finite Wisdom, and an opposition of our strength to the purposes of Omnipotence. These distinctions are essential, and will exist forever.

But, in pointing out to those whom we instruct, the natural consequences of conduct, we must teach them, that these consequences, whether good or bad, are often intercepted in this world by various accidents; and that by far the most important are those which are not experienced till we enter upon the future; that we are here, gradually, by repeated acts, forming certain characters, which will fit or unfit us for happiness hereafter; that we are acting, therefore, under a much greater responsibility than that which discovers itself in the events of this life; a responsibility which is not forced upon our notice; and which we must associate by the effort of our own minds, with all our purposes of moral conduct. The young must be instructed, that there are various paths in this world from which we may choose; and that we shall, in all probability, experience here, very sensibly, the wisdom or the folly of our choice; but that their main difference consists in the destination to which they will conduct us. When the mind has just conceptions of the intrinsick nature of right and wrong conduct, and of their necessary effects; and when an habitual association is formed between moral purposes, and a sense of future good and ill, we may then expect the sanctions of religion to act upon the character

with a constant and uniform force. They will produce their effects at all times, operating like the unseen powers of nature.

But a belief in the future life is to be established in the mind, not merely that it may govern the thoughts and conduct, but that it may bring along with it all those feelings of hope and joy, which are its proper attendants. It has then only its full efficacy, when it makes the evils of life yield before us, as immortal beings, with whom they can maintain no enduring conflict; and when it gives to all our higher pleasures, that character of imperishable permanence, which contrasts so strongly with all that the world can offer us. We believe that we are formed for endless improvement and happiness; and one main purpose of a religious education is, to give distinctness to the conceptions which this belief presents to the mind. It is not sufficient, that there should be a mere assent of the understanding to the naked truth, that the good will be happy in the future life; the imagination and the feelings must be interested. We must represent the future life of the good, not as a state of passive, idle enjoyment, and some incomprehensible sort of rapture; but as affording different kinds of happiness, suited to our different capacities. It is our main business here, to form certain characters which may fit us for happiness hereafter; and we cannot reasonably doubt, that this happiness will be

adapted to the characters which we are here required to form; to the habits, dispositions, tastes, and desires, which it is here our duty to cultivate. The future life, therefore, may, and ought to be represented, as a life of activity, full of vigour and joyful expectation; a life of constant acquisition and improvement; in which our best affections will be continually exercised, and in which our love of knowledge will be continually gratified; a life of social intercourse and delight; a life of devotion and gratitude.

One of the first truths respecting the future life of the good, which may be effectually presented to the imagination and feelings, is, that it will be free from the evils of the present ;-that in the language of the Apocalypse, God shall wipe away all tears; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain. Another truth, most interesting to the affections, is, that we shall be united again to the friends who have gone before us. A parent, in the course of nature, will die before his child. This is a fact, to which you may direct the minds of your chil dren, and by which, if they have any sensibility, they will be deeply affected; and they will thus be prepared to receive, with the strong grasp of their best affections, the hope which you may then give them of meeting you again in a far better world.

I have spoken of the essential truths of religion, considered independently of their evidence. For our assurance in the belief of these truths, we are indebted to Christianity; and it is under this aspect, that Christianity is to be exhibited to the minds of those to whom we give religious instruction. We believe what we are most interested to know, with firm faith and joyful hope, because it has been taught us upon the authority of GoD; because it has been taught us by GOD; for the word which ye hear, said our Saviour, is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. Creatures of yesterday, just entered into a universe, whose extent seems boundless, and of whose past duration we are wholly ignorant, we look round for something to inform us concerning our relations and prospects. Our reason goes abroad to examine the appearances which present themselves; and returns humbled, perplexed, and almost silent. When she would raise her voice, it is drowned in the babble and clamour of our meaner faculties. Whatever she might have done, if her full vigour had been exerted and unimpeded; yet if we look to the most enlightened period before the introduction of Christianity, we shall find that she had in fact taught but little, and that little to but very few. The philosopher might wait in calm, but doubtful expectation, for the uncertain destiny which impended over him, his speculations sometimes kindling into transient rapture; but the great

mass of men became unresisting slaves of their imaginations and senses. They looked up to heaven; and peopled it with beings like themselves. They cast their eyes upon the world; and regarded it as their only scene of existence. They were insensible to all that is possible or probable in the interminable futurity beyond. They saw nothing there, but, it may be, some shapes of poetick fiction, which had as little influence upon their common purposes and feelings, as the dreams of midnight. But GoD has had mercy upon his ignorant and erring children; and has himself made known to us, why we are here, and on whom we depend, what we are to do, and what we are to expect. He, who from the history of man, and his own experience, best knows the strength and weakness of our reason, the ground it may occupy, and the obstacles it must encounter, will feel with the strongest conviction, the necessity of revelation to give assurance to his religious belief. He will most gladly rest his faith upon the authority of GOD. Without the evidence of revelation, some imperfect and doubtful notions of religion might have been the luxury of a few; with it, the truths of religion are the daily bread, and common support of millions. It is that evidence, on which only the wisest rely with confidence for a most important part of their religious belief; and it is the only evidence applicable to the minds of the great majority of men.