Monday, October 26, 2009
Praise Log
May 7 - praise God for late night runs, rain and sun, and HIS WORD. I am cut to the heart, adopted by God, done with sin, activated by love, eyes on Christ, past is dead, headed home, perplexed, persecuted, scorned and scorning, but saved saved saved saved saved by a God-man who imputed 33 years of his perfectly righteous life to me. covered, cleansed, concious of salvation and resolved in worship. He is KING, kneel and bring offerings. Sit with me, eat with me at the table of the underserving friends.
Prayer Log
Psalm 34:10 "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing."
Prayer week of 10/19/2009 - for fellowship & meat.
Response 10/25/2009 - God provided fellowship AND more meat than I could eat. RAWR.
so glad i'm not a young lion...
Prayer week of 10/19/2009 - for fellowship & meat.
Response 10/25/2009 - God provided fellowship AND more meat than I could eat. RAWR.
so glad i'm not a young lion...
WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE???? LIVING ONES!
March 31 - a reminder from 2 Peter 3
I can't get over how STUPID humans are to stray from God. I've been perusing Jeremiah again, but today he (and me) needed a break...the Israelites are still breaking his heart. So i read in 2 Peter chapter three. The ESV is different than the NIV, and at the beginning he says he is trying to stir up our "sincere minds" by reminding us of all the good stuff God has done through Christ. Here's the meat part for today:
"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.(yay! we have a goal to wait for!)
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."
I can't get over how STUPID humans are to stray from God. I've been perusing Jeremiah again, but today he (and me) needed a break...the Israelites are still breaking his heart. So i read in 2 Peter chapter three. The ESV is different than the NIV, and at the beginning he says he is trying to stir up our "sincere minds" by reminding us of all the good stuff God has done through Christ. Here's the meat part for today:
"But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved,what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.(yay! we have a goal to wait for!)
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace."
Monday, March 23, 2009
“An Oration on the Necessity of Political Union at the Present Day”
Paul Allen
Excerpt from the Commencement Address of Rhode-Island, 1797
This present is an age of wonders, and an arena of revolutions. The most experienced politician, who has grown grey in the study of mankind, will find in the course of an hour all his expectations destroyed, and predictions overturned. Let us then collect a fortitude of mind equal to the magnitude of the occasion, meet our misfortunes like men, and leave the rest to the disposal of Providence. The force of habit, and strength of education, may enable us to resist this dangerous charm of novelty, which has already produced pictures of horror sufficient to curdle the blood in our veins.
Patriotism, that pride and boast of antiquity, has been vilified and disgraced as inconsistent with that liberal affection which embraces the whole family of man. But self love is one of the strongest principles of action. Proud of these sentiments, we cherish with filial affection, with reverence, the venerable image of our country’s honor. It is not the uncandid sneer of party malevolence, nor the viperous tongue of slander itself, that can damp the energies of a real American. He feels, but he bears his misfortunes like a man.
Americans! while you justly resent the many injuries which you have received from the legislators of France, remember your long and glorious struggle for independence. Great Britain, who now courts your alliance once attempted to destroy your very existence as a nation. America, young in action and unversed in the hoary vices of Europe, has suffered much from believing the world is as generous, and noble, and disinterested as herself. Experience, fatal experience, has yet to teach us many lessons. But whoever reads the address of the President of the United States to the federal Legislature will learn that we meet our misfortunes with the reluctant spirit of a man, not the calm stupidity of an ox. It is a fact too notorious to be denied, and it is with a mixture of pain and astonishment that I speak it, that frivolous debates—tardy and timorous resolutions, have too much marked the character of our government. Europe beholds our situation, and rejoices. This vast continent may be divided into petty republics, destitute of force and energy, dangerous only to themselves, and harmless to their common enemies. But I will drive from my breast such melancholy anticipations—I will indulge the hope that there is spirit, and valor, and fortitude in our citizens, sufficient to resist this greatest of evils. Fathers! Legislators of your country! Reflect for a moment on the perilous situation of America. Is this the time for idle and unimportant debate when the world is at its crisis? Soar above the vulgar prejudices of the moment—remain firm to your posts. Impartial posterity will do justice to your actions.
Methinks I hear the voice of our forefathers from their tombs exclaim, unite, my children, and you may yet be a happy people. Divide, and your glory, honor, and national existence are extinguished forever.
Fate wrote it with an iron pen,
And the loud thunder said Amen.
