“As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
Tho’ round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.”
Whilst, however, we rely with firm and holy confidence upon the Great Author and Finisher of our Faith, for the protection and preservation of His Church; zeal, energy, and discretion, in defence of religion, are not the less requisite in believers, who labour under their Heavenly Master for the furtherance of His Gospel. As the Almighty is pleased to employ human agents for the accomplishment of His gracious designs towards His creatures; His faithful servants hoping to prove instruments, in His hands, of good to their fellow men, must use every means in their power to frustrate the evil designs of the enemies of the Lord; and to induce a sinful nation, suffering under a Divine visitation, to put away from them “the evil of their ways,” which has called down the Divine displeasure; and humbling themselves before God to implore His mercy, “that the plague may be stayed from the people.” [154] Let, then, all the servants of the Lord, at this alarming and awful crisis, “be very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts;” [155] and pray and labour incessantly for the defeat of the devices of unbelief; which, whether under the form of an irreligious spirit seeking to do without Christianity, or under the bolder aspect of open infidelity, striving to subvert Christianity, is the main cause of the evils which now endanger the safety of the civil and religious institutions of the kingdom. We have seen that, in the case of the lower classes of society, the tide of profaneness has been setting in with a force and fury which threaten to overturn all the defences of religion, morals, and laws, which have long withstood their fierce assaults—their destructive ravages. Can it be that the emissaries of Satan shall be found more zealous and indefatigable in disseminating the poison which is to destroy both body and soul, than the servants of God are vigilant, active, and unwearied, to prevent the bane or supply the antidote? Can it be that the slaves of sin and darkness, under the galling yoke of him who is a hard master, will manifest a more willing and prompt obedience, than the servants of God, in the cause of their blessed Lord, whose “burden is light,”—“whose service is perfect freedom?” We have seen, also, that in the middle and higher classes of society there appears to be an equally effective, though less conspicuous, agent at work—a deep and silent current, which is gradually, though secretly, undermining that great foundation of Christianity, that the law of God is to be the rule of life. This great engine of evil, as more insidious, is, in reality, more dangerous than the noisy turbulence of infidel assemblies, or the open circulation of blasphemous publications; the power of the spirit of darkness, when, “as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may devour,” is less to be dreaded, than when he employs the noiseless gliding of “the serpent,” which discovers itself only by the sting of death. Can it be that any of the friends of religion will shut their ears against these representations of great and alarming danger—delude themselves with the groundless anticipations of unjustifiable hope—deceive themselves with the distant plans of culpable procrastination—or shroud themselves beneath the covering of indolent supineness and heartless indifference? Too long palliatives have been employed instead of remedies, expediency has been substituted for principle, and worldly wisdom has encroached upon the province of Divine Revelation. As a Christian nation our laws and institutions should be all essentially Christian; the foreign and domestic policy of the State, and the public and private conduct of individuals, should be all animated by a Christian spirit, and guided by Christian rules and precedents.
Let us, therefore, enquire by what means is the predominance of Christianity to be restored, when it is threatened with still further depression; when it has great and powerful enemies all plotting its destruction in this country?
There is one mean—to which reference has been already made, as being the great object the believer should have in view—which would, with the blessing of God, upon whom alone dependence must rest for success against His enemies, be effectual in accomplishing this great end, and that is the zealous and unanimous co-operation of all Christians for the general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge. A very brief examination into the cause which has contributed largely to the present state of things, so unfavourable to the interests of genuine Christianity, may suffice to place this in a clear point of view.
