thoughts, words, and works, which are wrought in us by the influence of this Holy Spirit, the practical Christian doth not much trouble himself to inquire. Whatsoever is good in him, that he devoutly ascribes not unto himself, but unto the grace of God which was afforded him: O Lord, not unto me, but unto thy name be the glory;' or having by his former sins justly merited to be left destitute and forsaken; in the latter case he is as ready to make Daniel's humble acknowledgment, O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto me confusion of face.' He will leave it to others to dispute about the nature, extent, and efficacy of this grace, and will make it his own chief labour to obtain, to cherish, and to improve it; he strives, according to the best of his judgment, to form right notions of its efficacy, but he is still more solicitous that no mistakes in his opinions about it may have any dangerous influences upon his practice. He cannot be very wrong in his notions, whilst he believes that man's will is neither so free, as without God's grace to do good, nor so enslaved, as not to be at liberty either to concur with or to resist that grace: but whether these notions about a matter so intricate be exactly right or not, he is fully assured that he cannot be mistaken in his measures of acting, if he exerts his own endeavours with as much vigour and earnestness, as if by them alone he were finally to stand or fall; and, at the same time, implores God's grace with as much fervency, as if that alone could support him :-if he neither relies so far on his own strength, as not humbly to acknowledge. that it is God alone who works in him both to will and to do,' nor so far depends on the grace of

God to save him, as to forget that he is required to work out his own salvation :-if, lastly, at his approaches to the holy altar, he doth prepare himself for the reception of the blessed sacrament, with as much care, diligence, and scrupulosity, as if the benefits he there expects did entirely depend upon the disposition he brings along with him, and his own fitness to communicate, and yet, at the same time, not trusting on his own imperfect righteousness, but on God's infinite mercy, he doth there, with faith, with humility, with reverence, address himself to that blessed Spirit, who is the 'giver of every good and perfect gift,' that he may be fulfilled with his grace and heavenly benediction."

I cannot but hope that these opinions of a classical scholar, a man adorned with all elegant and polite learning, as well as with philosophy; a man whose habits of life and social connexions tended to remove him from all contagion of enthusiasm, will have great weight with the elegant and polite part of the world, in recommending the neglected or exploded doctrine of grace. No man needs blush to entertain the religious sentiments of bishop Smalridge; nor can folly or fanaticism be reasonably imputed to divines like him, whose minds were enriched with all the stores of science, and polished with all the graces of ornamental literature.

SECTION XIII.

Human Learning highly useful, and to be pursued with all Diligence, but cannot, of itself, furnish Evidences of Christianity completely satisfactory, like those which the Heart of the good Christian feels from the divine influence with the opinion of Doctor Isaac Watts.

LEARNING should be the handmaid of religion. She must not take upon her the office of a judge or arbitress. Her employment is highly honourable and useful, though subordinate. Let learning be cultivated, and continue to flourish and abound. Religion is the sun to the soul; the source of light and the cherisher of life. But because there is a sun, must there be no inferior lights? God has made the moon and the stars also, and pronounced that they are good.

Never let the enemies to Christianity triumph over it, by asserting that it is an enemy to learning, and tends to introduce the ignorance of barbarism. Learning, under due regulations, contributes to soften the mind, and prepare it for the divine agency. A learned, virtuous, and religious man, whose religion is vital and truly Christian, is a superior being, even in this mortal state, and may be imagined, by us his fellow-creatures, to be little lower than the angels.

Nobody can hold learning, and the inventions

of human ingenuity, in higher esteem than myself; I look up to them with affection and admiration. But after all, and however perfect and beautiful they may be, they are but human, the product of poor, short-lived, fallible mortals. Whatever comes from the Father of lights, from him who made that mind which is capable of learning and science, must deserve more attention and honour than can possibly be due to the most beautiful and stupendous works of human ingenuity. These are not to be slighted, but beloved, pursued, rewarded. But I am a mortal. Every moment is bringing me nearer to that period when the curtain shall fall, and all. these things be hidden from my eyes.' My first attention and warmest affection therefore ought to be fixed on things spiritual and eternal.

All arts, all sciences, must be secondary and instrumental to the attainment of divine illumination. I am the light of the world,' says Jesus Christ. Can any reasonable man rest satisfied without coming to the light after such a declaration? Will he be contented with the radiance of dim lights and false lights, when he is invited to approach the brilliant and the true?

Learning is necessary for the purposes of this life; it is an ornament and a defence. It is highly useful in religious investigation. It furnishes arguments to enforce morality, to persuade to all that is good and great, and to deter from folly and vice. But let it ever keep to its own office, which is certainly, in religious matters, ministerial. It can amuse; it can inform; but it cannot supply the summum bonum, it cannot raise fallen man to his original state. Grace only can restore man to

God's image. If learning could have done it, why were the heathens unrestored? are not the infidels often learned? and would not the advent of our Lord and Saviour have been superfluous, if learning could have repaired the ruins of the fall?

Few (as I have already said) in the mass of mankind are learned. They are perhaps as one to a million. What is to become of the millions then, if the gospel of Jesus Christ, by which alone they can live in the sweet tranquillity of a state of grace, and die with religious hope and confidence, cannot be received, with sufficient evidence, without deep learning, logical and metaphysical disputation? What is to prove it to them, who have neither books, leisure or ability to study, if God himself do not teach them by his Spirit? Blessed be his name, he has taught them, and continues to teach them. It is among the learned chiefly that infidelity prevails. She inhabits libraries, and walks abroad in academic groves, but is rarely seen in the cottage, in the field, or in the manufactory. The poor and the unlearned do in general believe in the gospel most firmly. What is the evidence which convinces them? It is the witness of the Spirit; and thanks be to said my grace is sufficient for thee.' believeth on the Son of God hath this witness in himself?'

him who 'He that

The opinion of a man like Dr. Isaac Watts on the true nature of Christianity, is almost of itself decisive. He was not only a devout and zealous Christian, but a profound scholar, a natural philosopher, a logician, and a metaphysician. His life and conversation exhibited a pattern of every Christian virtue. Let us hear him.