PREFACE.

It was my object in a former series of Essays to set forth the importance of an earnest and studious attention to the Christian revelation. There is a notion, more commonly entertained than acknowledged, that the Gospel is a mere authoritative republication of natural religion; - that consequently it is chiefly, if not solely, to those of unphilosophical and vulgar minds, incapable of perceiving the internal evidence of this natural religion, and the intrinsic beauty of virtue, that such a revelation is important or needful,—and that, to the more intelligent and refined, it matters little whether or not they inquire minutely into the particulars of that

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revelation,-whether they believe, or disbelieve, or doubt, its reality-or whether they even propose to themselves the question. With a view to counteract this (as it may be called) heresy of indifference,—in my view, the most deadly of all errors, not excepting Atheism,--I pointed out and dwelt on several peculiarities of the Christian religion;-points wherein the Gospel-scheme differs from all other systems of religion, whether pretended revelations, or avowedly the offspring of human reason, that have ever existed. And the contemplation of these peculiarities must evince, I thought, the importance of carefully ascertaining whether the Gospel-revelation is real or fictitious; and if real, of endeavouring to understand as fully as possible its character, and to embrace it heartily as a rule of life. While at the same time the consideration that Christianity differs thus widely from every other religious system, in many important points, and in many wherein they all

agree, and, in those very points in which a true revelation might be expected to differ from any scheme of man's devising,this consideration, I say, presents a phenomenon well deserving the attention of such as are candidly inquiring for the evidences of this religion. For till unbelievers can propose some solution of the phenomenon, other than the truth of the revelation, which in so many centuries they have never accomplished, nor, as far as I know, even attempted, it must afford, at the very least, a strong presumption, that the religion is really from God.

These disquisitions seemed to lead naturally to some remarks as to the mode in which the Scriptures should be studied. For if it be supposed (and the notion is very prevalent) that great part of them consist of a series of perplexing difficulties, serving only to exercise the ingenuity or theologians, in endless controversies, and barren of all edifying application, or even leading to dangerous practical conse

quences, the result will be, that the student's attention will be confined to a small portion of the Sacred Records, and to that portion which will, by itself, furnish the most imperfect view of the peculiar doctrines of Christianity: a result which cannot fail to foster the error above alluded to, of undervaluing the Gospel-revelation, and regarding it as a mere authoritative declaration of certain moral truths.

The first step then in an examination of the Gospel-scheme, after we have once been convinced generally, that it is worth examining, is to guard against the bias to which we are liable either from the apprehension of perplexing difficulties in it, or from a suspicion of the inutility or dangerous tendency of its most remarkable doctrines. Such a bias cannot fail to deprave the judgment as to the real character of the Christian revelation. In the preliminary Essay, accordingly, I have endeavoured not only to inculcate the importance of such an earnest pursuit of

Truth, and steady adherence to it, as may overcome the seductions of indolence, and of seeming expediency, but I have pointed out also the several modes of self-deceit by which men persuade themselves that they are, when in fact they are not, sincere lovers of Truth; and the way in which that tendency may be best combated; namely, by assigning in every case, not, as is usually done, the second, but the first place, to the inquiry, what is true.

In the Second Essay, I have offered some remarks on the neglect or dread, prevalent among many persons, of St. Paul's writings; on the causes which have produced this ; and the consequences to which it leads.

In the succeeding four Essays, I have treated of certain doctrines which have

given rise to much controversy, and particular views of which have mainly contributed to the dread felt by many of St. Paul's writings. I have accordingly endeavoured to shew that the doctrines in question, as taught by St. Paul, afford no