from our spiritual system, and by its sweet and powerful influence to attract the wandering affections of men into an orbit appointed by the will and illumined by the favour of God. According to this system, a grateful and humble affection towards God, founded on a knowledge of his true character, is the principle of order and of happiness in the moral world. The confusion and the restlessness which we see in the world, and which we often experience in our own breasts, give abundant testimony to the truth of this proposition in its negative form. Ignorance and indifference about the character of God generally prevail; we love the creature more than the Creator-the gifts more than the giver our own inclinations more than his will. And is it not evident to reason, that an entire conformity to the Ruling Will of the universe, is only another name for order and happiness? and can this conformity be produced in any rational being, except by a knowledge and a love of that will? The character of God is manifested in the history of Jesus Christ, for our knowledge and for our love. This manifestation harmonizes with the suggestions of reason and conscience on the subject Nay more, it gathers them up, as they lie before the mind in detached fragments; it supplies their deficiencies, and unites them all in one glorious fabric of perfect symmetry and > beauty. It meets the heart of man, in all its capacities and affections; its appeal is exactly shaped for the elementary principles of our nature. The glorious truth which it reveals is adapted to every mind; it is intelligible to a child, and yet will dilate the understanding of an angel. As the understanding enlarges, this truth still grows upon it, and must for ever grow upon it, because it is the image of the infinite God. Yet, great as it is, it is fitted to produce its effect, wherever it is received, however limited the capacity into which it enters. The principle of the wedge operates as fully at the first stroke as at any subsequent one, although the effect is not so great. I have endeavoured, in the course of these remarks, to give an idea of the mode which seems to me best fitted for illustrating the harmony which subsists between the Christian system and the mass of moral facts which lie with out us and within us. I have endeavoured to explain the greatness of its object, and its natural fitness for the accomplishment of that object. He who has not given his earnest attention to these things, may call himself an infidel, or a believer, but he has yet to learn what that doctrine is which he rejects or admits. There is nothing new in this cursory sketch of Christian doctrines. Indeed, I should conceive a proof of novelty on such a subject as tantamount to a proof of error: But I think that the view here taken has not been sufficiently pressed as an argument in favour of the credibility of revelation; for, although an indirect kind of evidence in itself, it seems well fitted for preparing and disposing an unbeliever to examine with candour the more direct proof which arises from historical testimony. And it may also perform the no less important office of infusing into a nominal Christian, a doubt as to his sincerity in the profession of a faith which has perhaps neither made a distinct impression on his understanding, nor touched his heart, nor affected his character. |