and enforced by the sanctions of revealed religion. Polygamy and divorce, the two worst banes of social confidence, and of connubial peace and prosperity, soon began to fall into disgrace, and in a short time, almost totally disappeared. The lives of children, which before were subject to the will and caprice of unfeeling parents, were now guarded by the most wholesome laws. The dreadful horrors of slavery were softened, and gradually removed from the empire. The savage ferocity of men was exchanged for the spirit of mildness, meekness and peace; while a laudable subordination to the civil institutions of the land, marked the peaceable demeanor of thousands who had felt the benign spirit and influence of revealed truth.

Centuries had passed away, the arts and sciences had enjoyed a constant and progressive improvement, philosophy had unveiled her splendors, and human wisdom had brought forth its richest stores to improve the condition of the world; but still, moral darkness, with all its frightful train of detestable vices and sufferings, triumphed over the noblest works of the Creator, and sunk them in barbarous ignorance and the grossest superstition and impurity. The reason was, the designs of infinite wisdom and love, were neither written upon the sunbeam, inscribed upon the azure vault of heaven, or so plainly impressed upon the pages of providence as to enable the sapient eye of philosophy to decipher the doctrine of pardon and grace, the future destiny of man, or the glorious hope of immortality by a resurrection from the dead.

When these glorious truths were unfolded by the light of christian revelation, and man was brought to see that his duty and his happiness consisted in imitating the God of boundless compassion and grace, he felt the force of his obligation to love and forgive his enemies, and to employ his best exertions for the instruction and reformation of mankind. This could only be done by refining and elevating his conceptions of the Supreme Being, and calling forth the hopes of future happy existence. No system had ever exerted, nor could exert this happy influence, but the system of revealed religion. Wherever this prevailed, civilization and moral refinement progressed with a rapid

ity and power, unknown before in all the annals of the world: And I may add; from its instructive pages, the invaluable charters of civil and religious rights have been drawn by all the civilized nations of the globe.

Permit me then to ask the most fastidious in the school of skepticism, did not the condition of man imperatively demand the light of revelation for his improvement and reformation in government and morals ?

LECTURE IV.

Exonus iii. 11.

"And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharoah, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

In my former labors, I have presented you with a brief, but faithful picture of the general depravity of manners which prevailed for a long succession of ages throughout the heathen world. The catalogue of their enormities and vices, were they all brought together, which are registered on the pages of history, would swell into a ponderous volume, over which the benevolence and refinements of the present age would be charitably inclined to draw an impenetrable veil. Enough, however, has been brought to view, to show that no means which were employed for centuries were found to be of sufficient influence to diminish the aggregate of human guilt and of human wretched

ness.

An unanswerable argument for the support of this conclusion is found in the clear and obvious truth, that during these long periods of general ignorance and crime, men reasoned on almost every other subject, save those which were connected with religion, with an acuteness and power, which clearly denote the manly growth and maturity of intellectual strength.

I have shown, that during these periods of degeneracy, the arts and sciences were on the march of improvement, that learning displayed its charms, and that philosophy opened her richest stores for the intellectual repast of man And yet, for all their power and influence, vices the most shocking to human nature were openly practised amidst the most refined circles, and tolerated by the laws of the wisest legislators! Nay, more-they were taught, and enforced, and eulogized, as the most aceptable acts f devotion and piety to the gods!

These facts render the conviction irresistible, that some superior influence was necessary to effect a reformation in the moral condition, the laws, manners and habits of human society. And it is in vain for any man to attempt to deceive us by assertions, that reason and philosophy were sufficient to effect this moral change; for if this were true, why did they not accomplish so desirable an object, during the protracted period of more than two thousand years, in which they exerted their power throughout the Grecian and Roman states? The state of society, however, is vastly improved, in every country where the scriptures have been received and accredited: Nor can this salutary change be traced to any other assignable cause, than that of the influence of revealed religion. The conclusion is therefore unavoidable, from this glaring contrast, that a revelation from God was absolutely necessary to produce this astonishing improvement.

It is barely possible that the facts and arguments which I have employed to show the insufficiency of reason and philosophy to reform the errors of mankind, correct the abuses of power, improve the moral condition of the world, and advance the refinement and happiness of human society, may have been mistaken by some superficial minds, for a total abandonment and rejection of these invaluable aids, in the acquisition of all that is ennobling and happifying to man. Should this be the case with any who have given me a hearing, I beg leave here to correct the error. So far from abandoning the aid of reason, I have appealed to your reason to judge and decide, from the facts which I have laid before you, upon the necessity of a revelation from God, by contrasting the condition of man, with, and without, the light of revelation. It is by the assistance of this precious gift, that we are qualified to judge of the merits of what claims to be revelation. And if I were disposed to condemn reason, think ye that I would appeal to your understandings, with a view to convince you that God has made a revelation of his mind and will to man? The very thought is pregnant with the grossest absurdity. It is the gift of reason which qualifies us to profit by the sublime instructions which revelation brings to man.— Without it, a revelation might as well have been address

ed to brute beasts; or even to stalks and stones. Think not then that we discard reason, when we assign to it its only proper place in the great system of divine truth: Nor presume to esteem it the less valuable because it was not designed to unlock the counsels of eternity, nor judge of the secrets of God before they were revealed: For reason was never designed to be the revealer, but the receiver of divine truth. Nor are we the enemies of philosophy, because we are the friends of revelation. We prize its aid, and delight to explore its extended fields. We view it as the servant and handmaid of religion, and draw upon its ample stores for all the purposes of demonstration in the science of moral truth: But we dare not pay an atheistical homage to this great mental accomplishment, by exalting it to an equality with the adorable fountain of wisdom and truth. The exclusive pretensions of our opposers, therefore, to this distinguishing excellence, in the departments of science, is a most arrogant assumption, clearly attested by the splendid monuments of mental and scientific attainment, reared through the whole history of christian literature. And may I not safely add, that skeptics of the present day, are indebted to christian philosophers for the noblest achievements of which the science itself can boast? Do not the names of Watts, Paley, Newton, Locke, Reid and Stewart, stand unrivalled in the annals of literary fame? Then let skepticism blush and hide her head, when she charges the friends of revelation with being the enemies of philosophy..

The question being settled which relates to the necessity of a revelation, for the civil, political and moral improvement of mankind; it cannot be denied, that an allwise and benevolent Being should reasonably be expected to afford such a revelation of his mind and will as the condition of his creatures might require: And it is perfectly plain to every historian, that unless the Bible do contain such a revelation, no revelation has ever been made. But the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments claim that honor, and fearlessly challenge investigation. As this book professes to contain the elements of genuine history, as well as the great truths of revelation, we shall now invite your attention to the credibility of the Mosaic history.