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Phillip Doddridge
1702-1751
The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul
CHAPTER I.
THE INTRODUCTION TO
THE WORK WITH SOME GENERAL ACCOUNT OF ITS DESIGN.
1 and 2.That true religion is very rare, appears from
comparing the nature of it with the lives and characters of men around us. —3.
The want of it, matter of just lamentation.—4. To remedy this evil is the design
of the ensuing Treatise. —5 and 6. To which, therefore, the Author earnestly
bespeaks the attention of the reader, as his own heart is deeply interested in
it. —7 to 12. A general plan of the Work; of which the first fifteen chapters
relate chiefly to the Rise of Religion, and the remaining chapters to its
Progress, —Prayer for the success of the Work.
1. When we look around us with an attentive eye, and consider
the characters and pursuits of men, we plainly see, that though, in the original
constitution of their natures, they only, of all the creatures that dwell on the
face of the earth, are capable of religion, yet many of them shamefully neglect
it. And whatever different notions people may entertain of what they call
religion, all must agree in owning that it is very far from being a universal
thing.
2. Religion, in its most general view,
is such a Sense of God in the soul, and such a conviction of our obligations to
him, and of our dependence upon him, as shall engage us to make it our great
care to conduct ourselves in a manner which we have reason to believe will be
pleasing to him. Now, when we have given this plain account of religion, it is
by no means necessary that we should search among the savages of distant Pagan
nations to find instances of those who are strangers to it. When we view the
conduct of the generality of people at home, in a Christian and Protestant
nation, in a nation whose obligations to God have been singular, almost beyond
those of any other people under heaven, will any one presume to say that
religion has a universal reign among us? Will any one suppose that it prevails
in every life; that it reigns in every heart? Alas! the avowed infidelity, the
profanation of the name and day of God, the drunkenness, the lewdness, the
injustice, the falsehood, the pride, the prodigality, the base selfishness, and
stupid insensibility about the spiritual and eternal interests of themselves and
others, which so generally appear among
us, loudly proclaim the contrary. So that one would
imagine, upon this view, that thousands and tens of thousands thought the
neglect, and even the contempt of religion, were a glory, rather than a
reproach. And where is
the neighborhood, where is the society, where is the happy
family, consisting of any considerable number, in which, on a more exact
examination, we find reason to say, “Religion fills even this little circle?”
Where is, perhaps, a freedom from any gross and scandalous immoralities, an
external decency of behavior, an attendance on the outward forms of worship in
public, and, here and there, in the family; yet amidst all this, there is
nothing which looks like the genuine actings of the spiritual and divine life.
There is no appearance of love to God, no reverence of his presence, no desire
of his favor as the highest good: there is no cordial belief of the Gospel of
salvation; no eager solicitude to escape that condemnation which we have
incurred by sin; no hearty concern to secure that eternal life which Christ has
purchased and secured for his people, and which he freely promises to all who
will receive him. Alas! whatever the love of a friend, or even a parent can do;
whatever inclination there may be to hope all things, and believe all things the
most favorable, evidence to the contrary will force itself upon the mind, and
extort the unwilling conclusion, that, whatever else may be amiable in this dear
friend, in that favorite child, “Religion dwells not in his breast.”
3. To a heart that firmly believes the
Gospel, and in views persons and things the light of eternity, this is one of
the most mournful considerations in the world. And indeed, to such a one, all
other calamities and evils of human nature appear trifles, when compared with
this; the absence of real religion, and that contrariety to it which reigns in
so many thousands of mankind. Let this be cured, and all the other evils will
easily be borne; nay, good will be extracted out of them. But if this continue,
it bringeth forth fruit unto death;
and in consequence of it, multitudes, who stare the entertainments of an
indulgent providence with us, and are at least allied to us by the bond of the
same common nature, must, in a few years, be swept away into utter destruction,
and be plunged, beyond redemption, into everlasting burnings.
