the case; for all laws are made to be obeyed. No prince was ever so absurd as to make laws with this view, that his subjects might break them, and he show his goodness in pardoning their transgressions and yet this must have been the scheme of Providence, if natural religion was nothing else from the beginning but an expectation of pardon for sin.

Secondly, Let us take a view of our present state, without inquiring whether any and what change has happened to put us into this condition; and let us consider what may be expected from our present circumstances. Two things may be affirmed with certainty of the present condition of mankind: one is, that they have a sense of their obligation to obey the laws of reason and nature; which is evident from the force of natural conscience the other is, that very few do in any tolerable degree, and none perfectly, pay this obedience.

Let us examine then how religion will stand on these circumstances. It is impossible to found the hopes of religion on innocence and obedience; for obedience is not paid. On the other hand, absolute impunity cannot be claimed for all sins; much less can any degree of happiness, either present or future, be claimed in behalf of offenders. The utmost probability to which human reason can arrive in this case is, that the goodness of God and the weakness of man considered, God may favorably accept our endeavors, how imperfect soever our attainments may be. But is this reasoning built on infallible principles? Can any certainty or security arise out of this? any that can give rest or peace to the mind of man, ever inquisitive after futurity? Will you promise impunity to offenders on repentance? Impunity, mere impunity, is not the thing that nature seeks after: she craves something more. But can the argument from the divine mercy be carried farther? Is it not great mercy to pardon sinners? Can you with decency desire a reward for them? Our Saviour has told us, that when we have done our best, we must still own • that we are unprofitable servants;' and if we reflect that all our natural powers are the gift of God, and, consequently, our best services are but a debt paid to the donor; if we consider that in all we do there is no profit to the Most High; that his power and majesty are not exalted by our service, nor lessened by our

neglect; we shall find that our own reason teaches us the same lesson, and that, when we confess ourselves unprofitable servants, we give greater evidence of our understanding than of our humility. And if this be truly the case, what are the claims of natural religion? are they not the claims of unprofitable servants? the claims of those to whom nothing is due?

Thirdly, Let us now take a view of the conditions and promises of the gospel, and see whether we have any reason to be offended at them. As to the laws which are made the conditions of our happiness, they are not new impositions, but as old as reason itself, and the very same which natural religion stands bound to obey. Here then can be no complaint, at least no just one. So far then we are quite safe, that we can be no losers by the gospel, since it lays no new burden on us. In all other respects our case is extremely altered for the better. We feel ourselves easily tempted to do wrong, and unable to pay the obedience we owe to righteousness. Hopes, therefore, from our innocence we have none, but are forced to have recourse to the mercy of God. Now this mercy, which we hope for, the gospel offers us in the name of God. Have we any reason to suspect the offer? or to reject that very mercy, when promised by God, which our own reason teaches us to expect at his hands?

If we sin, nature has no refuge but in repentance; and how far that will go, we know not: nature has not, cannot teach us this knowlege. From the gospel we learn that true repentance shall never be in vain; shall not only protect us from punishment, but shall also set open to us the doors of life and immortality. There you may view religion once more restored to its native hope of glory and life for evermore. You will be no longer obliged to wander in the mazes and intricacies of human reason, and to speculate on the attributes of divine mercy and justice; the limits and boundaries of which are not to be determined by the wit of man, and the contemplation of which abounds with terrors as well as hopes: but you may see the clear and immutable purpose of God to give salvation to all who, with penitent hearts and a firm reliance on his word, endeavor after righteousness.

One would imagine the gospel should easily find credit with

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men, when all its promises do so exactly tally and correspond with the hopes of nature. Has nature any reason to complain of this? Is it an objection to the gospel that it has confirmed all your hopes and expectations, that it has given you the security of God's promise to establish the very wishes of your heart? You trust, you say, that he who made you still retains some love for you to convince you that he does, he hath sent his well-beloved Son into the world to save sinners.' Though you offend, yet you hope on repentance to be forgiven the gospel confirms this hope; the terms of it are more beneficial, and convey to true penitents not only hope, but a claim to pardon. But pardon only will not satisfy; there is still something farther that Nature craves, something which with unutterable groans she pants after, even life and happiness for evermore. She sees all her children go down to the grave: all beyond the grave is to her one wide waste, a land of doubt and uncertainty when she looks into it, she has her hopes, and she has her fears; and agitated by the vicissitude of these passions, she finds no ground whereon to rest her foot. How different is the scene which the gospel opens! There we see the heavenly Canaan, the new Jerusalem; in which city of the great God there are mansions, many mansions, for receiving them, 'who through faith, and patient continuance in welldoing, seek for glory and immortality.' Our blessed Master has abolished death, and redeemed us into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, that we may dwell in his presence as long as time itself shall last.

If we were to form a system of religion for ourselves that should answer to all our wishes and desires, what more could we ask for ourselves than what the gospel has offered? The obedience required of us is the same to which we are antecedently bound, in virtue of that reason and understanding which make us to be men. The promises of the gospel extend to more than nature could ever claim; they take in all her wishes, establish all her hopes; and they are offered by a hand that is able to make them good.

The conclusion of the whole is, that, since the religion of a sinner must necessarily be founded in the hopes of mercy; since these hopes have at best but uncertain foundation in

natural religion, and are liable, to be disturbed and shaken by frequent doubts and misgivings of mind; we have great reason to bless and adore the goodness of God, who has openly displayed before our eyes the love that he has for the children of men, by sending his well-beloved Son into the world, that all who believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'

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SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE VI.

II TIMOTHY, CHAP. I.-VERSE 10.

SOME maintain that the words of this text exclude all arguments for a future state of immortality, drawn either from the light of reason and nature, or from the writings of Moses. Thus far indeed they reason justly, that, if the text is to be understood in this exclusive sense, the authority of any former revelation will be affected equally with that of sense and reason but the converse of this will hold good; the words of our Saviour (Luke xx. 37.), Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, indicate that the text does not impeach the authority of Moses, nor consequently exclude the proofs of natural religion. It remains therefore to explain the literal meaning of the text, in which the word wriZe‹v has been improperly translated: its true signification is, to enlighten, illustrate, or clear up any thing; as it is used John i. 3. The real meaning therefore of our Saviour is, that the gospel has given a more full and sure proof of a future life and immortality than either the law of nature, or that of Moses. This view of the text leaves us at full liberty to consider the evidence which mankind had for those doctrines, as well as that which the gospel now affords; to show in what the former failed, and how it is supplied by the latter.

Natural evidence not to be estimated so much from the acuteness of this or that writer, as from the common sense and apprehension of mankind: it owes its authority, not to the abstract reasonings of any school, but to some general sense and notion found in all men, or to some common and uncontroverted maxim of reason. The argument therefore of unbelievers, drawn from

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