Religion the Highest Wisdom, and Sin

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Religion the Highest Wisdom, and Sin the Greatest Madness and Folly</strong>

by Samuel Davies

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His commandments have good understanding." Psalm 111:10

WISDOM is a character so honourable and ornamental to a reasonable being, that those who best knew the dignity of their own nature, have had no higher ambition than to be esteemed and called lovers of it. Hence the original of the name 'philosopher', which signifies no more than a lover of wisdom. On the other hand, there is hardly any character deemed more reproachful, or that is more resented, than that of a fool. Men are often as jealous of the reputation of their understandings as of their morals, and think it as great a reproach to be without sense—as without goodness.

There is a prodigious diversity in the intellectual capacities of mankind, and their souls differ as much as their bodies; but whether it be owing to the intrinsic difference of their souls, or to the different formation of their bodies, is not my present purpose to determine. Some, who share in human nature, give very little discoveries of reason above the most sagacious sorts of brutes. The generality are endowed with common sense, which, though it has nothing brilliant or pompous in it, and does not qualify them for high improvements in science, or making a figure in the learned world—yet it is sufficient for all the purposes of life, and the necessities of a human creature. There are a few also who seem raised beyond their species, and perhaps approach near to the lower ranks of angels by a superior genius. These have been the first inventors and improver's of useful arts and sciences; which others, of inferior understanding, are able to put in practice for their own purposes, though they had not sagacity at first to discover them.

This little world of ours is an improved spot in the creation. How vastly different an appearance does it now make from its original state of pure nature, when it emerged out of chaos, uncultivated by industry! What numerous arts and trades have been found out to furnish life with necessaries and comforts! How deeply have some penetrated into the world of knowledge! They have traced the secret workings of nature; they have even investigated the worlds above us, and discovered the courses and revolutions of the planets.

When you see these discoveries, you would conclude mankind to be a wise race of creatures; and indeed in such things as these, they reveal great abilities. Almost every man in his province can manage his affairs with some judgement. Some can manage a farm; others are dexterous in mechanics; others have a turn for mercantile affairs; others can unfold the mysteries of nature, and carry their searches far into the scientific worlds; others can conduct an army, or govern a nation. In short, every man forms some scheme which he apprehends will conduce to his temporal advantage; and prosecutes it with some degree of judgement.

But is this all the wisdom that befits a candidate for eternity? Has he a good understanding, who only acts with reason in the affairs of this life; but, though he is to exist forever in another world, and to be perfectly happy or miserable there—yet takes no thought about the concerns of his immortal state? Is this wisdom? Is this consistent even with common sense? No! With sorrow and solemnity I would speak it, the most of men in this respect are fools and madmen! And it is impossible for the most frantic madman in Bedlam to act more foolishly about the affairs of this life, than they generally do about the affairs of religion and eternity! There is such a thing as a partial madness; a person may have, as it were, one weak side to his mind, and it may be sound and rational in other respects. You may meet with some lunatics and madmen that will converse reasonably with you, and you would not suspect their heads are disordered until you touch upon some particular point, and then you are to expect reason from them no more; they talk the wildest nonsense, and are governed entirely by their imaginations. Thus, alas! it is with the generality of mankind in the present case. They are wise for this world; they talk and act at least agreeably to common sense; but hear them talk and observe their conduct about the concerns of their souls, and you can call them reasonable creatures no longer! They "are wise to do evil; but to do good they have no knowledge; there is none that understands; there is none that seeks after God." To bring them to themselves by exposing to them their madness, is my present design.

The text shows us the first step to true wisdom, and the test of common sense: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow His commandments have good understanding." This is so frequently repeated, that it may pass for a Scripture maxim: and we may be sure it is of singular importance. Job starts the question, "Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?" He searches nature through in quest of it—but cannot find it; he cannot purchase it with the gold of Ophir; and its price is above rubies. At length he recollects the primitive instruction of God to man, and there he finds it: "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." Job 28:28. Solomon, the wisest of men, begins his proverbs with this maxim, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." Proverbs 1:7; and he repeats it again, Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy, (the knowledge of those that may be called saints with a sneer,) is understanding."

The fear of the Lord, in Scripture, signifies not only that pious passion of filial reverence of our adorable Father who is in heaven—but it is frequently put for the whole of practical religion; hence it is explained in the last part of the verse, by doing his commandments. The fear of the Lord, in this latitude, implies all the graces and all the virtues of Christianity; in short, all that holiness of heart and life which is necessary to the enjoyment of everlasting happiness. So that the sense of the text is this: "To practice religion and virtue, to take that way which leads to everlasting happiness, is wisdom, true wisdom, the beginning of wisdom, the first step towards it; unless you begin here, you can never attain it; all your wisdom, without this, does not deserve the name; it is madness and nonsense. To obey God's commandments is the best test of a good understanding; a good, sound understanding have all those who do this, all of them without exception; however weak some of them may be in other things, they are wise in the most important respect; but without this, however cunning they are in other things, they have lost their understandings; they contradict common sense; they are beside themselves. In short, to pursue everlasting happiness as the end, in the way of holiness as the mean, this is wisdom, this is common sense; and there can be none without this."

