Practical Atheism, in Denying the 2
Back to SERMONS Samuel Davies
Secondly, To point out some things in the disposition and conduct of our countrymen, which argue a secret and practicaldisbelief of the doctrine of divine Providence. And these, alas! are easily discovered.
First, Do you think there would be so little prayer among us, if we were generally affected with this truth? If we looked upon the agency of Providence of any importance, would we not think it worth while to pray for it, with our most importunate cries? We look to our government to make provision; we try to enlist men; we regard their number, courage, and conduct; their arms and ammunition; but who is there in our land that looks to the Lord? Where are the Abraham's among us, to intercede for our Sodom? Where our Mosses to hold up the hands of prayer, while our forces are engaged? There are, I doubt not, a few people, and perhaps a few families, here and there—that thus show their friendship for their country; and there are multitudes that seem to join in those forms of prayer for the public, which are used in the places where they respectively attend. But it is most evident, there is but very little of a spirit of prayer in our land. Alas! how many private people live in the habitual neglect of secret devotion—how many families live and die together, without any appearances of family-religion?
In short, there is but little prayer to be heard in our country on any account; but few that earnestly cry to God for themselves. And how few then, O my neglected country! how few appear as your advocates at the throne of grace! How few prayers are offered up for you! Now, when men will not so much as earnestly ask the help of divine Providence, is it not plain that they have very slight thoughts of it, and do not seriously believe it? O sirs! it will never be well with our country, until we learn to bow the knees; until poor strangers to the throne of grace begin to frequent it, and until the voice of prayer is heard from every corner of our land. Let others do as they will; but as for us, my friends—let us become a little congregation of praying souls; and we may do more real service to our country, than an equal number of armed men!
Secondly, Is not the general indulgence of vice, and neglect of true religion—a plain evidence of the general disbelief of a divine Providence over our country? That wickedness is almost universally triumphant, and practical religion and the concerns of eternity are generally neglected—is too evident to require a formal proof. Take a journey through our country, mingle in company, enter into families, observe the conduct of men in their retirements; and you will soon meet with the disagreeable conviction.
If there is much religion in our country, I am sure it is not the religion of our Bibles—it is not the religion of Jesus! It is a religion that consists in swearing, drinking, quarrelling, carousing, luxury, and pleasure—in fraud, covetousness, and the grossest vices and impieties—it is a cold, careless, immoral, prayer-less religion! Or, at best, it is a religion made up of a few lukewarm, insipid, Sunday formalities of devotion, without life, without spirit, without earnestness!
And would it be thus, do you think, if men were deeply sensible that God exercises a providence over the kingdoms of the earth—to punish them for their sins? Would they dare to affront him thus, if they firmly believed that he would resent it in earnest? Or would they be so careless about securing his favour by a conscientious obedience? No! they would be solicitous, above all things, to keep upon good terms with their Supreme Ruler; and they would no more dare to provoke him, than they would set a barrel of gun-powder under the foundations of their houses, to blow them up. But now they act as if it were their belief, that the Lord has forsaken the earth, and takes no notice of the conduct of the inhabitants; as if they had nothing to hope and nothing to fear from him; and therefore they may do what they please, and shift for themselves as they can.
Thirdly, Is not the general impenitence, notwithstanding the many public calamities under which our country has groaned—a melancholy evidence of this practical atheism? Judgements have crowded thick and heavy upon our land, these twelve months past. Our general has been most ingloriously defeated, and all our high hopes from that expedition disappointed. Our northern forces, from which we had still higher expectations, returned, without carrying their designs into execution. The Indian savages, underFrench instigation, have laid a great part of our country desolate, and murdered many hundreds of our fellow countrymen, in one part or other; and they still continue their depredations and barbarities, and that generally with impunity. To all this I must add, that our promising expedition against the Shawnees, is coming to nothing; an expedition on which the country has spent about six thousand pounds, and which seemed the best expedient to put an end to the inroads of the savages upon our ravished frontier.