Yet if God in his wrath has ordained that this country shall fall—if discord like a Colossus must stride over this continent—if all the pleasures of social life must be destroyed—if liberty, that first of Heaven’s blessings, must degenerate into the curse of unrestrained licentiousness; let us unite and rally round the government to a man. Let us march to the fortress of faction, and expire at the mouth of the cannon. Or if driven to the walls of the sanctuary, let us embrace the pillars of the Constitution, and only in its ruins fall. Let this freeborn American hand first dig my grave in liberty and honor; and though I found but one more thus resolved, that honest man and I would die together.
FINIS
Excerpt from the Commencement Address of Rhode-Island, 1797
This present is an age of wonders, and an arena of revolutions. The most experienced politician, who has grown grey in the study of mankind, will find in the course of an hour all his expectations destroyed, and predictions overturned. Let us then collect a fortitude of mind equal to the magnitude of the occasion, meet our misfortunes like men, and leave the rest to the disposal of Providence. The force of habit, and strength of education, may enable us to resist this dangerous charm of novelty, which has already produced pictures of horror sufficient to curdle the blood in our veins.
Patriotism, that pride and boast of antiquity, has been vilified and disgraced as inconsistent with that liberal affection which embraces the whole family of man. But self love is one of the strongest principles of action. Proud of these sentiments, we cherish with filial affection, with reverence, the venerable image of our country’s honor. It is not the uncandid sneer of party malevolence, nor the viperous tongue of slander itself, that can damp the energies of a real American. He feels, but he bears his misfortunes like a man.
Americans! while you justly resent the many injuries which you have received from the legislators of France, remember your long and glorious struggle for independence. Great Britain, who now courts your alliance once attempted to destroy your very existence as a nation. America, young in action and unversed in the hoary vices of Europe, has suffered much from believing the world is as generous, and noble, and disinterested as herself. Experience, fatal experience, has yet to teach us many lessons. But whoever reads the address of the President of the United States to the federal Legislature will learn that we meet our misfortunes with the reluctant spirit of a man, not the calm stupidity of an ox. It is a fact too notorious to be denied, and it is with a mixture of pain and astonishment that I speak it, that frivolous debates—tardy and timorous resolutions, have too much marked the character of our government. Europe beholds our situation, and rejoices. This vast continent may be divided into petty republics, destitute of force and energy, dangerous only to themselves, and harmless to their common enemies. But I will drive from my breast such melancholy anticipations—I will indulge the hope that there is spirit, and valor, and fortitude in our citizens, sufficient to resist this greatest of evils. Fathers! Legislators of your country! Reflect for a moment on the perilous situation of America. Is this the time for idle and unimportant debate when the world is at its crisis? Soar above the vulgar prejudices of the moment—remain firm to your posts. Impartial posterity will do justice to your actions.
Methinks I hear the voice of our forefathers from their tombs exclaim, unite, my children, and you may yet be a happy people. Divide, and your glory, honor, and national existence are extinguished forever.
Fate wrote it with an iron pen,
And the loud thunder said Amen.
Yet if God in his wrath has ordained that this country shall fall—if discord like a Colossus must stride over this continent—if all the pleasures of social life must be destroyed—if liberty, that first of Heaven’s blessings, must degenerate into the curse of unrestrained licentiousness; let us unite and rally round the government to a man. Let us march to the fortress of faction, and expire at the mouth of the cannon. Or if driven to the walls of the sanctuary, let us embrace the pillars of the Constitution, and only in its ruins fall. Let this freeborn American hand first dig my grave in liberty and honor; and though I found but one more thus resolved, that honest man and I would die together.
FINIS
Leonard Woods addresses the students at Harvard University, 1799
“A Contrast between the Effects of Religion and the Effects of Atheism”
In the sentiment of a God, harmony and proportion are found. Tired with viewing the obscurities and disorders in the natural and moral world, the friend of God, in humble contemplation, repairs to the divine scheme. There, to his comfort and joy, he discovers the principle of universal light and order. There is a GOD who holds the reins of universal government; whose throne is supported on the everlasting pillars of wisdom, justice, and mercy. Let the humbly great and good endure opposition and persecution, and face storms of adversity. Celestial thrones and splendid crowns await them. Let profane infidels scoff at the friends of truth. Let ambitious heroes wade in rivers of blood. Let tyrants sport with the happiness of man, and insult over the humiliation of those they have enslaved. Our indignation dies away; the tumult of passion subsides in a peaceful calm, and kind pity possesses the breast when we consider and know, that their ambition, pride, and cruelty will one day be turned into shame and endless contempt.