Wisdom consists in two things: choosing a right end, and using right means to obtain it. Now what end so befitting a creature to live forever—as everlasting happiness? And in what way can it be obtained, but in the way of holiness? Consult the judgement of God in his Word; consult your own conscience, or even common sense, and you will find that this is the case. Therefore he is a man of sense—who pursues this end in this way. But he is a fool, he is brutish—who chooses an inferior end, or that pursues this in a wrong way.

My time will not allow me to do any more than to mention some instances of the folly and madness of such as do not make the fear of the Lord, the beginning of their wisdom.

I. Men will not take the safest side in religion, which their reason and self-love carry them to do in other cases.

It is very possible the love of ease and pleasure, and a self-flattering disposition, may prompt your mind to form a plausible system of religion; a religion that admits of great hopes with little evidences, and that allows you many indulgences, and lays few restraints upon you; a religion purged, as you imagine, from some of the melancholy and gloomy doctrines of Christianity, and that releases you from those restraints, so painful to a wicked heart, which the holy religion of Jesus lays upon you. It is very possible that you may hope you shall obtain eternal happiness without much pains, and without observing the strictness of universal holiness; you may indulge hopes of heaven, though you indulge yourselves wilfully in sin; you may flatter yourselves that God is not so inexorably just, as the sacred Scriptures represent him; and that his threatenings are only tremendous sounds without any design to be executed in all their strictness; you may flatter yourselves that the punishments of a future state are not intolerably dreadful, nor of everlasting duration; you may excuse and diminish your sins, and make a great many plausible apologies for them.

But are you sure of your conjectures? Have you evidence for them, upon which you may venture your eternal all? Think the matter over seriously again; have you certainty that these things are so? and are you willing to perish forever—if they should be otherwise? What if you should be mistaken? What if you should find God to be as strict and holy as his Word represents him? What if all his dreadful threatenings should be sincere and true, and your sins have infinitely greater malignity in his eyes than in yours? What if in a little time you should find that the Scriptures give a more just account of the punishments of hell than your self-flattering heart suggested to you, and that they are indeed intolerable, and strictly eternal? What if you should find, when it is too late to correct the mistake—that those neglected, ridiculous things, regeneration, conversion, holiness of heart and practice, the mortification of sin, and a laborious course of devotion—what if you should find they are absolutely necessary to everlasting happiness? What if it should appear that the wilful indulgence of the least known sin will eternally ruin you? Stand and pause, and ask yourselves, What if you should find matters thus, quite the reverse to what you flattered yourselves? What will become of you then? You are undone, irreparably undone through all eternity!

Well, to speak modestly, this may be the case, for whatever you know; and is it not then the part of a wise man to provide against such a dreadful contingency? Will you run so terrible a risk—and yet claim a good understanding? Do you esteem a life of religion so burdensome, that you had better make such a desperate venture than choose it? Do you esteem the pleasures of sin so sweet, so solid, so lasting—that it is your interest to run the risk of intolerable, eternal misery, rather than part with them?Can you form such an estimate as this while in your senses?

No! he is a mad-man with whom fleshly pleasures for a little time, the sordid pleasures of sin—outweigh an eternity of perfect happiness. He is certainly not in his right mind—who would rather be tormented in hell forever—than lead a holy life, and labour to escape the wrath to come! Therefore act in this as you do in other cases of uncertainty, choose the safest side. Believe and regard what God has said; Be holy in all manner of conversation; strive with all your might to enter in at the straight gate; receive Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Do this, and you are safe, let the case be as it will; there are no bad consequences that can possibly follow from this conduct. It will, upon the whole, be the most pleasant for you, even in this life; and your reason will tell you, this is a more certain way to escape everlasting misery, and secure eternal happiness, than the contrary.

But if you are resolutely set upon running the risk, and fool-hardy enough to venture your eternal all upon such improbabilities, not to say impossibilities, you forfeit the character of a reasonable being; you are mad in this respect, however wise you may be in others.

II. It is the greatest folly to believe, or profess to believe, the great truths of Christianity—and yet act quite contrary to such a belief!