4. I doubt not but there are many,
under the various forms of religious profession, who are not only lamenting this
in public, if their office in life calls them to an opportunity of doing it; but
are likewise mourning before God in secret, under a sense of this sad state of
things; and who can appeal to Him that searches all hearts as to the sincerity
of their desires to revive the languishing cause of vital Christianity and
substantial piety. And among the rest, the author of this treatise may with
confidence say, it is this which animates him to the present attempt, in the
midst of so many other cares and labors. For this he is willing to lay aside
many of those curious amusements in science which might suit his own private
taste, and perhaps open a way for some reputation in the learned world. For this
he is willing to wave
the labored ornaments of speech, that he may, if possible, descend to the
capacity of the lowest part of
mankind. For this he would endeavor to convince the
judgment, and to reach the heart of every reader: and, in a word, for this,
without any dread of the name of an enthusiast, whoever may at random throw it
out upon the occasion, he would, as it were, enter with you into your closet,
from day to day; and with all plainness and freedom, as well as seriousness,
would discourse to you of the great things, which he has learned from the
Christian revelation, and on which he assuredly knows your everlasting happiness
to depend; that, if you hitherto have lived without religion, you may be now
awakened to the consideration of it, and may be instructed in its nature and
importance; or that, if you are already, through divine grace, experimentally
acquainted with it, you may be assisted to make a farther progress.
5. But he earnestly entreats this favor of you that, as it is
plainly a serious business we are entering upon, you would be pleased to give
him a serious and an active hearing. He entreats that these addresses, and these
meditations, may be perused at leisure, and be thought over in retirement; and
that you would do him and yourself the justice to believe the representations
which art here made, and the warnings which are here given to proceed from
sincerity and love, from a heart that would not designedly give one moment’s
unnecessary pain to the meanest creature on the face of the earth, and much less
to any human mind. If he be importunate, it is because he at least imagines that
there is just reason for it, and fears, lest, amidst the multitudes who are
undone by the utter neglect of religion, and among those who are greatly damaged
for want of a more resolute and constant attendance to it, this may be the case
of some into whose hands this treatise may fall.
6. He is a barbarian, and deserves not
to be called a man, who can look upon the sorrows of his fellow creatures
without drawing out his soul unto them and wishing, at least, that it were in
the power of his hand to help them. Surely earth would be a heaven to that man
who could go about from place to place scattering happiness wheresoever be came,
though it were only the body that he were capable of relieving, and though he
could impart nothing better than the happiness of a mortal life. But the
happiness rises in proportion to the nature and degree of the good which he
imparts. Happy, are we ready to say, were those honored servants of Christ, who,
in the early days of his church, were the benevolent and sympathizing
instruments of conveying miraculous healing to those whose cases seemed
desperate; who poured in upon the blind and the deaf the pleasures of light and
sound, and called up the dead to the flowers of action and enjoyment. But this
is an honor and happiness which it is not fit for God commonly to bestow on
mortal men. Yet there have been, in every age, and blessed be his name, there
still are those whom he has condescended to make his instruments in conveying
nobler and more lasting blessings than these to their fellow-creatures. Death
has long since veiled the eyes and stopped the ears of those who were the
subjects of miraculous healing, and recovered its empire over those who were
once recalled from the grave. But the souls who are prevailed upon to receive
the Gospel, live forever. God has owned the labors of his faithful ministers in
every age to produce these blessed effects; and some of them being dead, yet
speak with power and success in this important cause. Wonder not
then, if, living and dying I be ambitions of this
honor; and if my mouth be freely opened, where I can truly say, my heart is
enlarged.
7. In forming my general plan, I have
been solicitous that this little treatise might, if possible, be useful to all
its readers, and contain something suitable to each. I will therefore take the
man and the Christian in a great variety of circumstances. I will first suppose
myself addressing one of the vast number of
thoughtless creatures who have hitherto been utterly unconcerned about religion,
and will try what can be done, by all plainness and earnestness of address, to
awaken him from this fatal lethargy, to a care (Chap. 2), an affectionate and an
immediate care about it (Chap. 3). I will labor to fix a deep and awful
conviction of guilt upon his conscience (chap. 4), and to strip him of his vain
excuses and his flattering hopes (Chap. 5). I will read to him, O! that I could
fix on his heart that sentence, that dreadful sentence, which a righteous and an
Almighty God hath denounced against him as a sinner (Chap. 6), and endeavor to
show him in how helpless a state he lies under this condemnation, as to any
capacity he has of delivering himself (Chap 7). But I do not mean to leave any
in so terrible a situation: I will joyfully proclaim the glad tidings of pardon
and salvation by Christ Jesus our Lord, which is all the support and confidence
of my own soul (Chap. 8). And then I will give some general view of
the way by which this salvation is to be obtained
(Chap. 9); urging the sinner to accept of it as affectionately as I can (Chap.
10); though not thing can be sufficiently pathetic, where, as sin this matter,
the life of an immortal soul is in question.
8. Too probable it is that some will,
after all this, remain insensible; and therefore that their sad case may not
encumber the following articles, I shall here take a solemn leave of them (Chap.
