Categories: Historical Documents

John Foster (1771-1839) preached the following sermon on April 11, 1802. Foster used Colossians 2:8 as the basis for his sermon.

IN A

S E R M O NM

Delivered To The

First Society in Cambridge,

On Lord’s Day,

APRIL 11, 1802:

By JOHN FOSTER, A. M.
Pastor of the Third Church in that Town.

Keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called; which some professing, have erred concerning the faith. St. Paul.

Several notes are inserted in an appendix, containing quotations from some few of the many writers, who have advanced the impious and dissolute opinions alluded to in the following pages; together with other statements evincing the existence of the dangers, against which the reader is cautioned. These notes correspond to the numbers, which are placed as references, in the course of the Sermon.

PHILOSOPHY, in its genuine import and tendency, is friendly to revealed religion. When applied to the material system, by disclosing the nature and properties of things, it not only leads to many important discoveries in the useful and ornamental arts of life; but is calculated to fill the mind with the most exalted conceptions of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Divine Architect. When conversant with the moral world, it explains the character, attributes, and will of God; points out the relation in which we stand, and the obligations which we owe to Him and each other; and as far as it extends, inculcates the same doctrines and precepts which the Gospel contains.

Unhappily, however, a pernicious sophistry, the offspring of depravity, and parent of mischief, has sprung forth, and assumed the same appellation. Of this vain, and deceitful philosophy, the apostle exhorts us to beware. Its nature and effects, therefore, I shall First consider: Secondly, exhibit in contrast with it, the purity and excellence of Christian principles: Whence, Thirdly, will appear the necessity and duty of a watchful obedience to the injunction in the text.

In former times, the enemies of revelation seemed to have no other object in view than to undermine the Christian faith. To this point they directed all their wit and subtlety, without bringing forward any definite substitute. The reason probably is, that conscious of the disingenuity and turpitude of their designs, they were ashamed explicitly to avow them. They had not the assurance to own that their principal wish was to be freed from the restraints of religion; and that they neither knew nor cared what scenes of disorder and wickedness ensued, if they could only walk in the imagination of their hearts with impunity and without reproach.

But in latter days, this relic of ancient modesty has grown into disuse. Modern philosophists speak with less reserve, and tell us plainly what that ameliorating system is, which they would establish on the ruins of Christianity. Among those who admit the existence of a God (for many of them reject this fundamental truth) the obligation, and even the propriety and utility of paying Him any external homage is positively denied. Consequently, the Sabbath is to be abolished, and houses of worship destroyed, neglected, or converted to other purposes.(1)

In our social intercourse, it is laid down as a primary maxim that every one is invincibly and necessarily impelled to the precise mode of conduct, which he pursues. The doctrine of responsibility is therefore exploded. If a man injure his neighbor, it is indeed unfortunate; yet he is neither blameworthy nor punishable. (2) The end, too, sanctifies the means; and if the end be good, it is deemed of little, or no consequence at whose expense it is achieved. The more intimate connections of life are to be dissolved at pleasure. Marriage is pronounced “a monopoly, and the worst of monopolies”; (3) and an indiscriminate intercourse between the sexes is contended for as more consistent with the laws of nature! (4)

Some plausible pretence was found expedient for letting loose those turbulent passions, which from time immemorial have been reputed hostile to the safety and order of society. Otherwise, every mind, not totally abandoned, would revolt at the very thought. Hence a specious, but visionary and impracticable philanthropy is pathetically recommended. We are called upon to extend an undistinguishing affection to all mankind; and, at the same time, forbidden to cherish and express any appropriate kindness for our parents, our children and other relations, beyond what we feel for utter strangers, unless they happen to be more deserving. Their consanguinity entitles them to no preference in our esteem. (5) Thus by detaching our hearts from those with whom we are most intimately connected, and who fall within the sphere of our immediate influence; and by directing our good will to indefinite, distant, and unapproachable objects, a foundation is laid for the extinction of all the tender charities of our existence; while, under the idea of exercising a diffusive and sublime benevolence to the whole species, we are encouraged in the most contracted and criminal self love.

In futurity we are destined to perpetual insensibility; for death is proclaimed an eternal sleep! (6) So that the awful and commanding apprehension of a retribution to come, which tends, above all things, to heck the devices and perpetrations of iniquity, is to be eradicated from the human breast; and everyone is to “walk in the way of his heart and in the sight of his eyes,” unawed by the solemn admonition that “for all these things God will bring him into judgment.”

Such, without the least exaggeration, is the moral code which according to its authors and abettors is to supersede the Bible, and perfect our nature. Not a single article is here exhibited but has its advocates in print.

Now, it must be obvious to every honest mind, that in a community actuated by such sentiments and views, selfishness, cruelty, and unrighteousness would predominate to the exclusion of every social and divine virtue. The value which is now set upon life would be no more! Not only that solicitude for self preservation; but that tender regard to the health and safety of others, which the doctrines of immortality and a future retribution inspire, would be annihilated; and all the cruelties of pagan darkness would revive! The disappointed would have little to restrain them from self-murder; nor could the ambitious feel more reluctance at imbruing their hands in the blood of an adversary or rival, than at the destruction of a noxious animal for safety; or a harmless one for subsistence!

Yet these sentiments, horrible and ruinous as they are, have been, and are still propagated with astonishing art and industry, in almost every part of Christendom. Under the imposing name of philosophy, they are sometimes unequivocally advanced and defended; but more frequently incorporated and disguised with other matter. For this purpose, all the usages of antiquity are insidiously represented as a system of tyranny, calculated to enslave both the minds and bodies of men, and deprive them of that freedom, to which they have a natural claim. The institutions of religion, and those of government too, so far as Christianity derives any support from the civil arm, are painted as engines of the most intolerable oppression; and we are advised to burst these chains asunder, and assert and enjoy the privileges of our being! That is, in plain and explicit terms to renounce the gospel, and live as we lift! For who does not see, that this must be the final end of relinquishing the means of moral instruction; or even of neglecting to enforce them by law? I readily concede that particular creeds and forms of worship ought never to be prescribed. But does it hence follow that no attention to the Christian Sabbath, and no visible adoration of the Deity should be required? Are not that sense and awe of God which these are calculated to excite and preserve, obviously necessary to a cheerful and conscientious submission to human rulers; and, of course to the security and welfare of society? Who, then, that is willing to “lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty” himself, can object to their legal establishment?

It is immaterial which is first corrupted, our principles, or our habits. These different species of corruption are mutually cause and effect. Infidelity produces vice, and vice resorts to infidelity in its own defence. Another class of champions, therefore, constantly assail the public with romances, plays, and “cunningly devised fables,” in which the hero, tho’ drawn as extremely amiable in his manners, benevolent in his disposition, and attached to the rights of man, is sure to be an infidel; and in the course of his career, to be guilty of adultery, fight a duel, or commit suicide, under such peculiar and interesting circumstances as are evidently intended to diminish our natural horror of such vile perpetrations! By these arts, the minds of many are imperceptibly unhinged; their sympathy transferred to fictitious or deformed objects; and their hearts steeled against real woe, till “they are led captive of the deceiver at his will.” These and other similar modes of attacking our holy faith, are the “vain deceit,” of which the inspired penman speaks.

The spirit of prophecy, long since foretold the workings of this “mystery of iniquity”, and characterized its abettors. “As there were false prophets of old, among the people; so also there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them. And many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they, with feigned words, make merchandize of you. They walk after the flesh, in the lusts of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous, self willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. As natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, they speak evil of things which they understand not. They count it a pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving, while they feast with you. Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling, unstable souls. An heart they have, exercised with covetous practices. They have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bozor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. These are wells without water, clouds that are carried about with a tempest. For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure thro’ the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them that live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption.” ¹

Nothing can be more apparent, than the utter impossibility that such persons should be friendly to the virtue, or happiness of mankind. Self indulgence I their only aim; and they care not whom they sacrifice to their ambitious and sinister projects. The only thing that can give them ascendency, and facilitate the accomplishment of their wishes, is the misapprehension of their character. And this, strange as it may seem, is predicted by Omniscience itself. Pursuant to this prediction thousands of honest men have doubtless been decoyed by false colors to engage in their cause; and, like Paul of old, when persecuting the church, have “verily thought they did God service,” and were pleading for a spirit of Christian candour, charity, and toleration; while, in fact, they were inconsciously lessening the importance of revelation in their own, and the minds of others; and, by giving it no decided preference to opposing systems, were aiming a deadly blow at the gospel itself!

It is a matter quite indifferent to the infidel philosophers of the age, whether our motives be good or bad; and whether we mean so in our hearts or not, if we will only co-operate with them in their favorite design. They know perfectly well, that if they can once draw us into the snare, we shall in any event lend them our aid for a while; and, probably, be more and more entangled, till we give up both the expectation and the wish of deliverance, and become wholly devoted to their interest. Here our chief danger lies. I do not believe that a very considerable portion of my countrymen have any disposition to discredit or discard the religion of their fathers: but I do verily believe, that they are in great hazard of being unwarily seduced and led astray. For the apostles of infidelity are indefatigable in their exertions. Vain writers, and vain talkers in abundance are employed. Those leading proselytes who have had access to the fountain head, and imbibed their opinions from the distinguished high priests of skepticism, whether of ancient or modern date, are eager, either by the humbler vehicles of pamphlets, or in their daily conversation, to display their knowledge, and communicate their discoveries to their neighbours: These again to others; and thus the same demoralizing principles, for substance, have been transmitted, repeated, and circulated, from the commencement of the Christian Era, down to the present day. Multitudes have received and spread them, without suspecting the antiquity of their origin; and have ignorantly claimed originality, while they were the mere retailers of profane jests, and sophistical arguments, long since refuted. The dissolute and vicious, of every age and country, have had some traditional acquaintance with them, and have endeavoured, to the utmost of their power, to give them credit and currency. Indeed, the whole scheme of modern infidelity is but a transcript, or rather combination of the most corrupt and extravagant theories of paganism, modified by the existing state of the world. The shades of difference, which appear in the opposition it now makes to human laws, are easily accounted for. The religion of the heathen gave full scope to licentious inclinations; and, therefore, no objection was felt, or made to its receiving the countenance of the magistrate. But the religion of Christians is totally opposed to “these vanities,” and strictly forbids every impure desire, and profligate practice. For this reason, every government which sanctions its institutions and duties, must either withdraw its patronage, or be demolished! Even the boasted refinement of the new philosophy is more in pretence than reality. For though it be exempt from the grosser absurdities of polytheism, it might easily be proved that this exemption is owing to the light of that very revelation with which it militates. In its nature and tendency, it still bears a striking resemblance to the old. (7) Hence it is said to be “after tradition of man”; while on account of its sensual and earthly completion it is pertinently added, “after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

This reminds me, secondly, to exhibit in contrast with it, the purity and excellence of Christian principles.

