enough to detract from their value, when the full effect of their operation can be calculated and ascertained; when, for example, the rich, I do not say, sell all that they have to give to the poor, but when they generally devote even a moderate portion of their superfluity to that purpose-when, not to speak of loving their enemies, they are accustomed to regard even their friends, with sentiments of genuine and disinterested kindness and benevolence: when, not to insist upon taking no thought for the morrow, their whole souls are not incessantly occupied in the gratification of their earthly appetites and affections. It will be time enough to treat them as easy of discovery, when it can be shewn, not that they are naturally inherent in the mind of every man, but when even any polished nation, not Christian, can be produced, which has possessed them in all their integrity. It will be time enough to question the necessity for their Divine communication, when any sage can be mentioned, whose scheme of ethics will sustain any competition with the pure and perfect precepts of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But if the simplicity of some parts of the Gospel thus evinces that its author came from

ment.

heaven, there are others whose sublimity still more irresistibly attests the same stupendous truth. I allude not to his incarnation, his miracles, his death, resurrection, and ascension; these are historical facts, to be proved like other facts by testimony. But when I am endeavouring to argue from his doctrines alone, that he must have been Divine, I cannot pass by that which pre-eminently entitles him to that sacred character; I mean his atoneHe tells us himself, that he came to give his life a ransom for many. This is, indeed, a subject of the deepest mystery. The vicarious sacrifice of Christ is a matter, to the full apprehension of which our faculties are quite unequal. But so far as we can understand it, we can see that it completes and harmonizes with the morality of the Gospel. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, is the crowning precept of that beautiful system. Yet it is addressed to those, whom its author assures, that when they have done all which is commanded them, they are unprofitable servants. In truth, that invincible propensity to error, of which every man is in some degree conscious, which the Pagans openly confessed,

and from which not even St. Paul after his conversion was exempt, would seem to form a complete bar to our claim to an eternal reward upon the ground of our own merits. When we are taught, therefore, that after having done our utmost, we are still to hope for salvation only through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ-that his transcendent excellence has supplied our lamentable deficiency—that his full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, has atoned for our guilt, whether personal or derived-we have at least a doctrine, which is intelligible for all practical purposes, of which we can comprehend enough for our guidance in this life; which binds us to our duty by the strongest ties of gratitude to our Redeemer, and of concern for ourselves which, in fine, established the divinity of our religion, by shewing that its very basis is one, which as no human power could have formed, so no human intellect could have conceived.

Upon the whole, then, we cannot but conclude, that we have abundant reason to be satisfied, from the peculiar and perfect nature of his doctrines, that Jesus was indeed he that should come, the promised Messiah, the ex

pectation of Israel, the Redeemer of the world. But admitting this to be true, a question of great interest may yet remain to be decided : namely, this, do we, notwithstanding, still look for another? Perhaps, as Christians we shall be very ready to answer, no; but let us see distinctly why we are so confident upon that point. If we conclude that we have no reason to expect any future instruction from heaven, it can be only upon this solid ground-That the faith which we profess is not only true, but is also sufficient for all the purposes for which a Divine Revelation can be supposed to have been vouchsafed to mankind. That is, to guide them safely and happily through the difficulties of this probationary world; and, finally, to secure their complete felicity in another of eternal duration. But from this results this important consideration: that the Revelation which we have, will cease to be effectual to its great end, should it ever become generally clouded by superstition, or debased by fanaticism. And that, consequently, it is the clear duty of every Christian, but especially of every minister of the Gospel, to exert his best efforts, to preserve the faith once delivered to

the saints, in all its original beauty and simplicity; and to shew that genuine Christianity is a religion, not less worthy of God to bestow, than adapted for man to receive— not more powerfully addressed to the heart, than clearly approved by the understanding. If it be such a religion, further light is neither to be expected nor desired. But if it be not, we have at least abundant reason to hope and to pray for additional information upon this momentous subject. If, indeed, the Gospel of Christ be what so many enthusiasts of the present day labour mischievously to represent it; a partial dispensation, by which the Deity announces to his creatures, that he has selected some of them for salvation, and destined the rest to perdition, without reference to any merit or demerit of their own and that he has afforded to the favoured few, some satisfactory, but inexplicable means of ascertaining that they are the 'exclusive objects of his choice; if an all-wise, all-powerful, and beneficent being, can have allotted the reward of virtue to those who may not have been virtuous or can have determined to punish others for actions which he has given them no power to control: if the fate of countless