to which corrupt passions alone gave a being, as well as attributes agreeable to their own abominable wishes? That disposition of mind, which conducts to universal truth, frees a man from these contradictions, and harmonizes the pastor and the teacher with himself.

3. Truth will deliver you from disagreeable doubts about religion. The state of a mind, which is "carried about with every wind of doctrine," Eph. iv. 14, to use an expression of St. Paul, is a violent state; and it is very disagree

religion, to doubt whether one be in the path of truth, or in the road of error; whether the worship, that one renders to God, be acceptable, or odious, to him; whether the fatigues, and sufferings, that are endured for religion, be punishments of one's folly, or preparations for the reward of virtue.

But if this state of mind be violent, it is difficult to free one's self from it. There are but two sorts of men, who are free from the disquietudes of this state: they who live without reflection, and they, who have seriously studied religion; they are the only people who are free from doubts.

self, nor that mortification of the passions, without which every desire of being sanctified is nothing but an artifice or corruption, which turns over a work to God that he has imposed on man. Are we called to oppose people, who enervate the necessity of good works? The Christian vocation is made to consist in impracticable exercises, in a degree of holiness inaccessible to frail men. The whole genius of religion, and of all its ordinances, is destroyed; the table of the Lord is surrounded with devils, and fires, and flames, and is repre-able, in such interesting subjects, as those of sented rather as a tribunal where God exercises his vengeance; as a mount Ebal, from whence he cries, "Cursed be the man, Cursed be the man;" than as a throne of grace, to which he invites penitent sinners, and imparts to them all the riches of his love. Are we called to oppose men, who would make God the author of sin, and who, from the punishments, which he inflicts on sinners, derive consequences injurious to his goodness and mercy? All the reiterated declarations of Scripture are carefully collected, all the tender expostulations, all the attracting invitations, which demonstrate that man is the author of his own destruction, and that "God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth," 1 Tim. ii. 4. Are we called to resist adversaries, who weaken the empire of God over his creatures? God is made, I do not say an inexorable master, I do not say a severe king; but, O horrid! he is made a tyrant, and worse than a tyrant. It has been seriously affirmed that he formed a great part of mankind with the barbarous design of punishing them for ever and ever, in order to have the cruel pleasure of showing how far his avenging justice and his flaming anger can go. It has been affirmed, that the decree, pronounced against the reprobate before his birth, not only determines him to punishment after the commission of sin, but infallibly inclines him to sin; because that is necessary to the manifestation of divine justice, and to the felicity of the elect; who will be much happier in heaven, if there be thousands and millions of miserable souls in the flames of hell, than if all mankind should enjoy the felicity of paradise.

O, my God! if any among us be capable of forming ideas so injurious to thy perfections, impute it not to the whole society of Christians; and let not all our churches suffer for the irregularities of some of our members! One single altar prepared for idols, one single act of idolatry, was formerly sufficient to provoke thy displeasure. Jealous of thy glory, thou didst inflict on the republic of Israel thy most terrible chastisements, when they associated false gods with thee. Hence those dreadful calamities, hence those eternal banishments, hence heaven and earth employed to punish the guilty. But if Jews experienced such a rigorous treatment for attributing to false gods the perfections of the true God, what punishments will not you suffer, Christians, if, in spite of the light of the gospel, which shines around you, you tax the true God with the vices of false gods; if by a theology unworthy of the name, you attribute to a holy God the cruelty, the injustice and the falsehood, of those idols

We see almost an innumerable variety of sects, which are diametrically opposite to one another. How can we flatter ourselves, that we belong to the right community, unless we have profoundly applied ourselves to distinguish truth from falsehood?

We hear the partisans of these different religions anathematize and condemn one another. How is it, that we are not afraid of their denunciations of wrath?

We cannot doubt that, among them, who embrace systems opposite to ours, there is a great number, who have more knowledge, more erudition, more genius, more penetration, than we. How is it that we do not fear, that these adversaries, who have had better oppor tunities of knowing the truth than we, actually do know it better; and that they have employed more time to study it, and have made a greater progress in it?

