changed into the howlings and execrations of demons. The population of the universe would be transformed into one vast assemblage of fiends; its regions of beauty and fertility would become one wide scene of desolation and horror, and the voice of lamentation and misery would be heard resounding throughout all worlds. On earth kingdoms would be shaken and convulsed; governments overturned; societies dissolved; families dispersed; the bonds of friendship burst asunder; husbands torn from their wives, and parents from their children; the intercourse of nations suspended; the pursuits of science and religion abandoned; every rank and relation overturned, and virtue banished from the abodes of men. Deserting all social beings, and forsaken by all, man would become a solitary monster, wandering without plan or object, an enemy to himself, and to his species. Anarchy and disorder would. reign triumphant over the whole race of human beings, and the howlings of wretchedness and despair would re-echo from every land.

Such a scene of moral desolation, selfishness and malignity have a natural tendency to create; and such a scene they have actually created in our world, in so far as their influence has extended. The power of attraction has never been completely suspended in relation to our globe, nor has the moral Governor of the universe suffered the principle of love to be entirely eradicated from the minds of its inhabitants. But, as when the law of gravitation is counteracted in the case of earthquakes and volcanoes, the most destructive and desolating convulsions ensue so it happens in the moral world, when the law of benevolence is trampled under foot. "Nation rises against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ;" hostile armies encounter like tigers rushing on their prey; "fire-brands, arrows and death," are scattered in every direction; a confused noise of chariots, and horsemen, and of engines of destruction, is wafted on every breeze; garments are rolled in blood, and whole plains drenched with human gore, and covered with the carcasses of the slain. But wherever love diffuses its powerful and benign influence, there harmony, happiness, and peace, are enjoyed, by every rank of sensitive and intellectual existence. In every world where it reigns supreme, the intellectual faculty is irradiated, the

affections are purified and expanded, transporting joys are felt, and, like the planetary orbs, and their train of satellites, all shine with a steady lustre, and move onward, in harmonious order, around the Supreme Source of intelligence, and the Eternal Centre of all felicity.

SECTION VII.

The preceding views corroborated by Divine Revelation.

In the preceding sections I have endeavoured to illustrate the two grand principles of the Moral Law, and to demonstrate their reasonableness, and the necessity of their universal operation, in order to the promotion of the happiness of the intelligent system. I have proceeded all along on the ground of revelation, as well as of reason, and the nature of things. But since these important principles form the basis of the system of religion, and of all the practical conclusions I may afterwards deduce in the remaining part of this work, it may be expedient to advert a little more explicitly to the declarations of Scripture on this subject. And here I propose very briefly to show, that it is the great end of Divine Revelation to illustrate these principles in all their various bearings, and to bring them into practical operation.

This position is expressly stated by our Saviour himself in his reply to the scribe, who proposed the question, "Which is the great commandment in the law ?" "Thou

shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ON THESE

TWO COMMANDMENTS HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE

PROPHETS." This declaration evidently implies, that it is the design of the whole of the Old Testament Revelation, to illustrate and enforce these laws, and to produce all those holy tempers which are comprised in the love of God, and of our neighbour. This appears to be the grand object of all the historical facts, religious institutions, devotional exercises, moral maxims, prophecies, exhorta

tions, promises, and threatenings which it records. The history of the formation of the universe, and of the beautiful arrangement of our globe, as detailed in the Book of Genesis, is calculated to display the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, and to draw forth our affections towards Him who is the Author of our enjoyments, and who pronounced every thing he had made to be "very good." The history of the wickedness of the antedeluvian world, of the dreadful effects it produced in the state of society, and of the awful catastrophe by which its inhabitants were swept from existence, and buried in the waters of the deluge, is calculated to illustrate, in the most striking manner, the guilt and the danger of withdrawing the affections from God, and of indulging a principle of malevolence towards man. The history of the crimes of Sodom, and of the fate of its wretched inhabitants; the destruction of Pharaoh and his armies at the Red Sea; the history of the idolatrous practices of the Israelites, of their murmerings in the wilderness, and of the punishments inflicted for their rebellion; the fate of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and of the worshippers of Baal: the destruction of the nations of Canaan; the judgments which pursued the Jewish nation, during the whole period of their history on account of their defection from God, and the calamities which befel them at the period of the Babylonish captivity-together with all the other facts connected with the history of that people and of the surrounding nations, are intended to exhibit the dismal consequences, and the moral wretchedness which inevitably follow, when the affections of mankind are withdrawn from the God of Heaven, and left to grovel in the mire of depravity and vice.