Religious error generally receives its distinguishing features from the literary character of the age: and an age which abounds with sciolists is very fertile in sceptics. For it has been always found that the effect of superficial knowledge is rather to unsettle, of profound knowledge to confirm, belief in Revelation; as was well observed by that mighty master in philosophy, Bacon, who says, “a little philosophy inclines us to atheism, and a great deal of philosophy carries us back to religion.” And the reason of this is obvious; there are certain difficulties of every subject which lie upon, or nearly at, the surface; slight labour and research, therefore, put the enquirer in possession of little more than those difficulties; whilst if the spirit of patient and accurate investigation had carried him further, he would have found them gradually disappear before the light of truth breaking by degrees upon his mind, and leading him to just and certain conclusions, drawn from a long series of proofs. Now the present age appears to be characterized by a wide diffusion of elementary knowledge amongst all classes of society; by a preference of an extensive, though necessarily superficial, acquaintance with general literature and the elements of modern science, to an accurate and profound knowledge of a few leading branches of study; and by a tendency to elevate the pursuit of physical above that of moral and religious truth. From the proposition laid down, of the ordinary effects of superficial knowledge upon the mind in the investigation of religious truth, we should conclude, that such a system of popular instruction is calculated to indispose towards the full reception of a Divine Revelation; that the mind, either bewildered by a variety of pursuits, or dissatisfied by diversity of opinions, will consider all knowledge uncertain, and all theories unsatisfactory; or influenced by that intellectual pride and presumption which are amongst the most bitter fruits of defective knowledge, deem itself competent to decide summarily upon whatever passes under its observation. For if it has been found—as it has been too often found—that minds, otherwise highly gifted, but destitute of religious principles, when long accustomed to demonstration, are apt to underrate the value of moral proof; and when long familiar with natural causes, sometimes forget the great Architect, who formed and put in motion our globe; sometimes forget the great First Cause, which gave nature her powers and properties, and now preserves and directs them to a beneficial end: what must we expect when far inferior minds, without mental discipline and profound knowledge, those happy results of laborious and patient study; but with vanity flattered by appeals made to its judgment, and with pride fostered by the acquisition of a poor modicum of science, deem themselves competent not merely to decide upon the most difficult questions of government and legislation, but upon the most profound truths of natural and revealed religion? The result may be easily anticipated; if this empty vanity, this presumptuous pride of intellect, reject not Christianity at once, it ordinarily takes an heretical direction, and assuming the specious guise of love of investigation, and value for the powers of reason, it makes the deep and awful mysteries of our holy faith the subject of crude theories and daring speculations; and with powers confessedly unequal to the explanation of some of the lowest wonders of the material world, seeks to penetrate within the veil drawn around the Godhead, and reduce to the level of human comprehension the very nature of the Divine essence. Should it, however, take one step further, and that an easy step, it rejects the truths it had long distorted, it resigns the shadow of which it had never known the substance, and declaring Christianity to be “a cunningly devised fable,” it becomes the advocate of heartless, hopeless infidelity.
This is no imaginary picture, but one, of the reality and fidelity of which the present state of society affords too abundant proof. Not that superficial acquaintance with science is a thing of new occurrence; not that pride of intellect—ever a luxuriant weed in rich but ill-cultivated soils,—is a growth peculiar to our times; not that heresy and infidelity, its bitterest fruits, never till now spread their poison through our land; but never before was the field so large, the weeds more rank, and the crop so abundant. Formerly, science flowed in a few deep and noble rivers, of whose copious waters the nation at large sparingly drank; we still have many rich streams which fertilize the land, but in addition to them there is an infinity of small rivulets, some of which, like mountain torrents, after a thunder-storm, are brawling and turbulent, covered with much foam, mixed with much impurity, often rising over their banks, and spreading havoc and barrenness, where all was fertility and beauty. Such streams may serve to illustrate the effects, upon society, of the violence and turbulence of those, whose imperfect acquaintance with science has first shaken their own belief, and has then been made instrumental to the spread of infidel doctrines, amongst those who had lived in happy ignorance of “science, falsely so called.” But would any one, therefore, be so unwise as to endeavour to keep these turbulent brooks pent up? The destruction would be only wider and heavier when they at last burst over the mounds that restrained them: but it is at once the course of wisdom and of humanity to confine them within their banks, and give them a due direction, and then, as they descend towards the plain, gradually the brawling ceases, the froth disappears, the mud subsides, and you have a pure and quiet stream diffusing the riches, refreshment, and beauty of science over the land. No calumny has, perhaps, been more frequently repeated in the present day than that those who expose the perversion, are the enemies of science. But in spite of interested clamour and unjust censure, the Christian is bound to maintain, that knowledge is valuable in the degree in which it makes men not merely wiser but better: and that however he may approve of literary and scientific pursuits, however ready he may be to extol their value, for great indeed is their value, still their highest value is in proving subsidiary to the acquisition of Christian knowledge. Whilst, therefore, he recommends their attainment, because they are calculated to enlighten and invigorate the mind, correct and refine the taste, exalt and dignify the character, to supply a rational and unfailing source of relaxation and enjoyment, he must ever maintain, that unless hallowed with some portion of that “wisdom which is from above,” they will be useless to their possessor, and may, by a mischievous perversion, not only be fatal to his present and future happiness, but injurious to the best interests of a community.
That the extension of education has contributed to the production of such evils is true, but it is not less true, that education is not fairly chargeable with accidental and separable consequences. The fault has been, that the provision for the religious instruction of the age, notwithstanding the zeal and activity shewn to accomplish this great object, has not increased in the same ratio with that for its advancement in literature and science. The supply of the mental wants of the middle and lower classes of society, which have received this powerful impulsion towards knowledge, has been too much in the hands of those who avowedly exclude religion from their system of popular education. Thus, a much neglected soil has been broken up, and prepared for cultivation, but “whilst men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares in the field;” the Lord’s labourers, however, are not therefore to desert the field, but to employ, for the future, more watchful vigilance, more earnest zeal, and more assiduous labour. There is no benefit nor blessing which is not capable of perversion and abuse; but it would be a strange act of folly to refuse a manifest advantage, through fear of contingent evil, both the prevention and correction of which are in our own power. “The almost universal diffusion of elementary knowledge furnishes the enemies of revealed religion with abundant materials to work upon: but then it also furnishes the friends of truth with the obvious means of counteracting the influence of erroneous doctrines, and of instilling sounder principles into the bulk of the community. Any attempt to suppress, or even to check, the spirit of inquiry, which is abroad in the world, would not only be a vain and fruitless attempt, but a violation of the indefeasible liberty of the human mind, and an interference with its natural constitution. To impart to that spirit a right direction, to sanctify it with holy motives, to temper it to righteous purposes, to shape it to ends which lie beyond the limits of this beginning of our existence, will be the endeavour of those who desire to make the cultivation of intellect conducive to moral improvement, and to establish the kingdom of Christ at once in the understanding and affections of mankind.” [164]
Let, then, all the friends of religion employ some portion of their time, their influence, and their wealth, in zealously labouring to promote a general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge. Let them be assured that the mental cultivation of the population of a country, when properly conducted, will, by elevating the moral character, always have a beneficial influence upon society; that it can only be properly conducted when religion forms the basis of the system of instruction; and that the present ardent thirst for knowledge will be productive of lasting evil or good to the best interests of England, accordingly as it is, or is not, directed as to an object of paramount importance, to that fountain of “living water” which floweth for our salvation.