We acknowledge, that there are, in the religion we profess, difficulties which we are not able to solve; bottomless depths, mysteries, which are not only above our reason, but which seem opposite to it. How is it, that we are not stumbled at these difficulties? How is it, that we have no doubt of the truth of a religion, which is, in part, concealed under impenetrable veils?

We are obliged to own, that prejudices of birth, and education, are usually very influential over our minds. Moreover, we ought to remember, that nothing was so carefully inculcated on our infant minds as the articles of our faith. How can we demonstrate, that these articles belong to the class of demonstrative truths, and not to that of the prejudices of education?

We know, by sad experience, that we have often admitted erroneous propositions for incontestable principles; and that when we have thought ourselves in possession of demonstration, we have found ourselves hardly in possession of probability. How is it, that we do not distrust the judgments of minds so subject to illusion, and which have been so often deceived?

enabled to make such grand sacrifices to truth. THE ENEMIES AND THE ARMS OF If he do not discover to them at first all that may seem fundamental in religion, he will communicate to them all that is fundamental in effect. He will bear with them, if they embrace some circumstantial errors, into which they fall only through a frailty inseparable

festivals of Easter, and the Lord's Supper. In keeping the first, we have celebrated the anniversary of an event, without which "our preaching is vain, your faith is vain, and ye are yet in your sins," 1 Cor. xv. 14. 17. I mean the resurrection of the Saviour of the world. In celebrating the second, you have renewed your professions of fidelity to that Jesus, who was declared, with so much glory,ous after a war, which seems at first so very "to be the Son of God, by the resurrection of the dead," Rom. i. 4. It is precisely in these circumstances, that Satan renews his efforts to obscure the evidences of your faith, and to weaken your fidelity to Christ. In these circumstances also, we double our efforts to enable you to defeat his assaults, in which, alas! | many of us choose rather to yield than to conquer. The strengthening of you is our design; my dear brethren, assist us in it.

sufficient to prove the fact, but which taken | dispute against infidelity; when we establish all together, make a fact beyond a doubt. As the existence of a Supreme Being; when we it is not allowable to oppose certain circum- affirm that the Creator of the universe is eterstances against a proposition that has meta-nal in his duration, wise in his designs, powerphysical evidence, so it is unreasonable to ful in his executions, and magnificent in his require metaphysical evidence to prove a mat-gifts; we do not reason on probabilities, nor ter of fact. I have a clear notion of a given attempt to establish a thesis on a may-be. We number; I conclude from this notion, that the do not say, perhaps there may be a firmament, number is equal or unequal, and it is in vain that covers us; perhaps there may be a sun, to object to me, that all the world does not which enlightens us; perhaps there may be reason as I do. Let it be objected to me, that stars, which shine in the firmament; perhaps they, who affirm that the number is equal or the earth may support us; perhaps aliment unequal, have perhaps some interest in affirm- may nourish us; perhaps we breathe; perhaps ing it. Objections of this kind are nothing to air may assist respiration; perhaps there may the purpose, they are circumstances which do be a symmetry in nature, and in the elements. not at all affect the nature of the number, nor We produce these phenomena, and we make the evidence on which I affirm an equality, or them the basis of our reasoning, and of our faith. an inequality, of the given number; for I have a clear idea of the subject in hand. In like manner, I see a union of circumstances, which uniformly attests the truth of a fact under my examination; I yield to this evidence, and in vain is it objected to me, that it is not metaphysical evidence, the subject before me is not capable of it.

