should find it no hard matter to change their perverted judgments; if we could persuade the infidel not to lean to his own understanding;' to abandon all preconceived opinions, and to read the scriptures with Christian simplicity, and a desire of growing by the sincere milk of the word, he would soon renounce his heretical opinions, and embrace the truth as it is in Jesus; he would soon experience its sovereign and healing qualities, and consequent suitableness to the exigencies of his fallen nature. Vain will be the most elaborate investigations of truth itself, while the use of more important means, and the practice of piety, be neglected. Criticism may surprise by its ingenuity, or metaphysical subtlety by its plausible hypothesis; but the inquirer, if he be not a doer of the word of God, will not come within the limits of the divine promise. No talents, however splendid, no external advantages, however great and unparalleled, can, in themselves, communicate a right disposition of heart. Prayer, devout meditation, and a humble dependence upon the assistance of the Holy Spirit, are of primary moment in our religious researches; they are the sacred and fundamental laws, through the medium of which we enter into the interior of Christianity, and by which the sublime and ethereal spirit of piety is

kindled in the soul.

Whatever other aids

we resort to, if we neglect these, we are not honest in the sight of heaven; we are not sincere inquirers, in the extended and scriptural sense of the word sincerity; we neglect a moral obligation, and despise the authority of God: and in what does the evil of sin consist, but in a want of submission and homage to Him and his authority? It is this which gives to sin its essential character; for were a desire to comply with his will the ruling principle of the heart and conduct, there would be no sin; its dominion, at least would cease. Hence we see that deliberate infidelity is founded on the same rebellious principle, as that which is the basis of deliberate profligacy. They alike oppose the corruptions of our compound nature to the declarations of heaven, and that opposition, which is pre-eminently founded upon the intellectual part of our being, involves, I apprehend, the greatest strength of impiety, and a more awful resemblance to the character of our great spiritual adversary. In short, it is but too manifest, that objections to the mysteries of our holy religion originate in a mystery of iniquity inherent in our fallen nature, and which induces men either to reject or to mutilate evidence well adapted in kind and degree, to carry conviction to their minds. If this were

not the case, we should be at a loss to account for that glaring inconsistency, which, whilst it impugns the mysterious doctrines of Christianity, admits of numberless, inexplicable difficulties in the natural world. We take continual advantage, for the purpose of embellishing our present precarious existence, of what is clear and intelligible in things too dark and profound to be seen through, and thus derive sufficient intimations and directions, under the exercise of our mental and bodily powers, for our temporal security and welfare. And shall we not act, with the same practical wisdom, in respect to the preservation and happiness of our souls? There is a bright, as well as a dark side in the most incomprehensible articles of our religion; and it becomes us, instead of floundering about in vain and even presumptuous speculations, to avail ourselves of what is distinctly revealed, and to improve it to our spiritual edification. The mariner does not suspend his voyage till he fully understands the theory of the winds and tides, but reduces, with promptitude and skill, his actual knowledge to practice, and directs his course at once, through the trackless deep, to his ultimate destination. The husbandman displays the same sort of wisdom, who watches the revolving seasons,-ploughs his land, and sows his seed

at the appointed times, and looks for the harvest of his labours, though he understands not the recondite philosophy, by which the seed germinates into fruit. This analogy between natural and spiritual subjects is replete with delightful instruction,—and it ought not only to reconcile us to the mysteries of revelation,—but should lead us to deduce from them additional arguments in confirmation of its divine authority, as they indicate an unity of design, and a harmony of proceeding, demonstrative of an identity of character in the divine Author. I appeal to the infidel himself, whether Christianity violates the general laws of nature, or any of the particular laws of our compound being? Does it disturb the established order of things,-the relation between causes and effects, and thus render doubtful that general rule of life, which regulates the plans, and directs the activity of mankind? Do its promises dissolve the important connexion, which God has appointed between means and ends, duties and blessings, and thus superinduce a relaxation of morals? This gracious interposition of divine mercy so far from impugning any principle of sound philosophy, that its direct and primary object is, to raise fallen man to that very character of mind which the general laws of creation have a tendency to produce; but this tendency, unless

G

is

carried into effect by foreign and supernatural aid, is uniformly counteracted by the prevailing corruption of human nature. Hence his recovery from his lapsed state is effected through the mediation of a Saviour. By his free merits and grace he is restored to that supreme love of God, which is the first and greatest of the moral precepts. And this restoration, in all its stages, is in perfect accordance with the exercise of man's intellectual powers. There is no coercion or fatal necessity impelling him to action, independently of his will. Contemplating Christianity, as a vital principle, implanted in the heart by the Spirit of God,—it is divine light in the understanding, rectitude in the will, purity in the affections, moral sensibility in the conscience, and obedience in the life. The understanding precedes in this process, the movements of the other faculties of the soul; and man's return to God is the return of an intelligent being and moral agent, who can give a reason of the hope that is in him.' The design, therefore, which Christianity has in view, should, at least, restrain that daring impiety, which arraigns the wisdom and goodness of God in the stupendous scheme of our redemption, as it is by the sublime and renovating principles emanating from it, that the true and ultimate end of our existence is so effectually