صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

ingenuous recommender. I am, what I heartily with every one were, except my infirmities and fins, a fincere Christian; but fo far from being a bigot, or a conceited writer, that I greatly prefer his Sermons to my own, and in one or two important refpects, to all others I have read.

Their ftyle is both plain and elegant ; so plain as to be intelligible to the capacity of every reader; and yet fo unaffectedly elegant, without a fingle forced ornament, that the reader, who is not highly entertained with their manner, must, in my opinion, be deftitute alike of taste and judgment; and indeed fo alien from the principles of Chriftianity, as to have nothing to do with fermons of any kind; for, were they lefs agreeably written than they are, the facred truths, whereon they are built, and whereby they are every where notably enforced, could not fail to carry with them thofe understandings and hearts, whereof Christianity had, in any degree, been previously poffeffed; nay, and with fuch beauty and power do the principles of Chriftian faith, in thefe admirable performances, enforce the moral practice of their reader, that, I think, the doubter or fceptic, if at all either candid or attentive, muft, on the perufal, become a real Chriftian.

It is certain, these fermons are of the first character throughout, yet the four or five in the first volume, on the Lord's fupper, diftinguish themfelves among the reft, as of a fuperior order. In these the author rifes above himself in adminif tering confolation to the timorous penitent, who here seeing the full payment of all his debts, imparted by Chrift to his Apoftles, and handed thro

Walker

Walker to his afflicted foul, beholds, at the fame time, the prison gates fet open to him. Here he tastes a wine, better than the miraculous cordial of Cana, drawn as from the veins of Chrift, to cheer his dejected fpirit. Here his wounded heart receives a ftream of fpiritual milk and honey from the rock of falvation, which heals its breaches, encourages its daftardly love, new kindles and invigorates, with hope unspeakable, its languid devotions.

Although they are by their admirable author, justly entitled Practical Sermons, employed throughout in the bleffed work of extirpating vice, and establishing virtue, yet in fo powerful and happy a manner do they pursue both those purposes, almost wholly on fcriptural principles, that I do not think those principles are fo well supported by the ableft controverfial defenders of our faith. One half almoft of every fermon given us by Walker, confifts of quotations from the word of God, fo appofitely applied, and fo ftrenuously urged by the ingenious writer, that the friends of virtue fee in them a beautiful demonstration of the principles he grounds himself on, fuperior to every other species of argument; not that the completion of prophefies, and the exhibition of miracles are forgotten. Thefe latter, however, are kept in fight rather as a corps de referve, than as forces neceffary to be called into the line on an emergency. His morality fustained, in the most evident manner, by the infinite strength of its own fcriptural principles, leaves little room for polemic emergencies. We hear God. fpeaking, and see him looking on, in

[ocr errors]

every paragraph. Here we fee an heaven above, there an hell below, an eternity extending itself beyond, in every article of perfuafion. Hence we liften to the voice of a redeeming God, calling to repentance in fuch a language, as no other man ever spoke, and crying ftill in a louder tone from his five wounds for the pardon of his tranfgreffing fervants.

Whereas however that admirable book, the old Whole Duty of Man, and Walker's excellent Sermons, every where take it for granted, that their readers receive the Bible for the very word of God; and whereas the ignorant, or the doubtful are not fufficiently convinced of its divine original and its neceffity; I will take the liberty of hinting here to those readers, in diftinct propofitions, fuch topics of meditation, as may lead to, if not fully produce, the important conviction, beginning with fome of preparatory fignificance.

1. As this life is a wheel that runs on a very uneven road, every wife man should take a coachman's feat on the world.

2. An humble man alone can be the disciple of God, for no man begins to be wife, until he finds himself to be a fool.

3. An high building ought to have a low foundation.

4. Take heed how. you hear, faith Chrift. Great is the art of rightly hearing; perhaps not less, that of being fometimes deaf. Of all poifons, there is none more deadly, than fome which are poured into the ears.

5. It is one thing to make a knife, and another to give it a good edge. God alone can make, and finish a good man.

6. The first question of every man should be, who, and what am I?

7. The fecond, am I independent, or a fer vant?

8. And the third, If I am a fervant, who is my mafter? what is my work? and what are my wages ?

9. The tree of knowledge, strikes its roots too deep, and raises its head too high, to be discovered by the efforts of a finite understanding. Such an understanding left to itself, whether in diving or climbing, creeps but a few inches on the furface, till it is loft, first in confusion, and then in ignorance.

10. Divine things, of all others, are most infcrutable, till exhibited by a light divine.

11. There is nothing in man fó ridiculously unbecoming, as to affume an air of independence. Wealth and power can never bear him out in it; and knowledge, fuch as he can attain to, whether by his own endeavours, or by fuperior aids, can only serve to humble him to a still deeper sense of his own dependence.

12. It is only by the corruption of his nature that man becomes a flave, and by his ignorance of the true religion, that he continues in flavery. He who with head and heart embraces the true religion, fears nothing; and, as to his elections, is either well qualified, on all occafions, to chuse that which is best for himself, or knows, that infinite wisdom and goodness will chuse it for him. 13. Same

13. Some infidels infift, that man is a neceffary agent, and compelled to act in confequence of motives, especially the prepollent motive. Now, I'maintain, that in this he is not forced, but as a rational and free creature, chufes to act in confequence of the prepollent motive, rather than of weaker motives, and never lofes the benefit of this freedom in chufing, but when he mistakes the comparative pollency of motives. Were it poffible for him to be deprived of this freedom, he would, in that cafe, fink into an ideot and a flave. To say he cannot be compelled thus to act, while ftill a rational creature, is the fame as to fay, fuch a creature cannot be abfolutely enflaved. What other or greater liberty man may be endowed with, we cannot conceive, for this is acting up to the best reason he hath in pursuit of his own happiness. We cannot even imagine a greater degree of liberty in creatures of a fuperior order. Some have been fo bold as to fay, there is no other liberty in God; but this is a fort of ignorance, bordering upon blafphemy.

વી,

14. Do you wish to be free? as free as a man can, or ought to be? go to Chrift, who will teach you the truth, and that truth fhall make you free. You shall know and feel this truth, that God is your mafter; that he abhors a forced and involuntary fervice; that, as his fervant, you fhall be delivered from the flavery of luft, paffion, fin, and fatan; from a flavish fear of death and mifery in both worlds; and be at liberty to purfue your own real happinefs by all the means that conduce thereto, with all the ardour of your foul.

15. But

« السابقةمتابعة »