The Works of the Rev. Robert Hall, A.M.: With a Memoir of His Life

Front matter

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you.

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.

Preface to the Second Edition . . 82

The Advantages of Knowledge to the Lower Classes . 113

Advertisement 115

On the Discouragements and Supports of the Christian

Minister 127

Dedication 129

Discourse I35

An Address to the Rev. Eustace Carey, on his Designation AS A Christian Missionary to India .... 157

A Sermon on the Death of Her Royal Highness the

A Funeral Sermon for the Rev. Dr. Ryland .... 203

Xii CONTENTS.

CIRCULAH LETTERS.

Page

On the Excellency of the Christian Dispensation . . 226

On the Work of the Holy Spirit 233

SERMON NOT BEFORE PUBLISHED.

On the Substitution of the Innocent for the Guilty . 261

Note by the Editor " 263

On Terms of Communion 283

Introductory Remarks 289

section I

The Argument from the Order of Time in which Baptism and the Lord's Supper are supposed to have been instituted 293

section n.

The Argument for Strict Communion from the Order of Words in the Apostolic Commission, considered . . . 304

SECTION m.

The Argument from Apostolical Precedent, and from the different Significations of the two Institutions, considered . 309

SECTION IV.

Our supposed Opposition to the Universal Suffrages of the Church, considered . 316

Section VI

The Impolicy of the Practice of Strict Communion considered 351 Postscript 360

Dn THE Essential Difference between Christian Baptism

AND THE Baptism of John 363

Reply to the Rev. Joseph Kinghorn, being a further Vindication of the Practice of Free Communion . . 391

PART I.

The Fundamental Position; or, the supposed necessary Connexion between the two positive Institutes of Christianity examined 401

chapter I

Remarks on Mr. Kinghorn's Statement of the Controversy 401

chapter IT.

His Attempt to establish the Connexion contended for from the Apostolic Commission and Primitive Precedent . . 406

chapter 111.

The supposed necessary Connexion between the two positive Institutes further discussed, wherein other Arguments are examined 423

Xiv CONTENTS.

PART 11.

Pag The Collateral Topics introduced by Mr. Kinghorn considered 436

CHAPTER IV.

The Charge of dispensing with a Christian Ordinance considered 436

CHAPTER V.

An Inquiry how far the Practice of Mixed Communion affects the Grounds of Dissent from the Church of England and from the Church of Rome 443

CHAPTER VI.

The Propriety of appealing, in this Controversy, to the pe cuHar Principles of the Pedobaptists, briefly examined and discussed 452

Part III

In which the Insufficiency of the Reply Mr. Kinghorn has made to the principal Arguments urged for Mixed Communion is exposed 457

CHAPTER VII.

His Reply to the Argument deduced from the Scriptural Injunction of Mutual Forbearance and Brotherly Love, considered 457

CHAPTER VIII.

On the Argument for Mixed Communion founded on the Pedobaptists being a part of the true Church .... 470

CHAPTER IX.

The Injustice of the Exclusion of other Denominations considered as a Punishment 474

CHAPTER X.

On the Contrariety of the Maxims and Sentiments of the Advocates of Strict Communion to those which prevailed in the early Ages ; in which the Innovation imputed to them by the Author is vindicated from the Charge of Misrepresentation 481

CHAPTER XI.

Conclusion 493

MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED, WITH RESPECT TO ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY :

IN

['BEACHED AT

THE BAPTIST MEETING, CAMBRIDGE.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fbolB.—St Paid.

Preface

The author knows not whether it be necessary to apologize for the extraordinary length of this sermon, which so much exceeds the usual limits of public discourses ; for it is only for fhe reader to conceive (by a fiction of the imagination, if he pleases so to consider it) that the patience of his audience indulged him with their attention during its delivery. The fact is, not being in the habit of writing his sermons, this discourse was not committed to paper till after it was delivered : so that the phraseology may probably vary, and the bulk be somewhat extended : but the substance is certainly retained.