The disgusting spectacle, which has passed in review before us, will serve, it is hoped, to endear to our hearts the sublime and salutary doctrines of holy writ. Here the great Jehovah is presented to the mind, in the majestic and amiable character of the Creator, Preserver, and Lawgiver of the world. As the creatures of his power, the pensioners of his bounty, and the subjects of his government, our homage, affection, and obedience are claimed. In our individual, domestic and social capacities, we are required to cherish and express the sentiments of devout adoration; and “in all things by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving and praise, to make known our requests unto God”; reposing an unshaken trust in his mercy, and yielding an unreserved submission to his providence. To encourage our approaches to the throne of grace, and to animate our hopes of acceptance, a glorious Mediator, “who loved us and gave himself for us,” is announced. In him, we are commanded to believe and confide, as “our Strength and our Redeemer”; and through him, to implore the forgiveness of our past offences, and supplicate the aids of the Holy Spirit to direct our future conduct. Taking for a model, the “great Captain of our salvation,” who has not only given us precepts, but “left us an example, that in all things, we should walk in his steps”; while we constantly aspire to personal purity, we are to cultivate meekness, justice, equity and kindness, in our treatment of all with whom we converse. No doing of evil, that good may come; no visionary cosmopolitism is allowed. We are to accommodate our feelings and pursuits to the situation, in which God and nature have placed us. The ties of wedlock are to be held sacred, and in no instance dissolved, “except for the cause of fornication.” Our respective families, without enquiring whether they have more intrinsic merit than others, demand our first attention; next our relatives and friends; then our neighbours and countrymen; and then, as we have opportunity, the whole human race.

In discharging these duties, we are to look for our ultimate reward, not to the honors, emoluments, and pleasures of time; but to the more permanent glory and blessedness of the heavenly state; and are, therefore, to have a prevailing respect to the divine authority and law; to live “as seeing Him that is invisible”; and to act, in all cases and circumstances, “as those who expect to give an account.” For we are taught to believe, that the great Sovereign of the universe “searches the hearts and tries the reins of the children of men, even to render to every one, according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings”; that “he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead”; and that “all who are in their graves shall come forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.”

To engrave these awakening truths on our hearts, and induce correspondent sentiments and manners, beside the perusal of the sacred oracles in retirement, one day in seven is appointed to the special purpose of instruction and worship; when people of every age, sex, and condition, may assemble, and unite in rendering thanks to the Most High, for the mercies of their lives; in supplicating his blessing upon their various concerns, both temporal and spiritual; and in receiving those counsels, admonitions, and encouragements from the holy scriptures, which tend to increase their virtue, usefulness, and happiness in life, and “are able to make them wise unto salvation, through faith that is in Christ Jesus.

Compare this system with what the pen and tongue of unbelief have offered in its room. How conspicuous its superiority! In itself considered, how worthy of God; and how important and necessary to man! It is visibly adapted to our situation and wants; and, in every view, conducive to our improvement and felicity. Considered in its tendency and effects, it must command the assent and veneration of every unbiased mind.

From the first general notification of Christianity to the present day, there have been in every age millions whose names are unknown to history, made better by it, not only in their conduct, but in their disposition; and happier too, not so much in their external circumstances, as in that which alone deserves the name of happiness, the tranquility and consolation of their thoughts. In addition to the unobserved fruits, which it has produced in the obscurest shades of retirement, its aspect on the character of nations, intelligibly proclaims its worth. It has mitigated the conduct of war, and the treatment of captives. It has softened the administration of despotic governments. It has abolished polygamy. It has restrained the licentiousness of divorces. It has put an end to the exposure of children and the immolation of slaves. It has suppressed the combats of gladiators, and the impurities of religious rites. It has banished, if not unnatural vices, at least the toleration of them. It has greatly meliorated the condition of the laborious part of every community, by procuring for them a day of weekly rest and instruction. In all countries, in which it is professed, it has given rise to numerous establishments for the relief of sickness and poverty; and, in some, especially in ours, to a regular and general provision by law. It has triumphed over the slavery established in the Roman empire; and may we not hope it will, one day, prevail against the worse slavery in the West-Indies; and I blush to add, in some parts of the United States. It has also obtained a sensible, though not a complete influence upon the public judgment of morals. And this is very important; for without the occasional correction which public opinion receives by referring to some fixed standard of morality, no man can tell into what extravagancies it might wander. In this way, it is very possible that many may be kept in order by Christianity, who are not themselves Christians. They may be guided by the rectitude which it communicates to public opinion. Their consciences may suggest their duty truly, and they may ascribe these suggestions to a moral sense, or the native capacity of the human intellect, when in fact they are nothing more, than the public opinion reflected from their own minds; an opinion, in a considerable degree, formed and modified by the lessons of Christianity. Certain it is, and this is a great deal to say, that the generality of the most vulgar and ignorant people truer and worthier notions of God, more just and right apprehensions concerning his attributes and perfections, a deeper sense of the difference between good and evil, a greater regard to moral obligations and to the plain and most necessary duties of life, and a more firm and universal expectation of a future state of rewards and punishments, than in any heathen country, any considerable number even of the learned were ever found to possess. (8)

Whence, in the third place, appears the necessity and duty of a watchful obedience to the apostolic injunction in the text. This, you may say, would be clearly indispensable, were we exposed to the perils which have been described. But whatever may be the case of the old world, our favored land, happily disjoined from those degenerate and luxurious regions, has little to fear from their apostacy. I answer—While we maintain an uninterrupted commerce with that quarter of the globe; while, in many respects, we adopt their customs and imitate their manners, can we be absolutely insured against the contamination of their vices? Let facts determine. We import, reprint, and read their books. One, for instance, to which I have already alluded, (9) declares in so many words, (10) that “marriage is a system of fraud”; that it is “a question of no importance, to know who is the parent of each individual child”; that “it is aristocracy, self-love, and family pride that teach us to set a value upon it at present”; and that a person “ought to prefer no human being to another because that being is his father, his wife, or his son.” Yet this publication, which beside the preceding, contains many other passages of a similar description and tendency, (11) has already gone thro’ one edition in America; and is now receiving another impression. While such authors find readers, admirers, and advocates among us; while they are even put into the hands of our youth, and the principles they contain instilled into their susceptive minds, as the ground work of their future character and conduct, (12) have we no reason to take alarm; no call to exert ourselves to stem the torrent; no inducement to guard and fortify against the spreading contagion?

Other writers of the same class have been officiously excused and commended. Even Thomas Paine, who has published to the world his hatred of the Bible, as a book tending to brutalize the human race, (13) has been repeatedly eulogized! (14).

At the same time that such men are extolled for their benevolence, humanity and patriotism, those who are “set for the defence of the gospel,” are often vilified and decried; charged with superstition, bigotry and party-zeal! (15) This is an insidious mode of assailing and undermining Christianity itself. It tends to no other issue, and if it produce any effect at all, this must be its end. For whatever be the pretext or design, if the enemies of revelation be raised into general esteem, and its friends degraded in the public mind, the neglect and contempt of religion must be the consequence.

But not to enlarge here. Where is the person who has not heard similar sentiments advanced in private circles? How frequently do we meet with professed unbelievers, who treat everything serious and sacred with levity and ridicule; depreciate those opinions, usages and institutions which have been sanctioned by the experience of ages; paint our pious ancestors, as an ignorant, fanatical and cruel race of men, at a very small remove from a state of barbarism; describe all who venerate their memory and maxims as servile dupes to imposture; and triumphantly assert their determination to resist and counteract them! Instances of a correspondent practice are not wanting. Such are the growing disregard to the Sabbath and neglect of public worship, with their attendant train, impiety, profaneness, intemperance, and dissipation, which are visible to every eye!

With these evidences of the existence and operation of a skeptical, unbelieving spirit in view, we can no longer doubt the importance of taking heed, “lest any man spoil us through philosophy and vain deceit.” Inundated with publications whose contents, and conversant with persons whose words and actions are hostile to “the faith once delivered to the saints,” we have every conceiveable inducement to be constantly on our guard against the assaults of our enemies. We are exposed to assailants on every side. Even in retirement, where we may think ourselves most safe and invulnerable, books under the titles of history, travels, biography, philosophical discussions, poetical effusions, and even moral essays, without the utmost caution on our part, may insensibly infuse the poison of infidelity! (16) Convinced that familiarity diminishes disgust, and frequently ends in attachment; aware too, that when the reader can be induced to approve and applaud the general strain of a work, he has, for the most part, committed himself, and may easily be converted into an advocate and partisan of the whole, the most artful and successful adversaries of the gospel, commonly interweave with speculations, otherwise brilliant and interesting, if not useful, those unprincipled sophisms which tend, first to weaken, and afterwards to destroy its authority. Hence, in the perusal of many writings, in almost every branch of science, perpetual care to discriminate between the good and the evil is indispensably requisite.

Nor should we be less circumspect and vigilant upon other occasions. For, upon other occasions, we are in equal jeopardy. In our social intercourse; yea, in the transaction of necessary business, we often find men who embrace every opportunity, either directly or indirectly, to traduce the gospel and its adherents. Now, if these men happen to think with us upon other subjects, or in any way, to be agreeable and useful to us, there is the utmost danger of our palliating their infidelity, till we gradually lose our accustomed abhorrence of it, and are eventually drawn into the vortex ourselves. By this mean, many an honest mind has been estranged from the virtuous part of the community, and by associating principally, with the vicious and dissolute, has incautiously furnished them with additional weapons for its own destruction. Here is developed the true reason why those, of whom better things might be expected, are sometimes transformed into the apologists and defenders of profligate characters; and here, I scruple not to add, is disclosed the frequent cause of that apostacy from the faith, which so often astonishes and grieves the friends of goodness. “Enter not,” therefore, “into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men; avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall.” Shun, as the worst of all infections, the haunts of riot and excess; where the votaries of unholy pleasure celebrate their midnight and abominable orgies! There the name of God is blasphemed—There the Saviour of the world is vilified—There the word of truth is ridiculed and contemned—There virtue is laughed out of countenance—And there impurity and vice are exemplified and applauded! If you once contract a fondness for such society, your degeneracy and ruin are inevitable! Nay, if you so far suspend your wonted detestation of their “filthy communications,” as to acquiesce in complacent silence, or betray the approving smile, you are enlisted in their cause! And think not that your discharge will be optional, or easy! For if reason and conscience are now, insufficient to restrain you, your escape will hardly be practicable, when thus entangled in the toils! Resolve then, with the devout Psalmist of old, to be “companions of those that fear God and keep his precepts.” Let no coincidence of subordinate opinions and views lead you to withdraw your affection from the friends of religion, or to repose your confidence in its foes. This is not to “account all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.” “It is to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator,” and by giving weight and ascendency to the wicked, to aid and abet their cruel exertions for the extirpation of piety and good morals from the world!

