You perceive then that the topick which these two passages in their connexion fairly present, is the contrast between Experimental Christianity and its counterfeits: and these counterfeits may be reduced to three-viz, Formalism, Sentimentalism and Fanaticism. By Experimental Christianity, I mean, in one word, Christianity in its inward and spiritual operations. By Formalism I mean a scrupulous regard for the externals of religion at the expense of its life and power: By Sentimentalism, a habit of refined religious speculation combined with a delicate or sickly sensibility:By Fanaticism, the workings of a wild and extravagant zeal in the prosecution of ends which are professedly or really connected with morality or religion. When I speak of these three latter qualities as counterfeits of Experimental Christianity, you will not understand me to imply that they cannot in any degree co-exist with the genuine quality. No doubt there may be a degree of Formalism, or Sentimentalism, or Fanaticism, associated with true piety; and of the two latter particularly, a great degree: nevertheless they have nothing in common with it; and where either of them exists at all in such combination, it mars the Christian character. In the present discourse I shall consider them severally, as constituting the basis of the character; and of course, in this sense, as inconsistent with vital godliness. Let us then contrast Experimental Christianity on the one hand, and Formalism, Sentimentalism and Fanaticism, on the other, in respect to I. Their ORIGIN: 1. Their ORIGIN. 1. Formalism, Sentimentalism and Fanaticism, originate in the abuse of a divine influence, or in the operation of mere natural feeling: Experimental Christianity has its origin in the new creating power of the Holy Ghost. It is quite possible that the individual who is now a Formalist, may, in other days, have been no stranger to the awakening and convincing influences of the Holy Spirit: he may have felt, for a season, that his soul was in jeopardy, and that, unless he took refuge in the grace of the gospel, he must inevitably perish; but having meditated, and prayed, and wept, and made various ineffectual efforts to find relief,-ineffectual, because made in the exercise of a legal spirit,—and having grown weary or discouraged in this course, he resolves at length upon another; and instead of endeavouring to let go his own righteousness as a ground of hope, he practically determines to cling to it more closely than ever; and as God is not a hard master, he hopes for acceptance on the ground of his intended obedience. And thus begins his course as a Formalist. Or it may be that he advances still farther, and instead of avowedly desisting from the effort to enter in at the straight gate, apparently comes upon evangelical ground, and professes a delightful confidence in the Saviour, and a cordial approbation of his work; and makes a publick profession of his faith with a full conviction that he has "tasted that the Lord is gracious;" but ere long it becomes evident both to himself and to others, that his experience was only a dream; and he feels and manifests as much interest in the objects of sense, and as little in the objects of faith, as he did previous to the time when his sins were set in order before him. If he were not in the church, he would now have no motive to come into it; but he has done an act which places him among the professed followers of Christ; and the pride of consistency stands in the way of openly renouncing his profession; and he compromises between the claims of his conscience and of his character on the one hand, and the claims of his worldly and corrupt inclinations on the other, by remaining in the church, and observing her forms, and holding to her standards, while yet he feels not the motions of a principle of spiritual life; and this compromise once made, he may be considered as having deliberately entered on a habit of Formalism. Or, as the case may be, the individual concerned may never have been the subject of any special awakening influence;-he may have been educated in a religious atmosphere, and have had his attention early directed to the forms of religion, and have heard their importance frequently and earnestly inculcated; and he may have come to ascribe an undue importance to these apart from the spirit of piety; and finally he may, in a measure unconsciously, have taken up the observance of them as a substitute for piety; and now he is in the church as thorough-going a Formalist as she embosoms. You may aim as heavy a blow at the life of godliness as you will, and he evinces no anxiety for the result; but touch one of its forms, and he instantly takes the alarm, as if you were laying profane hands on the ark of God. The religion of the Sentimentalist is commonly to be traced to a peculiarity of temperament. Indeed, as I have already intimated, it supposes the existence of a peculiar susceptibility to refined and delicate impressions; though that susceptibility may possibly be rather an acquired than an original quality. But I imagine that in almost every case in which you find this character ex emplified, you will find it associated with a love of what is soft or tender or beautiful in nature; and it is in this department of the soul, if I may use such an expression, that the religion of the Sentimentalist has its origin.— There is a chord strung in our nature that vibrates to the power of musick or eloquence, of beauty or grandeur; and if you can get this chord to vibrate in connexion with any thing that belongs to religion, and at the same time exclude the operation of truly devout affections, you have just the character which I am attempting to describe. The Fanatick may or may not have been the subject of the awakening operations of the Holy Spirit. If he has been, he was awakened and nothing more: instead of making an entire surrender of the soul to God, he practically held to his own righteousness, while he mistook the bright illusions of fancy for the workings of living faith. And now, having the impression thoroughly established that he has been born from above, while yet the pride of his heart, instead of being subdued, has only received a different direction, he straightway kindles with the desire of becoming a reformer; and with a rash and self confident zeal he addresses himself to his work. Or it may be that he has never been really convinced of sin; and that, having come within the influence of some whirlwind of excitement, he has taken up the determination to be religious, and by the aid of an ardent temperament has been enabled almost instantly to work himself into a conviction that he is so; and with no other training than this, he fancies himself prepared to go forth single-handed, and storm the most formidable of all the citadels of the great adversary. If his own opinion of himself is to be taken, he is not only a true Christian, but an eminent Christian: instead of being born a babe in Christ, he imagines himself to have been born with nearly the stature of a perfect person; while the melancholy fact is that he has not even had any adequate sense of his need of salvation. But far different from this is the origin of Experimental Christianity. This originates in every case in the unresisted agency of the Holy Ghost. That divine agent not only enlightens the mind and quickens the conscience, but new-creates the heart. Of the manner in which He operates for the accomplishment of this work we know comparatively little; but of the fact we have no more reason to doubt than we have that God has given us a revelation. "Except a man be born of the Spirit,' saith the Saviour, 'he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." And again, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." The individual may indeed, even in repeated instances, have been the subject of an awakening influence, and may have resisted it, and deliberately put his conscience to sleep; but he did not resist it at last; he became willing in the day of God's power; and had it not been for God's gracious interposition, he would have remained dead in trespasses and sins. 2. Formalism, Sentimentalism and Fanaticism, originate in a speculative, partial, or distorted view of divine truth: Experimental Christianity, in a correct, full and practical view of it. The Formalist, as he may have been the subject of an awakening influence, may also have had, to some extent, practical views of divine truth; but in becoming what he now is,-in professedly assuming the religious character while his whole reliance is upon religious forms, it is impossible that he should have viewed it other than with an eye of cold speculation; for a practical view |