We were not without fears of disappointment from various causes: we were apprehensive that they might have heard of the design, and either deserted their towns, or so fortified themselves with the assistance of the French, as to be an over-match for our forces: these were plausible suppositions. But who would ever have suspected that the expedition should fail for lack of provisions! that men, leaving a plentiful country, and about to march through a tedious and unknown wilderness, should not take a sufficient supply with them? Who would have thought that men in their senses would have been so stupid and improvident? To me, I must own, it looks like a judicial infatuation.
Last summer, our men were killed by one another, in the ever-melancholy engagement on the banks of the Monongahela, and now a provoked God has let us see once more, that he needs not the instrumentality of enemies and arms to blast the expedition of a guilty people. By their own mismanagement, they defeat themselves, and disconcert their own schemes!
In truth, my friends, if there is a divine providence, I think it dreadfully evident that it is against us. All our most promising undertakings issue in disappointments; and nothing that we take in hand prospers.
But to return—we have not only suffered by the calamities of war—but a great part of our country is languishing under the effects of a very severe drought, which we, in this neighbourhood, are so happy as to know but little of by experience. Now, if there is a providence, these calamities are inflicted upon us by a divine hand: they are not the random strokes of chance, or the effects of blind fate; but the chastisements or judgements of an angry God! And if he is the inflict-or of them—then it is certain he inflicts them for the sins of the land.
It is sin, it is sin alone, that can bring down punishments on the subjects of a just government. But is this generally believed? If it were, would it not strip impenitent sinners of their presumptuous airs, and bring them to the knee—as humble, broken-hearted penitents, at the feet of their injured Sovereign? If everyone believed that his sins have had a share in bringing down the vengeance of God upon his country—would he not smite upon his breast, and say, Alas! what have I done? God be merciful to me a sinner! Would he not immediately attempt a reformation, which is the principal constituent of true repentance?
But alas! have these calamities been thus improved by our countrymen? Produce me one instance of conversion, if you can, by all the terrors of war, and by all the alarming apprehensions of famine! Alas! in vain has the blood of our soldiers and countrymen been shed! In vain has nature languished around us, and the earth denied its fruitfulness! In vain has the rod of divine indignationchastised us, if not one soul be brought to repentance by all these means!
And if reformation is found impracticable, what must follow but destruction? God may bear long with a guilty people; and, indeed, he has done so with us: but he will take them in hand at length: and when he does take them in hand—he will make thorough work with them. If chastisement will not amend, then vengeance shall destroy!
And I am bold to pronounce, that you have no other alternative—but Repent or Perish! I will not presume to determine the time, the degree, or the circumstances; but I am bold to renew my declaration, that misery and ruin await our country—if we still continue incorrigibly impenitent. Men and money; arms, ammunition, and fortifications, courage, conduct, and skill—are all necessary for the defence of our land; but there is an unthought-of something as necessary as any, or all these, and that is Reformation—a general, public reformation: and without this, all other means will be to no purpose in the outcome.
I do not now take upon me to prophesy: I only draw a natural consequence from known premises; and infer, what will be—from what has always been. Thus God has always dealt with the kingdoms of the earth, these have always been the maxims of his providential government. The ruins of Egypt, Babylon, Rome, and many a flourishing city, country, and empire—proclaim this truth. And if we disregard it, it is well if it is not written in the ruins of our country before long.
My friends I must speak to you without reserve: the general impenitence of our inhabitants, under all the providences of God to bring them to repentance, is by far the most discouraging symptom to me; much more so than our divided counsels, our routed armies, and our blasted schemes: indeed, I look upon it as the cause of all these. May I then hope to be heard, at least in the little circle of my own congregation, when, as an advocate for your country, I call you to repentance.