True dignity of character arises from religion. Impressed with the lively perception and grateful love of the infinite Being, the least becom great, the simplest wise, the humblest rise to a glorious elevation. Take our beloved hero, whose honest fame imparts new splendor to the history of America; who raises the honor of human nature. We call him great when he is at the head of our armies, great when seated in the presidential chair, great, when he descends from his exalted height, and seeks the shades of retirement. When, at the call of the discerning and vigilant GUARDIAN OF AMERICA, he comes forward, with the fire of a young hero, devoting his life again to public good—he supports in an eminent degree, the character of greatness. But never does his dignity rise so high; never does his character appear clothed with such lovely splendor, as when, amid the cares and fatigues of war, he piously retires, bows reverently before the God of armies, and acknowledges himself and his country to be pensioners on divine power and mercy. Before we called him a valiant chief, an able statesman, a refined philosopher, a disinterested patriot. Now we give him a much more honorable title, and call him a CHRISTIAN.
We cannot help noticing the pernicious effects of Atheism on the character and felicity of the male sex. It unkindly plunders them of the only substantial principle, by which their conduct can be regulated, and the purity of their minds preserved. The Atheist has no principle or sentiment which moves to the uniform practice of any virtue, or deters any vice. Although the mind of women should escape the contagion; yet the prevalence of Atheism would lower them much in the public opinion, and degrade them far below the station in which Christianity places them. Young men, liberated from the restraints of divine law, base captives to vitiated inclination, would become the fawning enemies of female innocence. Husbands, depraved, unfaithful, and heartless themselves, would doubt, or despise the virtue and fidelity of their companions. No longer would they “love and honor their wives,” regarding them as precious repositories of sentiment, affection and purity; but would look upon them as the meanest of slaves. Having debased the honor, and relaxed the sacred obligations of marriage, Atheism would open such scenes of licentiousness and misery, as will be transferred from France to America, when our government and religion fall.
Do you wish to see the dreadful tragedy, which has drenched Europe in tears and blood, acted over again on these unhappy shores? If you do, let it be done by yourselves, and not by them. Awake, oh Americans! Rouse your courage and might. Perform such a work, as will leave nothing for them to doe. Demolish the whole fabric of your constitution and laws. Shut the mouth of all the teachers of morality and religion. Add imprisonment to their poverty, persecution to calumny. Let all the rich, especially those who have symptoms of virtue, be doomed to confiscation or exile. Kill off your President, your Hero, and all the friends of your country. Set up tyrants and murderers. Multiply your prisons, make them wider, deeper, and darker. Parents, plunge the bloody dagger in the bosoms of your children. Perpetrate crimes so prodigious that the highest eloquence cannot describe them. If you will, Oh Americans, do all this and more—But if your hearts are not hard enough, nor your hands bloody enough to commit such deeds, then call upon the French, and they will help you.
Heavy are the charges we have brought against the Atheists of France. But who, that impartially attends to modern history, will say they are false or illiberal? And who will hazard the assertion that there is anything in the system of atheistical philosophy that forbids or opposes any crime which they have committed? The whole system of modern Atheism tends directly to the subversion of every moral maxim, and “to legalize and methodize crimes.”
In the sentiment of a God, harmony and proportion are found. Tired with viewing the obscurities and disorders in the natural and moral world, the friend of God, in humble contemplation, repairs to the divine scheme. There, to his comfort and joy, he discovers the principle of universal light and order. There is a GOD who holds the reins of universal government; whose throne is supported on the everlasting pillars of wisdom, justice, and mercy. Let the humbly great and good endure opposition and persecution, and face storms of adversity. Celestial thrones and splendid crowns await them. Let profane infidels scoff at the friends of truth. Let ambitious heroes wade in rivers of blood. Let tyrants sport with the happiness of man, and insult over the humiliation of those they have enslaved. Our indignation dies away; the tumult of passion subsides in a peaceful calm, and kind pity possesses the breast when we consider and know, that their ambition, pride, and cruelty will one day be turned into shame and endless contempt.