When religion has been made the basis of education, and the principles of revelation have been clearly understood, and cordially embraced, a slight acquaintance with science not only ceases to have any injurious effect upon the mind, but benefits it, as the acquisition of useful knowledge must always do: in the humility, faith, stability, and knowledge of true religion, there is a safe-guard against the evils usually attendant upon a superficial acquaintance with natural philosophy in minds ill-disciplined and ill-informed. Nor is it only that physical science benefits minds early imbued with religious principles; a knowledge of many of its departments opens a new and unfailing source of high and pure enjoyment; it supplies, as it were, a new sense: before, Creation presented a beautiful and varied picture, delighting the eye, and filling the heart with gladness. But it was in a degree like the picture of a great master, to one unacquainted with painting; the general beauty, and happiness of effect, were discoverable, but there was not the full satisfaction which the connoisseur derives from his knowledge of the art; upon the former, the general effect principally makes an impression; with the latter, not only the general effect, but all the variety of details, all the happy combinations, which have united to produce that effect, are seen, understood, and appreciated; and there results the high gratification felt by a cultivated mind, when the eye is pleased, the understanding exercised, and the judgment satisfied. However inadequate every illustration, drawn from art, must be to convey any just conception of the impression which the works of nature are calculated to make upon the enlightened mind; still this may afford a faint parallel of the advantage which scientific men possess over those who have never studied the book of nature. For physical science improves the perception of the beauties, whilst it unfolds the wonders, of creation: not only do the great results of nature’s works become, through it, better understood; but the causes and modes of operation, by which those results are accomplished, are discovered: and the student becomes more full of delight and admiration, the further his researches extend; he traces the nice connexion, which every where exists between causes and effects; and surveys, with wonder and praise, the beautiful contrivances, the admirable adaptations, the perfect harmony, which reign throughout the creation of God. His mind thus becomes deeply and powerfully impressed with the uniform perfection visible in the works of the Deity: if he observe with his telescope a planet,—one of those bright bodies which gem the canopy of heaven,—or examine with his microscope an insect,—one of the minutest beings which sport in the summer’s sunshine,—he still sees the same perfection; “those rolling fires on high” perform their appointed revolutions, in their several orbits, directed by unvarying laws; and the tiny insect, equally complete in its organization, exercises, with an instinct as unerring, its allotted functions.
The whole material universe supplies the student of nature with a rich field, at once, of investigation and enjoyment: the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal kingdoms, all disclose their treasures to his inquiring mind; which is not, however, limited by the narrow bounds of our terraqueous globe, but ranges through the fields of ether, far as the eye can penetrate into the distant regions of illimitable space. Throughout he is delighted to trace the hand of the Creator; to observe every where design and arrangement; nothing superfluous, nothing in vain, but the mighty machinery of a stupendous system; in the great principles of which there is sublime simplicity, in their operations unvarying accuracy and matchless contrivance, in their details endless variety and infinite combinations, and in their effects utility, beauty, grandeur, and magnificence. The works of the Almighty far exceed the full comprehension of finite intelligence, but much further do they transcend adequate description in uninspired language: man feels all his feebleness of intellect and of expression, when he attempts to penetrate deeply into, or to describe accurately, the mighty works of God; he is then constrained to confess, “such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me; I cannot attain unto it.” [167] “Oh Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches; so is the great and wide sea also.” [168a] “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handy-work.” [168b] “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together, as it were upon an heap, and layeth up the deep, as in a treasure-house. Let the earth fear the Lord: stand in awe of Him, all ye that dwell in the world. For He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” [168c] And he breaks forth in the devout hymn of the Psalmist; “Praise the Lord, oh my soul: oh Lord my God, Thou art become exceeding glorious: Thou art clothed with majesty and honour. Thou deckest Thyself with light, as it were with a garment: and spreadest out the heavens like a curtain. Who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, and maketh the clouds His chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the wind.”