is perhaps a problem not easily solved, why no men are ever so tyrannical and oppressive as clergymen who have power. Whether this proceeds from an abuse of the institution, or from the will of Providence suffering men to be wicked, who are unwilling to be subject to his laws, but assume offices and claim power he never intended to give them, I will not determine. But it is most natural to suppose, that none but wicked men will claim a power which Christ has given to no man. When they once assume such apocryphal offices, it is no wonder that they turn tyrants; for nothing but their manners or their natural tempers can render them tolerable. Conscience is out of the question; for had they consulted the proper rules of conscience, they never would have assumed power which the Lord has not authorized. There may happen here and there a clergyman with antichristian power, who does not exercise it in its full latitude; but this is a rare case, and proceeds more from some things that fall out in the chapter of accidents, than from the nature of the thing. If a man engage in an office which obliges him, if he fulfil it, to be an oppressor, he must upon the whole be either a very bad or a very inconsiderate man. I know there are some allowances to be made for the education of mankind, and the manner in which they have been tutored; but even those allowances must not be carried too far: for the word of God, being very plain, will instruct any man that is qualified to be a minister of the word, that he should assume no power except that which Christ hath given him; and it will never shew him, that a minister of the gospel can be a Lord Spiritual or a Justice of the Peace. The reason why clergymen abuse power, and are the greatest tyrants, is this-that they have no right to any, and as they claim an illicit authority, for want of good principles, Providence suffers them to expose their wickedness to all men. A good man, by engaging in an illicit business, may turn bad; and this is one of the ways that God punishes him for walking upon forbidden ground, namely, that he suffers him to expose his own folly. It is impossible for a man to be good while he is continually doing either what he has no authority, or what he is forbidden to do. Every man who seeks that power which does not belong to his character will abuse it, if he obtain it; for no good man will desire any such thing: and it will be as easy to make a man keep clean feet in mire, as make a good man keep a good conversation and a clear conscience in pursuing a duty which God has declared to be sinful. I shall conclude by observing that the gospel has left nothing short in matters of duty, more than in matters of privilege. All things needful to direct high or low, rich or poor, are contained in it. When it is preached to every human creature, it shews all the duties they owe to God and society. Your Lordships will therefore do well to search the word of God, and F there there you will find all things necessary to make the man of God perfect-every thing necessary to make Ministers of State true Christians every thing necessary to make you wise unto salvation, to make you live with pleasure, and die in peace; which may God grant it. Amen. SERMON V. JAMES, iv. 1. From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not from your lusts? THIS is coming to the very point. The Apostle has said more in this one sentence concerning the causes of war, than is contained in many large volumes that have been published upon this bloody subject. The true cause and reason of all wars and fightings are men's lusts, or when one party attacks another without any just provocation, or upon grounds and reasons that have no evidence, except in the opinion of the aggressor. The defence of the natural rights of mankind, their persons, liberty, religion, and property, is not war, but a lawful method of preserving what men are possessed of by either the law of nature or established statutes. Partizans will be ready to dispute concerning the reasonableness of waging war with others, and often maintain that the aggressor has sufficient reasons for his couduct and behaviour. But, provided they were out of the question, they would reason very differently. Mankind often deceive themselves by dressing up the object that opposes their lusts in fantastical or odious colours, and then determine against them according to the character they have given them. In this case they express their resentment according to the ugliness of the picture they have drawn, and not according to the real character of the object. When the passions bear rule, and lust prevails, reason and conscience are both duped and put to silence with the noise and bustle of jarring affections; and in such a case men are carried violently away by the force of passion and appetite combined against reason and conscience. It will always happen, when mankind consider the gratification of their lusts as their interest, that they will seek for arguments to vindicate their pursuits after what they desire. Satan furnished our first parents with arguments for eating the forbidden fruit, and they found also an apology for their own transgression. Their consciences agreed agreed with neither the one nor the other. But what can conscience do when a strong passion has a favourite object in view? men are soon checked from the commission of the sins they are not much inclined to. David started at the thought of killing Saul, and his heart smote him when he cut off his skirt; but he was not so nice and tender-hearted when a ruling appetite coveted another mau's wife: his conscience slept securely for near twelve months; nor do we hear that ever he was moved for his transgressions till the prophet charged it home to him in a special manner. The principles of right and wrong are very plain, and exceeding easily understood; and, setting men's lusts aside, there never would be any wars or fighting concerning them. If a robber violently take another man's property-if a thief steal his effects-if a foreign power unjustly invade an inoffensive nation, and carry away the substance of the inhabitants, or murder them to attack them, defeat them, pursue them, and kill them, is justice, and not war. There can be no dispute concerning the righteousness of this proceeding; for the case is self-evident. The lust of power and ambition, and the lust of gain, may bias the understanding, when people argue in favour of themselves; but let them change sides, and apply their arguments to others, supposing them in their stead, and their reasoning will take another line of direction. The style of the sacred oracles concerning war is very significant and expressive; the words that are made use of to express the signification thereof are exceeding characteristic in both the Hebrew and Greek languages. The chief word which signifies war in the Old-Testament language is Milchama, which signifies literally an eating up, or devouring. This implies some sort of hunger or lust in the devourer, or in those who make war; the cause is lust, the effect is eating up or