If we were to believe nothing but what we perfectly comprehend, our creed would be very short. If we were to do nothing, until we had discovered all the connexions between causes and effects, our circle of action would be extremely contracted. God governs us as rational creatures. In common life, we act rationally, when we rely on the providence of God, in that course of conduct, which experience shews to be successful. In the religious life, we act rationally, when we receive divine revelation on competent evidence, and trust in God for glory and immortality, in that course of humble obedience, which his sacred word prescribes.

However unsearchable the reasons of the great scheme of our redemption may be, the way in which we are to obtain the benefit of it, is plain and obvious. Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, are the conditions of salvation proposed in the gospel; and these we find no difficulty to understand. The only difficulty is, the evil heart of unbelief, which departs from Godthe hard and impenitent heart, which treasures up wrath against the day of wrath.

The plan of redemption, though great and marvellous, is not so dark and mysterious, but that we discern in it much of the wisdom of him, who formed it. The sufferings of a Saviour for the sins of men, display, in the strongest light, the holiness and justice, the mercy and goodness of God. Nor can we conceive, how the danger of sin, and the encouragement to repentance and virtue, could, in any other way, be so strongly exhibited to sinners. If God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? But if we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, which, through this Saviour, offers pardon to re

penting sinners, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin.

II. Great and marvellous are those works of the King of saints, by which he has communicated the knowledge of this plan of salvation.

It was the manifest purpose of God, to bring his subjects to glory in a way of obedience. Man, in his first creation, was placed under a law; obedience to this law was the condition of happiness; by transgression he incurred the penalty of death. It is neither agreeable to the character of God, nor to the nature of intelligent creatures, that they should enjoy happiness in a way of sin; for sin is contrary to the design of God's moral government; and, in its direct tendency, productive of misery.

When man had offended, it was necessary to his repentance, that hope should be set before him; for without the hope of pardon, there can be no suffi. cient motive to repentance. This hope cannot arise from the law; for law, as such, makes no provision for pardon. It cannot be the result of reason; for reason, uninstructed, cannot conclude that God will forgive. At most, it can but say, as the Ninevites, Who can tell if God will be merciful? And perhaps, without some divine intimation, it would not proceed so far as this. The hope of the Ninevites, feeble as it was, probably might be rather the effect of revelation, than of mere reason; for they had intercourse with the Jews, and visits from the prophets of God. A direct, positive hope of pardon, must come in a way of revelation; for if the offender deserves punishment, justice may inflict it; and whether mercy will interpose to remit the punishment, and on what terms it may be remitted, if at all, none but God himself can determine. God has therefore, in all ages, favoured mankind, at least a part of them, with revelation. And though, in some periods, it has been obscure, it has so far dis

covered the mercy of God to pardon repenting sinners, as to encourage their humble application to him.

The promise made to the parents of our race, immediately after their lapse, gave a general assurance, that their lives should be spared for a season -that they should have posterity-and that, in some future period, one of their posterity, and this, in a peculiar sense, the seed of the woman, should in a way of suffering, conquer that enemy who had brought sin and death into the world. This promise was, from time to time, renewed in terms more clear and explicit; particularly to Enoch, Lamech and Noah, before, and to the patriarchs, after, the flood. As the term of human life was contracted, revelations became more frequent, because the conveyance of religious knowledge by tradition, grew more uncertain. Repeated communications from heaven were made to Abraham, and the most express assurance given him, that in his family a Saviour would arise, who should bless all the nations of the earth. In this family, the knowledge of the true God, and of a Saviour to come, was preserved, partly by instruction, and partly by immediate revelations, until the time of Moses, when a general system of laws and institutions was given from heaven, and committed to writing, for the benefit of the Jewish nation, and others, who would come and join themselves to them. Of these institutions a considerable number were designed to prefigure the Saviour, and point out the way of salvation through him.

In addition to this revelation, God continued among the Jews a succession of prophets, who being divinely instructed, often inculcated on them their duty, reproved them for their sins, warned them of judgments, and called them to repentance. And some of them in very plain and explicit terms, VOL. I. Р

foretold the redeemer, the time and manner of his appearance, his death and resurrection, and the way in which he would bring salvation to a guilty world. The word of prophecy was a light shining in a dark place, until the daystar arose; and as it approached nearer to the grand object, to which it pointed, it grew more bright and clear.

Though the Jewish nation were favoured beyond others, the benefits of revelation were not confined to them. In the patriarchal age, Melchisedek, Abimelech, Job, and several others, were honoured with immediate discoveries of God's will, and some of them employed in communicating to mankind the discoveries, which they had received.

Many of the divine dispensations toward the Jews, were of such a nature, as might awaken the attention of all around them, and give general conviction of the supremacy of the great JEHOVAH. The annual solemnities instituted in their law, were adapted, and probably designed, to excite the inquiry of their neighbours, and diffuse among them the knowledge of religion. The travels of the prophets, and the frequent dispersions of the Jews, contributed much to disseminate this knowledge among those who were remote from the land of Judea. So that revelation was not so much confined to this one nation, as some have seemed to imagine. At the time of Christ's appearance, there was a general expectation of some extraordinary teacher and reformer to arise in Judea.

Though this divine person confined his ministry chiefly to the Jews, yet he commissioned his Apostles to go forth and teach all nations.

He came not only to redeem mankind by his death, but to teach divine truths more fully, and confirm them more strongly, than had been done before. After he had finished his personal ministry, and returned to the heavenly world, his Apostles,

under the guidance of his Spirit, went forth preaching the kingdom of God, and proving their commission and doctrine by signs and wonders, which none could perform, unless God were with them.

The Gospel Revelation stands now established on the firm basis of divine testimony. As it was communicated by inspiration, so it was confirmed by miracles evidently divine. And notwithstanding all the persecutions and changes, which the church has suffered, this revelation, by the wonderful providence of God, is still preserved. By this we may fully learn all, which concerns us to know, relating to the grand scheme of our redemption, and the way to eternal glory. By this, not only are displayed to men the unsearchable riches of Christ, but is also made known to principalities and powers in heaven, the manifold wisdom of God.

Great and wonderful are these works of the King of saints.

When we consider the allglorious God stooping from his throne to converse with sinful men, inspiring some with the knowledge of his will, and the foresight of futurity, empowering them to convey this knowledge to others, and endowing them with miraculous gifts to confirm the heavenly origin of their doctrine-when we behold him working wonders to awaken the attention of stupid mortals, and bring them to a belief of the truth-when we see not only men, but angels; not only angels, but the Son of God himself, employed in ministering to our fallen race-when we trace the gradual progress of Revelation from the apostacy to the appearance of the Redeemer-when we observe how Revelation, granted to particular persons or nations, was made subservient to instruction of numbers besides, in distant nations, and remote ages-when we reflect how the knowledge of religion has been preserved, and its total extinction prevented, even in times of