him to punishment after the commission of sin, but infallibly inclines him to sin; because that is necessary to the manifestation of divine justice, and to the felicity of the elect; who will be much happier in heaven, if there be thousands and millions of miserable souls in the flames of hell, than if all mankind should enjoy the felicity of paradise.

O, my God! if any among us be capable of forming ideas so injurious to thy perfections, impute it not to the whole society of Christians; and let not all our churches suffer for the irregularities of some of our members! One single altar prepared for idols, one single act of idolatry, was formerly sufficient to provoke thy displeasure. Jealous of thy glory, thou didst inflict on the republic of Israel thy most terrible chastisements, when they associated false gods with thee. Hence those dreadful calamities, hence those eternal banishments, hence heaven and earth employed to punish the guilty. But if Jews experienced such a rigorous treatment for attributing to false gods the perfections of the true God, what punishments will not you suffer, Christians, if, in spite of the light of the gospel, which shineth around you, you tax the true God with the vices of false gods: if, by a theology unworthy of the name, you attribute to a holy God the cruelty, the injustice, and the falsehood, of those idols to which corrupt passions alone gave a being, as well as attributes agreeable to their own abominable wishes? That disposition of mind, which conducts to universal truth, frees a man from these contradictions, and harmonizes the pastor and the teacher with himself.

3. Truth will deliver you from disagreeable doubts about religion. The state of a mind, which is carried about with every wind of doctrine, Eph. iv. 14. to use an expression of St. Paul, is a violent state; and it is very disagreeable, in such interesting subjects as those of religion, to doubt whether one be in the path of truth, or in the road of error; whether the worship, that one renders to God, be acceptable, or odious, to him; whether the fatigues, and sufferings, that are endured for religion, be punishments of one's folly, or preparations for the reward of virtue.

But if this state of mind be violent, it is difficult to free one's self from it. There are but two sorts of men, who are free from the disquietudes of this state: they, who live without reflection, and they, who have seriously studied religion; they are the only people who are free from doubts.

We see almost an innumerable variety of sects, which are diametrically opposite to one another. How can we flatter ourselves, that we belong to the right community, unless we have profoundly applied ourselves to distinguish truth from falsehood?

We hear the partisans of these different religions anathematize and condemn one another. How is it, that we are not afraid of their denunciations of wrath?

We cannot doubt that, among them, who embrace systems opposite to ours, there is a great number, who have more knowledge, more erudition, more genius, more penetration, than we. How is it that we do not fear, that these adversaries, who have had

better opportunities of knowing the truth than we, actually do know it better; and that they have employed more time to study it, and have made a greater progress in it?

We acknowledge, that there are, in the religion we profess, difficulties which we are not able to solve; bottomless depths, mysteries, which are not only above our reason, but which seem opposite to it. How is it, that we are not stumbled at these difficulties? How is it, that we have no doubt of the truth of a religion, which is, in part, concealed under impenetrable veils?

We are obliged to own, that prejudices of birth, and education, are usually very influential over our minds. Moreover, we ought to remember, that nothing was so carefully inculcated on our infant minds as the articles of our faith. How can we demonstrate, that these articles belong to the class of demonstrative truths, and not to that of the prejudices of education?

We know, by sad experience, that we have often admitted erroneous propositions for incontestable principles; and that when we have thought ourselves in possession of demonstration, we have found ourselves hardly in possession of probability. How is it, that we do not distrust the judgments of minds so subject to illusion, and which have been so often deceived?

From these different reflections ariseth a mixture of light and darkness, a contrast of certainty and doubt, infidelity and faith, scepticism and assurance, which makes one of the most dreadful states in which

an intelligent soul can be. If men are not a constant prey to the gloomy thoughts that accompany this state, it is because sensual objects fill the whole capacity of their souls: but there are certain moments of reflection and self-examination, in which reason will adopt these distressing thoughts, and oblige us to suffer all their exquisite pain.

A man, who is arrived at the knowledge of the truth, a man, who hath made all the sacrifices necessary to arrive at it, is superior to these doubts: not only because truth hath certain characters, which distinguish it from falsehood, certain rays of light, which strike the eye, and which it is impossible to mistake; but also because it is not possible, that God should leave those men in capital errors, whom he hath enabled to make such grand sacrifices to truth. If he do not discover to them at first all that may seem fundamental in religion, he will cominunicate to them all that is fundamental in effect. He will bear with them, if they embrace some circumstantial errors, into which they fall only through a frailty inseparable from human nature.

4. Finally, consider the value of truth in regard to the calm which it procureth on a death-bed. Truth will render you intrepid at the sight of death. Cato of Utica, it is said, resolved to die, and not being able to survive the liberty of Rome, and the glory of Pompey, desired, above all things, to convince himself of the truth of a future state. Although he had meditated on this important subject throughout the whole course of his life, yet he thought it was necessary to re-examine it at the approach of death.

For this purpose, he withdrew from society, he sought a solitary retreat, he read Plato's book on the immortality of the soul, studied the proofs with attention, and, convinced of this grand truth, in tranquillity he died. Methinks I hear him answering, persuaded of his inmortality, all the reasonings that urge him to continue in life. If Cato had obtained only uncertain conjectures on the immortality of the soul, he would have died with regret; if Cato had known no other world, he would have discovered his weakness in quitting this. But Plato gave Cato satisfaction. Cato was persuaded of another life. The sword, with which he destroyed his natural life, could not touch his immortal soul. The soul of Cato saw another Rome, another republic, in which tyranny should be no more on the throne, in which Pompey would be defeated, and Cæsar would triumph no more.*

How pleasing is the sight of a heathen, persuading himself of the immortality of the soul by the bare light of reason! And how painful is the remembrance of his staining his reflections with suicide! But I find in the firmness, which resulted from his meditations, a motive to obey the precept of the wise man in the text. While the soul floats in uncertainty, while it hovers between light and darkness, persuasion and doubt; while it hath only presumptions and probabilities in favour of religion; it will find it impossible to view death without terror: but, an enlightened, established Christian, finds in his religion a sure refuge against all his fears.

*Plutarch M. Cato Min.