conclusion at which we can arrive, as presenting any characters of credibility or truth. The superintending care, the goodness and benevolence of the Deity, we learn, with a feeling of equal certainty, from the ample provision he has made for supplying the wants and ministering to the comfort of all the creatures whom he has made. This part of the argument, also, is in the clearest manner insisted upon in the sacred writings; when the apostle Paul, in calling upon the people of Lystra to worship the true God, who made heaven and earth, adds, as a source of knowledge from which they ought to learn his character; "he left not himself without a witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness."

A being thus endowed with infinite power, wisdom, and goodness we cannot conceive to exist without moral feelings; and, by a process equally obvious, we arrive at a distinct knowledge of these, when, from the moral perceptions of our own minds, we infer the moral attributes of him who thus formed us. We have certain impressions of justice, veracity, compassion, and moral purity, in regard to our own conduct, we have a distinct approbation of these qualities in others,--and we attach a feeling of disapprobation to the infringement of them. By a simple step of reasoning, which conveys an impression of absolute conviction, we conclude, that He who formed us with these feelings possesses, in his own character, corresponding moral attributes, which, though they resemble in kind, must infinitely

exceed in degree, those qualities in the wisest and the best of men. In our actual observation of mankind, we perceive these attributes impaired in their exercise by human weakness, distorted by human passion, and impeded in their operation by personal wants, personal feelings, and selfish interests. But, apart from such deteriorating causes, we have a certain abstract idea of the full and perfect exercise of those qualities; and it is in this pure and perfect form that we ascribe them to the Almighty. In him, they can be impeded by no weakness, distorted by no passion, and impaired in their operation by no personal interest. We therefore conclude him to be perfect in the exercise of all these moral attributes, and to take the most rigid estimate of any infringement of them by man; this is what we call the holiness of God. Even the man who has himself departed from moral rectitude still feels a power within, which points with irresistible force to what is purity, and fixes upon him a conviction that God is pure.

When we view such a being apart from any inferior creature, all seems harmony and consistency; we have only to contemplate him as high and holy, and enjoying perfect happiness in his own spotless attributes. But, when we view him in relation to man in a state of moral discipline, and, in that state, tainted deeply with moral evil, a difficulty arises of an appalling magnitude. There is ample scope now, we perceive, for the exercise of his holiness, veracity, and justice; and he appears in sublime and terrible majesty in his exalted character as a moral governor.

But, amid such a display, there is an obvious interruption to the exercise of compassion,—especially in that essential department of it-mercy or forgive

ness.

This attribute may be exercised without restraint by an individual, where his own interests alone are concerned; because in him it involves only a sacrifice of self-love. But forgiveness in a moral governor either implies an actual change of purpose, or supposes his decision to have been made without sufficient knowledge of, or due attention to, all the facts by which he ought to have been influenced : it denotes either undue rigour in the law, or ignorance or inattention in him who administers it; and it may very often interfere with the essential requisites of justice. But, in a moral governor of infinite perfection, there can be neither ignorance of facts nor change of purpose; the requirements of his justice must stand unshaken,—and his law, written on the hearts of all his rational creatures, must be upheld, in the face of the universe, as holy, and just, and good. Is, then, the exercise of mercy to be excluded from our conception of the Divine character, and is there no forgiveness with God? The soundest inductions of philosophy, applied to the actual state of man, bring us to this momentous question; but the highest efforts of human science fail to answer it. It is in this our utmost need, that we are met by the dictates of revelation, and are called to humble the pride of our reason before that display of the harmony and integrity of the Divine character. We there learn the truths, far beyond the utmost inductions of human science, and the utmost conceptions of human thought,

—that an atonement is made, a sacrifice offered;-and that the exercise of forgiveness is consistent with the perfections of the Deity. Thus, by a process of the mind itself, which seems to present every element of fair and logical reasoning, we arrive at a full conviction of the necessity, and the moral probability, of that truth which forms the great peculiarity of the Christian revelation. More than any other, in the whole circle of religious belief, it rises above the inductions of science, while reason, in its soundest conclusions, recognises its probability, and receives its truth; and it stands forth alone, simply proposed to our belief, and offered to our acceptance, on that high but peculiar evidence by which is supported the testimony of God.

The truth of these considerations is impressed upon us in the strongest manner, when we turn our attention to the actual moral condition of mankind. When we contemplate man, as he is displayed to us by the soundest induction of philosophy,—his capacity for distinguishing truth from falsehood, and evil from good; the feelings and affections which bind him to his fellow-men, and the powers which enable him to rise to intercourse with God:--when we consider the power, which sits among his other principles and feelings, as a faithful monitor and guide, carrying in itself a rule of rectitude without any other knowledge, and a right to govern without reference to any other authority, we behold a fabric complete and harmonious in all its parts, and eminently worthy of its Almighty Maker; we behold an ample provision

for peace, and order, and harmony, in the whole moral world. But when we compare with these inductions the actual state of man, as displayed to us in the page of history, and in our own daily observation, the conviction is forced upon us that some mighty change has taken place in this beauteous system, some marvellous disruption of its moral harmony. The manner in which this condition arose,--or the origin of moral evil under the government of God, is a question entirely beyond the reach of the human faculties. It is one of those, however, on which it is simply our duty to keep in mind, that our business is, not with the explanation, but with the facts; for, even by the conclusions of philosophy, we are compelled to believe that man has fallen from his high estate, and that a pestilence has gone abroad over the face of the moral creation.

In arriving at this conclusion, it is not with the inductions of moral science alone that we compare or contrast the actual state of man. For one bright example has appeared in our world, in whom was exhibited human nature in its highest state of order and harmony. In regard to the mighty purposes which He came to accomplish, indeed, philosophy fails us, and we are called to submit the inductions of our reason to the testimony of God. But, when we contemplate his whole character purely as a matter of historical truth, the conviction is forced upon us that this was the highest state of man; and the inductions of true science harmonize with the impression of the Roman centurion, when on wit