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rounding worlds. As a plant cannot be nourished by the superficial application of strange sap to its rind, but by a sap peculiar to its own nature, which, flowing beneath its bark, penetrates, enlivens, and nourishes every part of the plant: so the conduct of a man cannot possibly be reformed by notions or doctrines collected from books, but by those, which; penetrating be yond his judgment, insinuate themselves into his heart, and become incorporated with his very being.

This answer cannot justly be regarded as a vain subterfuge. To be convinced of its solidity, it will be sufficient to consider how the soul is affected according to the different degrees of any impression that is made upon it. While Jacob was still lamenting the supposed death of Joseph, Reuben informed him, that his beloved son was yet alive, and enjoying the second place of dignity in Egypt. These tidings at first appeared delusive to the good old man, who was no otherwise affected by them, than by some extravagant relation. But when the affirmations of Reuben were seconded by the joint testimony of his other sons, his earnest attention was immediately excited, his incredulity was gradually overcome, and his fainting heart began to revive. The waggons and presents of Joseph now appearing, in confirmation of his childrens' report, his doubts were entirely dissipated: "My son," cried he, " is yet alive! I will go and see him before I die." This animating persuasion, "Joseph is yet alive," seemed to restore the languishing patriarch to all the vigour of former years. He renounced a terrestrial Canaan; he turned his back upon the tombs of Isaac and Rachel; and, with all the courage of youth, set forward to embrace his newly discovered son in Egypt." So certain it is, that a truth in which we are deeply interested, will change, in some degree, our very nature, and modify the soul itself.

Thus the Gospel of Gon our Saviour affects every true believer. And why should Egypt have greater charms than Heaven? Or, why should an invitation

from the virtuous son of Rachel have greater weight, than that which comes from the divine son of Mary? Were the fruits which Joseph sent his father to be preferred before those of the Spirit, with which Christ replenishes his favoured Israel? Ory did the dissembling sons of Jacob merit greater credit, than the Apostles of - our exalted Lord, though seconded by that noble army of martyrs, who have sealed with their blood the truths of the Gospel; Alas! if the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel, (for we speak not here of those human additions, by which it is too frequently disfigured and weakened) had but deeply penetrated our hearts, we should bear testimony, by our conduct, to the truth of the following assertion...." If any man be indeed a christian, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; all things are become new."

But why should we go back to the times of Jacob, to prove that doctrines have an influence upon the conduct of men, in proportion to the degree of faith with which they are received? Let us return and cast a retrospective view over the various circumstances of our past life. If we have at any time felt a lively persuasion of the truth of the Gospel: If, at our first approaching the sacramental table, or after hearing some pathetic sermon, we have really believed, "that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself," and promising his people, in return for their temporary labours, everlasting rewards ;....have we not, at such a moment, perceived the love of God and man, springing up in our hearts? Now, if this partial persuasion had spread itself through the whole soul, would not our devotion, our humility, and our charity, have been carried to a much higher degree of perfection, than we have hitherto experienced? Would not our good works of every kind, have been abundantly more excellent and numerous,than we cannow possibly pretend to.?

On the other hand, let us look back to the days of youth, and we shall recollect a time, in which the doctrines of the Gospel began to lose the little influ

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ence they had once maintained over our conduct : we shall remember, at least, when the licentious principles of worldly men, and the false maxims of infidel philosophers, insinuated themselves into our corrupted hearts. And have we not since that time experienced, that the strictest connexion subsists between those maxims and immorality? Have we not from that unhappy period, become more debauched in sentiment, less circumspect in our outward behaviour, and more disposed to trample upon the principles of natural religion, as well as upon evangelical precepts? From these observations, we shall proceed to draw the following inferences:

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If morality may be compared to a tree, whose fruit is for the nourishment of mankind, true doctrines may be considered as the roots of this tree. Take away these doctrines under pretence that they embarrass morality, and you ridiculously eut away the roots of this sacred plant, lest they should prove an impediment to its rising perfection. Now he, who thus seeks the morality of the Gospel by reprobating evangelical doctrines, would act entirely consistent with his character, was he to plant his orchards with trees deprived of their roots, in order that they might produce the more excellent fruit.

2. As in the vegetable kingdom, fruits are nourished and matured by that vegetative energy, which draws the sap from the root, refining, and distributing it among the several branches: so in the moral world, charity and good works can only be produced by that living faith, which first receives the doctrines of truth, and then becomes a kind of vehicle to their invigorating virtue. This faith was rightly characterized by Christ and his Apostles, when they represented it as the grace, by which we are principally saved; since this grace alone is capable of producing in us that Jively hope, that ardent charity, and that universal obedience, which will ever distinguish the believer from the infidel. He, therefore, who declaims against

this scriptural faith, whether he be a novice or a philosopher, indirectly pleads the cause of vice, and gives sufficient proof of his spiritual ignorance.

3. From what has been advanced, we may infer the necessity there is, of avoiding the mistake of the gnostics on the one hand; and the error of incredulous sages on the other: the former of whom, contending for a speculative faith, salute Christ as their Lord, though they refuse to obey his commands; while the latter holding faith in the utmost derision, and depending upon their own power for the performance of every good work, pollute, by unworthy mo tives, the most excellent of their actions.

CHAP. XI.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

AS many have taken great offence in observing, how little effect the doctrines of the Gospel have upon the lives of christians so called, it becomes us here to enquire into the causes of this grand evil.

The doctrines which distinguish christianity from theism, have this peculiarity, that no man can possibly receive them, unless he has first sincerely embraced the doctrines of theism. He must believe in God, before he can believe in Christ; he must have the sin cerity of an honest heathen, before he comes to the possession of christian charity. It is usual with the whole multitude of outward professors to cry out in their public services; "We believe in Jesus Christ: We believe in the Holy Ghost:" &c. though their faith, it may be, is not equal to that of devils, who believe in a the existence of a rewarding and avenging God, with sincerity sufficient to make them tremble before him. These

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hypocrites can no more be said to believe, from the heart, the latter articles of the Apostles' Creed, than those children, who are yet unacquainted with the alphabet, may be said to have perused and digested the most profound authors. The doctrines of the Gospel must necessarily appear both useless and absurd to those, whose faith in God is not sufficient to penetrate them with a holy fear: for as we cannot arrive at manhood without first passing through the state of infancy, so we cannot cordially receive the latter part of the Apostles' Creed, till we have first embraced the former part by a lively and stedfast faith. Why did Caiphas refuse to believe in Christ? Because he was but an hypocrite with respect to the Jewish faith. On the contrary, why did Cornelius the centurion so readily believe? It was, undoubtedly, because the sincerity of his faith in God had prepared his heart for the reception of faith in Christ. "Every man," saith this divine Saviour, " that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Ye who believe in God, believe also in me and I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth."

These fundamental doctrines compose the ladder of evangelical truth, in which he, who takes offence at any single step, runs a double hazard, that of ascending no higher, and even that of falling from the step where he has obstinately determined to take up his rest. "He that doeth truth, cometh to the light;" but he that refuses the first truth, places himself beyond the possibility of receiving those, which are of a more sublime nature. If he has not first observed the dawn of the Gospel day, he can never contemplate our divine Sun, when shining in his meridian bright

ness.

The articles of the christian faith may be compared to a course of geometrical propositions, the last of which always suppose a perfect knowledge of the first. To require of spiritual infants any high and

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