I am aware that the idea, here suggested, has been treated as a chimera. It has been asserted by the designing; and believed, and repeated by the unwary, that human nature, depraved as it is, is incapable of such extreme degeneracy, as deliberately to seek the demoralization of mankind. To refute this assertion, I will not again appeal to infidel writers, though it would be easy to multiply quotations from them, directly in point. I will only ask, what is their object, and that of their numerous coadjutors in all the pains they take to bring Christianity into disrepute? Is it to disseminate principles, and sanction practices, similar to those which the gospel inculcates? Certainly not. Is it not then to disseminate principles and sanction practices, opposite to those which the gospel inculcates? Most clearly. What, then, are the description and tendency of these opposite principles, and practices? Impiety, profligacy, selfishness, “confusion, and every evil work.” Say, if you please, that they themselves have no conception or desire of such a deplorable issue to their theories. Perhaps charity requires the concession. For that “they know not what they do,” our Saviour long since declared. Nevertheless, as their theories apparently tend to this point, neither their ignorance of the result, nor their supposed aversion to it, will remedy the mischiefs of success! The madman, possessed with the wild imagination, that burning your houses would cause others more convenient and comfortable, spontaneously to arise from their ashes, might neither expect, nor intend to expose you defenceless to all the inclemencies of the atmosphere! Yet his expectations and intentions of good, would, by no means, reconcile you to the experiment; or relax your zeal to counteract and prevent it.

How various and invincible are the motives, which here rise into view, and urge us to action! If, my brethren, you regard your own welfare, as individuals, as families, or as citizens; if you would lay a solid foundation for the honor and happiness of your posterity; if you love the pleasant and peaceful paths of wisdom; if you wish to answer the end of your creation, and rise to a glorious immorality beyond the grave, “beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” Form no intimacies, and, if possible, avoid all intercourse with ungodly men. When you accidentally, or necessarily fall into their company, “be not partakers of their sins”; but uniformly discover your utter abhorrence of their hostility to religion, and your decided attachment to its doctrines, laws, and institutions. Let them know, once for all, that you have taken your ground, and are resolved to maintain it; that you “are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” but esteem it the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” In every condition and relation of life, be watchful and active. Are you parents and heads of families? “Walk before your households with a perfect heart.” While you “keep yourselves unspotted from the world,” train up your children and domestics “in the way in which they should go.” Regulate their desires and pursuits, and indulge them not to their hurt. Direct their thoughts and attention to useful and important subjects. Be careful what books, and what associates you allow them, in this forming period of their lives. Realize that the sentiments which they now imbibe, and the habits which they now contract will probably give completion to their character in time, and their fate in eternity! Labour, therefore, to give them an early relish for virtuous conversation and society; and to inspire them with a just aversion to those “evil communications which corrupt good manners.” Let the Bible occupy a conspicuous place in your houses; nor suffer it to be banished from your schools. Accustom them to revere and obey its sacred contents, as the great charter of their salvation, and the only guide to true respectability and happiness.

Are you children and youth? “Remember now your Creator.” Pay a becoming deference to the opinion and advice of those, whom nature and Providence has constituted your guardians and counselors. “Hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.” Listen to the warning voice of their superior wisdom and experience; and yield not to the impulse of blind, impetuous passion. Cherish the impressions and restraints of virtue. Innure yourselves, betimes, to self-denial. Consent not to the enticements of sinners; nor “follow the multitude to do evil.” Guard against profaneness and frivolity. Neither take the name of the Lord your God in vain”; nor adopt the indecent and impious practice of jesting with sacred things: both of which tend to benumb your sense of moral excellence, and to plunge you into the deepest guilt and error. Consider that your all is at stake, both in this and a future world; and that much, perhaps every thing depends upon your present choice! Under this conviction, “lay up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Acquaint yourselves now with Him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto you, and your path, like the rising light, shall shine more and more until the perfect day!”

To conclude:–Whatever be your age, sex, or situation, think not yourselves secure; but “watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” For “your adversaries go about, like roaring lions, seeking whom they may devour.” Apprized of their devices, be diligent in the discharge of your respective duties, and vigilant in detecting and avoiding the snares, to which you are especially exposed. For this purpose, cultivate a profound and increasing reverence for the name, the worship, and the ordinances of Jehovah; and assiduously improve the various means, with which he has graciously furnished you, to “escape the corruption that is in the world, through lust, and be made partakers of a divine nature.” “Search the Scriptures daily,” in private; and devoutly attend on the public ministrations of the word. Should you heedlessly imitate the dissolute and abandoned; “forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is”; and think and speak diminutively of the duties, institutions, and professors of Christianity; without the design, and, perhaps, even without the consciousness of erring from the faith, you may unwarily be drawn into all the practical consequences of determined infidelity; and driven, at last, to its open avowal! “Take heed, then, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. For we wrestle, not against flesh and blood; but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

(2) These demoralizing principles are repeatedly and strongly urged by William Godwin, in his “Enquiry concerning political justice”; a work which has obtained an extensive circulation, and a very considerable celebrity both in Europe and America. He asserts, among other things to the same purpose, that “If there be a man, who in suffering punishment, is not conscious of injustice, he must have had his mind previously debased by slavery, and his sense of moral right and wrong blunted by a series of oppression:–That the assassin cannot help the murder he commits, any more than the danger:–And that whatever attempts to prescribe to a mans conduct, and deter him from any course of action by penalties and threats, is an unquestionable tyranny!” See vol. 1. Page 152: vol. 2. P. 234 and 241. Of the first American edition, printed at Philadelphia, 1796.

(3) Ibid. vol. 2. P. 368. (4) Ibid. vol. 2. P. 369-372. The effects of an approximation only to the abolition of marriage, and to that promiscuous sexual intercourse which are advocated in these pages, are justly displayed in a late Morning Chronicle, London; a paper, by no means unfriendly to the French nation. “The Moniteur,´(a Paris paper) say the editors, “arrived yesterday, containing a list of the births, deaths, &c. of the department of Seine, including Paris for the last twelve months. Never was there published a document that gives such an official record of profligacy of manners! The number of legitimate births is 17566; the number of illegitimate births is 4979! So that the number of bastards is little less than a fourth of the whole. The number of marriages is 4359; the number of divorces is 748, or about a fifth! It is needless to comment on such a state of society. Morality is poisoned in its very source! The domestic state is abolished! The school of all the virtues is destroyed!”

(5) See “Political Justice,” vol. 2. Page 371-2.

(6) Few readers will be ignorant that infidels often deny the immortality of the soul; and none, it is presumed, have forgotten that the inscription, DEATH IS AN ETERNAL SLEEP!” has actually been placed at the entrance of many of the burying grounds in France!

(7) This resemblance cannot have escaped the notice of any one, who has been conversant with the literary productions of pagan antiquity. The dissolute philosophers of those times, advanced and advocated the same pernicious principles, which are now revived and palmed upon the world, as important discoveries of a recent date! The Poems of Lucretius, in particular, who flourished about half a century before Christ, exhibit many of the daring and prominent features of impiety and profligacy, which distinguish and disgrace the publications of Volney, Condorcet, Godwin, Paine, and a host of other demoralizers of a similar description. Writers of the same class infested the church in its infancy. As early as the second century, Justin Marty described and condemned them in terms by no means impertinent to their visionary successors of the present day. “In my opinion,” says he, “the whole of their systems present to us nothing but the gross darkness of ignorance, and the blackness of deceit, with errors wide and infinite; mere fancies, and crude conceptions, and ignorance which sets all comprehension at defiance. I have therefore submitted to examine them, from a desire to point out the contradictions which prevail in their writings; and to show that they lead into discussions, incapable either of limit or definition; and further to convince you that the end and result of them is all unsatisfactory, and productive of no advantage whatsoever; without any support from matter of fact, or from the evidence of reason.” Hermia (greek word) (five Irrisio) (greek words) Sub. Sin. Ed. Paris: Justin Martyris Op.

(8) See Paley’s “view of the evidences of Christianity,” Boston edition 1795. P. 371-2.

(9) Godwin.

(10) Enquiry concerning political justice, vol. 2. P. 368. And 371-2.

(11) Instead of a thousand others, which might be quoted, I shall only present the following to the readers abhorrence! “As long as we admit of an essential difference between virtue and vice, no doubt, all erroneous conduct, whether of ourselves or others, will be regarded with disapprobation. But it will in both cases be considered, under the system of necessity, as a link in the great chain of events which could not have been otherwise than it is. We shall therefore be no more disposed to repent of our own faults, than of the faults of others!!!” Vol. 1. P. 311.

(12) In Virginia, the most populous and influential state in the Union, it is believed on good authority, that this pernicious work has gained admission into some of their academies; and is, very generally, put into the hands of young gentlemen, designed for the bar, as an introduction to the particular study of law. What bounds, then, can we set—what bounds ought we to set to our apprehensions?

(13) His words are, “When we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we called it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my own part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest every thing (partially missing text)”!!! Age of Reason, p. 38—9. Philad. Ed. ’94.

(14) To say nothing of the more artful and equivocal praises, which have been repeatedly lavished upon this miscreant, and his abandoned compeers, in some of our public prints; a late work, published at New-York, is full to the point, and contains the following shameless declarations:–“He [Thomas Paine] is one of the first and best of writers, and probably the most useful man that ever existed on the face of the earth. His moral and political writings are equally excellent; and the beneficial influence of the principles, for which he has contended, will be felt through all succeeding ages. Volney and Condorcet, Godwin and Barlow, are justly entitled to the universal gratitude and applause of the human race”!!! Principles of Nature &c. by Elihu Palmer.

(15) Here a reference to the Worcester Farmer No. X. will be amply sufficient. This is selected, not because it discovers greater talents, acuteness, or address, than the numberless other calumnies of the same kind, which have appeared. Its principal claim to notice arises from the station of its reputed author; and its only title to distinction is the unexampled rancor which pervades it.

(16) The writings of Hobbs, Bolingbroke, Shaftsbury, Voltair, Rousseau, Gibbon, and many others that might be mentioned, abundantly verify this remark.

Endnotes

1 2 Peter 2 chap.

2 See “A residence in France during the years 1792, 3, 4, and 5.” Elizabeth-Town edit. Of 1798, p. 269-70. Note.

Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) graduated from Yale in 1769. He was principal of the New Haven grammar school (1769-1771) and a tutor at Yale (1771-1777). A lack of chaplains during the Revolutionary War led him to become a preacher and he served as a chaplain in a Connecticut brigade. Dwight served as preacher in neighboring churches in Northampton, MA (1778-1782) and in Fairfield, CT (1783). He also served as president of Yale College (1795-1817). Dwight preached this sermon in 1804 and again in 1805 on dueling.

SERMON

ON

D U E L L I N G,

PREACHED

IN THE CHAPEL OF YALE COLLEGE,

NEW-HAVEN,

September 9th, 1804,

AND

IN THE OLD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,

NEW-YORK,

January 21st, 1805.

BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D.
President of Yale College.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The Gentlemen to whom the publication of the following Discourse was entrusted, think proper to mention, that a cop of it was requested for the Press, by a number of the Citizens both of New-Haven, and of New-York, who heard it preached, and who considered it as calculated to be extensively useful.

New-York, May 20, 1805.

When this Sermon was delivered, it was prefaced with a declaration, of the following import.

The following discourse will not intentionally apply to any facts or persons; it being the Preacher’s design to examine principles, and not to give characters.

A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person, shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.

This passage of scripture is a republication of that general law concerning homicide, which is recorded in Genesis 9. 5, 6. But surely your blood of your lives will I require: at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth men’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. This law was published at the time when the killing of beasts for food was permitted. No time could have been equally proper. As the shedding of animal blood would naturally remove the inherent horror at destroying life, and prepare men to shed the blood of each other; the law became indispensable for the prevention of this crime, from the beginning. It ought to be observed, that the detestation with which God regards this sin, is marked with a pen of iron in that singular declaration: “At the hand of every beast will I require it.” If homicide is so odious in the sight of God, as to expose the unconscious brute, which effected it, to the loss of his own life, as an expiation; with what views must He regard a man, a rational agent, formed in his own image, when accomplishing the death of his brother with design, from the indulgence of malice, and in the execution of revenge?

As this original law was given to Noah, the progenitor of all post-diluvian men, it is evidently binding on the whole human race. Every nation has accordingly felt its force, and executed it upon the transgressor.

In the text, the same law is promulged with one additional injunction—“He shall flee to the pit, let no man stay him.” However strongly the past services of the criminal, or the tender affections of his friends, may plead for his exemption from the sentence; no man, from any motive, or with any view, shall prevent, or even retard, his progress towards the punishment required. To this punishment God has consigned him, absolutely, and with his own voice. No consideration, therefore, can prevent, or hinder, the execution.

A sober man would naturally conclude, after reading these precepts, that, in every country, where their authority is acknowledged to be divine, homicide would in all cases, beside those excepted expressly by God, be invariably punished with death. At least, he would expect to find all men in such countries agreeing, with a single voice, that such ought to be the fact; and uniting, with a single effort, to bring it to pass. Above all, he would certainly conclude, that, whatever might be the decision of the vulgar, and the ignorant, there could be but one opinion, in such countries, among those who filled the superior ranks of society.

How greatly then, must such a person be astonished, when he is informed, that in Christian countries only, and in such countries among those only, who are enrolled on the list of superiority and distinction, homicide, of a kind nowhere excepted by God from this general destiny, but marked with all the guilt of which homicide is susceptible, is not only not thus punished, but is vindicated, honoured, and rewarded, by common consent, and undisguised suffrage!

The views which I entertain of dueling, may be sufficiently expressed under the following heads:

The Folly,

The Guilt, and

The Mischiefs, of this crime.

Duelling is vindicated, so far as my knowledge extends, on the following considerations only: That it is

A punishment,

A reparation, and

A prevention of injuries; and

A source of reputation to the parties.

If it can be shewn to be neither of these, in any such sense as reason can approve, or argument sustain; if it can be proved to be wholly unnecessary to all these purposes, and a preposterous method of accomplishing them; it must evidently fail of all vindication; and be condemned as foolish, irrational, and deserving only of contempt.

As a punishment of an offence, which for the present shall be supposed to be a real one, dueling is fraught with absurdity only. If a duel be fought on equal terms, the only terms allowed by duelists, the person injured exposes himself, equally with the injurer, to a new suffering; always greater in truth, and commonly in his own opinion, than that which he proposes to punish. The injurer only ought to suffer, or be exposed to suffering. No possible reason can be alleged, why the innocent man should be at all put in hazard. Were tribunals of justice to place the injured party, appealing to them for redress, in the same hazard of being obliged to pay a debt, with the fraudulent debtor; in the same danger of suffering a new fraud, with the swindler; or in an equal chance of suffering a second mayhem, with the assaulter of his life; or were they to turn him out on the road, to try his fortune in another robbery, with the highwayman; what would common sense say of their distributions? It would doubtless pronounce them to have just escaped from bedlam; and order them to be strait-waistcoated, until they should recover their reason. Here the injured person constitutes himself his own judge; and resolves on a mode of punishment, which, if ordered by any other umpire, he would reject with indignation! “What!” he would exclaim; “am I, because I have been injured once, to be injured a second time? And is my enemy, because he has robbed me of my character, to be permitted also to rob me of my life?” Let it be remembered, that the decision is not the less mad, because it is voluntarily formed by himself. He who wantonly wastes his own well-being, is of all fools the greatest.

As a reparation, duelling has still less claim to the character of rational. What is the reparation proposed? If it be anything it must consist either in the act of fighting, or in the death of the wrong-doer. If the injury be a fraud, neither of these will restore the lost property; if a personal suffering, neither can restore health; nor renew a limb, or a faculty. Or if the wrong be an injury to the character, it cannot need to be asserted, that neither fighting as a duelist, nor killing the wrong-doer, can alter at all the reputation which has been attacked. The challenger has, perhaps, been charged with lying. If the charge is just, he is a liar still. If it be known to be just, neither fighting, nor killing his antagonist, will wipe off the stain. The public knew him to be a liar before the combat; with the same certainty they know him to be such after the combat. What reparation has he gained? No one man will believe the story the less, because he has fought a duel, or killed his man. If, on the other hand, the charge is false; fighting will not, in the least degree, prove it to be so. Truth and falsehood must, if evinced at all, be evinced by evidence; not by fighting. In the days of knight-errantry this method of deciding controversies had, in the reigning superstition, one rational plea, which now it cannot claim. God was then believed to give success, invariably, to the party which had justice on its side. Modern duellists neither believe, nor wish, God to interfere in their concerns.

The reparation enjoyed in the mere gratification of revenge, will not here be pleaded, because duellists disclaim with indignation, the indulgence of that contemptible passion. In the progress of the discourse, however, this subject will be further examined.

As a prevention of crimes generally, it is equally absurd. I acknowledge readily, that the fear of and suffering will, in a greater or less degree, prevent crimes; and that men may, in some instances, be discouraged from committing private injuries by the dread of being called to an account in this manner. But these instances will be few; and this mode of preventing injuries, therefore, almost wholly ineffectual. Duelling is always honourable among duellists; and, to be generally practiced, must be generally esteemed honourable. That which is honourable will always be courted. The danger to life will, therefore, recommend dueling, to most men, instead of deterring from it. None, who call themselves men of honour, ever shew any serious reluctance to give, or accept, a challenge. All are brave enough to hazard life, whenever the hazard becomes a source of glory. Every savage, that is, every man in a state of nature, will fight, because it is glorious. Civilized men have exactly the same natural character. Persuade them that it is glorious to give and accept challenges, and to fight duels, and few or none of them will hesitate. The dread of danger, appealed to, and relied on, in this case, is therefore chiefly imaginary. Few persons will, ultimately, be prevented from doing injuries by the practice of dueling. Affronts, on the contrary, will be given, merely to create opportunities of fighting. Fighting, in the case supposed, is glory; and to acquire glory men will make their way to fighting through affronts, injuries, and every other course of conduct, necessary, or believed to be necessary, to the end. This fact in the case of humbler and more vulgar battles has long been realized. Many a bully spends a great part of his life in fighting; and will at any time abuse those, with whom he is conversant, not from malice or revenge, but merely to provoke them to battle, that he may obtain the honour of fighting. The nature of all classes of men is the same; and polished persons will do the same things, which are done by clowns, without any other difference than that which exists in the mode. The clown will fight vulgarly; the polished man genteelly: the provocations of the clown will be coarse; those of the gentleman will be more refined. With this dissimilarity excepted, the conduct of both will be the same; but as the gentleman, will feel the sense of glory more exquisitely, so he will seek it with more ardour, and will do wanton injuries with more frequency, and less regret. Thus the ultimate effect will be to increase, and not to prevent, injuries; and the extent of the increase cannot be measured. Besides, injuries so slight as to be ordinarily disregarded; nay imaginary and unintended injuries, will, amidst the domination of such pride and passion as regulate this custom, be construed into serious abuses; and satisfaction will be demanded with such imperiousness, as to preclude all attempts at reparation, on the part of the offender; lest, in the very offer of them, he should be thought to forfeit the character of an honourable man. Wherever fighting becomes the direct and chief avenue to glory, no occasion on which it may be acquired will be neglected. The loss of any opportunity will be regarded of course as a serious loss; and the neglect of the least, as a serious disgrace. The mind will therefore be alive, vigilant, and jealous, lest such a loss, or such a disgrace, should be incurred. Almost everything, which is either done, or omitted, will by such a mind be challenged as an affront, and resented as an injury. Thus the injuries, which will be felt, will be incalculably multiplied. To what a condition will this reduce society!

But dwelling is considered as a source of reputation. In what does the reputation, conferred by it, consist?

“The duelist is a brave man.” So is the highwayman; the burglar; the pirate; and the bravo, who derives his name from gallant assassination. Nay the bull-dog is as bold as either. Bravery is honourable to man, only when exerted in a just, useful, rational cause; where some real good is intended, and may hopefully be accomplished. In every other case it is the courage of a brute. Can a man wish to become a competitor with an animal?

But this claim to bravery is questioned. If from the list of duellists were to be subtracted all those, who either give, or receive, challenges from the fear of being disgraced by the omission, or refusal; how small would be the remainder! But is acting from the fear of disgrace, merely, to be regarded as bravery in the honourable sense; or as courage in any sense? Is it not, on the contrary, simply choosing, of two evils, that, which is felt to be the least? Is there any creature which is not bold enough to do this?

Genuine bravery, when employed at all, is always employed in combating some real evil; something which ought to be opposed. When public opinion is false and mischievous, it will of course meet, resolutely, public opinion; and dare nobly to stem the torrent, which is wasting with its violence the public good. Genuine bravery would nobly disdain to give, or receive, a challenge; because both are pernicious to the safety and peace of mankind. No man is truly great, who has not resolution to withstand, and will not invariably and undauntedly withstand, very false and ruinous public opinion.

But suppose it were really reputable in the view of the public; the question would still recur with all its force—Is it right? Is it agreeable to the will of God? Is it useful to mankind? No advance is made towards the defence of dueling, until these questions can be answered in the affirmative. The opinion of the public cannot alter the nature either of moral principles, or of moral conduct. In the days of Jeroboam, the public opinion of Israel decreed, and supported, the worship of two calves; and, both before and afterward, sanctioned the sacrifice of children to Moloch. The public opinion at Carthage destined the brightest and best youths of the State as victims to Saturn. In a similar manner public opinion has erred, endlessly, in every age and country. An honest and brave man would, in every such case, have withstood the public opinion; and would always firmly resolve, with Abdiel, to stand alone, rather than fall with multitudes. He who will not do this, when either the worship of a stock, the immolation of a human victim, or the murder of his fellow men, is justified by public opinion, is not only devoid of sound principles, but the subject of miserable cowardice. It is a mockery of language, and an affront to common sense, to call him, who, trembling for fear of losing popular applause, sacrifices his faith and his integrity to the opinion of his fellow men, by any other name than a coward.

