Its tendency is not to soften, but to harden the heart, to fill it not with love, but with enmity." “Oh, the more we think of it, the darker does the history grow,-the faster does the descent of the evil spirit become, down that pit which, from its very nature, seems to be bottomless."* There is every reason to fear that the sinner will go on sinning, and an eternity of sin involves an eternity of punishment.

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Danger is neither averted nor postponed by being overlooked. "When the ostrich," says Guthrie, scouring along the saudy desert, finds that it cannot escape the huntsman, it is said to thrust its head into a bush, and remain there, quite tranquil, to receive the death-blow. Poor senseless, stupid bird, it seems to fancy that the danger which it ceases to see has ceased to exist. But men, as well as brutes, do so; and not by one degree more rational than the composure of a bird at whose folly they themselves would be the first to smile, is the peace of those who, that they may enjoy the pleasures of sin, shut their eyes to its evil, and refuse to look that, and their own danger, in the face."

XXVII.-NEED OF A REVELATION.

In the foregoing chapters, the existence and attributes of God, with our duty to Him, as taught by our own consciences and an attentive examination of nature, have been considered. Though the conclusions may be readily admitted, the following remarks must be borne in mind: « There are many things," says Locke, "which we have been brought up in the belief of from our cradles, and which are notions familiar and as it were natural to us under

* Dr. Norman Macleod,

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the Gospel, which we take for unquestionable truths, and easily demonstrable, without considering how long we might have been in doubt or ignorant of them, had revelation been silent." The best proof

of this is afforded by the state of the world without Christianity.

India and China are the two most enlightened heathen countries in Asia. Both have had men powerful in intellect, and indefatigable in their investigations. What are the results? The learned in India do not believe in the existence of one God, but that all is God. The "great sentence" is for a weak, sinful mortal blasphemously to say Aham Brahma, I am God. Along with this, the grossest polytheism prevails, the number of deities being said to be thirty-three crores. One of their own proverbs shows the state of things among the Chinese; their gods are said to be as numerous as the sands of the Havy River."

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History and the present state of the world prove, that, without a written revelation, men are uncertain about some of the most important truths of religion. A few illustrations may be given.

1. Apart from revelation, we stand in doubt of the immortality of the soul. We ask with anxiety, will the soul perish with the body in which it lives, or is it an undying principle whose existence is for ever and ever? Nature, it is true, gives some expectation of a future state; but the evidence, taken by itself, is dim and indecisive.

Socrates, the wisest of the Greek philosophers, when dying, said to his friends: "I am going out of the world, and you are to continue in it; but which of us has the better part is a secret to every one but God." Cicero, the great Roman orator, devoted much attention to the arguments for the immortality of the soul. He summed up the whole

in the following words: "Of these opinions-the immortality, or eternal death, of the soul-which is the true one, God alone knows; and which is most probable, a very great question."

From the light which men have borrowed from revelation even when they have professedly rejected it, there is less doubt now among them than formerly about the immortality of the soul. Still, there are serious differences of opinion. Parker looked upon a future state as certain; Newman says with regard to it, "Confidence there is none, hopeful aspiration is the highest state."

2. The efficacy of prayer is left undecided. An instinct, it is true, prompts us to prayer. It "mounts of itself to young lips that can scarce lisp the name of God, and to dying lips which have no longer the power to pronounce it." Still, its value has been questioned. Some suppose that God has left the world entirely to the government of fixed laws, and that prayer addressed to Him no more avails than it would if a steam-engine were invoked.

3. Without revelation we have no certainty about the forgiveness of sin. Conscience tells every man who carefully examines his life, that he has broken God's laws times without number. From one point of view, God may be regarded as a merciful Father, who will pardon his repentant children. But He is our King as well as our Father. It has been asked: Is the subject to rebel and disobey every hour and the King by a perpetual act of indulgence to efface every character of truth and dignity from his government? Do this, and you depose the legislator from his throne. You reduce the sanction of his law to a name and a mockery."

When we are in good health and prosperous, we may rest satisfied with a vague trust in the mercy of God; but on a deathbed, when we feel that we are

about to stand before the great Judge of the universe, we ask with trembling anxiety whether God Himself has given any assurance that sin can be forgiven.

A writer of the present day thus points out the defectiveness of mere natural religion :—

"To what end is the abstract knowledge of God, if I am shut out from Him by sin? To what purpose an abstract conviction of a futurity, if I know nothing of its nature, its inhabitants, its features? To what purpose a correct moral code, if I find myself perpetually breaking it, and ignorant how I am to be pardoned for the transgression? To what purpose a law, if I know nothing of any spiritual power, which can make me love it, and, at least, long to keep it ? The dark past of sin and omission, of neglect and rebellion, lies heavily on my conscience, and I can neither undo it nor atone for it. The solemn future presses on my apprehension, and I know not what it is; or, if it be happy, how I shall be qualified to enjoy its happiness. .............. Intuition! canst thou satisfy my doubts? Speak! Alas, the oracle is silent! The bitter cry is again and again uttered, and 'there is neither voice nor answer, nor any that regardeth!""

The failure of the Hindus and Chinese to discover religious truth has already been noticed. The attempt to solve the great problems of humanity, apart from revelation, among the most enlightened nations of ancient Europe, was similarly unsuccessful. For acuteness, for depth, for enthusiasm, the Greek mind was pre-eminent. The Romans stood next to the Greeks, and in some qualities were even superior. The results are thus described by Cow

per:

"In vain they pushed enquiry to the birth

And spring-time of the world; ask'd whence is man?
Why form'd at all ? and wherefore as he is?

Where must he find his Maker? with what rites

Adore him? will he hear, accept, and bless ?
Or does he sit regardless of his works?
Has man within him an immortal seed ?
Or does the tomb take all ? If he survive
His ashes, where ? and in what weal or woe?
Knots worthy of solution, which alone,

A deity could solve. Their answers, vague
And all at random, fabulous and dark,

Left them as dark themselves. Their rules of life,
Defective and unsanctioned, proved too weak

To bind the roving appetite, and lead

Blind nature to a God not yet revealed."

The experiment ended in universal scepticism, attended with almost incredible profligacy.

The most thoughtful deeply felt the need of a revelation. Socrates dissuaded Alcibiades from offering the customary sacrifices till some teacher should come from on high. Plato has the following remarks:

"To discover the certain truth about these things, (i. e., the immortality of the soul, &c.) is, in this life, either impossible or most difficult. Still, to fail of diligently inquiring into them, or to stop short before we have carried the inquiry as far as we can, would be the mark of a most ignoble spirit. We must then by all means do one or other of two things. Either we must learn (from others), or find out, the truth; or, if that be impossible, then we must take the best and surest of human reasonings, and embarking on that, as on a frail raft, sail over life's perilous ocean, unless one were able to perform the voyage with more certainty and less danger upon some surer mode of transport, such as a Divine Revelation."

A dying philosopher thus bewailed his condition: "Polluted, I entered the world; anxiously, have I lived; in great alarm, I depart: Cause of causes, have pity on me."