the abstract idea which they have formed of him takes life before their eyes, and assumes the body of an action, they start from it as if it were an utter stranger. And why ?-The only reason which can be given is, that the abstract idea which they talk about is so vague and indeterminate as to make no distinct impression on their minds.

If a man really admitted, in truth and in intelligence, that abstract idea of God which he admits in words, he would find his reason compelled to believe a fact which is only an exemplification of that idea, nay the existence of which seems in some degree indispensable to the consistency of that idea. The admission of this abstract idea, and the rejection of the corresponding fact, are as inconsistent as to be convinced of the thorough liberality of a friend's character, and at the same time to reject as absurd and fanciful the history of a liberal action said to have been performed by him when the occasion seemed actually to requre it.

There is another quality belonging to abstract ideas, arising from the vagueness of the impressions made by them, which recommends them to many minds; and that is, their inoffensiveness. A corrupt politician, for instance,

can speculate on and applaud the abstract idea of integrity; but when this abstract idea takes the form of a man and a course of action, it ceases to be that harmless and welcome visitor it used to be, and draws on itself the decided enmity of its former apparent friend. The fact is, that the man never really loved the abstract idea of integrity, else he must have loved every exemplification of it. We have thus an unequivocal test of a man's principles. Bring the eloquent eulogist of magnanimity into a situation where be may be tried, bring him in difficult circumstances into contact with a person of real magnanimity, and we shall see whether it was the thing or the name which he loved.

In the same way, many men will admit the abstract idea of a God of infinite holiness and goodness; and will even take delight in exercising their reason or their taste in speculating on the subject of his being and attributes; yet these same persons will shrink with dislike and alarm from the living energy which this abstract idea assumes in the Bible. It is there no longer a harmless generality. It is a living Being, asserting one spiritual character and one class of principles in harmony with his own, disapproving and condemning every other, and

casting the weight of omnipotence into his scale, to prove the vanity of all resistance.Those who feel oppressed by the vigilance and strictness of this ever-present witness, without being convinced of the importance of his friendship, are glad to retreat and to shroud themselves under the vagueness of an abstract idea. But in truth they do not believe nor love this abstract idea of God, else they would also believe and love the living character which corresponds to it. The real conviction of the truth of the abstract idea would necessarily contain in it the conviction of the corresponding fact.

These remarks may serve to illustrate the grounds on which a charge of moral guilt is brought by the Scriptures against unbelief. If a man cannot refuse his assent and approbation to an abstract principle in morals, why does he reject it when it loses its abstractness, and comes in a form of power and efficiency? The principle continues the same; it has only assumed a more active attitude. In truth, he now rejects it because it is active, and because it strenuously opposes many of his favourite inclinations. He does not wish to be guided by what he knows to be right, but by what he feels to be agreeable. "He does not wish to

retain God in his knowledge." He does not wish, at any risk or with any sacrifice, to do the will of God; and therefore "he doth not know of the doctrine whether it be of God." Such an ignorance as this is criminal; because it arises from a wilful stifling of conviction, and an aversion to admitted truths.

It thus appears, that, by the help of abstract ideas and general terms, a man may appear to have made great progress in morals, whilst in fact he has learned nothing. Things operate on our minds exactly according to our apprehension of them, and not according to their own intrinsic value. Our apprehension of abstract truths in morality is so vague, that they hardly operate on our characters at all. Does it not, then, approach almost to a demonstration, that if God really intended to improve the happiness and characters of men, by instructing them in the excellence of his own character, he would communicate this instruction, not in the form of abstract propositions and general terms, which are, by the construction of the human mind, incapable of producing any real and lasting effect upon us, but by that way which coincides with our faculties of ap prehension, that is, by the way of living and palpable actions, which may add the weight

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and distinctness of their own substance to those truths which they are intended to develop ? That men stand in need of such an improvement, is certain; that a gracious Being should intend it, is surely not improbable; and if he had such an intention, that some such scheme as Christianity should have been adopted, seems necessary to its success.

At first sight, it may seem strange that a system evidently flowing from so much goodness, tending to so much happiness, and constructed with so much wisdom, should in general be either rejected, or admitted with an inattentive and therefore useless assent: But there are circumstances in the case which abundantly account for this. The Great Author of Christianity anticipated this rejection, and forewarned his disciples of it. His knowledge of the heart of man made him well acquainted with many causes which would operate against the reception of his doctrine. When Agis attempted to regenerate the diseased government of Sparta, he stirred up and armed against himself all the abuses and corruptions of the state. It would have been strange if this had not happened; and it would also be strange, if a doctrine which tends to regenerate human nature, and to eradicate the