vine nature. For as a name cannot be given to what we have no notion of; and man is invincibly ignorant of "things not seen," so neither could he discover, understand, or apply any attribute or property, till he knew the name of the object to which, alone, they appertained; and no information of them could be had, but from the word of God, that is, revelation. The mind, upon spiritual subjects, can have no other objects of thought, but by or through words, and names, which therefore must be prior to recollection, reflection, or any mode of thinking. And it is as great an absurdity to say that a man without reason or experience could create language for the instrument of thought, and reason; as that he could create a world for himself, before he was in being.

For the rational faculty consists in a power to exert its several operations, on the materials it receives, and understands; to record, or dispose of them in a proper manner; to call forth, and separately consider them; to divide, compare, and judge of their agreement, or disagreement; and thereby become able to form propositions, and draw conclusions; that is, to think, and reason. But the instrumental cause of reason must be previous to it. What was previous to reason, and a necessary instrument of it, must be taught by some intelligent agent, before reason could be exercised. No such agent was prior to the first man, but God, (or spiritual beings at his appointment). What he taught was by revelation-consequently revelation was the first principle of all knowledge, and the means whereby the creator intended man should become both a rational, and religious creature.

The powers of language, or the powers of the mind in the use of language, are amazing. By the aid of language, or through the knowledge it imparts by revelation, we are enabled to see things which are invisible, and are taught relations which have no sensible existence; by it we learn our origin, and destiny, neither of which have we ever had a personal, conscious experience of, and the same is true in respect to the sensible universe. Although nature gives no intimation of man's original creation, his resurrection from the dead, or his immortality, he is taught by "Him who hath

immortality, and power," that he shall live forever. The revelations originally made, and which impart supernatural knowledge to us by record, did not consist, originally, alone of words. Miraculous appearances, and supernatural manifestations, addressed to the external senses, together with words explanatory of them, by which they were applied, as proofs of the truths revealed in words, were employed, in accommodation, no doubt, to the limited nature of man's faculties. Supernatural, and spiritual knowledge, have been imparted to the mind by sensation, through the eyes, and ears, by external, traditional revelation by language, since immediate revelations, and miracles, ceased. It comes primarily through the ears. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." It is through that channel that we learn the meaning of God's word; through the ears, and eyes together, we learn to read it. The miraculous, and supernatural appearances, which were first manifested in signs, and wonders, in confirmation of the divine truths revealed in words, are presented to us in connection with those names, and descriptions, whose objects, and properties, are not naturally visible or sensible, for the same purpose for which they were first exhibited. The only religions in the world are the Jewish, and Christian, which pretend to a claim of such authority, or seek to establish themselves by such testimony: Some of a spurious order have claimed the support of secret miracles; these, however, had never been thought of, but for revealed religion, any more than the counterfeit of a name, or a coin, could have been attempted, without the previous existence, and knowledge of them. The true religion would have amply satisfied mankind, had it been apprehended, and received in its proper evidence; but mistaking the revelations, and miracles, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost in order to them, as did Simon Magus, these instrnctions, and evidences, have been thought applicable to other purposes than to impart knowledge, and to establish the truth upon divine subjects. Out of misapprehensions upon this subject have arisen the most monstrous errors, and corruptions in religion, and the most horrid, and sanguinary persecutions. Not only the great declensions from christianity in early times, but the confused cry of the multitude, lo! here is

