while those sins of which our Saviour has said, that they which commit them "shall not inherit the kingdom of God," detract nothing from the respect some persons receive. Nay, those very characters whom the Ainighty has expressly declared "He will judge," are received, are admired, are caressed, in that which calls itself the best company.

But to weigh our actions by one standard now, when we know they will be judged by another hereafter, would be reckoned the height of absurdity in any transactions but those which involve the interests of eternity. "How readest thou?" is a more specific direction than any comparative view of our own habits with the habits of others: and at the final bar it will be of little avail that our actions. have risen above those of bad men, if our views and principles shall be found to have been in opposition to the Gospel of Christ.

son.

Nor is their practice more commendable, who are ever on the watch to pick out the worst actions of good men, by way of justifying their own conduct on the compariThe faults of the best men, "for there is not a just man upon the earth who sinneth not," can in no wise justify the errors of the worst: and it is not invariably the example of even good men that we must take for our unerring rule of conduct nor is it by a single action that either they or we shall be judged; for in that case who could be saved? but it is by the general prevalence of right principles and good habits; by the predominance of holiness, and righteousness, and temperance in the life, and by the power of humility, faith, and love in the heart.

CHAPTER XIX.

On the leading doctrines of Christianity. The corruption of human nature. The doctrine of redemption. The necessity of a change of heart, and of the divine influences to produce that change; with a sketch of the Christian character.

THE author having in this little work taken a view of the false notions often imbibed in early life from a bad education, and of their pernicious effects; and having attempted to point out the respective remedies to these; she would now draw all that has been said to a point, and declare plainly what she humbly conceives to be the source whence all these false notions, and this wrong * Hebrews rií. 4.

conduct really proceed: The prophet Jeremiah shall answer: "It is because they have forsaken the fountain of living waters, and have hewn out to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." It is an ignorance past belief, of what Christianity really is the remedy, therefore, and the only remedy that can be ap plied with any prospect of success, is RELIGION, and by religion she would be understood to mean the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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It has been before hinted, that religion should be taught at an early period of life; that children should be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." The manner in which they should be taught has likewise with great plainness been suggested; that it should be done in so lively and familiar a manner as to make religion amiable, and her ways to appear, what they really are, ways of pleasantness," And a slight sketch has been given of the genius of Christianity, by which her amiableness would more clearly appear. But this. being a subject of such vast importance, compared with which every other subject sinks into nothing; it seems not sufficient to speak on the doctrines and duties of Christianity in detached parts, but it is of importance to point out, though in a brief manner, the mutual dependence of one doctrine upon another, and the influence which these doctrines have upon the heart and life, so that the duties of Christianity may be seen to grow out of its doctrines: by which it will appear that Christian virtues differ essentially from Pagan: it is of a quite different kind: the plant itself is different, it comes from a different root, and grows in a different soil.

It will be seen how the humbling doctrine of the corruption of human nature, which has followed from the corruption of our first parents, makes way for the bright display of redeeming love. How from the abasing thought that "we are all as sheep going astray, every one in his own way" that "none can return to the Shepherd of our souls, except the Father draw him: that "the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit, because they are spiritually discerned:" how from this humiliating view of the helplessness, as well as the corruption of human nature, we are to turn to that animating doctrine, the of fer of divine assistance. So that, though human nature will appear from this view in a deeply degraded state, and consequently all have cause for humility, yet not one has

cause for despair: the disease indeed is dreadful, but a physician is at hand, both able and willing to save us : though we are naturally "without strength, our help is laid upon one that is mighty."

We should observe then, that the doctrines of our Saviour are, if I may so speak, like his coat, all woven into one piece. We should get such a view of their reciprocal dependence as to be persuaded that without a deep, sense of our own corruptions we can never seriously believe in a Saviour, because the substantial and acceptable belief in Him must always arise from the conviction of our want of Him; that without a firm persuasion that the Holy Spirit can alone restore our fallen nature, repair the ruins of sin, and renew the image of God upon the heart, we never shall be brought to serious, humble prayer for repentance and restoration; and that, without this repentance there is no salvation: for though Christ has died for us, and consequently to him we must look as a Saviour, yet he has himself declared that he will save none but true penitents.

ON THE DOCTRINE OF HUMAN CORRUPTION.

