But view her in

cise of intellect, be first listened to. the temper which she breathes, and you see at once, before you enter upon her particular arguments, the brand of error upon her forehead; you see in the resistance to all evidence, and in the scorn and levity which mingle with her reasonings, in the impiety and even Atheism which disgrace her doctrines, and in the vice which is excused, defended, inculcated in her code of morals, the undeniable proofs and evidences of a bad cause.

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And most unfavourable for the Christian argument has been the neglect of this capital point. A consideration of the spirit and temper in which unbelievers conduct their inquiry, should never have been rated from a consideration of their particular objections. We should have exhibited to the young the obvious want of a right temper of mind in those who doubt of revelation, as the key to their scepticism. We have received the statements of unbelievers with too much indulgence; we have paid too many compliments, and made too great concessions to the adversaries of the Christian faith. We have relied too much on the irrefragable historical evidences of our religion, and have forgotten to insist on the temper of mind in which they should be studied, and without which, the strongest external evidences fail to persuade, whilst the internal are incapable of being appreciated. We have failed to urge, in the first place, and upon all persons, the docility and seriousness and practical desire to know the will of God, which alone can make any religious inquiry successful. Nor have we sufficiently held up as a just warning to mankind, the fearful obduracy and want of moral principle, which too commonly animate the opponents of revelation.

If there were, indeed, generally amongst the ranks of unbelievers a manifest spirit of piety and subjection to God, something like what natural religion professes

to enjoin-if there were a prevailing earnestness to know the will of God-if there were a pain and grief of heart under the unwilling pressure of molesting fears-if we saw these men, as Pascal remarks, groaning sincerely under their doubts, regarding them as their greatest misfortune, sparing no pains in order to be freed from them, and making it their principal and most serious occupation to search for truth," ," 19 then, indeed, we should feel a sincere respect and concern for them.

But their negligence and indifference, their pride and levity, their disregard of the dictates of natural conscience and of the spirit of prayer, in the very outset of their inquiries, save us the trouble of further examination, and explain to us at once the chief phenomena of their state. There seems, in the divine providence, a beacon erected on the confines of scepticism, to warn the traveller of the dangers before him. But I must conclude,

I. Are there, then, any now in this sacred temple, in danger of being shaken in their faith? Are there any who are almost bewildered at times with the sophistry of the wicked? Are there those who are cast by circumstances into the society, and exposed to the arts, of the unbelieving? Are there any whose peculiar character of mind leads them to doubt and hesitate upon every great subject, and therefore on the subject of the Christian argument, and who in the moments of temptation are harassed by suspicions and fears? Let me entreat them to follow the main principle of this discourse, and calmly ask themselves, what is the temper of mind in which unbelievers treat the most momentous subject that can be brought before a dying and accountable creature? Let them not plunge into particular disputations; let them just

19 Pensées 2de Partie, Art. 2.

young hearers, who, through the singular mercy of God, are uninfected with the poison of unbelief, approach ye to the considerations we shall offer on the grounds of your faith, in the spirit enjoined in the text. Enter the kingdom of heaven as little children. Examine the foundations of that religion in which you have been instructed, with the docility, the seriousness, the spirit of prayer, and the practical desire to do the will of God, which I have been enforcing. So shall every step in your progress confirm your faith and deepen your impression of the infinite importance of the Christian doctrine, as well as unfold to you its characteristic blessings. Your gratitude shall thus be increased to Almighty God for the abundant means he has given you of ascertaining what is the revelation of his will. You shall go forth into life well-grounded in your religious belief, and furnished with an actual experience of its benefits, which will set you above the reach of scepticism, and make the research of historical testimonies less necessary. And thus shall you transmit to your children the inheritance of Christianity, together with the temper in which you learned to examine and defend it.

III. Finally, let us all imbibe more of this meek and docile spirit. The same temper which prepares us at first for weighing the Christian Evidences, prepares us afterwards for receiving aright all the truths of which Christianity consists. We need, every day we live, to become as little children, to renounce pride and self-conceit, to submit to prayer, to purify our hearts from polluted affections, and to receive without gainsaying, and in singleness of mind, all the words of the Holy Scriptures, in order that we may enter more into the truth of our fallen state, into the doctrine of the redemption of man by the Son of God, and into the nature of that spiritual life

which is implanted and nourished by the Holy Ghost. Docility makes way for knowledge, promotes love, opens the road to all the beneficent pursuits of piety and obedience. It is by a child-like temper we best adorn the divine religion which we profess, and are most likely to win and gain over opponents. It is by this temper, in short, that we not only enter the kingdom of our Lord here, but are prepared and qualified to partake, through the alone merits of his death, of all its infinite blessings hereafter.

42

LECTURE III.

THE INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REVELATION SHOWN FROM THE STATE OF MAN IN ALL AGES.

ROMANS 1. 19-24.

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and godhead; so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools: and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lust of their own hearts.

HAVING considered in our last discourse the temper of mind in which an inquiry into the truth and importance of the Christian revelation should be pursued, I now proceed a step further. I address myself to the young Christian; and before I enter upon the