SERMON IX.

GOD'S PROVIDENCE AS SHOWN IN THE HISTORY OF REVELATION.

ACTS, XV. 18.

KNOWN UNTÓ GOD ARE ALL HIS WORKS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD.

In a former discourse I attempted to set before you those proofs of the providence of God, which are derived from a contemplation of his character, as learned from the appearances of nature. In the present I wish to bring to your view those striking evidences of God's superintendence of the world which are found in the history of revelation.

Before we proceed, however, to this part of our subject, allow me to say, that if there is sufficient reason to believe that God has ever interposed to reveal his own character and will, in any other way than by the unassisted exercise of human reason in the contemplation of his works, this is in itself a satisfactory proof of his providence. Revelation, then, is in itself the most substantial proof which can be offered of this great truth. But has God ever thus interfered in the concerns of mor

tals? It has been the invariable opinion of mankind that he has; and the histories which are contained in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, are full of such relations. Till, therefore, some reason can be given, that the facts which we find these books to contain, are impossible or improbable, they are unquestionably entitled to the same credit with any other authentic works.

These books contain also many remarkable predictions. If, then, it can be once made to appear that any one of these prophecies has been circumstantially accomplished, the proof is complete of the providence and superintendence of the Divinity over the affairs of men..

But I wish to enter more deeply into this subject of revelation, and to show you, if possible, from a survey of the different dispensations of which the bible gives us an account, that God has, from the first, maintained a moral care of mankind; that he has been seasonably providing for their religious wants, and has been carrying on, from the creation of the world, a vast scheme of human improvement, which illustrates his natural and moral providence.

The bible, my friends, is distinguished from all other books that were ever written, or, at least, that now exist, in this circumstance; that it contains the history of these operations and purposes of God. Open it where you will, and you find traces of these operations. God is the grand object which it presents. His work is the great busi

ness which it discloses.

His purposes are the

grand points to which all its narratives direct us. In this book man appears under a different aspect from that in which he appears elsewhere; as a creature under the moral government of God, and the subject of God's retributive and provisory care; and the most vast and interesting views are opened of human destination and hopes.

It is with a mixture of gratitude and of awe, that I look into this book. It contains the history of God and man in their connexion and intercommunication, and it is the only work which throws any satisfactory light on the origin, and progress, and destination of the human race, as moral creatures. We find here, it is true, many extraordinary relations, adapted to the infancy of mankind, and gradually becoming less frequent, as the faculties were unfolded and the moral notions of mankind were established. But even in the history of these, we find the same proofs of a wise providence, in the order and successive perfection of the different dispensations of religion, that we find in the natural growth and intellectual progress of individuals. This proof of the divine superintendence I wish now to trace out with you.

In the Jewish and Christian scriptures we have a history of a portion at least of this superintendence, and the portion in which we are most interested; of what may have been vouchsafed to other natures, we know not the manner, nor the

extent.

After ascribing to one Supreme God the creation and peopling of the world, they go on to explain the mode by which God maintained his government over his creatures, and gave them a just sense of religious and moral obligation. During this period of the world's infancy, we find that visible intercourse and audible communications of the Deity were common. Before mankind had learnt to deduce from the view of nature, any notion of one Supreme Intelligence, or had derived from experience any directions of conscience, or any knowledge of their real good, God condescended to instruct them frequently and copiously in the most necessary knowledge.

The history tells us that he placed the first pair in a garden, under a prohibition to eat of the fruit of a certain tree; but they yet, yielding to a temptation, disobeyed and became subject to the dreadful consequences of transgression.

In this original dispensation there is shadowed forth to us the situation of mankind as moral beings. We are destined to a species of happiness which depends upon a previous probation. The nature of virtue and happiness, as God has constituted it, everywhere supposes a capacity of transgression, and a period of trial. In the history then of our first parents, we have the first elements of a moral government, and everything which we know of God, justifies his appointment of this original dispensation.

The subsequent condition of the world, as a state of labor, difficulty, temptation, and death, is represented as the consequence of this transgression of Adam. However we may choose to account for it, we may be certain that it was a part of the original plan of God, in training up human creatures for a superior state, that this should be the condition of humanity, and there is no reason why we should not be satisfied with the scripture account of its introduction.

. These ancient books contain many other accounts of the appearance and interposition of God, all directed to promote the same purpose, the growth of virtue and knowledge in the world. Hence the deluge, which swept away a corrupt race, when Noah was preserved to keep up the knowledge of God, and to commence a new era among men. The accounts which we have of the frequent appearances of the Deity in those early ages, are perfectly suitable to the infant state of mankind. All the operations of nature, and all the changes and events of life, are there uniformly ascribed to the power and will of the Creator; and even whatever consequences follow the will of men, are there imputed to the providence of God.

In process of time, we find that one peculiar people was selected from the multitude of nations, to give to the rest of the world, by their whole history and fate, a visible specimen of God's providence. Abraham is called from the midst of his