as teachers of the common people, they would
not have been as blind guides as even the Epi-
'cureans themfelves. The doctrines of the latter
were downright atleifm: and thofe of the former
plainly led to it; as indeed every form of falfe
philofophy muft do, that teaches men to think
and speak irreverently of the Supreme Being,
and to deny a future ftate of retribution. Of the
Stoics, therefore, Milton, who knew them well,
spoke neither rafhly nor too feverely, when he
faid;

Alas! what can they teach, and not mislead,
Ignorant of themselves of God much more ?
Much of the foul they talk, but all awry ;

And in themselves feek virtue, and to themselves.
All glory arrogate, to God give none.

PARADISE, REG.

But, when the fulness of the time was come, The TEACHER of the POOR did at laft appear: not like the Stoic, proud, hard-hearted, and disputatious; but, like the Son of God, meck and unaffected, compaffionate and lowly, divinely be"Go," faid he, to nevolent, and divinely wife. two of John's disciples, who had come to ask whether he was the Meffiah, "Go your way, and

tell John what things ye have feen and heard ; "how that the blind fee, the lame walk, the le

C

pers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raifed, and good tidings are preached to the

poor." All this had been foretold by the prophet Ifaiah; and in Jefus the prophecy was fulfilled. And his doctrine was distinguished from that of all other teachers, not only by its intrinfic excellence, and by thofe mighty works that bore teftimony to its truth, but alfo by its being in fo peculiar a manner addreffed to the poor, and fuited to their capacity, and confequently to that of all the reft of mankind. His birth was announced, not to the great ones of the earth, but to fhepherds. On poverty of fpirit, or lowlinefs of mind, which is indeed the foundation of the Chriftian character, he pronounced a particular benediction: his fervants he chose from among the poor: and, by the establishment of a church, he provided a perpetual fucceffion of minifters, who fhould preach the gofpel to the poor, and to all other ranks of men, to the end of the world. In confequence of this moft gracious difpenfation, the meaneft of the Chriftian people, if it is not their own fault, may, in all ordinary cafes, learn jufter notions of virtue and vice, of God and man, of providence and a future ftate, than the moft learned philofopher could ever attain in the days of paganifm. Can these facts be denied?

And in him who admits them is it poffible that any doubts fhould remain, concerning the ufefulnefs of divine revelation, or the infinite importance of that which is brought to light by the gofpel?

LET not then the infidel pretend, that human reafon is alone fufficient to difcover the whole of man's duty, and establish in the world a complete or comfortable fyftem of natural religion. For it is certain, that, even in the most polite nations, unaffifted reafon never did this, and, in the opinion of Socrates, never could. And of barbarous nations it will not be faid, that their reafon ever made important discoveries of any kind. And it deferves particular notice, that what our infidels call natural religion, is in a great measure, as Rousseau himself acknowledges, derived from that very fcripture, which they abfurdly and wickedly reject. I do not mean, that their ideas on this fubject are acquired by an actual perufal of holy writ. In this study it is to be feared that few or none of them ever made great proficiency. Those ideas they derive from impreffions made on their minds in their infancy and early youth; when, together with the humility and candour, it is probable they also had, what every Christian muft have, the teachableness, of little children. The

writings too, and the converfation of Chriftians, to which, in these parts of the world, they must fometimes attend, may convey to them principles, which they admit as rational, though perhaps they might be inclined to overlook, if they knew them to be fcriptural.

Ir revelation be fo highly important, it is moft fuitable to the wifdom and mercy of God to beflow it; and fome perfons even of the heathen, particularly Socrates, were not without hope, that one time or other, it would be bestowed. So far was that great man from afferting the fufficiency of his knowledge, with respect either to divine or to human things, that, though by no means a fceptic, he used, through excefs of modefty, to fay, that he knew nothing but his own ignorance. He taught, that the gods grant extraordinary communications of wisdom to those to whom they are propitious: and recommended it to his friends to have recourse to oracles, and other religious rites, in order to obtain from heaven fuch neceffary or ufeful information as human reason was not of itself able to supply. Indeed the oracles, divinations, and auguries, so much attended to by the pagan world, prove, as already hinted, their consciousness of their own ignorance, and of the need

Xenoph. Memorab. lib. 1.

that mankind have of fupernatural . illumina

tion.

Or their oracles we know little, and can affirm nothing but what partakes more or lefs of conjec ture. That they were the contrivance of priestcraft, has been faid, and may in part be true. It has also been faid, that demons had a concern in them; and this no confidera te person will affirm to be impoffible. Perhaps they may have been permitted by Providence to keep up in the minds of men a fenfe of the infufficiency of human reafon, and to make them think, as Socrates did, that divine revelation was, at least, a defirable thing. This is certain, that Socrates had faith in them; that, though fome of their answers might eafily be accounted for, others are rather extraordinary; that Providence did, for a time, permit them; and that, foon after the great revelation took place, they became univerfally filent. These facts deferve the attention of those who reject the gospel.

BUT, however defirable revelation may be, and however beneficial, we must not have the prefumption to think that the Deity is obliged to beftow it. For this we have no better reason than to suppose that he was obliged to create man at first; or that he is under any neceffary determi