men, as are sufficient to warrant the utter rejection of it. Its pretensions to be a divine revelation cannot, as we shall afterwards see, stand the test of the slightest examination.

2. That a revelation of the will of God is desirable to mankind, few, I presume, will deny. "I have met with. no serious person," says Paley, "who thinks that, even under the Christian Revelation, we have too much light, or any degree of assurance which is superfluous." At the same time, I would premise, before entering on the observations which I am about to make on this subject, that if the proofs of the divine authority of Christianity be defective, the presumption in their favour, arising from its necessity to the comfort and improvement of man, will not be sufficient to establish them. All that is aimed at by showing the desirableness and necessity of a divine revelation is, to evince that there is no antecedent probability against it; but that, on the contrary, there is much to warrant the expectation, that the Father of mercies has been pleased to grant it.

3. It seems scarcely necessary to define what is meant by the terms with which we are so familiar,—Natural and Revealed Religion. The former of these expressions has been used by some to denote every thing in religion, with regard to truth and duty, which, when once discovered, may be clearly shown to have a real foundation in the nature and relations of things, and which unprejudiced reason will approve, when fairly proposed and set in a proper light. And, accordingly, very fair and goodly schemes of natural religion have been drawn up by Christian philosophers and divines, in which they have comprehended a considerable part of what is contained in the Scripture revelation; that is, the important truths and principles relating to the existence, the unity, the perfections, and attributes of God, his governing providence and moral administration, the worship that is due to him, the law that is given to mankind, or the whole of moral duty

in its just extent, as relating to God, our neighbours, and ourselves, the rewards and punishments of a future state, and other articles nearly connected with these, or dependent upon them. And after having taken great pains to show that all this is perfectly agreeable to sound reason, and founded in the nature of things, they have honoured the whole with the name of natural religion. It cannot be denied, that it is a real and great service to religion to show, that the main principles and duties of it are what right reason must approve.

4. But it does not follow, that because these things, when once clearly discovered, may be proved to be agreeable to reason, and to have a real foundation in the nature of things, that therefore reason alone, in the present state of mankind, if left to itself, without higher assistance, would merely, by its own force, have discovered all these things with their genuine consequences, and have applied them to their proper uses, for directing men in the true knowledge and practice of religion. "A great many things," says Mr Locke, "which we have been bred in the belief of from our cradles, we take for unquestionable truths, and easily demonstrable, without considering how long we might have been in doubt or ignorance of them, had revelation been silent. Every one may observe a great many truths, which he receives at first from others, and readily affirms to be consonant to reason, which he would have found it hard, and perhaps beyond his strength, to have discovered himself. Native and original truth is not so easily wrought out of the mine, as we, who have it ready dug and fashioned to our hands, are apt to imagine."-" It is one thing," says Dr Clarke, "to see that those rules of life, which are beforehand plainly and particularly laid before us, are perfectly agreeable to reason, and another thing to find out these rules merely by the light of reason, without their having been first any otherwise known. Accordingly, some able and strenuous assertors of natural religion, or the law of nature,

though they contend that it is founded in the nature of things, and agreeable to right reason, yet derive the original promulgation of it from divine revelation." Puffendorff observes, that "it is very probable that God taught the first men the chief heads of natural law, which were afterwards preserved and spread among their descendants by means of education and custom; yet this does not hinder but that the knowledge of these laws may be called natural, inasmuch as the truth and certainty of them may be discovered in a way of reasoning, and in the use of that reason which is natural to all men."

5. According to others, natural religion is not merely that which is naturally and necessarily known to all men, but that which reason, duly exercised and improved, is able by its own natural force to discover, without the assistance of extraordinary revelation. In other words, it is that which is discovered, or which is presumed might have been discovered, by the unaided light of reason.

By revealed religion, on the contrary, as distinguished from that which is usually called natural, is to be understood that knowledge of religion which was originally communicated in an extraordinary and supernatural way, by an immediate revelation from God. 'If, therefore, there be such a thing as revealed religion; if it hath pleased God to make discoveries of his will to mankind, with regard to religious truth and duty, in a way of extraordinary revelation, the most natural way, and that which is best accommodated to the present state of mankind, seems to be this, that the revelation should be imparted to some person or persons, to be by them communicated to others in his name; at the same time, furnishing them with sufficient proofs and credentials, to show that they were indeed sent and inspired by Him; and that the doctrines and laws they publish to the world in his name, were really and originally communicated by revelation from him."

6. That the communication of such revelation is possible

to God, cannot be denied by any one who admits his being, and who entertains just ideas of his perfections. He who has formed us capable of knowing himself, and the relations in which we stand to him, can surely convey all necessary knowledge to our minds. "Can it be supposed that the Author of our being has it not in his power to communicate ideas to our minds, for instructing and informing us in what it nearly concerns us to know? Our not being able clearly to explain the manner in which this is done, is no just objection against it. An extraordinary action of God upon the human mind, which the word inspiration is now used to denote, is not more inconceivable than the ordinary action of mind on body, or body on mind." Such was the opinion of Lord Bolingbroke, though he was himself among the opposers of divine revelation. It is superfluous, therefore, to offer observations in proof of a position which it seems impossible for any one to deny who acknowledges the being and providence of God.

Nor is it less evident that God can infallibly attest the revelation which he is pleased to communicate, and give sufficient evidence that it proceeds from himself. No one can doubt this who believes that God is possessed of almighty power, and that he can do whatever does not involve a contradiction.

7. The next questions for our consideration are-Is it probable that God has given an extraordinary revelation of his will to mankind? and is such a revelation necessary?

In prosecuting the important inquiry which these questions suggest, I would premise, that we ought to guard against unduly exalting or depreciating the light of nature and the power of reason. The knowledge which is legitimately acquired from these, to whatever extent it may reach, cannot be opposed to the knowledge which is obtained from revelation. For, though the latter discovers several things relative to truth and duty, which the for

mer could not have discovered at all, or not with sufficient clearness and certainty; yet, as both are supposed to proceed from God, there must be a harmony between them. They are therefore not to be set in opposition; nor is the one of them designed to exclude the other. In fact, God manifested himself in both these ways from the beginning; so that it may, with the greatest propriety and justness, be said, that he has never left himself without witness.

8. At the same time, we must guard against the fallacy entertained by persons unfriendly to revealed religion, of esteeming, as the offspring of mere reason, those fair and beautiful systems of natural religion which men have composed by the light of revelation. If we take into account the influence of a primitive revelation on the opinions of mankind, we shall find it difficult to determine what is the precise limit in regard to knowledge to which human reason, if left to itself, would have advanced. Far less can this limit be fixed with respect to those who enjoy the discoveries of divine revelation. The question, as to the desirableness and necessity of divine revelation, is to be decided by actual facts. To the consideration of this question we shall now proceed.

That there are probable grounds a priori to expect a divine revelation, will appear from a consideration of the following particulars.

9. (I.) From the infinite importance and utility of religion to mankind. The constitution of human nature renders it necessary to its happiness and moral improvement, to its enjoyment of present blessings, and to its hope of future good. It only furnishes the foundation of whatever is great and holy in man. It only meets the extent of his wants, and is commensurate with his immortal existence. What were man without some knowledge of its principles and doctrines, without the restraints which it imposes, the purification which it effects, the