the reality and exigency of our moral situation; and even were it so far sufficient, would do us little service, unless, at the same time it could point out some adequate means of relief*. My appeal is not from reason absolutely considered, but from reason warped by prejudice, and darkened by passion, to reason rectified and informed by the light and grace of the Christian dispensation. In like manner, it may be found that here is no design to decry true philoso-. phy, but rather to vindicate it from the reproach under which it has suffered through some unhappy men, who have abused its name and authority to the most vile and impious purposes; who, by their pretended researches into nature, together with their moral and political * Pope says very well, in speaking of reason, Ah! if she lend not arms as well as rules, disquisitions, have laboured to exclude the Deity from his own world, to subvert the foundations of virtue, to dissolve all the bonds of society, to set the child against his parent, and the subject against his prince, and thus to abandon mankind to atheism and anarchy. It is against this imposture under the guise of philosophy, that I would earnestly protest; and against that presuming confidence in our own powers, whence it takes its rise, and to which it is indebted for every step in its progress. Lastly, there are others of a more pious turn, who, from a sense of what religion has suffered by the abuse of reason and philosophy, consider them as essentially hostile to her interests. Here, while I commend the zeal of these good men, I must dissent from their judgment. It is by the legitimate use of reason that we are naturally led to the discovery of truth, and no one truth can be hostile to another. Reason, therefore, in its proper a exercise, can never be in contradiction to revelation, and ought no more to be set at variance with it, than the eye with the telescope through which it descries those objects in the heavens that otherwise would be invisible; though I allow that the intellectual eye needs a fresh touch from the divine oculist, to enable it to a due discharge of its spiritual office. Again, what is true philosophy but systematic reason, which first by a just analysis arrives at general principles, and then erects upon them noble fabrics of art and science? Such was the philosophy which Bacon introduced, and so happily illustrated; and which has since, by the labours of many eminent men, been productive. of great and useful discoveries;—a philosophy which, while it humbles, 'enlarges and elevates the mind, shews its imperfections while it increases its acquisitions. It cannot therefore be too much lamented, that this philosophy has of late times given place to a miserable substitute, which, rejecting that severe induction that is ne cessary to the establishment of right principles, and proceeding upon gratuitous assumptions, has, as might be expected, built castles in the air. It is this philosophy which is equally adverse to religion and true science, whereas the former is friendly to both; and he who is not careful to distinguish between them, may come at length to confound the light flippancy of Voltaire, or the grave and impious sophistry of Helvetius and Diderot, with the wisdom of Bacon, or the science of Newton. One thing more I would suggest to the serious reader; which is, Not rashly to take offence at words or phrases, though they should not be perfectly theological, when he admits the sense meant to be con veyed by them. This is an evil to which good men are sometimes liable, and which the following considerations I hope may serve to obviate. Let it first be remarked, that the influence of association extends itself as powerfully over language, as it does over things or persons. or persons. It is this which often reflects an odium on the phraseology of scripture, by suggesting an idea of enthu siasm, cant, or or hypocrisy. The words virtue, rectitude, reformation, with others of the same family, are of a good sound, and will give no offence to the most gay and thoughtless; but to talk of grace, holiness, regeneration, is a diction that will not * This is a word which often occurs in the following discourse; and to prevent, if possible, all misapprehension of its meaning, I would here remark, that, when taken generally, it is used to denote piety towards God, as well as benevolence towards men. In this sense it is found in some good writers; and with the same extensive application it may still, as I conceive, be allowed to the Christian moralist, notwithstanding the abuse it has suffered by bad men, who, after they have employed it to express the whole of human duty, have narrowly confined this duty to the offices of social and civil life: an abuse which goes at once to shut all religion out of the world, and in its ultimate tendency to destroy even that virtue which is pretended; for virtue, though under its most relaxed and contracted form, can never long subsist when separated from piety: a truth to which the experience of all ages has borne testimony, and which has lately been confirmed by a dreadful example. 1 |