Do we then mean to admit, that the Almighty approves of these excesses in individuals, by which his wisdom often works for the general benefit? God forbid. Nothing surely could be less approved by him, than the licentiousness and cruelty of our eighth Henry, though He over-ruled those enormities for the advantages of the community, and employed them, as his instruments for restoring good government, and for introducing, and at length establishing, the reformation. England enjoys the inestimable blessing but the monarch is not the less responsible personally for his crimes. We are equally certain, that God did not approve of the insatiable ambition of Alexander, or of his incredible acquisition of territory by means of unjust wars. Yet, from that ambition, those wars, and those conquests, how much may the condition of mankind have been meliorated? The natural humanity of this hero, which he had improved by the study of philosophy under one of the greatest masters in the world, disposed him to turn his conquests to the benefit of mankind. He founded seventy cities, says his historian, so situated as to promote commerce and diffuse civilization. Plutarch* observes, that had those nations not been conquer which is discernable in past events, but, notwith-, opposite inclinations of equal violence; and standing the awful concussions of the present. through the direction of Providence, the pasperiod, we shall learn to trust Almighty wisdom sion finally predominant was generally favourand goodness for what is to come. And we able to the public good. shall be ready to indulge the hope of a yet great. ly increased happiness of mankind, when we consider, that the hand which brought us from barbarism to our present circumstances is still over us; that progression to still better habits is equally possible, and equally necessary; and that no means were rendered more conducive to such progress, in the period which is passed, than the agitations of the same awful and afflictive kind which we are now doomed to contemplate. It will be seen that the same Infinite wisdom often permits human evils to balance each other, and in subservience to his grand purpose of general good, not only sets good against evil, but often, where the counteracting principle of religion seems wholly suspended, prevent any fatal preponderance in the scale of human af fairs, by allowing one set of vices to counter. balance another. Thus, societies, which appear, on a general view, to have almost wholly thrown off the divine government, are still preserved for better things, or perhaps, for the sake of the righteous few, who still remain in them, by means of those exertions which bad men make from selfish motives; or by the vigilance with which one party of bad men watches over another. The clash of parties, and the opposition of human opinion, are likewise often over-ed, Egypt would have had no Alexandria, Mesoruled for good. The compages of the public potamia, no Selucia. He also informs us, that mind, if we may use such a term, are no less Alexander introduced marriage into one conkept together, than the component parts of quered country, and agriculture into another; matter, by opposite tendencies. And, as all that one barbarous nation, who used to eat their human agents are nothing but the instruments parents, was led by him to reverence and mainof God, he can with equal efficacy, though doubt-tain them; that he taught the Persians to reless not with the same complacency, cause spect, and not to marry their mothers; the the effects of evil passions to be counteracted Scythians to bury, and not to eat their dead. by each other, as well as by the opposite There was on the whole, something so extravirtues. For instance, were it not for indo-ordinary in the career of this monarch, and in the lence and the dread of difficulty and danger, results to which it led, that his historian Arrian, ambition would deluge the world in blood. amidst all the darkness of paganism, was in. The love of praise, and the love of indul-duced to say, that Alexander seemed to have gence, assist, through their mutual opposition, been given to the world by a peculiar dispensato keep each other in order. Avarice and tion of Providence. voluptuousness are almost as hostile to each Did the same just Providence, approve of other, as either is to the opposite virtues; there- the usurpation of Augustus over his fallen fore, by pulling different ways, they contribute country ?