The institutions of the Jewish Church were appointed for promoting the knowledge and the love of God, and for exciting an abhorrence of every thing which is contrary to the rectitude and purity of his nature. Among the tribes that inhabited the land of Canaan, prior to the entrance of the Israelites, and among all the surrounding nations, the worship of false gods, the grossest superstitions, and the most abominable vices universally prevailed. It was one great end of the laws and ceremonies enjoined upon Israel, to excite the highest degree of abhorrence at every thing which was connected with idolatry,

to portray its wickedness and folly, to rivet the affections of the people to the worship of the true God, to preserve them uncontaminated from the malignant dispositions, and the vile practices of the neighbouring nations, and to instruct them in the nature and attributes of the Deity; that they might be "a peculiar people to Jehovah, separated from all the people that were on the face of the earth." Hence, the following intimation and injunction are placed on the front of the moral code of laws delivered to that nation, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." To promote harmony and affection between man and man; to enforce the exercise of justice and equity in all their dealings; to inculcate chastity and purity of affection, kindness to strangers, compassion, tenderness, and sympathy; obedience to parents, charitable dispositions towards the poor and needy, and tenderness, and mercy, towards the inferior animals, were the great objects of the various laws and regulations comprised in their moral and political code.

The devotional portions of the Old Testament, particularly those contained in the book of Psalms, have the same general tendency. The descriptions of the works of creation and providence, the adorations of the majesty of the God of Israel, the celebration of the divine character and excellencies, and the ascriptions of thanksgiving and praise for the mercy, long-suffering, and goodness of God, with which these divine compositions abound, are calculated to raise the affections to Jehovah as the source of every blessing, and to inspire the soul with love, admiration, and reverence. In many of these sublime odes, particularly in the 119th Psalm, the mind of the Psalmist is absorbed in meditation on the excellency of the divine precepts, and the happiness which the observance of them is calculated to convey to the soul. "O how I love thy law!" says David, it is my meditation all the day. The law of thy mouth is better unto me, than thousands of gold and silver. I have rejoiced in thy testimonies as much as in all riches." The moral maxims contained in the writings of Solomon are likewise intended to draw forth the desires after God, to counteract the influence of the depraved passions of the human heart, and to promote the exercise of candour, sincerity, justice and

benevolence among mankind. The exhortations, remonstrances and denunciations of the prophets, were also intended to recall the affections of the people of Israel to the God from whom they had revolted, to show the unreasonableness of their conduct in "forsaking the fountain" of their happiness; to display the purity, the excellence, and the eternal obligation of the divine precepts, and to warn them of the inevitable misery and ruin which will overtake the workers of iniquity. In short, all the promises and threatenings of the word of God, all the considerations addressed to the hopes and the fears of men, all the providential dispensations of God, all the manifestations of the divine character and perfections, and all the descriptions of the glories of heaven, and of the terrors of hell, have a tendency to illustrate the indispensable obligation of love to God, and love to all mankind, in order to secure our present comfort and eternal felicity.

And, as it was the main design of the Old Testament economy to illustrate and enforce the principle of love to God and to man, so it is, in a particular manner, the great object of the Christian Revelation, to exhibit the law of love in all its bearings and practical applications. In one of the first sermons delivered by our Saviour, and the longest one recorded in the Evangelical History, the Sermon on the Mount, the main design is, to explain and enforce these principles, in relation both to God and to man, and to sweep away all the false glosses which Ignorance and Prejudice had mingled with their interpretations of the Divine law. In one part of this discourse, our Lord declares, that we may as soon expect to see "heaven and earth pass away," or the whole frame of the universe dissolved, as that "one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law." For, as it is a law founded on the nature of God, it must be of eternal obligation, and can never be abrogated with regard to any class of rational beings, in consistency with the perfections of the Divine nature. As it is a law absolutely perfect, comprehending within its range every disposition and affection, and every duty which is requisite for promoting the order and happiness of intelligent agents, nothing can be taken from it without destroying its perfection; and nothing can be added to it without supposing that it was originally imperfect. And,