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Christ to be to mankind the only hope of glory. On his expiation, then, man, if ever to be saved, must rely; for there is no salvation in any other. To become interested in this expiation, you must confide in it. Distrust or unbelief will be a wall of partition between you and him so long as it remains, and confidence can alone unite you to him. Why should you not believe in him? Is he not worthy of being trusted? Is he not able—is he not willing-is he not faithful? Has he not satisfactorily proved all these things by what he has done? Does he demand of you any sacrifice, but of your sins? Does he impose on you any burden but your duty? Is not this sacrifice gainful? Is not this burden light? Is not he the best of all friends, present at all times, and in all places, on earth, in heaven, in time, and in eternity? Will you not need his favour, and an interest in his atonement on a dying bed? Seek him, then, while he is to be found; fly to him while he is near. Seek him early, and you will find him, and be loved by him for ever.

In what manner, let me ask you, would you act, if you were standing before the Shechinah of the Jewish temple, and beheld the cloud rolling, and the lightnings darting over your heads? How would you act, if you were with the Israelites at the foot of Sinai, while the earth trembled beneath, the trumpet of God sounded above, the smoke of the mountain ascended up to heaven, and the glory of the Lord embosomed its summit in the flame of devouring fire? You would undoubtedly, with Moses, exceedingly fear and quake; if you did not, with the congregation, fall down to the earth, deprived of motion and sense. The same God will always accompany you, equally awful in himself, though not manifested in a manner equally terrible. Ask yourselves, then, always when about to act, how will this conduct appear to the eye of God? If it cannot stand this test, it will never abide in the day when he shall judge the secret things of men.

Thus have I attempted to form a compendious directory for the future conduct of your lives. Much that I wished to say I have been obliged to omit; but, if what I have said be faithfully regarded, many other useful things will follow of course.

I have now, and always earnestly wished your good, and laboured to promote it. To hear of your prosperity, your wisdom, and your virtue, will sweeten the cup which God appoints to me, and furnish an additional beam to cheer the evening of my life. life. The connection formed between you and me, is of such a nature that it cannot be destroyed, but by folly and vice on your part or on mine. While we both live, you will have my best wishes and most fervent prayers; and whenever God shall be pleased to call me away from this world, should he in infinite mercy call me, at the same time, into his kingdom, to share with his children the blessings of his everlasting love, it will give me transports which no tongue can utter, to see you all around me, and to be able to say, "Behold, here am I, and the children whom thou hast "given me."

SERMON XIX.

THE NATURE AND DANGER OF INFIDEL PHILOSOPHY.

Preached to the Candidates for the Baccalaureate in 1797.

SERMON I.

COLOSSIANS II. 8.

“Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ."

WHEN the Gospel was published by the apostles, it was, according to the prophetic declaration of its author, vigorously opposed by the world. This opposition originated from various sources; but, whencesoever derived, wore one uniform character of industry, art, and bitterness. The bigotry of the Jews, and the sword of the Gentiles, the learning of the wise, the persuasion of the eloquent, and the force of the powerful, were alike exerted to crush the rising enemy.

Among the kinds of opposition which they were called to encounter, not the least laborious, malignant, or dangerous, was the philosophy of the age. A large number of their first converts lived in countries where the language of the Greeks was spoken, and their philosophy received. The things which this philosophy professed to teach, were substantially the same

with those which were taught by the apostles, viz. the character and will of God, and the duty and supreme interest of men. Hence it naturally became an object of veneration, assumed the station of a rival to the Gospel, and exhibited an imposing aspect, especially to young and unsettled converts.

The doctrines and the spirit of the philosophers were, however, generally direct counterparts to those of the Apostles. Some truths, and truths of high importance, they undoubtedly taught; but they blended them with gross and numberless errors. Some moral and commendable practices they at times inculcated, but so interwoven with immoralities, that the parts of the web could never be separated by the common hand. Covetous, self-sufficient, and sensual, they looked down with supreme contempt on the poor, self-denying, and humble followers of Christ, and on their artless, direct, undisguised, and practical preaching. Notwithstanding this contempt, it however prevailed against all their specious logic, pompous eloquence, and arrogant pretensions. Their philosophy, enveloped in fable and figures, perplexed with sophistry, and wandering with perpetual excursion round about moral subjects, satisfied in no permanent degree the understanding, and affected in no useful degree the heart; while the Gospel, simple, plain, and powerful, gained the full assent of common sense, and reduced all the affections under its control. Of course, the contempt of philosophers was changed into hatred, rivalry, and persecution; and their ridicule of Christianity was succeeded by the serious efforts of violence and malignity.

St. Paul, who appears thoroughly to have comprehended the nature, and often to have experienced the effects of the existing philosophy, has with great force exposed its dangerous tendency. In the beginning of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, he has given an ample account of its inefficiency and emptiness, and a full refutation of its insolent pretensions to be a rule of life and salvation. The arguments of its weakness and mischievous tendency, furnished in various passages of Scripture by him and his companions, remain still unrefuted; and as they were at first, so they are at this day, effectual

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means of preserving no small part of mankind from the destruction of which it is the natural and certain parent.

In the text, this philosophy is characterized in a most proper and forcible manner. It is termed philosophy and vain deceit a Hebraism of the same import with vain and deceit ful philosophy; deceitful in its nature, doctrines, and arguments, and vain in its efficacy to accomplish the ends which it proposes. It is asserted to be "after the tradition of men," and after the rudiments of the world;" but "not after "Christ; in whom," the Apostle subjoins, " dwelt all the ful"ness of the Godhead bodily;" i. e. it is such a scheme of morals and religion, as is suited to the character of the inventors; men, weak and wicked, deceived and deceitful; unable to devise, to comprehend, or to teach the character of God, or the duty of mankind. It is such a scheme of morals and religion, as accords with the principles and practices of the disciples, to whom it is taught; formed not with a design to amend the heart, and reform the life; but with a view to gain acceptance by flattering lust, and by justifying, soothing, and quieting guilt. The tradition of men, and the rudiments of the world, are phrases which may be variously interpreted, but they admit, I apprehend, of no interpretation which will not support the paraphrase here given.

To this philosophy, and the teachers of it, the Apostle directs his followers to "beware lest they should become a prey." The Greek word here used denotes, "gathering and carrying "finally off the spoils of a vanquished enemy ;" and therefore strongly expresses the complete ruin to which St. Paul considered his converts as exposed.

The philosophy which has opposed Christianity in every succeeding age, has uniformly worn the same character with that described in the text. It has rested on the same foundations, proceeded from the same disposition, aimed at the same ends, and pursued them by the same means. Equally remote has it been from truth, equally unsupported by evidence, and equally fraught with danger and ruin.

Satisfied of the justice of these assertions, I feel it,

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