ring circumstances, furnish the most unclouded evidence, to every mind not blinded by prejudice, that the divine AUTHOR of Christianity was also, though by the agency of human means and instruments, the RESTORER of it.

CHAP. XXXVI.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND OBSERVANCES. THEY ARE SUITED TO THE NATURE OF CHRISTIANITY, AND PARTICULARLY ADAPTED TO THE CHARACTER OF MAN.

THAT torrent of vices and crimes which the French Revolution has disembogued into society, may be so clearly and indisputably traced to the source of infidelity, that it has, in a degree, become fashionable to profess a belief in the truths, and a conviction of the value, of Christianity. But, at the same time, it has too naturally happened, that we have fallen into the habit of defending religion, almost exclusively, on political and secular grounds; as if Christianity consisted merely in our not being atheists or anarchists. A man, however, may be removed many stages from the impiety of French infidels, and yet be utterly destitute of real religion.

Many, not openly profane, but even entertaining a respect for the political uses of religion, have a way of generalising their ideas, so as to dismiss the Revelation from the account. Others, again, who in this last respect agree with the former class, affect a certain superiority over the low contracted notions of churchmen and collegians. These assert, that, if virtue be practised, and public order preserved, the motive on which the one

is practised, and the other maintained, is not worth contending for. Many there are, who, without formally rejecting Christianity, talk of it at large, in general, or in the abstract. As if it were at once to exempt themselves from the trouble of religion, and to escape the infamy of atheism, these men affect to think so highly of the Supreme Being, whose temple is universal space, that he needs not be worshipped in temples made with hands. And forgetting that the world which he thought it worth while to create, he will certainly think it worth while to govern, they assert, that he is too great to attend to the concerns of such petty beings as we are, and too exalted to listen to our prayers. That it is a narrow idea which we form of his attributes, to fancy that one day or one place is more acceptable to him than another. That all religions are equally pleasing to God, provided the worshipper be sincere. That the establishment of a public ministry is perhaps a good expedient of political wisdom for awing the vulgar; but that every man is his own priest. That all errors of opinion are innocent; and that the Almighty is too just to punish any man for merely speculative tenets.

But these lofty contemners of institutions, observances, days, ordinances, and priests, evince, by their very objections, that they are not more ignorant of the nature of God, as he has been pleased to reveal himself in Scripture, than of the character of man, to whose dispositions, wants, desires, distresses, infirmities, and sins, the spirit of Chris

tianity, as unfolded in the Gospel, is so wonderfully accommodated. This admirable congruity would be of itself sufficient, were there no other proof to establish the divine authority of our religion. Private prayer, public worship, the observation of the Sabbath, a standing ministry, sacramental ordinances, are all of them so admirably adapted to those sublimely mysterious cravings of the mind, which distinguish man from all inferior animals, by rendering him the subject of hopes and fears, which nothing earthly can realise or satisfy, that it is difficult to say, whether these sacred institutions most bespeak the wisdom or the goodness of that supreme benefactor, who alone could have thus applied a remedy, because he alone could have penetrated the most hidden recesses of that nature which required it. Religion, in fact, is not more essential to man, than, in the present state of things, those appointments are essential to religion. And, accordingly, we see, that when they are rejected, however its unprofitable generalities may be professed, religion itself practically, and in detail, is renounced. Nor can it be kept alive in creatures, so abounding in moral, and so exposed to natural evil, by mere metaphysical distinctions, or a bare intellectual conception of divinity. beings whose minds are so liable to wander, religion, to be sustained, requires to be substantiated and fixed, to be realised and invigorated. scious of our own infirmity, we ought to look for every outward aid to improve every internal grace; and, consequently, ought gladly to submit to

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the control of habits, and the regularity of institutions. Even in the common pursuits of life, our fugitive and unsteady thoughts require to be tied down by exercises, duties, and external circumstances. And while the same expedients are no less necessary to insure the outward observances of religion, instead of obstructing, they promote its spirituality; for they are not more fitted to attract the senses of the ignorant, than they are to engage the thoughts, and fix the attention, of the enlightened. While, therefore, in order to get rid of imaginary burdens, and suspected penalties, men are contending for a philosophical religion, and an imaginary perfection, of which the mind, while incorporated with matter, is little capable, they lose the benefit of those salutary means and instruments, so admirably adapted to the state of our minds and the constitution of our nature. Means and instruments, which, on a sober enquiry into their origin, will be found as awfully sanctioned as they are obviously suitable; in a word, which will be found, and this, when proved, puts an end to the controversy, to be the appointments of God himself.

The Almighty has most certainly declared, that he will be worshipped in spirit and in truth. But, does it therefore follow, that he will not be worshipped in churches? We know that all our days are his, and for the use of all we are accountable to him. But does this invalidate the duty of making Sunday more peculiarly his? — We are commanded to "pray without ceasing; in every