He must crave the indulgence of the rehgious public for having blended so little theology with it. He is fully aware the chief attention of a Christian minister should be occupied in explaining the doctrines - and enforcing the duties of genuine Christianity. Nor is he chargeable, he hopes, in the exercise of his public functions, with any remarkable deviation from this rule of conduct: yet he is equally convinced, excursions into other topics are sometimes both lawful and necessary. The versatility of error demands a correspondent variety in the methods of defending truth : and from whom have the public more right to expect its defence, in opposition to the encroachments of error and infidelity, than from those who profess to devote their studies and their lives to the advancement of virtue and religion? Accordingly, a multitude of publications on these subjects, equally powerful in argument and impressive in manner, have issued from divines of different persuasions, which must be allowed to have done the utmost honour to the clerical profession. The most luminous statements of the evidences of Christianity, on historical grounds, have been made ; the petulant cavils of infidels satisfactorily refuted ; and their ignorance, if not put to shame, at least amply exposed : so that revelation, as far as truth and reason can prevail, is on all sides triumphant.

There is one point of view, however, in which the respective systems remain to be examined, which, though hitherto little considered, is forced upon our attention by the present conduct of our adversaries ; that is, their influence on society. The controversy appears to have taken a new turn. The advocates of infidelity, baflled in the field of argument, though unwilling to relinquish the contest, have changed their mode of attack ; and seem less disposed to impugn the authority ihan to supersede the use of revealed religion, by giving such repre-

VoL. I.— B sentations of man and of society as are calculated to make its sanetions appear unreasonable and unnecessary. Their aim is not so much to discredit the pretensions of any particular religion as to set aside the principles common to all.

To obliterate the sense of Deity, of moral sanctions, and a future world, — and by these means to prepare the way for the total subversion of every institution, both social and religious, which men have been hitherto accustomed to revere, — is evidently the principal object of modern skeptics ; the first sophists who have avowed an attempt to govern the world, without inculcating the persuasion of a superior power. It might well excite our surprise to behold an effort to shake off the yoke of religion, which was totally unknown during the prevalence of gross superstition, reserved for a period of the world distinguished from every other by the possession of a revelation more pure, more perfect, and better authenticated than the enlightened sages of antiquity ever ventured to anticipate, were we not fully persuaded the imma(5ulate holiness of this revelation is precisely that which renders it disgusting to men who are determined at all events to retain their vices. Our Saviour furnishes the solution: — They love darkness rather than lights because their deeds are evil ; neither will they come to the lights lest their deeds should he reproved.

While all the religions, the Jewish excepted, which, previous to the promulgation of Christianity, prevailed in the world, partly the contrivance of human policy, partly the offspring of ignorant fear, mixed with the mutilated remains of traditionary revelation, were favourable to the indulgence of some vices, and but feebly restrained the practice of others ; between vice of every sort and in every degree, and the religion of Jesus, there subsists an irreconcilable enmity, an eternal discord. The dominion of Christianity being in the very essence of it the dominion of virtue, we need look no further for the sources of hostility in any who oppose it, than their attachment to vice and disorder.

