My earnest request to you, is, that you will give them a fair. and dispaffionate hearing, and seek truth, at least, with as much warmth and affiduity, as we usually employ in our fecular pursuits. No man ever succeeded greatly in life, who did not embark zealously in its concerns. No man ever became a good scholar, without much time and application. And no man ever made any confiderable proficiency in things divine, till all the leading powers of his foul were engaged therein. Permit me then to exhort you to be in earnest in your religious enquiries. Apply your minds with zeal and impartiality to the investigation of facred wisdom. This is the concern, the duty, the privilege, the glory of every human being. The most ancient and fublime author in the world hath exhausted all the treafures of nature to express its intrinsic value: Where shall WISDOM be found? and where is the place of UNDERSTANDING? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth faith, It is not in me: and the sea faith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall filver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. The gold and the chrystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls; for the price of WISDOM is above rubies. The topas of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh WISDOM ? and where is the place of UNDERSTANDING?-Behold, the FEAR of the LORD, that is WisDOM; and to depart from evil is UNDERSTANDING. If fuch is the value of WISDOM, the search will undoubtedly repay the labour. But, have we any assurance that the inestimable treasure may be found? The Wifest of men will answer to our fatisfaction: My Son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; fo that thou incline thy ear unto WISDOM, and apply thine heart to UNDERSTANDING: yea, if thou criest after KNOWLEDGE, and liftest up thy voice for UNDERSTANDING: if thou seekest her as filver, and fearchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God-thou shalt understand righteouf Y 2 righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. All this implies the greatest poffible attention to our religious concerns. With these fine sentiments I take my leave, commending you to God, and to the Word of his grace, which is able to build you up, if you will submit to its authority, and to give you an inheritance among all them that are fanctified. If you are right, in your present state of mind, may you continue in the right way to the end of your days, and increase and abound therein more and more. I think, however, you should be extremely cautious how you contradict and blafpheme what so many wife and good men esteem the truth of God, left that come upon you, which is spoken of in the Prophets-Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish! -Speaking modeftly, your situation is not altogether without danger. It is impossible you should be perfectly fatisfied all is as you could wish*. "Since then we die but once, and after death "But when we have resign'd our breath "To endless joys, or everlasting woes; " His passage fafe, and his reception sure." As to myself, I am thoroughly satisfied with that GOD, that REDEEMER, and that SANCTIFIER which the Christian - Scriptures hold out to the view and acceptance of mankind, I am perfectly pleased with those Scripturest, and with all * He was no inconfiderable man who said, "To doubt of the Gospel is folly: to reject it is madness." JORTIN's Sermons, vol. 4. p. III. Let the sceptical reader confult Dr. ROBERTSON, the Historian's very sensible Discourse on the Situation of the World at the Time of CHRIST'S Appearance, and its Connection with the Success of his Religion. A conscientious reader cannot fail of being edified by such a difcourse. † When I have spoken above in such strong terms of the volume of Revelation, it is by no means intended to cast any flight upon the volume of Nature. While we daily study the former, we shall do well to pay all due attention to the latter, according to our opportunities of investiga all the divine dispensations therein recorded. bath done, is doing, and will do all things well. tion. To Our God It is altogether an enlightened observer, they both carry rry indubitable marks of • their great original. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth és full of his riches. The most perfect catalogue of stars, before the present ingenious and indefatigable Dr. HERSCHEL appeared, did not contain quite 5,000; but, by the vast superiority of his glasses, he hath discovered 44.000 stars in a few degrees of the heavens*; and by the fame proportion, it is supposed, that 75,000,000 are exposed in the expanse to human investigation. All these stars are of a fiery nature, and conjectured to be so many funs with their systems of planets moving round them. We know the fun to be the centre of our system. It is accompanied with 19 planets, besides about 450 comets. What an amazing idea does this give us of the works of GOD! And if such is the Work, what must the WORKMAN be! Every part of nature, moreover, with which we are acquainted, is full of living creatures, with stores of every kind to fupply their necessities. This little globe of ours is known to contain within its bowels a great variety of valuable minerals, and to be covered with about 20,000 different species of vegetables, 3,000 species of worms, 12,000 species of