O Sirs, you have carried the matter far enough; you have trifled with your God, and delayed your reformation long enough; therefore, from this moment commence to be humble penitents, and let your country and your souls suffer no more by your wilful wickedness. Whenever you recollect our past calamities, or whenever you meet with the like in time to come, immediately prostrate yourselves before the Lord; plead guilty! guilty! Bewail your own sins—and bewail and mourn over the sins of the land. If even all this congregation should be enabled, by divine grace, to take this method, they might, in the sight of God, obtain the glorious character of deliverers of their country. Who knows but our Sodom might be spared, for the sake of a few such righteous people?
Fourthly, Is not the general ingratitude a plain evidence of the general disbelief of a providential government over the world? My friends, our blessings, in this country, have been distinguishing: the blessings of a good soil, and a healthy and temperate climate—the blessings of liberty, plenty, and a long peace—the blessings of a well-constituted government, and a gentle administration—the invaluable but despised blessings of the gospel of Christ; blessings public and private, personal and relative, spiritual and temporal. In short, it is hard to find a spot upon our globe more rich in blessings—all things considered. But how little gratitude to God for all these blessings? How little is his hand acknowledged in them? Men bless their own good fortune, their industry, or good management—but how few sincerely, and with their whole souls, bless their divine benefactor? Now if his agency were thoroughly believed, would they, could they be so stupidly ungrateful under the reception of so many blessings from him? No! their hearts must glow with love, and their lips must speak his praise!
Fifthly, How little serious and humble acknowledgement of the providence of God in our disappointments and mortifications, is to be found among us! Men murmur and fret in a sort of sullen stupidity; or they cast all the blame upon their fellow-creatures. Those who know nothing of politics or war, will severely censure the men in power, for imprudent regulations, or negligence —military officers for their bad conduct, or soldiers for their cowardice. But who is it that sees and reveres the hand of an angry Godin all this? Alas, the generality seem to think that the world is left to men—to manage as they please; and that God has nothing to do with it. They say in their hearts, "the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil."
These things may suffice to prove the fact, that this practical atheism is very common and prevalent in our country! nd now it is proper I should show the aggravations of it. I therefore proceed,
Thirdly, to expose the horrid wickedness of this atheistic-al disposition and conduct.
And here, had I words gloomy enough to represent the most diabolical dispositions in the infernal regions—they would not be tooblack for my purpose. I shall throw sundry things together promiscuously upon this head, without any formal order.
To deny the agency of Providence, is the most daring rebellion against the King of heaven: it is to abjure his government in his own territories, in his own world, which he has made! It is to draw away his subjects from their allegiance; and to represent him as a mere name; for what is his character as the ruler of the universe but an idle title, if he does not actually exercise a providence over it—but leaves his creatures to themselves, to worry and destroy one another, as they please? If he does notpunish the kingdoms of the earth, for their sin; and if the blessings they enjoy, are not the gifts of his hand—then it is not worth while to acknowledge his government! For of what benefit is that government which neither rewards nor punishes its subjects?
But if God is indeed the author of these things, then it must be the most unnatural rebellion, the blackest treason—to deny his agency. To be rejected in his own world by his own creatures; for the great Parent and support of nature—to be renounced by the creatures, whom he supports in existence every moment; that all his chastisements, and all his blessings—should not be able to bring his own offspring to acknowledge him—what can be more shocking or provoking!
This is also a most ungrateful wickedness. Alas! shall God so richly bless us from year to year; shall he so gently chastise us—and yet be forgotten, disregarded, unacknowledged! It is hard, indeed, if such a country full of blessings cannot bring us so much as dutifully and thankfully to acknowledge him. Alas! shall poor subordinate, dependent creatures run away with all the glory, and set themselves up as God's rivals—or rather, entirely exclude him? What unnatural ingratitude is this!