"They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are despicable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good!" Titus 1:16. How many are there who profess God to be the greatest and the best of beings—and yet neglect him, and pay a greater regard to a thousand other things! They own him to be lovely—and do not love him! They own him to be their King—and they do not obey him! They own him to be their Benefactor—and make no returns of gratitude to him. They confess that heaven is better than earth—and yet they pursue the things of this life, to the neglect of all the happiness of heaven. They believe that their souls are of more importance than their bodies—and yet they will not take half the care about them that they take about their bodies. They confess that a life of sin and impenitence is very dangerous, and that it will end in everlasting misery; yet, with this confession in their mouth, and this conviction in their consciences, they will, they obstinately will, go on impenitently in sin! They own that religion and virtue are excellent things—and yet they never make it the main business of their life—but live carelessly without them. They believe they are sinners, worthy of punishment—and yet they are generally as unconcerned as if they were innocent. They believe that Christ is the only Saviour of sinners—and yet they are as little concerned to get a saving interest in him as if they could be saved without him. They believe that all the pleasures of this transitory life are infinitely inferior to the pleasures of true religion and the happiness of the heavenly state; they believe these sordid pleasures will ruin them forever if they continue in them—and yet they will persist in them, though by this they throw away their everlasting happiness, and incur eternal misery!

Thus they believe, or profess to believe; and our country is full of such 'believers'; but what absurd, self-contradicting creatures are they! What madness is it to entertain a belief that answers no other end but to condemn their practice, and aggravate their sin! Do they really believe these things—or do they not? If not, then what folly is it to profess to believe them! Do they think to impose by an empty profession, on Him who searches the hearts and the thoughts? or have they no other end in their profession of religion, than just to be esteemed Christians by men? Can they think that their faith will indemnify them in contradicting it? or that they may sin safely, because they sin against knowledge? Are these the conclusions of a sound mind? Must not a man be out of his senses, before he can admit them? But if you suppose they believe these things, it is certain they are entirely mad in this affair.

What! to neglect God, and holiness, and heaven—when they know they are of infinite importance! to choose the ways of sin—when they believe they will end in ruin! Is this the part of a wise man?

Should a sick man tell you he is certain to die unless he takes such a medicine—and yet you should see that he does not take it—but continues to drink the most deadly poison; what would you think of him? Would you not conclude either that he did not believe himself, or that he was deranged? But this is the very conduct of many professed believers, who yet think they have no small share of wisdom. I will not dispute your wisdom about your secular affairs; you may be wise to do evil; but I am sure in these instances you are quite delirious; and yourselves will be convinced of it to your cost, when God shall say unto you, "You fool! This night shall your soul be required of you!" Luke 12:20.

All your pleas to vindicate or excuse your conduct do but aggravate your folly. Do you say, "Your lusts are headstrong and ungovernable, and you cannot restrain them?" I doubt not but this is true; but is this a reason why you should be so easy and careless? Are your enemies so strong? And will you, on that very account, be faint and inactive in your resistance? Ought you not to rise and cry to God for his grace to change your nature; to subdue these strong sins, and make you holy, since without it you cannot be saved?

Besides, consider whether your pretended excuse is not a real aggravation to your sin. "Your lusts are so strong," you say, "that you cannot restrain them." What is this but to say that you are so wicked—that you have no heart to break off from sin! and is the inveteracy of your wickedness, an excuse for it? Does not common sense remonstrate against such an absurdity? Do you plead, that "you intend to repent of this inconsistent conduct hereafter?" But if true religion is an excellent thing, as you profess to believe it—why do you not choose it now? the sooner the better.

Again, is it not the greatest folly to indulge yourselves in a practice that you deliberately intend to repent of? If your present conduct is wise, why do you intend to repent of it? the very intention implies that you are even now convinced it is foolish; and what will your repentance be but a deep sense of your folly? And can there be a greater madness than deliberately to do anythingwhich at the very time you intend to repent of? Is there anything more absurd and ridiculous? Is this your conduct in other things? Will you make a bargain which you know you will afterwards repent of? Will you prosecute a scheme which you deliberately intend afterwards to condemn and be sorry for? Can you do such things—and yet be offended to be called fools?

Further, why do you design to repent? Is it because you hate sin? No! for if that was the reason, you would immediately forsake it. Is it because you love God and holiness? No! for then you would devote yourselves to the service of God immediately, and could not bear a delay. But you intend to force yourselves upon a little remorse of conscience, when the punishment of sin is just ready to fall upon you, with no other design but just to escape it! And can you think there is any value in such extorted sorrows, that proceed not from hatred of sin, or love to God—but merely from self-love and servile fear of punishment? Can any wise man look upon this as repentance to life, or hope that God will accept of it?

Finally, are you sure of that uncertain hereafter, in which you purpose to repent? Is there any man in his senses that dare pretend he is certain of another day? or that he shall not die by some sudden accident, or in a delirium, in which he has no time nor composure to repent?

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