forgotten, still neglected God. Has a man no need of penitence who has not set God always before him? Does no part of the blame of ignorance or error belong to himself? Has he been negligent or scornful of learning, and doing, and teaching the will of the God of all goodness, and yet has he no need of repentance, good resolves, and prayers?

Man's sinfulness is, I think, the conclusion of the rational Religion of the Bible, and it is the end of the Natural Religion of all true Christians; it is also the stumbling-block of much intellectual pride, and a subject that many modern theologians seem surprisingly ignorant of, or disinclined to. I marvel not that the Apostle should have spoken of the "oppositions of science falsely so called."* How erroneous are the inferences of science in its growth;-by one deficient fact, the finest train of reasoning is arrested or reversed; by one additional fact the whole view is changed. It is this imperfection of knowledge which is falsely called science, and well may we distrust it, well may we be commanded to avoid it. The truths are very simple, that God is good, and that man is sinful-even so ignorant of good, says the Christian, as often to think that he has no need for fear or repentance in the eyes of a righteous God. But "the preaching of the Cross (of repentance) is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto them† which

1 Tim. vi. 20.

+ 1 Cor. i. 18.;

'them' is substituted for 'us,' as St. Paul writes.

are saved, it is the power of God;" surpassing all earthly power, to alarm, arrest and purify, to console, sustain and enlighten the spirit of man.

Solomon declared that "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord;"* and the Son of God, who came, as you write, to bring "life and immortality to light," first commanded "all men everywhere to repent." Now where would be the need of fear or repentance if man were not sinful, as we know he is? That man must have a very mean knowledge of what is excellent in the creation or the Creator, who thinks himself good, or even passably good; and meaner still must be the wisdom of him who thinks he has no occasion for repentance in the presence of God. Doubtless, the more men value what is good, the more they study it; and the more they learn, the more plainly they perceive themselves wanting. I speak of the Will of God for good. If, then, there be any need of repentance, it will not be easy to shew that the necessity ever ends; and it is pretty obvious that the end is not at the moment when the creature, who may, possibly, be immortal, has only just discovered from the motions of an insect, or demonstrated to his own satisfaction from the revolutions of the

Prov. ix. 10.

+ Acts, xvii. 30.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” "And the times of this ignorance God winked at;

but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent."

world, that there is a God of mighty benevolence and skill. Let us suppose that some are habituated to these reflections, and find a certain kind of pleasure in them, without having cultivated a sense of their own guilt and worthlessness along with their knowledge of the Divine attributes. Is it a time for weak and erring man, with the bare possibility of his own future existence before him, to exult in his knowledge? It were better to cherish the fear which is the forerunner of penitence. It cannot be beyond the pale of natural wisdom to know that God is good, and man evil. My judgment of the natural world has plainly shewn to me, that the thoughts of man's heart are "only evil continually,"* as well as, that the Divine goodness is an enduring mercy, scattering good things both on the unjust and on the just.

It is not to be imagined that Christians are averse to the simple spirit of Natural Theology; all men should know, and every Christian knows full well, that the efficacy of an arrangement shews the wisdom of the Maker; that the immensity of a design is proof of the Almighty sway; and, above all, that happiness being the result of a plan, is a sufficient testimony of the goodness of Him who arranged it. There is testimony enough on every point, and it does not seem that the limited and unsettled rules of modern science

⚫ Gen. vi. 5.; and viii. 21.

render the evidence a whit more clear or forcible, although the variety of illustration be endless.

It is, indeed, a remarkable truth, that, whether we investigate the laws of physics,-the order of the heavenly bodies, the structure of the earth, or the mechanism of organized matter; whether we pursue the researches of Psychology through the instincts of animals to the mind of man, or even into surmises of the intelligence of the Creator; or whether we take up the arguments which the feeble labours of man have constructed concerning his moral relations; we are almost inevitably led to know our Maker as powerful, wise, and good, beyond the reach of human reason or imagination. We may be led also to think, that we have a soul responsible, eternal, and capable of pleasure or pain; to fear for the future, to know ourselves weak and sinful, to repent, and to resolve better, to hope that penitence may partly expiate the past, and that better deeds may testify an improving spirit. It seems to me a thing of small importance, that any one should busy himself to establish Natural Theology as a distinct science or branch of study. It may be well enough in accordance with the common practice of worldly philosophers, and indeed, highly necessary to those (few I trust,) who are so peculiarly constituted, that a course of scientific study seems the only route by which they can attain to the knowledge of their Maker; but, to my mind, the accom

paniments of a system appear only as so many impediments, obscurities, and difficulties, especially when presented to the opening mind. Let us see the readiness with which the simple and unscientific may reach the highest truths of religion.

I quote from the Narrative of the Reverend Mr. Williams, an eminently successful Missionary to the South Sea. Speaking of his exertions among the natives of Rarotonga, he says, "We have not contented ourselves with giving them the Word of God, and teaching them to read it, but we have used every means to lead them to understand it: and I will relate one circumstance to shew how far we have succeeded. We were visited, a few years ago, by one of his Britannic Majesty's vessels, commanded by a gentleman who is connected with a noble family. The vessel happened to arrive at the time of our annual Missionary Meeting, in the month of May, and it was a novel circumstance, that the officers and others of the crew attended our Missionary service.

"After the Sermon in the morning the Public Meeting took place. A Native president took the Chair; several Native speakers addressed the Meeting with peculiar effect; everything proceeded with the greatest order, and the speeches were interpreted to those gentlemen who favoured us with their presence. Some of them, however, who were not quite so favorable to us as could be wished, said that the Natives