the divine Essence, it is to make you conceive, that all which is in God, if I may so speak, is interested for our salvation, and to enkindle our efforts by the thought. If we say, that the Word was made flesh, and that the Son of God expired on the cross, it is to make you abhor sin by the idea of what it cost him to expiate it. If we say, that grace operates in the heart, and that in the work of our salvation, grace forms the design and the execution, it is with this inference, that we should "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." If we teach even the doctrines of God's decrees, it is "to make our calling sure," Phil. ii. 12; 1 Pet. i. 10.

IV. We have lastly said, that mysteries should render a religion doubtful, when we find a system, which on rejecting those mysteries, is exempt from greater difficulties than those we would attack. We make this remark as a compliment to unbelievers, and to the impure class of brilliant wits. When we have proved, reasoned, and demonstrated; when we have placed the arguments of religion in the clearest degree of evidence they can possibly attain: and when we would decide in favour of religion, they invariably insinuate, that "religion has its mysteries; that religion has its difficulties;" and they make these the apology of their unbelief.

I confess, this objection would have some colour, if there were any system, which on exempting us from the difficulties of religion, did not involve in still greater. And whenever they produce that system, we are ready to embrace it.

Associate all the difficulties of which we allow religion to be susceptible. Associate whatever is incomprehensible in the doctrine of the Trinity, and in the ineffable manner in which the three persons subsist, who are the object of our worship. Add thereto whatever is supernatural in the operations of the Holy Spirit, and in the mysterious methods he adopts to penetrate the heart. Neither forget the depths into which we are apparently cast by the doctrines of God's decrees, and make a complete code of the whole.

ficulties? Have rational men need to be convinced, that the mysteries of religion are infinitely more defensible than the mysteries of atheism.

Do you espouse the part of irreligion? Do you allow with Epicures, that there is a God; but that the sublimity of his Majesty obstructs his stooping to men, and the extension of his regards to our temples, and our altars? And is this the system which has no difficulties? How do you reply to the infinity of objections opposed to this system? How do you answer this argument, that God having not disdained to create mankind, it is inconceivable he should disdain to govern them? How do you reply to a second, the inconceivableness that a perfect being should form intelligences, and not prescribe their devotion to his glory? And what do you say to a third, that religion is completely formed, and fully proved in every man's conscience?

Do you take the part of denying a divine revelation? And is this the system which is exempt from difficulties? Can you really prove that our books were not composed by the authors to whom they are ascribed? Can you really prove that those men have not wrought miracles? Can you really prove that the Bible is not the book the most luminous, and the most sublime, that ever appeared on earth? Can you really prove, that fishermen, publicans, and tent-makers, and whatever was lowest among the mean populace of Judea; can you prove, that people of this description, have without divine assistance, spoken of the origin of the world; and of the perfections of God; of the nature of man, his constitution, and his duties, in a manner more grand, noble, and better supported than Plato, than Zeno, than Epicurus, and all the sublime geniuses, which render antiquity venerable, and which still fill the universe with their fame?

Do you espouse the cause of deism? Do you say with the Latitudinarian, that if there be a religion, it is not shut up in the narrow bounds which we prescribe? Do you maintain that all religions are indifferent? Do you give a false gloss to the apostle's words, that "in all nations he that feareth God is accepted of him?” Acts x. 35. And is this the system which is

To these difficulties which we avow, join all those we do not avow. Join all the pretexts you affect to find in the arguments which na-exempt from difficulties? How, superseding the ture affords of the being of a God, and the re-authority of the Bible, will you maintain this ality of a providence. Join thereto whatever principle? How will you maintain it against you shall find the most forcible against the au- the terrors God denounces against the base, thenticity of our sacred books, and what has "and the fearful," Rev. xxi. 8; against the inbeen thought the most plausible against the junction "to go out of Babylon; against the marks of Divine authority exhibited in those duty prescribed of confessing him in presence Scriptures. Join to these all the advantages of all men," Isa. xlviii. 20; Matt. x. 32; and presumed to be derived from the diversity of with regard to the fortitude he requires us to opinions existing in the Christian world, and in display on the rack, and when surrounded with all its sects which constantly attack one another. fire and fagots, and when called to brave them Make a new code of all these difficulties. for the sake of truth! How will you maintain Form a system of your own objections. Draw it against the care he has taken to teach you the conclusions from your own principles, and the truth without any mixture of lies? build an edifice of infidelity on the ruins of religion. But for what system can you decide which is not infinitely less supportable than religion?

Do you espouse that of atheism? Do you say, that the doctrine of the being of a God owes its origin to superstition and the fears of men? And is this the system which has no dif

Do you take the part of believing nothing? Do you conclude from these difficulties, that the best system is to have none at all. Obstinate Pyrrhonian, you are then resolved to doubt of all! And is this the system which is exempt from difficulties? When you shall be agreed with yourself; when you have conciliated your singular system with the convictions of your

mind, with the sentiments of your heart, and with the dictates of your conscience, then you shall see what we have to reply.