-No-but Providence employed it as to keep the world in equipoise. Thus, the same the means of restoring peace to remote prodivine hand, which had so adjusted the parts vinces, which the tyrannical republic had so and the properties of matter, as that their ap-long harassed and oppressed; and also of estab. parent opposition produces, not disruption, but harmony, and promotes the general order, has also conceived, through the action and counteraction of the human mind, that no jar of passion, no abuse of free agency, shall eventually defeat the wise and gracious purposes of heaven. lishing a general uniformity of law, and facility of intercourse between nation and nation, which were signally subservient to the diffusion of that divine religion, which was so soon to enlighten and to bless mankind. To adduce one or two instances more, were For an illustration of these remarks, we thousands might be adduced-Did the Almighty scarcely need go farther than the character of our approve those frantic wars which arrogated to own heroic Elizabeth. Her passions were na- themselves the name of holy? Yet, with all the turally of the strongest kind; and it must be ac-extravagance of the enterprise, and the ruinous knowledged, that they were not always under the controul of principle. To what then can we so fairly ascribe the success which, even in such instances, attended her, as the effect of one strong passion forcibly operating on another? Inclinations which were too violent to be checked by reason were met and counteracted by failure which attended its execution, many beneficial consequences, as has been already intimated, were permitted, incidentally, to grow out of them. The Crusaders, as their historians demonstrate,t beheld in their march, countries * Quoted by Gillies vol. iii. p. 385. † See especially Robertson's State of Europe in which civilization had made a greater progress than in their own. They saw foreign manufactures in a state of improvement to which they had not been accustomed at home. They perceived remains of knowledge in the East, of which Europe had almost lost sight. Their native prejudices were diminished in witnessing improvements to which the state of their own country presented comparative barbarity. The first faint gleam of light dawned on them, the first perceptions of taste and elegance were awakened, and the first rudiments of many an art were communicated to thein by this personal acquaintance with more polished countries. Their views of commerce were improved, and their means of extending it were enlarged. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the excess to which the popes carried their usurpation, and the Romish clergy, their corruptions, was, by the Providence of God, the immediate cause of the reformation. The taking of Constantinople by the Turks, though in itself, a most de plorable scene of crimes and calamities, became the occasion of most important benefits to our countries, by compelling the only accomplished scholars then in the world to seek an asylum in the western part of Europe. To these countries they carried with them the Greek language, which ere long proved one of the providential means of introducing the most important event that has occurred since the first establishment of Christianity. May we not now add to the number of instances in which Providence has over-ruled the crimes of men for good, a recent exemplification of the doctrine, in the ambition of that person, who, by his unjust assumption of imperial power in a neighbouring nation, has, though unintentionally, almost annihilated the wild outcry of false liberty, and the clamour of mad democracy? All those contingent events which lie without the limits and calculations of human foresight; all those variable loose uncertainties which men call chance, has God taken under his own certain disposal and absolute controul. To reduce uncertainty to method, confusion to arrange. ment, and contingency to order, is solely the prerogative of Almighty power. Nothing can be further from the intention of these remarks, than to countenance, in the slightest degree, the doctrine of optimism in the sense in which it was maintained by Mr. Pope. Far be it from the writer, to intimate that the good which has thus providentially been produced out of evil, is greater than the good, which would have been produced had no such evil been committed; or to insinuate, that the crimes of men do not diminish the quantity of good which is enjoyed. This would, indeed, be to furnish an apology for vice. That God can and does bring good out of evil, is unquestionably true; but to affirm, that he brings more, or so much good out of evil as he would have brought out of good, had good been practised, would be indeed a dangerous position. If, therefore, God often educes good from ill,' yet man has no right to count upon his always doing it in the same degree in which he ap points that good shall be productive of good. To resume the illustration, therefore, from a few of the instances already adduced; what an extensive blessing might Alexander, had he acted with other views and to other ends, have proved to that world, whose happiness he impaired by his ambition, and whose morals he corrupted by his example! How much more effectually, and immediately might the reformation have been promoted, had Henry, laying aside the blindness of prejudice, and subduing the turbulence of passion, been the zealous and consistent supporter of the protestant cause; the virtuous husband of one virtuous wife, and the parent of children all educated in the sound principles of the reformation? Again, had the popes effectually reformed themselves, how might the unity of the churches have been promoted: and even the schisms, which have arisen in protestant communities, been diminished! It would be superfluous to recapitulate other instances; these, it is presumed, being