True dignity of character arises from religion. Impressed with the lively perception and grateful love of the infinite Being, the least becom great, the simplest wise, the humblest rise to a glorious elevation. Take our beloved hero, whose honest fame imparts new splendor to the history of America; who raises the honor of human nature. We call him great when he is at the head of our armies, great when seated in the presidential chair, great, when he descends from his exalted height, and seeks the shades of retirement. When, at the call of the discerning and vigilant GUARDIAN OF AMERICA, he comes forward, with the fire of a young hero, devoting his life again to public good—he supports in an eminent degree, the character of greatness. But never does his dignity rise so high; never does his character appear clothed with such lovely splendor, as when, amid the cares and fatigues of war, he piously retires, bows reverently before the God of armies, and acknowledges himself and his country to be pensioners on divine power and mercy. Before we called him a valiant chief, an able statesman, a refined philosopher, a disinterested patriot. Now we give him a much more honorable title, and call him a CHRISTIAN.
We cannot help noticing the pernicious effects of Atheism on the character and felicity of the male sex. It unkindly plunders them of the only substantial principle, by which their conduct can be regulated, and the purity of their minds preserved. The Atheist has no principle or sentiment which moves to the uniform practice of any virtue, or deters any vice. Although the mind of women should escape the contagion; yet the prevalence of Atheism would lower them much in the public opinion, and degrade them far below the station in which Christianity places them. Young men, liberated from the restraints of divine law, base captives to vitiated inclination, would become the fawning enemies of female innocence. Husbands, depraved, unfaithful, and heartless themselves, would doubt, or despise the virtue and fidelity of their companions. No longer would they “love and honor their wives,” regarding them as precious repositories of sentiment, affection and purity; but would look upon them as the meanest of slaves. Having debased the honor, and relaxed the sacred obligations of marriage, Atheism would open such scenes of licentiousness and misery, as will be transferred from France to America, when our government and religion fall.
Do you wish to see the dreadful tragedy, which has drenched Europe in tears and blood, acted over again on these unhappy shores? If you do, let it be done by yourselves, and not by them. Awake, oh Americans! Rouse your courage and might. Perform such a work, as will leave nothing for them to doe. Demolish the whole fabric of your constitution and laws. Shut the mouth of all the teachers of morality and religion. Add imprisonment to their poverty, persecution to calumny. Let all the rich, especially those who have symptoms of virtue, be doomed to confiscation or exile. Kill off your President, your Hero, and all the friends of your country. Set up tyrants and murderers. Multiply your prisons, make them wider, deeper, and darker. Parents, plunge the bloody dagger in the bosoms of your children. Perpetrate crimes so prodigious that the highest eloquence cannot describe them. If you will, Oh Americans, do all this and more—But if your hearts are not hard enough, nor your hands bloody enough to commit such deeds, then call upon the French, and they will help you.
Heavy are the charges we have brought against the Atheists of France. But who, that impartially attends to modern history, will say they are false or illiberal? And who will hazard the assertion that there is anything in the system of atheistical philosophy that forbids or opposes any crime which they have committed? The whole system of modern Atheism tends directly to the subversion of every moral maxim, and “to legalize and methodize crimes.”
Jonathan Maxcy, 1798
Rhode-Island College: An Excerpt from the Address
You, gentlemen, have the singular fortune to complete the course of your collegiate education at a period the most alarming and interesting the world ever saw. Principles and conduct prevail, which threaten destruction to those institutions of religion and government, to which mankind are indebted for all the blessings of civilized life. In that part of Europe…where passions have been wrought up to such a paroxysm of rage that they have set at defiance the sacred obligations of religion and justice; have proclaimed open war against the Almighty, and covered the earth with blood and murder—there you behold tigers and wolves, in human form, sparing neither age nor sex. To them a Supreme Being is a chimera; immortality is unconscious sleep; and future responsibility, the frightful offspring of superstition. There the hydra of despotism, riding on her iron car, gnashes her bloody jaws, and growls destruction the world. From this horrid spectacle, turn off your eyes to your native country, where laws are regarded, where government is equally administered, where the constituted authorities are respected, where the God of heaven is worshipped, and let your full souls rise with an indignant determination to resist at all events the intruding arm of foreign domination.
When you see the pernicious effects of infidelity, atheism and unbridled ambition, learn to venerate and support those sacred institutions, which alone can render men fit subjects for moral and civil government.
Remember, there is a God.
The belief of this truth is the only security of virtue, and the only barrier against vice. For if we say there is no God, we say there is no standard of morality. We equalize virtue with vice, or rather we say there are no such things as virtue and vice. We at once annihilate all moral obligation, and with it all restraint on the sinful propensities and head-strong passions of man. It is truly astonishing that a rational being, who can endure a moment’s reflection, should be an atheist; and yet there are many who spurn at the idea of a God, and arrogantly tell you that the universe is not an effect, but a cause.