What then shall you do to find a light without darkness, and an evidence to your mind? Do you take the part of the libertine? Do you abandon to colleges the care of religion, and leaving the doctors to waste life deciding who is wrong, and who is right, are you determined as to yourself to rush head foremost into the world? Do you say with the profane, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die?" Do you enjoy the present without pursuing uncertain rewards, and alarming your mind with fears of miseries which perhaps may never come? And is this the system destitute of mysteries? Is this the system preferred to what is said by our apostles, our evangelists, our doctors, our pastors, and by all the holy men God has raised up "for the perfecting of the saints, and for the work of the ministry?" But though the whole of your objections were founded; though the mysteries of the gospel were a thousand times more difficult to penetrate; though our knowledge were incomparably more circumscribed; and though religion should be infinitely less demonstrated than it is; should this be the part you ought to take? The sole probability of religion, should it not induce us, if not to believe it, yet at least, so to act, as if in fact we did believe it? And the mere alternative of an eternal happiness, or an eternal misery, should it not suffice to strict us within the limits of duty, and to regulate our life, in such sort, that if there be a hell, we may avoid its torments?

We conclude. Religion has its mysteries; we acknowledge it with pleasure. Religion has its difficulties; we avow it. Religion is shook (we grant this for the moment to unbelievers, though we detest it in our hearts,) religion is shook, and ready to fall by brilliant wits. But after all, the mysteries of the gospel are not of that cast which should render a religion doubt ful. But after all, Christianity all shook, all wavering, and ready to fall, as it may appear to the infidel, contains what is most certain, and the wisest part a rational man can take, is to adhere to it with an inviolable attachment.

We have elsewhere distinguished three faculties in the mind of man, or rather three classes of faculties which comprise whatever we know of this spirit; the faculty of thinking; the faculty of feeling; and the faculty of loving. Examine these three faculties, and you will be convinced that the mind of man is circumscribed within narrow bounds; they are so closely circumscribed, that while attentively contemplating a certain object, they cannot attend to any other.

You experience this daily with regard to the faculty of thinking. Some persons, I allow, extend attention much beyond common men; but in all it is extremely confined. This is so received an opinion, that we regard as prodigies of intellect, those who have the art of attending closely to two or three objects at once; or of dire-recting the attention, without a glance of the eye, on any game, apparently less invented to unbend than to exercise the mind. Meanwhile, this power is extremely limited in all men. If the mind can distinctly glance on two or three objects at once, the fourth or the fifth confounds it. Properly to study a subject, we must attend to that alone; be abstracted from all others, forgetful of what we do, and blind to what we see.

But how evident soever these arguments may be, and however strong this apology for the difficulties of religion may appear, there always remains a question on this subject, and indeed an important question, which we cannot omit resolving without leaving a chasm in this discourse. Why these mysteries? Why these shadows? And why this darkness? Does not the goodness of God engage to remove this stumbling-block, and to give us a religion radiant with truth, and destitute of any obscuring veil? There are various reasons, my brethren, which render certain doctrines of religion impenetrable to us.

it is not from their approbation that they derive their authority. Meanwhile, it is a felicity, we must confess, and an anticipation of the happy period when our faith shall be changed to sight, to find in sound reason the basis of all the grand truths religion reveals, and to convince ourselves by experience, that the more we know of man, the more we see that religion was made for man. Let us return to our first principle. The narrow limits of the human mind shall open one source of light on the subject we discuss; they shall convince us, that minds circumscribed, as ours, cannot before the time penetrate far into the adorable mysteries of faith.

The first argument of the weakness of our knowledge is derived from the limits of the human mind. It is requisite that you should favour me here with a little more of recollection than is usually bestowed on a sermon. It is not requisite to be a philosopher to become a Christian. The doctrines of our religion, and the precepts of our moral code, are sanctioned by the testimony of an infallible God: and not deriving their origin from the speculations of men,

The faculty of feeling is as circumscribed as that of thinking. One sensation absorbs or diminishes another. A wound received in the heat of battle; in the tumult, or in the sight of the general whose approbation we seek, is less acute than it would be on a different occasion. For the like reason the same pain we have borne during the day, is insupportable in the night. Violent anguish renders us insensible of a diminutive pain. Whatever diverts from a pleasing sensation diminishes the pleasure, and blunts enjoyment; and this is done by the reason already assigned; that while the faculty is attentive to one object, it is incapable of application to another.

It is the same with regard to the faculty of loving. It rarely happens that a man can indulge two or three leading passions at once: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other." So is the assertion of Jesus Christ, who knew the human heart better than all the philosophers put together. The passion of avarice, for the most part, diminishes the passion of glory; and the passion of glory, diminishes that of avarice. It is the same with the other passions.

