The Works of George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, vol. 7

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Bibliotlzeca Britannica Plzilosophica

The Works of George Berkeley Bishop of Cloyne Volu1ne Seven

The Works of George Berkeley Bishop of Cloyne Edited by

A A Luce and T E Jessop

Volu111e Seven Sermons A Letter to Sir John James Prin1ary Visitation Charge & an Address on Confirmation Essays in the Guardian Journals of Travels in Italy A Proposal & Berkeley's Petition Verses on America Varia Edited by

A A Luce DD Litt D Be, keley Professor of Jvfetaphysics Trinity College, Dublin

NELSON

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First publisl,ed 1955 Repri11tcd 1964

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PREFACE The main contents of this volume are Berkeley's sermons and sermon notes, his essays and journals of travel, and his Proposal, with other writings on the Bermuda Scheme. The sermons are printed in chronological order. They cover a period of more than forty years, extending from Berkeley's early days in Trinity College to the closing years of his episcopate, and obviously they and the various other contents of this volume could not be fitted neatly into a uniform chronological series. After the sermons and the other religious writings I print hi� essays in the Guardian of 1713. The Journals, written in Italy in 17 r 7-8, come next, followed by his Proposal, with other documents relating to the great adventure of his middle life, his mission to America. These writings are miscellaneous, reflecting the many-sided interests and activities of the man. In the other volumes we have seen Berkeley as philosopher, mathematician, or economist ; in this volume he is preacher, pastor, essayist, traveller, and projector of an educational scheme that has left its mark, and that contained great possibilities for the colonies of those days. The actual Will I have not seen, but all the other contents of this volume that survive in manuscript are here reproduced as they appear in the manuscript in respect of spelling, punctuation, capitals, and other textual minutiae. I have followed a similar practice with regard to the publications, except the essays in the Guardian. I have taken the text of the essays from the first collected edition of the Guardian ( I 714). There is no way of knowing whether its editor follo,ved Berkeley's practice : I have therefore modernised the capitals, italics, and punctuation of the essays and, in a few cases, the spelling. The number and variety of the manuscripts here reproduced, the poor condition of some of them, and the unusual character of the Journals of Travels in Italy, made the task of exact reproduction long and arduous, and threw a special burden on the publishers' staff. Their wise guidance, patience and resource helped me over many a stile, and I am particularly grateful to them for the care and accuracy with which they prepared the typescript from which this volume was set. A. A. L. V

41710

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PC

Berkeley's Philosophical Commentaries (by A. C. Fraser 1nisnamed ' Commonplace Book of occasional meta­ physical thoughts '). Sometimes, too, I refer to PC as Commentaries. The entry numbers are those of my (1944) edition

TV

An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision

LL

A. C. Fraser, Life and Letters of George Berkeley, D.D., published as Volume I\1 of Fraser's edition of B�rkeley's Works (1871)

B &P

B. Rand, Berkeley and Percival (1914)

Proc. R. I. Acad.

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy

Stock (Stock's Life)

An account of the life of George Berkeley ••. (as prefixed to the 1784 edition of the Works)

vi

CONTENTS SER1\10NS Editor's Introduction Text A LETTER TO SIR JOHN JAMES ON THE ROMAN CONTROVERSY Editor's Introduction Text BERKELEY'S PRIMARY VISITATION CHARGE �WD AN ADDRESS ON CONFIRMATION Editor's Introduction Text Visitation Charge Address on Confirmation

I

3 9 1 39 141

1 43

157 I 59 161

I 69

BERKELEY'S ESSAYS IN THE GUARDIAN Editor's Introduction Text

171 173

BERKELEY'S JOURNALS OF TRAVELS IN ITALY Editor's Introduction Text

229

181

231 243

A PROPOSAL FOR THE BETTER SUPPLYING OF CHURCHES IN OUR FOREIGN PLANTATIONS, AND BERKELEY'S PETITION Editor's Introduction Text A Proposal Berkeley's Petition

335 337 3 45 363

BERKELEY'S VERSES ON AMERICA Editor's Introduction Text

367 369 373

...

CONTENTS

Vlll

375

VARIA Editor's Introduction Text Inscription in Chester Cathedral Inscription on Thomas Prior Berkeley's Will

377 379 380 381

APPENDICES I II

The Berkeley Memorial Tablet, Christ Church, Oxford Extract from a Letter from Mrs Anne Berkeley to her Son

385 387

Sermons First printed, No. IX in 1752, Nos. I, III, IV, and V, 1-12, in 1871, Nos. V, Nos. II and 2( in 1932, and Nos. VI, VII, and VIII in 1936

13, 14,

in 1955,

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION SoME ten of Berkeley's written sermons, n1ore or less com­ plete, and about fourteen sets of his notes for extempore sermons have come down to us. The collection is not large, but it is representative ; here are sermons preached in the Old World and in the New World, sermons of his early youth, and sermons of his ripe old age, and the collection warrants, I think, the general statement that Berkeley was a good preacher, but not a great preacher. In the following pages there is nothing of the calibre of Bishop Butler's sermons at the Rolls ; there is nothing that can stand beside Archbishop King's monumental discourse on predestination ; there is little of the strong thinking and forceful writing that characterise Berkeley's books. Berkeley's sermons, as we have them, contain little eloquence and no rhetorical display. There is no fire in them, but neither is there froth. They are solid, straightforward discourses, appealing to the head more than to the heart, put together in a workmanlike way, and expressed, for the most part, in scholarly language. They are not, however, dry, detached and academic, and they are instinct with the spirit of religion, both natural religion and the religion of sincere, tolerant, catholic-evangelical Christianity. They still read well, if the reader be in a leisurely mood, and from the pulpit they must have had their effect. Lodowick Updike, who rose to some position in Rhode Island, said that when he was a boy his father used to take him to hear Berkeley preach in Trinity Church, Newport, and that 'like all really learned men, the Dean was tolerant in religious opinion, which gave him a great and deserved popularity with all denominations. All sects rushed to hear him ; even the Quakers with their broad­ brimmed hats came and stood in the aisles. In one of his sermons he very emphatically said, " Give the devil his due, John Calvin was a great man." ' 1 Here is another witness. Benjamin Walker in Boston, Mass., on Sunday morning 12 September 1731 heard the Dean preach on the mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 111.16), and was much moved. He recorded the facts in his diary, adding the comment, ' and a fine sermon ; according to my opinion, I never heard such a one. A very great auditory.' 2 1 2

quoted by W. Updike, History of the Narragansett Church, p. B. Rand, Berkeley's American Sojourn, p. 45. 3

I 20.

4

SERMONS

Berkeley's preaching owed much, no doubt, to his personal qualities. His sermons probably sounded better than they read ; and to do them full justice, we must add in thought all that was there, but not in the written page-the manly, surpliced figure in the pulpit ; the handsome expressive features ; the voice, clear and cultured, rising at times to thunder ; the measured tones for the balanced statement ; the occasional staccato­ urgent, indignant, imperative ; and those characteristic, soft, satisfying cadences that mark his comprehensive summary and completed argument. He published only one of his sermons as a sermon, viz. the one preached before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel on his return from America. His ethico-political treatise named Passive Obedience, consisted of three sermons, which had been preached in Trinity College Chapel and were subsequently put together and published ' under the form of one entire dis­ course.' 1 The content of the sermons is almost entirely devotional and hortatory ; philosophy, as such, hardly ever appears, and never obtrudes. The churchmanship and the doctrine are those of the high-church, tory tradition, taking the via media between Rome and dissent ; apostolic teaching, the sacraments of the Gospel, the creeds and the apostolic succession are defended ; a narrow, barren or exclusive orthodoxy is condemned, and toleration and friendly relations with non-conformity are advocated. The philosophical training of the preacher reveals itself in his wide outlook and sympathies, in his loyalty to reason, in his accep­ tance of the limits of reason, in his firm grasp of Christian mystery, and in his synthesis of natural religion and revealed. There is no trace of doctrinal development in these sermons ; there was no need for such development, or room for it. Very early in life, indeed before he was ordained, he had thought out for himself on philosophical grounds the Pauline-Malebranchian conception of the God in whom we live and n1ove, the God who worketh all, in all ; and that conception is the ne plus ultra of theology. Already in 1707-08, when, still a layman, he was writing the Philosophical Commentaries (see Nos. 584, 720), he had made up his mind to reject the non-mysterious Christianity of Toland and the deists ; and from that position he never varied. He developed as a preacher, of course, in the sense that as he grew older his sympathies widened, his understanding of men's 1

Passive Obedience, 'To the Reader.'

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

5

needs deepened, and his pulpit technique improved. Bookish­ ness, crudities and downright d efects in taste are to be found in the earlier homilies ; he quotes the odds on there being a future life ; he speaks of those ' who are resolved to walk blindfold down to hell,' suggesting that to display life and immortality to some Christian congregations may be to cast pearls before swine. Such immaturities of thought, outlook and statement dis­ appear in the later sermons ; and the latest of all, preached at Cloyne some eighteen months before his death, is a noble dis­ sertation on the will of God, broadly conceived, well planned, and set forth in simple, exact and telling phrase. The survival of these particular sermons looks purely acci­ dental, but Berkeley may have had special reasons for preserving some of them. Their wide distribution in time and place of delivery is worth noting ; they range over more than forty years ; the first was preached in 1 708 before the preacher was ordained ; the last was preached in 1751. And what a traveller the preacher was ! In this small collection are sermons preached in the chapel of Trinity College, Dublin, in St Colman's cathedral, Cloyne, and in the parish church of St Mary-le-Bow, London. Here are sermons preached as far to the east as the British Consulate church at Leghorn, and as far to the west as Trinity Church, Rhode Island, and King's Chapel, Boston, Mass. There are a few religious notes, apparently intended for a sermon, on f. 165 of B.M. Add. MS. 39305. In MS. 39306, ff. 246-70, there is a copy by a later hand (probably H. J . Rose, see his initials on f. 266, of Berkeley's Sermon VI I, now defective) and in the same MS., ff. 2 71-80, there is a sermon ' against pride,' which is not in Berkeley's handwriting ; it is pasted in upside down, and presumably whoever made the collection did not regard it as by the Bishop ; its cover bears the place-name, Cookham, and the date 13 August 1769, and so no doubt it is by his son, Canon George Berkeley. Several of the manuscripts have been worked over by a later hand, and readers of the manu­ scripts must be on their guard. Several of these glosses seriously affect the teaching, and the glossator's main motive found ex­ pression in the entry, not by Berkeley, on f. 201v of MS. 39306 : ' Mem-Leave out all those passages wch relate to the Light of Reason.' Sermons VI, VI I I and X are the chief sufferers. The present edition, of course, ignores all these glosses and gives the text as Berkeley left it. I now print all the extant sermons known to me, in their

6

SERMONS

probable tin1e-order, adding introductory notes to each, as necessary, and some footnotes: There are indications that some of the damaged sermons, especially No. III, were slightly more legible when Fraser tran­ scribed them than they are at present ; accordingly in some few doubtful cases I have allowed his readings or suggestions to stand, even though I found myself unable to confirm them.

Sermons

The Text I II

On I tnn1ortali ty

•

•

•

•

•

On Religious Zeal

9

•

•

•

•

•

16

.

•

'2 7

III

On Charity

•

IV

On the Mission of Christ

•

V

VI VII VIII IX X

40

•

Notes for Sermons at Newport ( R . I . ) • On the Mystery of Godliness

53

85

On the Mystery of Godliness

•

•

On Eternal Life

.

.

93 1 05

Anniversary Sermon before the S. P. G .

I

On the Will of God

1 29

•

•

•

.

14

SERMON I ON I

I MMORTA LITY l

ch . 2 ep : to Timothy ; later part of ye 1 0th verse.

Jesus Christ who abolish'd death, & brought life & immortality to light by the Gospell.

or no the kno,vlege of eternal life may be reckon'd among the attainments of some ancien t Philosophers I shall not now enquire. Be yt as it will, sure I am the doctrine of life & immortality was never so current & universal as since ye coming of our blessed Saviour. ffor tho' it be granted, wch �evertheless is very hard to conceive, yt some few of extraordinary parts & application might by ye unassisted force of reason have obtain'd a demonstrative knowlege of yt important point. yet those who wanted either leisure or abilitys for making so great & difficult a discovery wch was doubtless ye far greatest part of mankind 1 0 must still have remain'd in ye dark : ffor tho they who saw farther than other men should tell them the result of their reason­ ings. yet he yt knows not the premises could never be certain of the conclusion except his teacher had ye power of working miracles for his conviction. 'tis therefore evident yt wtever discoverys of a future state were made by those yt directed their thoughts that way : how far soever they might have seen ; yet all this light was smother'd in their own bosoms, not a ray to enlighten ye rest of mankind till the dawning of ye Sun of right­ eousness who brought life & immortality to light by ye Gospel. 20 In discoursing on wch words I shall observe the following method. 1 st, I shall consider wt effect this revelation has had on ye Christian world. 2dly I shall enquire how it comes to pass that it has no greater effect on our lives & conversations. 3dly I shall shew by wt means it may be render'd more effectual. WHETHER

[The manuscript is in the British Museum , Add. MS. 39306, ff. 1 64-7. At the end of it Berkeley has written, ' College Chappell , Sunday evening, January 1 1 , 1 70�. ' It is clearly written , and was first published by Fraser, LL pp. 598-604. The few religious notes in MS . 39305 , f. 1 65 may be intended for this sermon. Berkeley was not in orders on the above date, and no doubt this discourse was one of the ' commonplaces ' required by the College statute De Baccalaureorum et Magistrorum Exercitiis from resident masters, whether in orders or not.-Ed.] 1

