sagacity and penetration, on which account God is pleased to bring our humility to the test. And this he does by discovering to us so much of truth as may enable us to recognize it on its first appearance; at the same time, permitting the objects of faith to be surrounded with difficulties sufficient to leave room for the exercise of that humble confidence in his veracity, and that true poverty of spirit which philosophers are pleased to hold up as just objects of ridicule. Sound knowledge, however, and unaffected humility, will always keep pace with each other. Hence that memorable confession of Socrates, "All that I know is, that I know nothing." And hence that remarkable declaration of St. Paul, "If any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."

It is impossible that any thing should have a greater tendency to keep man at a distance from God, than that arrogant self sufficiency with which modern free thinkers are usually puffed up. This unhappy disposition must be totally subdued before we can come to the fountain head of pure intelligence, James i, 5. And to effect this, the Almighty per mits our understanding to be embarrassed and confounded, till it is constrained to bow before his supreme wisdom, in acknowledgment of its own imbecility. But it is always with the utmost difficulty, and not till after a thousand vain devices have been practised, that human nature can be forced into this state of self abasement. Here Socrates and St. Paul may be regarded as happy companions, experiencing, in common, that submissive meekness, and that profound humility, which are so terrible to many professors of wisdom. And it is but reasonable that the piety of the one, and the philosophy of the other, should have been established upon the basis of those rare virtues which formed the ground of the following address from Christ to his Father: "I thank thee, O Father! Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes,” Matt. xi, 25. It becomes us so much the more to moderate the sallies of an impatient curiosity, with respect to truths of a mysterious nature, since Christ himself has given us an example of the obedience due to the following apostolic precept :- Let no man think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but let him think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith," Rom. xii, 3. This condescending Saviour was content, as Son of man, to remain in the humble ignorance of which we speak. If, in order to have satisfied his curiosity with respect to the day of judgment, he had attempted to explore the secret counsels of the Almighty, there can be no doubt but his gracious Father would have admitted him into that impenetrable sanctuary. But he rather chose to leave among his followers an example of the most perfect respect and resignation to the will of that Father.

What was said by St. Paul concerning heresies, may, with propriety, be applied to that obscurity which accompanies the doctrines of the Gospel. "There must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest," 1 Cor. xi, 19. Mons. de Voltaire, who saw not any utility in the proof here mentioned by the apostle, was accustomed to censure revelation, because the doctrines it proposes are incapable of such incontestable evidence as mathematical problems. He considered not that lines, circles, and triangles, falling immediately under

man.

the senses, are subjects of investigation peculiarly suited to the natural He recollected not that many of Euclid's demonstrations are as incomprehensible to the greater part of mankind, as the mysteries of our holy religion are incomprehensible to the generality of philosophers. And lastly, he perceived not that, if all men were to pique themselves upon their skill in mathematics, and were equally interested in the proportions of circles, squares, and triangles, as in those relations which subsist between fallen man and an incomprehensible God, there would be excited, among ignorant mathematicians, as many warm disputes as are continually arising among ill-instructed Christians.

The justness of these observations will become more apparent, if we consider the importance of that virtue, which is called, in Scripture language, "the obedience of faith," Rom. xvi, 26. Man originally suffered himself to be seduced with the hope of wonderful effects to be produced by the fruit of a mysterious tree; founding his frail hope upon the simple declaration of the tempter. God, in order to humble the soul, is pleased to restore us through the hope of powerful effects to be produced by the truths of a mysterious revelation; a sweet hope, whose only basis is the simple declaration of the God of truth. And it is undoubtedly reasonable, in every respect, that the cause of our restoration should be thus directly opposed to the cause of our fall. The obedience that is unattended with difficulties, can never be regarded as a reasonable proof of our fidelity to God. Had he merely commanded us to believe that "the whole is greater than a part," or that "two and two make four ;" in such case no room would have been left for a reasonable distribution of rewards and punishments. The Deity could not possibly have been disobeyed, since we can no more refuse our assent to these manifest truths, than we can deny the existence of the sun, while we are rejoicing in his meridian brightness. It appears, therefore, perfectly necessary that every truth, proposed to the faith of man in his probationary state, should have an obscure as well as a luminous side, that it may leave place for the mature deliberation, and, of consequence, for the merit or demerit of those who are called to "the obedience of faith."

