When the Lord shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: 1 SERMON I RELIGION IN MAN A RATIONAL AND VOLUNTARY SERVICE LUKE xii. 56. Ye can discern the face of the sky, and of the earth; but how is it, that ye do not discern this time? JESUS Christ, in the establishment of his religion, did not adopt measures of compulsion. He taught men every essential religious truth, propounded laws for the government of their conduct, and addressed them with the most persuasive motives. He then left men to act freely, that the happiness of his disciples might be the reward of obedience, which flows from an enlightened mind and a teachable temper. Our Saviour exhibited the clearest proof of a divine mission. By his life, he displayed the moral worth of his character. To the Jews he stated, that in him their prophecies were fulfilled in the presence of those who followed him, he wrought miracles; and he called on his countrymen to examine his doctrines, to reflect on his works, and to weigh the actions of his life; and for themselves determine, whether they might not confidently receive his communications, obey his precepts, and rely on his promises. This is the substance of the appeal in our text. In the previous verses, Jesus had observed to those who accompanied him, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, there cometh a shower, and so it is; and when ye perceive the south wind to blow, ye say, there will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites! ye can discern the face of the sky, and of the earth; but how is it, that ye do not discern this time? From usual appearances, you form a correct judgment of the effects of natural principles; why do ye not seriously attend to the moral dispensations of God, and, by the evidence produced, become satisfied of the divine origin of the doctrines I inculcate ? In our subsequent context, our Saviour prefaces a case of moral duty with the question, Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what is right? It is then evident, that Christ recognized powers in man to judge of the evidence on which his religion is founded, and to perceive that his instructions are conformable to the unchangeable laws of truth and rectitude. A number of important inferences may be drawn from this appeal of our Saviour to the human mind. 1. Religion in man is a rational and voluntary service. God has imparted to man the attributes of reason and liberty. These constitute him the subject of a moral government, and make him capable of virtuous action. Take away these faculties, and he ceases to be the proper object of rewards or punishment. Without moral liberty, man may be the instrument of actions which in their effects are salutary or pernicious; but in the agent there can be neither virtue nor vice. To constitute any course of actions good, in a moral sense, the agent must be conscious of his duty, and possess a disposition and power to perform it. Actions in which the will of the agent is not concerned, have no property of virtue; and in their production the powers of a moral being are not exercised. The manner in which the faculties of the human mind are used, determines the moral character. The intention fixes the moral complexion of human conduct. The same action in this man is a virtue, and in that a vice. An example will fully illustrate this remark. Two men unite to feed and clothe a hungry and naked fellow-being; one discharges this humane office from a conviction that it is a social duty, of indispensable obligation—and in him the duty is virtuous and worthy of praise; the other adopts this form of benevolence towards a suffering object, as the means to gain his confidence, and thereby to ensnare and ruin him—and this malignant intention renders the action vile and wicked. Reason to distinguish good from evil, and liberty to choose the one and refuse the other, render men capable of moral conduct and moral government. This distinction between free and necessary agents being taken away, men are let down to the level of beasts, or they become mere machines, and there is no more moral worth in their actions than there is in the effects produced by the established laws of the natural kingdom. To suspect the motive, would be uncharitable, when the conduct is habitually goodbecause the life furnishes to us the best evidence of the state of the heart; but God judgeth not as men judge: he looketh at the heart, and decideth on the moral worth of our conduct from our secret intention and purpose. From every view we can take of our subject, it will appear, that as rational and free beings we are subjected to moral laws, and that it is in the right exercise of our reason and liberty that we become religious men. 2. I infer, it is the duty of men to improve all the means they enjoy, to enlighten their minds on the subject of religion. To act rationally and freely in the important concerns of religion, we must know its foundation, and be made acquainted with its essential truths and duties. We cannot consistently perform the offices of religion, while ignorant of its first principles, any more than we can converse intelligibly in a language with which we are unacquainted. Suppose an individual educated in a country where the true religion is professed—yet a traditional reception of it, without a knowledge of the grounds of his faith or the reasons of his hope, would not entitle him to praise. Had he been born in a different country, he would have embraced its religion, however false and absurd. Is there no advantage, then, it will be asked, in the traditional reception of the true religion? Much every way; chiefly because this is a providential means of acquiring the knowledge of many religious truths and moral duties, of which an individual would otherwise have been ignorant: |