9

2

10

SERMONS

As to ye 1st point. one would think he had not far to seek for ye effects of so important & universal a revelation, a revela­ tion of eternal happiness or · misery the unavoidable inheritance of every man deliver'd by ye Son of God, confirm'd by miracles & owned by all the professors of Xtianity. if some among the Heathen practis'd good actions on no other view than ye temporal advantages they brought to civil society, if others were found who thought vertue a reward sufficient for itself. if reason & experience had long before convinc'd the world how unpleasant & destruc1 0 tive vice had been, as well to its votaries as ye rest of mankind. wt man would not embrace a thing in it self so lovely & profitable as vertue, wn recommended by the glorious reward of life & immortality ? wt wretch so obdurate & foolish as not to shun vice a thing so hatefull & pernicious wn discouraged therefrom by the additional terrors of eternal death & damnation ? Thus might a man think a thorough reformation of manners ye necessary effect of such a doctrine as our Saviour's. He may perhaps imagine yt men as soon as their eyes were open'd would quit all thoughts of ys perishing earth & extend their views to those new Thus, I say, might a 20 discover'd regions of life & immortality. man hope & argue with himself. But alas ! upon enquiry all this I fear will be found frustrated hopes & empty speculation. Let us but look a little into matter of fact. how far I beseech you do we Xtians surpass ye old Heathen Romans in temperance & fortitude, in honour & integrity ? are we less given to pride & avarice, strife & faction than our Pagan Ancestors ? Wth us yt have immortality in view is not ye old doctrine of eat & drink for to morrow we die as much in vogue as ever ? We inhabitants of Xtendom enlighten'd wth ye light of ye Gospel, instructed by 30 ye Son of God, are we such shining examples of peace and vertue to ye unconverted Gentile world ? & is it less certain than wonderfull yt now, wn ye fulness of time is come & ye light of ye Gospel held forth to guide every man throu' piety & vertue into everlasting happiness, I say is it not equally evident & strange yt at this time of day & in these parts of ye world men go together by the ears about the things of this life, & scramble for a little dirt within sight of heaven. I come now to enquire into ye cause of this strange blindness & infatuation of Xtians. whence it is that immortality a happy 40 immortality has so small influence when ye vain, transitory things of this life do so strongly affect & engage us in the pursuit of them. Wherein consists the wondrous mechanism of our passions wch

I : ON IMMORTALITY

II

are set a going by the small inconsiderable objects of sense whilst things of infinite vveight & moment are altogether ineffectual. Did Heaven but kindle in our hearts hopes and desires suitable to so great and excellent an object, doubtless all ye actions of our lives would evidently concur to ye attainment thereof. one could be no longer to seek for the effects of our Saviour's Revelation amongst us. Whoever beheld a Xtian would straightway take him for a pilgrim on earth walking in ye direct path to Heaven. So regardless should he be of the things of this life, so full of the next & so free from yt vice & corruption wch at present stains 1 0 our profession. if then we can discover how it comes to pass yt our desire of life & immortality is so weak & ineffectual, we shall in some measure see into the cause of those many contradictions wch are too conspicuous betwixt the faith & practice of Xtians. & be able to solve yt great riddle namely yt men s_hould think infinite eternal bliss within their reach & scarce do any thing for the obtaining it. Rational desires are vigorous in proportion to the goodness & , if I may so speak attainableness of their objects. for wtever provokes desire does it more or less according as it is more or less desirable & wt makes a thing desirable is it's good- 20 ness or agreeableness to our nature, & also ye probability there is of our being able to obtain it. for yt wch is apparently out of our reach affects us not, desire being a spur to action & no rational agent directing his actions to what he sees impossible. I kno,v a late incomparable Philosopher 1 will have the present uneasiness the mind feels wch ordinarily is not proportionate to ye goodness of the object to determine the will. But I speak not of ye ordinary brutish appetites of men, but of well grounded rational desires ; web from wt has been said, 'tis plain are in a direct compounded reason of the excellency & certainty of their 30 objects. Thus an object wth half the goodness & double the certainty, & another wth half ye certainty & double ye goodness are equally desired. & universally those lots are alike esteem'd wherein the prizes are reciprocally as the chances. Let us now by this rule try wt value we ought to put on our Saviour's prom­ ises . wth wt degree of zeal & desire we should in reason pursue those things Jesus Xt has brought to light by ye Gospel!. In order whereunto it will be proper 1 st to consider their excellency [J ohn Locke, whose rather mechanical doctrine of uneasiness as determinant of volition (Essay, BOOK 11, chap. 2 1 , sects. 29-7 1 ) is repeatedly criticised by Berkeley in his Commentaries, which he was writing about the same time as this sermon ; see my note on PC, no. 1 45 .-Ed .] 1

12

SERMONS

& 2dly ye certainty there is of our obtaining them upon fulfilling the conditions on wch they: are promis'd. 1 st then the things promised by our Saviour are life & immortality, that is, in the language of the Scriptures, eternal happiness, a happyness large as our desires, & those desires not stinted to ye few objects we at present receive from some dull inlets of perception, but pro­ portionate to wt our faculties shall be wn God has given the finishing stroke to our nature & made us fit inhabitants for heaven, a happiness wch we narrow-sighted mortals wretchedly point out 1 0 to our selves by green meadows, fragrant groves, refreshing shades, crystal streams & wt other pleasant ideas our fancys can glean up in this Vale of misery, but in vain, since the Apostle himself, who was caught up into the 3d heaven could give us no other than this empty tho emphatical description of it. 'tis wt eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither hath it enter'd into the heart of man to conceive. 1 Now by ye foregoing rule the hazard tho never so small & uncertain, of a good so ineffably so incon­ ceivably great, ought to be more valu'd & sought after than the greatest assurance ,ve can have of any sublunary good since in 20 wt proportion this good is more certain than that, in as great, nay in a much greater proportion that good is more excellent than this. 'twill therefore be needless to enquire nicely into the 2d thing which was to be consider'd namely the certainty there is of the prize wch is good enough to warrant the laying out all our care, industry & affections on the least hazard of obtaining it. Whatever effect brutal passion may have on some or thought­ lessness & stupidity on others yet I believe there are none amongst us that do not at least think it as probable the Gospel may be 30 true as false. Sure I am no man can say he has two to one odds 2 on the contrary side. But wn life & immortality are at stake we should play our part with fear & trembling tho 'twere an hundred [This text supplied Berkeley with a decisive argument against Locke's principle that every significant name must stand for an idea. In the Draft Introduction to the Principles (original of sect. 1 9) he discusses at length the philosophy of the text, showing that the joys of heaven have an emotive value for action , even if we have strictly no idea of them ; so also in Alciphron, vu. 1 0. -Ed.] 2 [This is an adaptation of the argument of Pascal's Wager. See Pensees, PART n, Art. 3 , sect . 6, ' Oui , mais ii faut parier ; cela n'est pas volontaire ; vous etes embarque , et ne point parier que Dieu est, c'est parier qu'il n'est pas • . . si vous gagnez , vous gagnez tout ; si vous perdez , vous ne perdez rien.' Berkeley names Pascal in a footnote to Passive Obedience, sect. 2 1 , referring to his statement (' p. 44 ' ) that he abhorred rebellion as much as murder.-Ed.] 1

I : ON IMMORTALITY

13

to one but we are cheated in the end . Nay if there be any the least prospect of our winning so noble a prize . & that there is some : none, the beastliest libertine or most besotted Atheist, can deny. Hence 'tis evident yt were our desires of ye things brought to light thro' the Gospel such as in strict reason they ought to be, nothing could be more vigorous & intense, nothing more firm & constant than they. & desire producing uneasiness & uneasiness action in proportion to it self it necessarily follows that ,ve should make life & immortality our principal buisiness, directing all our thoughts, hopes & actions that way & still doing 1 0 something towards so noble a purchase. But since it is too evidently otherwise since the trifling concerns of this present life do so far employ us that we can scarce spare time to cast an eye on futurity & look beyond ye grave. 'tis a plain consequence that we have not a rational desire for ye things brought to light by our Saviour & yt because we do not exercise our reason about them as ,ve do about more trivial concerns. Hence it is ye revelation of life & immortality has so little effect on our lives & conversations. we never think, we never reason about it . Now why men yt can reason well enough about other matters should 2 0 act ye beast & ye block so egregiously in things of highest im­ portance ; why they should prove so deaf & stupid to ye repeated calls & promises of God. there may I think besides ye ordinary avocations of ye world the flesh & ye Devil be assigned these two reasons. 1st we have no determin'd idea of the pleasures of Heaven & therefore they may not so forcibly engage us in the contemplation of them. 2dly they are the less thought on because we i magine them at a great distance. as to ye 1st, 'tis true we can in this life have no determin'd idea of the pleasures of the next & yt because of their surpassing, transcendent nature wch 30 is not suited to our present weak & narrow faculties. But this methinks should suffice yt they shall be excellent beyond ye compass of our imagination, yt they shall be such as God wise, powerful] & good shall think fit to honour & bless his saints withall. \\Tould the Al mighty inspire us with new faculties & give us a tast of those crelestial joys, there could be no longer living in this world we could have no relish for the things of it but must languish & pine away with an incessant longing after the next. Besides, there could be no vertue, no vice, we should be no longer free agents but irresistibly hurry'd on to do or suffer 40 any thing for ye obtaining so great felicity. As for the 2d reason assign'd for our neglect of ye life to come, namely yt it appears

14

SERMONS

to be at a great distance from us. I own we are very apt to think it so tho' for ought that I can see, without any reason at all. the world we live in may not unfitly be compar'd to Alexander the impostor's temple as describ'd by Lucian. It had a fore and a back-door & a continual press going in at the one & out at the other : so there was little stay for any one to observe wt was doing within. just so we see a multitude daily crouding into the world & daily going out on't we have scarce time to look about us, & if we were left, every one to his own experience, 1 0 could know very little either of the earth it self or of those things the Almighty has placed thereon ; so swift is our progress from the womb to the grave. & yet this span of life, this moment of duration we are senseless enough to make account of as if it were longer than even eternity it self. But granting the promis'd happiness be never so far of & let it appear never so small : wt then ? is an object in reality little because it appears so at a distance ? & I ask whether shall a man make an estimate of things by wt they really are in themselves, or by wt they only appear to be. I come now to the 3d & last thing propos'd, namely, to shew 20 how our Saviour's revelation of life & immortality may come to have a greater effect on our lives & conversations. Had we but a longing desire for the things brought to light by the Gospell ; it would undoubtedly shew it self in our lives & we should thirst after righteousness as ye hart panteth after the water brooks. Now to beget in our selves this zeal & uneasiness for life & im­ mortality, we need onely, as has been already made out, cast an eye on them, think & reason about them with some degree of attention. Let any n1an but open his eyes & behold the two 3 0 roads before him, the one leading thro the straight, peacefull paths of piety & vertue to eternal life : the other deformed wth all the crookedness of vice & ending in everlasting death. I say, let a man but look before him & view them both wth a reason­ able care & then chuse wch he will. a man taking such a course cannot be mistaken in his choice. & is not this a small thing to weigh & ponder a little ye profers of the Almighty. would any one propose to us a bargain yt carry'd wth it some prospect of worldly advantage ; we should without doubt think it worth our consideration. & wn the eternal God makes us an offer 40 of happiness boundless as our desires & lasting as our immortal souls wn he dispatches his well beloved Son on this momentous message shall we remain stupid & inattentive, & must it be said

I : ON IMMORTALITY

15

to our reproach yt life & immortality are pearls cast before swine ? 'Tis true most people have a peculiar aversion for thinking but especially to trouble one's head about another life is much out of fashion. The world to come takes up little of our thoughts & less of our conversation ! Wealth, pleasure & preferment make the great buisiness of our lives, & we stand on all sides expos'd to the solicitations of sense wch never fail to draw of our thoughts from remoter goods. But be it never so unfashionable, be it never so painfull & laborious a task. He yt will enjoy heaven in ye next life must think on it in this. He must break thro the 1 0 incumbrances of sense & pleasure, sometimes to have a serious thought of eternity & cast an eye on the recompence of reward. In short he that is not resolv'd to walk blindfold down to hell must look about him betimes, while he stands upon firm ground ; & from of this present world take a prospect of the next, in com­ parison of ,vch the whole earth & all contain'd therein, is, in the elegant stile of a Prophet, no more than the drop of a bucket ye dust of a ballance, yea less than nothing. Grant we beseech thee Almighty God, that the words wch we have heard this day wth our outward ears, may thro thy 2 0 grace be so grafted inwardly in our hearts, that they may bring forth in us the fruit of good living, to ye honour & praise of thy name thro Jesus Xt our Lord. The grace of our Lord Jesus Xt & ye love of God & the fellowship of ye Holy Ghost, be wth us all evermore. College chappell .

Sunday evening.

January

1 1 , 1 70!

SERMON II 1 ON

RELI GIOUS ZEAL

Let your zeal be according to knowlege.

must not be thought to consist in a lazy inactive contemplation of virtue and morality, of God and his attributes, of the rewards or punishments he has annexed to the good or evil actions of men. Religion, I say, is no such speculative knowlege which rests merely in the understanding. She makes her residence in the heart, warms the affections and engages the will. Small are the advantages we derive from the dawning of the Sun of righteousness tho we shoud discover by it's light the beauty of Holiness, and the deformity and wretchedness of 1 0 sin. if withall, the heat thereof be not sufficient to stir our passions, to work in us strong aversion from the one and ardent desires and thirst after the other, if it does not kindle in our hearts the flames of Divine love, if it serves not to quicken our endeavour after christian perfection and inspire us with a jealousy for the honour of God and the prosperity of his Church. In a word if we are not affected with a religious zeal. But as it is highly needful that all the motions, and passions of the soul shoud be under the regulation and influence of Reason, whose office it is to see they are placed on proper objects, that they 20 spring from worthy motives and are contained within a just degree. So is this in a peculiar manner necessary with regard to religious zeal the impulses whereof are so strong and powerful. Let yr zeal be according to knowlege. I shall, therefore, before I recommend this duty to your practice, premise some con­ siderations concerning the Object, Principle, and Degree of Religious Zeal. RELIGION

[The manuscript is in the British Museum, Add . MS. 39304, ff. 5-33, a notebook with a variety of contents, all belonging, it would seem, to Berkeley's first years as a Junior Fellow, say from 1 709- 1 7 1 2 . The sermon is undated, but probably belongs to the earlier part of that period ; it is a draft copy, and is much corrected. It resembles the previous sermon in its immaturity of style and some of its phrases. First published by me in Hermathena, �xn ( 1 932) , with an Introductory Note. The text must be, I think, an adaptation of Rom. x.2, ' They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. '-Ed.]

