whole in these appalling words: "Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful who, knowing the judgment of God, (that they which commit such things are worthy of death,) not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." The same apostle, in the following chapter of the same epistle, represents the moral condition of the Jews, who had most shamefully corrupted their religion, as almost equally debased as that of the heathens.

I am far from asserting that the crimes enumerated in this horrid catalogue have been entirely banished by Christianity. But I may be allowed to maintain, without the imputation of partiality, that the most atrocious of them have been almost entirely removed; that general morals have been greatly meliorated; and that our religion, if fully admitted into the heart, would not, to say the least, leave a single unreformed

a Rom. i. 28-32.

criminal within its holy pale. It cannot be denied, that, before its introduction, the human race rushed headlong into every species of wickedness, and that its influence produced the most happy effects on the lives of its converts, and seemed to recall a golden age. Even the most barbarous nations were turned by it, and seemed to assume another nature. Eusebiusa and Theodoret call many Gentile nations to attest this fact. They state, further, that the Persians, under the influence of Christian precepts, abandoned their horrid marriages with their mothers and sisters; that the Massagetes abstained from devouring human flesh; and that the Hyrcanians, Caspians, and Scythians, abjured many cruel and ferocious habits. Nay, what is more, and is particularly worthy of remark, even those nations who adhered to paganism, were led, by a laudable emulation of Christian doctrine and practice, to entertain more rational notions of deity, of nature, and of divine worship, and to adopt better and more salutary rules of life. The great opponents of Christianity themselves, in early times, such as Porphyry, Celsus, and Julian, recommended to pagans, as a means of supporting their religion, to imitate Christian purity and fortitude. Let it also be considered, that compas

a De Præpar. Evang. lib. i. cap. iv.

b De curand. Græcor. Affect. Serm. ix.

3

sion for the poor, the distressed, and afflicted, dictating every effort for their supply, relief, and consolation, is a virtue peculiarly Christian. Hospitals, and public funds for this purpose, arose with Christianity, and nothing of this kind is ever mentioned by heathen authors. All this has ever been regarded as so intimately connected with the principles and precepts of the religion of Christ, that none of its professors has ever dared to controvert the obligation of charity, however much he may neglect the practice of it. Nay, so much is this the case, that even those who are egregiously deficient in every other Christian duty, seem often desirous of compensating the defect by their observance of this, and of conciliating good will by their liberality towards poverty and distress. This virtue is perhaps still more prevalent in popish than in protestant countries, because, in the former, good works are considered as part of the means of purchasing salvation. Compassion even to criminals condemned to death, and a regard to the salvation of their souls, are the result of the Christian institution, which administers to them the consolations of religion, and employs every means for bringing them to repentance, and preparing them for receiving the pardon of their sins, through the Redeemer's atonement and merits, and for undergoing the sentence of the law with resignation and composure. By this

merciful and moral appointment, not only are others deterred from the commission of similar crimes by the punishment of the offenders, but, by their penitence, are also convinced of its justice. The community at large is impressed with the benignity of those who administer the law, and who, while they are compelled, on account of the general security, to condemn, are anxious for the reformation and eternal happiness of the guilty. All these blessed effects flow from the discoveries of the divine clemency, as extending, through the Saviour's atonement, even to the chief of sinners on their repentance. Peculiar also to Christianity is the institution of public teachers of religion and morality, whose instructions are addressed to the understanding and the conscience, and are directed to the internal springs of action, which can never be affected by human laws. As these instructions are both public and private, they are, in the former respect, calculated to have all the effects of popular eloquence directed to its noblest end; and, in the latter, especially when applied to childhood and youth, possess all the advantages of easy and familiar communication of knowledge, adapted to the various capacities of those to whom it is imparted. Such an institution, utterly unknown to heathen nations, is calculated to produce moral effects of the most salutary kind; and it may, without exaggeration, be asserted, that, although

the actual result is not commensurate to legitimate expectation, it is nevertheless very considerable. Hence, Christians, even the most illiterate, entertain juster notions of the Deity and of his providence than were ever to be found in the heathen world; nay, it may be fairly maintained that the meanest Christian peasant knows more of all that relates to true religion, at least in protestant countries, than was competent to the most learned and acute of the sages of pagan antiquity.

As I have already stated that the purer morals of the professors of the gospel had, in more early times, a salutary effect in amending the practice of heathens themselves; so the influence of our religion has been extended to modern infidels; and we may safely assert that it often prevents their rushing into enormities to which the natural corruption of the human heart might otherwise have led them. Their early education was conducted by Christian teachers, and their moral sentiments have happily, though insensibly, been more or less moulded by the humane spirit of the gospel. This may at any rate be maintained in regard to those sceptics whose decent and sober lives have been cited as instances of the effects of mere natural religion. They have thus exerted themselves to oppose and overturn that celestial doctrine from which they have derived those advantages which they