of men? Who is there who does not see, that if the principles of the Gospel were really felt, and fully acted upon, the prosperity of all nations would be consulted?-that the human race would terminate in the simple conception of a family,-in family relations, in family duties, and family affection; and that the universe of mankind would find at last, that they had only one Father in Heaven, one relation to his various children, and one duty to their brethren upon earth. When have considered these things, my young you friends;-when you have seen the difference of this religion from all others that have been presented to men ;-when you have seen, that it has a greater aspect, and that all the wisdom of men is yet still infinitely beneath it, I am to request of you, to lay your hands upon your hearts, and to say, whether such a system of religion is proportionable to any thing that you know of human wisdom ?-whether its in such an age, appearance has any resemblance to the known capacity of the human mind? and whether there be any other account that can be given of it, than that it arose immediately from the inspiration and the benevolence of Heaven? 3. There is yet, however, a greater view of the subject; and I am to state, in the third place, That the religion of the Gospel is the only one which has ever appeared among mankind, which is commensurate to the future hopes or expectation of the human soul. Upon this subject, I have little necessity to dilate. When you look at the opinions of the unbap tized world, either in ancient or in modern times, you see in their views of futurity, the traces only of a gross and of a barbarous invention, a state little elevated above the ignorance or the darkness of mor. tality, in which the same passions, the same prejudices, and the same appetites prevail,—which promises only the continuation of the frail and feverish existence we have experienced,—and which holds forth no promise of some sublimer state of being, where nobler acquisitions may be made, and higher joys be tasted. When you look at the religion of the Gospel, on the contrary, (simply as it speaks upon this awful subject, and fearfully as it withdraws the veil which hides the sanctuary of God,) you see a "new "heaven and a new earth." You see humanity exalted from the grossness of a lower world. You see all that is great, all that is good, all that is pure in your nature, bursting from the chains with which it has been confined, and purified by the merits and mediation of a diviner Being, from the corruptions which it has acquired.-You see the immeasurable space extended, in which the ascending mind may pass to higher states " of knowledge, of wisdom, and "of joy."-You see, (what is yet more) that, to this exaltation, the precepts of the same religion naturally conduct its followers; that the discipline which it prescribes in time, is that which leads to the glories of eternity; and that, in the lowest situation of human nature, the mind of the Christian may be ripened, under the influence of the Spirit of God, to become at last the companion of the angel and the 66 archangel," and of the spirits of the just," then "made perfect." Of such doctrines, I am not now to say that they are the only ones which meet all the instinctive wishes and expectations of our mysterious nature. I am only to remind you of their difference from every thing that human wisdom has taught, either in former or in succeeding ages; and to ask you, whether He who, eighteen hundred years ago, taught these doctrines, and proposed these views, was only a human being? Whether the difference of these doctrines, from all that nature and philosophy had arrived at, is not a proof of the difference of the origin from which they proceeded?—and whether any other cause can be assigned for this astonishing exception from all the uniform appearances of human nature, than the immediate presence and providence of the God of salvation? -Such are, my young brethren, the first views which present themselves, when we take a general survey of our nature, and of the capacity and attainments of man. In every light in which we consider the religion of the Gospel, whether as adapted to the mind of the individual,-to the prosperity of the human race, or to the future expectations of the hu man soul,—it is in all respects different from what we know or learn, either of the progress of human powers, or the reach of human foresight. The question is (after all this survey,) to what origin shall we attribute it? and I trust, (when you prosecute the very imperfect illustrations I have presented upon this great subject) you will feel that there is no other possible origin to which it can be attributed, than to the immediate inspiration of the Almighty; and that he therefore who brought it to a dark and doubtful world, "was truly the Son of God." -Every season of devotion, my brethren, which our church prescribes, has its peculiar and appropriate sentiments. The season upon which we now again annually enter, is a season of religious Joy; and the sentiments with which it ought to be met, are those of hope, of thankfulness, and of adoration. The views which I have now presented, may, on this account, I trust, be of some use to my younger brethren, in leading them to form adequate notions of the character of that religion in which they were born; to feel what was the blessing their parents conferred upon them when they poured upon their infant heads the waters of their baptism; and to give them, in their early years, some substantial grounds of conviction, which may enable them to meet all the sophistry and skepticism 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 nothing is "strong, and nothing is holy," may, in the time of this mortal life, so pour his grace upon all our souls, "that, by casting away the works of darkness, and "putting upon us the armour of light," we may |