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16

II : ON RELIGIOUS ZEAL First then, with regard to the object our zeal n1ust not be directed against persons but things. As there is nothing more engaging than virtue so is there nothing n1ore deformed than vice and irreligion, these are spots and stains upon the mind, they are a crookedness in the will and the affections and they are the most pernicious things in the world. Nothing is so de­ structive of Society, so contrary to the reasonable nature of man, so utterly inconsistent with all the advantages and satisfactions, all the good offices and enjoyments which are truly desirable in life. We cannot, therefore have too earnest and pathetical 1 0 an hatred, too zealous or resolute an abhorrence of Vice and Irreligion. But then we must be sure that we hate the vices and not the man, we must distinguish the impiety from the unhappy subject of it, and while we abhor the crimes, must have a com­ passion, nay more than that a love for the criminaJ. It must indeed be confessed, that in many cases we are too apt to over­ look this distinction, whether our judgment is blinded by the disturbance and emotion which attend our resentments of vice, or ,vhether it be that in the violent corse and precipitation of our hatred toward Sin, we find it difficult to stem the torrent 20 and prevent its reaching the Sinner, but, whatever proneness we find in our nature, whatever motives & temptations may incline us to this procedure, yet there are such plain and convincing reasons against it, that no good man, I am sure no good christian, can allow himself in the practice of it. For, in the first place, it is the most imprudent method that can possibly be taken inasmuch as it tends to disappoint and defeat the very ends and purposes of a laudable zeal. When we see the image of God blurred and defaced by sin in our poor brother, when we see him oppressed by a load of infirmities, or blind by straying into wild 30 and dangerous opinions the Christian Religion, nay, the very natural impulses of Humanity prompt us to shew a concern, a zealous concern for his welfare in endeavouring by counsel, by instruction, by reproof, by every proper kind of Remonstrance to turn the sinner from his evil ways and save his soul alive. The labouring to perform this, is indeed the effect of a true Christian Zeal, but how can we succeed if our admonitions and advice are not hearkened to ; and how can we expect any man will hearken to that advice which is not tendered with kindness and good nature. If you woud convince another of his folly and 40 vices, you must first convince him that you are in his interest, that what you propose results from benevolence and hearty good

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SERMONS

wishes to his person. The wholsomest counsel proposed with railing and invectives will 11aturally drive him to the contrary extream provoke him to sin out of spight and make him deaf and obstinate to all advice for the future. Let us judge of others by our selves. Does not our blood rise against contempt, and are we not prone to return it on the head of him who contemns us ? It is with difficulty, with violence to our nature, that we restrain our selves from hating those who hate us, and it is against nature, against reason, against experience to seek advice or 1 0 direction from those we hate. And are not other men of like passions with ourselves ? if therefore we design they shoud take effect ought we not to insinuate our exhortations and reproofs with a kind and friendly demeanor ? And is it not plain from all this that we take not the right method to promote the esteem and practice of true Religion and the salvation of mens souls which are the ends of all well-intended zeal, if we suffer our selves to be transported thereby into an aversion for our neighbor on account of his sins or heterodox opinions ? But, besides this there is yet a stronger reason why the persons of men should 20 not be the object of our zeal. It is the very axiom and perfection, the peculiar aim and design of Christianity to put away the narrowness of a party Spirit, and instead thereof to introduce a largeness of soul, a noble and diffusive charity and unite the hearts of all men by the strictest bands of love and benevolence. We are told the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and love unfeigned. And again we are enjoyned above all things to have fervent charity among our selves. This is (the ) message that we had from the beginning that we shoud love one another. The [sic] Love is our Lord's 30 peculiar precept. It is the badge the distinguishing mark of our profession, by this saith he shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another. But it is plain that false zeal that rancour and animosity towards those who differ from us in practice or opinion is utterly subversive of this main design of our Savior's preaching. Let us then consider how ridiculous it is to make religion a pretence for acting contrary to the very fundamentals of religion. Consider, I beseech you, how lament­ ably odd our case must be, if while we endeavor to make pro­ selytes to righteousness we ourselves become castaways, and our 40 violent zeal for bringing others to heaven serve only to sink us into hell. And as it is plain the object of our zeal ought not to be persons but things so it is no less plain it ought not to be

II : ON RELIGIOUS ZEAL

things indifferent, or of small value . In religion the value of things is rated according to the tendency they have to promote our Salvation. But as all the terms of Salvation are appointed and clerly revealed by God it follows that things purely of Humane Institu­ tion or points not clerly revealed, are to be looked upon as things indifferent. that is as things the practice or belief whereof is not necessary to Salvation. And for a man to employ his most serious thoughts and endeavors to be active and earnest and solicitous about these things is surely a misapplication of zeal, 1 0 it argues a wrong judgment and ill taste in divine things, and naturally produces in us a cooler regard for matters of greater importance. And indeed it is a common observation that the most zealous Bigots are proportionably less exact in the principal points and duties of Religion. They who are careful to pay tithe of mint and annise and cummin, too often omit the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. I am not against shewing a due regard to civil and ecclesiastical ordinances, or taking a proper care for the interests of an honest party we are engaged in, on the contrary I think this our duty, but then it 20 must be done in subordination to the more important view of promoting God's glory and the true interests of Religion. That zeal which is animated with the hopes and fears of eternity must never terminate in wo(r)ldly ends. That Holy order, that generous flight of the soul which shoud carrie us to Heaven must never stoop so low as to rest in the little paltry concerns of a party. But you will ask to what end shall we then direct our earnest endeavors, on what object n1ust we employ our zeal ? What­ soever things are true, whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 30 are lovely whatsoever things are of good report : if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Let virtue and sanctity be in the first place regarded. Let us endeavor to be perfect even as our father in Heaven is perfect. This is a point we cannot be too zealous, too fervent in aspiring after. Our earnest hopes, our most ardent wishes, and most unwearied industry cannot carrie us too far in an affair of this nature. But since we are all of us under the slavery of sin, and our best works are defective, insomuch that there is no salvation to be expected by the law, therefore we must make up that imperfection by 40 Faith in Christ Jesus whereby we lay hold on his merits and sufferings who knew no sin but fulfilled all Righteousness. Hence

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SERMONS

in the second place we ought to be zealous for the faith not for the new fangled opinions of mep, but that Faith which came from Heaven was delivered by our blessed Savior, preached by his apostles, recorded by the Evangelists and sealed with the blood of so many thousand Martyrs. Thirdly, we [?] it is necessary that we exert our zeal in a firm resolution of observing and maintaining the positive institutions the Apostolical traditions and discipline preserved in the Church. As we are Christians we are members of a Society which entitles us to certain rights 1 0 and privileges above the rest of mankind. [?] But then we must remember those advantages are conveyed unto us in a regular dispensation by the hands of a Hierarchy constituted 1 by the Apostles, and from them continued down to us in a perpetual succession. this if . . . not be demonstrated from Scripture, is nevertheless sufficiently evident from tradition, a tradition so ancient, so universal, so uninterrupted that the Canon of holy Scripture it self is not received on better grounds. And surely what comes thus recommended to us has an equal claim to our zeal, with the other positive institutions of Christianity, is to be 20 treated with no more coldness and indifference than if it had been expressly contained in the written word of God. So much for the object of our zeal. We must in the next place take care that it arises from laudable Principles. If the most furious and obstinate zeal be traced to its original we shall often find it to have been nothing else but prejudice. In our nonage while our minds are empty and unoccupied any notions easily find admit­ tance, and as they grow up with us and become familiar to our understandings we continue a fondness for them. Hence we not only retain them our selves but with a passionate concern endeavor 30 to propagate and obtrude them upon others. Even in our riper years we are prejudiced in favor of the opinions entertained by our country, our friends, or those we esteem. But we wou'd do well to consider that other men have imbibed early notions, that they as well as we have a country, friends, and persons whom they esteem. These are pleas which may be made for any opinion, and are consequently good pleas for none. The zeal therefore which springs from them must needs be a blind one 9 There is another much to be avoided principle of zeal, I mean self-interest. Fain woud we persuade our selves and others those things are 40 true which it is our interest shoud be so. There is nothing so deceitful as the heart of man. We are zealously affected we 1

[Very faint, perhaps ' instituted '-Ed.]

I I : ON RELIGIOUS ZEAL

21

contend earnestly f0r the faith, we seem to have nothing more at heart than the interests of Religion. But are we sure that wealth or honors or preferment, or the desire of being head of a party hath no influence upon us. To judge rightly in this case, let us examine '1vhether we have a proportionable concern for the uncontroverted substantial duties of Religion. Whether we have greater detestation for the in1moral actions of a sinner, than the errors, the ignorance, the bigotry or superstition of our adversaries . \Ve must consider the point wherein we are zealous abstracted fron1 all those external circumstances, that may re- 1 0 commend it to our zeal weigh its importance and certainty, ask our o,vn hearts what we shoud think of it in case it brought us no temporal advantage, in case we were if we were [sic] to lie in a dungeon or burn at a stake for maintaining it. And as prejudice and self-interest are the principles of a spurious zeal, so the true christian Zeal arises from Knowlege ; from the love of God and a benevolence towards men. Knowlege does naturally produce in us a zeal towards that which is excellent, and a de­ testation and abhorrence of whatsoever is known to be evil. We may act therefore with cheerfulness and security so long as our 20 zeal is the effect of our Knowlege. Knowlege is the lamp of the soul that guides it's faculties to proper objects and regulates their respective operations. But to be zealously affected without knowlege is running headlong in the dark it is no less hazardous than it is unreasonable. The love of God is likewise another genuine principle of zeal. Those we love we are earnest and solicitous to learn their will and to perform it. We are jealous for their Honour, we make their interests and concerns our own. Oh ,vere we then imbued [?] with the love of God, we shoud pant after righteousness as the hart panteth after the water 30 brooks. We shoud hate iniquity above all things, and be shocked at the least appearance of evil. The fashionable slights of Religion, the wicked jests the daring raillery of impious and profane men woud not then be entertained with that well bred indifference \Ve now see practised on these occasions. Every affront to Religion every indignity offered to things and persons consecrated to God's worship woud strike us with a sacred horror. But to return, in the last place Benevolence to mankind is a noble source, a divine principle of true Christian zeal. I do not mean barely a tenderness of nature a proneness to commiserate and shed tears 40 for the misfortunes of other men, which is merely the effect of passions and constitution. But a rational benevolence, a Christian

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Charity which arises from a sense that it is acceptable to God, that it is agreeable to reason, ,and what the well being of the world requires. Such a benevolence as this will branch forth into all the social virtues, all the kind good natured offices of life, it will inspire us with an aversion for whatsoever is cruel or unjust, mean or selfish, and give birth to a zeal for everything that is truly generous and praiseworthy. Having hitherto discoursed of the Object and Principle, I come now to treat concerning the degree of our zeal, its measure and limitations. The objects of 1 0 religious zeal were already shewn to be good works, Faith and Discipline. And the first of these justly lays claim to the highest degree of our zeal. For it is plain the degree of our zeal shoud be proportioned to the excellence of the object. And this as I before observed is rated according to the tendency it has to promote our salvation. But, there is nothing so strictly required from us in order to obtain this end, as that we abhor evil and cleave to that which is good. A Good life as it includes piety towards God, temperance towards ourselves and justice towards our neighbor is most indispensibly necessary to intitle a man to 20 the Favor of him who is holy in all his ways, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Besides, it is not only the most necessary Condition of our Salvation, but the evidence of it's being so is the greatest imaginable. That every man shall be rewarded according to his works is the universal voice of Reason as well as revelation. This is what the wise m.en of all nations and ages have concurred in. This is the burden of the law, the prophets and the Gospel. And how much soever other points may be doubted of, or controverted among the various sects of Christians, yet the necessity of a holy and vertuous life is allowed by all. 30 Faith claims the next degree of our zeal. That Faith shoud give way to good works is plain first because the Apostle has expressly declared that of Faith, hope and Charity the greatest is Charity. Secondly, it is evident to reason since good works without Faith tho they may not purchase to a Heathen that everlasting inherit­ ance which is the sure expectation of every good Christian, yet it cannot be denied that they will at least mitigate the wrath of God, and make his state easier and better than it woud other­ wise have been. Whereas Faith without good works serves only to aggravate our sins and expose us to a severer punishment. 40 Lastly next to Faith we shoud be zealous for the positive institu­ tions, the diverse [?] & exterior rites which we are well assured are founded on Divine authority and as such were universaliy

II : ON RELIGIOUS ZEAL

23

embraced and practised in the first and purest ages of the Church. That Sanctity of Life and Faith are to be preferred before out­ ward ordinances is plain first because they are affections of the soul, and spiritual perfection, the Regeneration of the inner man is chiefly intended by our Religion. Secondly Because outward ordinances are designed as means to convey into our souls the Grace of God, to kindle in our hearts interior Charity and De­ votion, and it is plain the end is more excellent than the means. Lastly because whoever is not in the first place zealous for Faith and manners will never be brought to a truly religious zeal for 1 0 the positive institutions of Christianity. But in case our zeal for Religion had once the happy effect to make men truly pious and charitable, they ,voud soon lay aside that stubborness of temper, that Ecclesiastic rage that Spiritual Pride or whatever else it is that makes them impatient of order and Discipline. But we must by no means take occasion from what has been said to think lightly of the sacraments and Apostolical institutions of the Church. No, it is our duty to adhere to them with the utmost firmness, and in case the choice were put to part with our lives rather than with them. All I contend for is that our zeal for 20 these things must ever be limited by our regard to Faith and manners so as never to carry us into any neglect or breach of them. They must not be uppermost in our thoughts or first in our intention. But Let the object or pretence of our zeal be what it will, as we dread the wrath of God or tend on our own salvation let us prevent it's rising to such a degree as shall break forth in any uncharitable thought, word, or action, Let all bitter­ ness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. Let us consider that ,ve are Countrymen brethren & members of ye same church, that there 30 is one lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all. What madness therefore is it to overlook these important relations which unite us in one common interest, and at the same time to fix our thoughts upon, to magnify and encrease every petty difference to our mutual ruine. Can there be a surer means to destroy our Country than by intestine divisions and Factions ? Can there be a greater reproach to our Profession, than that we shoud perpetually bite and devour one another upon religious pretences. For Heaven's sake if we have any religion at all let not us who are commanded to love our enemies hate one another. 40 If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit let us (be) like minded, having the

