that this system originated in the unaided reflections of twelve Jewish fishermen on the sea of Galilee, with the son of a carpenter at their head? Or will you admit a supposition, which solves all the wonders of this case, which accounts at once for the perfection of the system, and the miracle of its propagation,-that Jesus was, as he professed to be, the prophet of God, and that his apostles were, as they declared, empowered to perform the miracles, which subdued the incredulity of the world. I appeal to you, ye departed masters of pagan wisdom, Plato, Socrates, Cicero, which of these alternatives is the most rational, the most worthy of a philosophical assent? Your systems have passed away, like the light clouds, which chase one another over the hemisphere; but the gospel of Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness, pursues its equal and luminous career, uninterrupted and unobscured. Surely, if a miracle of the New Testament is incredible, what will you say of the enormous faith of a man, who believes in that monster of improbability, which we have described, the simply human origin and progress of christianity?

Neither is religious faith unreasonable, because it brings us acquainted with truths, which our individual reasonings would not have ascertained, or which far transcend the previous conceptions of our minds. Indeed, it is absurd to suppose, that God has interrupted the order of nature to inform us of nothing but what we knew before, or might as well have known without his interference. Besides, if these

1

truths were attainable to the few who think, by a long process of inquiry, and even to the many, after some slow advances in the intellectual condition of society, still it would be worthy of God to anticipate this gradual discovery, because, from the condition of humanity, truths interesting to thousands, but within the actual reach of few, must, in order to be effectual, be received upon authority.

But, because you, in your solitary reasonings, have not been able to attain to those conclusions, which others have long since embraced by religious faith, will you, on this account, maintain, that the faith of the other is irrational? Would it not be presumptuous in an ignorant man to deny, in opposition to the authority of those instructed observers, whose knowledge he has reason to admit, that Saturn is surrounded with a ring, merely because, with his naked eye, he has in vain tried to discover such an appearance? Though it is not improbable, that this man, in some future and far remote stage of his existence, may be transported to this distant sphere, and actually observe this circle, which he will not now credit on the testimony of the astronomer, yet can he be justified in continuing incredulous, because he hopes for this enlargement of his powers? Further, if this man should invariably neglect every opportunity, which was presented to him, of looking through a telescope, or should obstinately persist in his incredulity, after the laws of vision, the operation of glasses, and nature of the planetary system had been

sufficiently explained to him, should we hesitate to pronounce him presumptuous or mad? Should we not leave him to his ignorance and self-sufficiency; and smile to find such a man undertaking to pour contempt upon the credulous astronomer, who believes in the gross absurdity of a circle round planet, which, this skeptick might safely say, nobody had ever seen?

Thus we may fairly conclude, that it is one of the highest acts of reason to believe, upon proper authority, many truths, which we cannot directly deduce from our former knowledge, or which we find it difficult to connect with any of our customary conclusions. It is to be expected, that revelation should furnish us with many propositions, of which we had not before conceived, for revelation is to the world at large, what education is to the individual. A child must receive a thousand truths upon authority, which may be the subject of future explanation, or which may answer their purpose, even without any explanation. He sees not, it is true, the necessity of learning rules, of which he cannot understand the reason; but the instructer well knows, that, in order to make any progress in his studies, he must receive, at first, certain statements implicitly, and wait for higher advances in knowledge, before the reason and importance of this elementary faith can be discovered to his understanding. And what are we, my friends, in view of the comprehensive wisdom of God, but children in the earliest stages of being? What is the great commu

nity of christians, but one of the innumerable schools in the vast plan, which God has instituted for the education of various intelligences? The law of Moses, we are told by the apostle, was but a schoolmaster to teach a single nation the alphabet of relig ious knowledge; and what is christianity, but another, though a more advanced elementary system, adapted to the comprehension and improvement of the whole human race? Faith alone gains us admission to its advantages; and though there are doctrines in its pages, which at present baffle much of the inquisitiveness of an active mind, and appear extraordinary to an intellect, proud of its partial discoveries, yet beware of rejecting them, lest those very portions of your religion, which now most excruciate your understanding, and exercise your faith, should prove essential to your improvement in the higher courses of spiritual and intellectual instruction. Jesus is not a master, who requires you to believe any thing, of which you see clearly the absurdity; though his candid disciples receive much, of which they know not the reason, and of which, at first, they did not see all the applications, the tendencies, and the importance.

Having thus seen, that faith is a principle, on which we act in all the affairs of common prudence, a principle, which lies at the root of every species of education, scientifick, moral and religious, a principle, without which the business of human life could not go on for a single day, we will now venture to assert, that, of every species of incredulity, religious unbe

SERMON X.

HEB. xi. 1.

NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE

EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN.

HAVING considered the objects, and the reasonableness of religious faith, it now remains to say something of its IMPORTANCE.

The value of religious faith principally results from two circumstances-from the fears it excites, and from the consolations it affords.

In the ordinary conduct of government, and to the well-being of society, some kind of faith is essential. Belief in the superintendence of invisible powers is not peculiar to religion. It is found in every man, who conscientiously submits to the government under which he lives; for how few of the subjects of any extensive empire have ever seen their rulers? Their authority, their edicts, their measures, nay, their very existence, are almost exclusively objects of faith. Suppose the assassin were to fear nothing but the instrument of punishment, or the thief were permitted