abundantly sufficient to obviate any charge of the most distant approach towards the fatal doctrine of Necessity. CHAP. XV. On the distinguishing character of Christianity. THE great leading truths of Scripture are few in number, though the spirit of them is diffused through every page. The being and attributes of the Almighty; the spiritual worship which he requires; the introduction of natural and moral evil in the world; the restora. tion of man; the life, death, character, and offices of the Redeemer; the holy example he has given us; the divine system of ethics which he has bequeathed us; the awful sanctions with which they are enforced; the spiritual nature of the eternal world; the necessity of repentance; the pardon of sin through faith in a Redeemer; the offer of divine assistance; and the promise of eternal life. The Scripture describes a multitude of persons who exemplify its truth; whose lives bear testimony to the perfection of the divine law; and whose characters, however clouded with infirmity, and subject to temptation, yet, acting under its authority and influence, evince, by the general tenor of their conduct, that they really embrace religion as a governing principle of the heart, and as the motive to all virtue in the life. In forming the mind of the royal pupil, an early introduction to these Scriptures, the depository of such important truths, will doubtless be considered as a matter of prime concern. And as her mind opens, it will be thought neces. sary to point out to her, how one great event led to another still greater; till at length we see a series accomplished, and an immovable foundation laid for our faith and hope, which includes every essential principle of moral virtue and genuine happiness. To have given rules for moral conduct might appear, to mere human wisdom, the aptest method of improving our nature.—And, accord Faith, then, in St. Paul's language, is religion in its simplest, inward principle. It is the deep and efficacious impression, which the manifestation of God, made to us in the Scripture, ought which it does not produce until, in answer to our earnest prayer, his holy Spirit opens, as it were, our hearts,' to receive the things which are thus presented to our minds. When the unseen realities of religion, are able to do more with us than the tempting objects of this visible world, then and not before, is the divine grace of faith really formed within us. ingly, we find such a course generally pursued, the divine realities. It is, in short, such a conby the ancient moralists, both of Greece and viction of what is revealed, as gives it an efficaAsia. Of this, it is not the least inconvenient cy equal for every practical purpose, to that result, that rules must be multiplied to a degree which is derived through the evidence of our the most burthensome and perplexing. And senses. there would be, after all, a necessity for incessant alteration, as the rules of one age could not be expected to correspond with the manners of another. This inconvenience might perhaps, in some degree be avoided, by entailing on a peo-in all reason to produce in our hearts; but ple an undeviating sameness of manners. But, even when this has been effected, how oppressively minute, and how disgustingly trivial are the authorized codes of instruction! Of this every fresh translation from the moral writings of the east is an exemplification; as if the mind could be made pure by overloading the memory! It is one of the perfections of revealed religion, that, instead of multiplying rules, it establishes That this is the scriptural idea of faith, will principles. It traces up right conduct into a appear at once, from a perusal of that most infew radical dispositions, which, when once fully teresting portion of Scripture the eleventh formed, are the natural sources of correspondent chapter to the Hebrews. The definition with temper and action. To implant these disposi- which the chapter commences, states this pretions, then, is the leading object of what we may cise notion: Faith is the substantiation of venture to call the Scripture philosophy. And things hoped for, the demonstration of things as the heart must be the seat of that which is to not seen." And the instances adduced are influence the whole man, so it is chiefly to the most satisfactory exemplifications. By faith, heart that the holy Scriptures address them- Noah, being warned of God of things not seen selves. Their object to make us love what is as yet, being moved with fear, prepared an ark,' right, rather than to occupy our understandings &c. By faith, Moses forsook Egypt, not fearwith its theory. Knowledge puffeth up, says ing the wrath of the king, for he endured as one of our divine instructors, but it is love that seeing him who is invisible.' With the heart,' edifieth. And the principle which is here assays St. Paul, man believeth unto righteoussumed, will be found most strictly true, that if ness; that is, when the infinitely awful and a love of goodness be once thoroughly implanted, inexpressibly engaging views of God, manifestwe shall not need many rules; but we shall act ing himself in the Scripture, as our Creator, aright from what we may almost call a noble Redeemer, and Sanctifier, really, and effectually kind of instinct. If thine eye be single,' says impress themselves on our hearts, so as to beour Saviour, thy whole body shall be full of come the paramount principle of inward and light. Our religion, as taught in the Scrip- outward conduct; then, and not before, we are ture, does, in this very instance, evince its hea- in the Scripture sense, believers. And this faith, venly origin. St. Paul, whose peculiar province if real, must produce love; for, when our minds it seems to have been to explain, as it were sci- and hearts are thus impressed, our affections entifically, the great doctrines of his master, must of necessity yield to that impression.