eral rules according to which he directs his administration. An enthusiast, on the contrary, entertains lofty notions of himself, and degrading conceptions of the Deity: he conceives that the course of nature is to be regulated with a view to his interest. The sun shines, or the rain descends, according to his occasions. Is he in want? God, at once and in some remarkable manner, sends him a supply. Is he opposed? The judgments of God fall upon his enemies. Is he doubtful on any question? The Spirit of God reveals it to him. Is he disposed to act in any extraordinary manner? The ordinary rules, even of morality, must yield to his convenience. He and his immediate connexions have a peculiar dispensation: they are the particular favourites of God; and all things are to minister to their exclusive good.

To guard against this dangerous error, some rules may be proposed which are consistent with sound reason and Scripture.

First. Let a man be humble: let him think of himself, as he ought to think, soberly and modestly, as a poor sinful creature, very ignorant, and very liable to be deluded: let him consider it as an unspeakable favour to receive from God the pardon of his sins: let him remember, that it is the whole plan of God's dispensations to humble man, and to abase the proud. No sin is more rebuked in Scripture than pride: nor is there any species of pride more criminal than spiritual pride. A man of sound mind will form a due estimate of his great unworthiness and meanness. What are

we in the scale of God's creatures? What is this life; what the human understanding? What has been our conduct, but foolish and abominable? Shall man, then, be proud, and think highly of himself? What can be more odious in the sight of God; what less becoming a sinful creature, a rebel against God's authority, a bond slave and servant of sin, who should walk humbly all his days in the deepest abasement and contrition of heart?

Secondly. Let us learn to expect nothing out of the ordinary course of God's dispensations.-God has given a revelation to man, founded upon the strongest evidence, and expressed in the clearest terms; and it is presumption to expect another. In the Gospel, we find an explanation of the course by which God usually communicates grace and salvation to mankind. There we learn, that these blessings are conveyed by faith in the Redeemer, accompanied with an unfeigned repentance for sin and by universal holiness of life. A man of a sound mind will be content with this, and will seek no other way of salvation: He will not look for visions, or voices, or impulses to point out to him something new: he will not follow every new teacher, saying, Who shall ascend up to heaven, to bring down Christ from thence? or who shall sink into the deep, to bring up Christ from thence? but he will be satisfied with the word which is nigh to him, even in his mouth and in his heart; even the word of faith revealed in Scripture, "that if he shall confess with his mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in his heart that God hath raised him from the dead, he shall be saved."

Thirdly. Let it be remembered, that true religion is not a mystery hard to be discovered, and which can be known only to a few; but that it was intended to be made so plain, that the wayfaring man might read, and the poor understand it. Our blessed Lord was remarkably plain and simple in his discourses, suiting them to the lowest capacity and evidently intending that all who possessed a meek and humble mind should understand them. Consider that true religion is not a novelty lately discovered, nor a mystery which is scarcely yet understood; but that, for 1800 years, it has been fully known and practised,-that even in the darkest ages, and the most corrupt churches, there have been true disciples of Christ, who always considered the kingdom of God as consisting, not in meats and drinks, but in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, that the great difficulty has ever been, not the

want of knowledge, but the want of will to subdue our corrupt nature, to lead a holy life, and to walk humbly with God.

Fourthly. We should consider that the great evidence of wisdom is, to choose proper objects, and to pursue them in a lawful way.-Now the great end which we ought to set before us is the attainment of holiness, such as it is represented in Scripture, including the duties we owe to God as our Maker, to Christ as our Redeemer, to the Holy Spirit as our Sanctifier, and to men as our fellow-creatures. The more soundly a man reasons, the more enlarged will be his views of holiness! It is the mark of an enthusiastic mind to adopt partial views; to undervalue, for example, our duty to God, in comparison with what we owe to man; or to think little of the regulation of our tempers, and our social conduct, while we esteem highly the obligation of love to God, and of faith in his promises and word. I know no mark of a sound mind more unequivocal than the just and compréhensive view which it takes of the whole circle of duties; rejecting none, unduly preferring none, not esteeming the performance of any a compensation for the breach of others. In our views of religion, then, let not our frames or feelings, our imagined privileges, our views of doctrine, or even our devotions, be our guide in determining our state; but let us survey the whole of our conduct, and examine how far it accords with the tenor of Scripture. In this way we cannot err: this will prevent our overvaluing those marks and evidences, at best of a dubious kind, on which the enthusiast is disposed to rely.

