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LECTURE XII.

THE NATURE OF THE EVIDENCE OF A REVEALED RELIGION.

THE relation of Natural to Revealed Religion was the subject of my last Lecture. I endeavoured to show, that the latter was not a mere republication of the former; for, besides adding to it the certain knowledge of a future life, a fact of greater interest to human beings than any other truth whatever, the being of a God alone excepted, it first announced those great doctrines which are now included under the title of Natural Religion, and which human reason is competent to prove, though it was not competent to discover. What now seems to us both obvious and demonstrable has often baffled the ingenuity and research of enlightened nations for centuries, before it was first made known or generally recognized as a principle in science or a rule in conduct. Natural Religion coincides, as far as it goes, with the doctrines of Revelation; it comprises that portion — far the larger portion of these doctrines which is susceptible of proof from the light of reason and nature, without appealing to the authority of the Author of the revelation. Instead of Natural Religion, then, it ought to be called the natural evidence, or proof from the light of nature, of the greater part of Revealed Religion. The instance of mathematical science is enough to show, that truths of great comprehensiveness and importance, which are necessary or demonstrable, which, in fact, are reducible to identical propositions, may still be so recondite and difficult of discovery, that the finest minds may be successively employed for

ages in laborious study before they can be ascertained and established. And even now, these truths are taught to the learner; that is, they are revealed to him as antecedent discoveries, and he is not left slowly to grope his own way towards them in the painful path of original investigation. When once revealed, the school-boy can demonstrate them.

Applying these general remarks to our particular subject, I remarked that polytheism is natural religion; that is, polytheism is the first and natural product of the religious sentiment and the unenlightened intellect. Reason shows that this is the probable result; history proves that it was the actual result. The doctrine of the existence of one God, the Creator and righteous Governor of heaven and earth, first had place in the religious system of the Jews, a people so peculiar in character, so inferior in intellectual power and cultivation to the nations which surrounded them, and which were sunk in polytheism and idolatry, that their belief in monotheism is inexplicable, unless we admit the truth of their history, which declares that it was the fruit of revelation. The contrast between the Decalogue and the Psalms, on the one hand, and the poems of Homer and Hesiod, with the sculptured gods of Egypt and India, on the other, is so glaring and marvellous, that no hypothesis but that of a special interposition of God in the affairs of the Jews will solve the mystery. The Jews were emphatically a God-guided people; their character, their opinions, their history, their present condition, are inexplicable facts, when not viewed in their religious aspect, and with the eye of faith. They are, in some sort, the living witnesses of the miracles that are recorded of their nation. They were always children in matters of faith, wayward and stubborn children, too, slow to learn and quick to forget. They discovered nothing for themselves; they were not given to speculation, either in philosophy, theology, or ethics. But the vital features of their religion have stood the test of three thousand years; and they triumph still, for they belong to Christianity. And the bulk of mankind are still, what the Jews were, children in matters of faith. They are not capable of working out for themselves a

scheme of Natural Religion; with them, the choice lies between Revealed Religion, skepticism, and idolatry.

There is no antecedent presumption against Christianity, then, on the ground that a revelation is not needed. Reasoning upon the nature of the case shows, what is also demonstrated by the history of mankind, that without miraculous interposition and special instruction, the human race, even under the most favorable circumstances, gives itself up to false doctrines, false gods, corrupt morals, and a sinful and unhappy life. The antecedent presumption, therefore, runs the other way; it is in favor of a revelation. If the Deity is infinitely benevolent, we must expect that he will interpose to rescue man from degradation and sin, — to put him upon the right path, and then leave him to follow it or not, at his own good pleasure. It is no more incredible, that what are called the laws of nature should be interrupted for the instruction of man, than that they should be first established and generally maintained for his instruction. The latter we have proved to be the case by irrefragable arguments drawn from the light of nature; we look, then, with equal confidence, for the former supposition to be realized. If the Deity is always present in the material universe, vivifying, guiding, and moving all, we look also for his constant presence in his moral creation, to warn, to teach, and to govern mankind. And as the history of the brute earth, through its geological epochs, shows that the preserving agency, though uniform, is not mechanical or blind in its operation, but that one mode of action is, after long intervals, substituted for another, the continuance of animal and vegetable species in the natural way being interrupted after a given time, the old species destroyed, and new races, new orders of being, introduced, so we must expect that the history of man, or the annals of the moral universe, will show similar periodic exertions of Divine power and wisdom, the old mode of action, after a certain period, giving place to a new one, and the ancient dispensation being replaced by another, which, for this later time and for the altered circumstances of the case, is a more perfect manifestation of Divine holiness and love.

