the scriptures, and at the instant we will resign this with readiness and with pleasure.

We are aware, that a doctrine is advocated by many, which militates with the temper of these remarks, and opposes us at the entrance of our way. We allude to the doctrine of the utter inability of man, in his natural state, to obey the will of God. It would be incompatible with our present design to enter into a thorough examination of the objections which might be brought against our views; but upon this one we think proper just to make the two following observations. First, that in a limited sense of this doctrine we believe it ourselves; we believe that mankind, before they were assisted by the grace or favour of God with the motives and means of the Christian revelation, were unable to perform their duty or obey his will, from the very circumstance of their being thus unassisted. In this sense, indeed, it constitutes one of our former propositions. Our second observation with regard to the doctrine in its full extent and unexplained signification, is this, that it appears strange and inconsistent, to us it appears contradictory, that man should have the power completely to counteract the benevolent design of God in creating him, which was, to make him virtuous and happy, and yet be entirely destitute of the power to answer that design.

Let us now proceed to inquire into the tendencies and uses of the principal and undisputed doctrines of that revelation, which was made to all men by Jesus Christ. We will commence with the attributes of the Deity. What is that power with which we are insensibly, though necessarily, intimately, and eternally connected? And what is the purpose for which a knowledge of this power was revealed?

We are told, that the high power above us is single, unparticipated and unimparted; that there is but one God. The use of this doctrine is to preserve men from idolatry and its consequent immoralities. Men are prevented from deifying their monarchs, their heroes, their passions, their fancies and their fears, from cringing to ideal existences, whom they make almost as weak and quite as wicked as themselves, and from bowing with abject and ignorant reverence before "stocks and stones." The moral uses of this doctrine will be easily discerned without our entering into a more particular explanation of them.

God is holy. We cannot shelter our sins under the plea of example. His holiness is an inducement to purity in ourselves, for "what fellowship bath light with darkness?"

God is just. He is influenced by no partial considerations. His favour is to be obtained only by our individual efforts in the practice of virtue. No incense from the shrine of superstition, no bribe from guilty fear, will alter his least purpose, or purchase a single smile. This attribute gives assurance also to upright intentions and honest endeavours. It will not suffer us to faint at the thought, that though we exert ourselves to the best of our ability, we still fall far short of our duty; for it is a characteristic of justice to make allowances for difference of advantages, opportunities and situation, for necessary igno. rance, temptation and frailty.

God is good. Every cause and every principle of gratitude calls upon us to render to him the only return which we can make and which he requires, our best obedience-our own happiness.

God is merciful. Into the character of the Deity there enters not the least portion of revenge. Sincere contrition never need despair, sincere repentance never need to be repented of; entire reformation of heart and life ensures the forgiveness and favour of God, and leaves past sin, not to his persecuting vengeance, but to the remorse and other bitter consequences, which by the constitution of nature are bound to pursue and to punish it. Much has been said concerning the accommodation of the justice with the mercy of God. To us, they seem perfectly to coincide. Others may believe, that there are two warring principles, two attributes which are at variance with each other in the perfect character of God. We cannot. The ideas of others concerning divine justice, may be, that it writes its laws in characters of blood; that it pays no regard to any circumstances, and that it requires absolute perfection of beings, who were created frail; they are not

ours.

God is omnipresent and omniscient. He is in all our paths, and we cannot escape from him; he is in the recesses of our hearts, and we cannot deceive him. To know that the eye of God is at all times full upon us, and that he is perfectly acquainted with our inmost thoughts, is certainly a motive to restrain us from doing or conceiving wrong. It creates a happy confidence and trust likewise, to be assured that there is a Being who is every where present to protect and defend us, and that He, who knows all things, will never err in his conduct toward man, or in his government of the universe.

God is Almighty. He is therefore perfectly able to punish and to reward. Every other being is entirely subordinate to his control, and we need not therefore fear the malicious or the

ignorant exertion of any other power. We are wholly at his disposal; it is vain therefore to think of resisting him, and it is consoling to think, that we are in the hands of one, who will make all things work together for good to them that love him.

God is unchangeable. We can rely with confidence upon the fulfilment of all his promises, and the certain accomplishment of his whole word. The order of his government will remain unmoved. The rewards of virtue will retain their office, and not be made the wages of sin; the consequences of sin will follow their accustomed course, and not pursue the footsteps of virtue.

God is eternal. This attribute secures the confidence of virtue. He never began to be; there is no influence, therefore, far back among the ages, to disturb the present happy disposition of things. He will never cease to be; the same power, therefore, the same holiness, justice, goodness, mercy, wisdom, and immutability, will guide and govern all things, world without end.

