in point of moral principle, the uninstructed heathens were led, and what enormities these errors prompted them to commit. How imperfect and mutilated, in this respect, were the moral instructions and speculations of the most acute, wisest, and best of their philosophers! They deliver, indeed, many excellent precepts concerning justice, fortitude, prudence in conduct, self-command, the contempt of pleasure and worldly grandeur, and magnanimity under unmerited reproach and the strokes of adversity. In the practice of these virtues, many heathens ought to put to the blush the greater part of Christians, with all the divine instruction which they enjoy. But of many virtues of distinguished dignity and of extensive use, heathen philosophers seem to have been entirely ignorant. They knew nothing of true piety, of submission and resignation to the divine will, of an enlightened and animating confidence in Providence, of the joyous and certain expectation of a blessed immortality, and of all the pure stream of moral excellence which flows from those copious sources. They knew as little of humility, of gratitude to heaven for every comfort and mercy received; still less of that most lovely of all virtues, charity, which diffuses serenity and peace on earth, and shall flourish for ever, and expand, and exult in heaven. How could they know such virtues as these, since they were ignorant

of that celestial origin from which they descend, and to which they must ultimately conduct corrupt but renovated man? We are therefore led to expect, as a most essential branch of true religion, a pure, comprehensive, and beneficent scheme of morality.

6thly, So deplorable is the effect of human corruption, and so widely has it been spread, that it has enfeebled all the intellectual and moral powers of our nature. We feel that, after our duty has been clearly laid before us, and we acknowledge the complete extent of the obligation, we are unable to fulfil it; and, when the understanding is well informed, our appetites and passions lead us astray;

Video meliora, proboque,

Deteriora sequor;

or, as the apostle Paul expresses it, with still greater energy,-" To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I know not. For the good that I would I do not; but the evil I would not, even that I do."a

This superinduced infirmity of man's powers, this incapacity of attaining to that standard of moral rectitude, which even mere reason has erected in his breast, and his consciousness, and deep persuasion of the moral obligation under

a Rom. vii. 18, 19.

which he lies, together with the vexation which repeated failures must produce in every welldisposed mind, suggest the necessity of some superior aid to natural infirmity, and of encouragement to perseverance, by the assurance of support and acceptance. This necessity is a clear dictate of reason itself; for, if we cannot exercise even our corporal powers without the ordinary support of Providence, must we not refer the right exercise of our mental faculties to a divine influence administered in perfect consistence with their nature, and with the free agency which that nature implies? The greater the moral excellence attained is, the more are we bound to ascribe it to the author of "every good and perfect gift, and the father of lights," the unlimited source of all goodness and wisdom. The heathen philosophers themselves were strongly persuaded that nothing really excellent could be conceived or executed by man without a divine afflatus, or direction and aid. This was the dictate both of intellect and of feeling; for, when man is exercising the higher faculties of his nature, he seems to be prompted by a strong impulse to look up to the author of his being for support in such exalted employment. Let it be here observed, that religion is matter of sentiment, as well as of conviction, and has a

a James i. 17.

tendency to call into action all the nobler feelings of the heart. The soul, impressed with a sense of Deity, and engrossed by some generous and dignified pursuit, is carried, in ardent aspirations, towards him whom it regards as the origin of all virtue, and as the grand supporter and friend of all who cultivate the virtuous charac ter. It is thus emboldened to face danger, to struggle with difficulty, to endure hardship, to persevere with constancy, to trust for a successful issue to him who governs the universe, and directs human affairs. This resource be comes particularly desirable under circumstan ces of deep and aggravated distress, incurred in defence of a righteous cause; and, without it, the soul of man would be abandoned to despair, and sink under the overwhelming pressure. Some expectation of such support has sustained and refreshed the spirits of great and good men in perilous and trying circumstances, even in the midst of heathen darkness. But certain confi. dence in the protection and favour of heaven has constituted the grand refuge, and the soothing consolation of all who have struggled, and suffered, and persevered in the cause of true religion, and of the highest interests of mankind. Assurance, therefore, of direction and support in the cultivation of virtuous habits, in the discharge of difficult duty, and in the endurance of calamity in such a cause, seems to be an indis

D

pensable article of true religion; and, on this account, I assign to it the sixth place.

7thly, I have already observed, that the immortality of the soul, and a future state of retribution, must necessarily constitute an important doctrine of true religion. In fact, all religions seem to have admitted it; but, in a pure system of religious principles, something more than the general doctrine itself seems to be requisite. Rational conceptions, in regard to the nature of future happiness or misery, are indispensable for the regulation of moral conduct. If both must, in a great measure, depend on the habits of soul acquired in this present state of being, the nature of a future, whether of happiness or of misery, must be anticipated and apprehended by what constitutes the greatest sources of present enjoyment or suffering. To any person acquainted with the constitution of the human mind, it is evident that the highest happiness of which man is in this period of his existence susceptible, results from the right and continually improving exercise of his intellectual and moral powers; and that his greatest misery is produced by their degradation and perversion. No being can enjoy that to which he has no conformable powers of perception, nor suffer that which cannot affect his frame. The higher the faculties belonging to any rational creature are, the more copious and exalted are his means of enjoyment;