Virtue, he affirms, does not come from nature, nor from edu cation, but solely from the divine Numen, or Deity. And, in the same spirit, Bias, who was one of the seven wise men of Greece, pronounces, whatever good you have done, be assured it has been received only from God. Diogen. Laer. in Biam. And Marcus Antoninus, under the conviction that all things depend on God alone, renders thanks to him, in the history of his life, that he had frequently given him many excellent suggestions, and useful assistances towards forming his mind, and his conduct aright, and that, both in youth and in advancing life, he had frequently rescued him from many occasions of transgressing the laws of virtue. He is further grateful for his having bestowed on him good parents, good preceptors, and excellent friends.-The great orator of Rome, in his treatise de natura deorum, asks, if reason, faith, virtue, concord, exist in human nature, whence could they have descended to the earth unless from the gods above?

The religion of nature, not less that that of revelation, though unacquainted with the infinite mercy of the Saviour, equally requires from us, feeble and dependent creatures, continual ackowledgments of the goodness and beneficence of the Infinite, and Divine, Mind. No attribute is so universally felt and acknowledged by mankind as his goodness. We find in the eloquent oration for Roscius this fine passage :--The blessings which we use, the light which we enjoy, the air which we breathe are granted, and bestowed by the Supreme

Deity. The gods pour forth their gifts without intermission, by night and by day. Their beneficence is sometimes offered gratuitously; sometimes it is conferred in consequence of our prayers. There is no one who has not experienced these celestial blessings; not one to whom something has not flowed from this most benignant fountain.

These few principles of natural religion have been drawn from the first masters of eloquence and reason, who derived all their moral and religious maxims simply from the lights of their own minds; which course I have pursued that I may not be charged with the vain and theoretical ambition of ascribing more to the powers of nature than christian piety ought to concede to them. On the subject of our holy religion, most certainly, we are indebted to revelation exclusively for the peculiar, and distinguishing doctrines of the Christian system. But the powers of reason which God hath bestowed on human nature, are competent to enlighten the mind on the general and practical duties of morality and virtue. The spirit of inspiration does, unquestionably, illustrate them more clearly, and confer additional evidence and authority on the prescriptions of conscience, and on all the motives of duty. But, it is useful, explicitly to understand by such unquestioned examples, how far we are entitled to do honour to the feeble lights of our natural reason.

EVIDENCES

OF THE

CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

INTRODUCTION. THE NECESSITY OF REVELATION.

BEFORE proceeding to the consideration of the doctrines of our holy religion, it is necessary in the first place to display its evidences, that our faith may not be merely an enthusiastic and visionary confidence, but a rational offering to truth and reason.

And if I should propose little, or even nothing that is new on this subject, I hope to be able to comprise the general argument in favour of Christianity, in such a narrow compass, and exhibit it in such an easy and perspicuous order, as not only to afford conviction, but furnish a concise and ready answer to those popular objections which are most frequently urged against the holy scriptures.

But before proceeding directly to exhibit the proofs on which our faith in the Christian system may rationally rest, I hall, in the first place, offer to you several considerations which afford a strong presumption of the necessity of some

divine communication from heaven to instruct mankind in the knowledge of their duty, and of the hopes they may lawfully entertain from the divine mercy. For, if revelation be not necessary, and reason alone be sufficient to lead man to his Creator, and to furnish him with all the principles, the motives, and aids of duty which are requisite in his present state, any examination into the truth of Christianity, is manifestly superfluous. But, if we see evils reigning over the moral world, which reason and philosophy are unable to cure, our confidence in the benignity of our heavenly Father will naturally lead us to expect his interposition, in some extraordinary way, in behalf of his erring, and afflicted, though disobedient children.

The necessity of a revelation may be inferred from the extreme ignorance, and even the monstrous errors with regard to the being of God, and to the nature of the worship which he requires, as well as with regard to a future existence, which prevailed almost universally among mankind at the period of the birth of Christ; it may be inferred from the extreme and universal depravation of morals, which the lights of nature and the aids of reason had become utterly impotent to remedy: And, finally, it may be inferred from the incapacity of the unaided powers of the human mind, satisfactorily to determine, if mercy will, or can, in consistency with the justice of God, and the purity of the divine nature, be extended to the guilty.