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same love being of one accord of one mind, of one heart and of one soul. We have now done with the obj ect, principle and degree of religious zeal. Whether You will be the better or the worse for what has been said, whether it will sink into your hearts and influence your practice or else pass only for an idle entertainment of your ears, is now at your own determination. But surely if you are gathered here with the latter of these views, your solemn attendance in the House of God will serve only to aggravate your 1 0 sins and make your punishment more speedy and severe. If therefore we have a mind to avert the vengeance due to so heinous and provoking an impiety, if we wou'd shun the stripes that await that servant who knowing his master's will neglects to perform it, let us go on to perfection and forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before press forward to the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We must shew our zeal for Good works, not by a proud & Pharisaical carriage, not by censure & detraction, not by bigotry and superstition, but by making our light so shine 20 before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our father which is in heaven. We must shew it for the orthodox Faith and primitive Discipline of our Church, not by virulent invectives, and by magnifying every fault, and basely lessening every virtue or good quality in those who differ from us, not by greedily hearing and spreading abroad every Calumny every little report which tends to their disadvantage. In fine not by believing our selves or insinuating to others, that all those who being members of our Church do not take the same methods for it's support as we do, design to betray it. But by an inviolable 30 adherence both to the one and the other with a constant resolution to maintain them, flowing from a just sense of their necessity and importance, independent of the frowns or smiles of the great, not rising or falling with the interests of a party, not weakly flying to one extream from our aversion to the other but steddy, permanent, uniform regulated by judgment and enlivened by devotion. Now I speak of devotion it puts me in mind of another instance wherein it is necessary that we exert our zeal. And that is the publick worship of God. Those unhappy people, whose liturgy is composed in an unknown tongue have some40 thing to plead if their thoughts and passions are not suited to its general offices, if their spirits do not rise and flow in their praises and thanksgiving, or proportionably ebb in their confessions and

II : ON RELIGIOUS ZEAL

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supplications , but how can we recite that noble Hymn We praise thee O God, ,ve acknowlege thee to be the Lord, without some elevation and transport of Soul ? With what face can we cry out to God pitifully behold the sorrows of our hearts, when at the same time our hearts are not affected with any sorrow or contrition at all. Can anything be more improper and indecent in it self, or a more direct mockery and affront to Almighty God ? Shall neither the Holiness of the house of God, nor the awful solemnity of our worship, nor yet the warmth and life of those hymns and prayers appointed by the Church have any influence 1 0 on our frozen hearts. Shall we condemn the lip-worship of a poor ignorant papist who is not affected with what he does not under­ stand, and at the same time our selves run over the most apt and significant form of words which we perfectly understand without suitable impulses of devotion. I wish in the end we do not find our selves deceived and that as our impiety is more inexcusable, so our punishment prove not more intolerable. After all. Are the things of this ,vorld either so lasting in their duration, or so certain in the enjoyment, are the pleasures they give so great, or the pains and inconveniences which attend them so small that 20 they shoud deserve our most serious thoughts, our keenest desires, and most earnest application ? Ought we not rather to place our most passionate love on Our Common Father from whom every good and perfect gift cometh, from whom we derived all the blessings we either enjoy at present or expect hereafter. Shoud any thing move our fears more than that terrible day when the ,vicked shall be cast into Hell, where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched, Or raise our hopes n1ore than the eternal scenes of glory to be disclosed in another world where the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their 30 Father, and they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, for ever and ever. Let us, therefore, among all the pleasures and avocations of Sense, all the gaudy varieties and splendor of the world, all the tumult and business of life, still mind the one thing needf ull, make the Religion our principal care and concern. But whatever other things may be thought indifferent, yet it is plain submission to lawful authority is not so but a main part of our duty, as being most consonant to Reason and clearly revealed in H : Scripture. Submit your selves to every ordinance 40 of man for the Lord's sake. The conforming therefore to those l. 35 : mind-Berkeley first wrote p reserve a due reg ard for, then corrected it.

SERMONS

points which not being sinful are e nj oyned by lawful Authority is a good and religious work. Many in the Church of Rome look upon ceremonies to be the most essential part of Religion. On the other Hand Dissenters inveigh against them as sinful and Anti-christian. For our part We think no particular ceremonies to be either necessary to or destructive of Salvation. When therefore they are legally abro­ gated we are not zealous to maintain them. And while they are established by just authority, if we appear zealous for them, it 1 0 is not that in truth they are the obj ect of our zeal, but that peace­ able submission and compliance in things lawful which is the indispensible duty of every Christian and therefore one of those good things which it is good to be always zealously affected in. I do not deny that it may be sometimes commendable, to shew a warmth and concern in carrying on the designs of men, and promoting the interest of those whom we apprehend to have at heart that of the Church and State. But then, if we woud have this pass for a religious zeal it must be . . . [ Unfinished. -Ed.]

SER M ON I II

1

ON C HA RITY

S . John c. 1 3 v . 35 .

B_r this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.

To a man who considers things with candor and attention there ( are ) not wanting on all sides. invincible proofs of the Divinity of the Christian Religion. So many prophecies accom­ plished, so many and so stupendous miracles wrought in the eyes of the vvorld, such a constant uninterrupted tradition sealed with the blood of so many thousand martyrs, such a wonderfull spread and propagation of it without Humane force or artifice and against the most powerful opposition from the subtilty and rage of its adversaries : These things, I say, with the sublimity of its Doctrines and the simplicity of it's rites, can leave no doubt of 1 0 it's coming from God ( in) a mind not sullied with sin not blinded with prej udice not harden'd with obstinacy. But among all the numerous attestations to the divinity of our most holy Faith, there is not any that carries with it a more winning conviction, than that wch may be drawn from the sweet­ ness and excellency of the Christian morals. There runs through­ out the Gospel and Epistles such a spirit of Love, Gentleness, Charity and good-nature that as nothing is better calculated to procure the happiness of Mankind, so nothing can carry with it a surer evidence of it's being derived from the common Father 20 of us all. Herein this Paternal love of God to men is visible, that mutual Charity is what we are principally enjoyn'd to [The manuscript is in the British Museum, Add . MS. 39306, ff. 28-74 ; probably ff. 2 6 and 27 belong to it ; if so, it was preached at Leghorn, like No. IV, where Berkeley was in the spring of 1 7 1 4 and where he preached for Basil Kennett in the chapel of the consulate. On f. 27 is written, ' Preached at Leghorne Brother Henry Berkeley. ' The sermon is not dated , but its topic charity is traditionally associated with Quinquagesima, the Sunday next before Lent, and the epistle for that Sunday, 1 Cor. xnr, St Paul 's panegyric on charity, receives special notice in the sermon. First published by Fraser, LL pp. 6 1 6-28. The MS. has been damaged by water ; the greater part can be read with comparative ease, but some words are illegible, and some are doubtful.-Ed.] 1

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practice. He doth not require from us costly sacrifices, magnificent temples, or tedious pilgrimages, but only that we shou'd love one another. This is every where recommended to us in the most practical and earnest manner both by our Saviour and his Apostles. And when our blessed Lord had spent his life upon earth in acts of charity and goodness, and was going to put a period to it by the most amazing instance of Love to mankind that was ever shewn, he leaves this precept as a legacy to his Disciples. A new commandment I give unto you, That you love 10 one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another : By this shall all men know that you are my Disciples if you have love one to another. Mark with what earnestness and emphasis our Lord inculcates this commandment. In the compa ss of a few verses he repeats it thrice. He invites us by his own example to the practice of it : and to bind it on our conscience makes our obedience in this point the mark of our calling . By this, says he, shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. In treating of which words I shall observe this method. First I shall endeavor to make you sensible Secondly I shall lay 20 of the nature and importance of this duty. before you the good effects it is attended with when duly practised . And in the last place I shall add some further considerations to persuade you to the observation of it. First then I am to shew you the nature and importance of this duty. If you are minded duly to put in practice this Evan­ gelical vertue of Charity, you must preserve and cherish in your minds a warm affectionate love towards your neighbours. It will not suffice that you have an outward civility and complaisance for each other. this may be good breeding but there is something 30 more required to make you good Christians. There must be an inward, sincere disinterested affection that takes root in the heart and shews it self in acts of kj ndness and benevolence. My little children, saith St. John, let us not love in word but in deed and truth. In the Gospel use of the word we are all brothers and we must live together as becomes brethren. Is a poor Christian naked and hungry, you must in proportion to yr ability be ready to cloath and feed him for, says the Apostle, whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother hath need , and shutteth up his bowels 4.0 of compassion from him ; how dwelleth the love of God in him. Does your brother labour under any bodily infirmity, or is he likely to incur a danger when it is in yr power to relieve or pro-

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29

tect him, you must do it cheerfully without grudging the trifling expence or trou ble it may put you to. for great is your reward in Heaven. Does he take ill courses, does he harden himself in habits of sin, is he led astray by the conversation and example of wicked men, is he remiss in observing the ordinances of Religion, or does he shew a contempt of sacred things : Restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thy self, lest thou also be te1npted : bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. When your neighbor is in flourishing circumstances you shou'd rejoyce at his prosperity, and instead of looking on 10 him with an envious eye, be well pleased to see him thrive in the world and reap the fruits of an honest industry. Or in case his affairs take an unhappy turn, you shou'd be generous enough to feel another's sufferings and employ your credit or interest to support the sinking fortune of an honest man. Lastly instead of taking a Diabolical pleasure in hearing the faults of other men aggravated or blazed abroad You must be delighted to hear their vertues celebrated & placed in a public light for the encourage­ ment and imitation of others. We shou'd be slow to believe, displeased to hear and always averse from propagating any 20 scandalous stories to the disparagement of our neighbors. If they are false, to spread or countenance them is the highest inj ustice and if they are true it may be called the highest cruelty. It is not doing as you wou'd be done by to draw the secret failures of your neighbors into the full view of the world, It is a barbarous savage joy that you take in discovering his sins and imperfections, It is a cruelty not only to him, but likewise to other men inasmuch as vicious examples made public strengthen the party of sinners, spread the contagion of vice, and take off from the horror of it. And yet by a base malignity of temper men are for the most part go better pleased with satyr than panegyric, and they can behold with much greater satisfaction the reputation of another stab'd and torn by the venemous tongues of slanderers and detractors, than sett off to advantage by the recital of his good actions. It were an endless task to lay before you all the passages in the ne,v testament where this duty of Charity is recommended to our practice. it is in every page insisted on as the principal, the essential, the distinguishing part of the Christian religion. It is represented as the great scope and design of our Saviour and his Apostles preaching in the world : For this saith St. John 40 is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we shou'd love one another. It is sett forth as the sum and perfection

SERMONS

of the law . Thus Saint Paul says to the Romans He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law. And our blessed Lord himself hath declared unto us that on the love of God and our neighbour hang all the law and the prophets. Charity 'tis inculcated and bound upon the conscience as that without wch all other spiritual gifts and performances are of no effect. Tho you cou'd speak with the tongues of men and angels, tho you had the gift of pro­ phecy & understood all misteries and all knowlege, and though you had all faith so that you cou'd remove mountains, and have Nay 1 0 not charity, if you will believe the apostle you are nothing. tho you give all your goods to feed the poor and tho you give yr body to be burned, and have no charity, it profiteth nothing. Numberless are the like passages in the holy Scripture which enforce this duty [?] in the strongest and most urgent terms. How careful then ought we to be to understand this main point, and how diligent to put it in practice, that interest and duty go together so that we cannot practise the one without promoting the other. This in the present case will be very plain if we con­ sider the duty of charity in its full extent. The psalmist his remark 20 that the commandment of God is exceeding broad, and this of charity in particular hath a wide latitude. That great evangelical vertue which we have heard from the beginning, which is set forth as the sum and perfection . . . that upon which hang the law and the prophets doth not consist in what is commonly called charity, the giving some part of our goods to relieve the poor. Forasmuch as the Apostle expressly saith though you give all your goods to feed the poor and have not charity it profiteth nothing, which shews that charity includes somewhat more than giving our goods to the poor. That most excellent & divine 30 grace that animates and as I may say inspires a true Christian, that foundation of bliss and that source of all vertuous perfection, that most excellent & divine grace of charity is in itself not so easily comprehended as it is defined by its effects. But altho' the giving of our goods to the poor be not that which alone constitutes and comprehends the true nature of charity, it nevertheless cannot be denied to be a part or branch thereof, or rather an outward and visible effect of that inward grace which is the life of a true Christian. This charity, without which it is in vain to hope for salvation 40 is understood by too many to consist only in bestowing some trifling part of their fortune on their poor neighbours, which in the expenses of the year is never felt. But by the words last cited

I I I : ON CHARITY

31

from St. Paul you 111ay see that it is possible for a man to give all his goods to the poor and yet want Charity. That indeed is a laudable part or rather effect of Charity but it does not com­ pleat the in tire nature of it. to the end you may not be mistaken in this take the following description of it from the same inspired author. Charity suffereth long and is kind. Charity envyeth not : charity vaunteth not it self, is not puffed up, doth not behave it self unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily pro­ voked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 1 0 What then shall we think of those Christians who envy the pros­ perity of other 1nen ; who take fire at the least provocation and are so far from suffering long that they are for revenging the slightest injury with death, and think they cannot have satis­ faction for a rash word till they have spilled the blood of him that spoke it. In fine, what shall we think of that censorious humour that austere pride, that moroseness of manners, that sullen unsociable disposition which some people mistake for Religion, whereas on the contrary Gentleness, good nature, and humanity are so far from being inconsistent with the true spirit 20 of Religion, yt they are enjoyned as the indispensible duty of all who call upon the name of Christ. As men are very apt to flatter themselves that God is to be put off with any slight performance of Duty, they think that so long as they do not rob or murder or swear their neighbor out of his life there is nothing more required in order to make them chari­ table. How charitable are ye that are so jealous of your own interests, you that are so punctilious in point of honour and freedom, you that are thus pleased with scandal : that suck in with delight every idle report that tends to discredit & blast the 30 reputation of your neighbor. that rejoyce in his failings and are . . . at the expense of one another. Hear what Saint James saith. If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's Religion is vain. And if injurious words are certain marks of a reprobrate mind how much more so are bloody Quarrels, vexatious lawsuits, with all those hellish contrivances to supplant and destroy each other which we see daily practised in the world. As men are never wanting to excuse their ill actions and palliate their faults with one pretext or other, I doubt not it is 40 very possible that some among us may think it a sufficient excuse for calumny and slander that it is used only to pass away the

