Abraham Taylor, The Insufficiency of Natural Religion (1755)
[See the Belcher Foundation article Jesus Is the Light of the World for an analysis of Deism. The occasion giving rise to the republication of Abraham Taylor's lecture was the preaching of sermons by Jonathan Mayhew (1720-1766) (a liberal theologian influenced by liberal theologian Charles Chauncy (1707-1787)).
The excerpts from the lecture reproduced below have been edited for spelling and grammar to conform to modern usage.]
Abraham Taylor, The Insufficiency of Natural Religion: A Discourse Preached by Mr. Abraham Taylor, at the Lecture in Lyme-Street, London: Re-printed on the Occasion of Dr. Mayhew's late Sermons. With a preface by Andrew Croswell, V.D.M. (Boston: J. Draper, 1755)
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Preface
The following discourse seems to be peculiarly calculated to overturn the false idea of natural religion, imbibed by Dr. Clark the Arian and his disciples, and consequently to crush that brood of errors which have sprung from it; too many of which are to be found in the before-mentioned sermons [of Jonathan Mayhew].
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A. Croswell
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The design of God was to glorify His own perfections, to exalt Christ, to stain the pride of man's glory, and to show the necessity of holiness; therefore, as the Holy Scripture declares and reveals this wonderful plan, it is no marvel that it should be ridiculed, as a huddle of foolish opinions, by the vain and proud pretenders to reason, who make what surpasses their shallow capacities the subject of their scorn, and treat with contempt all that is above their [...] apprehensions. As the design of revelation is to thwart the pride of fallen man, it is no wonder that insolent creatures, who would be independent of God, and who imagine that they are wise enough to find out their duty, and able enough to purchase their own happiness, should rise up with rancor and malice, against what crosses their corrupt reason, and has a tendency to throw down the lofty bulwarks of their vain imaginations. The contempt which is cast on revelation is not new; for the great apostle Paul [...] has presently subjoined these words; "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." By the natural man [...] [is understood] the man of bare reason; he will use no other helps, than what he can procure by mere rational attainments, such a man, though possessed of a good share of natural light, yet if he is without a spiritual discerning, or without wisdom afforded him from above, brands the doctrines and mysteries of pure revelation with folly, because he cannot fully comprehend them; not considering that the mysteries of reason, such as the being and perfections of God, can no more be fully comprehended by him, than those of revelation. [* * *] It is no wonder then, that such as are left to bare reason in a corrupt state, should, as brute beasts, condemn the sacred verities, which are not suited to their [...] [wickedness].
The Scriptures have never been treated with more irreverence than they have been of late; but yet the enemies of revelation choose rather to attack them by sap and strategem, than in the open and honorable way. Our modern Deists are shy of saying, in their public writings, that the Christian religion is forgery, and the Founder of it an imposter; but they choose to magnify the perfection of reason, and to set up what they call natural religion, as a complete body of doctrine; they can talk, with a grave sneer, of the Holy Scriptures, of the religion of our Savior, and will pretend they esteem it; but, at the same [time], they plead, that natural religion is perfect, and needs no addition to be made to it, only they allow it may be explained: hence they draw this consequence, that the Gospel is as old as the law of nature, and neither can or ought to be any other than a republication of it. Their sly drift herein is to bring people to conclude, that since natural religion is perfect, if revelation contains any thing more than reason could of itself have found out, it must be discarded as imposture: now every one must grant, that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament really contain a great number of facts and doctrines, which bare reason could never have found out; if then reason is a perfect rule, revelation, which contains more than this could find out, must be given up as fraud and forgery; for nothing can be added to what is perfect. This is the substance of all the solemn banter and grave grimace, with which the world has of late been entertained; so that it cannot be amiss to enquire, whether reason in men is really so perfect, as the pretended masters of it give out; and whether natural religion is so complete, as is affirmed.
It must be owned, that the labor of the Deists in assaulting the Christian scheme, has been made very easy, and their work has been, in a great measure, done for them, [....] Many betrayers of the cause of revelation, have forged weapons for the enemies of it, in preventing them the pains of attacking particular doctrines. Men who would lose all patience, if we questioned their owning the sufficiency of Scripture, and who have very much in their mouths a noisy outcry, that the Bible, the Bible, is the religion of Protestants, have brought the charge of nonsense and contradiction against the great Protestant doctrines of the ever-blessed Trinity in Unity, [...] justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, [...] and the eternity of hell torments: all these doctines have been misrepresented, exploded, [and] derided, [...] by such as profess themselves Christians, nay, by such as would appear zealous to promote practical religion: so that the Deists have had little to do, but to stand still and smile, whilst others were doing their work for them, perhaps without knowing it; though it is to be feared, that some of these would not keep out of their tents, if they could retain their perferments, salaries, or subscriptions. It would be well, if all who have gone into this way, who are alarmed at the growth of Deism, would consider what they have been doing. Many have been immoderately pleased with being applauded, by the adversaries of revelation, for being rational divines, and men of free thought; but though the enemies of Christianity compliment them, to induce them to go on to do their work for them, yet it is known to many that they secretly condemn them. The more thinking Deists know that the doctrines which these disputers arraign, as unscriptural and irrational, are the things which are really contained in Scripture, which, for that reason, they chiefly neglect; and they look upon these removers of the ancient landmarks, however they may flatter them, either to be fools or cheats. The opposers of the ancient faith are very forward to ascribe the growth of infidelity to men's being led to pay a regard to what they call irrational doctrines; but the case really is, a denial of revelation has always followed upon attempts made to subvert the old Protestant doctrines, and as these have succeeded with giddy unsettled persons, in proportion have the ravages of Deism been extended.