We apply this maxim to all the facts on which the truth of religion turns, such as these: there was such a man as Moses, who related what he saw, and who himself wrought several things which he recorded. There were such men as the prophets, who wrote the books that bear their names, and who foretold many events several ages before they came to pass. Jesus, the son of Mary, was born in the reign of the emperor Augustus, preached the doctrines which are recorded in the gospel, and by crucifixion was put to death. We make a particular application of this maxim to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we this day commemorate, and it forms a shield to resist all the fiery darts that attack it. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a fact, which we ought to prove; it is an extraordinary fact, for the demonstration of which, we allow, stronger proofs ought to be adduced, than for the proof of a fact that comes to pass in the ordinary course of things. But after all, it is a fact; and, in demonstrating facts no proofs ought to be required, but such as establish facts. We have the better right to reason thus with our opponents, because they do not support their historical skepticisms without restrictions. On the contrary, they admit some facts, which they believe on the evidence of a very few circumstances. But if a few circumstances demonstrate some facts, why does not a union of all possible circumstances demonstrate other facts. 2. The second artifice is the opposing of possible circumstances, which may or may not be against other circumstances which are evident and sure. All arguments, that are founded on possible circumstances, are only uncertain conjectures, and groundless suppositions. Perhaps there may have been floods, perhaps fires, perhaps earthquakes, which, by abolishing the memorials of past events, prevent our tracing things back from age to age to demonstrate the eternity of the world, and our discovery of monuments against religion. This is a strange way of reasoning against men, who are armed with arguments which are taken from phenomena avowed, notorious, and real. When we

3. The third artifice consists in the weakening of the evidence of known things, by arguments taken from things which are unknown. This is another source of sophisms invented to support infidelity. It grounds a part of the difficulties, which are opposed to the system of religion, not on what is known, but on what is unknown. Of what use are all the treasures, which are concealed in the depths of the sea? Why are so many metals buried in the bowels of the earth? Of what use are so many stars, which glitter in the firmament? Why are there so many deserts uninhabited, and uninhabitable? Why so many mountains inaccessible? Why so many insects, which are a burden to nature, and which seem designed only to disfigure it? Why did God create men, who must be miserable, and whose misery he could not but foresee? Why did he confine revelation for so many ages to one single nation, and, in a manner, to one single family? Why does he still leave such an infinite number of people to "sit in darkness and in the shadow of death?" Hence the infidel concludes, either that there is no God, or that he has not the perfections which we attribute to him. The Christian, on the contrary, grounds his system on principles that are evident and sure.

We derive our arguments, not from what we know not, but from what we do know. We derive them from characters of intelligence, which fall under our observation, and which we see with our own eyes. We derive them from the nature of finite beings. We derive them from the united attestations of all mankind. We derive them from miracles, which were wrought in favour of religion. We draw them from our own hearts, which evince, by a kind of reasoning superior to all argument, superior to all scholastic demonstrations, that religion is made for man, that the Creator of man is the author of religion.

4. The fourth article is an attempt to prove a doctrine contradictory and absurd, because it is obscure. Some doctrines of religion are obscure; but none are contradictory. God acts towards us in regard to the doctrines of faith, as he does in regard to the duties of practice. When he gives us laws, he gives them as a master, not as a tyrant. Were he to impose laws on us, which are contrary to order, which would debase our natures, and which would make innocence productive of misery; this would not be to ordain laws as a master, but as a tyrant. Then our duties would be in di

rect opposition. That, which would oblige us to obey, would oblige us to rebel. It is the eminence of the perfections of God, which engages us to obey him: but his perfections would be injured by the imposition of such laws as these, and therefore we should be instigated to rebellion.

these fathers did believe, or what they ought to have believed?

You believe such a doctrine: but very few people believe it beside yourself: the greatest part of Europe, almost all France, all Spain, all Italy, whole kingdoms disbelieve it, and maintain opinions diametrically opposite. And what is all this to me? Am I examining what doctrines have the greatest number of partisans, or what doctrines ought to have the most universal spread?