SERMONS

time, for 1nirth's sake, and now & then to season conversation. But Know O Christian that the mirth you find in hearing and telling malicious stories, in magnifying every little fault of your neighbor & putting the worst interpretation on his actions, is a mirth unbecoming the innocency and holiness of yr profession, it is inconsistent with that Charity without which you cannot be saved, and however you may do these things in jest you will be punished for them in earnest. Again, it may perhaps be pretended as an excuse for the want 1 0 of charity, that you have to do with men of ill nature, of rough and untractable tempers and who have no charity themselves for other men. But what says our Saviour. If you love them which love you, what reward have you, do not even the Publicans the same ? And surely it is but j ust to expect that you who are instructed by the example and precepts of the Son of God who are animated with the blessed hope of eternity, who are delivered from the power of darkness & called to be partakers of the in­ heritance of the saints in light should practise a higher strain of vertue than Publicans and Heathens who are destitute of all 20 these advantages. But others make free with your reputation, or have inj ured you in yr estate or person and it is reasonable you shou'd make reprisals. But consider O Christian, whether it be more reason­ able in such a case by obeying the uneasy sinful 1notions of anger and revenge to expose yr self to the wrath of Almighty God or by laying hold of that fair opportunity which is given you to put in practice those Christian vertues of meekness, patience, for­ giving injuries and returning good for evil ; . . . the designed injuries of an enemy into the greatest blessings that cou'd befall 30 you. If we wou'd behave our selves as becomes the Disciples of Christ we must open and enlarge our hearts towards the whole mass of mankind. Ye have heard that it hath been said ; Love thy neighbor & hate thine enemy : Our Lord says unto you Love your enemies. And if we ought to love our enemies, whom ought we not to love ? We must therefore above all things be sure to preserve in our souls a constant, universal benevolence that extends it self to all the sons of men. Our Charity must not be limited to any Sect or Party, Turk andjew, Infidel and Idolater, 40 and much more the several subdivisions of Christians are to be the object of our Love and good will. It is the unhappiness & reproach of Christendom that we are crumbled into so many

III : ON CHARITY

33

sects and parties but whatever grounds or pretences we may have for keeping at a distance from each other in point of opinion yet for Heaven's sake let us be uni ted in the bands of Love and Charity. Let us not upon the . . . of controverted notions transgress and trample under foot the most unquestioned funda­ mentals of Religion. In fine let us carefully distinguish between the sentiments and the person of our neighbor, and while we condemn the one be sure that we love the other, ever remember­ ing that Charity is the principal duty of a Christian without which all other pretensions to purity of Faith or sanctity of Life 1 0 avail nothing at all. And, as difference in opinion can never j ustify an unchari­ table conduct towards those who differ from us, so neither can difference of interests. My neighbor rivals me in point of Riches or honour, he aims at the same employment or carries on the same trade that I do. or there is some difference between us in point of money. In fine his prosperity it interferes with mine. 'What then ! shall I therefore swell with malice, and envy and discontent and instead of being a child of God, transform my self into a fiend of Hell ? We must by all means mortify and 20 subdue that base principle of Self-love whose views are always turned inwards which is so far from prompting us to good offices towards our neighbour, will not allow us to have good wishes to any but our selves. It is interest that sets the world together by the ears, that makes us break with our bosom friends, it is this that fills our hearts with j ealousy and disquiet ; no personal merit, no ties of consanguinity, no past obligations, are strong enough to oppose the resolutions that it inspires. So long therefore as that continues the governing principle of our lives and actions, we cannot hope to be any great proficients in the necessary, the 30 essential duty of Charity. Hence we must learn to wean ourselves from self-interest, or rather learn wherein our true interest consists. And this leads me to the second point proposed, namely, to shew the good offices that charity is attended with, and how much it conduceth to the interest of those who practise it. However mistaken men may be too apt to place their chiefest interest in the slight pleasures & transient enjoyments of this Life l. 37 : The following notes on the facing pages make the transition to the motive of interest. On 53v : [But the obedience we owe to God's commands is not the only motive that obligeth us] . But we are not onl y obliged to this duty of mutual love by the obedience \Ve owe to God's command, we are also invited by our own present worldly interest to the practise thereof as will plainly appear

34

SERMONS

in the gratification of some passion, or the gaining of some temporal advantage ; yet a man who ce>nsiders things with any fairness or impartiality will be easily convinced that his chief interest con­ sists in obeying Almighty God. in conforming his life and actions to the will and command of his Creator who first gave him being and still continues to preserve it, whose free gift are all the good things that we enjoy or can enjoy upon earth, and who has promised to reward our obedience in this life with eternal happi­ ness hereafter. But because the spiritual nature of God tho most 1 0 near and immediately operating on our souls and bodies, is yet invisible to our senses, and because the Riches of that place where there is no moth nor rust & where thieves do not break thro & steal are placed at a distance from our present state and that men are more powerfully influenced by things which are present and sensible, I shall therefore waiving all other con­ siderations, apply my self to consider the advantages which the practice of charity is attended with, and how much it conduces to the happiness of men in this present state. The good effects of Charity may be considered either with 20 respect to public communities of men or with respect to private persons. As to the first, the great advantages of an amicable correspondence between different nations are pl (ainly ) to be seen in traffick and commerce, whereby the product of each particular soil is communicated to distant countries, useful inventions are made common and flourish, and men mutually supply the wants of each other. But when the spirit of ambition or Revenge begins to operate, when jealousy of each other's wealth and power divides nations and breaks the bonds of Charity, then all those advantages are interrupted, and men, instead of promoting each 30 others benefit are imploy'd in destroying one another. Whole Provinces are laid waste, Cities, palaces and churches, the work of many . . . are in an instant demolished & burnt to the ground. Thousands of widows and orphans are made in one fatal day : And he who makes the greatest havock of his fellow-Christians is esteemed most worthy of renown and honour. After an infinity of rapes, murders, rapines, sacrileges, when fire and sword have spent their rage & are glutted with Humane blood, the dreadful upon a large and equal view of things. On 58v : The whole system of rational beings (may be) considered as one society or body politic and Providence intending the (good of) the whole hath connected the members together by the cords of a man by the common ties of humani ty and good nature and fitted and adjusted them to each other for their reciprocal use and benefit .

I l l : ON CHARITY

35

scene often ends in Plague or Famine as the natural consequences of War . But alas we can only bewail these things (with )out any hopes of reforming (them.) The comman (ds of ) God are on all sides forgo (tten, and ) when two armies are on the p (oint of ) engaging, a man woud be laugh'd at who shou'd put (them) in mind of our Saviour's precept By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if you have love one to another. But altho all orders of men are involved in these public calamities, yet few there are in whose power it is to remedy or prevent them. whereas it is in the power of every one of us to 1 0 avoid those infinite disorders and n1ischiefs which arise in private life from a defect of charity. As different countries are by (their re )spective products fitted to sup (ply each) other's wants : so the all-wise (provi )dence of God hath ordered (that) different men are endowed w (ith ) various talents whereby they are mutually enabled to assist and promote the happiness of one another . Thus one has health and strength of body another enjoys the faculties of his mind in greater perfection one hath riches another hath learning. This man is fitted for a public station, that for the reconomy of a private 20 life . One man is skilled in this art or profession, another in that. to say that in many instances the single art, industry, or power of (every) one is ineffectual when the united endeavours of many might (avail ). There are in the . . . various qualifications . . . panies, occasions by which a man is (rendered ca)pable to give or receive a (ssist)ance from his neighbor. (Hence) it is that men find it necessary (to ) unite in friendships and societies, (to) do mutual good offices, and carry on the same designs in harmony and concert . We relieve one another in distress, we bear with each other's infirmities, we study to pro1note the advantage of 30 each other : that is in our Saviour's phrase we have love one to the other . And so long as we continue thus disposed peace and plenty abound families live comfortably together our affairs thrive and flourish in the world wch gives a blessing to our endeavours ; every one finds his own in (terest) in advancing that of his n (eighbour.) Whereas the reverse of th (is hap)py state must certainly be ex(pected) when men of ill nature and (uncha)ritable tempers are always . . . the prosperity and thwarting (the ) designs of each other, when men endeavour to raise their own Fortunes 40 and Reputations by destroying those of their neighbors. And instead of sweet and friendly conversation entertain one another

SERMONS

with satyr and invectives. Take a view of the greatest evils that afflict mankind and you will find that they spring from the want of Charity. What Factions and cabals, what fierce . . . ments, what dire revenge (ful ) ruptures in families, what (disagree)ments between friends and n (eigh )bors take their rise from . . . source. It was not (for ) nothing that our blessed Saviour (was) so instant in recommending the (grace) of Charity by His preaching and example ; it is not for nothing that the holy Apostles insist in almost every page of their epistles upon Charity as the principal 1 0 of Christian vertues, the mark of our calling, the distinguishing badge of our profession. It is for want of this that we see so much poverty so much care, so much sorrow, so much bloodshed in the world. It is for want of this that when we have made peace abroad we worry and destroy (each ) other at home : that those • • . which have escaped the . . . a war are daily thrown over • • • bribes and . . . and the blood which remained unspilt by the enemies of (our) country is too often poured out to satiate the revenge of a countryman and a neighbor. But alas ! we can only bewail these things without any hope of reforming them, �o and when two Fellow Christians are on the point of sacrificing each other's lives to a private pique, he wou'd be laughed at who shou'd put them in mind of our Saviour's saying, By this (shall ) all men know that you (are My ) Disciples, if you have (love) one to another. It is most certain that (the prac )tice of any vice or the co (mmission) of any crime is att(ended) with an immediate punish(ment ) in this life. The infinitely (wise ) providence of God hath joyned moral and . . . evil together. Some inward uneasiness of mind, some outward pain of body, some loss in 30 reputation or fortune, or the like, is visibly annexed to sin to deter men from the practice of it. . . . and the (vengeance [?] ) go . . . the sinner both here an . . . what he is to expect here(after). How true this is with reg . . . uncharitableness is partly . . . from what has been already, (of ) the outward calamities ; both public and private which it is attended with ; and it will be more so if we consider the inward uneasiness of those passions which are opposite to charity. How painfully does avarice vex and corrode the soul ! What a knawing anguish breaks the slumbers and palls all the enjoyments of an envious 40 man. How is it possible that He shou'd eat his bread with pleasure who is mortified & disappointed at every good event that befalls his neighbours ! Or can there be any joy, any

I I I : ON CHARITY

37

repose in a mind under the visitation of rage or that feels the cruel appetite of revenge, or is ever haunted with ill . . . to others or just fears . . . itself. There is not surely in nature a more wretched state than that of a perverse, ill-tempered ; uncharitable man he is ahvays upon the rack, his heart is a perpetual prey to the 1nost restless and tormenting passions. But on the other hand can there be any state of mind more happy and delightful than that of the charitable person. He looks on mankind as his fr (iends ) and is therefore so far from being (mortifi )ed, that he rejoyces at their (prospe )rity, and reckons 1 0 it an add (ition) to his own good Fortune. As he wishes no harm to others, so he hath no reason to fear any from them. As he delights in relieving and assisting his neighbour, so he hath hopes of being relieved or assisted by them in any exigence. Every act of charity and beneficence carries its own reward, with it a sense of pleasing God and of being acceptable to men together with a secret joy flowing fron1 the approbation of a good Conscience, besides all which there is a certain peculiar pleasure and . . . that is the natural res (ult of a) kind and generous (beha )vior. It is not easy to (say whe )ther a sweet, mild, and gentle (dispo )si- 20 tion contributes more to . . . and satisfaction of our (neigh)bors or to our own private tranquillity and delight, since as the opposite passions ruffle and discompose, so Charity and the graces that attend it sooth and rejoyce the soul : to be free from anger, envy and revenge to be always in good humour, to delight in doing good to merit the love and esteem of mankind, is . . . of happiness upon e . . . approaches the nearest to . . . the saints in heaven. After what has been ad (vanced ) it may perhaps seem need­ less to . . . on any further motives in order to persuade you to 30 the practice of a (virtue ) which as it is the most necessary and substantial part of Religion so it is the most directly calculated for the advantage both of public communities and private men. What possible pretence can you have for not complying with an inj unction so excellent, so easy as this of Loving one another Are you afraid that to . . . any part of the Christian . . . might expose you to . . . in a vicious and unge . . . But what age what na (tion is so ) barbarous as not to hon (our a) man of dis­ tinguished cha (rity and ) benevolence ? Are you eager (to en )joy the good things. of this life (or ) too worldly-minded to be alto- 40 gether influenced by the distant recompcnces of that which is to come ? This duty has been shewn most effectually to promote

SERMONS

your present interests in this world. Is there anything rigid and (austere ) in the exercise of ('Virtues) that may deter you from the practice of . . . hold the very acts . . . are pleasant and de (lightful, and ) what Solomon says . . . is also true of Charity, (Her ways ) are ways of pleas[antness, and] all her paths are peace. How can you think on the baseness of an uncharitable envious spirit and not despise it ? How can you reflect on the mischief, the anxiety, the torment that it produces, and not abhor it. How can you be sensible of God's indignation against this vice and 1 0 yet still be guilty of it. After all Brethren if against the express, repeated commands & . . . Almighty God, against the light and . . . yr own con­ science, against your . . . as future interest and the common . . . of Humanity, we continue . . . piques & hatreds towards . . . will not pursuant to the . . . directions put away from us all bitterness & wrath and clamour, and evil speaking with . . . Be assured that your case is . . . Why shou'd we disguise the truth ? It is fit sinners shou'd know their condition while it is in their power to mend it, I say therefore again that the state of such 20 persons is desperate, that they cannot hope for salvation by the Gospel covenant. For St John plainly tells us He that hateth his brother is in darkness even untill now. That is notwithstanding the light of ye Gospel has now shed abroad in the world, yet such a one is still in a state of heathenism, wch in ye Scriptures is named darkness. Again he that Loveth not, knoweth not God, for God (is love. ) Again If any man say I Lo (ve God, and ) hateth his brother he is a . . . to what purpose is it to pro (duce ) any further testimony ? Doth not (our ) Lord himself tell us in the text, By this shall all men (know that ye ) are my disciples 30 if you have love (one to) another. He therefore that . . . is no Disciple of Christ's, He is, in . . . no Christian, has no right to the . . . pcct any share in the sufferings and intercession of Christ Jesus. Nay I will be bold to say that all the Evangelists, the disciples, and our blessed Saviour himself had not so expressly, so frequently, so urgently declared the great truth to us ; yet it might have been discovered by the light of nature that an un­ charitable person could not be saved. Strife, calumny, revenge, envy, prepare and fit one for . . . of Devils. A spirit with these . . . no company for Saints and Angels even in heaven it self, 40 where . . . love, joy, peace, tranquil . . . You, Christians, seriously (consider ) what has been said. Let it not be an idle dream in your Fancies . . . into your hearts &

I I I : ON CHARITY

39

influence (all ) your actions. Put on ( as the elect of God, Holy & beloved) bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind, meek­ ness long-suffering, forbearing one another & forgiving one another if any man have a quarrel against any : even as Christ forgave you so also do ye. And above all things, put on charity wch is the bond of perfectness. So will the good Providence of God protect & bless you during the course of this mortal life. And at the last day you will be (owned) for true disciples of the kind and merciful Jesus : to whom with Thee, 0 Father, & the 10 Holy Ghost be all glory.