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It must be observed, that at the same time that natural religion was talked of, to the neglect of the doctrines of revelation, a deluge of atheism, irreligion and immorality flowed in upon those of the national establishment [the Church of England]; and [there has been] [...] a declension as to justice and common honesty, [a] contempt of the Sabbath, and a neglect of public worship [....]
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The common notion persons now seem to have of natural religion, is, that [it] is a body of principles and duties, which men gather from reason and Scripture, receiving into their systems [philosophies] whatsoever they like in revelation [the Bible], and leaving out all such doctrines as they do not approve of. That there is one God, and that He is invested with infinite perfections, is the voice of reason and revelation, and therefore must needs be put down as the prime doctrine of natural religion; that this one God rules and guides the universe, by His wise providence, is what reason and observation may assure us of; this therefore is not left out of the systems of the religion of nature; that the soul is immortal, and that there is a final state of happiness and misery, is what few are hardy enough to deny; that men, as creatures, are obliged to worship and serve the God to whom they owe their being; and that, as creatures fitted for society, they are obliged to consult the good and happiness of others, is what all have not the front to call in question.
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Therefore, in our day, natural religion is decked in plumes borrowed from Scripture, and then held up in opposition to it, as a perfect rule, and as such not needing the assistance of revelation [Scripture]. This is scandalously base and unfair. For instance: no one mere rational writer ever gave a tolerable account of a future state; and none of the delineators of the religion of nature [...] ever did it, without leaving the plainest traces of his having aid from Scripture; and yet these sketches, which are drawn by the help of Scripture, must be palmed upon the world, as the doctrines of mere reason unassisted by the light of revelation. Thus Scripture is pillaged, in order to its being represented as a needless useless thing; for if a man can be so silly, as to [be] brought to think, that those points which artful men pick out from Scripture, which has nothing inconsistent with reason, thought it contains much above mere human reason, are things to be known without the help of it, they will easily give it up as unnecessary; and the more, because it reveals matters too high for their low understanding, and so thwarts their pride. It is not fair then to call that natural religion, the defects of which are supplied by truths taken from the Oracles of God [the Bible]; neither is it just to recommend it as a perfect scheme, when it cannot be put in any tolerable dress, without the necessary help of that very thing; to make which seem unnecessary, so much pains are taken to deck it. All this must be understood of natural religion, when it is set off in the best manner; but it must be owned, that some of its recommenders are so infatuated, as not to borrow that help they might, in order to make it agreeable, and are so ignorant, as to show its great imperfection, by making it resemble atheism. We are told, that the distinction of right and wrong, virtue and vice, is entirely independent of the will of God, and that it arises from the nature of things, by which senseless jargon may be meant fate, chance, the animating soul of the world, or any other unmeaning thing, or hard word, without an idea annexed to it. It is pretended, that men are not made by God for Himself, and that He has no motive, on His own account, to give them laws, or to punish the breach of them, and that, consequently they are not accountable to Him; but that such fully answer the end of their creation, as contribute all they can to their own and others' happiness. This is to suppose, that God has power to create rational creatures, and it is a favor that this is allowed, but that He has no authority to prescribe them laws, seeing the rules of justice arise from the nature of things, and He is confined to act by them, as much as those He has created; that He has no justice to glorify when he is provoked, but is obliged to be kind to all His creatures, whether they obey Him, or rebel against Him; in short, that He is an indolent being, such as was the god of the Epicurians; that man is independent of Him who created him, and preserves him, and that he is to be his own judge, whether he answers the end of his creation, by promoting his own happiness, and that of others. Thus the irrational stuff, which was hissed off the stage, with just contempt, when it was introduced by Epicurus, is afresh brought on, to show the sufficience of human reason, in our enlightened age of search and enquiry.
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The question really is, [...] whether the light of nature, as it is in men in their present state, [...] is a sufficient rule to inform men what they ought to believe and receive, to show them how they may find out what is true and right [....]