But duellists claim the character of delicate and peculiar honour. On what is this claim founded? Are they more sincere, just, kind, peaceable, generous, and reasonable, than other men? These are the ingredients of an honourable character. They themselves cannot deny it. That some men, who have fought duels have exhibited greater or less degrees of this spirit, I shall not hesitate to acknowledge. Men of real worth have undoubtedly been guilty of this folly and sin, as well as of other follies and other sins. But these men derived all their worth from other sources; and gained all that was honourable in their minds, and lives, by the character which they sustained as men, and not as duellists. As duelists, they fell from the height, to which they had risen. He, who will explain in what the honour or the delicacy of the spirit of duelling consists, will confer an obligation on his fellow men; and may undoubtedly claim the wreath due to superior intellect.

On the contrary, how generally are duellists haughty, overbearing, passionate, quarrelsome, and abusive; troublesome neighbours, uncomfortable friends, and disturbers of the common happiness? Their pretensions to honour and delicacy are usually mere pretensions; a deplorable egotism of character, which precludes them from all enjoyment, and prevents those around them from possessing quiet, and comfort, unless everything is conformed to their vain and capricious demands.

There is neither delicacy nor honour, in giving or taking affronts easily and suddenly; nor in justifying them on the one hand, nor in revenging them on the other. Very little children do all these things daily, without either honour or delicacy, from the mere impulse of infantine passion. Those who imitate them in this conduct, resemble them in character; and are only bigger children.

“But duelling is reputable in the public opinion.” I have already answered this declaration; but I will answer it again.

Who are the persons of whom this public is constituted? Are they wise and good men? Can one wise and good man, unquestionably wise and good, be named, who has publicly appeared to indicate duelling? If there were even one, his name would, ere this, have been announced to the world. This public is not then formed of such men, and does not include them in its number. Is it formed of the mass of mankind; either in this, or any other, civilized country? I boldly deny, that the generality of men, in any such country, ever justified duelling, or respected duellists. Let the appeal be made to facts. In this country, certainly, the public voice is wholly against the practice. Some persons, who have fought duels, have unquestionably, been here respected for their talents, and their conduct; but not one for duelling. The proof of this is complete. This part of their conduct is never the theme of public, and hardly ever of private, commendation. On the contrary, it is always mentioned with regret, and generally with detestation. Who then is this public? It is the little collection of duellists; magnified by its own voice, as every other little party is, into the splendid character of the public. That duellists should pronounce duelling to be reputable, cannot be thought a wonder, nor alleged as an argument.

“But it is dishonourable not to give a challenge when affronted; and to refuse one, when challenged. Who can endure the sense of shame, or consent to live in infamy? What is life worth without reputation; and how can reputation be preserved, as the world now is, without obeying the dictates of this custom?”

This, I presume, is the chief argument, on which duelling rests; and by which its votaries are, at least a great part of them, chiefly governed. Take away the shame of neglecting to give, or refusing to accept, a challenge; and few men would probably enter the field of single combat, except from motives of revenge.

On this argument I observe, that he, who alleges it, gives up the former arguments, of course. If a man fights, to avoid the shame of not fighting, he does not fight, to punish, repair, or prevent, an injury. If the disgrace of not fighting is his vindication for fighting, then he is not vindicated by any of these considerations; nor by that of delicate honour, nor by anything else.

The real reason, and that on which alone he ultimately relies for his justification, is, that if he does not fight he shall be disgraced; and that this disgrace is attended with such misery, as to necessitate, and justify his fighting.

In alleging this reason as his justification, the duel list gives up, also, the inherent rectitude of duelling; and acknowledges it to be in itself wrong. Otherwise he plainly could not need, nor appeal to, this reason, as his vindication. The misery of this disgrace, is therefore, according to his declaration, such, as to render that right, which is inherently, and which but for this misery would still be, wrong, or sinful.

This is indeed a strange opinion. God has, and it will not often be denied that he has, prohibited certain kinds of conduct to men. These he has absolutely prohibited. According to this opinion, however, he places men by his providence in such circumstances of distress, that they may lawfully disobey his prohibitions; because, otherwise, they would be obliged to endure intolerable misery. Has God, then, published a law, and afterwards placed men in such situations, as to make their disobedience to it lawful? How unreasonably, according to this doctrine, have the scriptures charged Satan with sin? His misery, as exhibited by them, is certainly more intolerable than that, which is here professed, and of course will warrant him to pursue the several courses, in which he expects to lessen it. This is the present plea of the duelist; Satan might make it with double force.

Had the Apostles bethought themselves of this argument, they might, it would seem, have spared themselves the scorn, the reproach, the hunger, the nakedness, the persecution, and the violent death which they firmly encountered, rather than disobedience to God. Foolishly indeed must they have gone to the stake, and the cross, when they might have found a quiet refuge from both in the mere recollection, that the loss of reputation was such extreme distress, as to justify him who was exposed to this evil, in any measures of disobedience, necessary in his view to secure his escape.

What an exhibition is here given of the character of God? He has published a law, which forbids homicide; a law universally acknowledged to be just; and particularly acknowledged to be just in the very adoption of this argument. At the same time, it is in this argument averred, that he often places his creatures in such circumstances, that they may lawfully disobey it. Of these circumstances every man is considered as being his own judge. If then any man judge, that his circumstances will justify his disobedience, he may, according to this argument, lawfully disobey. If the argument were universally admitted, how evident is it, that every man would disobey every law of God, and yet be justified. Obedience would therefore vanish from men; the law become a nullity; and God cease to govern, and be unable to govern, his creatures. This certainly would be a most ingenious method of annihilating that law, every jot and tittle of which he has declared shall stand, though to fulfill it heaven and earth shall pass away.

On the same ground might every man, in equal distress, seek the life of him who occasioned it, however innocently, and hazard his own. But poverty, disappointed ambition, and a thousand other misfortunes, involve men in equal sufferings; as we continually see by the suicide, which follows them. Of these misfortunes, generally, men, either intentionally, or unintentionally, are the causes. He, therefore, who causes them, may, on this ground, be lawfully put to death by the sufferer. What boundless havoc would this doctrine make of human life; and how totally would it subvert every moral principle!

How different was the conduct of St. Paul, in sufferings inestimably greater than those here alleged! Being reviled, says he, we bless; being defamed, we entreat. Thus he acted, when, as he declares in the same passage, he was hungry and thirsty, and naked, and buffeted, and had no certain dwelling place.

But what is this suffering? It is nothing but the anguish of wounded pride. Ought, then, this imperious, deceitful, debasing passion to be gratified at the expense of murder, and suicide? Ought it to be gratified at all? Is not most of the turpitude, shame, and misery, of man the effect of this passion only? Angels by the indulgence of this passion lost heaven; and the parents of mankind ruined a world.

“But a good name is by the Scriptures themselves asserted to be an invaluable possession.” It is. But what is a good Name, in the view of the Scriptures? It is the Name, which grows out of good principles, and good conduct. It is the result of wisdom and virtue; not of folly and sin; a plant brought down from the heavens, which will flourish, and blossom, and bear fruit forever.

“But is not the esteem of our fellow-men an inestimable enjoyment? And have not wise men, in every age of the world, given this as their opinion?” The esteem, let me ask, of what men? The esteem of banditti is certainly of no value. The character of the men is, therefore, that which determines the worth of their esteem. The esteem of wise and good men is undoubtedly a possession, of the value alleged; particularly, because it is given only to wise and good conduct. If you covet esteem then, merit it by wisdom and virtue; and you will of course gain the blessing. By folly and guilt you can gain no applause, but that of fools and sinners; while you assure yourself of the contempt and abhorrence of all others.

I shall conclude this part of the discussion with the following summary remarks.

Duelling is eminently absurd, because the reasons, which create the contest, are generally trivial. These are almost always trifling affronts, which a magnanimous man would disdain to regard. A brave and meritorious Officer in the British army was lately killed in a duel, which arose of the fighting of two dogs.

As an adjustment of disputes, it is supremely absurd. If the parties possess equal skill, innocence and crime are placed on the same level; and their interests are decided by a game of hazard. A die would better terminate the controversy; because the chances would be the same, and the danger and death would be avoided. If the parties possess unequal skill, the concerns of both are committed to the decision of one; deeply interested; perfectly selfish; enraged; and precluded by the very plan of adjustment from doing that which is right, unless in doing it he will consent to suffer an incomprehensible evil. To avoid this evil he is by the laws of the controversy justified in doing to his antagonist all the future injustice in his power. Never was there a more improper judge, nor a more improper situation for judging. To add to the folly, the very mode of decision involves new evils; so that the injustice already done can never be redressed, but by doing other and greater injustice. ¹

Finally, it is infinite folly, as in every duel, each party puts his soul, and his eternity, into extreme hazard, voluntarily; and rushes before the bar of God, stained with the guilt of suicide and with the design of shedding violently the blood of his fellow-man.

The guilt of dueling involves a train of the most solemn considerations. An understanding, benumbed by the torpor of the lethargy, only, would fail to discern them; a heart of flint to feel them; and a conscience vanquished, bound, and trodden under foot, to regard them with horror.

Duelling is a violation of the laws of Man. “Submit to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake,” is equally a precept of reason and revelation. The Government of every country is the indispensable source of protection, peace, safety, and happiness, to its inhabitants; and the only means of transmitting these blessings, together with education, knowledge, and religion, to their children. It is therefore a good, which cannot be estimated. But without obedience to its laws no government can continue a moment. He, therefore, who violates them, contributes voluntarily to the destruction of the government itself, and of all the blessings which it secures.

The laws of every civilized country forbid duelling, and forbid it, in its various stages, by denouncing against it severe and dreadful penalties; thus proving, that the wise and good men of every such country have, with one view, regarded it as an injury of no common magnitude. The duelist, therefore, openly, and of system, attacks the laws, the peace, and the happiness, of his country; loosens the bonds of society; and makes an open war on his fellow-citizens, and their posterity.

At the same time he takes the decision of his own controversies out of the hands of the public, and constitutes himself his own judge and avenger. His arm he makes the umpire of all his concerns; and insolently requires his countrymen to submit their interests, when connected with his own, to the adjudication of his passions. Claiming and sharing all the blessings of civilized society, he arrogates, also, the savage independence of wild and brutal nature; wrests the sword of justice from the hand of the magistrate, and wields it, as the weapon of an assassin. To him government is annihilated. Laws and trials, judges and juries, vanish before him. Arms are his laws, and a party his judge; his only trial is a battle, and his hall a field of blood.

