soaring thoughts have led us, at any time, to conclusions at variance with what was held as scriptural in the primitive church, let us at least have the modesty to suppose that there is a possibility, yea that there is a probability of our being in error; and commencing our inquiries anew, let our object be not self-vindication, but to discover wherein the flaw in our reasoning consists; for, to conclude in the words of a divine, of whose learning, judgment, and caution there can be but one opinion: "If what appears probably to be taught in Scripture, appears certainly to have been taught in the primitive and catholic church, such probability, so strengthened, carries with it the force of demonstration 3"

Waterland, Pref. to Moyer's Lecture.

SERMON V.

MATT. vii., the 13th and three following verses.

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the

gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which there be which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.

It is in the concluding portion of the sermon on the mount that the words of our text occur. And verily, my brethren, if the virtues inculcated in this divine discourse, and the duties it enjoins, be incumbent upon all who name the name of Christ, strait indeed must be the gate and narrow the way that leadeth unto life.

We are to be pure in spirit, humble in thought, and meek in temper; we must not only abstain

from the perpetration of evil, but eradicate every evil desire: we must hunger and thirst after righteousness: and, loving peace, we must, nevertheless, be ready to sacrifice peace, yea even life itself, for the maintenance and propagation of God's truth: we are to eschew vain glory, and yet, while not looking to the praise of the world as the end of our actions, we are to let the light of our example shine before men, that, seeing our good works, they too may glorify God: we are neither to indulge ourselves nor to sanction in others the wilful breach of the least of the commandments, and anger and every other evil passion are to be mortified, though it be to us as the plucking out of a right eye, or the cutting off of a right hand with an earnest desire of doing the duties of the station to which we are called, we are to unite that unhesitating acquiescence and ready submission to the will of Providence made known to us by circumstances as they occur, which forms an essential ingredient in the virtue of faith and in order to sustain this habit in us, we are (not without fasting) to have recourse to prayer: lenient in our judgment of others, severe only to ourselves, we are, in short, to be pious, benevolent, and self-denying.

Such is a brief catalogue of some of the leading

topics of that sermon on which the true Christian delights to meditate, and never can meditate without self-abasement,-for brief and imperfect as this summary may be, we cannot come to its conclusion without feeling, I repeat, how strait is the gate and how narrow the way that leadeth unto life. But far more do we feel how strait indeed must that gate be, and how narrow that way, when we reflect that to render the one accessible and to open the other, it was necessary for the everlasting Son of God to empty himself of his glory, to take upon him our nature, and being found in fashion as a man to die the ignominious death of the cross.

And yet, my brethren, (plain as this appears to be,) if we look to the world, what is it that we find? Do we not see the generality of mankind assuming for granted the very contrary of all this, acting as if nothing could be broader than the way, nothing wider than the gate that leadeth unto life, nothing easier than to pass through its crowded portals? If it be admitted that there may be a heaven, does there not seem to be a practical scepticism as to the existence of a hell? Is there not a careless, thoughtless assumption of the benevolence of the Deity, with, at the same time, an utter forgetfulness of his justice? and is it not, in consequence, taken for

granted that we may do as we will here, and yet that all will be well hereafter? Whereas, in point of fact, the benevolence of the Deity is precisely that attribute which natural religion finds it most difficult to establish. The universe exhibits such marks of design, and of a designing mind, that the fool is scarcely in these days to be found who says in his heart there is no God. And if there be a God, it will soon be admitted that he is a Being almighty; for to assert the contrary is to assume the existence of a cause prior to the first, and of a Lawgiver higher than the highest. A God not omnipotent is no God in the proper sense of the word. But though his eternal power of Godhead are thus clearly seen, whether (without the aid of revelation) we could say as much with respect to the divine benevolence and mercy, this may admit of a doubt. In pursuing this enquiry, the existence of evil meets us at every turn. The argument a priori that we can conceive no reason why the Deity should be malevolent is merely an appeal to our ignorance. That there is more of happiness than of misery in the world, we may indeed gratefully acknowledge; but still the question recurs, if God be omnipotent, why the evil at all? It is true that the design in all things is benevolent, the evil only incidental, it