Indeed if you disbelieve the existence of God, you must believe there is not higher principle than matter. Of consequence, you must say matter is eternal, its various modifications, animate and inanimate, are the result of an inherent central and circumstantial power. In this case you will gain nothing, and will lose much; you will still be much at loss to account for this power, as you will be to account for the existence of an eternal, intelligent, uncaused Being. If you admit the latter, you can account for the origin of all things in a consistent manner; if you admit the former, you can never account for the existence of one atom, or for one modification of matter. Atheism is of all doctrines the most uncomfortable and gloomy. It renders all moral and intellectual acquirements useless; levels man to the brutal creation; destroys all order, design, and harmony in the universe. If acted out in its genuine effects, it would convert the world into a theatre of confusion, violence and misery. Never, therefore, forget there is a God. Let every breath you draw, every object you behold, remind you of this truth.
Remember that you have souls; and that these will never cease to exist. A denial of the existence of the soul as a thing distinct from matter, and of its immortality, is a natural and necessary consequence of a denial of the existence of God. In this view the state of man and brutes is the same. Both are matter, and both destroyed by decomposition. In short, the doctrine of a material soul amounts to this, man has no soul.
God has so formed you that you are obliged to rely on the veracity of your sense. If you distrust the evidence of these, or renounce it, you have no standard of certainty left. Your external senses inform you of what exists without; your internal senses, of what exists within. To doubt in either case is to do violence to nature. The soul becomes acquainted with itself and its existence, by internal sense; by the knowledge it gains from without, and by its operations concerning that knowledge. The soul has as a direct perception of itself, as it has of any object whatsoever. To doubt, therefore, whether you have souls, is to doubt whether any thing exists.
The dread which the soul has of annihilation; its dissatisfaction in the present state; its ardent desire after happiness; its capacity of unlimited improvement; the unequal fate of virtue and vice in this world; the consideration that man answers no determinate purpose here; these things render the separate existence of the soul highly probable. Revelation alone assures and confirms immortality to man. In the sacred pages, a distinction is clearly made and kept up between the body and the soul. God is styled “the God of spirit and of flesh.” Paul speaks of “the spirits of the just made perfect.” Job says, “there is a spirit in man.” David says, “into thy hand I commit my spirit.” Christ said to his disciples, “a spirit hath not flesh and bones.” Stephen, when stoned to death, cried “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” The Savior certainly taught there was a difference between spirit and matter, when he said, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” In short, if you examine the scriptures, you will find that the inspired writers uniformly keep up this distinction on which I am insisting. Their faith was that death was not an annihilation of existence, but only a change in the mode of it. It is of the highest importance that you believe this doctrine; for without it, you lose the influence of all those motives with give vigor and worth to human actions.
If you admit the idea that your existence will terminate with the present life, your love of virtue will abate. As you will have nothing to anticipate, the immediate impulses of our feelings, independent of all consequences, will engross your attention.
Hope and fear are the strongest propensities by which man is actuated. If you take away the prospect of immortality, you take away the chief principles on which moral motives operate, or you weaken those principles to such a degree as to render them useless. If you regard your own interest, or that of society, never depart from the doctrine of the soul’s immortality. The consequences of a belief in the opposite doctrine are so manifestly pernicious, that you may rest assured it cannot be founded on truth.
Thirdly. Not only remember that you are immortal, but that you are accountable creatures. It is impossible for God to form a rational being, and not bind that being under moral law, so long as he shall exist. This law flows from the absolute perfection and supremacy of the divine nature. When we say that God is infinitely amiable, it is the same to say that he is to be infinitely loved. Moral obligation, therefore, arises from the nature of God; and, like that, is immutable and eternal. Do not imagine that any change in your state can exempt you from a responsibility for your conduct. The mutability of creatures can make none in God.
A sense of this will lift you above the groveling pursuits of vice, and furnish a perpetual excitement to the cultivation of those virtues which alone can render you worthy and happy. Noting can be more absurd, nothing more pernicious in its consequences, than the sentiment that men are not amenable at the tribunal of God; for if they are at liberty to conduct as they please, without a liability of being called into account; it at once becomes indifferent to them what character their actions assume.
Let me urge upon you the importance of the preceding sentiments, respecting the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and future responsibility. The world is more indebted to prevalence of these three doctrines for its order and government, than to all other causes. These doctrines, as to their full extent and influence, are peculiar to revelation. If you discard them, you enervate every virtuous sentiment; you undermine the foundations of society, and level the human to the brute creation.
