and an impartial examiner would never have perceived. The Deist has not forgotten to take advantage of this weakness. He has judged the Gospel out of the mouth of the polemic, and, collecting together into one mass the numerous disputes of Christian Churches or writers, and estimating their importance by the lofty terms in which the disputants themselves have spoken of their different sentiments, has very artfully inferred,-that since the religion of Jesus has left, even in the confession of its friends, so many and such essential doctrines in a state of absolute uncertainty, there cannot be much satisfaction in embracing it as a rule of faith, or a ground of hope for the happiness of a future state. In the very same manner the Papist reviles the purer form of the Protestant system of belief, and deduces, from the variation of Protestant creeds, the necessity of an infallible guide upon the earth. That the inferences of both these sorts of reasoners are invalid, is allowed; but where men permit the liberty of thinking, and expressing their thoughts, to degenerate into licentiousness, they must needs expect that the Infidel will turn it to his own account, and that the unconfirmed and wavering Christian will be misled by his specious conclusions, into a rejection or doubt of the credibility of the Gospel scheme of salvation. No course, therefore, would appear to be more useful or prudent than that which Mr. Hulse has so earnestly

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recommended, of giving our principal diligence to guard the rock upon which the Christian city is built, from the open or concealed attacks of its acknowledged adversaries, and never too rudely to assail its sincere well wishers, even though we may conceive them to be mistaken in their notions, unless their errors should be new, or dangerous and prevalent. If new and prevalent, it may be wise to check and correct them, before they become inveterate by long establishment. If dangerous and prevalent, the duty of resistance is too plain to require a single word of exhortation. But if they be neither prevalent nor dangerous, it would be manifestly imprudent to give them, whether new or old, that additional degree of importance and notoriety, which necessarily attaches to every thing which has been made the subject of public and systematic disquisitions. The very best method of opposing many of the minor wanderings of the human intellect is, by leaving them to fall by the weight of their own absurdity, or else gradually to die away and be forgotten because neglected.

In selecting for the subject of his inquiry "some of the more difficult texts or obscure parts of the Holy Scripture," Mr. Hulse directs the Christian Preacher to understand him, as alluding chiefly, if not exclusively, to such as he may deem

"more generally useful, or necessary to be explained, and which may best admit of such a comment or explanation, without presuming to pry too far into the profound secrets and awful mysteries of the Almighty." This limitation is the result of wisdom and humility. There are things, we

know, which the angels themselves, not perfectly understanding in all their parts and bearings, desire to look into; and I can scarce imagine that such a desire, which is said to inhabit the bosoms of celestial beings, can be in itself sinful; because no censure is passed upon it, or even implied, in the words of the Apostle. To muse, indeed, upon the wonderful works of the Almighty, whether in nature or in grace, is one of the noblest employments of the human imagination; and to stretch out our faculties to the utmost, to discover the reasons and modes of the divine operations, till, wearied with conjecture, we sink back to earthly things, and confess our utter inability to comprehend the height, and breadth, and depth of the Almighty Mind, may be made one of the best of schools, in which to learn the lesson of intellectual humility. But this is not " to presume to pry into the profound secrets and awful mysteries of the Almighty.". It is rather to adore and profit by them. To pry into heavenly things, is, when a man would measure the wisdom of the Deity by his own, and vainly attempt to assign the causes

and course of all those actions and dispensations of God, which have a reference to the whole sphere of creation, and comprehend the interests of endless worlds and beings, of whose nature and destination we have no knowledge whatever. Even in judging of a fellow creature's proceedings, we must often perceive how inadequate our powers are to estimate the motives and ends for which he acts; and even in the more complicated systems of human invention, we are sometimes compelled to confess our ignorance of the mechanism by which a curious or useful result is produced. Surely it much more becomes us to be cautious in tracing the processes of the Creator's thoughts, which are not as our thoughts, and to be content to be baffled in our researches into the propriety of the means which he has employed to effect the most glorious and blessed work of our own redemption. Man may conceal the secret of his knowledge from his fellow man, either to retain the distinction of superiority, or to secure the reward of his successful industry. But God keeps his creatures in ignorance, not for his own benefit, but for theirs; not to hold them in a state of degrading inferiority, but to reward them for their submission to his inscrutable will. It is the dictate of humility. therefore, to abstain from presumptuous inquiries into mysteries. It is the part of wisdom also; for no great degree of useful knowledge can ever be

looked for from such discussions. The vain pursuits of Alchemy were certainly the parents ofsome few useful discoveries; but the progress of science has been much more rapid, and it has imparted information of a far more solid and important nature, since the labours of its disciples were directed to legitimate and attainable ends. It will be the same too, and in a much higher degree, in the pursuits of Theology. For, even were we to lay aside out of our consideration all reasoning from the usual course of God's providence in other things, we could never, in consistency with gospel principles, expect the blessing of the Holy Spirit to guard us from error, or lead us into truth, whilst presumptuously endeavouring to scan the deep and hidden things which God has put within his own power. A similar remark may also be made upon that other restriction which we have already considered. If we refuse to follow the steps of our blessed Saviour, and choose, when reviled, instead of being meekly silent, to revile again, how can we hope that God will give efficacy to those words of bitterness, which are so contrary both to the spirit and commandments of his will? Exclusive, therefore, of the natural tendency which intemperance in language has to irritate the mind, there seems to have been a positive bar placed to its success, by the express revelations of God's providence. We have no promise whatever that