This view of the controversy, if it be just, demonstrates its supreme importance ; and furnishes the strongest plea with every one with whom it is not a matter of indifference whether vice or virtue, delusion or truth, governs the world, to exert his talents, in whatever proportion they are possessed, in contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. In such a crisis, is it not best for Christians of all denominations, that they may better concentrate their forces against the common adversary, to suspend for the present their internal disputes ; imitating the pohcy of wise states, who have never failed to consider the invasion of an enemy as the signal for terminating the contests of party? Internal peace is the best fruit we can reap from external danger. The momentous contest at issue between the Christian church and infidels may instruct us how trivial, for the most part, are the controversies of its members with each other ; and that the different ceremonies, opinions, and practices by which they are distingTiished correspond to the variety of feature and complexion discernible in the offspring of the same parent, among whom there subsists the greatest family likeness. May it please God so to dispose the minds of Christians of every visible church and community, that Ephraim may no longer vex Judah, nor Judah Ephraim ; that the only rivalry felt in future may be, who shall most advance the interests of our common Christianity; and the only provocation sustained, that of provoking each other to love and good works ! When, at the distance of more than half a century, Christianity was assaulted by a Woolston^ a Tindal^ and a Morgan, it was ably supported, both by clergymen of the established church, and writers among Protestant dissenters. The labours of a Clarke and a Butler were associated with those of a Doddridge, a Leland, and a Lardner, with such equal reputation and success, as to make it evident that the intrinsic excellence of religion needs not the aid of external appendages ; but that, with or without a dowry, her charms are of sufficient power to fix and eng'dge the heart.

The writer of this discourse will feel himself happy, should his example stimulate any of his brethren of superior abilities to contribute their exertions in so good a cause. His apology for not entering more at large into the proofs of the being of a God,* and the evidences of Christianity,! is, that these subjects have been already handled with great ability by various writers ; and that he wished rather to confine himself to one view of the subject — The total incompatibility of skeptical principles with the existence of society. Should his life be spared, he may probably at some future time enter into a fuller and more particular examination of the infidel philosophy, both with respect to its speculative principles and its practical effects, — its influence on society and on the individual. In the mean time he humbly consecrates this discourse to the honour of that Saviour, who, when the means of a more liberal offering are wanting, commends the widow's mite.

• (CAMBRIDGE, Januavi/ 18, 1801.

* See an excellent sermon on Atheism by ^e Rev. Mr. Estlin, of Bristol, at whose meeting the substance of this discourse was first preached. In the sermon referred to, the argument for the existence of a Deity is stated with the utmost clearn^s and precision; and the sophistry of Dupuis, a French infidel, refuted in a very satisfactory manner.

t It is aliTDSt superfluous to name a work so universally known as Dr. Paley's View of the EyI* deiKtes of Christianity, which is probably, without exception, the most clear and satisfactory stat»« merit of the historical proofs of the Christian religion ever exhibited in any age or country

B2

NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

Nothing can be more erroneous than the idea, entertained by a few poisons, that Mr. Hall recited his sermons memoriter, from the study of a previous2y written composition. His eloquence was the spontaneous result of his vigorous and richly stored intellect, and needed not the aid of the usual expedients of men of ordinary mind. There is great reason to believe, that during the entire extent of his ministry he only committed one sermon to memory from a previously composed manuscript, and that was the second in this volume, " Reflections on War." It was preached on a day of thanksgiving, at the termination of a long and dreadful war ; it was a publicly announced sermon, to aid the funds of a benevolent society ; persons of different religious and political sentiments wore expected to be assembled, at a time when the violent party-feelings excited by the Frencli Revolution of 1789 had but little subsided ; and Mr. Hall, afraid of yielding to his own emotions on such an occasion, and perhaps of disturbing the feelings of harmony which it was hoped would prevail, thought it advisable for once to deviate from his usual course. That course was, very briefly to sketch, commonly upon a sheet of letter-paper (in a few cases rather more fully), the plan of the proposed discourse, marking the divisions, specifying a few texts, and sometimes writing the first sentence. This he regarded as " digging a channel for his thoughts to flow in." Then, calling into exercise the power of abstraction, which he possessed in a degree I never saw equalled, he would, whether alone or not, pursue his trains of thought, retrace and extend them, until the whole were engraven on his mind ; and when once so fixed in their entire connexion, they were never after obliterated. The result was on all occasions the same ; so that, without recurring to the ordinary expedients, or loading his memory with words and phrases, he uniformly brought his mind, with an unburdened vigour and elasticity to bear upon its immediate purpose, recalling the selected train of thought, and communicating it to others, in diction the most felicitous, appropriate, and impressive. This was uniformly the case with regard to the tenor and substance of his discourses ; but the most striking and impressive passages were often, strictly speaking, extemporaneous.