Besides, not only an object engrossing a faculty, obstructs its profound attention to any other object related to that faculty; but when a faculty is deeply engrossed by an object, all

happy period? And have we still need to re- | when we were enabled to bid adieu, perhaps sume all our constancy, and all our fortitude an eternal adieu, to our country: what promptto support the idea of dying! And is it stilled us to exile was not the hope of finding more necessary to pluck us from the earth, and to engaging company, a happier climate and more tear us by force to the celestial abode, which perinanent establishments. Motives altogether shall consummate our felicity? Ah! how the of another kind animated our hearts. We had prophet Elisha, who saw his master ascend in seen the edifices reduced to the dust, which the chariot of fire, ploughing the air on his bril- we had been accustomed to make resound with liant throne, and crossing the vast expanse the praises of God: we had heard "the children which separates heaven from earth; how Elisha of Edom," with hatchets in their hand, shout regretted the absence of so worthy a master, against those sacred mansions, "down with whom he now saw no more, and whom he them; down with them, even to the ground."— must never see in life; how he cried in that May you, ye natives of these provinces, among moment, "My father, my father, the chariot whom it has pleased the Lord to lead us, ever of Israel, and the horsemen thereof." These be ignorant of the like calamities. May you emotions are strikingly congenial to the senti- indeed never know them, but by the experience ments of self-love, so dear to us. But Elijah of those to whom you have so amply afforded himself-Elijah, did he fear to soar in so sub- the means of subsistence. We could not surlime a course! Elijah already ascended to the vive the liberty of our conscience, we have middle regions of the air, in whose eyes the wandered to seek it, though it should be in earth appeared but as an atom retiring out of dens and deserts. Zeal gave animation to the sight; Elijah, whose head already reached to aged, whose limbs were benumbed with years. heaven; did Elijah regret the transition he was Fathers and mothers took their children in their about to complete! Did he regret the world, arms, who were too young to know the danger and its inhabitants!-O soul of man;-regene- from which they were plucked: each was conrate soul-daily called to break the fetters tent "with his soul for a prey," and required which unite thee to a mortal body, take thy nothing but the precious liberty he had lost. flight towards heaven. Ascend this fiery We have found it among you, our generous chariot, which God has sent to transport thee benefactors; you have received us as your breabove the earth where thou dwellest. See thren, as your children; and have admitted us the heavens which open for thy reception; ad- into your churches. We have communicated mire the beauties, and estimate the charms al- with you at the same table; and now you have ready realized by thy hope. Taste those in- permitted us, a handful of exiles, to build a effable delights. Anticipate the perfect felicity, church to that God whom we mutually adore. with which death is about to invest thee. Thou You wish also to partake with us in our gratineedest no more than this last moment of my tude, and to join your homages with those we ministry. Death himself is about to do all the have just rendered to him in this new edifice. rest, to dissipate all thy darkness, to justify religion, and to crown thy hopes.

SERMON XCIV.

CONSECRATION OF THE CHURCH
AT VOORBURGH, 1726.

But alas! those of our fellow-countrymen, whose minds are still impressed with the recollection of those former churches, whose destruction occasioned them much grief, cannot taste a joy wholly pure. The ceremonies of this day will associate themselves, with those celebrated on laying the foundation-stone of the second temple. The priests officiated, indeed, in their pontifical robes; the Levites, sons of Asaph, caused their cymbals to resound afar; one choir admirably concerted its response to another; all the people raised a shout of joy, because the foundation of the Lord's house was laid. But the chiefs of the fathers, and the aged men, who had seen the superior glory of the former temple, wept aloud, and in such sort that one could not distinguish the voice of joy from the voice of weeping.

Come, notwithstanding, my dear brethren, and let us mutually praise the God, who, “in the midst of wrath remembers mercy," Hab. iii. 2. Let us gratefully meditate on this fresh accomplishment of the prophecy I have just read in your presence; "Though I have cast them far off among the heathen, and among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come." These are God's words to Ezekiel: to understand them, and with that view I attempt the discussion, we must trace the events to their source, and go back to the twenty-ninth

But how consoling soever the idea may be in our dispersion of that gracious Providence, which has never ceased to watch for our wel-year of king Josiah, to form correct ideas of fare, it is not the principal subject of our grati- the end of our prophet's ministry. It was in tude. God has corresponded more directly this year, that Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, with the object with which we were animated and Astyages, king of Media, being allied by

EZEK. ix. 16.

Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

THE cause of our assembling to-day, my brethren, is one of the most evident marks of God's powerful protection, extended to a multitude of exiles whom these provinces have encircled with a protecting arm. It is a fact, that since we abandoned our native land, we have been loaded with divine favours. Some of us have lived in affluence; others in the enjoyments of mediocrity, often preferable to affluence; and all have seen this confidence crowned, which has enabled them to say, while living even without resource, "In the mountain of the Lord, it shall be seen; in the mountain of the Lord, he will there provide."