REFLECTIONS,

OR

A PERSUASIVE TO CHRISTIAN MODERATION.

"There is nothing in the world more wholesome or more necessary for us to learn than this gracious lesson of moderation, without which, in very truth, a man is so far from being a Christian, that he is not himself! This is the centre wherein all both divine and moral philosophy meet-the rule of life— the governess of manners—the silken string that runs through the pearl chain of all virtues-the very ecliptic line under which reason and religion move without any deviation, and therefore most worthy our best thoughts-of our most careful observance."-BISHOP HALL.

1. SINCE the best and wisest of mankind thus differ on the speculative tenets of religion, let us try to form a just estimate of the extent of the human faculties.

A modest estimate of the human faculties is an inducement to moderation. After laborious inves-tigations, probably with equal degrees of knowledge and integrity, men arrive at opposite conclusions. This is a necessary consequence of imperfection. Human reason soars with feeble, and often with ineffectual wing, into the regions of speculation. Let none affirm that this mode of argument leads to indifference with respect to the acquisition of religious truth. To declare that all tenets are alike, is an

affront to the understanding. The chilling hesitation of scepticism, the forbidding sternness of bigotry, and the delirious fever of enthusiasm, are equally abhorrent from the genius of true Christianity. Truth being the conformity of our conceptions to the nature of things, we should be careful lest our conceptions be tinctured with error. Philosophers suppose that the senses convey the most determinate species of information; yet these senses are not endued with an instinctive infallibility. How much greater cause have we to mistrust the exercise of our rational powers, which from early infancy are beset with prejudices!

Our reason proves of essential use to us in ascertaining the nature of truth, and the degrees of evidence with which different positions are attended. This induces a modesty of temper, the ground-work of charity. Richard Baxter, revered for his good sense as well as his fervent piety, has these remarkable expressions on the subject: "I am not so foolish as to pretend my certainty to be greater than it is, merely because it is dishonour to be less certain: nor will I by shame be kept from confessing the infirmities which those have as much as I, who hypocritically reproach me with them. My certainty that I am a man is before my certainty that there is a God; my certainty that there is a God is greater than my certainty that he requireth love and holiness of his creatures: my certainty of this is greater than my certainty of the life of reward and punishment hereafter; my certainty of that is greater than my

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certainty of the endless duration of it, and the immortality of individual souls; my certainty of the Deity is greater than my certainty of the Christian faith; my certainty of the Christian faith in its essentials is greater than my certainty of the perfection and infallibility of all the Holy Scriptures; my certainty of that is greater than my certainty of the meaning of many particular texts, and so of the truth of many particular doctrines, or of the canonicalness of some certain books. So that you see by what gradations my understanding doth proceed, as also that my certainty differeth as the evidence differs! And they that have attained to a greater perfection and a higher degree of certainty than I, should pity me, and produce their evidence to help me." This paragraph should be written in letters of gold. Like the Roman laws of old, it ought to be hung up in public, and every means should be taken to direct towards it the attention of the professors of Christianity. This accurate statement of the nature and degrees of belief, duly impressed on the mind, would be an effectual safe-guard from bigotry.

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Reason, though imperfect, is the noblest gift of God, and upon no pretence must it be decried. distinguishes man from the beasts of the field, gives him a relationship to the skies, elevates him to the superiority which he possesses over this lower creation. By Deists it is extolled to the prejudice of revelation; and by Enthusiasts it is depreciated, in order that they may advance their absurd systems.

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Yet, strange inconsistency! even enthusiasts condescend to employ this calumniated faculty in pointing out the conformity of their tenets to Scripture, and in fabricating evidence to support them. But beware of speaking lightly of reason, which is denominated the eye of the soul! Every opprobrious epithet with which the thoughtless or the designing dare to stigmatise it vilifies the Creator.

From the preceding pages it will be seen how prone men are to extremes in the important affairs of religion. The evil arises from the neglect of reason, which is termed by an inspired writer the "candle of the Lord,” and which must be the best guide in the interpretation of the New Testament. The epithet carnal, with which professors are too apt to stigmatise it, is never once applied to it in the Holy Scriptures. The epithet is there attached not to reason, but to the ceremonial commandments and ordinances of the former dispensation. Mr. Locke remarks, "Very few make any other use of their half-employed and undervalued reason but to bandy against it. For when, by the influence of some prevailing head, they all lean one way, truth is sure to be borne down, and there is nothing so dangerous as to make any inquiry after her; and to own her for her own sake is a most unpardonable crime." Thus it appears that the neglect of reason in matters of religion is a long standing evil, and will never be altogether eradicated in the present imperfect condition of humanity. But far from fettering the human mind, Christianity allows it free and vigorous exercise. By coming in

contact with sacred subjects, it is refined and invigorated. It will be carried to perfection in a better world.

Circumscribed, indeed, are the operations of reason, and fallible are its decisions. That it is incompetent to investigate certain subjects which our curiosity may long to penetrate, is acknowledged. Its extension beyond its assigned boundaries has proved an ample source of error. Thus Mr. Colliber, an ingenious writer, often referred to by Dr. Doddridge in his Lectures, imagines, in his treatise entitled "The Knowledge of God," that the Deity must have some form, and intimates it may probably be spherical! Indeed, the abuse of reason has led to endless paradoxes, and given birth to those monstrous systems of metaphysical theology, which are "the plague of wise men, and the idol of fools." Upon many religious topics, which have tortured our understandings, the sacred writers are respectfully silent. Where they cease to inform us we should drop our inquiries; unless we claim superior degrees of information, and deem ourselves more competent to decide on these intricate subjects. "The modesty of Christians," says Archbishop Tillotson, "is contented, in divine mysteries, to know what God has thought fit to reveal concerning them, and hath no curiosity to be wise above that which is written. It is enough to believe what God says concerning these matters; and if any man will venture to say more—every other man surely is at liberty to believe as he sees

reason."

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