fupernatural. Such trials feem to me above the ftrength of human nature, and able to overbear duty, reafon, faith, conviction, nay, and the most abfolute certainty of a future ftate. We can eafily imagine that a few perfons in fo good a caufe might have laid down their lives at the gibbet, the ftake, or the block; but that multitudes of each fex, of every age, of different countries and condi tions, fhould, for near three hundred years together, expire leifurely amidst the most exquifite tortures, rather than apoftatize from the truth, has fomething in it fo far beyond the natural ftrength and force of mortals, that one ⚫ cannot but conclude there was fome miraculous power to fupport the fufferers; and if fo, here is at once a proof, from hiftory and from fact, of the divine origin of our religion."

It

There is a third portion of the feed that falls among thorns. This wants neither root nor depth of earth. grows up; but the misfortune is, that the thorns grow up with it. The fault of the foil is not that of bearing nothing, but of bearing too much; of bearing what it ought not, of exhaufting its ftrength and nutrition on vile and worthless productions, which choke the good feed, and prevent it from coming to perfection. "These are they, fays our Saviour, in the parallel place of St. Luke, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleafures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection." In their youth perhaps they receive religious inftruction, they imbibe right principles, and liften to good advice; but no fooner do they go forth, no fooner, do they leave thofe perfons and thofe places from whom they received them, than they take the road either of bu finefs or of pleasure, purfue their intercfts, their amufements, or their guilty indulgences with unbounded eagernefs, and have neither time nor inclination to cultivate the feeds of religion that have been sown in their hearts, and to eradicate the weeds that have been mingled with them. The confequence is, that the weeds prevail, and the feeds are choked and loft.

Addifon's Evidences, S. 7.

Can there poffibly be a more faithful picture of a large proportion of the Chriftian world? Let us look around us,. and obferve how the greater part of those we meet with are employed. In what is it that their thoughts are bufi-> , ed, their views, their hopes, and their fears centured, their attention occupied, their hearts and fouls and affections engaged? Is it in fearching the Scriptures, in meditating on its doctrines, its precepts, its exhortations, its promifes, and its threats? Is it in communing with their own hearts, in probing them to the very bottom, in looking carefully whether there be any way of wickednefs in them, in plucking out every noxious weed, and leaving room for the good feed to grow and fwell and expand itfelf, and bring forth fruit to perfection? Is it in cultivating purity of manners, a fpirit of charity towards the whole human race, and the moft exalted fentiments of piety, gratitude, and love towards their Maker and Redeemer? Thefe I fear are far from being the general and principal occupations of mankind. Too many of them are, God knows, very differently employed. They are overwhelmed with business, they are devoted to amusement, they are immerfed in fenfuality, they are mad with ambition, they are idolaters of wealth, of power, of glory, of fame. On these things all their, affections are fixed. Thefe are the great objects of their purfuit; and if any accidental thought of religion happens to cross their way, they inftantly difmifs the unbidden, unwelcome gueft, with the anfwer of Felix to Paul, "Go thy way for this time; when we have a convenient feafon we will fend for thee."

But how then, it is faid, are we to conduct ourselves? If Providence has bleffed us with riches, with honor, with power, with reputation, are we to reject thefe gifts of our heavenly Father; or ought we not rather to accept them with thankfulness, and enjoy with gratitude, the advantages and the comforts which his bounty has bestowed upon us? Moft affuredly we ought. But then they are to be. enjoyed alio with innocence, with temperance, and with mederation. They must not be allowed to ufurp the firft place in cur hearts. They must not be permitted to fup

plant God in our affection, or to difpute that pre-eminence and priority which he claims over every propenfity of our nature. This and this only can prevent the good feed from being choked with the cares, the rices, and the pleafures of the prefent life.

We now come in the last place to the feed which fell on good ground, which our Lord tells us in St. Luke, denotes thofe that in an honest and good heart, having heard word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience, fome an hundred fold, fome fixty, fome thirty.

We here fee that the firft and principal qualification for hearing the word of God, for keeping it, for rendering it capable of bringing forth fruit, is an honest and a good heart; that is, a heart free from all thofe evil difpofitions and corrupt paffions which blind the eyes, diftort the understanding, and obftruct the admiffion of divine truth; a heart perfectly clear from prejudice, from pride, from vanity, from felf-fufficiency, and felf-conceit; a heart fincerely difpofed and earneftly defirous to find out the truth, and firmly refolved to embrace it when found;ready to acknowledge its own ignorance, and weakness, and corruption, and "to receive with meeknefs the ingrafted word, which is able to fave the foul."