You are now entering on a vast, dangerous and tumultuous theatre. A scene opens for the utmost exertions of all your abilities and talents, in support of religion and liberty. I now give you, gentlemen, my parting benediction, wishing you may live honored, respected and beloved in this world; and in the next, shine, like stars in the firmament, forever.
FINIS
You, gentlemen, have the singular fortune to complete the course of your collegiate education at a period the most alarming and interesting the world ever saw. Principles and conduct prevail, which threaten destruction to those institutions of religion and government, to which mankind are indebted for all the blessings of civilized life. In that part of Europe…where passions have been wrought up to such a paroxysm of rage that they have set at defiance the sacred obligations of religion and justice; have proclaimed open war against the Almighty, and covered the earth with blood and murder—there you behold tigers and wolves, in human form, sparing neither age nor sex. To them a Supreme Being is a chimera; immortality is unconscious sleep; and future responsibility, the frightful offspring of superstition. There the hydra of despotism, riding on her iron car, gnashes her bloody jaws, and growls destruction the world. From this horrid spectacle, turn off your eyes to your native country, where laws are regarded, where government is equally administered, where the constituted authorities are respected, where the God of heaven is worshipped, and let your full souls rise with an indignant determination to resist at all events the intruding arm of foreign domination.
When you see the pernicious effects of infidelity, atheism and unbridled ambition, learn to venerate and support those sacred institutions, which alone can render men fit subjects for moral and civil government.
Remember, there is a God.
The belief of this truth is the only security of virtue, and the only barrier against vice. For if we say there is no God, we say there is no standard of morality. We equalize virtue with vice, or rather we say there are no such things as virtue and vice. We at once annihilate all moral obligation, and with it all restraint on the sinful propensities and head-strong passions of man. It is truly astonishing that a rational being, who can endure a moment’s reflection, should be an atheist; and yet there are many who spurn at the idea of a God, and arrogantly tell you that the universe is not an effect, but a cause.
Indeed if you disbelieve the existence of God, you must believe there is not higher principle than matter. Of consequence, you must say matter is eternal, its various modifications, animate and inanimate, are the result of an inherent central and circumstantial power. In this case you will gain nothing, and will lose much; you will still be much at loss to account for this power, as you will be to account for the existence of an eternal, intelligent, uncaused Being. If you admit the latter, you can account for the origin of all things in a consistent manner; if you admit the former, you can never account for the existence of one atom, or for one modification of matter. Atheism is of all doctrines the most uncomfortable and gloomy. It renders all moral and intellectual acquirements useless; levels man to the brutal creation; destroys all order, design, and harmony in the universe. If acted out in its genuine effects, it would convert the world into a theatre of confusion, violence and misery. Never, therefore, forget there is a God. Let every breath you draw, every object you behold, remind you of this truth.
Remember that you have souls; and that these will never cease to exist. A denial of the existence of the soul as a thing distinct from matter, and of its immortality, is a natural and necessary consequence of a denial of the existence of God. In this view the state of man and brutes is the same. Both are matter, and both destroyed by decomposition. In short, the doctrine of a material soul amounts to this, man has no soul.
God has so formed you that you are obliged to rely on the veracity of your sense. If you distrust the evidence of these, or renounce it, you have no standard of certainty left. Your external senses inform you of what exists without; your internal senses, of what exists within. To doubt in either case is to do violence to nature. The soul becomes acquainted with itself and its existence, by internal sense; by the knowledge it gains from without, and by its operations concerning that knowledge. The soul has as a direct perception of itself, as it has of any object whatsoever. To doubt, therefore, whether you have souls, is to doubt whether any thing exists.
The dread which the soul has of annihilation; its dissatisfaction in the present state; its ardent desire after happiness; its capacity of unlimited improvement; the unequal fate of virtue and vice in this world; the consideration that man answers no determinate purpose here; these things render the separate existence of the soul highly probable. Revelation alone assures and confirms immortality to man. In the sacred pages, a distinction is clearly made and kept up between the body and the soul. God is styled “the God of spirit and of flesh.” Paul speaks of “the spirits of the just made perfect.” Job says, “there is a spirit in man.” David says, “into thy hand I commit my spirit.” Christ said to his disciples, “a spirit hath not flesh and bones.” Stephen, when stoned to death, cried “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” The Savior certainly taught there was a difference between spirit and matter, when he said, “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” In short, if you examine the scriptures, you will find that the inspired writers uniformly keep up this distinction on which I am insisting. Their faith was that death was not an annihilation of existence, but only a change in the mode of it. It is of the highest importance that you believe this doctrine; for without it, you lose the influence of all those motives with give vigor and worth to human actions.
