forces fail and memory is weak, and to give me a fair and charitable hearing. 1. In the first place, the followers of Mr. Hutchinson give to God the pre-eminence in everything. His authority with them is above all authority: His wisdom above all wisdom His truth above all truth. They judge everything to be good or bad, wise or foolish, as it promotes or hinders the belief of Christianity. On which account, their first enemies are to be found among sceptics, infidels, and atheists. Their next enemies are those who are afraid of believing too much; such as our Socinians and their confederates, who admit Christianity as a fact, but deny it as a doctrine. 2. They hold, that only one way of salvation has been revealed to man from the beginning of the world, viz. the way of faith in God, redemption by Jesus Christ, and a detachment from the world, and that this way is revealed in both Testaments. 5. On the authority of the Scriptures, they entertain so low an opinion of human nature, under the consequences of the fall, that they derive everything in religion from revelation or tradition. A system may be fabricated, and called natural; but a religion it cannot be; for there never was a religion, among Jews or Gentiles, Greeks, Romans, or Barbarians, since the beginning of the world, without sacrifice and priesthood; of which natural religion having neither, is consequently no religion. The imagination of man, by supposing a religion without these, has done infinite disservice to the only religion by which man can be saved. It has produced the deistical substitution of naked morality, or Turkish honesty, for the doctrines of intercession, redemption, and divine grace. It has no gift from God, but that nature which came poor, and blind, and naked out of Paradise; subject only to farther misery, 3. That in both Testaments divine things are explained and confirmed to the under-son, (which by the way I would recommend to the standings of men, by allusions to the natural creation. I say confirmed; because the Scripture is so constant and uniform in the use it makes of natural objects, that such an analogy appears between the sensible and spiritual world, as carries with it sensible evidence to the truth of revelation; and they think that, where this evidence is once apprehended by the mind, no other will be wanted. They are therefore persuaded, it may have great effect towards making men Christians, in this last age of the world; now the original evidence of miracles is remote, and almost forgotten. 4. They are confirmed Trinitarians. They became such at their baptism in common with other Christians; and they are kept such by their principles, especially by what is called the Hutchinsonian philosophy of frre, light, and air. Nature shows us these three agents in the world, on which all natural life and motion depend: and these three are used in the Scripture to signify to us the three supreme powers of the Godhead, in the administration of the spiritual world; notwithstanding the judgment which our new biographer hath passed against them. Let any philosopher show us one single effect, of which it may be proved, that neither fire, light, nor air, contribute to it in any of their various forms.** piece of Duncan Forbes on the system of Hutchinreader,) was heard to say "there were some good things and some curious things in it; but the man raves when he talks of his fire, light, and spirit." Now herein is to me a marvellous thing; that this doctrine of fire, light, and air to be raving; Learning, seated in the chair of Alfred, should take when Ignorance, with a tallow candle in its hand, need only light it, to see them all at work together. Air enters at the bottom, where the flame looks and the brightest light is about the middle. No blue: fire and smoke from the snuff are at the top, man can draw a line between them, or say where one ends and another begins. But here they are certainly; for, without air, the candle goes out: we shall not see by it. And all this is no theory, without fire, it will not burn us: and, without light, but a plain, undeniable matter of fact. How wonderful, that a philosopher cannot see this; when a child or a ploughman may be made to understand it! credible than one. The people among the Jews, Two strange events of the same kind are more who knew most, were those who could see least. When the good lord president Forbes wrote his letter from Scotland, there were rocks and mountains in his way; and he had the mortification to see that he prevailed but little. These are now not nearly so formidable as they were then: great and unexpected events have intervened. Infidelity, the grand adversary, hath now overshot its mark; and than the philosopher, that gentlemen begin to be is found to have in it so much more of the felon ashamed of its company. Its opponents are inspired with new zeal, and act with new vigor; as may be seen in two periodical publications of modern date. Attraction is going down; and the demonstration of in another place. Electricity hath risen up, and a vacuum is not to be supported; as I shall show given us the knowledge of a new power in nature, which is an object of sense, and may be extended to the whole system of the world. Lord Forbes's letter to a bishop was written with the best intention in To show how differently the same things will the world; but, when a scheme is new, and admitappear to different men, and how men of learning, ted in all its parts, more weight is laid upon some through