NESS the people but the Lord fhall arise upon thee; and his glory fhall be feen upon thee. The fame view is prefented to us in the following paffage : I the Lord will give thee for a covenant to the people, for a light to the Gentiles: to open the BLIND EYES, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, them that SIT IN DARKNESS out of the prifon-house. This infpired writer, it feems, imagined that he could not better display the glory of the Gospel, than by contrafting it with the blindnefs of man; and it appears to have been his opinion, that our veneration for Jehovah's power would not be diminished by viewing the difficulty of the work it was about to accomplish. We have feen what the prophets teftified before-hand of the yet diftant period, and we will find that the apostles have, from an actual furvey, confirmed their teftimony. To thofe who have drawn their Chriftianity from the di vine fource of the apoftolic writings, we would willingly leave the decifion of the question without further controverfy: but as the number of fuch Chriftians is fmall, it may be useful to felect a few paffages in which the ftate of Gentilifm is defcribed. Let us attend then to the account which is given to us by the great Apoftle of the Gentiles. We have his fentiments on this subject very unequivocally frated, in the lft. and 3d. chapters of his Epiftle to the Romans, to which we would therefore refer our readers for fuller information. The Gentile world, which fome defcribe, as having a concern for truth excited," (page 48); as having a found law of opinion," (page 49) is there ftigmatized as not liking to retain God in their knowledge, and THEREFORE given up to a reprobate mind-as becoming vain in their imagi nations nations, and having their foolifh hearts darkened, profeffing themselves to be wife and becoming fools ;as, changing the truth of God into a lie, and wor-. Shipping and ferving the creature more than the Creator. Those whom fome teachers of Chriftianity hold up to us as having " a natural relish "for what was good and honourable," (page 49) are reprefented by their own Apostle, as, given up by God to vile affections, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, &c.; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; HATERS OF GOD who knowing the judgment of God, that they which do fuch things are worthy of death, not only do the fame, but have complacency in them that do them.-Such excellent recipients were the Gentiles of the Gofpel; fo admirably had philofophy prepared the way for Christianity!-We fhall be affifted in our investigation by attending to the reprefentation which the Apostles have given, of the antecedent condition of their converts; thus will we be enabled to ascertain the state in which the Gospel found the world, and fo learn the requifites for becoming a Chriftian. -From the paffages which every page of the New Teftament prefents to us on this fubject, we have felected the following, not becaufe they are the most conclufive, but because they have most readily occurred.-And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trefpaffes and fins, wherein in time paft ye walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the Spirit that now worketh in the children of difobedience, among whom alfo WE ALL bad our converfation in times paft, fulfilling the defires of the flesh and of the mind.-Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and bath tranflated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.-You that were fometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now bath he reconciled.-For we ourfelves alfo were fometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, ferving divers lufts and pleafures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.Who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. For the time paft of our life may fuffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lafciviousness, lufts, &c.—and abo-· minable idolatries. See alfo 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, 11. From the view here prefented to us, we may draw this conclusion, that if the world was indeed fitted for the reception of Christianity, it was in the fame manner as darkness fits us for the reception of light, or the drearinefs of winter for the cheering warmth of fpring; it was by fuch a preparation, as that of desperate difeafe for unexpected health, or the corruption of our bodies for their triumphant refurrection. -If Mr. J. reflect upon these paffages, he will furely give up his argument drawn from the exhortations which the apoftles have given to Chriftians, to have their converfation honeft among the Gentiles; to think upon whatsoever things are true-or lovely-or of GOOD REPORT; or if there be any virtue, if there be any PRAISE, to think of these things. He may alfo recollect that hitherto we have discovered no nation deftitute of the perception" of right and wrong,"-and that a principal difficulty in the converfion of the defpifed favage, arifes from his abhorrence of the conduct of nominal Chriftians. Having dwelt fo long on this fubject, we think it unneceffary to weary our readers with a minute examination of the rest of Mr. J's. note, in which he speaks of the affiftance afforded by the Jews in this fuppofed preparatory procefs. We imagine that few, who are not dazzled by the bril I 3. liancy liancy of a favorite fcheme, would admit for a moment the force of his arguments. We will just give our readers a fpecimen. In order to prove that the Jews were of fignal benefit to the nations through which they were difperfed, he produces two quotations from heathen writers, which "he trufts will be admitted as conclufive ❝evidence." In one, a geographer giving a short hiftory of the Jews, fpeaks honorably of their religious fentiments and political œconomy;-in the other, a philofopher adduces them as an inftance of a people having just conceptions of the divine nature.-From thefe paffages he thinks "we may furely affert with confidence that the "Jews infused a spirit and principle into other na❝tions gradually corrective of their idolatrous abo"minations;" (page 53)-a conclufion as well founded, as if fome centuries hence, from the commendations bestowed by divines upon the theology of the Bramins, the difputants of the day fhould infer that our prefent improvement was derived from the oriental writers. We will not dwell longer on this topic, as we think that the picture which the apostles have drawn of Gentile morality, proves that it could not have been much ameliorated by the difperfion of the Jews. We will now leave it to our readers to judge for themselves, whether Mr. J. has been fuccessful in repelling the infulting objection of the deift. The fcheme indeed by which, in common with other divines, he endeavours to fave the credit of Christianity, it must be acknowledged, is not deftitute of brilliancy. But if it prove notwithstanding its ingenuity, to be merely a work of the imagination, lofing its luftre when examined by the eye of fober reafon, we muft muft feek for fome other anfwer to the infidel objection. And perhaps after all the labors of philofophical theology, we shall ultimately be compelled to refolve the whole difficulty into the divine fovereignty. Of this fovereignty, guiding the Deity in the conferring of undeferved favor and infliction of merited punishment, we have not a few inftances. He has displayed it, in permitting the apostate angels. to continue in hopeless mifery; and he manifefts this fame fovereignty, in fuffering the great mafs of mankind to remain enveloped in their native darkness. And happy fhall we be, if the contemplation of this his character render us more fearful of offending fuch awful majefty, and more grateful for that Gofpel which contains. the revelation of his triumphant mercy. We have dwelt fo long, and we fear tedioufly on this fubject, not merely with the defign of rectifying a philofophical error concerning the condition of the heathen world. No-the er rors of mere philosophy are too numerous and too unimportant for the attention of the Chrif tian. We have endeavored to turn the attention of our readers to this fubject, because this scheme is founded upon mistakes of the first importance, miftakes affecting the foundation of our hope. For if this tedious preparation were as neceffary as the scheme fuppofes, farewell to the hopes of the finner; he can derive no benefit from Chrif- . tianity, unless he be invefted with the long fcroll of Mr. J's. qualifications. Happily however for the confolation of the wretched, the religion of the fcriptures is very different from that which is admired under the titles of philofophy and orthodoxy. This religion, confifting in the belief of the fimple fact, that Chrift died for the ungodl |