A

SERMON,

&c.

JOHN, vii. 16, 17.

Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

THAT the operations of the understanding are influenced by the affections, is a truth very generally acknowledged; but few perhaps are sufficiently aware of the real extent of this influence in theological studies.

To awaken our attention to this point, our Saviour teaches us in the text, that a right disposition of heart is essential to the attainment of every just sentiment in religion, that obedience is the path to knowledge, that a correct judgment must flow from the fear and reverence of God, that if any one would enter upon a

successful inquiry into the doctrines of Christianity, he must be prepared for such an inquiry by a spirit of humble piety.

after

It will accordingly be my purpose, offering a few observations on this principle, to apply it to some of the most interesting doctrines of religion, those more especially on which the student at this day may be supposed most liable to mistake.

That a religious tendency of mind is necessary to a due reception of scriptural truth, will be manifest, if we recollect that a cordial assent even to a moral proposition, implies of necessity the combined operation of the understanding and the affections. Bare abstract truth, such as the axioms of geometry, where the moral duties have no place, and where in consequence there are no prejudices nor passions to interfere, may be received alike by a virtuous and a vicious mind. But every position which regulates our conduct in life can be really acquiesced in only by a man who is in some measure influenced by the dictates of virtue. And of course, if such a variety of moral propositions are in question as compose an entire system, the divisions of which are dependent on each other, and where the excellence of the whole is the result of the harmony of all the parts, a right state of the affec

tions will still more essentially conduce to a correct determination.

Aristotle accordingly insists in a particular manner on the character which the student must possess, who would receive his ethical instructions with advantage. He distinctly requires from him a virtuous disposition, experience, and even age'.

If this then be the case, from the nature of the thing, in all moral inquiries, it must be eminently so with regard to Christianity, where the morality of the philosopher is purified and enlarged', where motives are of as much importance as actions, where new and sublime doctrines are disclosed, and that, not as subjects for speculation, but so as to be intimately united with the practical tendency of the whole.

In fact, as no man can relish music without an ear disposed for harmony, or painting without an eye to catch grace and proportion; as no man can appreciate polite literature without taste, or poetry without some kindred irradiation of genius; so no one can value ethics aright without a moral feeling, or re

1 Arist. Ethic. Nicom. lib. i. c. 3, 4. lib. x. c. 9.

Sapientia Philosophorum, ut plurimum efficiat, non exscindit vitia, sed abscondit. Pauca vero Dei præcepta sic totum hominem immutant et exposito vetere novum reddunt, ut non cognoscas eundem esse. Lact. Inst. iii. 26.

ligion, more elevated than ethics, without a holy inclination of mind.

Not only however do the stronger passions, avarice, sensuality, or ambition, pervert the judgment in its estimate of moral and religious truth: the perversion is equally produced by those dispositions which are less exposed to the observation of others, by pride, obstinacy, envy, the love of fame, the spirit of the world, devotion to pleasure, neglect of God; with this important difference, that, as these evils are more latent, their operation is less attended to, and therefore more fatal.

This then appears to be the sentiment of the text. If you are disposed to do the will of God; if you are serious and in earnest about religion; if you are desirous to receive its doctrines, that you may be saved; if you are determined, in reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit, from whom alone any good resolution can proceed, to follow the truth, as you may discover it, in the regulation of your temper and conduct, then you shall know of the doctrine, you are a proper subject for religious instruction, your inquiries will be practical, and therefore humble and successful.

But not so, if your disposition be different. If you approach the Scriptures from mere curiosity, with a mind occupied by prejudice, with a proud, angry, or disputatious spirit,

with a reliance on intellect and learning, to the exclusion of prayer and obedience; with a secret inclination to embrace only what may confirm your preconceived notions, instead of simply deriving every sentiment from the oracles of God: in a word, if you take up the Bible as you take up Aristotle or Newton, and expect that the mere exertion of natural talents, assisted by literature, will make you master of divine truth, as it does of the principles of human art and science; then you shall not, you cannot, really know of the doctrine; you are not in a right frame of heart; you want the recipient faculty, if I may so speak: the propensities of your mind as much incapacitate you from being an adequate judge of the nature and bearings of Christian truth, as a distempered eye renders a man incapable of rightly judging of colours: you may obtain that information which may furnish matter for dispute or fuel for pride, but you will remain destitute of that sacred knowledge which alone maketh wise unto salvation3; you will in fact grow more and more averse from the reception of Scriptural doctrine; and, like a traveller in a mistaken road, the further you proceed, the more widely will you wander from the end which you propose to yourself in your journey.

2 Tim. iii. 15.