SER1\10N IV ON THE 11ISSION OF CHRIST 1 1 Timothy I c. 2 v.

[sic ] .

This is a _faithful saying, and worthy oj· all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

As there is not any subject upon which we can employ our thoughts wi th more advantage and comfort than the life and sufferings of our blessed Saviour and the inestimable benefits that it is in our power to receive thereby, so we ought frequently to make them the subject of our meditations ; especially at this time , which is appointed by the Church for a peculiar season of contrition and repentance, and a devout preparation of our selves for the reception of the Holy Sacrament. But that you may clearly see the necessity and importance of our Saviour's 1 0 coming into the world, it will be necessary to reflect on the state in which mankind was before his coming amongst them. The whole world was then comprehended under the two general heads of Jews and Gentiles ; and that the wisdom and goodness of God [In B. M. Add. MS. 39306 there are two sermons on the text I Tim. 1 . I 5 (Berkeley has written 2 for 1 5 in error) ; the first of these, on ff. 7 5- 1 2 3 , here given in full, is marked ' Preached at Leghorne on Palm Sunday A.O. 1 7 1 4 ; the second, on ff. 1 24- 1 39, is the same sermon adapted for a different occasion. In place of the opening dating ' especially at this time, which is appointed by the Church . . . for the reception of the Holy Sacrament, ' Berkeley has written, ' The pure promise of salvation in Christ Jesus dispells our fears, confirms and augments our hopes, takes off from the terrours of death, and gives us a comfortable prospect beyond the grave. For this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. In my present discourse on which words I shall observe the following method . First, I shall endeavour to show the great necessity there was for Christ's coming into the world to save sinners. Secondly, I shall shew the methods by which He ha th accomplished that design. And , lastly, lay before you what is required on our part in order to be saved. ' The two sermons then proceed along the same lines, and, for the most part in the same words, and to print both in full would be mere duplication. Their conclusions , however, differ (see below, p. 48) . The first of these t\vo sern1ons was first published by Fraser, LL, pp. 605- 1 6.-Ed.] 1

40

IV : ON THE MISSION OF CHRIST

in sending the 11essiah upon earth may be made more manifest unto you, I shall consider the condition and circu1nstances of each of these distinctly ; and first of the Gentiles. By whom we are to understand all those nations that had no other guides to direct them in the conduct of life and pursuit of happiness besides reason and common sense, which are other­ wise called the light of nature. They had no inspired writings to inform them of the being and attributes of God, or the worth and immortality of their own souls : No lawgivers to explain to them that manner of worship by which the Supreme Being 1 0 was to be adored : No prophets or apostles to reclaim them from their evil ways and warn them of the wrath to come, or to encourage them to a good life by laying before them the infinite and eternal happiness, which in another world shall be the portion of those who practise vertue and innocence in this. It must indeed be owned that the Gentiles might by a due use of their reason, by thought and study, observing the beauty and order of the world, and the excellency and profitableness of vertue, have obtained some sense of a Providence and of Religion ; 20 agreeably to vvhich the apostle saith that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being under­ stood by the things which are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. But how few were they who made this use of their reason, or lived according to it ! Perhaps here and there one amongst those who were called Philosophers : while the bulk of mankind, being diverted by the vain pursuits of riches and honours and sensual pleasures from cultivating their minds by knowlege and vertue, sunk into the grossest ignorance, idolatry and superstition. Professing themselves wise they changed the 30 glory of the incorruptible God into an image, made like to cor­ ruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Their sacred rites were polluted with acts of uncleanesse and debauchery ; and human sacrifice often stained the altars erected to their Deities. It would take up too much time to recount all the extravagant follies and cruelties which made up the belief and practice of their religion : as their burning their own children alive for offerings to the idol Moloch in the valley of Hinnom ; their adoring oxen and serpents or inanimate things as the sun and stars, and certain plants or fruits of the earth, 40 which things are at this day practised by many nations where the glorious light of the Gospel has not yet shone. I shall con-

42

SERMONS

elude this account of their idolatry by the following description of it taken out of the Prophet Isaiah 1 : A man planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. He burneth part thereof in the fire ; he roasteth roast. He warmeth himself : And the residue thereof he maketh a god : He falleth down unto it, and wor­ shipeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me ; for thou art my God. None considereth in his heart, I have burned part of it in the fire ; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof : I have roasted flesh, and eaten it ; and shall I make 1 0 the residue thereof an abomination ? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree ? In such circumstances as these for a man to declare for free­ thinking, and disengage himself from the yoke of Idolatry, were doing honour to Humane Nature, and a work well becoming the great assertors of Reason. But in a church where our adoration is directed to the Supreme Being, and (to say the least) where is nothing either in the object or manner of our worship that con­ tradicts the light of nature, there, under the pretence of Free­ thinking to rail at the religious institutions of their country sheweth 20 an undistinguishing mind that mistakes the spirit of opposition for freedom of thought. But to return. Suitable to their religion were the lives of our Ancestors : our Ancestors, I say, who before the coming of our blessed Saviour made part of the Gentiles, and with the rest of the heathen world, sate in darkness and the shadow of death. In those days of ignorance and estrangement from the living God, it is hardly to be conceived what a deluge of licence and iniquity overwhelmed mankind. It cannot indeed be denied that vice is too common amongst us now, but however, vertue is in some reputation. The 3 0 frequent denouncing of God's judgments against sinners hath some effect on our consciences ; and even the reprobate who hath extinguished in himself all notion of religion is oft restrained by a sense of decency & shame from those actions that are held in abhorrence by all good Christians. Whereas in the times of Gentilism, men were given up to work uncleannesse with greedi­ ness. Lust and intemperance knew no bounds : and men acted those crimes publickly and without remorse from which they apprehended neither shame nor punishment. St. Paul gives us a black catalogue of their crimes when he tells us that they were 40 filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetous[Is. XLIV. This magnificent satire on idolatry is quoted agai n by Berkeley in his essay in the Guardian, no. 88. See below, p. 2 20.-Ed.]

1

IV : ON 1�HE M I SSION OF CH R I ST

43

ness, maliciousness ; full of envie, murder, debate, deceit, malig­ nity ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventers of evil things, disobedient to parents ; with­ out understanding, covenant-breakers, ,vithout natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. [What a frightful character is this of our Forefathers ; but we may still see too much of it among our selves not to believe it true.] Now when so thick a darkness had covered the world, how expedient was it that the Sun of Righteousness should arise with healing in His wings ! When the general state of mankind 1 0 ,vas so deplorable, how necessary was it that Christ Jesus should come into the world to save sinners ! And the like necessity of a Saviour will appear also with relation to the Jews, if we reflect on their state . These were indeed the chosen people of God, who, as such, had vouchsafed unto them many extraordinary miracles, prophesies, and revelations : They had a law imparted to them from Heaven, together with frequent assurances and instances of the Divine protection so long as they continued in the observance of it. But we must consider in the first place that the ancient ceremonial Law was a yoke 20 \Nhich as the apostle tells the Jews of his time neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. Their circumcision, sacrifices, purifications, abstaining from meats and the like ordinances were burdensome & carnal : Such as in themselves could not perfect or regenerate the soul . And are therefore to be considered as having a further view, inasmuch as they were types and pre­ figurations of the Messiah, and the Spiritual Religion that He was to introduce into the world. And as proofs that this ritual way of worship accommodated to the carnal and stiff-necked Jews was not the most acceptable to God, there occur several 30 passages even in the Old Testament. Thus for example in the Prophet Isaiah, To what purpose is the multitude of yr sacrifices unto me ? saith the Lord. I am full of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. Bring no more oblations. Incense is an abomination to me. The new moons and sabbaths I cannot away with. Cease to do evil, learn to do well. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed ; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. But secondly, the moral Law was not arrived to its full perfection under the dispensation of the Jews. They were born (e) 40 with in many points upon the account of the hardness of their ll. 6-8 : The square brackets here are in B. 's MS.

44

SERMONS

hearts . The adhering to one and the same wife, the forgiving our enemies, and loving our neighbors as our selves are precepts peculiar to Chris6anity. To the wisdom of God it did not seem convenient that the Law at first proposed to the Jews by Moses should enjoyn the most heroic strains of Charity or the height and purity of Christian vertue : but rather by morals lcs� severe and figures of things to come to prepare their minds for the more perfect and spiritual doctrine of the Gospel : In regard to which we may say with the Apostle, that the Law was a Schoolmaster 1 0 to bring the Jews unto Christ . Thirdly. The knowlege of a future state was not so clearly & fully revealed to the Jews. Their hopes do not generally seem to have reached beyond the grave. Conquests over their enemies, peace and prosperity at home, a Land flowing with milk and honey . These and the like temporal enjoyments were the rewards they expected of their obedience ; as on the other hand the evils commonly denounced against them were plagues, famines, cap­ tivities, and the like. Pursuant to which, we find the Resurrection to have been a controverted point among the Jews, maintained 20 by the Pharisees, and denied by the Saducees . So faint, so obscure and dubious was the revelation of another world before the time when life and immortality were brought to light by the Gospel . We should further consider that it was in vain to expect Salvation by the works of the law ; since it was impossible for Humane nature to perform a perfect unsinning obedience to it . We are told that even the righteous man falls seven times in a day . Such is the frailty of our nature, and so many and various are the temptations which on all sides assault us from the world 30 the flesh and the devil that we cannot live without sinning at least in word and thought. And the unavoidable reward of sin was death. Do this and live was the condition of the old covenant ; and seeing that by the corruption of our nature derived from our first parents we were unable to fulfill that condition, we must without another covenant have been all necessarily included under the sentence of death. Agreeably to which St. Paul saith : As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse . For it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the things wch are written in the book of the Law to do 40 them . You see, from what has been said the miserable forlorn con­ dition of all mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, in former ages ;

IV : ON THE MISSION OF CHRIST

45

and we should still have continued in the same state of sin and estrangement fron1 God, were it not that the day-Spring from on high hath visited us : were it not for Him of whom Isaiah fore­ told : The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and Kings to the brightness of thy rising ; the ever blessed Son of God, who came down upon earth to be our Teacher, our Redeemer, our Mediator. [Well, therefore, may we be filled with gladness and cry out with the prophet, Sing O heaven and rejoice O earth, and break forth into singing, 0 ye mountains ! for God hath comforted His people and will have mercy upon his afflicted.] How just 1 0 an occasion have we here of comfort and joy. What if we were by nature ignorant and Brutish, we have now the glorious light of the Gospel shining among us : and instead of worshiping stocks and stones are taught to adore the living God ? What if we are encompassed with snares and affiictions in - this present ,vorld ? We have the grace of God and the blessed hope of eternity to strengthen and support us. In fine, what if we have merited the wrath and vengeance of Heaven by our sins and transgressions, since this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 20 sinners ? Which words, that you may the better understand it will be necessary to explain unto you. The second point pro­ posed, viz. how and in what sense Jesus Christ promotes the salvation of sinners . And this He has done in four respects, firstly, by his preaching ; secondly by his example ; thirdly, by his death & fourthly by his Intercession. First, I say, by His preaching. As there is nothing that renders us so acceptable to God as a good life, which consists in the practice of vertue and Holiness it was highly necessary in order to put us in a capacity of salvation that our duty should 30 be plainly laid before us, and recommended in the most powerful and persuasive manner. This has been effectually performed by our Lord and his apostles, who went about preaching the Word of God, and exhorting all men whatsoever to forsake their evil ways and follow after Righteousness, to become just and sober and chast and charitable ; in a word to discharge all the several offices and duties of life in a blameless and exemplary manner. Jew and Gentile are equally called upon in the Gospel, and morality is there advanced to a degree of purity and perfection beyond either the Law of Moses or the precepts of the wisest 40 among the Heathen. And that no motives or engagements to ll.

7- 1 0 :

These square brackets are in B. 's MS.

SERMONS

the observation of it may be wanting : we have on the one hand the highest and most inestimable rewards, as on the other the sorest and most terrifying punishments proposed to us. But as example is often times found no less instructive than precept, and to the end all methods might be employed to rescue man from the slavery of sin and death, our blessed Lord condescended to take upon Him Humane nature, that he might become a living example of all those vertues which we are required to practise. His whole life was spent in acts of charity, meekness, patience, 1 0 and every good work. He has not only told us our duty, but also shewed us how to perform it, having made himself a perfect pattern of Holiness for our Imitation. And this is the second method whereby Christ contributes to save sinners. In the next place we are to observe, that as our blessed Saviour omitted no instance of Love and goodness to mankind, not only his life, but likewise his death, was of the last importance to our redemption : Such is the infinite purity and holiness of Almighty God that we could not hope for any reconciliation with him, so long as our souls were stained with the filthiness and pollution 20 of sin. But neither could rivers of the blood of Rams and Bulls or of our own tears, have been sufficient to wash out those stains. It is in the unalterable nature of things that sin be followed by punishment. For crimes cryed aloud to heaven for vengeance, and the Justice of God made it necessary to inflict it. [Behold, then mankind at an immense distance from Heaven and happi­ ness, oppressed with a load of guilt, and condemned to a punish­ ment equal to that guilt, which was infinitely heightened and aggravated by the Majesty of the offended God ! Such was our forlorn and hopeless condition] when lo ! the Lamb of God, 30 the eternal Son of the Father, cloathed himself with flesh and blood that he may tread the wine-press of the wrath of God and offer himself a ransom for us. He sheds his own blood that he may purge away our sins, & submits to the shameful punish­ ment of the cross, that by his death he may open to us a door to eternal life. Lastly, Having broke asunder the bands of death, and triumphed over the grave, He ascended into Heaven, where He now sitteth at the right hand of God ever making intercession for us. To this purpose speaks the Apostle to the Hebrews in 40 the following manner. Christ Jesus, because he continueth for ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able U. 24-29 : These square brackets are in B. 's MS.