All his countrymen have the same rights which he has. Should they claim and exercise what he claims, what would be the consequence? Every controversy, every concern of man would be terminated by the sword and pistol. Civil war, war waged by friends and neighbours, by fathers, sons, and brothers; a war of that dreadful kind which the Romans denominated a tumult, would spread through every country: a war, in which all the fierce passions of man would be let loose; and wrath and malice, revenge and phrenzy would change the world into a dungeon filled with maniacs, who had broken their chains, and glutted their rage with each other’s misery. Thus duelling, universally adopted, would ruin every country, destroy all their peace and safety, and blast every hope of mankind. Who but a fiend could willingly contribute to this devastation?

The guilt begun in the violation of the laws of man, is finished in the violation of the laws of God. This awful Being, who gave us existence, and preserves it; who is everywhere, and sees everything; who made, and rules, the universe; who will judge, and reward, both angels and men; and before whom every work, with every secret thing, shall be brought into judgment; with his own voice proclaimed to this bloody world, from Mount Sinai, Thou shalt not kill. The command, as I explained it in this place, the last season, forbids killing absolutely. No exception, as I then observed, can be lawfully made to the precept, except those which the lawgiver has himself made. These, I farther observed, are limited to killing beasts, when necessary for food, or plainly noxious; and putting man to death by the sword of public justice; or in self-defence; whether private or public: this being the only ground of justifiable war. As these are the sole exceptions, it is clear that duelling is an open violation of this law of God.

The guilt of duelling in this view is manifold; and in all its varieties is sufficiently dreadful to alarm any man, whose conscience is susceptible of alarm, and whose mind is not too stupid to discern, that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

If the duelist is a mere creature of solitude, in whose life or death, happiness or misery, no human being is particularly interested; if no bosom will glow with his prosperity, or bleed with his sufferings; if no mourner will follow his hearse, and no eye drop a tear over his grave; still he is a man. As a man, he owes ten thousand duties to his fellow-men; and these are all commanded by his God. His labours, his example, his prayers, are daily due to the neighbour, the stranger, the poor, and the public. He cannot withdraw them without sin. The eternal Being, whose wisdom and justice have sanctioned all these claims, will exact the forfeiture at his hands; and enquire of the wicked and slothful servant, why, in open defiance of his known pleasure, he has thus shrunk from his duty, and buried his talent in the grave.

Is he a son? Who licensed him, in rebellion against the fifth command of the Decalogue, to pierce his parents’ hearts with agony, and to bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave? Why did he not live, to honour his father and his mother; to obey, to comfort, to delight, and to support them in their declining years; and to give them a rich reward for all their toil, expense, and suffering, in his birth and education, by a dutiful, discreet, and amiable life, the only reward which they asked? Why did he shroud the morning of their happiness in midnight, and cause their rising hopes to set in blood? Why did he raise up before their anguished eyes the spectre of a son, slain in the enormous perpetration of sin; escaping from a troubled grave; or coming from the regions of departed spirits to haunt their course through declining life; to alarm their sleep, and chill their waking moments, with the despairing, agonizing cry,

“Death, ‘tis a melancholy day
To those that have no God.”

Is he a husband? He has broken the marriage vow; the oath of God. He has forsaken his wife of his youth. He has refused to furnish her sustenance; to share her joys; to sooth her sorrows; to watch her sick bed; and to provide for his children and hers, the means of living here, and the means of living for ever. He has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. Where, in that fatal, guilty moment, when he resolved to cast away his life, were his tenderness to the partner of his bosom; the yearnings of his bowels towards the offspring of his loins; his sense of duty; his remembrance of God? In every character, as a dependent creature, as a sinful man, his eternal life and death were suspended on his forgiveness of his enemies. He, who alone can forgive sins, and save sinners, has said, If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you. He has gone farther. He has forbidden man even to ask pardon of God, unless with a forgiving spirit to his fellow-men. In vain can the duelist pretend to a forgiving temper. If he felt the spirit of the cross, could he possibly for an affront, an offence lighter than air, shed the blood of his neighbour? Could he plunge the friends of the sufferer into an abyss of anguish; sink his parents in irrecoverable despair; break on the wheel the hearts of his wife and children; and label on the door-posts of his house, Mourning, Lamentation, and Woe?

Satisfaction for a professed injury is the very demand which he makes; the only basis of his contest. Is this the language of forgiveness? It is an insult to common sense, it is an outrage on common decency, to hold this language, and yet profess this temper. The language is the language of revenge. The spirit is the spirit of revenge. The varnish, notwithstanding it is so laboriously spread, is too thin to conceal the gross materials, or to deceive the most careless eye. Revenge for a supposed affront, revenge for wounded pride, for disappointed ambition, for frustrated schemes of power, dictates the challenge, seizes the weapon of death, and goads the champion to the field. Revenge turns the heart to stone, directs the fatal aim, and gloomily smiles over the expiring victim. Remove this palliation, miserable as it is, and you make man a fiend. A fiend would murder without emotion; while man is hurried to the dreadful work by passion only.

But what an image is presented to the eye by a man, thus dreadfully executing revenge! A worm of the dust; a sinful worm, an apostate, who lives on mercy only; who would not thus have lived, had not his Saviour died for him; who is crimsoned with ten thousand crimes, committed against his God; who is soon to be tried, judged and rewarded for them all; this worm raises its crest, and talks loftily of the affront which it has received, of injured honour, of wounded character, of expiation by the blood of its fellow worm. All this is done under the all-searching eye, and in the tremendous presence, of Jehovah; who has hung the pardon of this miserable being on his forgiveness of his fellow. Be astonished, O Heavens, at this! And thou earth, be horribly afraid!

Nor is this crime merely an execution of revenge; it is a cold, deliberate revenge. The deliberate killing of a man is Murder, by the decision of common sense, by the decision of human laws, by the decision of God. How few murderers have an equal opportunity, or equal advantages, to deliberate! By a mind informed with knowledge, softened with the humanity of polished life, enlightened by revelation, conscious of a God, and acquainted with the Saviour of mankind, a cool, deliberate purpose is formed, cherished, and executed, of murdering a fellow-creature. The servant, who forgave not his fellow-servant his debt of an hundred pence but thrust him into prison, was delivered over to the tormenters by his Lord, until he should pay the ten thousand talents, which he owed, when he had nothing to pay? What will be the destiny of that servant, who, in the same circumstances, for a debt, an injury, of the tenth part of the value of an hundred pence, robs his fellow-servant of his life?

Had an Apostle, had Paul, amidst all the unexampled injuries which he suffered, sent a challenge, or fought a duel, what would have become of his character as an Apostle, or even as a good man? This single act would have destroyed his character, and ruined his mission. Infidels would have triumphantly objected this act, as unquestioned proof of his immorality, of his consequent unfitness to be an Apostle from God to mankind, and of his destitution, therefore, of inspiration. Nor could Christians have answered the objection. But can that conduct, which would have proved Paul to be a sinner, consist with a virtuous character in another man?

Had the Saviour of the world ² (I make the unnatural supposition with shuddering, but I hope with becoming reverence for that great and glorious Person) sent a challenge, or fought a duel, would not this single spot have eclipsed the Sun of Righteousness forever? Can that spot, which would have sullied the divinity of the Redeemer, and obscured his mediation, fail to be an indelible stain, a hateful deformity, on those whom he came to save? If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

All these things reason, and humanity, and religion plead; yet how often, even in this infant country, this country boasting of its knowledge and virtue, they plead in vain! Duels in great numbers are fought; revenge is glutted; and the miserable victims of wrath and madness are hurried to an untimely end. Come then, thou surviving, and in thine own view, fortunate and glorious champion; accompany me to the scenes of calamity, which thou hast created, and survey the mischiefs of duelling.

Go with me to yonder church-yard. Whose is that newly opened grave? Approach, and read the letters on the yet uncovered coffin. If thou canst retain a steady eye, thou wilt perceive, that they denote a man, who yesterday beheld, and enjoyed, the light of the living. Then he shared in all the blessings and hopes of life. He possessed health, and competence, and comfort, and usefulness, and reputation. He was surrounded by neighbours who respected, and by friends who loved him. The wife of his youth found in him every joy, and the balm of every sorrow. The children of his bosom hung on his knees, to receive his embrace, and his blessing. In a thousand designs was he embarked, to provide for their support and education, and to settle them usefully and comfortably in the world. He inspired all their enjoyments; he lighted up all their hopes.

Yesterday he was himself a creature of hope, a probationer for immortality. The voice of mercy invited him to faith and repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ, to holiness, and to heaven. The day of grace shone, the smiles of forgiveness beamed upon his head. While this happy day lasted, God was reconcilable, his Redeemer might be found, and his soul might be saved. The night had not then come upon him, in which no man can work.

Where is he now? His body lies mouldering in that coffin. His soul has ascended to God, with all its sins upon its head, to be judged, and condemned to wretchedness, which knows no end. Thy hand has hurried him to the grave, to the judgment, and to damnation. He affronted thee; and this is the expiation which thy revenge exacted.

Turn now to the melancholy mansion, where, yesterday, his presence diffused tenderness, hope, and joy. Enter the door, reluctantly opening to receive even the most beloved guest. Here mark the affecting group assembled by this catastrophe. That venerable man, fixed in motionless sorrow, whose hoary head trembles with emotions unutterable, and whose eye refuses a tear to lessen his anguish, is the father who begat him. That matron wrung with agony, is the mother who bore him. Yesterday he was their delight, their consolation, the staff of their declining years. To him they looked, under God, to lighten the evils of their old age; to close their eyes on the bed of death; and to increase their transports throughout eternity.

But their comforts and their hopes have all vanished together. He is now a corpse, a tenant of the grave; cut off in the bloom of life, and sent unprepared to the judgment. To these immeasurable evils thou hast added the hopeless agony of remembering, while they live, that he was cut off in a gross and dreadful act of sin, and without even a momentary space of repentance: a remembrance, which will envenom life, and double the pangs of death.

Turn thine eyes, next, on that miserable form surrounded by a cluster of helpless and wretched children. See her eyes rolling with frenzy, and her frame quivering with terror. Thy hand has made her a widow, and her children orphans. At thee, though unseen, is directed that bewildered stare of agony. At thee she trembles; for thee she listens; lest the murderer of her husband should be now approaching to murder her children also.

She and they have lost their all. Thou hast robbed them of their support, their protector, their guide, their solace, their hope. In the rave all these blessings have been buried by thy hand. If his affront to thee demanded this terrible expiation, what, according to thine own decision, must be the sufferings, destined, to retribute the immeasurable injuries, which thou hast done to them?

