Abstruse speculations never had, and never can have, any influence on the generality of mankind. Few can comprehend them, even when founded in truth; and even those to whom they are intelligible feel them as possessing no operative power. Religious truth, therefore, must be conveyed in popular language, and insinuated into the bosom in such narratives and details of simple facts as fix attention, and rouse the active principles of our nature, Religion is intended for the great body of mankind, not, like the hea then mysteries, to be confined to the initiated few, nor, like the doctrines of the ancient philosophers, of a nature and description to be exhibited and unfolded only within the walls of particular schools, But, as it is for general use and benefit, so it must be adapted to the attainment of this end. It must be suited to the present state of human na, ture, and to those capacities which belong to mankind. It must be calculated both to convince their understandings and to affect their hearts, The former cannot be accomplished without popularity of instruction, nor the latter without the representation of affecting objects.

9thly, The very idea of religion implies religious worship, worthy of its object, and adapted to the nature and condition of those who offer it. With respect to this point, human ignorance has led to the grossest absurdities, and human corruption has introduced the most atrocious

rites. No religion could exist in the world without a religious service, by which just sentiments concerning Deity, becoming affections towards him, and the moral duties which these inculcate, must be unfolded, cherished, and enforced. This service ought to be simple, but at the same time, affecting, impressive, yet removed from superstitious pomp and pageantry; but above all, adapted to improve and amend the heart, to enlighten the understanding, to confirm and corroborate moral obligation, and to draw more closely the social and civil ties by which mankind are united. Such a service af fords the strongest incitements, encouragements, and supports to virtue, and has a powerful tendency to expose, arrest, and intimidate vice. Instead of being, as were the foolish and immoral rites of paganism, an object of secret ridicule or of abhorrence to the enlightened and virtuous mind, it must excite the reverence and attract the yeneration of every wise and good man, as the most powerful means of improving and humanizing his species, and of advancing their happiness through every stage of their existence. In such a service, every person capable of reflec tion, impressed with reverence for God, and animated by the love of mankind, will join with sincerity and delight, and feel his best affections attached to their proper objects, gratified by their sweetest indulgence, and improved in their

most elevated energies. He will consider the discharge of religious duties so characterized, not merely in the light of an important duty, but in that of a satisfaction of the highest intellectual and moral order, and will regard indifference to them as a reproach to his understanding, and a degradation to those feelings which he cherishes as the highest ornament of man.

Now, what must be the chief constituent parts of such religious service? Prayer, and praise to God; the explanation of the doctrines and precepts of true religion; the inculcation of the latter by every persuasive, and every motive calculated to lead to their practice, and to render virtue amiable, and vice abhorrent to the hearers; and such external rites as, while they affect the senses, disgust not the understanding, but rather tend to engage it in the service of practical piety.

Prayer is the natural effusion of the heart, feeling its dependence on Deity, warmed with the contemplation of his perfections, conscious of the violation of duty, anxious for pardon and reconciliation, and eagerly desirous of direction, improvement, and support. The soul of man, till it degenerate into sensual and remorseless indifference to all that is generous and exalted, delights in communion with the Father of spirits, experiences strength and conscious dignity from considering itself as placed under his immediate guidance and protection, and feels de

gradation and abasement by exclusion from such divine intercourse.

Praise is the appropriate expression of admiration of the divine attributes, and of all the grandeur and sublimity which these exhibit. Its theme is the noblest object to which the mind of man can be directed, and in comparison of which created nature fades and dwindles into utter insignificance. It is prompted by the contemplation of the divine works impressed with the most vivid signatures of wisdom, goodness, and power; particularly of the dispensations of God, towards dependent, feeble, and fallen man. Animated by the glow of gratitude, it bursts into the most rapturous strains of thanksgiving, and, on the wings of expanding devotion, bears the soul from earth to heaven. The imagination naturally kindles when such views are presented to it, and employs the noblest images and figures of poetical representation, clothes these with the most animated diction, and modulates them to those measures which delight the ear and captivate the heart.

The original poetry of all nations was dedicated to the praises of their deities. The only true God is certainly a more glorious object of the poetical art. There is only this difference, that false deities may be adorned by poetical colouring, and must derive from it their principal recommendation. All the efforts of human

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nius and human language must be inadequate to express the excellence and glory of the "King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God." Accordingly, holy scripture, inspired by himself, affords the only pure model of divine poetry.

To poetry, music is nearly allied, and the latter has always accompanied the former. Its efficacy in exciting and confirming tender, sublime, or devotional feelings, has been felt and acknowledged in all ages; and some species of it has generally been employed in religious worship, whether pure or corrupt. Those enchanting arts, poetry and music, can surely never be directed to so noble a purpose as that of celebrating the all-perfect Creator of the universe, the father, the governor, and the benefactor of the human race. But as the former, so the lat, ter, when thus employed, must be of that grave, serious, and simple character, which only is suited to the end in view. Whatever is light, airy, and frivolous in this branch of the fine arts, is not only discordant to this noble purpose, but by pernicious contrast degrades the service which it is intended to dignify, abstracts attention from things sacred, or associates them with the most frivolous sentiments of the human heart. Great discrimination is therefore necessary in the selection of music introduced into divine worship.

a 1 Tim. i. 17.