-If gives us a definition of Christianity, which out- virtue, said a heathen, could be seen with human does at once in brevity, in fulness, and even in eyes, what astonishing love would it excite in systematic exactness all that has been achieved us! St. Paul's divine faith realizes this very in the art of epitomizing, by the greatest masters idea. If Moses endured as seeing him who of human science,—Faith which worketh by love. is invisible,' it could only be, because, in seeing It is not too much to affirin, that this expres- God, he beheld what filled up his whole soul, sion substantially contains the whole scope and and so engaged his hopes and fears, but, above tenor of both Testaments; the substance of all all, his love, as to raise him above the low almorality, and the very life and soul of human lurements of the world, and the puny menaces virtue and happiness. A want of attention to of mortals. It is said of him; that he accountwhat St Paul means by faith, too generally ed even the reproach of Christ greater riches makes the sense of the passage be overlooked. than the treasures of Egypt;' a preference But the well-directed student will discern, that which implies the strongest affection, as well as St. Paul assumes exactly what has been inti- the deepest conviction. His case, then, clearly mated above, that God's object in Revelation is illustrates what St. Paul says of faith working not merely to convey his will, but also to mani- by love; his apprehension of God being so deep fest himself; not merely to promulgate laws for and lively, as to fix his supreme love on that restraining or regulating conduct, but to display supreme excellence, which was thus, as it were, his own nature and attributes, so as to bring visible to his mind; the current of his temper, back to himself the hearts and affections of fallen and the course of his actions, followed this paraman; and that, accordingly, he means by faith, mount direction of his heart. the effectual and impressive apprehension of God, thus manifested. In his language, it is not a notion of the intellect, nor a tradition coldly residing in the recollection, which the Scriptures exhibit, but an actual persuasion of I thus venture to strengthen the expression in the authorised translation, in order to convey some clearer low, have, perhaps, a force to which no English words idea of the original terms, which, as the best critics alcan do justice. The Scripture then, in reality, does not so much teach us how to be virtuous, as, if we comply with its intention, actually makes us so. It is St. Paul's argument through the Epistle to the Romans, that even the most perfect code of laws which could be given, would fall infinitely short of our exigencies, if it only gave the rules without inspiring the disposition. The law of Moses had afforded admirable moral precepts, and even the sages of the heathen world had found out many excellent maxims; but, an inspiriting principle, by which men might be made to love goodness as well as to know it, was that of which the Gentiles, and, in some measure, the Jews also, stood in need. to furnish this principle by inspiring such & faith in God, as must produce love to God, and, by producing love to God, become operative in every species of virtue, is avowedly the supreme object of the gospel of Christ. ences, to be at once essential virtue, and essential happiness; and both united, are found to be that pure element in which rational intelligences are formed to live, and out of which they must ever be perturbed and miserable. But, to make the Scripture thus efficacious, it must be studied according to the will of him who gave it. It is said of our Saviour in the instance of his disciples, Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures;' and it is said of Lydia, saint Paul's first convert at Philippi, ‘That the Lord opened her heart, to attend to the things which were spoken of Paul.' We read of others of whom it is observed, the gospel was preached, but it did not profit them, because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it.' What follows? evidently, that the Scripture, to be read effectually, must be read devoutly, with earnest and constant prayer to him whose word it is, that he would so impress it on our hearts, by his good Spirit, that it may become the power of God unto salvation. If any man lack wisdom let him ask it of God,' says