The day of this retribution is approaching. The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth from the ground, and thou art now cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood. A mark is set upon thee by thy God; not for safety, but for destruction. Disease, his avenging Angel, is preparing to hurry thee to the bed of death. With what agonies wilt thou there recall thy malice, thy revenge, and the murder of thy friend! With what ecstacy will thy soul cling to this world, and with what horror will it quake at the approach of eternity! Alone, naked, drenched in guilt, thou wilt ascend to God. From him what reception wilt thou meet From his voice what language wilt thou hear? “Depart, thou cursed into everlasting fire.” And lo! The melancholy world of sin and suffering unfolds to receive thee. Mark, in the entrance, the man, whom thou hast plundered of life, and happiness, and heaven, already waiting to pour on thy devoted head, for the infinite wrongs which thou hast done to him, the wrath and vengeance of eternity.

At the close of this awful survey, cast thine eyes once more around thee, and see thyself, and thy brother duellists, the examples, the patrons, and the sole causes, of all succeeding duelling. Were the existing advocates of this practice to cease from upholding it; were they to join their efforts to the common efforts of man, and hunt it out of the world; it would never return. On thee, therefore, and thy companions, the innumerable and immense evils of future duelling are justly charged. To you, a band of enemies to the peace and safety of man, a host of Jeroboams, who not only sin, but make Israel to sin through a thousand generations, will succeeding ages impute their guilt, and their sufferings. You efficacious and baleful example, will make thousands of childless parents, distracted widows, and desolate orphans after you are laid in the grave. You invite posterity to wrest the right of deciding private controversies out of the hands of public justice; and to make force and skill the only umpires between man and man. You entail perpetual contempt on the laws of man, and on the laws of God; kindle the flames of civil discord; and summon from his native abyss anarchy, the worst of fiends, to lay waste all the happiness, and all the hopes of mankind.

At the great and final day, your country will rise up in judgment against you, to accuse you as the destroyers of her peace, and the murderers of her children. Against you will rise up in judgment all the victims of your revenge, and all the wretched families, whom you have plunged in hopeless misery. The prowling Arab and the remorseless Savage, will there draw nigh, and whiten their crimes by a comparison with yours. They indeed were murderers, but they were never dignified with the name, nor blessed with the privileges of Christians. They were born in blood, and educated to slaughter. They were taught from their infancy, that to fight, and to kill, was lawful, honourable, and virtuous. You were born in the mansion of knowledge, humanity, and religion. At the moment of your birth, you were offered up to God, and baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. You were dandled on the knee, and educated in the school of piety. From the house of God you have gone to the field of blood, and from the foot of the cross, to the murder of your friends. You have cut off life in the blossom, and shortened, to the wretched objects of your wrath, the day of repentance and salvation. The beams of the Sun of righteousness, shining with life-giving influence on them, you have intercepted; the smile of mercy, the gleam of hope, the dawn of immortality, you have overcast forever. You have glutted the grave with untimely slaughter, and helped to people the world of perdition. Crimsoned with guilt, and drunk with blood, Nineveh will ascend from the tomb, triumph over your ruin, and smile to see her own eternal destiny more tolerable than yours.

Endnotes

1. This, however, is beyond a doubt the real state of the subject. Duellists profess to fight on equal terms, and make much parade of adjusting the combat so as to accord with these terms. But all this is mere profession. Most of those who design to become duellists, apply themselves with great assiduity to shooting with pistols at a mark placed at the utmost usual fighting distance. In this manner they prove that they intend to avail themselves of their superior skill, thus laboriously acquired, to decide the combat against their antagonists. It makes not the least difference, whether the advantage consists in better arms, a better position, an earlier fire, or a more skillful hand. In each case the advantage lies in the greater probability which it furnishes one of the combatants of success in the duel. Superior skill ensures this probability, and is, therefore, according to the professions of duellists, an unfair and iniquitous advantage.

2. It is, I believe, universally admitted by Christians, that the conduct, which would have been sinful in Christ, considered merely as placed under the law of God, and required to obey it, is sinful in every man acquainted with the Gospel; and that the conduct of Christ as a moral being, is in every instance applicable to our circumstances, a rule of duty to us. I have put this strong case, because I believe few of those, who may evade with various pretences the preceding arguments will be at a loss to determine here. In the same manner divines customarily make, on certain occasions, the supposition of injustice, falsehood, or other turpitude, and apply it to the divine character; to shew, forcibly, what deplorable consequences would follow, were the supposition true.

Joseph Lathrop (1731-1820) Biography:

Lathrop was born in Norwich, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale, he took a teaching position at a grammar school in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he also began studying theology. Two years after leaving Yale, he was ordained as the pastor of the Congregational Church in West Springfield, Massachusetts. He remained there until his death in 1820, in the 65^th year of his ministry. During his career, he was awarded a Doctor of Divinity from both Yale and Harvard. He was even offered the Professorship of Divinity at Yale, but he declined the offer. Many of his sermons were published in a seven-volume set over the course of twenty-five years.

In this 1805 sermon, preached when he was 74 years old, Rev. Lathrop encourages his listeners to adopt a Biblical perspective on aging: to recognize that its effects are inevitable; to lean more heavily on God for grace to deal with the weakening of the body; and to maintain a positive testimony of faith before others. (Rev. Lathrop would preach another sermon on aging, Old Age Improved, in 1811, when he had reached his 80th year. Read it here.)

The Infirmities and Comforts of Old Age

A Sermon To Aged People

By Joseph Lathrop, D. D. Pastor of the first Church in West-Spring field

My aged Brethren and Friends, You will permit an aged man, like yourselves, to speak, this afternoon, a few words to you…Or, if you please, he will speak to himself in your hearing…Pertinent to our case, and worthy of our adoption, is the Petition of the Psalmist in:

Psalm 71:9

Cast me not off in the time of old age…Forsake me not when my strength faileth.

There is little doubt, that David was the author of this Psalm. And from several expressions in it we learn, that he wrote it in his old age. He prays in our text, “cast me not off in the time of old age.” And, in verse 18, “Now, when I am old and gray headed, forsake me not.” But David, when he died, was but about seventy years old, and he probably wrote the Psalm some years before his death; perhaps in the time of Absalom’s rebellion; for he speaks of “enemies, who then took counsel together, and laid wait for this life.” And we find not, that he was ever in this perilous and critical situation after that rebellion.

David, then, realized old age earlier than some seem to do. He noticed its first appearance; he brought it near, in his meditations, before it had actually invaded him; or, at least, when he began to perceive its approach in the decline of his strength, and the increase of his gray hairs. But many choose to view it as distant. “Grey hairs are here and there upon them, and they perceive it not.” They enjoy, in a comfortable degree, the pleasures of life; and that evil day, in which there is no pleasure, they put far from them.

It would be wise for us to imitate David’s example; to think of, and prepare for the evil day before it comes; to secure God’s gracious presence now; and in our daily prayers to ask, that “he would not cast us off in the time of old age, nor forsake us when our strength faileth.”

The Psalmist here reminds us, that old age is a time when strength faileth: And that at such a time God’s presence is of peculiar importance.

I. Old age is a time when strength faileth. There is then a sensible decay of bodily strength.

As we come into the world, so we depart, impotent, feeble and helpless. From our infancy we gradually acquire strength, until we arrive to our full maturity. We then for a few years continue stationary, without sensible change. After a little while we begin to feel, and are constrained to confess an alteration in our state. Our limbs lose their former activity; our customary labor becomes wearisome; pains invade our frame; our sleep, often interrupted, refreshes us less than heretofore; our food is less gustful; our sight is bedimmed, and our
ears are dull of hearing; “they that look out at the windows are darkened, and the daughters of music are low;” the pleasures of reading and conversation abate; our ancient companions have generally withdrawn to another world, and the few who are left are, like us, shut up, that they cannot go forth…Hence social visits are more unfrequent and less entertaining; and our condition grows more and more solitary and disconsolate.

With our bodily, our mental strength usually declines. The faculty which first appears to fail is the memory. And its failure we first observe in the difficulty of recollecting little things, such as names and numbers. We then perceive it in our inability to retain things which are recent…What we early heard or read, abides with us; but later information is soon forgotten. Hence, in conversation, aged people often repeat the same questions, and relate the same stories; for they soon lose the recollection of what has passed And hence perhaps, in part,
is the impertinent garrulity, of which old age is accused… You see, then my young friends, the importance of laying up a good store of useful knowledge in early life. What you acquire now, you may retain: Later acquisitions will be small and uncertain. Like riches, they will make them wings and fly away. In the decline of life you must chiefly depend on the old stock; and happy, if you shall have then a rich store to feed upon.

When memory fails, other faculties soon follow. The attention is with more difficulty fixed, and more easily diverted: the intellect is less acute in its discernment, and the judgment more fallible in its decisions.

The judgment is the last faculty which the pride of age is willing to give up…Our forgetfulness we cannot but feel, and others cannot but observe. But we choose to think our judgment remains solid and clear. We are never apt to distrust our own opinions; for it is the nature of opinion to be satisfied with itself. It is certain, however, that judgment must fail in some proportion to the failure of attention and recollection. We form a just judgment by viewing and comparing the evidences and circumstances, which relate to the case in question. If then any material evidence, or circumstance escapes our notice, or slips from our memory, the judgment formed is uncertain, because we have but a partial view of the case. In all matters, where a right judgment depends on comparing several things, the failure of memory endangers the rectitude of the decision.

When we perceive a decline of bodily and mental strength, fear and anxiety usually increase. Difficulties once trifling now swell to a terrifying magnitude, because we have not power to encounter them. Want stares upon us with frightful aspect, because we have not capacity to provide against it…The kind and patient attention of our friends we distrust, because we know not how long we may be a burden to them, and we have nothing in our hands to remunerate them, except that property, which they already anticipate as their own. “The grasshopper now becomes a burden’ we rise up at the voice of the bird; we are afraid of that which is high, and fear is in the way.”

This state of infirmity and anxiety, painful in itself, is rendered more so by the recollection of what we once were, and by the anticipation of what we soon shall be.

We contrast our present with our former condition…Once we were men; now we feel ourselves to be but babes. Once we possessed active powers; now we are become impotent. Once we sustained our children and ministered to them with pleasure; now we are sustained by them; and we are sure, our once experienced pleasure is not reciprocated. Once we were of some importance in society; now we are sunk into insignificance. Once our advice was sought and regarded; now we are passed by with neglect, and younger men take our place: even the management of our own substance has fallen into the hands of others, and they perhaps scarcely think us worthy of being consulted. And if we are, now and then, consulted, perhaps our jealousy whispers, that it is done merely to flatter our aged vanity and keep us in good humor.

Such a contrast Job experienced, and he found it no small aggravation of his adversity. Looking back to former days, he says, “When I went out of the gates through the city, the young men saw me, and hid themselves; the aged arose and stood up. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me, because I delivered the poor and fatherless, and the blessing of those, who were ready to perish, came upon me. -But now they who are younger than I have me in derision. They abhor me and flee from me. They mar my path, and set forward my calamity.”