It is likewise intolerable pride and arrogance. You poor, precarious beings, who were nothing a little while ago, and who would relapse into nothing this moment, without the support of the divine hand; alas! will you set up for independently and self-sufficiency? Are you capable of managing the world, and shifting for yourselves? And is the God, in whom you live, and move, and have your being—become a mere trifle to you? Can you carry on war, can you defend your country, and provide for yourselves—without him? Will you usurp his throne! "In the pride of your heart you say—I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god!" Ezekiel 28:2. Alas! the pinnacle is too high for you. "Will you then say, 'I am a god,' in the presence of those who kill you?" Ezekiel 28:9. What impiety and insolence; what arrogance and blasphemy is this?
Will you substitute natural causes for your God, and ascribe all the events you meet with, to their independent agency, when they are but the mere instruments of divine Providence? Can Jehovah bear with such a sacrilegious attempt upon the royalties of his crown?
Again, this atheistic-al spirit is the source of all vice and impiety. If men had an affecting belief, that "truly there is a reward for the righteous, truly there is a God who judges in the earth," Psalm 58:11; would they neglect him as they do, or would they soaudaciously provoke him, and bid him defiance by their sins? No! a conviction of this would bring the sinner to his knee; it would restrain him from everything that would displease God, and prompt him to every holy duty. But if the Lord has forsaken the earth—then every man may consult his pleasure, and do what is good in his own eyes, without any consequences.
This, my friends, as I observed, is the source of that torrent of wickedness, which has overwhelmed our country: mankind say in their hearts, that God will overlook their sinful conduct, or that he takes no notice of it—and hence their presumptuous sin and impenitence.
Which leads me to add, that such a spirit prevents the improvement and good effect of all the providences of God towards us and our country.
Calamities may make us miserable, fretful, and impatient; but they can never bring us to reformation, and a genuine repentancefor our sins against God—unless we are sensible that it is a provoked God who lays them upon us.
The bounties of Providence may make us happy, wanton, proud, and self-confident; but they can never fire our hearts with gratitude, nor allure us to obedience—unless we receive them as from his gracious hand.
It is the lack of this, my friends, which has rendered all the providence of God so useless to our land! Hence it is, they have produced so few, if any, instances, of true conversion. And thus it will be, we shall but abuse God's mercy, and we never shall learn the art of extracting good out of evil, and profit by our afflictions—until we learn this lesson.
And now, sirs, upon the whole, must you not shudder to think what a load of guilt lies upon our country, on account of this spirit of atheism which has spread over it? When the generality of the subjects turn rebels, and promise themselves that they can sin with impunity—is it not time for their Sovereign to come forth against them and make them sensible of his power and authority, to their cost? Is it not time for a neglected, disregarded, forgotten Deity—to take our country in hand, and extort from practical atheists a confession of his government—by the pressure of their miseries?
Will he always allow himself to be denied and renounced in his own dominions! I say his own dominions; for, assume what airs you will, Virginia is a little province of his universal empire; and all the world shall know it, either by the terrors of his justice, or by our voluntary confession and cheerful subjection. If gentler measures will not do, he may employ French tyranny and Indian barbarity to bring down our haughty spirits, and cause us to own his government, and our dependence and subjection.
Are not some of us guilty of this epidemic, fashionable infidelity? Have you not lived in this world until this moment, without being sensible of that all-ruling divine Power, by which it is governed? Then you are to be ranked among the destroyers of your country. Alas! such people are its worst enemies! Prepare, you infidels, prepare for his judgements to teach you a more creature-like disposition! Or if you escape his judgements in this life, prepare for those more dreadful punishments of the world to come—which will oblige the most rebellious spirit in hell to acknowledge that the Lord reigns!
Finally, amid all the tumults of this restless world— amid all the terror of war, and, in short, amid all the events of life of every kind—let us labour to impress our hearts with this truth—that all things are under the management of a wise and good God, who will always do what is best, upon the whole. This will be a source of obedience; this will teach us to turn the greatest miseries into blessings, and to derive good from evil; and this will be a sweet support, and afford us an agreeable calm, amid all the pressures and tossing's of this boisterous world—until we arrive at the harbour of eternal rest!
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