of sense, appeared to be the god that governed the world. The other parts of this system were produced by the word of the Creator. "He spake, and it was done." The elements were his servants: "He said to one, Go, and it went; to another, Come, and it came; to a third, Do this," and the commission was instantly executed. But to the formation of man (with reverential awe, and after the manner of men, be it spoken) he seems more immediately to have addressed his power and wisdom. "Let us make man;" all things are now ready; let the work of creation be completed and crowned by the production of its possessor and lord, who is to use, to enjoy, and to rule over it: "Let us make man." The phraseology in which this resolution is couched, is remarkable; "Let us make man ;' but the Old Testament furnishes more instances of a similar kind : “Behold man is become like one of us; Let us go down, and confound their language; Whom shall we send, and who will go for us?" These plural forms, thus used by the Deity, demand our attention. Three solutions of the question have been offered. The first is that given by the Jews, who tell us, that in these forms, God speaks of himself and his angels. But may we not ask, upon this occasion-"Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counsellor ?" With which of the angels did he, at any time, vouchsafe to share his works and his attributes? Could they have been his coadjutors in the work of creation, which he so often claims to himself, declaring he will not give the glory of it to another? Do we believe do the Jews believe-did any body ever believe, that man was made by angels, or made in the image and likeness of angels? Upon this opinion, therefore, we need not spend any more time. We know from whence it came, and for what end it was devised and propagated. in the singular? It is true, we Christians, with the New Testament in our hands, may not want these arguments to prove the doctrine: but why shonld we overlook, or slight such a valuable evidence of its having been revealed and received in the church of God from the foundation of the world? It is a satisfaction, it is a comfort, to reflect that, in this momentous article of our faith, we have patriarchs and prophets for our fathers; that they lived, and that they died, in the belief of it; that the God† of Adam, of Noah, and of Abraham, is likewise our God; and that, when we adore him in three Persons, and give glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, we do as it was done in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Proceed we to consider the materials of which man was composed. A second account of the matter is, that the King of heaven adopts the style employed by the kings of the earth; who frequently speak of themselves in the plural_number, to express dignity and majesty. But doth it seem at all reasonable to imagine, that God should borrow his way of speaking from a king, before man was created upon the earth? The contrary supposition would surely carry the "The word of the Lord once came to the air of more probability with it, namely, that prophet Jeremiah, saying, Arise, and go because the Deity originally used this mode down to the potter's house, and there I will of expression, therefore kings, considering cause thee to hear my words. Then he went themselves as his delegates and representa- down to the potter's house, and, behold, he tives, afterwards did the same. But, how-wrought a work on the wheel. And the ever this might be, the interpretation, if admitted, will not suffice to clear the point. For, as it has been judiciously observed, though a king and governor may say us and we, there is certainly no figure of speech, that will allow any single person to say, "one of us," when he speaks only of himself. It is a phrase that can have no meaning, unless there be more persons than one concerned. What, then, should hinder us from accepting the third solution, given by the best expositors, ancient and modern, and drawn from this consideration that, in the unity of the Divine Essence, there is a plurality of Persons, co-equal and co-eternal, who might say, with truth and propriety, "LET US make man; " and, "Man is become like one of us?" Of such a personality revelation informs us; it is that upon which the economy of man's redemption is founded; his creation, as well as that of the world, is in different passages, attributed to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; what more natural, therefore, than that, at his production, this form of speech should be used by the Divine Persons? What more rational than to suppose, that a doctrine so important to the human race, was communicated from the beginning, that men might know whom they worshipped, and how they ought to worship? What other good and sufficient reason can be given, why the name of God, in use among believers from the first, should likewise be in the plural number; connected with verbs and pronouns word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand." A scene like this is presented to our imaginations by the words of Moses: "The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground; "he moulded § him as a potter doth; we see the work, as it were, upon the wheel, rising and growing under the hands of the divine Artificer! The human body was not made of the celestial elements, light and air; but of the more gross terrestrial matter, as being designed to receive and communicate notices of terrestrial objects, by organs of a nature similar to them. In this instance, as in another since, God seemeth to have "chosen the base things of the world, to confound things honorable and mighty "|| when, of the dust of the ground, he composed a frame, superior, in rank and dignity, to the heavens and all their hosts. They whose profession leads them to examine the structure of this astonishing piece of mechanism, these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the formation of the human body. A contemplation of its parts, and their disposition, brought Galen upon his knees, in adoration of the wisdom with which the whole is contrived; and incited him to challenge any one, upon an hundred years' study, to tell how any the least fibre or particle could have been more |