You embrace such a doctrine: but many illustrious persons, cardinals, kings, emperors, triple-crowned heads, reject what you receive. But what avails this reasoning to me? Am I considering the rank of those who receive a doctrine, or the reasons which ought to determine them to receive it? Have cardinals, have kings, have emperors, have triple-crown

In like manner, God has characterized truth and error. Were it possible for him to give error the characters of truth, and truth the characters of error, there would be a direct opposition in our ideas; and the same reason which would oblige us to believe, would oblige us to disbelieve: because that which engages us to believe, when God speaks, is, that he is infallibly true. Now, if God were to command us to believe contradictions, he would cease to be infallibly true; because nothing is more opposite to truth than self-contradiction. This is the maxim, which we admit, and oned heads, the clearest ideas? Do they labour which we ground our faith in the mysteries of religion. A wise man ought to know his own weakness; to convince himself that there are questions which he has not capacity to answer; to compare the greatness of the object with the littleness of the intelligence, to which the object is proposed; and to perceive that this disproportion is the only cause of some difficulties, which have appeared so formidable to him.

Let us form grand ideas of the Supreme Being. What ideas ought we to form of him? Never has a preacher a fairer opportunity of giving a scope to his meditation, and of letting his imagination loose, than when he describes the grandeur of that which is most grand. But I do not mean to please your fancies by pompous descriptions; but to edify your minds by distinct ideas. God is an infinite Being. In an infinite being there must be things which infinitely surpass finite understanding; it would be absurd to suppose otherwise. As the Scripture treats of this infinite God, it must necessarily treat of subjects which absorb the ideas of a finite mind.

5. The fifth article attacks the truth by arguments foreign from the subject under consideration. To propose arguments of this kind is one of the most dangerous tricks of error. The most essential precaution, that we can use, in the investigation of truth, is to distinguish that which is foreign from the subject from that which is really connected with it; and there is no question in divinity, or philosophy, casuistry, or policy, which could afford abstruse and endless disputes, were not every one, who talks of it, fatally ingenious in the art of incorporating in it a thousand ideas, which are foreign from it.

You hold such and such doctrines, say some: and yet Luther, Calvin, and a hundred celebrated divines in your communion, have advanced many false arguments in defence of it.

But what does this signify to me? The question is not whether these doctrines have been defended by weak arguments; but whether the arguments, that determine me to receive them, be conclusive, or sophistical and vague. You receive such a doctrine: but Origen, Tertullian, and St. Augustine, did not believe it. And what then? Am I inquiring what

more than all other men? Are they the most indefatigable inquirers after truth? Do they make the greatest sacrifices to order? Are they, of all mankind, the first to lay aside those prejudices and passions, which envelope and obscure the truth?

6. The last artifice is this: Objections which are made against the truth, derive their force, not from their own reasonableness, but from the superiority of the genius of him who proposes them. There is no kind of truth, which its defenders would not be obliged to renounce, were it right to give up a proposition, because we could not answer all the objections which were formed against it. A mechanic could not answer the arguments, that I could propose to him, to prove, when he walks, that there is no motion in nature, that it is the highest absurdity to suppose it. A mechanic could not answer the arguments, that I could propose to him, to prove that there is no matter, even while he felt and touched his own body, which is material. A mechanic could not answer the arguments, that I could propose to him, when he had finished his day's work, to prove that I gave him five shillings, even when I had given him but three. And yet, a mechanic has more reason for his assertions, than the greatest geniuses in the universe have for their objections, when he affirms, that I gave him but three shillings, that there is motion, that there is a mass of matter to which his soul is united, and in which it is but too often, in a manner, buried as in a tomb.

You simple, but sincere souls: you spirits of the lowest class of mankind, but often of the highest at the tribunal of reason and good sense, this article is intended for you. Weigh the words of the second commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, thou shalt not bow down thyself to them." You have more reason to justify your doctrine and worship, than all the doctors of the universe have to condemn them, by their most specious, and, in regard to you, by their most indissoluble objections. Worship Jesus Christ in imitation of the angels of heaven, to whom God said, "Let all the angels of God worship him," Heb. i. 6. Pray to him, after the example of St. Stephen, and say unto him, as that holy martyr said, in the hour of death,