The creation of man himself, his first establishment upon the earth, forms one of these transition epochs, from which dates a new era in the history of God's providence. There is hardly a single fact in all natural science now more conclusively proved than the comparatively recent introduction of human beings upon this globe, anciently tenanted only by plants and brutes, as it was at a still earlier day by plants alone; the old skeptical objection upon this head, that the human race, for aught we know, has been perpetuated through an endless series of generations, has been entirely refuted by the recent discoveries of geologists. What a signal and momentous interruption was here of the former course of nature and the old dominion of physical law! What miracle of later times equals in importance that through which the reign of moral law began, and this world, till then a theatre for the display only of the natural attributes, was fitted to mirror also the moral perfections of the Infinite One?

From the contemplation of this grand event we pass, by a natural and easy transition, to the first recorded intervention of the Deity in the affairs of men, or rather to the first striking change in his providence, made for the purpose of showing that he is always with them,-to the revelation to the Jews. In one sense, then, it is no strange and inexplicable occurrence when our eyes are first greeted by that mysterious light which we have traced shining in the midst of surrounding darkness; we were prepared for it by the antecedent history of the world, and by our ideas of the manner in which God governs the universe that he has made. The law given to Moses is but another step in the series in which were previously recorded the successive introductions of vegetable, animal, and human life. Vast intervals of time, according to our conceptions, separate these grand epochs from each other; but these are as nothing with Him in whose sight a thousand years are but as one day. During these intervals, what we call the laws of nature hold without break ; but if they are rightly considered in the light in which I have attempted to present them, as the constant effects of the Deity's immediate action, these laws themselves prepare our minds for

their own interruption whenever an emergency may arise; because they are subservient to the same purpose which such an interruption is designed for,—namely, the education and the moral improvement of the human race.

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With this very brief view of the antecedent probability of a the nature of revelation, I pass to the only remaining topic, the evidence to be required in its support. First, then, neither to the contemporaries of the revelation, nor to those who come after it, must the evidence in its favor be of that direct and overpowering character which would compel assent and enforce obedience. This rule results from the very nature of moral government, which excludes the idea of compulsion. If the heavens should be rolled together like a scroll, and the earth should give up its dead, all in direct attestation of a call to repentance, and an eternity of reward or punishment should be revealed as the immediate consequence of compliance or neglect, then there would be no merit in obedience, and the whole object of the revelation, the moral improvement of man, would be frustrated. Even the near and certain prospect of a future life, it has been well observed, would so far deprive this stage of existence of all value in our eyes, that we should rather be unfitted for its duties than better prepared to meet them. God does not thus deal with his creatures. If an earthly sovereign or master, indeed, should issue commands to his servants, he would take care that their meaning should be obvious, and that the source whence they came should be well known, so that obedience would be sure. But the object in this case, as Butler well observes, is merely to have the thing done, as such a master does not trouble himself about the motive or principle upon which it is done. But in religion, the external act is of no importance whatever, while the motive for doing it, or the frame of mind in which it is performed, is the great end in view. The improvement of character, or the perfection of our moral nature, affords the only reason why a revelation should be made; and in reference to this end, it is plain that the obedience which is rendered only from awe, fear, or selfishnesss, is no obedience at all.

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