The standard proposed by the Stoics was, the "eternal fitness of things;" by the Epicureans, "that which produces happiness ;" and by the Academicians, "a resemblance to the highest good." Now it is quite evident that each of these notions, (not excepting the last, which has some show of godliness,) leaves the whole subject a prey to the speculation and imagination of men; and therefore in a state of dark and hopeless uncertainty. It is the Bible, and the Bible only, which declares a standard of morals, universally applicable to our need, and liable to no change. That standard is the revealed will or law of God. The voice of Christianity proclaims that only to be virtue which the law of God prescribes, and that only to be vice by which the law is broken.

In proportion as the standard of morals is variable or uncertain, the motives to action become inoperative; because they are not excited in the mind by any clear principle, or by any acknowledged authority; and this is probably one principal reason why the practice of many of the wisest of the heathen, fell so far short of their own theories of virtue and religion.

The desire of happiness, for example — the

motive of the Epicurean philosophers — is in itself a strong one; yet as long as the line of conduct which produces the greatest happiness is left to be fixed by mere human wisdom, so long will this motive induce mankind to gratify their propensities, rather than deny themselves any present enjoyment for the sake of a possible future good.

But the motives to action presented to us in Scripture, are of the most binding and influential nature. They are the fear and love of God. The Bible declares, that the law of righteousness is the law of the moral Governor of the universe, who made us, who has a right to dispose of us as he pleases, and who will render to every one of us according to our deeds. We are therefore prepared to understand the full force of the precept, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." But the Being whom we are thus taught to fear, is presented to us in Scripture, as the object of our love, partly because he is in himself perfectly lovely — the spring and centre of all goodness,— but chiefly because he has so abundantly displayed his love and bounty towards ourselves.

Hence the first and great commandment of the law is this: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Christianity represents this commandment, as lying at the foundation of all true morality, because, while it points out our first duty, it supplies us with a motive, which leads to the right performance of every other duty.

And here we may briefly remark, that the unfolding of the law of God keeps pace, in Scripture, with the revelation of his love. For many ages before the birth of Moses, the traces of that great scheme of redemption, by which the love of God to man is chiefly displayed, were probably faint, and the known requirements of his law appear to have been limited. Under the Mosaic dispensation, the fore-shadows and prophecies of Christ became clearer and more abundant, and the moral law was strengthened and defined in proportion. Under the gospel, the love of God in Christ Jesus is explicitly revealed to us, and our gratitude thereby called into full action; and at the same time, the law is developed in all its spirituality, and all its comprehensiveness. The extent of

obedience required has been adapted, in every stage of the progress of truth, to the strength of the motive supplied. Yet that motive is always the same the love of God, who“ first loved us.”

Now I conceive that the infinite superiority of the sacred writers to all uninspired moralists, with respect to these main points a fixed standard and adequate motives · affords a plain evidence that they wrote by inspiration -that theirs and theirs only, is the religion of God.

But we shall come to the same conclusion, if we examine the morality of Scripture in some of its details. Let the literary sceptic peruse our Saviour's sermon on the mount; and let him carefully reflect on its principles and its precepts.

Where shall he look, among the heathen, for a moral code like this? Where shall he lay his finger on any similar display of the nature of virtue? Where for example, can he find any thing in the pages of Plato or Cicero, on the same level with the declaration, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God?" What would the Greek and Roman moralists furnish in the room of those nicely balanced

sayings, each so important in its place, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven ;" and "When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth ?" Or what would they enable us to substitute for the golden rule, "all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them?"

What mean the praises of meekness and patience, of submission and resignation, with which the Scripture abounds? what, the unceasing calls to communion with God, -to prayer and supplication? These are articles in the code of Christianity which are greatly opposed to the natural pride of man, and which vary, in the same degree, from the dictates of uninspired wisdom. Yet every one knows that they work well in practice; every one ought to acknowledge that they come from God.

There is no virtue on which the Scriptures more frequently insist than humility. "The sacrifices of God," said David,

e

66 are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God,

thou wilt not despise,"

*

a confession which

remarkably agrees with the words of our Lord,