This is that innocence and fimplicity and fingleness of mind, which we find fo frequently recommended and fo highly applauded by our bleffed Lord, and which is for beautifully and feelingly defcribed when young children were brought to him that he should touch them, and were checked by his difciples. "Suffer little children to come unto me, fays he, and forbid them not, for of fuch is the kingdom of heaven; and then he adds, whofoever fhall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child he shall not enter therein*." Here, in a few words, and by a most fignificant and affecting emblem, is expreffed that temper and difpofition of mind which is the most effential qualifi cation for the kingdom of heaven. Unless we come to the Gofpel with that meeknefs, gentlenefs, docility, and

Mark x. 14, 15.

guilelefs fimplicity, which conftitute the character of a child, and render him fo lovely and captivating, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven; we cannot either affent to the evidence, believe the doctrines, or obey the precepts of the Christian religion. Hence we fee the true reason why so many men of distinguished talents have rejected the religion of Chrift. It is not because its evidences are defective, or its doctrines repugnant to reafon; it is because their difpofitions were the very reverse of what the Gofpel requires; becaufe (as their writings evidently show) they were high-fpirited, violent, proud, conceited, vain, difdainful, and fometimes profligate too; because, in fhort, they wanted that honeft and good heart, which not only receives the good feed, but keeps it, and nourishes it with unceafing patience, till it bring forth fruit to perfection. They could not enter into the marriage feast because they had not on the wedding garment, because they were not clothed with humility. For " God refifteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Them that are meek shall he guide in judgment, and fuch as are gentle, them shall he learn his wayt."

But here arifes a difficulty on which the enemies of our faith lay great ftrefs, and frequently alledge as an excuse for their infidelity and impiety. If, fay they, the fuccefs of the good feed depends on the foil in which it is fown, the fuccefs of the Gofpel muft, in the fame manner, depend (as this very parable is meant to prove) on the temper and difpofition of the recipient, of the perfon to whom it is offered. Now this temper, and difpofition are not of our own making: they are the work of nature; they are what our Creator has given us. If then, in any particular inftance, they are unfortunately fuch as difqualify us for the reception of the Gospel, the fault is not ours; it is in the foil, it is in our natural conftitution, for which furely we cannot be held refpenfible.

more.

This plea is fpecious and plaufible; but it is nothing The fact is, that the imbecility and corruption introduced into our moral frame by the fall of our first pa," t James, iv. 6. Pfalm, xxv. 9.

* 1 Pet. v. 5.

rents, is in fome measure felt by all; but undoubtedly in different individuals fhews itfelf in different degrees, and that from their very earliest years. Look at any large family of children living together under the eye of their parents, and you will frequently discover in them a furprizing variety of tempers, humors, and difpofitions; and although the fame inftructions are given to all, the fame care and attention, the fame difcipline, the fame vigilance exercised over each, yet fome fhall be, in their general conduct, meek, gentle, and fubmiffive; others impetuous, paffionate, and froward; fome active, enterprizing, and bold; others quiet, contented and calm; fome cunning, artful, and clofe; others open, frank, and ingenuous; fome, in fhort, malevolent, mifchievous, and unfeeling; others kind, compaffionate, good-natured, and though fometimes betraying the infirmity of human nature by cafual omiffions of duty and errors of conduct, yet foon made fenfible of their faults, and eafily led back to regularity, order, piety, and virtue.

Here then is unquestionably the difference of natural conftitution contended for. But what is the true inference? Is it that those whose difpofitions are the worst are to give themselves up for loft, are to abandon all hopes of falvation, and to alledge their depraved nature as a fufficient apology for infidelity or vice, as conftituting a complete inability either to believe or to obey the Gofpel? No fuch thing. On the contrary, it is a ftrong and pow erful call, first upon their parents and the guides of their youth, and afterwards upon themselves, to watch over, to reftrain, to correct, to amend, to meliorate their evil difpofitions, and to fupply, by attention, by discipline and by prayer, what has been denied by nature. It may be thought hard, perhaps, that all this care, and labor, and painful conflict, faould be neceffary to fome, and not (in the fame degree at leaft) to others; and that fo marked a diftin&tion in fo important a point fhould be made botween creatures of the fame fpecies. But is not the fame diftinction made in other points of importance? Are not men placed from their very birth by the hand of Providence in different fituations of rank, power, wealth? Are