Thirdly, Had mankind been willing to retain, and obey, the will of God, every generation would have been possessed of this invaluable blessing. Had the descendants of Noah, in their several generations, cherished this disposition, nay, had they not been directly hostile to their duty, revelation would have descended through every generation of men to the present time. It may be replied, that this answer reaches only a part of the difficulty; since preceding generations have actually lost the revelation which they possessed; and therefore their descendants have been born and lived without the knowledge which it conveyed, and which to them is here considered as indispensable.

To this observation I rejoin, that, although its truth is readily admitted, the consequence, intentionally derived from it, will not follow.

The only manner in which God could satisfy this demand, would be to make a revelation to every age and tribe of mankind, and, it would seem, to every family and person. The revelation made to Jeroboam was forgotten by all his children except one; that to Ahab, by his; and that to Jehu, by all his. Those made to Jehoshaphat, were renounced by Jehoram; those to Hezekiah, by Manasseh; and those to Josiah, by his children. From the whole history of man we have little reason to believe, that, without a constant series of miracles, any revelation, beside a written one, could be preserved. Even a written revelation was sustained among the Jews by a series of miracles; and in this manner was preserved with extreme difficulty. These facts teach us the very manner in which it must be continued, if continued at all, among the rest of mankind. But it cannot be supposed that God, in order to preserve even the knowledge of his character and pleasure, would convert his whole providence into a series of miraculous dispensations.

Especially will this supposition appear extraordinary when we remember, that the beings, for whom all this is demanded, violate every dictate of the divine will which they know, and steadily act in opposition to their own consciences. Certainly such beings must have very imperfect claims, if they can be

supposed to have any claims,-even to the least blessings, much more to the series of dispensations proposed. All this, however, would not answer the end. Were the revelation proposed actually to be made, there is little reason to believe that it would be either welcomed or obeyed. Infidels have now abundant and decisive evidence; such as they cannot answer, and such as ought therefore to satisfy them, that the Bible is the word of God. Yet they are unsatisfied; Yet they are unsatisfied; and oppose, deny, and calumniate the Bible. Vast multitudes, also, of mankind, who acknowledge its divine origin, contend against its doctrines, and disobey its precepts. The reason is obvious; they love sin, and dread its punishment. For the very same reason, revelation has been resisted in every age. "This is the con"demnation," says the Saviour of men," that light is come "into the world; and men loved darkness rather than light, "because their deeds were evil. He that doth evil hateth the "light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."

66

III. From the same source we learn, that another objection against the divine origin of the Scriptures, customarily made by infidels,-viz. that they have not been more extensively given to mankind,—is vain and futile.

Infidels customarily speak of natural religion as having been communicated to the whole human race. Yet even themselves, whenever they appeal to facts, are obliged to recur to the ancient philosophers, and those almost solely of Greece and Rome. Exclusively of the discoveries which are attributed to these men, there is not now, there never has been, revelation apart, any thing that can be called religion. After mighty and long continued labours on this subject,-after many and most magnificent promises,-infidels have never been able to produce any thing more. Lord Herbert, after having made the strongest declarations, that the religion of nature is innate in the mind of every man, and is there written by the finger of God, is compelled to confess, that it has been obliterated from the minds of almost all men. But the philosophers in question were a little company of men; and all who ever read

their books were but a mere handful. There are more persons in the United States at the present moment who read the Scriptures, and are in a good degree acquainted with the religion which they contain, than the whole number which have read any philosophical writings since philosophy was first written. There were far more persons in the Jewish nation, and in most ages of that nation, who were acquainted with the writings of Moses, and afterwards with those of the prophets, than were ever acquainted with the Grecian and Roman philosophy. It ought here to be observed, that these writings, also, came into existence at so late a period, that they are liable to the full force of the preceding objection. These philosophers lived very long after the time of Moses; most of them very little before, and some of them after the time of Christ. Had they, therefore, discovered a religion which would render men accepted by their Maker, that religion would have been liable to both these objections in a far higher degree than the religion of the Scriptures.

But the truth is, the religion which they taught was as little fitted to accomplish this great end, as that which was embraced by the people at large. They cleared the common Gentilism of some absurdities, and ornamented it with some doctrines and precepts which were just and defensible; but they added many absurdities of their own; taught false doctrines of their own; and increased the number of immoral precepts. All these, also, they impressed on the mind with the whole force of their genius, learning, eloquence, and authority. In the meantime, their example destroyed the influence of their instructions when they were true, and increased it when they were false. What, therefore, they found bad in itself, they made worse upon the whole, and not better.

SERMON IV.

SERMONS ON REVELATION.

SERMON II.

MAN CANNOT FIND OUT A RELIGION WHICH WILL RENDER HIM ACCEPTABLE TO GOD.

JOB XXviii. 12, 13.

"Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?

"Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of the living."

An intelligent and sober man, surveying himself and the objects around him, would very naturally form a series of reflections like the following:

"Whence and what am I? How came I to be, to be what, " and where I am? My frame is a complication of wonders, "utterly surpassing my comprehension. It is alive. What is "that life, and whence derived? It can move. What is the 66 cause of its motions? It is the medium through which I re"ceive an endless multitude of senations, both pleasurable and "painful. By what mysterious power does it become the me"dium? I can think and choose; I can imagine and feel; I "can hope and fear; I can love and hate; I can enjoy and "suffer. In what manner are these wonderful affections pro"duced?

"I am placed in a world full of wonders. The vegetable, the

66

"animal, and the mineral kingdoms are replenished with objects "of a marvellous nature; effects which I can understand very "imperfectly, and causes which I can scarcely understand at all. "Yet I can distinctly perceive that they are extensively fitted "for the use of man, and appear as if they were intended, to a "great extent at least, to contribute to the comfort of myself " and my fellow men. But what are we? For what end were we made? for there are so visible and numerous proofs of con"trivance, and of such wonderful contrivance in both the body " and mind of man, that it is irrational, and seems to be impos"sible not to conclude that we were made. Who, and what is "He, by whom we were made? How plainly must his nature "transcend all such comprehension as mine? In the contem"plation of such power, wisdom, and agency as I see displayed “in myself, and in all things which are presented to my view, "I am lost in astonishment. For what purpose was I made? “I, and all other men must soon go to the grave. Shall I "then perish; or shall I survive the tomb, and re-exist in fu"ture periods of endless duration? Of what incomprehensi"ble importance are those questions? Who can answer "them ?"

66

66

"If man is destined to be immortal, and may be happy

throughout eternity, what measures shall he undertake to ensure his happiness? Where, how, with whom shall he "exist? What will be his circumstances? How shall he "act, so as to make all these things desirable when he shall "arrive in the future world ?"

Thoughts like these have probably passed through the mind of every man possessed of the character which I have mentioned. Not improbably they may often have engrossed his deepest attention; awakened anxiety and alarm; produced perplexity; forced the thoughts to wander into the eternal world to explore, with distressing solicitude, the character and designs of God; and to ask, "What will become of me, when 66 my soul shall be separated from my body." "Where," he will irresistibly exclaim, “shall the wisdom be found, which “shall make me acceptable to God? Where is the place of "that understanding which will enable me effectually to pro