to such a degree, as to make it altogether unrea- LECT. II. sonable to doubt the inspiration of the sacred author. of the ob If Moses were not inspired, it then devolves on Predicament his opponents to show, either that he has antici- Jector. pated nothing that reason might not have foreseen, and foreseen in his age and circumstances; or, that the facts which history has transmitted, or tradition preserved, contradict and confound the statements which he has recorded. Neither of these things has been done, or can be done. But, on the contrary, the most elaborate and extensive researches into the history, condition, and circumstances of mankind, seem fully to confirm every particular of his record, and to prove, that he could have derived his knowledge from no human source, because it involves many peculiarities, and critical niceties of statement, which could not have been anticipated, and many obvious improbabilities which merely human calculation would have rejected. The inference, therefore, without any reserve or qualification, is forced upon us he must have been taught of God. LECTURE III. ON THE MENTAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF HUMAN NATURE, Adaptation of the mental and moral economy to the social relations and personal interests-The doctrine of a moral apostasy-How it may be expected to affect our nature Evidenced by suffering, both mental and bodily -Traces of social and individual degradation, combined with vestiges of primitive excellence-Man's practical aversion from moral goodness-Yet sentimental approbation-Objections and speculative theories considered -Contrarieties and contradictions in human nature Notion of perfectibility-Passion for immortality-Loss of the true knowledge of God-— And, thereby, of the Supreme Good-General review of his condition-And the arguments thence derived in corroboration of the facts and doctrines of Revelation. observations. LECT. III. THERE appears a remarkable analogy between Introductory the conviction of the truth and inspiration of the Bible, ordinarily produced by the candid perusal of its contents, and the conviction generally felt of the being of a God. The belief of mankind LECT. III. in the latter truth, is not founded in any elaborate or logical arguments of the learned, but is derived from what is visible, what is experienced, and what reason at once pronounces to be necessary. There is a kind of obvious and continuous proof always offered to our understanding, and regularly supplied to each generation, and all through the life and experience of every man. It may be compared to a constant stream of light, reflected upon the rational soul, from all nature, in all its wondrous works and mysterious operations. The evidence appeals to all our senses, and through them to our reason, in all its degrees, from the lowest to the highest. We feel the great truth thrust upon us by every object and every circumstance. The conception of supreme power and wisdom arises in our minds, as the natural result of exercising our powers of perception and reflection. To counteract this conviction is a work of effort and artifice, of constraint and of delusion, of subtlety and irrational dreaming. And, after all, there are found but an inconsiderable few, who can be perverted and corrupted, or pervert and corrupt themselves, into the contrary opinion. Nature, in man and all his relations, counteracts the doctrine of the atheist. It cannot spread, nor be effectually propagated, though it is found continually springing up afresh, like a noxious weed in a rank soil; still it uni LECT. III. formly finds all the elements around unfavourable to its growth. Every eye is made to behold the works of the Almighty Creator; every mind to contemplate them in their mystery, majesty, and complexity; while reason itself, always searching after causes, discovers none in chance, no rivalry of these works in human art, and no power or will any where to which these works can be attributed, but that which is properly infinite, independent, and underived. Hence all men, with a few inconsiderable exceptions, confess themselves constrained, by reason and experience, to believe that there is a God. Now something like this is the evidence which the Scripture statements gather from the consciousness and experience of mankind. We see, and we feel, that the whole system and state of things, and especially our own condition, corresponds with the averments of revelation. This conviction does not depend, in the major part of believing minds, upon what is stated to be the numerous and wonderful proofs of inspiration, derived from miracles and prophecy, and other marks of divine authority, but upon what is felt by our common reason to be obvious truth. There is a saying among humble believers, concerning the Bible, which appears to me to possess great emphasis and significancy," we feel it to be true." Now this conviction seems to be founded upon that fulfilment of Scripture, which is always going on in the experience of mankind; which makes it a light to every successive generation; which LECT. III. proves in the heart, like the solution of an enigma or a hieroglyphic: it is a key to move the secret springs of feeling, and by its correspondence with nature in ourselves, or the principles of our moral and intellectual constitution, to attest the authority of that word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. This accordance it will now be our business to prove and illustrate, in a class of coincidences differing essentially from those already discussed, and arising out of the mental and moral condition of human nature. of the mental economy to personal interests and social rela In the present branch of this investigation, it Adaptation seems desirable to premise a few observations, on and moral the human mind itself, since, from the phenomena observable in its operations, we are about to tions. deduce various illustrations and confirmations of Scripture facts and doctrines. Whatever views are adopted by us, as to the essence of the human soul, or however we contemplate what are termed its faculties, whether, as so many distinct parts of a complex object, or as merely distinct acts of a simple and indivisible agent, still the facts relative to its state and operations remain the same. They are undisturbed and undeniable. They are a part of its natural history, and by them we must be guided, in all our inquiries, into its moral state. mind adapt The human body and the human soul are Body and admirably adapted to each other. They both ed to each other. |