RIGHTEOUSNESS GIVES RESPECT TO ITS POSSESSOR

SERMON, DELIVERED IN THE UNITARIAN CHURCH,

WASHINGTON, D.C., JANUARY 15, 1843

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'Righteousness exalteth a Nation, but sin is a reproach to any People."

I doubt not but that this scripture truth will be readily assented to by this congregation, for there is a universal admission of the truth, that righteousness gives respect to its possessor. It is equally true of individuals as of nations; and it is a fact worthy of our observation, that throughout all the scripture, through all the dispensation of which that scripture gives us an account, that religion, justice, mercy, and all the principles of righteousness are highly exalted above the various forms of worship the speculative doctrines of the age.

But we are prone to forget this in our zeal for sectarian theology; in our earnest endeavor to exalt our favorite forms and rituals, and in the idea that has prevailed to a considerable extent, that we are the favorites of Heaven, we come to regard our sect or our professions of religion more than the practice of righteousness, of goodness, of truth. We confound truth with our sectarian forms, our systems of faith and our theology.

We should duly discriminate between that which has its origin in the schools of science, and theology, and those principles which are divine in their origin and eternal in their nature. Righteousness exalteth all who love it, and God in his gracious condescension to the children of men, has caused them to be exalted in proportion as they have adhered to it through the variety of the forms of worship and through gross misrepresentation they have received the censure of devoted worshipers. Those only are true worshipers who walk uprightly, and love righteousness who despise the gains of oppression those who do not close their eyes and shut themselves out from their own flesh.

Such has ever been accepted with God. It is no new doctrine. When Jesus and his apostles preached it, they declared it was of God and was good. The people imagined that he and his disciples had some new doctrine, but they declared it was that which was from the beginning; it was the same in all ages.

The Jews, it is true, and Israel of old, were so sunk in their forms and ceremonies that they imagined they were the people of the Lord. They supposed they must go forth with the rounds of ceremonies go to the temple of the Lord and even go forth unto the holy place called by this name, so that their prophets declared against them, "ye still burn incense and work after other gods whom ye know not." And, "ye say the way of the Lord is not equal." This has been the cry down to this day, that we are so constituted that we must live in sin that we are

more prone to evil than to good and we must depend on a vicarious atonement for our salvation; and this is called a mysterious operation to cleanse us from our iniquity. It proceeds from an unworthy examination of the scriptures, "ye err, not knowing the scripture or the power of God" perverting the letter to your own destruction.

In no other way can I account for the great strength of sin in professing christendom than for the long prevalence of this doctrine. Men have been taught that they were more prone to evil than to good; hence they early fall into temptation and yield to the sins that beset them, from the very circumstances of being thus taught. "Oh House of Israel, is not my way equal? Are not your ways unequal?

When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them, for his iniquity that he hath done, shall he die? Again, 'when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive, he shall surely live, he shall not die, the soul that sinneth, it shall die."

It is time the noble dignity of man was elevated to a higher standard of goodness and truth to that elevation which God designed us to occupy. I believe it to be high time there was more christian boldness, more moral courage, amongst mankind to speak to the sentiment of their hearts, whether they be in accordance with the popular doctrines of the day or not. And there is already a bursting forth of more independence of expression, of opinion among men a greater freedom in their declaration of thought and of belief; they are becoming dissatisfied with the dogmas and theologies that they have been taught.

If we take a child and teach him that he has a wicked heart, will he not be more likely to fall into evil practices? Teach him that he is necessarily, and unavoidably corrupt, and will he not feel discouraged? But instead of this, instruct him in the way he should go, then will conviction be daily implanted in his breast, and he will feel the dignity of his nature and the responsibility of his elevated station among created beings, and consequently be encouraged to works of righteousness. There is something in a child of heavenly nature, which only needs to be cultivated; and well might Jesus have held up the child in the midst of an assembly and declare "of such was the kingdom of heaven." How far does this go to disprove the doctrine which has been taught?

Think ye that this child would have been held up as a fit emblem of the kingdom of heaven if it had not been pure and innocent? The doctrine of natural depravity which has obtained so long in the world, does not appear to have any connexion with the subject of righteousness, having no effect upon the conduct calculated to promote practical religion. But it would be a waste of time for me, at present, to undertake to controvert this doctrine.

We all have a right to our own sentiments, we claim this as a right, but when we find sentiments to affect the conduct of men, when we find such opinions fastened upon the community as the essential doctrine of christianity and made a test of the christian character, and when this standard is regarded as more holy than the standard of practical righteousness in order to elevate the faith, then would it be well if there were more who would examine the subject and declare what were their convictions upon it, even though they should thereby subject themselves to the charge of heresy or infidelity.

Let us come to the disposition of the apostle when he said, "it is after the manner that the world calls heresy that I worship the father." Jesus taught the heresy of that age, and it was his opposition to the cherished forms and creeds of that day that constituted his greatest offense. We do not regard this heresy in its true light –we are disposed to adhere to the systems we have been taught, and to consider it heresy to call them in question, or even to endeavor to test their truth by the evidences of light and reason.

As to the miracles which were performed in that day, it is not a matter for us to dispute they were adapted to the age in which they were wrought, and were performed to answer a great end; instead of questioning them, ought we not rather endeavor to approach the Divinity by purity of this life, which is emphatically said to have been created for the glory of God. Thus will we come to be the children of God. Let us love that Divinity of Christ that is conformable to man’s intelligence and reason, and not be led by that construction of it which is tending to divest him of some of the noblest feelings of his nature, and to lower him in the scale of creative existence.

The objector may ask, does not this conflict with the doctrine of the new birth?

I think not. I think I understand the scriptures. The new birth is not placed upon the principle of the first birth being impure or wicked. We have a natural and a spiritual nature–that which partakes of the animal and that which partakes of the divine nature, and as we receive more of the Divinity dwelling upon the spiritual part we come to have our first nature brought out, and our feelings exalted with the operation of the love of God upon the soul. That was not first which is spiritual. The spiritual is one, the natural another. The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. But when he speaks of the carnal mind, it is as men have given up to their propensities and yielded to the lust of the flesh.

But this Divine Goodness which is in every child, if cherished and adhered to old age, will enable us to realize all the christian enjoyments of communion with God and his dear Son. Oh this kingdom, were it but understood divested of all the gloom and mysticism by which it is surrounded, how beautiful would religion appear, and how readily would it be embraced!

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