Christ, and lo! there he is, in our day, have proceeded from the same source. The restoration of it to its primitive simplicity, and purity, will consist in nothing more than in teaching, and learning it in the words by which it was first revealed, and believing it by the evidence which the Holy Ghost gave in the signs, and wonders wrought to establish it. As soon as christian teachers, and people become so far divested of pre-conceived notions, and mystic prejudices, arising from the traditions of men, and science, falsely so called, as to realize the literal force, and import of the senti ment, "that the spirit of God only knoweth the things of God, which he hath revealed in words; which he teacheth, and which are not taught by the wisdom of men," then the word of God will become the man of their council. And also, when they come to understand, and feel the import of the Evangelist John's declaration, nearly at the close of his history of our blessed Lord, (viz.) "Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name:" I say, when they understand the import of these expressions, the scriptures. will be exalted into their proper character, and the evidence which Christ gave exclusively relied upon, in believing that he is the Son of God. The allegata, and probata-or the allegations, and proofs, perfectly correspond in nature, and character. Christ declared that he was the sent of God, and the Saviour of the world-that he was one with the Father. These ailegations were divine; the proofs he gave to establish them were also divine, and supernatural-he did the works of God, by raising the dead, by healing the sick, giving eyes to the blind, &c.; and, finally, his human body was crucified by men, and in three days was raised from the dead, as he had predicted, by the Holy Ghos: He was thereby (as Paul says) declared to be the Son of God, with power. After this, he ascended into heaven, and sent down. the gifts of the Holy Ghost, as he had promised. These are a part of the divine proofs by which the allegation, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, is proven, and by which his authority as such is established in the minds of men..

When divine truth is thus apprehended, first through the revelations of God's spirit, and secondly proven by divine testimony; men will learn to pay but little court to their imaginations, and passions, in learning christianity, or in the obedience of faith; and the enemies of christianity will cease to think it reasonable to oppose it, but, on the contrary, the best, and highest reason to believe it true. For the word of God would then be clothed with its proper character, as the word of God; it would awaken fear, and trembling, instead of derision, and ridicule. It would give reality, and practical efficiency to the truths revealed.

Section 5.

Mr. Locke's opinion examined, and refuted, in which he asserts, "That we derive from nature all the simple ideas of which we are possessed; and that traditional revelation cannot communicate any;" with illustrative proofs, derived from the Bible, and experimental matters of fact of the truths established in the foregoing Sections.

The weight of Mr. Locke's name, as authority, in oppo sing the principles developed in the previous parts of this investigation, I can well appreciate. I have, however, paid but little attention to great names, nor attached much importance to authorities, in my inquiries. I have endeavoured to observe Mr. Locke's rules, (viz.) "not to entertain any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant;" and to "search after truth for its own sake," being assured that "whatsoever credit I give to any principle or proposition, more than it receives from the principles, and proofs it supports itself upon, is owing to my inclination that way, and is so far a derogation from the love of truth as such: which, as it can receive no evidence from my passions, interests, or prejudices, so it should receive no tincture from them." In consistency with these rules, and by the most imperative logical necessity, agreeably to the truths formerly established, I am compelled not only to dissent from Mr. Locke, but, in the most direct manner, to

contradict him, in a fundamental article in his philosophy of human understanding, as it relates to revelation. The paragraph containing the opinion which I deem so erroneous, and, I may say, so fatal to the truth of revelation, is the following: "No man, inspired by God, can, by any revelation, communicate to others any new simple ideas which they had not before, from sensation, and reflection. For whatsoever impressions he himself may have from God; this revelation, if it be of new simple ideas, cannot be conveyed to another by words, or any other signs, because words, by their immediate operation on us, cause no other ideas but their natural sounds, and it is by the custom of using them for signs, that they excite, and revive in our minds, latent ideas, but yet only such ideas as were there before." And hence he concludes that "No simple ideas can be conveyed by traditional revelation." A conclusion which puts the Bibie, and every other book, upon the same footing, as depending upon a natural, and not on a supernatural foundation. To illustrate his meaning, and prove the truth of his opinion, he cites the case of St. Paul, "when he was wrapped into the third heavens; whatsoever ideas he there received, all the description he could make to others of that place, is only this, that there are such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive." The error of Mr. Locke consists in making inspiration, and revelation the same thing, both as to the manner, as well as the matter of them.

The attention of the reader is very particularly requested to this part of the discussion; for the point upon which I am now engaged with Mr. Locke, is the one upon which natural religion turns, and is the strongest battery against the revealed. Mr. Locke, in this sentiment, is with every atheist, deist, and natural religionist, (the two latter are of the same meaning,) who have ever written against christianity, and it is by demonstrating the error of his opinions that their refutation will be secure.

I again repeat, that the error of Mr. Locke consists in confounding inspiration with revelation. He would seem (on this account,) to have established the fact, that "No simple idea can be conveyed by traditional revelation," by his