St. James, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.' But, one grand peculiarity of Christianity remains to be mentioned-That it addresses us not merely as ignorant, but as prejudiced and corrupt; as needing not merely instruction, but reformation. This reformation can be accom And, therefore, it is that the Scripture represents to us facts, and doctrines founded on facts, rather than theories; because facts are alone fitted to work on the heart. In theories, the understanding acts for itself; in apprehending facts, it acts subserviently to the higher powers of the soul, merely furnishing to the affections those objects for which they naturally look; and distinguishing false and seductive appearances from real sources of delight and comfort. In this way the sacred Scriptures make the fullest use of our rational powers, uniformly present-plished, these prejudices and these corruptions ing such facts, as grow clearer the more severely they are examined: completely satisfying our understandings, as to their aptness to the great purpose of working on our hearts, and, on the whole, making our religion as reasonable, as if, like the mathematical truth, it had been exclusively addressed to our intellect; while its influence on the rightly disposed heart gives such an inward proof of its divinity as no merely ra. tional scheme could, in the nature of things, possess. Let, then, the royal pupil be carefully taught, that Christianity is not to be examined, nor the sacred Scriptures perused, as if they were merely to be believed, and remembered, and held in speculative reverence. But, let it rather be impressed upon her, that the holy Scriptures are God's great means of producing in her heart, that awe of his presence, that reverence of his majesty, that delight in his infinite perfections, that practical affectionate knowledge of the only true God, and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent, which constitutes the rest, the peace, the strength, the light, the consolation of every soul which attains to it. Let her be taught to regard the oracles of God, not merely as a light to guide her steps, but, as a sacred fire to animate and invigorate her inmost soul. A purifying flame, like that upon the altar, from whence the seraph conveyed the coal to the lips of the prophet, who cried out, Lo! this hath touched my lips, and mine iniquity is taken away, and my sin is purged.' can be removed, only by divine power. It is a new creation of the soul, requiring no less than its original formation, the hand of the divine artificer. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness unto him.' God must reveal them by his Spirit: he must produce the disposition to receive them. To this end no kind of previous knowledge is more conducive than the knowledge of ourselves as fallen, depraved, and helpless creatures; and, therefore, absolutely requiring some such gra cious interposition in our favour as that which the Scripture offers. Exactly as the malady is felt, will the remedy be valued; and, consequently, no instruction can be more indispensable for the royal pupil, than that which tends to impress on her mind, that in this respect she stands on a level with the meanest of her fellow. creatures. That, from the natural corruption of every human heart whatever amiable qualities an individual may possess, each carries about with him a root of bitterness, which, if not counteracted by the above means, will spread itself through the whole soul, disfigure the character, and disorder the life; that this malignant principle, while predominant, will admit but of a shadowy and delusive semblance of virtue, which temptation ever dissipates, and from which the heart never receives solid comfort. Who can enumerate the hourly calamities which the proud, the self-willed, the voluptuous, are inflicting on themselves; which rend and lacerate the bosom, while no eye perceives it? Who can express the daily disappointment, the alternate fever and lassitude of him, whose heart knows of no rest, but what this disordered world That fear of God, which the Scripture, when used as it ought, never fails to inspire, is felt by the possessor to be essential wisdom; and that love of God, which it is no less fitted to excite, equally acknowledged by him whom it influcan afford? This book divides itself into two great portions, the first containing the account of a preparatory religion, given to a single nation; the latter describing the completion of the scheme, so far as to fit this religion for general benefit, and unlimited diffusion. 'Who then is happy? He alone, whether prince | fully to explain the simple phenomenon of such or subject, who, through the powerful and salu-a volume being in the world, on the supposition tary influence of revealed religion on his heart, of fabrication or imposture? is so impressed with things invisible, as to rise superior to the vicissitudes of mortality: who so believes and feels what is contained in the Bible, as to make God his refuge, his Saviour his trust, and true practical holiness the chief object of his pursuit. To such a one his Bible, and his closet, are a counterpoise to all the trials and the violence to which he may be exposed. Thou shalt hide them privily,' says the Psalmist, by thine own presence, from the provoking of all men; thou shalt keep them secretly in thy pavilion from the strife of tongues. CHAP. XVI. On the Scripture evidences of Christianity.