Thus have I endeavoured to give you a general idea of the nature of the heathen religion, as it was practifed in the earliest ages, and indeed as it continued, with little or no improvement, till the promulgation of Chriftianity. It was not, you fee, a merely contemptible fuperftition, founded on the groffeft ignorance of the laws of nature, but fuch as in the highest degree must have debased the minds, and have corrupted the morals of men. How juftly is the state of the heathen world described by the apostle Paul in my text, and other facred writers; and how remote from truth, and the appearance of truth, is the account that Voltaire, and other unbelievers, out of a defire to difcredit revelation, have given of it. Surely then the rectifying these fundamental errors, into which all the world had fallen, with refpect to religion, and the putting an end to practices fo debafing to the human character, and fo deftructive of human happiness, was an object not unworthy of the great Parent and Friend of mankind. That there was no prospect of men, by any ufe they could make of their own reason, recovering from this deplorable ignorance and corruption, was evident by the experience of three three thoufand years, in which, though many parts of the world became enlightened in other refpects, they grew, if poffible, more confirmed in their attachment to their religions. received from their ancestors; continuing to believe, notwithstanding the strongest appearances to the contrary, that the profperity of their several states, and even the fertility of the ground, depended upon the observance of their particular rites. And therefore as soon as the heathen magiftrates faw the rapid fpread of Christianity, and the danger to which their ancient religions were expofed in confequence of it, they employed all their power to fupprefs it, perfecuting the profeffors of the new religion in every form, though happily in vain. Truth, fupported by clear evidence, could not be overcome by power. That nothing less than repeated interpofitions of the Deity could have preserved any part of the human race from this fhocking idolatry, so destructive of virtue and of happinefs, is particularly evident from the history of all the nations defcended from Abraham, whofe founders were, no doubt, inftructed by him in the knowledge and worship of the one true God, and who, notwithstanding this, all be came came idolaters. This was the cafe with the Arabs, defcended from Ifhmael, and other fons of that great patriarch, though in the time of Job, who was probably prior to Mofes, fome of them were not fo. This was also the cafe with the Edomites, though defcended from Isaac, and of the Moabites and Ammonites, defcended from Lot, the friend and companion of Abraham. There muft, therefore, have been something exceedingly fascinating and plaufible in the fyftems of heathen worship, though to us, who have been enlightened by revelation, nothing appears more abfurd and shocking. But when the world by its own wisdom knew not God, it pleafed God, as the apostle fays, I Cor. i. 21, by the foolishness of preaching, i. e. by the gofpel (which at its first publication was ridiculed as foolish by those who were reputed wife) to effect a reformation. And to this day there has not been any reformation of the most abfurd of the heathen religions, but by means of the gofpel. All that Mahometanism has done in this respect was by means of the principles derived from the Jewish and Christian religions, the truth of which H which it supposes. Thus was verified the declaration of our Saviour, John xiv. 6, No man cometh to the father (or attains to the knowledge and worship of the one true God) but by me; a most extraordinary prediction, but abundantly verified by facts. Can we then be too thankful to God for the promulgation of the gofpel, which has not only brought life and immortality to light, by the clear revelation of a future ftate; but has freed mankind from the groffeft ignorance, and fuperftitious addictedness to innumerable practices of the most horrid and abominable nature; such as furnished incentives and opportunity for every vice, the moft debafing of the characters of men, and the cause of infinite mischiefs to them, both as individuals, and as members of fociety. The gospel, whatever elfe may be faid of it, has been, if there be any truth in history, the only, but it has been an effectual, remedy of thefe great evils; while all the evils that have been charged upon it, are clearly owing to a departure from its genuine principles, as they are now to be seen in the New Teftament, the rise and progrefs of them being investigated with |
