of paying a visit to the city of Rome,-the emporium of the world, where philosophy, and luxury, and sensuality, and every thing that is adverse to the gospel, must be encountered, he declares that he is "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ" so fully is he convinced that it is stamped with divine authority, and endued with divine energy, that he is willing to appear as its advocate any where every where; and his whole subsequent life was in accordance with this declaration: wherever he moved, the spirit of moral heroism glowed in his actions, and men took knowledge of him that a martyr's heart was beating in his bosom.

The latter passage occurs in connexion with that part of the epistle to the Ephesians, in which the Apostle institutes a contrast between their condition while they were sunk in the degradation of Paganism, and their condition after having experienced the regenerating influence of the gospel. We are not, however, to understand by the phrase" without God in the world"—that the Ephesians had been literally without any God; for they had worshipped "gods many"; but only that they had no knowledge of the true God; and that, in view of the practical tendency of their system, they might properly be denominated Atheists.

The two passages then, taken in connexion, fairly present to our consideration the contrast between Atheism and Christianity. To exhibit this contrast is the object of the present discourse.

By Christianity you will understand me to mean that system of religion, which is inculcated in the volume that we customarily denominate the sacred scriptures. It is that system which, while it includes and illustrates every doctrine of natural religion, contains another set of doctrines of vast moment, to the discovery of which

unassisted reason could never aspire. It recognises man not only as a creature, but as a sinner. It recognises. God not only as a Creator, a Preserver, a Lawgiver, but also as a Redeemer. It discloses a new and sublime economy-the economy of redemption; and while it exhibits it in all the harmony of its bearings, and all the variety of its influence, it points upward to Heaven as the theatre of its everlasting consummation. Other systems may be baptized into the name of Christianity; but that only deserves the name, which contemplates man in all his guilt and ruin, and God in all his redeeming mercy; which throws the sinner helpless into the arms of sovereign grace, and sees not a gleam of hope for him, except through the atoning blood and sanctifying Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It

By Atheism I mean that system, (if system it can be called,) which rejects the existence of an intelligent FirstCause of all things. It knows nothing of moral obligation. It blots out the doctrine of man's immortality. throws the universe up to the blind direction of chance, or chains it down under the iron dominion of fate.Some, I know, have doubted whether there ever was an Atheist because the evidence of a divine existence has beamed upon their own eye in such an overwhelming blaze, it has seemed to them impossible that any human mind should resist it. But there have been, and still are, men, who have professed to hold this scheme, in all its absurdity and horrour; and though I am sure they have never reached their conclusions by the light of reason, I see nothing improbable in the supposition that they may have groped their way thither through the darkness of depravity. I can easily believe that a human being may reach such a desperate hardihood in wickedness, that he may be given up to the folly not only of saying but of

believing, that "there is no God." In this discourse I shall take for granted that the Atheist is a real, and not an imaginary, being; and shall exhibit to you not only the tendency of atheistical doctrines, but the character which has been actually formed under their influence. The contrast between Atheism and Christianity may be advantageously contemplated, by viewing the influence of each,

I. Upon the INTELLECT:

II. Upon the CONSCIENCE:
III. Upon the HEART:
IV. Upon the LIFE.

I. Upon the INTELLECT.

We may view the two systems as furnishing MoTIVES for intellectual culture, and as opening a FIELD for intellectual exercise.

In contemplating the MOTIVES for intellectual culture, as presented by the two systems, we may consider, 1. The views which each system takes of the MIND itself;—especially of the design, and the duration, of its existence.

As it is one of the first principles of Atheism that the mind exists without any intelligent cause, it legitimately results from the same principle, that it exists without any design; for design necessarily supposes intelligence.— Nor does the Atheist at all disown this conclusion: so far from it, that it is part of the creed in which he professes to glory, that there is no end to be answered by human existence, apart from the enjoyment that is derived from the indulgence of the passions. The Atheist, like every other man, finds within himself an active, intelligent principle;—a principle by which he thinks as other men think; by which he reasons on many sub

jects as other men reason ; -a principle which sometimes breaks forth even from his bosom with mighty power, and asserts its own dignity, notwithstanding all his efforts to degrade it;-but he recognises no purpose for which it exists that gives him the least superiority to the brute. Christianity, on the other hand, views the mind not only as an intelligent principle, produced by an intelligent cause, but as designed to accomplish a most important end ;-nothing less than to glorify its Creator by rendering him the perpetual homage of all its powers. And she goes farther, and perceives how the mind is adapted to the purposes for which it was created;-how it is capable of analyzing the works of God, of holding communion with him in the exercise of devotion, of rendering to him an acceptable obedience, and of becoming in various ways a medium for the manifestation of his glory. In short the Atheist and the Christian find themselves in possession of the same noble faculties; but the one considers them as pointing to the service of his Creator, the other only to the sensual enjoyment of himself.

Nor is the difference less in the views which the two systems take of the duration of the mind's existence. The Atheist laughs at the idea of his own immortality. He regards the thinking principle within him as having resulted from one of the flickerings of chance, and as destined to pass into a state of non-existence when the body ceases to perform its functions. He sees no light from beyond the tomb. He not only impugns the testimony of Him whose name is "the Resurrection and the Life," but he hears not the voice of Reason-he heeds not the native longings of his own spirit. But need I say that the Christian receives the doctrine of immortality with unwavering confidence? There are witnesses to this truth both without him and within him, whose

testimony is not only decisive but overwhelming; and he is not more thoroughly convinced that there is an intellectual principle belonging to his nature, than that that principle will exist forever. What a mighty difference between believing that this spark of intelligence within me will be extinguished to-morrow, to be re-kindled no more, and that it will burn more and more intensely through an interminable succession of ages!

Now let me ask you whether the Atheist's or the Christian's view of the mind, presents the stronger motives to intellectual culture. I find within me a thinking principle; and of the energy of its operations I cannot doubt, because it is a matter of experience: but if I believe that it is merely the creature of accident ;-that accident originated it, and accident sustains it through the brief period of its existence, and that it accomplishes no higher end than the principle of instinct in the brute creation;-what motive can I have to labour patiently and diligently for its development? For even admitting that there is a pleasure in this employment that exceeds any to be derived from mere sensual gratification, yet if there is no end to be accomplished by it apart from this temporary enjoyment, how probable is it that, in the conflict between the animal and intellectual nature, the former will come off triumphant! But if I believe that this spirit within me is designed for an infinitely higher end than a momentary self-gratification;-if I consider it as created for the very purpose of glorifying the Creator by being continually occupied in his service, what more powerful motive can I have than is here presented to cultivate my intellectual powers to the utmost? And then again, suppose it is part of my creed that I am to perish like a brute;—that the intellectual spark will go out as soon as the animal machinery is stopped ;--where