The last means I shall notice, by which a sound mind will preserve us from enthusiasm, is, by its leading us to a just interpretation of Scripture.-Almost all religious errors are supported by false interpretations of the Bible; and hence it is vain to pretend to detect errors, till there is an agreement upon the mode in which Scripture is to be understood. Now a sound mind will be evident, in avoiding every fanciful, strain

ed, or mystical interpretation: and in receiving the plain, natural, and obvious sense of the words. In the application of Scripture, its exact meaning, as it was intended by the sacred writers with reference to the cases before them, will be first carefully defined; and it will then be considered how far the language of Scripture is applicable to ourselves, under our own circumstances. A man of a sound mind will farther be careful to interpret Scripture according to the analogy of faith; comparing one part with another, and rather making a passage of doubtful meaning bend to the rest of Holy Writ, than straining the whole word of God to accommodate it to one ambiguous or insulated text. He will also judge by the context, rather than by the letter; for the outline and scope of the sacred writer may be clear, where a particular expression is obscure: the general meaning, therefore, should become the guide by which doubtful expressions may be understood. He will also be peculiarly careful to mark such passages as appear to contradict any part of his system, not with a view of bending them to it, but of correcting his system by them. Perhaps there is no rule of greater importance than this in the investigation of truth. It is hopeless to attempt to convince him who reads only to strengthen his errors; who dwells only on such passages as seem to favour his peculiar notions.— I must repeat, that those Scriptures which appear to contradict our views, are to us the most important passages of Scripture. They should particularly engage our attention, because they prove that our views are not yet entirely those of the sacred writers: if they were, every expression used by them would be adopted with equal readiness by us.

IV. Soundness of mind is opposed to scepticism or infidelity-I am well aware that infidels arrogate to themselves the distinction of being the only sound reasoners, and charge believers with credulity and superficial views. But the charge may justly be retorted on themselves: they do not possess a sound mind; for

the body of evidence by which Christianity is established, is incomparably superior to that by which any historical fact, or any other tenets whatever, have been supported. No other system of religion has had such keen and virulent opposers; on no other has the opposition gained so little ground with all sober and reflecting persons. No other subject has been so fully, so ably, so impartially examined: nor has any other creed been so generally received by wise and learned men, or so long maintained its ground in the world. No other system carries in itself such intrinsic marks of Divine truth, so little according with the secular interests or policy of mankind, or so directly applying itself to the real good of man. No other has made so many proselytes amongst the most deserving part of mankind; nor has any other had such an attestation to its worth as that which the noble army of martyrs have given to the Gospel of Christ. No other subject can at all approach in importance to this, which embraces the dearest interests of mankind, both in the present and in the future life; which alone claims the high prerogative of informing us what occurs when man is turned to dust, and is no more seen; which alone reveals to us the nature of that state from which none have ever returned: no other subject asserts the high distinction of being communicated to man by the great and glorious God-of declaring his will and pleasure. All other subjects of human inquiry are but the conjectures of man: this alone professes certainty and truth, unmixed with error. Now, when such a subject is submitted to us, what shall we say of those men, who with little ceremony, and as little reflection, turn away from it as an imposture, and refuse to listen to its decisions? I am sure that a sound mind. would lead them to pursue a very different conduct. Unless it plainly wore the face of imposture, which no man can assert of Christianity, and which its intrinsic evidence, its dignity and purity, strongly refute, they would, if under the influence of a sound mind,