To come now to a more particular statement of these doctrines. When an important edifice is about to be erect ed, a wise builder will dig deep, and look well to the foundations, knowing that without this the fabric will not be likely to stand. The foundation of the Christian religion, out of which the whole structure may be said to arise, appears to be the doctrine of the fall of man from his original state of righteousness; and of the corruption and helplessness of human nature, which are the consequences of this fall, and which is the natural state of every one born into the world. To this doctrine it is important to conciliate the minds, more especially of young persons, who are peculiarly disposed to turn away from it as a morose, unamiable, and gloomy idea: they are apt to accuse those who are more strict and serious, of unnecessary severity, and to suspect them of thinking unjustly ill of mankind. Some of the reasons which prejudice the inexperienced against the doctrine in question appear to be the following.

Young persons themselves have seen little of the world. In pleasurable society the world puts on its most amiable appearance; and that softness and urbanity which prevail, particularly amongst persons of fashion, are liable to be mistaken for more than they are really worth. The

opposition to this doctrine in the young, arises partly from ingenuousness of heart, partly from a habit of indulging themselves in favourable suppositions respecting the world, rather than of pursuing truth, which is always the grand thing to be pursued ; and partly from the popularity of the tenet, that every body is so wonderfully good!. This error in youth has however a still deeper foundation, which is their not having a right standard of moral good and evil, in consequence of their already partaking of the very corruption which is spoken of; they are therefore apt to have no very strict sense of duty, or of the ne cessity of a right and religious motive to every act.

Moreover, young people usually do not know themselves. Not having yet been much exposed to tempiation, owing to the prudent restraints in which they have been kept, they little suspect to what lengths in vice they themselves are liable to be transported, nor how far others actually are carried, who are set free from those restraints.

Having laid down these as some of the causes of error on this point, I proceed to observe on what strong grounds the doctrine itself stands.

Profane history abundantly confirms this truth: the history of the world being in fact little else than the history of the crimes of the human race. Even though the annals of remote ages lie so involved in obscurity, that some degree of uncertainty attaches itself to many of the events recorded, yet this one melancholy truth is always clear, that most of the miseries which have been brought upon mankind, have proceeded from this general depravity.

The world we now live in furnishes abundant proof of this truth. In a world formed on the deceitful theory of those who assert the innocence and dignity of man, almost all the professions, since they would have been rendered' useless by such a state of innocence, would not have existed. Without sin we may nearly presume there would have been no sickness; so that every medical professor is a standing evidence of this sad truth. Sin not only brought sickness but death into the world; consequently every funeral presents a more irrefragable argument than a thousand sermons. Had man persevered in his original integrity, there could have been no litigation, for there would be no contests about property in a world where none would be inclined to attack it. Professors of law;,

therefore, from the attorney who prosecutes for a trespass, to the pleader who defends a criminal, or the judge who condemns him, loudly confirm the doctrine. Every victo ry by sea or land should teach us to rejoice whith humiliation, for conquest itself brings a terrible, though splendid attestation to the truth of the fall of man.

Even those who deny the doctrine, act universally more or less on the principle. Why do we all secure our houses with bolts, and bars, and locks? Do we take these steps to defend our lives and property from any particular fear? from any suspicion of this neighbour, or that servant, or the other invader? No:-It is from a practical conviction of the common depravity; from a constant, pervading, but undefined dread of impending evil arising from the sense of general corruption. Are not prisons built, and laws enacted, on the same practical principle?

But not to descend to the more degraded part of our species. Why in the fairest transaction of business is nothing executed without bonds, receipts, and notes of hand? Why does not a perfect confidence in the dignity of human nature abolish all these securities; if not between enemies, or people indifferent to each other, yet at least between friends and kindred, and the most honourable connexions? Why, but because of that univeral suspiçion between man and man, which, by all we see, and hear, and feel, is become interwoven with our very make? Though we do not entertain any individual suspicion, nay, though we have the strongest personal confidence, yet the acknowledged principle of conduct has this doctrine for its basis. "I will take a receipt though it were from my brother," is the established voice of mankind; or, as I have heard it more artfully put, by a fallacy of which the very disguise discovers the principle, "Think every man honest, but deal with him as if you knew him to be otherwise.” And as, in a state of innocence, the beasts, it is presumed, would not have bled for the sustenance of man, so their parchments would not have been wanted as instruments of his security against his fellow man.*

But the grand arguments for this doctrine must be drawn from the Holy Scriptures: and these, besides implying it almost continually, expressly assert it; and that in instances too numerous to be all of them brought for

Bishop Butler distinctly declares this truth to be evident, from experience as well as Revelation," that this world exhibits an idea of a RUIN;" and he will hazard much. who ventures to assert that Butler defended Christianity upon principles unconsonaut to reason, philosophy or sound experience.