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scepticism with which the world is afterwards but too likely to assail them.

In the present moment, I have only to pray the God of salvation, that His Spirit may descend upon this congregation, and upon all of every church or country, who are now assembled in the same grateful service; that He, " without whom no

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thing is strong, and nothing is holy,” may, in the time of this mortal life, so pour his grace upon all our souls, "that,

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by casting away the works of darkness, "and putting upon us the armour of

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light," we may meet with pure hearts the arrival of his Son; " and that, in the "last day, when He shall come again in "his glorious majesty, to judge both the

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quick and the dead, we may arise to "the life immortal, through Him," who alone was commissioned to promise, and alone is empowered to give it.

VOL. II.

SERMON VIII.

ON THE EVIDENCE WHICH ARISES FROM THE PROGRESS OF THE GOSPEL.

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IN obedience to the feelings and duties of this season of devotion, (and in the anxious hope of leading the minds of my younger brethren to some adequate notions of the majesty of that service in which they are employed when they commemorate the birth of the Saviour of the world,) I have proposed to devote it to the suggestion of some general views with

regard to the nature and character of the religion of the Gospel, which may lead them to conclude, that it must necessarily derive its origin from a higher source than human wisdom; and that, therefore, He who brought it to the world, was truly the son of God."

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With this view, when we were last assembled, I pointed out to them some general heads by which it might be compared with the religions either of ancient or modern times. I reminded them, that it was the only religion which has been ever presented to man, which was adequate to all the wants and desires of the human mind;-that it was the only religion which was adequate to the social character of man ;-that it embraced the whole race of man in its contemplation; —that it contained the principles of universal prosperity;—and that all the attainments of social wisdom, were yet far below the happiness and perfection to

which its precepts and its spirit virtually lead. In the last place, I reminded them, that it was the only religion which was adequate to all the future hopes and expectations of the human soul;-that the discoveries which it made, mighty and undeserved as they were, yet fell in with all our instinctive principles of belief; and that, while it realized all the greatest wishes which the human heart can form, it prescribed, at the same time, the simple precepts by which the lowest and most obscure of its true and faithful disciples might attain to all it promised. After this comparison, I entreated them to reflect, in what age, and in what cir cumstances, this magnificent system of religion arose ;-to consider whether it has any resemblance to anything the world has ever presented of human wisdom, of human foresight, or of human benevolence?-And then to ask themselves, whether there be any other

reasonable or satisfactory account that can be given of its origin, than that it proceeded immediately from the providence and inspiration of God?

From this first and fundamental consideration of the nature of the religion of the Gospel, I am in the present hour, to solicit your attention to a second consideration:-to the view of its Progress,to the circumstances which, in this respect also, distinguish it from all the usual appearances of human nature,-and to the conclusions which naturally follow from these appearances.

If we look at the history of human opinions, we shall find, that the principles of religious belief are those, in every age, which have been the least changed, and which are the least susceptible of change. They are incorporated with the earliest feelings of youth,-they are sanctioned by impressions of awe which belong to

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