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Some have not been able to bring themselves to own, that the distinction of right and wrong is dependent on the will of God, they therefore have laid down this nonsensical paradox, that there are moral fitnesses in the reason and nature of things, which must be conceived as prior to the will of God; [....] Moral fitnesses rising from the nature of things, are only the old Pagan notion of fate revived; and such as are fond of this unintelligible jargon, make very large advances towards the worst sort of atheism. It is a dictate of right reason, which, in this case, is abundantly confirmed by revelation, that there is only one supreme, living, and true God, who is the sole Creator of all things: the Scripture confirms the voice of natural light, that there is but one God, but it most clearly reveals, that, in the Unity of this Godhead, there are three divine Persons, of the same substance and perfections, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; [....] Against this great and adorable mystery, the proud pretenders rise with rage and rancor; they charge it with nonsense and contradiction; but what have these masters in buffoonery, as well as proficients in blasphemy, offered to us in the room of the true Scripture doctrine of a Trinity in Unity? In reality, nothing which will stand the test of good sense, or is agreeable to right reason.
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[...] the patrons of the Arian heresy, who make the Son and the Spirit two creatures [creations]. These sons of darkness contradict, in the most daring manner, the fundamental doctrine of natural and revealed religion, that there is but one infinitely blessed God; for they suppose two creatures to be true and proper gods, or to have all the characters of divinity, except supremacy, independence, and necessary existence, and so endeavor to graft upon Christianity the heathenish jargon which it was designed to militate against, that though there is but one supreme God, there may be subordinate divinities: They most irrationally allow, that creatures [creations] may be employed with the supreme God, in creating the world, or in bringing all things besides themselves into being out of nothing, and so run into the greatest of absurdities, in supposing created creators: They likewise follow the Gentiles, who were vain in their imaginations, and whose foolish hearts were so darkened, as to worship the creature besides the Creator, who is God blessed for ever; for though they degrade the Son and Spirit into the rank of dependent beings, yet they offer up to them subordinate worship. It is certain, from reason and Scripture, that man could never create himself, but that he is the product of the Supreme Being, who by His providence sustains him, and by His bounty supplies his wants, and consequently that he is obliged to live to the glory of the Author of his being, and is accountable to him for the actions of his life: in this there is nothing but what is agreeable to the highest reason, yet such is the infatuation of the asserters of the sufficience of the light of nature, that they reject this rational doctrine, and pretend, that God did not make man for Himself, is not concerned about his breaking His laws, and that he is not accountable to the Most High; so that the living God must be supposed to be an indolent being, not minding what those who are the product of His hands do, in contempt of His authority.
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It is insolently said,* [* Plea for Human Reason, p. 49, 50.] that the doctrine of the sufficience of human reason is the doctrine of the apostle Peter, who said thus,* [* Acts x. 34, 35.] with respect to Cornelius, "Of a truth I perceive, that God is no respecter of persons; but, in every nation, he that fears him, and works righteousness, is accepted of him." From hence this strange inference is drawn, that it appears, that, in every heathen nation, he who followed the light of their natural reason and conscience, feared God; whence it follows, that in the judgment of the apostle, every heathen, by the light of natural reason, had a sufficient guide to lead him to the religious fear of God. Now nothing can be more contrary to the apostle's sense than this: He did not speak of heathens, who were left to the bare light of nature, being able, by the help of that, to fear God; but he owned his conviction, that salvation by Christ was not to be confined to the Jewish nation, but was to be made known to the Gentile world. Cornelius was one of good report among the Jews [...] and so he had the Scriptures of the Old Testament to instruct him, and was not left to the bare light of nature.
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[...] it is urged, [...] from the wise King Solomon's declaring, that God made man upright: but this truly great master of reason knew better, for he declared it to be the result of his long and diligent search after wisdom, that reason is not a sufficient guide, by reason of man's apostasy from God, by which it is corrupted: his words are, "This only have I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions."
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Seeing pride is at the bottom of all the opposition, which is made to the revelation afforded us by God; and seeing it is this makes vain and conceited men cry up reason as a perfect rule, to the disparagement of revelation [Scripture], it cannot be an unreasonable admonition to professed Christians, nay, to all who pretend to be searching after truth, to be careful how they give way to a proud conceit of their own understandings.
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[...] let us prize and value the Scriptures, which give us an account of our salvation by Christ; let us search into them, and, with reverence, receive the mysteries which are revealed in them, which may be above our full contemplation; but let us never attempt to be wise above what is written, by affecting to know the mode of those mysteries which is not revealed; and let us, at all times, be much in prayer to the Holy Spirit, that He would give us light into those great things of God, which the natural man receives not, but accounts foolishness, and which the man of mere rational attainments will never know, because they are spiritually discerned.
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THE END
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