SERM.VI. plative Men, but was never in fact established in any one Nation from the Foundation of the World to the present Times. As certain as it is, that there is a God; fo certainly muft he will the Belief and Practice of fome Religion: the Belief of fome Religion, and a Practice conformable to that Belief, being neceffary to the Good of Mankind. And as certainly as he wills the Belief and Practice of fome Religion; he muft will the Belief and Practice of the best Religion: And what Religion is there, that equals or rivals the Chriftian Revelation ?

Such Reflections, as thefe, enable us, in fome measure, to act in conformity to the Apostle's Advice; they make us ready to give an Anfwer to every Man that asketh us a Reafon of the Hope, or, as the Word here fignifies, of the Faith, that is in us.

I fhould enter into too fpacious a Field, if I attempted to do Juftice to all the Proofs of Revelation: It fhall therefore be my Business at present to dwell upon that Argument, which may be drawn from the intrinfic Excellency of revealed Religion. In the Profecution of which Design,

Ift, I fhall confider the intrinfic Excel-SERM.VI. lency of revealed Religion, as to the Manifeftations of the divine Nature.

IIdly, As to the beautiful Plan of Morality which is laid down in Scripture, together with the Motives and Encouragements, by which it has fupported and enforced that Plan.

IIIdly, I fhall confider the Force of the Argument which may be drawn from these

Particulars.

Ift, I fhall confider the intrinfic Excellency of revealed Religion, as to the Manifeftations of the divine Nature.

That God is Love, or an inexhaustible Fountain of Goodness: that of Him as the great Creator, through Him as the great Preferver, and to Him as the End and Center, all Things are; that he entitles himself I AM, the Being who exists abfolutely and emphatically, in oppofition to the fleeting and precarious Existence of his Creatures, which fcarce deferves the Name, in comparison with his; that a thousand Years are with him as one Day, and one Day as a thoufand Years: that he only faid, Let there be Light, and there was Light, that whatever he commands, is finished by his com

manding

SERM.VI. manding it; are fome of the nobleft Ideas that we can conceive of the noblest Being that is. In these Expreffions there is that natural and unlaboured, yet great and noble Simplicity, which furpaffeth the Refinements of Stile and ambitious Ornaments of profane Writers: Juft as there is a native Beauty in the Lily, which our heavenly Father has cloathed; that exceeded the artificial Pride of Drefs, in which Solomon appeared, when arrayed in all his Glory. Such Thoughts are enobled by themselves, and dignified by their own inward Merit, without any need of external Pomp to embellish them. At other Times the facred Writers deliver themselves with all the Heightnings of Oratory, as particularly fob, when he is defcribing the infinite Power of God, and St. Paul, when he is fetting forth the Love of the Deity manifested in the Redemption of Man: Not that they affected Eloquence; but when the Spirit of God came upon them, and impregnated their Minds with great Ideas; they naturally broke out into fuch lofty and correfponding Expreffions, as might be a proper Clothing for their Thoughts: As when our Saviour was transfigured, and his Face fhone as the Sun; his Raiment too became as white as Snow.

That

That the Heavens declare the Glory of SERM.VL God, and the Firmament fheweth his Handywork, &c. That he that made the Eye, Shall be not fee? He that planted the Ear, fhall be not hear? &c.--That the Heaven, and the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain God; much less the Temple built by Solomon. That the Deity wields and governs the whole Expanse of the material Creation as a very little Thing, as the Drop of a Bucket, or the Duft of the Balance ; and that he can turn the Hearts of the whole intellectual World, as the Heart of one Man.-Thefe, with feveral others, are Paffages which would be highly admired in a Claffic Writer; but, unhappily for them, they are read with Coldness and Indifference; because they are in a Book, which it is too fashionable to depreciate. For though Men pretend to think for themselves; yet not one in a thousand does fo; no not even in judging of Books: They are governed by no fixed Standard in the Judgments which they form; but applaud or condemn according to the prevailing Mode and Fashion of the Age, in which they live. Otherwife, Mofes, the Author of Job, David, Ifaiah, and St. Paul would have had

as

SERM. VI. as many Admirers as Readers; Authors, who feem to have imitated none before

them; and whom none after them have been able to imitate, or reach their fublime Strains of Eloquence.

;

Those Authors in dead Languages, who are looked upon as the most finished Models of good Writing, would fuffer fo much by a literal Verfion, that we should not have the Patience to peruse them with Attention ; yet the Scriptures have been rendered Word for Word with the moft fcrupulous Exactness: And if, notwithstanding this, they deservedly claim our highest Admiration it is a Proof that they have in them that Energy of Beauty, which no Dress, howfoever difadvantageous, can intirely conceal or disfigure. They must have that folid Senfe and Substance, which, like true Gold, can never be loft or evaporate, however melted down and diffolved; but ftill retains its former Weight. Some Writers may have painted Things more finely and delicately than they have done: But none have imaged them fo ftrongly and nervously.

Obferve, what a wide Difference there is between two Paffages in the Pfalms, and in Plate on the fame Subject. That, which