To conclude-Let all thofe who have already got into the decline of life, and are shrouded with the evening of old age, give all diligence to make their calling and election fure. My brethren, the time is far spent; the

night is at hand. It is high time for us to fearch and fee whether we are not yet in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity. And, though we fheld find, upon the ftricteft examination, the too evident marks of unregeneracy upon us, yet we must not utterly defpair: the Bleffed Spirit is fovereign and various in his operations. He may breathe upon dry bones, and cause them to live, and ftand up the ornaments of human nature, and advocates for religion. He has done it for fome, and may do it for others. He may do it for us. But verily the cafe is doubtful, but not defperate. We muft immediately lay afide every weight, and the fin which eafily befets us, put away all unneceffary cares, and apply to the one thing which is abfolutely needful. Life is more than meat, the body is more than raiment; but the foul and its falva tion is the most important of all things: for what fhall we give in exchange for the foul!

Difcourfe V.

On the Evidence of the Chriftian Revelation.

THESS. v. 21.

Prove all things; hold faft that which is good.

UR Apostle clofes this his firft epiftle to the Thef falonians with a charming mixture of piety, zeal and tenderness, and pours out the fulness of his heart in a truly laconic style, and crowds into a few fhort verfes almost the whole circle of chriftian duty, enforced by weighty arguments, and the most benevolent wifh, that the very God of Peace would fanctify them wholly. He is far from affuming the air of an infallible dictator; for, with all the plenitude of inspiration, he fubjected all that he had faid to their free, impartial and candid examination, that they should try and prove all things, and hold faft that which was good; which would be acting worthy the dignity of reasonable beings, and free moral agents, who must give an account of themselves to God: and what upon a fair and full examination they found to be good-truths and facts with which their highest honour and intereft were connected-he exhorts them to hold fast, to adhere closely to them, found their faith upon them, and regulate their practice by them.

It is as evident that man was made for religion, as that he was made for fociety. It seems to be a dictate of na

ture.

We may traverse the globe, and find men without laws, arts, houfes or clothes, but not without religion : they will have their gods, their priests, their altars and their facrifices, and fomething which they call religion; and they believe that their religion comes from the gods, and that it is both true and divine; and they express it by a word which in our language fignifies God's news. And certainly that fyftem of religion which unites those two objects, the glory of God, and the happiness of man, in one capital point, ftands the fairest chance of coming from God, of any which has been adopted by mankind. And fuch (for the present we shall take for granted) is the Christian Religion. But, as God does not demand of us an implicit faith, nor blind obedience, but allows and requires us, as in our text, to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good; we shall therefore inquire as impartially as we can into the truth and importance of the christian religion; and, if we find it upon examination good, both true and divine, we may rationally adhere to it as the one thing needful.

And, that we may not be loft in the cloud of witnesses with which we are encompassed, we shall pretty nearly obferve the following method:

It is natural for mankind to expect, at fome certain period, a revelation from God, which would furnisk us with a fyftem of religion.

The chriftian revelation is from God, and furnishes, us with a system of religion well adapted to the fallen ftate of man, and is therefore that good thing to which we fhall do well closely to adhere, agreeably to the direction of our text.

I. We shall undertake to prove that the revelation - which founds the chriftian religion is from God, both true and divine, and therefore good. We undertake this with pleasure, because we think it both an easy and

a delightful tafk. And the inquiry, if properly made, must be attended with the happieft confequences. The more we examine into the truth, the reasonablenefs and the fitness of the christian religion, the more evidently it will appear to be from God-that good thing which must be closely adhered to. And though we hope there are but few in thefe United States, of the present generation, who call in question the truth, the reasonableness and authenticity of our holy religion, yet, from the prefent appearance, and the rapid progrefs the principles of infidelity are making in Europe, we have reafon to fear, that another century will produce many here who will deny the Lord who bought them, and will contemn and treat his religion as only a cunningly devised fable, whom our children may be called to refift fteadfastly in the faith. And what we have to fay on this fubject refpects the future as well as the prefent generation: and our prayer to God is, that the steadfastnefs of the prefent and the rifing generations in the christian faith and praçtice may prove all which can be faid on the fubject to be fuperfluous.

What we shall first attempt to prove is, that, confidering our dependent state, we had reafon to expect a revelation from God, fufficient to found our faith upon, and to direct our practice. For it is evident that man in a ftate of innocence needed fuch a revelation. Such was his connexion and dependence, that he could not be his own infallible guide in all matters which refpected his duty, his fafety and happiness. If his reafon was fufficiently clear to guide him in the matter of his duty, fo far as it confifted in the internal and external practice of moral virtue, yet his reafon and common fenfe could not guide him in matters merely pofitive, which depended entirely on the will of the Inftitutor, and which could not be known but by revelation from him and some positive inftitutions are neceflary to complete every system of reHow ligion.

M

1

How many of thofe pofitive inftitutions would have been neceffary to complete a fyftem of religion adapted to a state of innocency, we know not: one certainly there was (according to Mofes) that which prohibited the 'fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It is evident, too, that man in a state of innocency needed a revelation from his Creator in matters which related to the prefervation of his health, and the fecuring and promoting of his fafety and happinefs in this world. It is evident that his reason, however clear and ftrong, could not infallibly guide him in the choice of his food, or into what would afford him the beft nutriment for the body. In a world of fenfe, where there was fuch a vast variety, fome of which was good and nutritious, other very improper and pernicious, he must have fome better guide than human reafon in her belt eftate, to pafs with fafety through a fhort life of fenfe. Though man was dignified with powers of reafon, above all the lower creation, yet it is evident he was not to be directed by animal instin&t, or fagacity of fenfe, as merely animal creatures were, for which purpofe they were endowed with quick, inftinctive faculties, far beyond man. Therefore it is highly probable, at least, that if man had continued in a state of innocency, he would have been favoured from time to time with a revelation from Heaven. But if we take a view of man in his prefent lapsed state, the probability of a divine revelation is much greater; as the need of fuch a revelation is much increased by the fall.

If God had, from the beginning, entertained thoughts of pity concerning man, and was disposed to relieve and reftore him to the divine favour, upon a plan of grace in the hands of a mediator, (as appeared from his not car rying his threatening into immediate and full execution, and his promife that the feed of the woman fhould break the ferpent's head) he certainly would, at fome certain period, and in fome clear and intelligent manner, have

made