If you admit the idea that your existence will terminate with the present life, your love of virtue will abate. As you will have nothing to anticipate, the immediate impulses of our feelings, independent of all consequences, will engross your attention.
Hope and fear are the strongest propensities by which man is actuated. If you take away the prospect of immortality, you take away the chief principles on which moral motives operate, or you weaken those principles to such a degree as to render them useless. If you regard your own interest, or that of society, never depart from the doctrine of the soul’s immortality. The consequences of a belief in the opposite doctrine are so manifestly pernicious, that you may rest assured it cannot be founded on truth.
Thirdly. Not only remember that you are immortal, but that you are accountable creatures. It is impossible for God to form a rational being, and not bind that being under moral law, so long as he shall exist. This law flows from the absolute perfection and supremacy of the divine nature. When we say that God is infinitely amiable, it is the same to say that he is to be infinitely loved. Moral obligation, therefore, arises from the nature of God; and, like that, is immutable and eternal. Do not imagine that any change in your state can exempt you from a responsibility for your conduct. The mutability of creatures can make none in God.
A sense of this will lift you above the groveling pursuits of vice, and furnish a perpetual excitement to the cultivation of those virtues which alone can render you worthy and happy. Noting can be more absurd, nothing more pernicious in its consequences, than the sentiment that men are not amenable at the tribunal of God; for if they are at liberty to conduct as they please, without a liability of being called into account; it at once becomes indifferent to them what character their actions assume.
Let me urge upon you the importance of the preceding sentiments, respecting the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, and future responsibility. The world is more indebted to prevalence of these three doctrines for its order and government, than to all other causes. These doctrines, as to their full extent and influence, are peculiar to revelation. If you discard them, you enervate every virtuous sentiment; you undermine the foundations of society, and level the human to the brute creation.
You are now entering on a vast, dangerous and tumultuous theatre. A scene opens for the utmost exertions of all your abilities and talents, in support of religion and liberty. I now give you, gentlemen, my parting benediction, wishing you may live honored, respected and beloved in this world; and in the next, shine, like stars in the firmament, forever.
FINIS
The Rev. Ebenezer Fitch
President of Williams College
September I, 1799.
Excerpt from “Useful Knowledge and Religion, Recommended to the Pursuit and Improvement of the Young" in A Discourse, Addressed to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate in Williams College.”
“Covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
I Corinthians XII. 31.
Useful knowledge is a gift of high importance to the Minister of Christ. In no other business or calling is it so necessary that a man should be a scholar as well as a Christian. God has been, if I may so say, at infinite trouble and expense to rescue us from misery, and procure us happiness in the coming world. We are redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver and gold; but by the precious blood of the SON of GOD. Had all the angels of heaven died for us it would have availed nothing. Divine justice demanded an infinite ransom. The death of the great EMMANUEL alone could be accepted as an adequate atonement for the guilt of fallen man. Such was the evil of sin, and such the worth of the soul in the view of omniscience! Thro’ Christ’s’ atoning blood, pardon, peace and eternal life are tendered to guilty men. Thus the Ministers of the PRINCE of Peace need all the aids of human learning as well as the teachings of his Spirit to qualify them for their important trust. They must be able by sound doctrine to stop the mouths of gainsayers.
Shall the man, rich in knowledge, hoard his treasure as a miser does his gold? Shameful selfishness! What! Forbid it honor, patriotism, piety! Talents for usefulness should not be buried in a napkin. To whom much is given, of them much is required, both by God and their country. Men of abilities, science, and virtue, easily acquire influence. They can do much for the encouragement of learning, true patriotism and good morals.
In this day especially, when every civil and religious institution is threatened with ruin; when a spirit of Vandalism, hostile to rational liberty and to everything dear to us as men and Christians, has already devastated the fairest parts of Europe…every man of science, every friend to virtue and his country, is called upon to exert every nerve to stem the raging torrent. You cannot innocently remain idle spectators of…the prostration of all good government, and the extirpation of morality and religion from the earth. Stand, then, at your posts and die like men, rather then suffer that liberty for which our fathers bled, that government which they established with so much wisdom, and that religion which they held dearer than life, to be sacrificed at the unhallowed shrine of atheism and [French] philosophy.
