negligence; we now wish to become better christians, and to experience more of the bleffed efficacy of the christian religion. Oh let this confeffion, this fentiment, this remorfe be truly falutary to us and our wishes be actually accomplished. Teach us to understand christianity in its true nature and end, let it be thoroughly important to us, open our hearts to its divine, efficacious influence, to its all-quickening fpirit, and let it dwell and govern in us, and reform us into fuch perfons as are christians indeed and in truth! Bless to that end the discourse of thy fervant ! Let his remonftrances find admiffion, adhere deeply in our minds, and there effect much good and happiness! We pray thee for it as thy children and as the followers of thy fon Jefus, addreffing thee farther, in filial confidence, as he prescribed: Our father, &c.

JOHN, vii. 17.

If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

T

HERE are three ways of arriving at the know

ledge of truth and certainty: reason, faith, and experience. Reafon, in her inquiries, lays down certain general propofitions, received of all men, and abfolutely irrefragable, as her groundwork; fhe connects and compares known truths together, and thence, by a feries of juft confequences, derives others, which were either not at all, or not clearly enough known to her before; fhe traces things up to their first principles, and from them demonftrates and explains them.-Faith relies on the testimony of others: it examines the accounts that are given of any matter, and the credibility of the witneffes by whom they are reported; it compares the different parts of the hiftory together, and with the circumstances wherein they are faid to have happened; and whenever it finds a fufficient capacity and integrity in the witneffes, and a correspondence in their narratives, it yields its acquiefcence.-Experience, lastly, inftructs us of the things that fall under our knowledge, or

of

of the impreffion and effects they produce on our eyes, our ears, or the other organs of fenfe; fhe gives us alfo to obferve the inward motions and alterations that arise either in our mind or body, and thus teaches us to form a judgment both of our natural and our spiritual or moral state. Would we then render our knowledge as perfect as we may, we must take all these three different ways for knowing the truth, and for being certain of it. This is neceffary and useful, not merely as to human knowledge, but likewife in regard of religion. We should endeavour to obtain, not only an hiftorical, but also a rational and experimental knowledge of every truth, as far as its nature and our fituation will allow. The more numerous the evidences we have of any matter, the greater will our certainty of it be, and the more completely fhall we be fatisfied about it. There are indeed doctrines in religion, which we can only know through faith; and the truth of them, in refpect of us, depends folely on historical narrative. But others, and those the greatest number, are of fuch a nature, that they are likewise to be known by reason and expe rience; and, in fuch cafes, we may very advantageously blend these several ways for arriving at the truth. Revealed religion is chiefly founded on the narratives and the teftimony of perfons who lived many ages before our times. These persons relate to us, in their writings, the lamentable confequences produced by fin in the condition of mankind, and

the wife arrangements established by God for the correction and restoration of it; they discover to us the counfels and determinations of the Most High; they inform us of the fervice he requires of us, and of the conditions we must fulfil, if we would par take of his favour and be happy for ever. Thefe narratives are too important by far for being received and adopted by us, without examining the authority on which they stand. We fhould therefore discuss the characters and the credibility of the narrators on whofe authority they depend, and thus endea vour to gain a certainty of their truth. Thus we arrive by the firft way at knowledge and certainty; thus faith arifes in us. But our knowledge may be still more perfect; it may be brought to a higher degree of evidence and certainty, if we pursue the other way, and confult reafon. Though reafon might not have discovered the doctrines of revealed religion by her own penetration, yet may she pronounce upon them after having been once informed of them. She may deduce many of them from the firft principles of human knowledge; fhe may fhew us their various and clofe connection with other truths already known; fhe may reconcile the feeming contradictiors between them; fhe may present us with new evidence in behalf of their truth; in fhort, fhe may draw many ufeful and, important confequences from them. Her concurrence makes thefe doctrines the more acceptable, and our certainty of them must be so much the greater. But

here

here we are not to ftop. In regard to religion we fhould likewife take the way of experience; we Thould endeavour to become certain of its truth and excellency by our own fenfations. On this experi mental knowledge of religion all indeed depends; fince nothing can fupply the want of it, and because all the other kinds of knowledge, unlefs they are connected with this, are incapable of rendering us happy. We must, however, be extremely cautious on this head, left we deceive ourselves, and fall on such paths as are very dangerous both to ourselves and others.

That I may warn you of this wrong course, I have determined to treat fomewhat circumftantially of a matter that has fo great an influence on our tranquillity and happiness, and to set it in as plain a light as the fhort time allowed to thefe difcourfes will permit. The words of Jefus, which I have read to you, present us with a fit occafion for these reflections. What can he mean but this: If you fuffer the doctrine which I deliver to you, in the name of God, to have its due effect upon you; if you follow my precepts, and reduce them to practice, you will infallibly feel their godly power; you will thus become better, more tranquil and more pious; you will perceive, by experience, that my doctrine has a celeftial origin; that I am not a mere philofopher, but addrefs you as a messenger from God. Our Lord intimates, therefore, that a man may acquire an experimental knowledge of

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the