11); and then shall turn and address myself as compassionately as I can, to a
most contrary character; I mean, to a soul overwhelmed with a sense of the
greatness of its sins, and trembling under the burden, as if there were no more
hope for him in God
(Chap. 12). And that nothing may be omitted which may give solid peace to the
troubled spirit, I shall endeavor to guide its inquiries as to the evidences of
sincere repentance and
faith (Chap. 13); which will be farther illustrated by a
more particular view of the several branches of the Christian temper, such as
may serve at once to assist the reader in judging what he is, and to show him
what he should labor to be (Chap. 14). This will naturally lead to a view of the
need we have of the influences of the blessed Spirit to assist us in the
important and difficult work of the true Christian, and of the encouragement we
have to hope for such divine assistance (chap. 15). In an humble dependence on
which, I shall then enter on the consideration of several cases which often
occur in the Christian life, in which particular addresses to the conscience may
be requisite and useful.
9. As some peculiar difficulties and discouragements attend
the first entrance on a religious course, it will here be our first care to
animate the young convert against them (Chap. 16). And that it may be done more
effectually, I shall urge a solemn dedication of himself to God (Chap. 17), to
be confirmed by entering into a communion of the church, and an approach to the
sacred table (Chap. 18). That these engagements may be more happily fulfilled,
we shall endeavor to draw a more particular plan of that devout, regular and
accurate course, which ought daily to be attended to (Chap. 19). And because the
idea will probably rise so much higher than what is the general practice, even
of good men, we shall endeavor to persuade the reader to make the attempt, hard
as it may seem (Chap. 20); and shall caution him against various temptations,
which might otherwise draw him aside to negligence and sin (Chap. 21).
10. Happy will it be for the reader, if these exhortations
and cautions be attended to with becoming regard; but as it is, alas! too
probable that, notwithstanding all, the infirmities of nature will sometimes
prevail, we shall consider the case of deadness and languor in religion, which
often steals upon us by sensible degrees (Chap. 22); from whence there is too
easy a passage to that terrible one of a return into known and deliberate sin
(Chap. 23). And as the one or the other of these tends in a proportional degree
to provoke the blessed God to hide his face, and his injured Spirit to withdraw,
that melancholy condition will be taken into particular survey (Chap. 24). I
shall then take notice also of the case of great and heavy afflictions in life
(Chap. 25), a discipline which the best of men have reason to expect, especially
when they backslide from God and yield to their spiritual enemies.
11. Instances of this kind will, I fear, be too frequent;
yet, I trust, there will be many others, whose path, like the dawning light,
will shine more and more unto the perfect day. And therefore we shall endeavor,
in the best manner we can, to assist the Christian in passing a true judgment on
the growth of grace in his heart (Chap. 26), as we had done before in judging of
its sincerity. And as nothing conduces more to the advancement of grace than the
lively exercise of love to God, and a holy joy in him, we shall here remind the
real Christian of those mercies which tend to excite that love and joy (Chap.
27); and in the view of them to animate him to those vigorous efforts of
usefulness in life, which so well become his character, and will have so happy
an efficacy in brightening his crown (Chap. 28). Supposing him to act
accordingly, we shall then labor to illustrate and assist the delight with which
he may look forward to the awful solemnities of death and judgment (Chap. 29).
And shall close the scene by accompanying him, as it were, to the nearest
confines of that dark valley through which he is to pass to glory; giving him
such directions as may seem most subservient to his honoring God and adorning
religion by his dying behavior (Chap. 30). Nor am I without a pleasing hope,
that, through the Divine blessing and grace, I may be, in some instances, so
successful as to leave those triumphing in the views of judgment and eternity,
and glorifying God by a truly Christian life and death, whom I found trembling
in the apprehensions of future misery; or, perhaps, in a much more dangerous and
miserable condition than that I mean, entirely forgetting the prospect, and sunk
in the most stupid insensibility of those things, for an attendance to which the
human mind was formed, and in comparison of which all the pursuits of this
transitory life are emptier than wind and lighter than a feather.
12. Such a variety of heads must, to be sure, be handled but
briefly, as we intend to bring them within the bulk of a moderate volume. I
shall not, therefore, discuss them as a preacher might properly do in sermons,
in which the truths of religion are professedly to be explained and taught,
defended and improved, in a wide variety, and long detail of propositions,
arguments, objections, replies, and inferences, marshaled and numbered under
their distinct generals. I shall here speak in a looser and freer manner, as a
friend to a friend; just as I would do if I were to be in person admitted to a
private audience by one whom I tenderly loved, and whose circumstances and
character I knew to be like that which the title of one chapter or another of
this treatise describes. And when I have discoursed with him a little while,
which will seldom be so long as half an hour, shall, as it were, step aside, and
leave him to meditate on what he has heard, or endeavor to assist him in such
fervent addresses to God as it may be proper to mingle with those meditations.