habits of thinking, may be unprepared to things than they will bear. He tells his reader judge of common things, I will mention the exam- many curious things, for which I have not room; ple of my own tutor of University College, in Ox-neither would I choose to introduce them, because ford; who, having been persuaded to read a little they depend on Hebrew evidence. fom its own lusts, and the temptations of the devil. A religion more flattering to the pride of man, pleases his fancy better than this; but it will never do him any good. self and some of the wisest of his followers have suspected; then the cause of motion will never resist the motion which it causes. The rule, which is true when applied to communicated motion, does not hold when applied to the motions of nature. For the motions of nature change from less to more; as when a spark turns to a conflagration: but communicated motion always changes from more to less: so that there is an essential difference between them, and we cannot argue from the one to the other. Mr. Cotes's ble only to communicated motion: I mean, such only as is violent or artificial. There is no need of a vacuum in the heavens: it is more reasonable and more agreeable to nature that they should be filled with a circulating fluid, which does not hinder motion, but begins it and preserves it. Hutchinson himself had so strong a sense of this, that he looked upon natural religion as Deism in disguise; an engine of the devil, in these latter days, for the overthrow of the Gospel; and, therefore, boldly called it the religion of Satan or Antichrist. Let the well-informed Christian look about him, and consider whether his words, extravagant as demonstration, it is well known, is applicathey may seem at first, have not been fully verified. I myself, for one, am so thoroughly persuaded of this, that I determine never to give quarter to natural religion, when it falls in my way to speak of the all-sufficiency of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know very well how the Scripture is brought in to give its countenance to the notion of a natural religion but we know also that dark texts are drawn to such a sense, as to render all the rest of the Scripture of no effect; as hath happened in the doctrines of predestination and natural religion; by the former of which we lose the church, by the latter its faith. Facts bring a dispute to a short issue. If Voltaire were alive, I would be judged by him, whether Christianity hath not been going down ever since natural religion came up. And we know, by what his disciples, the French, have done, that natural religion comes up, when Christianity is put down. These facts teach us that they will not stand long together. Whether they possibly might or not, is not worth an inquiry; because he that has got Christianity, may leave natural religion to shift for itself. They cannot allow inert matter to be capa ble (as mind is) of active qualities; but ascribe attraction, repulsion, &c., to subtile causes, not immaterial. There may be cases very intricate and difficult; but they take the rule from plain cases, and, supposing nature to be uniform and consistent, they apply it to the rest. 8. In natural history, they maintain, against all the wild theories of infidels, which come up, one after another, like mushrooms, and soon turn rotten, that the present condition of the earth bears evident marks of a universal flood; and that extraneous fossils are to be accounted for from the same catastrophe. Many of them are therefore diligent collectors of fossil bodies, which are valuable to the curious in consideration of their origin. 6. Few writers for natural religion have 9. What commonly passes under the name shown any regard to the types and figures of of learning, is a knowledge of Heathen the Scripture, or known much about them. books: but it should always be admitted with But the Hutchinsonians, with the old Chris-great precaution. For they think of all tian fathers and the divines of the reforma- Heathens, that, from the time when they tion, are very attentive to them, and take commenced Heathens, they never worshipped great delight in them. They differ in their the true God, the Maker of heaven and nature from all the learning of the world; earth; but, instead of him, the elements of and so much of the wisdom of revelation is the world, the powers of nature, and the contained in them, that no Christian should lights of heaven: that the love of vice and neglect the knowledge of them. All infi- vanity was the real cause of their ignorance: dels abominate them. Lord Bolingbroke they did not know the true God, because they calls St. Paul a Cabbalist for arguing from did not like to know him: and that the same them; but the Hutchinsonians are ambi- passions will give us an inclination to the tious of being such Cabbalists as St. Paul was. principles of Heathens, rather than to the 7. In natural philosophy, they have great principles of Christians; and that most of regard to the name of Newton, as the most the ill principles of this age come out of the wonderful genius of his kind. But they are Heathen school. The favorers of Mr. Hutchsure his method of proving a vacuum is not inson's scheme are therefore reputed to be agreeable to nature. A vacuum cannot be the enemies of learning. But they are not deduced from the theory of resistances: for, so. They are enemies only to the abuses of if motion be from impulsion, as Newton him-it, and to the corruptions derived