IV : ON THE l\1 ISSI ON OF CHRIST

47

also to save them to the utter1nost that come unto God by Him, Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And should not this be an occasion of unspeakable comfort to us, that we h ave the Son of God for our advocate, even His ever-blessed Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, who hath so great love for men, that he never ceases to plead our cause and solicit our pardon . And this is the fourth way whereby our Lord makes good the \Vords of my text, that this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I t appears, then from what hath been 1 0 said that sinners shall b e saved ; and, i f so, may we not sin on in hopes that we shall go to heaven when we can sin no longer ? The lives indeed of too many wou'd persuade us they entertained such thoughts as these. But let us not deceive our selves, and abuse the methods which the good providence of God designed for our salvation [cross the gracious designs of Heaven, and treasure up vengeance to our selves against the day of wrath.] Can we be so foolish, as to think that our Holy Redeemer led a life of Spotless innocence upon earth, in order to proc ure us a licence to taste the pleasures of sin ? Must he be humble that 2 0 \Ve may be proud and arrogant ? Must he live in poverty that we may make a God of riches, and heap them together by avarice and extortion ? Shall the Son of God give his body to be crucified that we may be allowed to pamper our flesh in drunkenness & gluttony ? Or can we hope that He will without ceasing intercede with the Father in behalf of those wretches, who instead of pray­ ing for this mercy at his hands, are perpetually blaspheming his name with oaths and curses ? But you will say ; are not these sinners saved ? I answer, it is true that sinners are saved . But not those who tread under 30 foot the Son of God, & do despite to the Spi rit of Grace. Christ Jesus came into the world to save repenting sinners. If we will be saved, we must do something on our parts also, and, without relying altogether on the sufferings and merits of Christ, work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The good tidings of the Gospel amount, in short, to no more than this : that we shall be saved on condition that we repent and believe. But we must not suppose, that this repentance consists only in a sorrow for sin ; there must be a forsaking of our evil ways, a reformation and amendment of Life. Neither 40 must it be thought, that the faith here required is an empty,

u:

1 6-- 1 7 : These square brackets are in B. 's lvfS.

SERMONS

notional belief. Thou believest, saith St . James that there is one God, thou doest well : the dovils also believe and tremble ; but wilt thou know, 0 vain man that faith without works is dead . The faith of a true Christian must be a lively faith that sanctifies the heart and shews it self in the fruits of the Spirit. By nature we are vessels of wrath polluted with the original corruption of our first parents and our own manifold trans­ gressions, whereas by the grace of God, shewed forth in Christ Jesus, our sins are purged away and our sincere tho imperfect 1 0 endeavors are accepted . But without these sincere endeavors, without this lively Faith & unfeigned repentance, to hope for salvation is senseless presumption. We cannot be guilty of a more fatal mistake, than to think the Christian warfare a thing to be performed with ease and indifference ; it is a work of difficulty that requires our utmost care and attention, and must be made the main business of our lives . We must pluck out the right eye ; cut off the right hand ; that is, subdue our darling affections, cast off our beloved and bosom sins if we have a mind to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He that will partake of the benefits 20 of the gospel must endeavor to live up to the precepts of it, to be pure and innocent in mind and manners ; to love God with all his heart with all his soul, and with all his strength, and his neighbour as himself. There must be no hatred, no malice, no slandering, no envy, no strife in a regenerate Christian, but all love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, the most ardent and diffusive charity, ever abounding in good works, and promoting his neighbor's interest as his own . 1 You [Here the two copies diverge. After ' neighbor's interest as his own, ' the second (MS. ff. 1 3 7-9) continues as follows : ' Every one knows the prevailing principle in human nature is self-love. This under the direction of Reason shou'd lead us into the true methods of attaining happiness. But it is a blind principle that takes part with our passions, and flatters us in the present enjoy­ ment of ease and pleasure, it is too apt upon slight grounds to raise our hopes and lessen our fears, to interpret every thing too much in our own favor, making our obligations n1ore easy and less binding, and straining the promises and engagements of others to our own views beyond their true sense and intention. Hence it is that in all ages, men have been prone to mistake the gracious promises, covenants, and dispensations of God towards mankind however clearly & explicitly revealed. Thus in the early times of Christianity, there were found Gnostics and Antinomians who understood the liberty of the Gospel (which in truth implies no more than an exemption from observing J ewish rites and ceremonies) to absolve them from all obedience to moral laws & the civil institutions of their country. Thus in our own daies we may see one set of men , instead of leading a vertuous godly life in order to be saved, propose the attaining that end by the practice of wild austerities and super1

IV : ON THE MISSION OF CHRIST

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see how great obligations our profession lays upon us. But how far short of these do the performances of most men fall ! For what, I beseech you, does the piety of a modern Christian commonly amount to ? He is indeed content to retain the name of that profession into which he was admitted by baptism, but without taking any care to fulfill his baptismal vow, or it may be without so much as ever thinking of it . He may, perhaps, in a fit of the spleen, or sickness, or in old age, when he has no longer any ability or temptation to sin, entertain some slight stitions : while another kind of Fanatics possessed with spiritual pride, a fond conceit of themselves and high scorn of their neighbours, flatter themselves that they are the elect and predestinate of God , tho in their lives and actions they shew a very small degree of either piety to God nor [sic] charity to man. Lastly it is to be feared there are men of all professions who, without ever repenting of any one sin, without improving any one vertue, or mortifying any one desire , in short without giving themselves the least trouble either by thought, word , or deed , imagine they are intitled to the benefits of Christ's passion meerly because they have been baptized and are called Christians. So miserably do men impose upon themselves in that one thing necessary, that great article of salvation. To state the matter truly it cannot, indeed , be denied that the methods of Providence are full of mercy and indulgence to sinners : but at the same (time) we must acknowledge it to be inconsistent with the other attributes of God, his wisdom and justice to save a careless unrepenting sinner. There is some analogy between the methods of grace and the ordinary course of nature. Providence hath made provision for our well-being both in this life and in that which is to come ; but a supine indolence and neglect on our part will equally deprive us of both these advantages . As in the one case if we neglect to sow the corn and to spin the flax and wooll we are left to perish, with cold and hunger. So in the other if we neglect to perform our part by faith and good works, notwithstanding all the schemes of Providence to save us, we must expect to be damned. God hath, in the language of Isaiah, planted his vinyard in a very fruitful hill, he hath fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof, and plan ted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in ye midst of it, and also made a wine presse therein. The good and gracious God hath furnished us with faculties to perform our duty, he hath given us the light of nature and reason to discern it, he hath further explained and promulgated his will by the mouth of prophets and apostles, he hath sent his well-beloved Son into the world ' This conclusion of Sermon IV, i .e. the whole passage printed above in this footnote, is structurally identical with the conclusion of Sermon VI . If the one was not copied from the other, both must derive from a common source. In Sermon IV it is unfinished. The other version of Sern1on IV being preached on Palm Sunday naturally closes with a reference to the events of Holy Week. Note the reference to free-thinkers (above p. 4 2) , and compare his systema tic attacks on that movement in his essays in the Guardian, written in 1 7 1 3 .-Ed.]

50

SERMONS

thoughts of turning to God while the strength and flower of his age is spent in the service of Satan. Or sometimes he may give a penny to a poor naked wretch, that he may relieve himself from the pain of seeing a miserable object. On a Sunday, in compliance "vith the custom of our country, we dress our selves and go to church. But what is it that folks commonly do in church ? When they have paid their compliments to one another, they lift up their hands and eyes to God, but their hearts are far from him ! Prayers and thanksgivings are now over, without zeal 1 0 or fervour, without a sense either of our own littleness and wants, or of the majesty of that God whom we adore. The most warm and seraphic hymns are pronounced with a coldness and indevo­ tion. And sermons are heard without any resolution of being the better for them, or putting one word of them in practice. God declares that he has no pleasure in the death of a sinner, (but) had rather that he would turn from his wickedness and live. Why then will ye die ? I have spread out my hands, saith the Lord, all the day to a rebellious people a people that provoketh me continually to my face. I have spread out My hands. God, 20 you see is desirous and earnest for our conversion, and ready to receive us ; why then should we be negligent in what concerns our salvation ? And shall all those methods which God has used to bring us to him be in vain ? Shall we frustrate the mission and sufferings of his well-beloved Son ? The infinite pangs and sorrows that He underwent in the work of our redemption should, one would think, soften the most obdurate heart, and dispose us to suitable returns of love and duty. The prophet Isaiah, several hundred years before our Saviour's birth, gives the following lively description of His sufferings : He 3 0 is despised, says he, and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not ! Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows : yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions ; he was bruised for our iniquities : the chastise­ ment of our peace was upon Him ; and with His stripes we are healed. All we . like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he 40 opened not His mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. this from Isaiah. And does it seem a small thing to

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you that the blessed Son of God by whom he made the worlds, who is the brightness of His glory and the express image of his person, should quit the happy mansions of Heaven to come down upon earth and take upon him self the punishment due to our sins ? That he who could command Legions of angels should for our sakes submit to the insults and scorn of the lowest of mankind ? Figure to your selves his head dishonoured with an ignominious crown of thorns : his face spit upon and buffeted by an impious and prophane rabble : his flesh torn wi th scourges : His hands & feet pierced with nails : blood & water streaming 1 0 from his side : his ears wounded with taunts and reproaches : And that mouth wch uttered the glad tidings of salvation filled with gall and vinegar : in fine figure to your selves his sacred body hung upon a cross there to expire in lingering torments between thieves and malefactors. But who can figure to himself, or what imagination is able to comprehend the unutterable agony that he felt within, ,vhen the cup of the fury of God was poured out upon his soul, and his spirit laboured under the burden of the guilt of all mankind ! Can we think on these things which are all the effects of our sins, and at the same time be 20 untouched with any sorrow or compunction for them. Shall the sense of those crimes that made our blessed Saviour sweat drops of blood, be unable to extort a single tear from us ? [When the earth quakes, the rocks are rent, the skies are covered with dark­ ness, and all nature is troubled at the passion of the Lord of Life, shall man alone remain stupid and insensible ?] But if we are not generous and grateful enough to be affected with the sufferings of our Saviour : Yet at least let us have some regard to our own, and bethink our selves in this our day of the heavy punishment that awaits every one of us, who continues in 30 a course of sin. Let us bethink our selves that in a few years the healthiest and bravest of us all shall lie mingled with the common dust, and our souls be disposed of by an irreversible decree. No tears, no humiliation, no repentance can avail on the other side the grave : But it is now in our power to avoid the torments of that place where the worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched, provided that we repent of our sins, and, for the time to come, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour 40 Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he may redeem us from ll. 2 3 -- 2 6 : These square brackets are in B. 'J AJS.

SERMONS

all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. Now that all we here present may be partakers of this redemp­ tion, and be numbered among this peculiar people God of his infinite mercy grant, to whom be ascribed all honour praise power and Dominion, now and for evermore.

V NOTES FOR SERMONS AT NEWPORT' (R. I . ) 1 I

2

Luke 1 6. 1 6. The Law and the Prophets were untill John since that ti1ne the kingdom of God is preached. 1

Corinth.

1. 21.

For after that in the wisdo1n of. God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I.

Body & soul : provision for the former in nourishment defence comfort. I.

Like provision for well-being of the soul : from the good­ ness and wisdom of God, from the excellency of the soul, from our natural appetite of happiness eternal. from the text. 2.

[These are manuscript notes for fourteen sermons preached at Newport, R. I . They are i n the British l\1useum. Nos. 1 - 1 2 are in Add. MS . 39306, ff. 1 40-63 (with whic h read f. 1 5) , and were collected and arranged by H. J. Rose in the nineteenth century, and were first published by Fraser, LL pp. 629-49. Nos . 1 3 and 1 4 are in Add . MS. 46689, which was presented to the British Museum by !\1iss L. E. Gambier Howe in 1 948. They were found by me , and are here published for the first time. Each consists of two sheets of paper j oined, or folded foolscap, the heads or outline of the argument being written, for the most part, on the left-hand page inside. Relevant texts from Holy Scripture, with or without the references, are frequently wri tten out in full on the right-hand facing page, sometimes with insertion cues, sometimes without. I have inserted them in their appropriate place in the continuous text, wherever I could ascertain it. Several of the sermons are endorsed with date and place of preaching. From Berkeley's letters we know that at first he confined his preaching in Rhode Island to such matters as were agreed on by all Christians, but that in his later sermons there he spoke his mind on controverted topics.-Ed.] 2 (Preached at Newport 26 January 1 728/ , Berkeley's first Sunday in Rhode 9 Island . Preached again in the Narragansett country on the mainland I I May 1

1 7 29.-Ed.]

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SERMONS

54

3. n1eans & progress of providence herein . of God twofold nature and revelation.

Wisdom or law

II .

light of nature sheweth the being of a God, his worship inward by meditation & imitation outward by prayer and praise also by performing his will which known from conscience & inward feeling. 1.

Great men under natural religion. Authority of revealed depends upon it as to the veracity of God & nature of things revealed. 2.

10

3. Being of God : distinction of moral good and evil : rewards & punishments foundations substance life of all religions & first to be considered. 4. Vice indolence vanity obstructed n. religion. Some wise men but wanted authority : ignorance brutality idolatry of the heathen. 5. Revelation Jewish nation.

I.

to particulars Noah Abraham Job

2.

to the

III .

Things at the worst God exerts singles out a despised people without law leader or country : asserts them by force 20 & miracles : conducts them : gives them a law : makes them his peculiar people : entrusts them with the truth. I.