To desire a revelation without any obscurity, is to desire a day without night, a summer without winter, a sky without a cloud. And what should we gain by such an exchange? Or rather, what should we not lose, if those intentional obscurities, which conceal some parts of celestial truth, should be as needful to man in his present situation, as those clouds which frequently deform the face of the heavens are beneficial to the earth? The faith which is unaccompanied with any thing mysterious, no more merits the name of faith than the tranquillity of a man, who has never been in the way of danger, deserves the name of bravery. An expression of our Lord's to one of his doubting disciples is sufficient to throw the most convincing light upon this matter: "Thomas," said he, “because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed;" but what recompense or praise can be due to such a faith? "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed," John xx, 29.

To conclude: What occasion would there be for the exercise of either wisdom or virtue, were the one only good path presented so clearly to our view that it would be difficult to make choice of any other? Or to what good purpose could true philosophy serve, which has no other use

except that of teaching us to regulate our principles, and govern our actions, in a manner more suited to the perfection of our nature, than is customary with those who are led by prejudice and passion?

From all these observations it may justly be argued, that to insist upon having religious doctrines without obscurity, and a revelation without mystery, is to destroy the design of the Supreme Being, who hath placed us here in a state of trial. It is to confound the goal with the course, the conflict with the triumph, and earth with heaven. Nay more: it is to confound the creature with the Creator. That which is finite must never hope to comprehend the heights and depths of infinity. Arch. angels themselves, though endued with inconceivable degrees of wisdom and purity, will continually find unfathomable abysses in the Divine nature. And if so, is it not to abjure good sense, as well as revelation, to turn our backs upon the temple of truth, because there is found in it a most holy place," where the profane are never suffered to enter, and the furniture of which even true worshippers can neither clearly explain nor fully comprehend?

CHAPTER XIV.

In answer to the grand objection of philosophers against the doctrines of the Gospel, it is argued, that the advantages of the redemption are extended, in different degrees, to all mankind, through every period of the world. As sophistical reasoners had a hundred objections to propose against the doctrine of Socrates, who was a true philosopher, so the philosophers of this age are industriously framing objections to the doctrines of that Gospel which unerring Wisdom has announced to the world. To determine, whether or not those objections are just and unanswerable, we shall here consider that which appears to be the most weighty in the balance of those two companions in error, Mons. de Voltaire and J. J. Rousseau. "If your doctrine of the redemption," say they," is really as important as you represent it, why has it been preached only for these last eighteen centuries? If it was of so much consequence to mankind, God, without doubt, would have published it sooner, and more universally."*

ANSWER. The doctrine of the redemption was not primarily neces sary to mankind: since there was a time when unoffending man stood in no greater need of a Redeemer, than a healthy person stands in need of a physician. At that time natural religion was suitable to the state of man, and the doctrines of Deism were the spiritual food of his soul. But, as medicine is not less necessary than nutriment to a sick person, so fallen man stands in need of the Gospel, as well as of natural religion.

* Mons. de Voltaire, in his Philosophical Dictionary, attacks Christianity, under the name of Mohammedanism, in the following words:" If it had been necessary to the world, it would have existed from the beginning of the world; it would have existed in every place. The Mohammedan religion therefore cannot be essentially necessary to man." J. J. Rousseau was perfectly of the same opinion. "I deny," says this writer, in his Emilius, "the necessity of receiving revelation. because this pretended obligation is incompatible with the justice of God. Should there be found in the universe a single person to whom Christ had never been preached, the objection would be as forcible on the part of that neglected individual, as for the fourth part of the human race."

And as strong nourishment would be a species of poison to a man enervated by a raging fever, so the tenets of Theism, administered alone to a sinner, who burns with the disorderly fervours of pride, must inevitably prove fatal to the health of his soul. Thus the presumption of some philosophers is increased by the doctrines of Deism, as the fever of a debilitated patient is redoubled by those very cordials which would increase the strength of a vigorous person. And this may serve as a proof, that the natural religion of sinless man is as little adapted to man in his corrupt estate, as the sweet familiarity of an affectionate infant is suitable to the character of a daring and disobedient son.

It is necessary here to observe, that there are two kinds of Deism; that of the humble sinner, who is not yet acquainted with the Gospel, and that of the presumptuous reasoner, who rejects it with contempt. The Centurion Cornelius, who lived in the practice of piety before he was perfectly acquainted with Christ, and the penitent publican alluded to by our Lord, were Deists of the first class, and such as might well be esteemed the younger brothers of Christians. The second class is made up of those Theists who trample revelation under their feet, and who may properly be called the presumptuous Pharisees of the present day. It is the haughty Deism of these men that a false philosophy would substitute in the place of the Gospel. The judicious author of The New Theological Dictionary has characterized these two kinds of Deism with an accuracy peculiar to himself. "Deism," says he, "was once on the high way from Atheism to Christianity; but to-day it is usually found upon the road from Christianity to Atheism."