On various occasions I have ascertained the correctness of his recollection as to trains of thought and matters of arrangement. Thus, on drawing his attention fully to an interesting conversation which occurred nearly thirty years before, he has given as vivid and graphic a sketch of the persons present, their positions in the room, and of the main topics discussed, as though all had occurred in the preceding week. So, again, with respect to sermons preached early in the present century, and which seemed to have entirely escaped from his recollection ; when a reference to some illustration, or the mode of treating a subsidiary topic, has supplied the adequate clew, he has accurately described the plan, the reasoning, the object of the discourse, the illustrations employed, the principal texts adduced, &c., dwelling especially, as was always most natural to him, upon the parts that he regarded as defective.

The history of the following sermon, on " Modem Infidelity," may serve still further to illustrate the peculiar structure of Mr. Hall's intellect. He preached it first at Bristol, in October, 1800, and again at Cambridge in the month of November. Having yielded to the solicitations of his friends, and consented to its pubUcation, there remained two difiiculties, that of writing down the sermon (of which not a single sentence was upon paper), and that of superintending tht

22 NOTE BY THE EDITOR.

press. 1, who then resided at Cambridge, offered to undertake both these, pro^ vided he would engage not to go farther than ten miles from Cambridge, and allow me to follow him, wherever he went, to obtain " copy," as it should be needed. He acceded to that part of the arrangement which related to the i)r)ntmg ; but would not consent that I should be his amanuensis on that occasion. The writing, therefore, he undertook himself, but with great reluctance, on account of the severe pain which even then (and, indeed, much earlier) he expe rienced when remaining long in a sitting posture. The work, in consequence, proceeded slowly, and with many interruptions. At first I obtained from liim eight pages, and took them to the printer ; after a few days, four pages more ; then two or three pages ; then a more violent attack of his distressing pain in the back compelled him to write two or three pages while lying on the floor ; and soon afterward a still more violent paroxysm ' occasioned a longer suspension of his labour. After an interval of a week, the work was renewed at the joint entreaty of myself and other friends. It was pursued in the same manner, two or three pages being obtained for the printer at one time, a similar portion after a day or two, until, at the end of seven weeks, the task was completed. Daring the whole time of the composition, thus conducted, Mr. Hall never saw a single page of the printer's work. When I applied for more "copy," he asked what it was that he had written last, and then proceeded. Very often, after he had given me a small portion, he would inquire if he had written it nearly in the words which he had employed in delivering the sermon orally. After he had written down the strikinoapostrophe which occurs at about page 76 of most of the editions—" Eternal Godl on what are thine enemies intent ! what are those enterprises of guilt and horror, that, for the safety of their performers, require to be enveloped in a darkness which the eye of Heaven must not penetrate .'" — he asked, " Did I say 'penetrate^ sir, when I preached iti" "Yes." *'Do you think, sir, I may venture to alter it ] for no man who considered the force of the English language would use a word of three syllables there, but from absolute necessity." " You are doubtless at liberty to alter it, if you think well." " Then be so good, sir, to take your pencil, and for 'penetrate put pierce ; pierce is the word, sir, and the only word to be used there." I have now the evidence of this before me, in the entire manuscript, which I carefully preserve among my richest literary treasures.

At the end of seven weeks Mr. Hall's labour, thus conducted, being, greatly to his dehght, brought to a close, I presented him with a complete copy of his printed sermon, not one word of which he had seen in its progress.

During this interval he had preached at least twenty times, had paid his pastoral visits, as usual, had been often in the society of the literary men with whom he then associated, and had, with all his characteristic ardour, carried on, simultaneously, two distinct courses of reading.