infects, 200 species of amphibious animals, 550 species of birds, 2,600 species of fish, and 200 species of quadrupeds. How immenfe then must be the number of individuals! One fly is found to bring forth 2000 at a time, and a single cod-fish to produce confiderably more than three millions and a half of young. Nay, Leewenhoek tells us, that there are more animals in the milt of a single cod fish, than there are men upon the whole earth. Over all these creatures preside upwards of 730 millions of human beings. Such is the family of the GREAT FATHER here upon earth! And when it is confidered, that the earth itself, with all its furniture, is no more, when compared with the whole system of things, than a single grain of fand, when compared with a huge mountain, we are lost in the immensity of God's works, and constrained to cry out, Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him. or the son of man that thou vifitest him! And if to this immensity of the works of creation, we add the admirable structure of the whole, and the exquifitive perfection of every part, we shall not fail of being exceedingly affected with the ineffable wisdom of the DIVINE ARCHITECT. То bring this confideration more within the grasp of human comprehenfion, let us take, as it were, to pieces, and examine the several parts of any ona creature which God hath made; and we shall find a perfection among its feveral powers, and an adaption to its fituation in the grand scale of * See the Differtation of Dr. HERSCHEL, relative to this brilliant portion of the heavens, in the Philofophical Transactions. + JEROME DE LALANDE, Director of the French Obfervatory, supposes that glass of HERSCHEL'S powers may discover 90 millions of stars in the whole furface of the heavens, and that even, this number is but small, in comparison of what exilte, Y 3 Monthly Mag. for Oct. 1798. p. 265. existence together fit he should govern his own world, and bow the rebellious nations to his sway. The present degenerate state of Christendom is too disgraceful to his government, to be permitted to continue beyond the predicted period. He will, therefore, arife and plead his own cause, and all the wickedness of men, and the convulfions and distress of nations, shall wind up to his eternal credit. The LORD is King, be the people never so impatient; he fitteth between the Cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet. His Gospel is no other than the plan devised by infinite wisdom for the melioration of mankind. The immortal feed is sown; the principle of life has vegetated; the little leaven is diffusing itself far and wide. Much has been done; much is doing; much shall be done. Millions of reasonable creatures have already found eternal rest in confequence of the REDEEMER's dying love: multitudes of fouls at this moment are happy in their own bofoms under a sense of the divine favour; and innumerable myriads of men shall arife, believing in his name, trusting in his me existence, far surpaffing human skill. Let the most perfect anatomist, that ever existed, make his observations upon the human frame; let him examine with the greatest possible attention the toute ensemble of the structure; then let him proceed to the several parts, of which the microcosm is composed; first, the powers of the mind; the understanding, the will, the memory, the confcience, and the various affections: : next the five senses; the touch, the taste, the smell, the hearing, and the fight: afterwards let him proceed to the several fluids of the body; and then to the 300 bones, the 40 different forts of glands, the 466 muscles, the 40 pair of nerves, the fibres, the membranes, the arteries, the veins, the lymphæducts, the excretory vessfels, the tendons, the ligaments, the cartilages; and let him explore the whole and every part with the greatest degree of accuracy, knowledge, and judgment, that ever centered in man; and then let him honestly say, whether he could suggest the smallest improvement in any one respect. If he were an Atheist before such invefigation, like the celebrated GALEN he would be converted to the belief of the DIVINE EXISTENCE, would compose an hymn in praise of the CREATOR of the world, and sing with the great Progenitor of mankind: "These are thy glorious works, PARENT of good; " Almighty, thine this universal frame, "Thus wondrous fair; THYSELF how wondrous then ! " Unspeakable! who fitt'st above these heav'ns, "To us invisible, or dimly seen "In these thy lowest works; yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and pow'r divine." diation diation, and rejoicing in his salvation, maugre all the opposition of fallen Christians and apostate spirits. Wife and gracious is the DIVINE BEING in all his ways, and I rejoice that he is the GOVERNOUR among the people. To his service I avowedly devote my feeble powers, as long as he shall vouchsafe me the exercise of them; nor will I cease to speak the honours of his MAJESTY, while the breath continues to actuate this mortal frame. And, "When even at last the solemn hour shall come, • Where UNIVERSAL LOVE not smiles around, " Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their fons, From seeming Evil still educing Good, " And Better thence again, and Better still, " In infinite progression. - But I lofe "Myself in HIM, in LIGHT INEFFABLE! "Come then, expressive filence, muse His praise." ۱ |