To assert that the doctrine of the redemption has been announced for no more than eighteen centuries, is to suppose there can be no appearance of light till the sun has risen above the horizon. So soon as the work of redemption became necessary, in that very day it was announced to man. When our first parents had received from their merciful Judge the sentence that condemned them to misery and death, he immediately gave them a promise, that in some future day a repairer of their evils should be born of woman, who should "bruise the head of the serpent,' that is, who should crush, at once, all the power of the tempter, and the pride of the sinner. In consequence of this gracious covenant, which was, indeed, the first promulgation of the Gospel, God implanted in man. an interior principle of redemption, a seed of regenerating grace, which should, in the end, spring up to everlasting life. Now this principle was nothing less than a ray from that living Word, which was afterward to be visibly united with our nature, in order to raise man from his dishonourable fall, and, finally, to procure for him a state superior to that which he originally enjoyed. Nothing can be more explicit upon this point than the following declaration of St. John: "In Him [the living Word] was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness [in general] comprehended it not. This was [however] the true light, which lighteth [more or less] every man that cometh into the world," John i, 4, 9. When, therefore, a conceited free thinker superciliously exclaims, "If the doctrine of the redemption had been necessary it would have been published in the earliest ages of the world," such objection should serve as a manifest token of his ignorance in this matter, since that important doctrine was mercifully an

nounced to the very first offender. If that doctrine was afterward corrupted by tradition; if rebellious man began to exalt himself as his own saviour; or if, through impatience, he set up false mediators, instead of patiently expecting the fulfilment of Jehovah's promise: all this evidently proves his extreme need of a Redeemer. In short, if the greater part of the Jewish nation rejected this Divine Saviour in the days of his outward manifestation, and if prejudiced Deists still continue to reject his offered assistance, all that can be proved by their unrelenting obstinacy is the greatness of their guilt, and the depth of their depravity: just as the conduct of a patient, who abuses his physician, suffices only to demonstrate the excess of his delirium.

Several reasons may be here produced, which might have engaged the Father of mercies to defer the external manifestation of our promised Redeemer for a period of four thousand years.

1. It is probable, that as every thing is discovered to operate gradually in the natural world, the same order might be established in the moral world. Even since the time of Christ's outward manifestation, the influence of his redeeming power has but gradually discovered itself in our yet benighted world. He himself compared the Gospel to a little leaven, which spreads itself by slow degrees over a bulky mass of meal; and to a small seed, from which a noble plant is produced. To this we may add, that a portion of time, which appears long and tedious to us, appears wholly different in the eyes of the everlasting I AM, before whom a thousand years are no more than a fleeting day.

2. If, immediately after the commission of sin, God had sent forth his Son into the world to raise us from our fall, before we had experienced the melancholy effects of that fall; such a hasty act, instead of manifesting the perfections of the Deity, would have drawn a veil of obscurity between us and them. The Divine mercy, discovered in Jesus Christ, might then have appeared as insignificant to us as to the arrogant Deist, who, notwithstanding the crimes with which the world has been polluted for near six thousand years, and in spite of those which he himself has added to the prodigious sum, has yet the audacity to assert, that there is no necessity for a Redeemer, that man is good in his present state, and that he may conduct himself honourably through it, without the assistance of regenerating grace. Hence it appears, that the outward manifestation of the Messiah was wisely deferred to a period of time far removed from the commencement of the fall.

3. While the visible manifestation of Jesus was delayed, all things were put in a state of due preparation for so great an event. And in the meantime the seed of regeneration, which was received by man, after God had pronounced the first evangelical promise, was as sufficient to save every penitent sinner, as the dawn of day is sufficient to direct every erring traveller.

This merits an explanation. The first man, to whom the promise of redemption was made, contained in himself the whole of his posterity: and this promise, wonderfully powerful, as being the "word of God," Heb. iv, 12, had an indescribable effect upon the whole human race, implanting in man a seed of regeneration, a Logos, a reason, a conscience, a light, in short, a good principle, which, in every sincere inquirer after truth, has been nourished by the grace of God, and