who are trained up for her service. And hence will she hope to lead them forth, warmed with the instructions which they have received, and the examples they have beheld, to diffuse that knowledge which they have here imbibed, and thus to remove the growing delusion.

To prepare them for this important service, we must begin by endeavoring to possess them with just and clear conceptions of that faith which they are to defend, that faith which is the life and soul of our whole religion, and without which it can neither be understood, nor taught, nor practised as it ought to be. And to engage us in these labors, we who are devoted to the study of all true and valuable knowledge, have inany motives peculiar to ourselves.

Were it the cause of abstracted truth alone, that were sufficient to render it interesting here, we would be thought to reason justly, and to think with propriety in matters of science alone; and to have clear and distinct ideas of all those objects which are seen by the fainter light of reason only: what then must be our reproach, if through our inattention, we suffer perplexity and confusion to remain around those great objects upon which all the brightness of revelation shines! Even philosophy calls for our diligence here, if christianity did not. And ill should we acquit ourselves towards our Creator who hath given us reason and abilities, and towards his good providence, who, by the hands of our foun

ders and benefactors, hath blessed us with the means of improving them, if whilst we exert them in cultivating every branch of amusing or instructive science, we should neglect in the mean time to exercise them on the noblest of all objects; on that wherein our own happiness, the honor of God, and the good of mankind are all equally concerned.

May we ever keep this object in our view! and when our holy religion shall be in danger of being obscured by ignorance, superstition, or enthusiasm, may the true light of the gos pel be preserved here; and shining forth from hence, may the gathering clouds of error and delusion be dispersed before it, and the sacred, saving truths of revelation again break forth in all their brightness, and be confessed every where in their native purity!

IF

SECTION IV.

Of the Origin of Faith.

'F we would understand the true ORIGIN OF FAITH, we must have recourse to the great Author and Finisher of it.

By what means then did our Saviour, by what means did his Apostles, originally implant faith in the minds of the first converts ? Did they implant it? or, did they leave it to

be produced entirely by the inward operation of the Holy Spirit?

. These are inquiries which the gospel alone

can answer.

When the Jews demanded from our Lord an open and explicit declaration, whether he was the Messiah, or not, he replied only by an appeal to those works which he did in his Father's name. These works, he said, spake for him, and would decide this matter more clearly than any words of his own could do. "Jesus walked in the temple, in Solo"mon's porch. Then came the Jews round "about him, and said unto him, How long "dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the "Christ, tell us plainly.

"them, I told you and ye "The works that I do in my they bear witness of me."

Jesus answered

believed not. Father's name,

And afterwards

he adds, “If I do not the works of my Father, "believe me not. But if I do, though ye be"lieve not me, believe the works."*

In this passage our Lord clearly makes faith dependant on the testimony of his miracles. "If he did the works of his Father, he tells "the Jews, they ought to believe those works." On no other supposition doth he require their belief in him. "If he did not the works of "his Father, he leaves them at full liberty to reject his claim, and to withdraw their be"lief;" contented that their faith should stand * John x. 22, &c,

or fall, as it should appear to be supported by this kind of evidence, or to want that support.

It is not on this occasion alone that our Saviour lays this ground of faith: we find it every where resting on the same foundation. His addresses to the understanding, his application of argument and reasoning, his appeals to external evidence, abound in all his discourses, and meet us in every part of his history. The instances of this kind are too numerous to be fully recited, much less to be insisted and enlarged upon as their importance deserves. I shall content myself therefore with laying before my readers a recapitulation of what hath been extracted from the evangelical writings to our purpose; and shall give them in general, the result of a careful and attentive perusal of the gospels, and the history of the apostolical labors. This I shall do in the first place; and then shall add such reflections, as I hope may throw some light upon this important subject.

In the first place then, we are expressly told, that the design of our Lord's forerunner was "to prepare the way of the Lord;" to dispose the hearts of men for that purer dispensation which was now to take place, and to turn their attention towards that great personage who was about to rise. *"He came for a witness, "to bear witness of the light, that all men "through him might believe." By his attes tation, and by the many extraordinary cir* John i. 7.

cumstances in his birth and ministry, he introduced and opened the evidence for the di, vine mission of our Lord.

The peculiar force of John's testimony lay in its being prophetical. Every common be holder could own our Lord to be the Messiah, after they had seen his miracles. But John bare witness to him before he had given any proofs of a divine power. It was his part to close the prophetical evidence of our Lord's divine mission. "He was a Prophet :" but he was at the same time "more than a Proph"et." For it was his great office to introduce that new dispensation which the other Proph ́ets had only foretold. This peculiar situation gave occasion to a remarkable difference in the manner of confirming their testimony. All the ancient Prophets were at a great distance from the grand object which they foretold. Hence it was necessary that they should be enabled to confirm their prophecies,a nd to procure them credit amongst their contemporaries, by miracles, or by some collateral prophecy which received a speedy accomplishment. But the language of the Baptist was, "Behold the Lamb of God !" "There "standeth one among you who is greater than "I." John therefore, as we read, "did no "miracle: but all things that John spake of "this man were true." His testimony to the character of our Lord was verified by the event; and his predictions were supported,