These remarks upon the attributes of the Deity, although they are brief, will be sufficient to show, that the divine nature and character were not revealed to exercise our ingenuity, or to satisfy our curiosity, but to assist our virtue, to exalt our characters, to guide and lift us to moral perfection. The means by which they effect this end are various, according to the different motives which they present. They may be all comprised in one word, and that is PIETY. The feelings, affections, sentiments, which spring from contemplation on these attributes, do more than any thing else to elevate the human soul, and fix it in that exalted and unswerving love of purity, which will most effectually guard it against all evil bias. They excite immediately to obedience, and they furnish abundant consolations. And even the consolations they impart, assist us in the road to excellence, by banishing that spirit of repining and discontent, which weakens the power of exertion, casts a gloom over the character, unsettles the temper, and, in a greater or less degree, unfits us for the duties which we owe to God, to our neighbour and ourselves.

Having thus examined the uses for which God has revealed to us his own nature and character, and having shown as we think, that they could be no other than motives and means to assist us in our duty, we shall pursue the same method with regard to the other doctrines of revelation. As the very subject which is under discussion, presupposes a Providence, a belief in this doctrine being no other in fact than a belief in the natural and moral government of God, we shall make no

other remark upon its uses, than that they are necessarily united and incorporated with those, which proceed from every part of that connexion between the Creator and his creatures, into the supposition of which the doctrine of a Providence must always be admitted.

There are doctrines which are only modifications or exertions of the divine attributes, such as the veracity, and the grace, or favour of God, and to which the same remarks may be applied which were made concerning them.

There are some others, which point so plainly and exclusively to our moral condition, that to describe their uses would only be to repeat all that has been said. We mean by this, that repentance, conversion, justification, sanctification, redemption, are the moral ends, which are to be effected by the motives and means furnished by those subjects of belief, which are more strictly denominated doctrines.

Without, therefore, entering into a more minute explanation of the topics embraced by either of the above mentioned heads, but leaving them to be explained by the general principles, which we have laid down, we come to that doctrine of revelation which affords to virtue a stronger motive than any other, and is better than any other adapted to engage mankind in the service of God, and lead them to their intended perfection. Can there be any doubt of the doctrine which we mean? Will any one, who has not discarded all motives of a religious nature, hesitate for a moment to point out that one by which he is principally actuated? Where is the man, who knows that he has but a few years to live in this world, who does not hope that he is to live again in a world, where he will not suffer so much, and which will not pass away so soon? What is the most powerful inducement to virtue? Is it not the belief, that it will be rewarded hereafter? And what is the most powerful restraint upon sin? Is it not the belief, that it will be punished hereafter? What is our best consolation in the loss of friends? Is it not that they have gone to be happy, and that we shall see them again? What is our best comfort in every misery, except in that which vice produces? Is it not that we shall soon be received to a state in which there will be no more of it? And in that solemn hour, into which the hopes and the fears, the thoughts and the actions of life are crowded together; when we hear the voice of an awful authority calling upon us to make haste, for it was time that we were gone; when we feel that we must leave all that we ever knew of enjoyment, all that we have ever proved of existence; when we see the veil descending, which is to drop between us and the world for

ever, what is our support, what is our hope, what is our doctrine then? Are we employed in investigating the mode in which the Deity exists? In inaking nice distinctions between being and person, essence and substance, creation, generation, and procession? In inquiring whether our sins are the sins of natural and necessary imperfection, or of long derived inheritance; whether our destiny is fixed by well meant endeavours, or unaccountable impulses; whether this rite be an influence, or a symbol, and that rite a token of respect and remembrance, or a terrible mystery? whether this doctrine be not a sound one, and that other, a heresy? are these. the questions which Occupy the thoughts of a dying man? His mind must be strangely perverted if they are. No-the great support of dissolving nature is the trust that it will again be restored to us, and with higher exercises and powers than ever; the blessed hope to which we turn from all dispute and noise, is the hope of immortality; the great question which lingers on the tongue till it can articulate no longer, and then stays upon the mind till reason leaves it, is this: "If a man die shall he live again?"

True, there are other thoughts of vast moment which come to us upon our death-beds; thoughts of our past lives, and of our acceptance with God. But nothing can be more evident than that these are all grounded upon the supposition that there is another life, our condition in which will be affected or determined by our conduct in this; that there is a future state, in which we shall be received or rejected by God. If we do not already believe that we shall exist again hereafter, it is quite unnecessary and unreasonable to trouble ourselves in our last moments, with what we have done here; all the consequences of our actions are exhausted then; we have lived, enjoyed, and suffered; it matters not how well or ill we have lived, or how much or how little we have suffered and enjoyed; we are never to live, enjoy, or suffer more; we are to be as though we had never been; there may or may not be a power above us, but with that we can have no concern; for we are soon to be far beyond the reach of any influence or feeling; we are to die; to become like the clods of the valley; and we have nothing to do, but to die with what stoicism we can gather. All our hopes, fears and thoughts then, concerning our future state, rest, as we said, upon the previous belief, that there is a future state. If we are told, that no Christian ever thinks of doubting that there is another life, we answer that we are glad, and that no Christian ever should think of doubting it; but we ask in our turn, why he never thinks of doubling it? Because it is so plainly revealed in the Christian scriptures; New Series-vol. I. 3