While you hold the vile arts of such deceivers in abhorrence, pity even the willing victims of their sophistry and falsehood. For what do wit, genius and learning now avail Hume and Bolinbroke, Shaftsbury and Voltaire? Prostituted as these talents were by them to the infamous cause of infidelity and vice, what purpose do they now answer, but as flaming torches to light them to the lowest pit of their infernal prison, and show them, in tenfold horrors, the regions of eternal darkness? What would they now give for one cheering ray of that heavenly religion which they hooted and despised?—for one drop of His atoning blood, whom, with the rage and malice of fiends, they so often reviled and blasphemed?
God claims your best services. They are justly and unalienably his due. Think often on what you owe to yourselves, to your friends, to your country and your God. Labor more to be virtuous than to be learned—to be good than to be great. Value less the applause of men, than the testimony of a good conscience, and the approbation of your Maker. The period allotted you for active usefulness is short; but the consequences of improving or neglecting it, will run through eternity.
We commend you to the grace, protection and blessing of Almighty God. May he…crown your faithful and benevolent services here, with immortal glory and felicity in the world above!
AMEN.
President of Williams College
September I, 1799.
Excerpt from “Useful Knowledge and Religion, Recommended to the Pursuit and Improvement of the Young" in A Discourse, Addressed to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate in Williams College.”
“Covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”
I Corinthians XII. 31.
Useful knowledge is a gift of high importance to the Minister of Christ. In no other business or calling is it so necessary that a man should be a scholar as well as a Christian. God has been, if I may so say, at infinite trouble and expense to rescue us from misery, and procure us happiness in the coming world. We are redeemed, not by corruptible things, as silver and gold; but by the precious blood of the SON of GOD. Had all the angels of heaven died for us it would have availed nothing. Divine justice demanded an infinite ransom. The death of the great EMMANUEL alone could be accepted as an adequate atonement for the guilt of fallen man. Such was the evil of sin, and such the worth of the soul in the view of omniscience! Thro’ Christ’s’ atoning blood, pardon, peace and eternal life are tendered to guilty men. Thus the Ministers of the PRINCE of Peace need all the aids of human learning as well as the teachings of his Spirit to qualify them for their important trust. They must be able by sound doctrine to stop the mouths of gainsayers.
Shall the man, rich in knowledge, hoard his treasure as a miser does his gold? Shameful selfishness! What! Forbid it honor, patriotism, piety! Talents for usefulness should not be buried in a napkin. To whom much is given, of them much is required, both by God and their country. Men of abilities, science, and virtue, easily acquire influence. They can do much for the encouragement of learning, true patriotism and good morals.
In this day especially, when every civil and religious institution is threatened with ruin; when a spirit of Vandalism, hostile to rational liberty and to everything dear to us as men and Christians, has already devastated the fairest parts of Europe…every man of science, every friend to virtue and his country, is called upon to exert every nerve to stem the raging torrent. You cannot innocently remain idle spectators of…the prostration of all good government, and the extirpation of morality and religion from the earth. Stand, then, at your posts and die like men, rather then suffer that liberty for which our fathers bled, that government which they established with so much wisdom, and that religion which they held dearer than life, to be sacrificed at the unhallowed shrine of atheism and [French] philosophy.
While you hold the vile arts of such deceivers in abhorrence, pity even the willing victims of their sophistry and falsehood. For what do wit, genius and learning now avail Hume and Bolinbroke, Shaftsbury and Voltaire? Prostituted as these talents were by them to the infamous cause of infidelity and vice, what purpose do they now answer, but as flaming torches to light them to the lowest pit of their infernal prison, and show them, in tenfold horrors, the regions of eternal darkness? What would they now give for one cheering ray of that heavenly religion which they hooted and despised?—for one drop of His atoning blood, whom, with the rage and malice of fiends, they so often reviled and blasphemed?
God claims your best services. They are justly and unalienably his due. Think often on what you owe to yourselves, to your friends, to your country and your God. Labor more to be virtuous than to be learned—to be good than to be great. Value less the applause of men, than the testimony of a good conscience, and the approbation of your Maker. The period allotted you for active usefulness is short; but the consequences of improving or neglecting it, will run through eternity.
We commend you to the grace, protection and blessing of Almighty God. May he…crown your faithful and benevolent services here, with immortal glory and felicity in the world above!
AMEN.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)