In the mean time, I will here take the liberty to pray over my reader and my
work, and to commend it solemnly to the Divine blessing, in token of my deep
conviction of an entire dependence upon it. And I am well persuaded that
sentiments like these are common, in the general, to every faithful minister to
every real Christian.
A Prayer for the Success of this Work,
in promoting the Rise and Progress of Religion.
“O thou great eternal Original, and Author of all created
being and happiness! I adore thee, who hast made man a creature capable of
religion, and hast bestowed this dignity and felicity upon our nature, that it
may be taught to say, Where is God our maker? I lament that degeneracy spread
over the whole human race, which has turned our glory into shame, and has
rendered the forgetfulness of God, (unnatural as it is), so common and so
universal a disease. Holy Father, We know it is thy presence, and thy teaching
alone, that can reclaim thy wandering children, can impress a sense of Divine
things on the heart, and render that sense listing and effectual. From thee
proceed all good purposes and desires; and this desire, above all, of diffusing
wisdom, piety, and happiness in this world which (though sunk in such deep
apostasy) thine infinite mercy has not utterly forsaken.
“Thou knowest, O Lord, the hearts of
the children of men,” (2 Chron. 6:30);
and
an upright soul, in the midst of all the censures and suspicions it may meet
with, rejoices in thine intimate knowledge of its most secret sentiments and
principles of action. Thou knowest the sincerity and fervency with which thine
unworthy servant desires to spread the knowledge of thy name, and the savor of
thy Gospel, among all to whom this work may reach. Thou knowest that hadst thou
given him an abundance of this world, it would have been, in his esteem, the
noblest pleasure that abundance could have afforded to have been thine almoner
in distributing thy bounties to the indigent and necessitous, and so causing the
sorrowful heart to rejoice in thy goodness, dispensed through his hands. Thou
knowest, that, hadst thou given him, either by ordinary or extraordinary
methods, the gift of healing, it would have been his daily delight to relieve
the pains, the maladies, and the infirmities of men’s bodies; to have seen the
languishing countenance brightened by returning health and cheerfulness; and
much more to have beheld the roving, distracted mind reduced to calmness and
serenity in the exercise of its rational faculties. Yet happier, far happier
wilt he think himself, in those humble circumstances in which thy providence
hath placed him, if thou vouchsafe to honor these his feeble endeavors as the
means of a relieving and enriching men’s minds; of recovering them from the
madness of a sinful state, and bringing back thy reasonable creatures to the
knowledge, the service, and the enjoyment of their God; or of improving those
who are already reduced.
“O may it have that blessed influence on the person,
whosoever he be, that is now reading these lines, and all who may read or hear
them! Let not my Lord be angry if I presume to ask, that, however weak and
contemptible this work may seem in the eyes of the children of this world, and
however imperfect it really be, as well as the author of it unworthy, it may
nevertheless live before thee; and, through a divine power, be mighty to produce
the rise and progress of religion in the minds of multitudes in distant places,
and in generations yet to come! Impute it not, O God, as a culpable ambition, if
I desire that, whatever becomes of my name, about which I would not lose one
thought before thee, this work, to which I am now applying myself in thy
strength, may be completed and propagated far abroad: that it may reach to those
that are yet unborn, and teach them thy name and thy praise, when the author has
long dwelt in the dust; that so, when he shall appear before thee in the great
day of final account, his joy may be increased, and his crown brightened, by
numbers before unknown to each other, and to him! But if this petition be too
great to be granted to one who pretends no claim but thy sovereign grace to hope
for being favored with the least, give him to be, in thine Almighty hand, the
blessed instrument of converting and saving one soul; and if it be but one, and
that the weakest and meanest of those who are capable or receiving this address,
it shall be most thankfully accepted as a rich recompense for all the thought
and labor it may cost; and though it should be amidst a thousand disappointments
with respect to others, yet it shall be the subject of immortal songs of praise
to thee, O blessed God, for and by every soul whom, through the blood of Jesus
and the grace of thy Spirit, thou hast saved; and everlasting honors shall be
ascribed to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, by the
innumerable company of angels, and by the general assembly and church of the
first-born in heaven. Amen.”
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