the abyss of iniquity, and are unable to deliver themselves out of it. This truth ought to be strongly impressed on the mind of every one; because it points out to man how much he stands in need of the faith of the gospel; and hence the apostle Paul arranged his reasonings in the epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, in the same order which we have here taken to prove that man is in a helpless state. And indeed no one will seek for a physician till once he be convinced of his being in great distress.

However, some will perhaps say; what, are we then to fall into despair? Certainly, if you continue to look up to yourselves for help. But when we reflect on the inexhaustible goodness of God, and on his infinite wisdom, then we are comforted by hope, and our fears are dispelled; and in this hope we ought frequently to join in the words of Isaiah : 66 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah;" i. 9; also Gal. iii. 16. And we ought to keep in remembrance these words of Paul to the Romans: "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of

Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe." Rom. iii. 21, 22.

Thus far we have drawn our conclusions according to sound reason, and have added appropriate passages from the Holy Scriptures for illustration. The following Part, however, is founded solely on the word of God; and to the illustration of this Part of our subject, as well as the former, our natural reasoning powers can render us assistance.

PART SECOND.

OF THE FAITH OF THE GOSPEL.

I.

Of Revelation.

Those means which were requisite to reconcile God to man, and to restore our nature, and which never could have been devised by the wisdom of man, are revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures.

What is Revelation ?

In Section xviii. of the First Part, we have proved, that man is utterly unable to justify himself before God, and that all the means which his reason devises in order to reconcile God, he finds to be ineffectual. But as it is impossible to conceive, that the most merciful God should have left man in the utmost despair; therefore, judging from his infinite goodness and wisdom, it naturally follows, that he himself should make known to us the means by which we can be reconciled to him, and be restored to that former state of happiness in which we were at first created.

This exalted method of our salvation, God hath actually revealed, which is known in highly favoured Christendom under the name of Revelation; under the name of revelation, I say, because God seeing that mankind were diseased, and groping in darkness, in regard to the way of deliverance, made choice of certain fit persons, (whom we call prophets and apostles,) whose understanding he illuminated by a certain supernatural light, and revealed unto them most wonderful hidden mysteries and prophecies. These mysteries and prophecies, inspired by the Holy Ghost, were, by them, committed to writing, that the truths which God had made known might remain in everlasting remembrance; and these writings we call the Holy Scriptures. In these same writings, St Paul, in his epistle to the Romans, has said, that the apostles preached that "mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God;" and it is further said, that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets." Eph. ii. 20.

II.

Of the Holy Scriptures.* *

The Holy Scriptures are the true word of God. What are the Old and New Testament? and what are the Law and the Gospel?

1. The Holy Scriptures are divided into the Old and New Testament. The Old Testament

* The Slavonian version of the Bible was made in the ninth century, by two learned Greeks, Cyril and Methodius, the apostles of the Slavonians. The first edition of it was printed in Prague in 1519, and the second in Ostrog in 1581. The present version in use among the Russians is that of Ostrog, which, however, has undergone different revisions, particularly in the time of the patriarch Nikon. It was first printed at Moscow in 1663, since which period it has gone through many editions both in Moscow and Kieff. The Slavonian version of the Scriptures is almost a verbal translation from the Greek, that of the Old Testament being made from the Septuagint. The New Testament is more perspicuous, and more easily understood than the Old, of which many passages are dark, and others quite unintelligible. On this account, a modernised version is a most desirable object; for though the Bible Slavonian be the ancient language of the Russians, yet it differs so far from the modern Russ in a number of words, in the inflections of nouns, tenses of verbs, particles of speech, and grammatical construction, that comparatively few of the Russians of the present day properly understand it.

The edition printed at Ostrog in 1581, is said to have been corrected, in many passages, from an ancient manuscript, written in the time of the grand prince Vladimir, who properly may be denominated the Constantine of the Russian church; and there are still copies of the Slavonian New Testament preserved in the library belonging to the Holy Synod in Moscow, which were written in the 11th and 12th centuries. This valu

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