-The Christian religion peculiarly adapted to the exigencies of men; and especially calculated to supply the defects of heathen philosophy. IF Christianity were examined with attention, and candour, it would be found to contain irresistible evidences of its divine origin. Those who have formed continued trains of argument in its support, have, no doubt, often effected very valuable purposes; but it is certain, that conviction may be attained in a much simpler method. In fact, it would imply a very reasonable charge against Christianity, if its proofs were of such a nature, that none but scholars or philosophers could feel their conclusiveness. Respecting the first great portion which we call the Old Testament, the leading features appear peculiarly striking. In this book alone, during those ages, was maintained the first great truth, of there being only ONE living and true God: which, though now so universally acknowledged, was then unconceived by the politest nations, and most accomplished philosophers. And respecting both portions of this book, but especially the latter, known by the name of the New Testament, this no less interesting remark is to be made, that, in every essential point, nearly the same view is taken of man's weaknesses and wants, of the nature of the human mind, and what is necessary to its ease and comfort, as is taken by the wisest heathen philosophers; with this most important difference, however, that the chief good of man, that pure perennial mental happiness, about which they so much discoursed, after which they so eagerly panted, but of which they so confessedly failed, is here spoken of substantially, in their notion of it, as a blessing actually possessed, and the feeling of it described in such language as bears, so far as it is possible for human expressions to bear, the stamp of conscious truth and unsophisticated nature. A book exists in the world, purporting to con- May we be allowed, in this connexion, to give tain the authentic records, and authoritative a superficial sketch of the defects in the system principles of the one true religion. It is obvi- of the ancient philosophers? The belief in a ously the work not of one person, or of one age. life to come was confined to a few, and even in Its earliest pages, on the contrary, are, beyond them this belief was highly defective. Those all sober question, the most ancient writings in who asserted it, maintained it only in a specuthe world; while its later parts were confessedly lative and sceptical way; and it would not be composed at a time much within the limits of easy to produce an instance of their using any historic certainty; a time, indeed, with which doctrine of rewards and punishments in a future we are better acquainted than with any other state, as their instrument in promoting virtue. period in the retrospect of ancient history; and They decorated their system with beautiful saywhich, like a distant eminence brightly illumi-ings, on the immortality of the soul; but they nated by the rays of the sun, is distinctly seen, while intermediate tracts are involved in impenetrable mist. did not support it upon this basis. There was, therefore, no foundation to their fabric. Poetry, indeed, had her Elysium, and her Tartarus. It appears, however, that the philosophy of Greece and Rome, in proportion as it advanced, diminished the strength of the impression which the poets had made on the minds of the vulgar, and thus the very religion of the sages tended to lessen among the people the sense of a future responsibility. Against the authority of this most interesting volume, numberless objections have been raised. But, who has yet clearly and satisfactorily shown how its existence, in the form it bears, can be rationally accounted for, on the supposition of its spuriousness? That a series of records originating so variously both as to time, occasion, and circumstances, should involve some obscu- The ancient philosophers had no idea of what rity or difficulty, or even in some instances ap- we designate by the name of the grace and parent incongruity, is surely no cause of won-mercy of God. They had some conception of der and that these should be dwelt upon and exaggerated by persons hostile to the principles which the volume contains, and which its truth would establish, is most natural. But, which of those objectors has ever been able to substitute a system less liable to objection? Have any of them given a satisfactory solution of the unparalleled difficulties which clog their hypothesis? Which of them has even attempted VOL. II. his bounty, of his providential care, of all his natural perfections; and of some even of his moral excellences; for example, of his benevo lence and justice. But their united wisdom never framed a sentence like that in which the true God was revealed to Moses: The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.' It is on this part |