3

Such is the general account of the progress of vice, where it is suffered to attain to its full growth in the human heart. The circumstances of indivi: duals indeed will be found to differ; to continue a figure so exactly descriptive of the case, the servitude of some is more rigorous than that of others, their bonds more galling, their degradation more complete. Some too have for a while appeared almost to have escaped from their confinement; but none are altogether free; all without exception,

vin a greater or less degree, bear about them more visibly or more concealed, the disgraceful marks of their captivity.

Bat? Such, on a full and fair investigation, must be confessed to be the state of facts; and how can this be accounted for on any other supposition, than that of some original taint, some radical principle of corruption ? All other solutions are unsatisfactory, whilst the potent cause which has been assigned, does abundantly, and can alone sufficiently, account for the effect. 'It appears then, that the corruption of human nature is proved by the same mode of reasoning, as that which hath been deemed conclusive in establishing the existence of the principle of gravitation and in ascertaining its " laws ; that the doctrine rests on that solid basis on which Newton hath raised the superstructure of his sublime philosophy; that it is not a mere speculation; an una certain, though perhaps an ingénious theory, but the sure result of large and actual experiment deduced from incontestable facts, and still more fully approving its truth by harmonizing with the several parts, and accounting for the various phænomena, jarring otherwise and inexplicable, of the great system of the universe. :-)

Here, however, Revelation interposes, and sustains the fallible conjectures of our únassisted reason. The Holy Scriptures speak of us as fallen creatures; in almost every page we shall find something that is calculated to abate the loftiness, and silence the

• How

pretensions of man. “ The imagination of man's & heart is evil from his youth.”

«. What is

man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous *.” " much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water+?” “ The Lord " looked down from heaven upon the children of "men, to see if there were any that did understand, "and seek God. They are all gone aside; they " are altogether become filthy: there is none that “ doeth good, no not one f.” “Who can say, I have

I " made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin ||?", “ The heart is deceitful above all things, and des"perately wicked, who can know it.'

« Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my s mother conceived me." : “ We were by nature Yo the children of wrath, even as others, fulfilling "I the desires of the flesh and of the mind.” “0, Swretched man that I am, who shall deliverme from In the body of this death!”—Passages might be multiplied upon passages, which speak the same language, and these again might be illustrated and confirmed by various other considerations, drawn from the same sacred source ; such as those which represent a thorough change, a renovation of our nature, as being necessary to our becoming true Christians; or which are suggested by observing that holy men refer their good dispositions and affections to the immediate agency of the Supreme Being. 9106 il 985 dias Concs Evil Spirit.-Natural State of Man. 911 BUT the word of God instructs us that we have to contend not only with our own natural depravity, Evil

but with the power of darkness, the Evil Spirit, Spirāt. who rules in the hearts of the wicked, and 2980 DIAS

whose Fort Pria - Psalm mt. 2, 3... 98 990 Ibid. 16.02stci Prov. xx. 9: &901ecet979

SECT. 11.

C 2

a

whose dominion we learn from Scripture to be so general, as to entitle him to the denomination of is the Prince of this world.” There cannot be a stronger proof of the difference which exists between the religious system of the Scriptures, and that of the bulk of nominal Christians, than the proof which is afforded by the subject now in question. The existence and agency of the Evil Spirit, though so distinctly and repeatedly affirmed in Scripture, are almost universally exploded in a country which professes to admit the authority of the sacred volume. Some other Doctrines of Revelation, the force and meaning of which are commonly in a great degree explained away, are yet conceded in general terms. But this seems almost on the point of being universally abandoned, as a post no longer tenable. It is regarded as an evanescent prejudice which it would now be a discredit 'to any man of understanding to believe. Like ghosts and witches and other phantoms which haunted the night of superstition, it cannot in these more enlightened times, stand the test of our severer scrutiny. To be suffered to pass away quietly, is as much as it can hope for; and it might rather expect to be laughed off the stage as a just object of contempt and derision.

But although the Scripture doctrine concerning the Evil Spirit is thus generally exploded, yet were. we to consider the matter seriously and fairly, we should probably find ground for believing that there is no better reason for its being abandoned, than that many absurd stories, concerning spirits and apparitions, have been commonly propagated amongst weak and credulous people; and that the Evil Spirit not being the object of our bodily eyes, it would argue the same weakness to give credit to the doctrine of its existence and agency. But to be consistent with ourselves, we might almost as well, on the same principle, deny the reality of all other

incorporeal

gross incon

а

incorporeal beings. What is there, in truth, in the doctrine, which is in itself improbable, or which is not confirmed by analogy? We see, in fact, that there are wicked men, enemies to God, and malig. nant towards their fellow-creatures, who take pleasure, and often succeed, in seducing others to the commission of evil. Why then should it be deemed incredible, that there may be spiritual intelligences of similar propensities, who may in like manner be permitted to tempt men to the practice of sin? Surely we may retort upon our opponents the charge of absurdity, and justly accuse them of sistency, in admitting, without difficulty, the existence and operation of these qualities in a being like man, compounded of matter and spirit, and yet denying them in a purely spiritual being, in direct contradiction to the authority of Scripture, which they allow to be conclusive, when they cannot pretend for a moment that there is any thing belonging to the nature of matter, to which these qualities naturally adhere.

But it is needless to dilate further on a topic which, however it may excite the ridicule of the inconsiderate, will suggest matter of serious apprehension to all who form their opinions on a sincere and impartial examination of the word of God. It fills up the measure of our natural misery and helplessness. Such then being our condition, thus depraved and weakened within, and tempted from without, it may well fill our hearts with anxiety to reflect, that * the day will come,” when “ the Heavens being 5 on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall “ melt with fervent heat;" “ when the dead, small

; " and great, shall stand before the tribunal of God," and we shall have to give account of all things done in the body. We are naturally prompted to turn over the page of Revelation with solicitude, in order to discover the attributes and character of our Judge; þut these only serve to turn painful apprehension into fixed and certain terror.

First

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[ch. 11. First with regard to the attributes of our Judge. As all nature bears witness to his irresistible power, so we read in Scripture that nothing can escape his observation, or elude his discovery; not only our actions, but our most secret cogitations are open to his view. "He is about our path and about our bed, and spieth out all our ways "The Lord "searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the "imaginations of the thoughts +."-" And he will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and "will make manifest the counsels of the heart.

* "

Now hear his character, and the rule of his award: The Lord our God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."-" He is of purer eyes than to be"hold iniquity."-" The soul that sinneth, it shall "die.""The wages of sin is death."-" Without

holiness no man shall see the Lord." These positive declarations are enforced by the accounts which, for our warning, we read in sacred history, of the terrible vengeance of the Almighty: His punishment of "the angels who kept not their first estate, and whom he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judg"ment of the great day :" The fate of Sodom and Gomorrah; the sentence issued against the idolatrous nations of Canaan, and of which the execution was assigned to the Israelites, by the express command of God, at their own peril in case of disobedience: The ruin of Babylon, of Tyre, of Nineveh, and of Jerusalem, prophetically denounced as the punishment of their crimes, and taking place in an exact and terrible accordance with the divine predictions. Surely these examples may suffice to confound that fallacious confidence, which, presuming on the Creator's knowledge of our weakness, and his disposition to allow for it, should allege, that instead of giving way to gloomy apprehensions, we might throw ourselves, in full assurance of hope, on the infinite benevolence of the Supreme Being. It is true, indeed,

Psalm cxxxix. 3.

+ Chron. xxviii. 9.