I mistake greatly, if, after the perusal of this simple narrative, the reader will not turn to the sermon with additional rel ish, and meditate with augmented pleasure upon the peculiarities of this me*t VAlaaWe production, and the singular character of its author's mind.

OTJNTHUS GREGORY.

RoYiL Military Academy, June 1, 1831

A SERMON.

Ephes. ii. 12.

Without God in the world.

As the Christian ministry is estabUshed for the instruction of men, throughout every age, in truth and holiness, it must adapt itself to the ever-shifting scenes of the moral world, and stand ready to repel the attacks of impiety and error, under whatever form they may appear The church and the world form two societies so distinct, and are governed by such opposite principles and maxims, that, as well from this contrariety as from the express warnings • of Scripture, true Christians must look for a state of warfare, with this consoling assurance, that the church, like the burning bush beheld by Moses in the land of Midian, may be encompassed with flames, but will never be consumed.

When she was delivered from the persecuting power of Rome, she only experienced a change of trials. The oppression of external violence was followed by the more dangerous and insidious attacks of internal enemies. The freedom of inquiry claimed and asserted at the Reformation degenerated, in the hands of men who professed the principles without possessing the spirit of the Reformers, into a fondness for speculative refinements ; and consequently into a source of dispute, faction, and heresy. While Protestants attended more to the points on which they difl*ered than to those in which they agreed, — while more zeal was employed in settling ceremonies and defending subtleties than in enforcing plain revealed truths, — the lovely fruits of peace and charity perished under the storms of controversy.

In this disjointed and disordered state of the Christian church, they who never looked into the interior of Christianity were apt to suspect, that to a subject so fruitful in particular disputes must attach a general uncertainty; and that a religion founded on revelation could never have occasioned such discordancy of principle and practice among its disciples. Thus infidelity is the joint offspring of an irreligious temper and unholy speculation, employed, not in examining the evidences of Christianity, but in detecting the vices and imperfections of professing Christians. It has passed through various stages, each distinguished by higher gradations of impiety ; for when men arrogantly abandon their guide, and wilfully shut their eyes on the light of heaven, it is wisely ordained that their errors shall multiply at every step, until their extravagance confutes itself, and the mischief of thei/ principles works its own antidote. That such has been the progress of infidelity will be obvious from a slight survey of its history.

Lord Herbert, the first and purest of our English freethinkers, who flourished in the beginning of the reign of Charles the First, did not so much impugn the doctrine or the morality of the Scriptures, as attempt to supersede their necessity, by endeavouring to show that the great principles of the unity of God, a moral government, and a future world, are taught with sufficient clearness by the light of nature. BoLiNGBROKE, and some of his successors, advanced much farther, and attempted to invalidate the proofs of the moral character of the Deity, and consequently all expectations of rewards and punishments ; leaving the Supreme Being no other perfections than those which belong to a first cause, or almighty contriver. After him, at a considerable distance, followed Hume, the most subtle, if not the most philosophical, of the Deists ; who, by perplexing the relations of cause and effect, boldly aimed to introduce a universal skepticism, and to pour a more than Egyptian darkness into the whole region of morals. Since his time skeptical writers have sprung up in abundance, and iufidelity has allured multitudes to its standard ; the youug and superficial by its dexterous sophistry, the vain by the literary fame of its champions, and the profligate by the licentiousness of its principles. Atheism the most undisguised has at length begun to make its appearance.

Animated by numbers, and imboldened by success, the infidels of the present day have given a new direction to their efforts, and impressed a new character on the ever-growing mass of their impious speculations.

