consume them?-What is the answer of the friend of mankind, to this fanatic, this inhuman request? Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. The Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. What! shall men who call themselves the disciples of this good master, shall they persecute their fellow-creatures? because they have the misfortune of not assigning to the same words the same ideas which they do, are they to employ fire and sword-But I will pursue the subject no. further. Light begins to break in upon us, and will soon, it is to be hoped, entirely disperse the darkness that formerly overwhelmed us..

A religion from heaven ought to enligh ten man, and shew him what are real goods. Man is a being endowed with a variety of senses and affections-his desires, his heart, must have their objects. But what objects should such a doctrine present to a being whose existence on earth is but for a short time, and whose future mansion is heaven? That being whose immortal soul carries its hopes far beyond time, and extends them even to eternity itself, should

he set his mind on objects which time destroys? Should a being, endowed with such discernment, mistake the changeable colours in the drops of dew for the lustre of the ruby? Lay not up to yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. He who is happy enough to have formed such a treasure, will feel the truth of this assertion. His heart is entirely given up to it. That man is already seated in beavenly places-be hungers and thirsts after righteousness, and he shall be filled..

CHA P. II..

CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.—OBJECTION. ANSWER.

F a divine religion enjoined a particular

kind of worship, that worship would have some relation to the nature of an intelligent creature, and would be no less adapted to the excellence of a moral being, than to the majesty and spirituality of the Being of beings.-Learn what these words mean-I will have mercy, and not sacrifice-MERCY-the thing signified, and not the sign. The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship. the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him.-God is a spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.

·In spirit—in truth-These two words comprehend every thing, and cannot be ex-

plained away but they may be forgotten: blind superstition never knew them. In spirit-in truth!-how admirably do these two words characterise that universal reli. gion, which is here placed in opposition to a local religion, given to one family only, that it might be the depository of those great and eternal truths, so useful and necessary to all ages and to all nations. *

But because man is a sensitive being, a religion which would reduce every thing to mere spirituality, would not be well adap ted to such a being; it would be a charac

* I mean the important truths of natural religion. Shall I reproach that family, which was the depository of these truths, for their ignorance in the science of reasoning? Would not this family have altered that sacred deposit, or have been supposed the authors of it, had they been skilled in dialectics? I meditate with pleasure on this conduct of Providence. It appears to me very remarkable, that the best, the most concise, and the most ancient abridgment of the law of nature, should be exhibited to us by that family who have possessed it for upwards of thirty-two centuries, and whose great legislator invented neither metaphysic nor logic. What elevated ideas does this legislator give of the first cause! I am that I am! What a volume to comment upon in all worlds, in all times, and in all eternity! Amazing thought, which could proceed only from him, who alone could say what he is! The first legislator announced the Jehovah, the God of armies! The second legislator renounced the one only good being the God of mercies!

teristic of a celestial doctrine to affect the senses by something external. An external worship will therefore be that doctrine. Ceremonies

enjoined by will be insti

tuted, but in a small number; the noble and expressive simplicity of which will be exactly adapted to the particular end of the institution, and to the spirituality of internal worship..

Again; since one of the natural effects of prayer is to remind man of his weakness, his misery, and his wants; and since another natural effect of that religious act is to form the mind of man to the disposition. most proper to overcome the forcible impression of sensible objects; since, in fine, prayer is an essential part of that rational homage which the intelligent creature owes to its Creator; a celestial religion will exhort man to prayer, and even prescribe it as a duty to him; will prescribe to him a ↑ formulary, and instruct him to avoid vain repetitions. And, as the soul cannot remains

The sacraments.

The Lord's Frayer.