from it. alters. And, if this great subject should have parts and circumstances not to be understood, we must argue from what is understood. They seem to have been known in the Christian church of the first centuries; but not with the help of the Jews. So also was the analogy of the three agents (pws, up, aveuμa,) these being expressly mentioned by Epiphanius, as similitudes of the divine Trinty. To all false learning, that is, to human folly | wa are considered only as figures, the case affecting to be wisdom, they have indeed a nortal aversion in their hearts, and can hardly be civil to it in their words; as knowing, that the more a man has of false wisdom, the less room there will be for the true. Metaphysics which consist of words without ideas; illustrations of Christian subjects from Heathen parallels; theories founded only on imagination; speculations on the mind of man which yield no solid matter to it, but lead it into dangerous opinions about itself: these and other things of the kind, with which modern learning abounds, they regard as they would the painting of a ghost, or the splitting of an atom.* 10. Of Jews, they think that they are the inveterate enemies of Christianity; never to be trusted as our associates either in Hebrew or divinity. No Philo, no Josephus, no Talmudist, is to be depended upon; but suspected and sifted, as dangerous apostates from truc Judaism. It is plausibly argued, that Jews, as native Hebrews, must, like other natives, be best acquainted with their own language. But the case of the Jews is without a parallel upon earth. They are out of their native state; and have an interest in deceiving Christians by every possible means, and depriving them of the evidence of the Old Testament. 11. They are of opinion, that the Hebrew is the primeval and original language; that its structure shows it to be divine; and that a comparison with other languages shows its priority. 12. The Cherubim of the Scriptures were mystical figures, of high antiquity and great signification. Those of Eden, and of the Tabernacle, and of Ezekiel's vision, all belong to the same original. Irenæus has enough upon them to justify the Hutchinsonian acceptation of them. The place they had in the Holy of Holies, and their use in the sacred ritual, sets them very high. Their appellation, as Cherubim of glory,t does the same; and the reasoning of St. Paul, from the shadows of the law to the priesthood of Christ, sets them highest of all; obliging us to infer, that they were symbolical of the divine presence. The rescapa wa in the Revelation of St. John (improperly called beasts; for one of them was a man, and another a bird) must be taken for the same: where the figures of the old law bow down and surrender all power and glory to the evangelical figure of the Lamb that was slain. Here the doctrine is thought to labor a little: but, if the See more on this subject, p. 48 of the Life. † Compare Acts, vii. 2. * Ο Θεος της δόξης. In their physiological capacity, so far as we can find, the Cherubim seem never to have been considered before Mr. Hutchinson; who very properly derives from them all animal-worship among the Heathens. This subject is of great extent and depth; comprehending a mass of mythological learning, well worthy of a diligent examination. If These things come down to us under the name of John Hutchinson; a character sui generis, such as the common forms of education could never have produced; and it seems to me not to have been well explained, how and by what means he fell upon things, seemingly so new and uncommon: but we do not inquire whose they are, but what they are, and what they are good for. If the tide had brought them to shore in a trunk, marked with the initials J. H., while I was walking by the seaside, I would have taken them up, and kept them for use; without being solicitous to know what ship they came out of, or how far, and how long, they had been floating at the mercy of the wind and waves. they should get from my hands into better hands, I should rejoice; being persuaded they would revive in others the dying flame of Christian faith, as they did in bishop Horne and myself. And why should any good men be afraid of them? There is nothing here that tends to make men troublesome, as heretics, fanatics, sectaries, rebels, or corrupters of any kind of useful learning. All these things a man may believe, and still be a good subject, a devout Christian, and a sound member of the church of England: perhaps more sound, and more useful, than he would have been without them. For myself I may say (as I do in great humilty) that, by following them through the course of a long life, I have found myself much enlightened, much assisted in evidence and argument, and never corrupted; as I hope my writings, if they should last, will long bear me witness. If these principles should come into use with other people, I am confident they would turn Christians into scholars, and scholars into Christians; enabling them to demonstrate, how shallow infidels are in their learning, and how greatly every man is a loser by his ignorance of revelation. When we are describing Hutchinsonians, it would be unjust to forget, that they are true churchmen and loyalists; steady in the fellowship of the apostles, and faithful to the monarchy under which they live. This, however, is not from what they find in Hutchinson, though it is to be found in him;* but from what he has taught them to find, by taking their principles from the Scripture. Had