By uniting more closely with each other, by giving a sprinkling of irreligion to all their literary productions, they aim to engross the formation of the public mind ; and, amid the warmest professions of attachment to virtue, to effect an entire disruption of morality from religion. Pretending to be the teachers of virtue and the guides of life, they propose to revolutionize the morals of mankind; to regenerate the world by a process entirely new ; and to rear the temple of virtue, not' merely without the aid of religion, but on the renunciation of its principles, and the derision of its sanctions. Their party has derived a great accession of numbers and strength from events the most momentous and astonishing in the political world, which have divided the sentiments of Europe between hope and terror ; and which, however they may issue, have, for the present, swelled the ranks of infidelity. So rapidly, indeed, has it advanced since this crisis, that a great majority on the Continent, and in England a considerable proportion of those who pursue Hterature as a profession,* may justly be considered as the open or disguised abetters of atheism.

With respect to the skeptical and religious systems, the inquiry at

* By those who pursue literature as a profession, the author would be understood to mean that numerous class of literary men who draw their principal subsistence from their writings.

MODERN INFIDELITY CONSIDERED 2b

present is not so much which is the truest in speculation, as which is the most useful in practice : or, in other words, whether morality will be best promoted by considering it as a part of a great and comprehensive law, emanating from the will of a supreme, omnipotent legislator; or as a mere expedient, adapted to our present situation, enforced by no other motives than those which arise from the prospects and interests of the present state. The absurdity of atheism having been demonstrated so often and so clearly by many eminent men that this part of the subject is exhausted, I should hasten immediately to what I have more particularly in view, were I not apprehensive a discourse of this kind may be expected to contain some statement of the argument in proof of a Deity ; which, therefore, I shall present in as few and plain words as possible.

When we examine a watch, or any other piece of machinery, we mstantly perceive marks of design. The arrangement of its several parts, and the adaptation of its movements to one resuU, show it to be a contrivance ; nor do we ever imagine the faculty of contriving to be in tlie watch itself, but in a separate agent. If we turn from art to nature, we behold a vast magazine of contrivances ; we see innumerable objects replete with the most exquisite design. The human eye, for example, is formed with admirable skill for the purpose of sight, the ear for the function of hearing. As in the productions of art we never think of ascribing the power of contrivance to the machine itself, so we are certain the skill displayed in the human structure is not a property of man, since he is very imperfectly acquainted with his own formation. If there be an inseparable relation between the ideas of a contrivance and a contriver, and it be evident, in regard to the human structure, the designing agent is not man himself, there must undeniably be some separate invisible being, who is his former. This great Being we mean to indicate by the appellation of Deity.

This reasoning admits but of one reply. Why, it will be said, may we not suppose the world has always continued as it is ; that is, that there has been a constant succession of finite beings, appearing and disappearing on the earth from all eternity 1 I answer, whatever is supposed to have occasioned this constant succession, exclusive of an intelligent cause, will never account for the undeniable marks of design visible in all finite beings. Nor is the absurdity of supposing a contrivance without a contriver diminished by this imaginary succession ; but rather increased, by being repeated at every step of the series.

Besides, an eternal succession of finite beings involves in it a contradiction, and is therefore plainly impossible. As the supposition is made to get quit of the idea of any one having existed from eternity, each of the beings in the succession must have begun in time : but the succession itself is eternal. We have then the succession of beings infinitely earlier than any being in the succession ; or, in other words, a series of beings running on, ad infinitum^ before it reached any particular being, which is absurd.

From these considerations it ia manifest there must be some etaiial

Being, or nothing could ever have existed; and since the beings which we behold bear in their whole structure evident marks of wisdom and design, it is equally certain that he who formed them is a wise and intelUgent agent.

To prove the unity of this great Being, in opposition to a plurality of gods, it is not necessary to have recourse to metaphysical abstractions. It is sufficient to observe, that the notion of more than one author of nature is inconsistent with that harmony of design which pervades her works ; that it explains no appearances, is supported by no evidence, and serves no purpose, but to embarrass and perplex our conceptions.

Such are the proofs of the existence of that great and glorious Being whom we denominate God ; and it is not presumption to say, it is impossible to find another truth in the whole compass of morals which, according to the justest laws of reasoning, admits of such strict and rigorous demonstration.