Jewish law provides against idolatry and corruption of manners. natural religion comprised in the decalogue . one God to be worship'd without image basis of the whole. 2.

3 . After the golden calf rites instituted to prevent idolatry : to keep from mixing : to typifie : to insinuate mercy & for other reasons unknown . 4 . Jewish law not designed to be perfect : nor for the whole world nor to last for ever.

V ; SERMONS AT NEWPORT R.I .

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5. Stress on the n1ora l part : rites &c. spoken slightingly of, Psalms 50 :7 : Isaiah 1 : 1 1 : Jeremiah 6 :20 : Hoseah 6 :6 : Mi cah 6 :6 :

6. Pharisees preferred rites to weightier things : Saducees denied angels spirits & life to come : genera] defection of the Jews. 7. Revelation whole world.

1.

to a family. IV.

2.

to a nation ; 3. to the

text to be repeated

Messiah typified : Family time place chara cter foretold ; introduced by angels : apparitions voices from heaven, inspira­ tions : attended by miracles, sight, motion even life bestowed on the dead. I.

10

Worship in spirit and in truth : Ro : 1 2 : 1 perfect morals : divine sanction reaching to all men which wanting in the h[eathen] wisdom : in the former, i.e. morals exceeds Judaism, a clearer view of future things : rites vanish like s . . . 2.

3. Not only outward observance but in,vard sanctity : con­ tempt of the world & life it self. 4. Peace : charity : benevolence : all honest & orderly behaviour ; love of God ; purity of mind : Lu : 1 2 :g. 5. Having open'd heaven & the sources of eternal life, Christ inflames us with the hope of immortality : assimilation Deity : perfect as our father in heaven is perfect. 6. Exhortation : helps, encouragements : rewards punish­ ments. Unity Eph. 4 :4. 7. Means of reconciliation : Jewish nation & Christian ; God of pardon, grace. 8. Christ crucified the leader way life, truth ; hath all power in heaven & earth : proved by miracles : raising others & him­ self ; sent gift Holy Ghost.

20

SERMONS

56

2

1

Rom . 8. 1 3 .

Ifye live after the flesh ye shall die. But ijye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Introduction. Flesh & spirit 2 Cor. 4 16, war between them . passions virtue & vice. Reasons a priori, a posteriori for subduing etc ., ruine, to themselves in fortune, health, reputation, pleasure itself, Paradise lost & regained-description of effects from drunkeness natural present & day following. Lazarus, health digestive power . evils arising in the common from intemperance. Examples. Moses fast before went to ye Mount. Esau's Birthright exp. Samuel's mother got him by prayer & fasting. Elias forty days fast in [Hor]eb before he saw the Lord. Daniel, 1 0 St. John, Fast of Ninivites, Flesh-pots of E gypt, Baptist, Christ himself. This kind etc. Precepts Xtian. Species of Fast. Abstain from all sin, curb lust, tongue, anger wine, every passion each whereof inebriates like wine & obfuscates like meat. Fast rather habitual temperance ; fast not pharisaical. Exhortation . I and my Father will come. Temple of H. Spirit. Crown . Things temporal and eternal compared. Christians or Moor-hope for the race. *

*

*

2

Animal & Rational-Brute & Angel-senses appetites 20 passions their ends & uses ;-vice and vertue-guilt why not in beasts opposition war ; Rom. 8. 6, Gal. 5. 1 7 ; lapsed state . Grace spirit New man, old man free will. Eph. 4. 22-danger from not subduing the carnal brutal, animal part or flesh-works of the flesh what Gal. 5. 1 g . 1.

Fasting conducive to subdue the flesh shewn from natural causes-2 Cor. 4 . 16 shewn from effects in describing life spiritual & lives of carnal menFortune, reputation, health, pleasure-Public evils from carnal men. 2.

[Preached at Newport 2 March 1 728/9.-Ed .] 2 [The text is here repeated, and either the foregoing is a draft, or it and what follows are two sermons on the same text.-Ed.] 1

V : SERMONS AT NEWPORT R.I.

57

3. Examples-Moses' fast in the mount forty days & nights fitted him to receive the law from God by speech of the Holy One. Elij ah supported by one cake of bread & cruse of water, in strength whereof he lived forty days & forty nights & after saw God in Horeb-Daniel 1 . 1 7. God gave them knowlege & skill in all learning & wisdom and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 4. Instance of mercy to fasters, as in Ninive-of indignation for the contrary as in the Israelites who longed after the fleshpots in Egypt. 5. Examples out of the N. T. Himself.

10

S. John Baptist & Christ

6. Precepts in N. T. This kind goeth not &c.-When ye fast Matt. 6. 1 6 Fasts at certain times. Lent 7. \\That sort a Xtian fast should be not to destroy health, not for ostentation, not in form but from degree as well as kind, not to merit much less to erect a bank of merits-habitual temper­ ance-Fast from all sin, curb lust tongue, anger, every passion each whereof inebriates and obfuscates no less than drink or meat -cut of right hand pluck out, &c. 20 8. Recapitulation 3 motives, viz.-1. Temple of God, 1 Cor. 3. 1 6.-1 1. Race horse, so strive that ye may obtain, 1 Cor. 9.24-crown, things temporal with things eternal com­ pared.-11 1 . vVres tle with principalities &c. Xtian armour, Eph. 6. 1 I . etc.

SERMONS 31

Rom. 14. v. 1 7 For the kingdom of God is not meat & drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. I

Meats & drinks imply all rites & ceremonies.

1.

Context.

2.

Division into essentials & circumstantials in Religion.

3. circumstantials of less value 1 . from the nature of things. 2 . from their being left undefined. 3 . from the concession of our Church, wch is foully misrepresented. 2.

4. Duty in these matters. 1 . because of decency & edification because of lawful authority. 3. because of peace & union. II.

Worship in spirit & truth. Righteousness in deed, in word, in thought. not limited to buying & selling v. Rom . 13. 7. 1.

2.

10

easier understood than practised.

appeal to Conscience.

3. Christ's summary rule. all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so [to] them for this is the law & the prophets. 4. Reasons for practice from equity. may triumph but Ezek. 2 2 . 1 2 . 13.

Mal.

2 . 1 0.

the knave

III.

Christian peace two fold 1. peace of mind inward. 2 . outward peace i.e. charity & union with other men. Ph. 2 . 1, 2 . / I Cor. 1 . 1 0 / Rom. 15 . 5, 6, Be at peace among your selves -follow after the things that make for peace.-if it be possible 20 as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men. I.

1

[Preached at Newport the first Sunday in July 1 729.-Ed.]

V : SERMONS AT NEWPORT R . I .

The sum of religion. Christians.

59

The distinguishing badge of

2.

3 . Sad yt religion wch requires us to love should become the cause of our hating one another. But it is not religion it is, &c. 4. \·Vere men modest, were men charitable, were men sincere. objection of lukewarmness. 5 . Discern between persons & opinions. proportion our zeal to the n1eri t of things. 1

6 . Elias-like zeal not the spirit of Xtians. Cor. 13. 4.5.6.7.

Charity described

10

IV. I . Joy in the H : S. not sullen, sour, morose, joyless. but . reJ 01c1ng.

Not with insolent tumultuous profane joy, but calm serene perpetual. Sinners infidels &c. have cause to be sad. Darkness & Light The way of the wicked is as darkness they know not at what they stumble, but the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Prov : 14. g hope & Fear The hope of the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. Prov : 1 0 . 28. 20 2.

3 . Causes of joy protection of God forgiveness of sin Ps. The Lord is my light & my salvation whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid ? & happy is he whose hope is in the Lord his god who made heaven and earth. Ps. 103. 2 , 3 . g. 1 0 . aid of the H : Spirit, adoption, inheritance in the heavens. 4. Since we have so great things in view, let us overlook petty differences, let us look up to God our Common Father, let us bear one another's infirmities, instead of quarrelling about those things wherein we differ let us practise those things wherein 30 we agree. The Lord is my light & my salvation whom shall I fear ?

60

SERMONS

the Lord is the strength of my life, of Whom shall I be afraid ? & again happy is he whos� hope is in the Lord his god who made heaven and earth . Be at peace among your selves-follow after the things that make for peace-if it be possible as much as lieth in you live peaceably with all men. Darkness & light The way of the wicked is as darkness they know not at what they stumble, but the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 10 Prov. 1 4.9. hope & Fear The hope of the righteous shall be glad­ ness ; but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. Prov : 1 0. 28.

V : SERMONS AT NEWPORT R.I. 41 I

Tim. 3. 1 6

lVitlzout controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.

St. John

1.

14

The Word was made flesh & dwelt among us. I.

The Divinity of our Saviour a fundamental article of the Christian Faith. We believe in him, pray to him, depend upon him here and hereafter. Omniscience &c.-Denied of late years. -Mystery what. State, clear up, shew the proofs ; answer objections, consider use and importance of the doctrine. II.

Concerning the soul & body of Christ there is no controversy. but concerning the personal union of the divinity with the manhood. Some sort of union with the Godhead in prophets, apostles, all true Christians, all men . but with men, Xtians, inspired persons, Xt in different degrees . the latter in kind also contra­ distinct as personal.-This explained, and shewn not repugnant to natural reason.

10

III.

Shewn to be in fact from express words in Scripture terming Christ God The Word was God, John 1 . 1 ; My Lord & my God said Thomas to the Saviour Jo 20. 28 From attributions of omni­ potence by Him all things consist, Colos. 1 . 1 7 ;-Upholding all things by the word of his power, Heb. I . 3 ; Whatsoever things the Father doth these also doeth the Son likewise John 5. 1 9, 2 1 . Omnipresence : John 1 4. 23, Xt saith if a man love him that [ Preached at Newport 3 Augus t 1 729. Note that, the first text, ' the mystery of godliness ' (1 Tim. 111 . 1 6) was much in Berkeley's mind at this time, and forms the text for Sermons VI and VI I. Here the mystery is the Incarnati on, as i s shown by the second text J ohn 1. 1 4.-Ed.] 1

20

SERMONS

the Father & he will come unto him & make their abode with him . and in St. Matthew that wherever two or three are gathered together there he is in the lllidst of them. 1 8. 20. & I am with you alway even to the end of the world. 28. 2 0 . Omniscience Now are we sure that Thou knowest all things, John 1 6, 30. Peter saith to him Lord thou knowest all things. John 2 I . I 7. From the history & circumstances of his birth, life & resur­ rection prophecies miracles apparition of angels . From His works : Pardoning sins, giving grace, sending the Holy Spirit, 10 judging the world, distributing rewards & punishments, dooming to final perdition or crowning with life & immortality. From the worship paid to Him : All men are commanded to honour the Son even as they honour the Father, John 5. 23. Baptism In the name of the father & of the son and of the holy Ghost. Apostles' benediction. The grace of our Lord, &c. Doxologies. St. Peter ascribes to Him praise and dominion for ever & ever. and again, to Him be glory for ever and ever, Heb. 1 3. 2 1 ; and in the Apoc : c. 5. v 1 3. and every creature wch is in heaven, & on the earth & under the earth and in the sea and all that are 20 in them heard I saying blessing honour glory & power be unto him yt sitteth upon the throne & unto the Lamb for ever & ever IV . '

Obj : from Scri pture : The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the father do John ; I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the father who hath sent me. ib. : I have not spoken of my self but the father who hath sent Me he gave me a commandment wt I should say and what I should speak. to sit on my right hand or on my left is not Mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father. of that hour knoweth no man, not the angels, nor the Son, but 30 the Father. He prayeth is afflicted, ten1pted, distressed. Answered by acknowledging Xt to be man as well as God whence con­ tradictorys are predicated of his different natures.

v.

O�j : from reason from the meanness of his figure & appear­ ance. Ans : by shewing wherein true greatness and glory consist. more in miracles & sanctity, infinitely more than in pomp & worldly grandeur.

V : SERMONS AT NEWPORT R.I . VI.

Objection 2nd from reason, i.e. from substance, personality, &c. The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head in the daies of Adam. to Abraham, In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. by Jacob, Shiloh to whom the gathering of the people shall be. Balaam, There shall come a Star out of Jacob & a sceptre shall rise out of israel. Types Paschal lamb, all sacrifices. From Samuel to Malachi. Luke. 1 0 . 24 many prophets have desired to see those things, which ye have seen & have not seen them & to hear those things which ye have heard & have not heard them. Hence motives to obedience-faith-hope-joy. This doctrine or mystery, what not intended to produce / what it hath acciden­ tally produced / Simile of the sun & weak eyes, minq dim'd by folly or enflamed with pride ; malice envy-rescue from despair, a hopeless case cutts of (f ) all endeavour, &c. Favour extended / door open'd / sing citizens / endeavours accepted /

10

SERMONS 51

Heb.

1 2. 22, 23.

But ye are come unto mount Sion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels, (o the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, & to God the Judge of all, & to the spirits ofjust men made perfect.

Body city kingdom : Church formed in the original creation of intelligent beings. wch necessarily formed for society with one another & orderly submission to the will of God : defection of angels & men : Our business to recover this pristine state : 1st, Church on earth founded on the light of nature & traditions from Noah ; 2nd, Church of the Jews abolishing Idolatry, containing the principles of moral duty with shadows & figures of things to come. Segullah alwaies subsisting : 3?. Church the Christian. 1.

Jewish the religion of legal justice, Xtian of saving grace : grace from the beginning prophetic view of Xt, faith in God, sacrifices ; method of admission into this society ; Both Jews & Gentiles are fellow citizens with ye saints, & of the household of God, Eph : 2 . 19. The Church of the living God : the pillar & ground of truth : built by Xt upon a rock against wch the gates of hell shall never prevail. names written in heaven, Luke 1 0 . 20 : blotted out of the book of life : faith & repentance inward baptism outward : by nature unholy by regeneration holy, in 1st state lust appetite sense passion in one word the flesh, 20 in 2nd new life of the spirit, purifying, sanctifying, ennobling our natures. 2.

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3. Requisites to continuance in the Church of Xt. inward the love of God and our neighbour wch comprehend the Sum of all duty, the bond & cement : outward the reception of the H : Sacrament. 4. Regular government necessary to every society upon earth : 1 2 patriarchs & 12