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4. But Reason was to have rectified these errors; reason was to sit supreme, enshrined in the light of natural religion, the arbitress of human destinies. To her was intrusted the key of knowledge, to unlock and dispense the riches of the universe. She was to be the architect, rearing a structure of happiness and of virtue, under which man should repose, and a temple of religion, in which he should worship. She was to be the polar-star, upon which fixing a steady eye, he might safely sail over the stormy sea of life, and find a port of rest at last. But the light of the-star is obscured; the plans of the architect are marred; the key of knowledge is mislaid; the arbitress of man's fate is dethroned.

5. How is it she has lost her high prerogative, and suffered her authority to be overthrown? How is it that she has fallen from her pinnacle of glory? She was beguiled by sense. "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." But when men became vain in their imaginations,-their foolish heart was darkened; and professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

6. But Philosophy is to restore the reign of natural religion, of reason, of conscience, and of virtue. Were Greece and Rome, then, barbarians? Were they ignorant of philosophy? or was the experiment not made? It was not in a desert, surrounded by savages, but in the center of Athens, encircled by philosophers, that Paul stood amidst the monuments and upon a mount of idolatry,—although a court, and the highest court of justice, evincing how closely allied the civil government was with their debasing superstitions,--and pointed to an altar inscribed, "To the unknown God."

7. Such is the true character of every altar which reason and philosophy, and natural religion, unaided by revelation, have raised, although all do not bear the same inscription. These are the altars which the missionary of the Gospel is hastening to overthrow, to plant the cross in their place, and to proclaim to the poor idolater, "Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."

8. And is it not to men like these, the mighty minds of departed ages, who sought after truth, but missed it, because they lacked the guiding ray of revelation,-is it not to men like these, that infidels of the present day appeal, acknowledging them as masters, and adopting their system,--men, who if they now lived, would be ashamed of their professed scholars? If among such men, natural religion, and reason, and conscience, and philosophy, all proved an unequal guard against the passions of a corrupt nature, and a guide, absolutely insufficient, through the mazes of ignorance, to the throne of God, if in such hands the grand experiment altogether failed, what further pretensions have modern philosophers, the opposers of revelation, to advance ?

9. They will not dare to tell you that it has been denied either time or space; it has been made nearly six thousand years, from the fall of man to the present time,-it has been made by the intellectual giants of the olden time. They will not dare to tell you, that the results have ever been different from those which we have stated. They will not dare to deny, that such is, at this moment, the aggregate of the experiment now trying, among all states, whether savage or civilized, which revelation has not reached.

10. I disdain to contrast the intellectual and moral influence of Christianity, wherever it extends, with the scenes of horror and degradation, to which I have alluded; but I demand of infidel opponents to explain, if they can, by what fatality, or by what chance, it occurs, that their efforts to elevate the moral condition of man, have never succeeded, and that those of Christianity have never failed.

LESSON CXLIX.

EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY.

WATSON.

1. THE religon of Christ is a religion of love; its law is the law of kindness, and its exercises are the exercises of beney

olence. It shuns the parade of grandeur, the circle of pleas

ure, and delights to visit the abodes of misery and the retreats of sorrow. It withdraws the curtains of affliction, and whispers its consolations to the mind, and administers relief to the wants of the dejected sufferer.

2. Upon every institution which has for its object the amelioration of the condition, and the increase of the civil and moral happiness, of man, it smiles approbation, and commands support. What proves that Christianity is of God more forcibly than that it is the express image of Him who is "abundant in goodness and truth?" Does any other religion pretend to be of God? "Show us the image and superscription."

3. Paganism could boast of her solemn temples, her magnificent palaces, her splendid mausoleums, and her triumphal arches; but Christianity displays her alms-houses, her hospitals, her asylums, and her various charitable societies. Such institutions, honor and recommend Christianity, because they are its effects and distinguishing characteristics.

4. Paganism could glory in her heroes, her lawgivers, her philosophers, her orators, and her poets; but Christianity exhibits a Founder who went about doing good, and disciples, ir every age, who have devoted their time, their talents, their property, and their influence, to instruct and bless mankind.

LESSON CL.

THE LORD, THE KING OF GLORY.

1. THE earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; The world and they that dwell therein.

For he hath founded it upon

the seas,

And established it upon the floods.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
Nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive the blessing from the Lord,

BIBLE.

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek Him,
That seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

2. Lift up your heads, O ye gates;

And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is the King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty,

The Lord, mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates!

Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors;

And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is the King of glory?

The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.

LESSON CLI.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.-1. MOLOCH was an iron idol (mentioned in the 7th verse of the 11th chapter of 1 Kings,) with a human body, the head of an ox, and extended arms. The statue was heated by fire in the lower part, and children were placed, as offerings in the arms of the horrid image, where they perished, while their cries were drowned with the noise of musical instruments

2. The Gorus were a German tribe who appeared under that name in the year 215, from which time they filled all Europe with their fame, till the year 500. After other tribes were incorporated with them, they came into hostility with Rome and Constantinople, both of which were soon compelled to pay them tribute. After various vicissitudes, they invaded Italy, and by that measure brought on the destruction of the Roman Empire.

3. The HUNS were a powerful nation of northern Asia, but on account of internal dissensions, they were overcome by the Chinese. After this they settled near the Caspian Sea. They came into collision with the Goths, which produced a general eruption of the barbarians. They were sometimes at war with the Romans, and at other times served under their standard.

4. RIENZI became celebrated in the fourteenth century by his attempt to restore the Roman Republic. Though he became extensively popular, yet he finally lost the affection of the people, and when he was massacred by a sedition excited by the nobles against him, his remains were treated with indignity.

ROME.

J. AUGUSTUS MAYNARD.

1. GREAT ROME, imperial city! thou hast been
Italia's ruler, and the world's proud queen;
Strongly thou rear'dst thy monumental stones,
Unrivaled mistress of a thousand thrones !

But now they totter like thine own high pride,
While foes around exultingly deride;

And pilgrims from each far barbaric land,

Smile as beneath thy crumbling towers they stand;
For now no more they quail beneath the star
Which beamed above thy Cesarean car!
No more they view Augustan pomp display
Thy triumphs grand along the crowded way.

2. Thou Moloch'! lo! upon thy crimsoned shrine,
The blood of nations cried 'gainst thee and thine ;
Till retribution, with uplifted hand,

Snatched from thy vengeful grasp the murd'rous brand, And crushed, with inextinguishable hate,

The guilty power which laid earth desolate.

The teeming North sent forth her famished brave,
The Goth and Hun, to delve thy glory's grave;

And those who long were scorned, struck home the blow,
Which laid at last th' Eternal City low,-
And bade the thunder-borne, re-echoing name
Shrink to a whisper of departed fame.

3. Yet 'midst thy ruins, phantom-like, arise
Memorials of the brave, the great, the wise;
Yes, memory hath embalmed thy mighty name,
And breathes around thy hills undying fame;
Remembrance, sacred makes thy deep distress,
And throws a halo round thy wretchedness!
Thou, too, Rienzi,* last of Rome's great chiefs,
Who, 'midst the pressure of her mighty griefs,
Stoodst forth alone to raise her drooping power,
Shouting that name which made the nations cower,

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