ON THE SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

THE religion of the Gospel is the only one which has ever yet appeared among mankind, which is adequate to all the instinctive desires and expectations of the human mind. I am not now to speak of the excellence of this religion, or of its accommodation to all the wants and all the wretchedness of a being like man. I am to speak of it only as compared with the conclusions of human wisdom, as they appear either in the ancient or in the modern world. Both of them are before us; and from both I am persuaded the thoughtful mind must draw the same conclusion.

If we look to the ancient world,-to that period when science and philosophy had attained, through progressive ages, to their highest point of improvement, we see them terminating uniformly in doubt and indecision; we see various schools with various principles, some leading to piety, others to atheism; the great mass of the people left (and left willingly) to the dominion of superstition,-and the wise concluding all their inquiries, either in the belief that these subjects were beyond the reach of human thought, or in the ardent prayer that the Deity would at last reveal himself to the inquiries of his creatures. If we look to the world as it at present exhibits itself in every country unvisited by the Gospel, we see it covered with varieties of imposture and superstition; the great principles of religion buried under the mass of barbarous rites or unpro

ductive ceremonies; and the wise and the thoughtful retiring from the delusions of the vulgar into the dark shade of doubt and scepticism. If, from these melancholy prospects, you turn your eye to the religion of the Gospel, you see a system which even its enemies acknowledge to be a system of religious and of moral grandeur. You see a system, simple in its doctrines, but sublime in their nature, beyond all that the imagination of man had hitherto in any age conceived; adapted to the comprehension of the infant, and yet adequate to the exaltation of the sage; comprehending within its pale all the most cultivated nations of mankind,-numbering among its disciples all the greatest names which have ever adorned humanity, and accepted by them as the highest exaltation of their present nature, and the surest foundation of their future hopes.

While you thus see the difference which exists between the religion of the Gospel and every other which has ever appeared among men, you are then to remember-that the Author of this religion was a man of humble origin, and of obscure parentage; that his life was passed at a distance from the wise or the learned, among the poor and the lowly; that a few years terminated his history; and that a few humble inhabitants of Judea constituted all his society-and you are then to say, whether a religion of such a kind can have only a mortal origin; whether there is any thing in the history of human nature at that age which in any degree corresponds to such a fact; and whether there be any possible way by which the appearance of such a system

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of religion, in such circumstances, can be accounted for but by the immediate providence and inspiration of God?

Such is the conclusion which I think must be drawn from the view of the nature of the religion of the Gospel, as it relates to the mind of the individual. There is a second view of it which arises from its relation to the welfare of society, or the prosperity of the world. When you look over the history of religion,-when you examine the nature of the systems of religious belief that have existed before the era of the Gospel, or which have arisen since, you will find them marked by one uniform feature of mortal origin, that of carrying within themselves all the weakness or all the ignorance of the age or country in which they arose. You will see them incorporating with themselves the forms of government -the institutions of society-the manners, the opinions, and the prejudices which were peculiar to the country or age which gave them birth; sanctifying thus the errors and even the vices of barbarous times, and checking, by the most powerful of all restraints, the natural progress of the human mind, and all the improvements of which society is susceptible. - From this uniform picture of the narrowness of the mind of man, even in its greatest exertions, turn your eyes to the religion of the Gospel, and mark the view which it takes of human nature. You will see, in the first place, that it belongs to no age,-to no government,and to no climate;-that it incorporates nothing with itself of the period of society when it arose; -that it embraces, on the contrary, the whole

human race in its contemplation;—and that, while it leaves to society all the improvement of which it is capable, it prescribes only those general laws of social welfare upon which the prosperity of the world must finally rest.-You will see, in the second place, that this accommodation of the religion of the Gospel to the welfare of mankind has actually taken place;-that it is it which has given to modern Europe the foundation of all its greatness;-that it is it which has given to all Christian countries the relation of brethren, and to all Christian people the belief of equal rights and equal duties;-that it is it which has thus (either directly or indirectly) broken the chains of the captive, softened the sufferings of the prisoner,-poured even into the systems of legislation the elevation of its own spirit; and given at last, to the poor and the lowly of mankind, to whom it was first preached, the dignity of men and the rights of nature. You will see,

in the last place, that the world is yet far below the perfection which the Gospel contemplates. In the eighteen hundred years that have passed since its promulgation among mankind, the human race have doubtless made in every respect the greatest advances; and whether we regard the progress of knowledge, of laws, or of manners, we shall find in its influence the most powerful cause of this progress. Yet, who is there that looks at the internal government of nations, or the maxims by which they are yet governed, with regard to the nations around them, who does not sigh to think of the deep and selfish prejudices which still hang upon the minds of men? Who is there who does not see that, if the

principles of the Gospel were really felt and fully acted upon, the prosperity of all nations would be consulted; that the human race would terminate in the simple conception of a family,—in family relations, in family duties, and family affection; and that the universe of mankind would find at last that they had only one Father in heaven, one relation to his various children, and one duty to their brethren upon earth?

There is yet, however, a greater view of the subject; and I am to state, in the third place, that the religion of the Gospel is the only one which has ever appeared among mankind which is commensurate to the future hopes or expectations of the human soul. Upon this subject I have little necessity to dilate. When you look at the opinions of the unbaptized world, either in ancient or in modern times, you see in their views of futurity the traces only of a gross and a barbarous invention,—a state little elevated above the ignorance or the darkness of mortality,-in which the same passions, the same prejudices, and the same appetites prevail,-which promises only the continuation of the frail and feverish existence we have experienced, and which holds forth no promise of some sublimer state of being, where nobler acquisitions may be made, and higher joys be tasted.-When you look at the religion of the Gospel, on the contrary (simply as it speaks upon this awful subject, and fearfully as it withdraws the veil which hides the sanctuary of God), you see a new heaven and a new earth." You see humanity exalted from the grossness of a You see all that is great, all that

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lower world.