we no longer deem him rational, but pronounce him to be mad. Thus if a reasoner, in contradiction to the common sense of mankind, will assume the dignity, the wisdom, the integrity, and the goodness of man in his present state, as so many incontrovertible first principles; if he reasons consistently from such principles, he must of course, first undervalue, and finally discard, the revelation which he proposes to examine. For madness is in his heart, and unless it pleases God to bring him to his right mind, he is no more competent to judge of truth, than a man born blind to judge of colours.

Is it not highly reasonable to affirm, that God knows us better than we know ourselves? That what he says deserves our attention? That what he promises must be worth our while to seek in the way which He has appointed? Let reason work fairly upon these plain data, and it will confirm all that the Scripture declares concerning the guilt and depravity of man, and of the method of his recovery by faith in the blood of Jesus. That fallen man needs a Saviour; that his salvation is a work too great for a creature to accomplish; that he cannot be saved without a proper atonement made for his sin; nor unless his mind be enlightened, and renewed, by the powerful agency of the Holy Spirit. These points, reason, though unable to discover, or fully to comprehend, can so far demonstrate, as to prove the impossibility of salvation upon any grounds, if the Scriptural representation of the character of God and the heart of man, be admitted

as a true one.

Yet these points are not only disputed but denied, and by some persons in the most unqualified terms. The epithets, irrational, absurd, and enthusiastic, are freely applied both to the doctrines and to those who hold them; and the magisterial and decisive tone, in

which these charges are made, has supplied the want of solid argument in their support. I do not wonder, that sentiments so favourable to the pride of man, and which lay but little restraint upon his inclinations, should be readily adopted by many, who are content to let others think for them. But I marvel that you are so soon removed from the truth you professed, to another Gospel. Yet I hope you are not removed, though for the present unsettled; and that the Lord will so humble and instruct you by your fall, as to make it the occasion of establishing you more firmly than ever. I wave argumentation, and appeal to facts; and I shall confine myself to the consideration of a single point, because it is the central point, which has an influence upon every other religious sentiment. You once believed that Jesus, the Saviour of sinners, possesses all the attributes and perfections of Deity, that he ever was, and ever will be, the proper object of divine worship; but now you hesitate: your attention has been drawn to what is commended to you, as a more rational scheme. But they who are agreed to deny the eternal power and Godhead of the Lord Jesus, cannot agree among themselves who, or what He is. Some peremptorily affirm that he is a mere man, like one of us; others suppose him to be of the angelic order, perhaps of the highest rank, possibly superior to them all, but yet a creature, consequently no more worthy of divine honour (and in my view no more competent to the work of redemption) than a worm. If you read on both sides, you will find that. the Arian and Socinian writers, abundantly prove that the sentiments which they gently oppose in each other, cannot be reconciled either with Scripture, or with plain common sense. But their opposition is so very gentle, their reciprocal candour and esteem so great, and their mutual dislike of our principles so very sin

cere and strong, that it seems, upon their plans, to be of little importance, what or how we think of Christ, provided we do not think of him too highly; but let us judge from what we see and feel, and decide accordingly.

1. The truth or falsehood of our religious principles, may not be easily discernible, by their effects, in a time of prosperity. The house built upon a sand, may seem to stand as firm as that which is built upon the rock, till the floods and storms come to try them. But man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upwards. Admitting that the schemes which represent Christ as a creature, whose knowledge and power must of course be limited, may seem to suit and satisfy those who are at ease; they afford little consolation to a wounded conscience, or even to a person suffering under the various calamities to which every state of human life is liable, under the pressures of poverty, severe pain, and long illness or when the desire of our eyes is taken away by a sudden stroke; in cases where the help of man is found to be utterly in vain, there is a need of stronger arguments than the topics of what some call rational religion can suggest, to inspire peace, maintain hope, and influence the mind to a cheerful and willing submission to the will of God. Natural fortitude, and cold reasonings, more conformable to the philosophy of the heathens, than to the spirit of the Gospel, may stifle complaints; but to rejoice in tribulation, and in every thing to give thanks, are privileges peculiar to those, who can joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom they have obtained reconciliation. A cordial belief that he suffered for our sins, that we were accepted in him, that he is our shepherd, full of care, compassion, and power; who knows the very thoughts and feelings of the heart, and who, having been tempted for us, is

able and ready to succour us in all our temptations : a persuasion that his wisdom and love preside over all our dispensations; a liberty of applying to him for strength according to our day, confirmed by a thousand past proofs, that when we have called upon him, he has heard, supported, and delivered us: a humble confidence, which only he can give, that the heaviest afflictions are light, and the longest momentary, compared with that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, to which he is leading us by them; and that sense of the demerit of our sins, only fully to be estimated by the value of the necessary atonement, which will always constrain us to acknowledge that our greatest sufferings are less than our iniquities deserve. Considerations of this kind come home to our bosoms, are fully adequate to our wants, communicate a peace passing understanding, and enable those who feel their influence, to say "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth "him good;" and often they can add, to the astonishment of those who know not the power of their principles, As the sufferings of Christ (those which we endure for his sake or from his hand) abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

2. This reminds me of another important point. If there be an hereafter; if every one of us must give an account of himself to God and be unalterably fixed in a state of happiness, or misery, according to his righteous award, a thinking person, who professes to believe that he must appear at the tribunal of the great, impartial, omniscient Judge, can hardly have any true enjoyment of his situation here, but in proportion as he is favoured with a well-grounded hope (for a false and ill grounded hope, where such vast consequences are depending, must be an awful delusion indeed) that it will be well with him when he shall go hence and be no more seen. Certainty

upon this head, or the nearest possible approaches to certainty, must surely be highly desirable. Let us inquire which scheme bids fairest to afford this satisfaction. If well grounded, it must be built upon truth, and consequently it cannot be stronger than the conviction we have, that the principles are true upon which we build.

An ingenious writer* of the present day, though he thinks the Socinian doctrine "not only renders the "Scripture UNINTELLIGIBLE, but Christianity

itself INCREDIBLE," is pleased, notwithstanding, to give it a marked preference to what he styles the Athanasian or Calvinistic scheme, which he says, "I reject with strong conviction." But in the same page, in the very next preceding period, he frankly acknowledges, "I can, in this instance as in most “others, with much more confidence say what is "NOT, than what is the truth." It may perhaps be justly questioned, whether a man who declares him, self uncertain what is the truth, can be competently qualified to decide with confidence, what is not the truth. He elsewhere says to the same purpose, "Indeed I seldom feel much of that satisfaction "which some derive from being sure they have

found out truth." In another publication, he gives the following account of his studies, and the result of his inquiries: "In early life, I was struck with "Bishop Butler's Analogy of Religion, natural and "revealed, to the constitution and course of nature. "I reckoned it happy for me, that this book was one "of the first that fell into my hands; it taught me "the proper mode of reasoning on moral and reli. "gious subjects, and particularly the importance of "paying a due regard to the imperfection of human "knowledge. His sermons also, I thought, and do

Dr. Price. ↑ Sermons lately printed, p. 158, 193.