this man been a splendid character and a great favorite with the world, we might have received his doctrines with our mouths open, and our eyes shut: but our dangers are quite of another kind. From him nothing is to be taken upon trust every thing must be sifted and examined to the uttermost. And so let it; for thus it will be better understood. Prove it well, and hold it fast. Of leaders and guides in learning beware: for, as wisely speaks the author of the Pursuits of Literature, they ought, in this age, to be well watched: if they fall into dangerous mistakes, many fall with them and if evil once creeps in, and finds public entertainment, no man can say how or when we shall get rid of it. Such leaders are as watchful against us as we ought to be against them. They neither enter in themselves, nor suffer other people if they can prevent it. Many young men would find employment and amusement for their lives, if the way were open, and they were permitted to inquire for themselves. Here, free inquiry would be honorable, safe, and laudable but discouragements are often thrown in their way; and I have met with some examples of it; one in partular, which made a great impression upon me. 66 His him totally changed; and I rarely conversed with him but to my disappointment. mind, which used to be undisguised and open, was now guarded at every pass: and, whatever I proposed as formerly the had now an evasion ready. It seemed as if somebody had hung a bell about my neck, so that I could not stir without raising an alarm. To a man, rather shy of making proselytes, but always pleased to meet with volunteers, fit for the service of God and the church, my situation was distressing. I discovered that my friend was no longer his own man: I guessed at the cause; and gave little trouble afterwards to him or myself. But I lamented, that he had lost a view of things which would have animated him; and, while it found exercise for the best of his talents, would have given strength and effect to all his labors. His pursuits in literature will now most probably be frivolous in themselves, and foreign to his profession as a clergyman. No man will do great things, when he yields to secular influence, where literary and religious ought to prevail. The vineyard is a better spot to cultivate than the high-way; and, when laborers are wanted, it is pity any one should be led away upon other service, less pleasant and less profitable. Why even of your ownselves judge ye not what is right?" said our Saviour to those, who could judge of the weather from the face of the sky, without going to ask the Pharisees; and who ought, after the same manner, to have judged for themselves in matters of much greater moment, from the signs of the times and the state of the church. I hazarded a great, and, as it may be thought, a rash assertion at p. 43 of the following Life: I said, "that, if we were ever to see such another man as Bishop Horne, he must come out of the same school." I am still of the same mind; for I think no other school will form such a man. I will now hazard a farther opinion to the same effect: for I think it not improbable, that if some man were to arise, with abilities for the purpose, well prepared in his learning, and able to guide his words with discretion; and such a man were to take up the principles called Hutchinsonian, and do them justice; the world would find it much harder to stand against him than they are aware of, even with all the new biographers of the age to encourage and assist them. I may be called a No being whatever can have any power over but how many stranger visions have been visionary when I say this; that I cannot help: man, but the God that made him: therefore no man an have any power over any other man, unless he realized of late, which, twenty years ago, has it from God. Parents have it over their chil- would have been pronounced utterly incredidren by creation, therefore from the Creator; and ble! When strange things are to be done, rulers have it, by being God's ministers. This is Mr. Hutchinson's argument; and it is as close as a strange men arise to do them. One man, as demonstration. powerful in truth as Voltaire was in error, Some years ago I became acquainted with a young man, of bright parts, studious disposition, and a pious turn of mind; in whose conversation I found comfort and pleasure. To such advice as I gave him, in regard to his future studies, he was remarkably attentive. He saw a new field of learning opening to his view, which promised him much profitable employment; and he seemed in haste to enter upon it. As he was intended for the church, I flattered myself he would take some active part in the defence of Christian truth as a writer; together with the advancement of Christian piety as a preacher. With this prospect upon my mind, he left me 'or many months. But, at his return, I found xviii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. might produce very unexpected alterations, and in less time than he did. Then might a new era of learning succeed: as friendly to the Christian cause, as the learning which has been growing up amongst us for the last hundred years, has been hostile and destructive. As to confirmed infidelity, it is a deaf adder, never to be charmed. Yet even here the case is not always to be given up in despair. Many forsake truth because they hate it: of such there is no hope: but some believe wrong only because they never were taught right. Nayland, July 30th, 1799. |