And not only the remembrance of what is past, but the forethought of what is to come, aggravates the calamity of the aged man.

In earlier life hope stood by him to comfort him in all his troubles. If he was disappointed in his business, he hoped to succeed better in a future essay. If he met with misfortune, he hoped by and by to retrieve it. If he lost his health, he hoped by time and medicine to regain it. If he suffered pain, he hoped it would be short. Whatever calamity he felt, he looked forward to better days…But now hope has quitted its station and retired from his company. “His days are spent without hope.” The joys of life are fled, never to return. He anticipates the increase of infirmities and pains from month to month, and the probable even of total decrepitude and confinement, and the entire loss of his feeble remains of sensibility and intellect.

Well might Solomon call this an evil day.

In the probable expectation of such a day, there is no solid comfort, but in the hope of enjoying the presence of God. Therefore, as we observed,

II. We ought to adopt the prayer of David, “Cast me not off in the time of old age: Forsake me not when my strength faileth.”

In the first place, the Psalmist may here be supposed to request, that God would not cast him off from the care of his providence.

When we have reached old age, or find ourselves near it, we may reasonably and properly pray, that God would excuse us from those pains of body and infirmities of mind, with which some have been afflicted; that he would place us in easy and unembarrassed circumstances, and allow us liberty for those devout exercises, which are suited to prepare us for our momentous change. David had seen the gross misbehavior of some of his children, and was now probably suffering under the cruel persecution of an ungracious son, who wished the father’s death, that he might possess the father’s throne. In this situation the old man prays, “Deliver me out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. O God, be not far from me; make haste to my help.” Under this severe affliction he doubtless requested, that God would incline the hearts of his children to treat him with filial duty and affection, and to study the peace and comfort of his declining age.

The happiness of the parent, in the latter stages of his life, depends much on the good behavior of his children; and particularly on their kind attention to him…I pity the aged man, who, when his strength fails, looks anxiously around, and sees not a son on whom he can lean: No; not a child, who will reach out a hand to sustain his sinking frame, and guide his tottering steps… But I congratulate the happy old man, who sees his children about him, all attentive to his wants, listening to his complaints, compassionate to his pains, and emulous each to
excel the other in acts of filial duty…I honor the children, when instead of seeing the old father tossed from place to place, unwelcome wherever he is sent, they adopt the language of Joseph, “come to me, my father; thou shalt be near to me, and I will nourish thee.” Such filial kindness soothes the pains, and cheers the spirits of the parent. It makes him forget his affliction, or remember it as waters which pass away.

But, secondly, what David principally requested was, that God would grant him the presence of his grace. Thus he prays, in another Psalm, “Cast me not away out of thy presence; take not thy holy spirit from me; restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

His outward man was decaying; but he solicited such supplies of grace, as should renew the inward man day by day. In his increasing infirmities he could take pleasure, when the power of God rested upon him; for however weak in himself, he was strong in the Lord.

1. In this prayer he asks grace, that he may maintain a temper and behavior suited to his age and condition.

It becomes the aged to be grave and sober, for they stand on the brink of the eternal world. And who would not be sober there? If we should ever happen to see such men light and vain, addicted to frothy discourse, fond of dissolute company, and seeking guilty amusements, we should be shocked at the spectacle. We should naturally conclude, that their hearts were totally alienated from God and religion, and completely stupefied by the habits of sin.

It becomes them to be temperate and vigilant, and to avoid every indulgence, which might tend to increase the peevishness and irritability naturally incident to a period of pain and infirmity.

It becomes them to be patient and resigned. As they are subject to peculiar trials, and the strength of nature fails, they should implore the presence of that good spirit, whose fruits are gentleness, meekness and long-suffering. They should call to mind former mercies, and meditate on God’s works of old. They should consider that their time is short, and their trials will soon be over. “Now for a season, if need be, they are in heaviness through manifold temptations; but if patience has its perfect work, the trial of their faith, which is more precious, than that of gold which perishes, will be found to praise and honor at the coming of Christ. And these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, will work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

2. They should pray for grace, that by a pattern of piety and heavenly mindedness, they may recommend religion to others. They are required to be sound in charity, as well as patience-not only to bear their troubles with fortitude and dignity, but to exhibit in all things a behavior, which becometh holiness, that they may teach the young to be sober minded. This is the best exercise of their charity.

David, in his old age, felt a benevolent concern for rising posterity. Hence he prays, “O God, forsake me not, when I am old, until I have showed thy strength to this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”

The aged man, taken off by his infirmities from the active business of life, can in no way do more service for God and for mankind, than by exhibiting a visible example of contentment and humility, piety and spirituality, faith and hope, in the near views of another world. He thus demonstrates the excellence and power of religion, and calls on all around him to embrace and cherish it, that, like him, they may pear affliction with serenity, and meet death with fortitude.

3. David here solicits communion with God. “Cast me not off.” Deny me not free access to thee. “Turn not away my prayer, nor thy mercy from me.”

The good man, in all circumstances, would maintain a heavenly intercourse. But he desires and values this privilege most in a time of affliction, and in the near expectation of death. Our Savior, who was, at all times, filled with a devout spirit, exercised this spirit most fervently and frequently toward the close of his life. And so ought the aged saint. As he is discharged from the labors and occupation of the world, let him dismiss his worldly affections and thoughts, and give himself, more than formerly, to self examination, meditation and prayer, viewing the time as at had, when, taking leave of all earthly things, he must enter into a new world, mingle in new connexions, and appear in the presence of God, let him employ himself in the contemplation of heaven and in the exercises of devotion more constantly than he could ordinarily do in former years, when the world had greater demands upon him. Looking forward to the last stage of life, and realizing the condition in which he may then be placed, let him often ask beforehand, that God would give him at that time, the spirit of prayer in a superior degree, would grant him, under nature’s weakness, ability to collect and arrange his thoughts, and a fervor of pious affection in making known his requests. This, in a similar case, was the employment and the comfort of the Psalmist. “My soul,” says he, “is full of troubles, and my life draweth near to the grave; mine acquaintance are put far from me; and I am shut up, that I cannot go forth.” And what could he do in this condition? One thing he could do; and this he did. He applied himself to prayer, which is the best relief of an afflicted soul. “I have called daily upon thee, and to thee have I stretched out my hands Unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Let my prayer come before thee; incline thine ear to my cry.”

4. David, in this petition, “Cast me not off in the time of old age,” requests that, by the power of Divine Grace working in him, his faith and hope might hold out to the last; and that, by the sensible displays of Divine Light, and by increasing evidence of his title to salvation, he might be freed from the distressing apprehension of being finally cast off and forsaken of his God. Thus he prays, on another occasion, “Cast me not away out of thy presence. Restore unto me the joy of they salvation.”

In all seasons and conditions of life, the hope of glory is much to be desired, and earnestly to be sought. This will lighten our afflictions and sweeten our mercies; defend us against temptations and smooth the path of duty; dispel the gloom which hovers round the grave, and brighten the prospect of eternity… But this hope is never more important, or more delightful than in old age. Now the joys of life have fled, and earthly prospects are cut off; now the day of probation is expiring, and the solemn hour of retribution is at hand…How unhappy the case of those, who are going down to the grave without hope, and going to judgment with a consciousness of unpardoned guilt; who, in the review of life, see nothing
but vain amusements, sensual pleasures, earthly affections, and avaricious or ambitious pursuits; and in the contemplation of futurity see nothing before them, but death, judgment and fiery indignation… But how happy the aged Christian, who can look back on a life employed in works of piety to God, and beneficence to men, and who now feels the spirit of devotion and charity warmed within him and acting with fresh vigor to confirm his hopes of heaven, dispel the fears of death, and light up fresh joys in his soul? He can take pleasure in his infirmities, regarding them as kind intimations, that “now is his salvation nearer, than when he believed.”

Such was Paul’s felicity, when he was ready to be offered, and the time of his departure was at hand. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me in that day.” How did Paul obtain this felicity?-“He counted not his own life dear to himself, that he might finish his work with faithfulness, and his course with joy.” “He kept under his body to bring it into subjection, lest by any means, when he had preached to others, he himself should be a castaway.” That we may obtain the full assurance of hope, we must be followers of them, who by faith and patience inherit the promises; and in this course we must give diligence to the end.

Our subject powerfully applies itself to us, who are advanced in age. We begin to feel the decays of strength, and to perceive the indications of our approaching dissolution. In a few a days, we must go the way, whence we shall not return. Soon we shall see man no more with the inhabitants of the earth; but shall be placed in new relations and in a new condition. While we tarry here, our infirmities will probably increase; our days and nights will become more wearisome; the pleasure of senses will lose their relish; the burden of worldly business will be too heavy for our bending shoulders; the implements of our labor will drop out of our palsied hands, and we shall have no more a portion in any thing that is done under the sun. And it is not improbable, that some of our last months may be spent in helpless confinement of body; ah, and perhaps too in derangement or stupor of mind.

Looking forward to such a season, let us daily pray, “O God, cast us not off in the time of old age; forsake us not when our strength faileth. Give us kind and patient friends, who will cheerfully minister to our necessities and bear our infirmities. Vouchsafe to us rich supplies of thy Grace, that we may sustain our own infirmities; may enjoy communion with thee; may maintain our heavenly hope, and by a pattern of Christian piety, charity and spirituality, may commend to those who stand around us that Divine Religion, which is our support, our comfort, and our joy…And if, in thy sovereign Wisdom, thou shouldst see fit to deny us the privilege of reason, let the prayers which we now offer be graciously remembered; and grant us pious and prayerful friends, who will send up petitions to thee in our behalf…And whether we shall then be capable of making a petition to thee, or not, we now humbly ask, That thou wouldst not cast us out of thy presence, nor take they holy spirit from us, but by thine own wonderful and secret operation make us more and more meet for heaven; and when our flesh andour heart shall fail us, be thou the strength of our heart, and our portion forever.”

My brethren, if we wish to enjoy the comforts of religion at last, we must cultivate the temper, and keep up the exercise of religion now. It will be no easy matter to take up the business then, unless we have been accustomed to it before.

You, my friends, who are in the midst of life, and you who are young, are not uninterested in this subject. You all think, that we, who are aged, need the comforts of religion. God grant, that we may have them. Do you not sometimes think of us in your prayers? We hope you do. But know, if you live to be aged, (and you all desire many days) these comforts will then be as necessary for you, as they are now for us. But how can you be sure of them then, unless you obtain an interest in them now? To have the comforts of religion, you must have religion itself. Embrace it, therefore, in your hearts; cultivate the holy tempers which it requires; maintain the good works which it enjoins, and ascertain your title to the eternal blessings which it proposes…Thus lay up for yourselves a good foundation against the time, which is to come, that you may lay hold on eternal life.