devouring. This is a sort of painting in language, which our language will not admit of. You have in the Hebrew both the name and the signification expressed in one word. The Greek is also very expressive: TOXES signifies a shedding of blood, as well as wasting and destroying. This is the true character of war. This word in the New Testament is derived from the same root that the word Devil is derived from, and shews that all wars come from the Devil, and all professed warriors are the children of the wicked one, who abode not in the truth, but is professedly a waster and destroyer, an invader of the rights of others. All who are for making war are wasters and destroyers, and have just as much glory as the vermin that eat up the labour of the year. From these observations we may form a conjecture concerning the origin of standing armies: this practice proceeds from him who has been an enemy to peace from the beginning, and continually goes about seeking whom he may devour. Making of war always implies injustice in its nature;-defence of inen's natural rights is not destroying, but preserving that which it is every one's one's duty to preserve. The defending of such rights, or claim ing them when they are ascertained by palpable evidence, which is manifest to all unprejudiced persons, is not making of war, nor comes under the signification of wasting and destroying; it is only a lawful defence of those rights and privileges which the Almighty has bestowed upon all men. To make war for the sake of dominion is as unjust as to rob for the sake of being rich; both proceed from the same principle—the lust that is in our members. No principles of human policy can be just reason of making war, unless they are founded in divine truth, established in laws of nature, and self-evident maxims of morality. These are things easily understood, and will be easily perceived by all men, when lust does not pervert their understanding. But here is the rub; the lust of men's hearts throws a mist upon their understanding, and makes objects appear dif ferent from what they really are. Truth would appear the same to all men, provided their corrupt affections did not misrepresent it. The very sun, when shining through a mist, appears to be otherwise than it really is. False mediums of argument are raised by men's lusts, which disguise both the premises and middle term, and produce false and unjust conclusions. My Lords, I shall produce the testimony of as great a man as any of you to ascertain this point. It is no reproach, my Lords, to rank Julius Cæsar among great men. In his address to the Senate, though he was pleading a bad cause, yet he said what is universally true: "Those who advise concerning doubtful matters ought to be free from hatred, friendship, anger, and mercy; the mind does not easily perceive truth, when these stand in the way; nor did ever any man obey his lust and true advanaage at the same time. When the judgment is fully exercised, it prevails; if lust has the possession, it domineers, the mind is altogether rendered feeble."* Cæsar knew all this from experience; and had he pursued his own doctrine, he would have been a good as well as a great man. But the testimony of such a person as Julius Cæsar may be of service in confirming what has just been observed. It is indeed no uncommon thing to hear some politicians affirm, that the common people are not competent judges of state matters, and maxims of human policy with regard to war. But if there are any principles of state that plain men cannot understand, they are far too deep to be practised, and must have their foundation laid more upon the lusts of corrupt minds than upon the principles of reason and science. Such as cannot understand that as they would men should do to them, so Omnes homines, Patres conscripti, qui de rebus dubiis consultant, ab odio, amicitiâ, irâ, atque misericordiâ, vacuos esse debet. Haud facile animus verum providet, ubi illa obficiunt; neque quisquam omnium lubidini simul et usui paruit. Ubi intenderis ingenium, valet: si lubido possidet, ea dominatur animus nihil valet. SALLUST. Catilin. cap. 49. ought ought they to do to others, are to be comprehended within the rank of idiots, of which I hope, at an average, the number is very small. The above maxim is very plain, good, and equitable, and would serve to direct every part of human conduct, provided lust did not prevail against judgment and reason. It is a rule which almost all men can perceive, at first view, and which no man can reasonably controvert, that every person ought to be acquainted with those things wherein his own interest is concerned. And though he may, by an act of his own will, entrust others with the management of his affairs, yet it cannot be supposed that he must not concern himself with their management, nor find fault with their conduct, when they act palpably wrong. There is as much common sense yet remaining in the world as will enable every man to perceive what is right and wrong in every thing that belongs to the welfare of society; and if it were possible to bring their lusts under subjection to common sense, they would seldom err in their judgment concerning what belongs to the community. Wherever there are the greatest number of lusts prevailing, there will always be the greatest number of errors. When reasons of state policy with regard to war are pretended to be mysteries, or are made such, they will have the same effect as multiplying mysteries in religion always increases the number of infidels. It must always be considered as unfair dealing towards the public, to force them into a war, when they cannot perceive that the reasons for it are both plain and equitable. But to tell them they are not competent judges, nor ought to give their opinion concerning these mysteries, must be the highest insult to their understanding. Must men risk their lives and fortunes, and their future felicity into the bargain, by engaging in a cause they do not understand, or perhaps have great suspicion of its utility? Can any mandates of state, any law of a nation, any command of a sovereign, clear a man's conscience for doing what he is persuaded is wrong upon the most manifest proof and evidence? Must the whole community, to gratify the lusts of a few ambitious men, rush headlong upon death and destruction, for no other reason than an arbitrary commandment? Must not men possessed of souls, of reason, and conscience, inquire whether they are going to venture their lives for a just or an unjust cause,-for the welfare of their country, or to gratify the lusts of men who pay no regard either to God or man, farther than they can serve their own interest, pride, or ambition? This is supposing the community to be no better than stocks or stones, or at least like cattle, who must die at the command of their master. If the princes and powers of this world would enter as heartily into an alliance to subdue their own lusts, and those of their subjects, as they enter into confederacies to carry on war and desolation, I should venture to pronounce that there would soon 1 |