to a rude and uncultivated state, yet they generate LECT. III. others more subtle, but not less immoral and pernicious. All, then, that can be done, all that ever has been done, by purely human instrumentality, has been to restrain and keep within certain bounds and limits, the ever-flowing current of human depravity and misery, rather than to dam up its tide, or dry up its fountain. Onward, irresistibly onward, the dark current still flows; not now a wild, dashing, desolating, mountaintorrent, bearing all before it, as among savage tribes, or in ancient times; but still the same fearful and deadly stream, though it flows within defined limits, winds through the midst of cultivation, and, for the most part, hides itself in subterranean channels. We appeal, therefore, to all who know what human nature is, both in rude and civilised states, as well in modern as in ancient times, whether any moral renovation is to be anticipated from man himself? It is rather, obviously in vain, that he looks either to internal light, or external circumstances. All his discoveries extend no further than to the detection of his delinquencies and miseries. He cannot, from his own stores, correct his acknowledged mistakes and sins, nor be recovered to happiness, virtue, and truth. have all thing Philosophers natural failed in the The philosophers who promise every from the force of reason and light of truth, effect nothing for the cure of their They neither apprehend the true nature and ories for the promotion of patient. virtue and happiness. LECT. III. extent of the disorder, nor possess adequate skill to propound or apply a remedy. The two grand propensities of mankind, which impel continually in opposite directions, and appear in irreconcileable hostility to each other, are, first, ambition, which, while it aims to be as God, alienates from him; and, next, animal appetite, which, while it promises real pleasure, always removes us further from it. The one of these propensities aspires upwards, above our nature; the other weighs us down to earth, and assimilates us to the brutes. There is required a reconciling medium for these repugnant propensities. This is the great problem. Two classes of moral physicians. Two different classes of moral physicians have addressed themselves separately to these contrarieties. Those who have set before man the abstract contemplation of divine excellency, and the attainment of pure wisdom, by the light of nature, as a remedy for human disorders, have but ministered to man's pride, by insinuating that he was possessed of all the requisite qualities for raising himself into a kind of divinity, and that he might attain the proud elevation, by subduing or eradicating his animal propensities. The other class, who perceived the practical absurdity of such notions, fell into an opposite extreme, equally fatal and absurd, by teaching that his nature was but a higher degree of animalism, and that his chief good was to be placed in sensual delights; thus making him no better, and no other, than irrational creatures. For the one school per- LECT. III. ceived, in part at least, what man ought to be, but overlooked what he really is; while the other was content to let him remain what he is, without teaching, or endeavouring to make him, what he ought to be. ment from them. It is, therefore, evident that no improvement No improveor consolation is to be expected from such sources as these. The light within is proved to be disturbed or delusive, and the light without, in creatures or in nature, is obscured or eclipsed. The passions and the senses are strong, and constantly aspiring at the mastery over reason. Reason resents the wrong, and strives to recover its lost dominion. The corrupt affections are perpetually driving man to the pursuit of unlawful and injurious gratifications; while his own heart impeaches him as a transgressor, and his conscience inflicts, or threatens, retribution. All things with which he is surrounded, act the part of seducers or tormentors, or both, in due succession; but still they maintain a complete mastery over him, first alluring him by their fascinations, and then vanquishing by their strength. of the case. This, then, we conceive, is the true condition True theory of mankind. On the one hand, a primitive dignity of nature still remaining, impels them towards intellectual grandeur, moral liberty, perfect happiness, and immortality; while, on the other hand, they are oppressed by moral blindness, LECT. III. plunged in misery, and willingly enslaved by concupiscence. These have become a second nature, victorious over the aspirations of the immaterial spirit, and all but destructive of the original moral constitution received from the creative hand. But in all this is to be found a full and perfect verification of the grand principles and doctrines of revelation, which uniformly testify that "man was made upright, but has sought out many inventions." It would be difficult, we conceive, perhaps we should be warranted in saying, impossible, to point out a single feature of man's moral character and condition which does not correspond minutely, and with a kind of exquisite fitting, to the facts and theory laid before us throughout the Bible; while it would be equally impossible to find out any other theory that could so comprehend, and harmonize, and elucidate all the facts of our social history and personal consciousness. The one is the portrait on the canvas, the other the living original. The inference here, then, is obvious and inevitable; the hand that drew the one, is the hand that formed the other in its native perfection, but anticipated all the possible circumstances of its degradation and deformity. LECTURE IV. COINCIDENCES BETWEEN THE DOCTRINES OF REVELATION AND THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MORAL General explanation and limitation of the argument-Moral government explained-Efficiency and universality of its laws-Recognition of the being and perfections of a Supreme Governor - Vice distinguished-attended with suffering-Tendency of virtue to well-being- Doctrine of Providence-Power and universality of ConscienceInstinctive propensity to Prayer-Indelible sense of future Accountableness. it LECT. IV. in- Limitation of the object of this Lec In entering upon this branch of our subject, |