composure in sin, and then suddenly, how hard to believe!

The difficulty that men find in believing the Gospel, lies not in the doctrine itself, but in the nature to which it is communicated. This is the conclusion to

which at last we come; and with which we must close all that we can now say of the Divine origin of the Scriptures. A holy soul delights in the Scriptures, as containing a revelation of the will of God, and bearing the impress of his moral perfections, but these are objects of enmity to the carnal mind, to which it is not and cannot be subject. No wonder that the proud heart hates a system which brings it in the dust before God.

Our Saviour never promised to give such an amount of evidence, as should convince men against their will, but only enough to satisfy the humble and contrite, and to cast upon all others the guilt of rejecting that which is sufficiently accredited. "He that will do his will shall know the doctrine." There must first be a harmony between our will and the will of God, before our understandings and our hearts will receive his declarations. This opposition of man to God, is at the root of all the skepticism in the world-blinding the eye to the spiritual beauty that beams from the sacred page, and hardening the heart against its reception. It is this that renders it necessary to produce so great a mass of outward evidence,

and renders that evidence so generally futile when it is produced.

There is an obstacle in the soul of man, which his own hand holds in its place, which interposes between him and God, and all that proceeds from God; and until that obstacle is removed, the Word may stand before him in all the glory of infinite wisdom, holiness, grace, and truth; it may "look forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners," and he will not perceive it, but will still cry, "Proof! Proof!" What is it that is wanting? Is it proof? No; it is the disposition to do the will of God. Give him that disposition. By any means bow his proud will, and give him a humble, submissive heart, and then, as soon as the Gospel is proposed, he will see and own the evidence of its Divine authority. Its spiritual truths must not only be revealed upon the outward page, but the soul must be prepared for their reception; or they will remain, as they are to multitudes, a mystery of mysteries. It is not enough that God should have clothed the material world with beauty, and commanded the sun to shine upon it-its beauties will remain unseen and unregarded, until an eye is formed to discern them, and to convey impressions to an intelligent mind, which shall kindle in admiration of the wonderful works of God. It is not enough that the air should vibrate when the strings of the harp

are touched, producing a strain of harmonious sounds; there must be a hearing ear, to convey the harmonies to a soul capable of appreciating them; but "as well may you pour tones of delicious music upon the ears of the deaf, or floods of brilliant light upon the eyeball of the blind, and expect to awaken a corresponding emotion in the soul, as that spiritual truth when brought into contact with a carnal mind, will produce conviction in favor either of its excellence or beauty." To one under the power of such an unbelief, the word of God is produced in vain. It is "as a fire;" but it cannot penetrate nor warm the icy coldness of his feelings-it neither melts nor purifies his heart. It is "like a hammer;" but he feels not its efficiency, in breaking up the self-confidence and obduracy of his soul, and bringing it to contrition and obedience. "He will not do the will of God;" that is the secret of his unbelief. "He will not do the will of God," he has drawn the veil of pride and wickedness over his eyes, and there is no promise that he shall know the doctrine, whether it be of God. He may perish in his unbelief.

You may place a man before an extensive and varied landscape, and the sun shining upon it, shall reveal its sublimity and beauty to the seeing eye, and thus to the admiring soul. But let a man cherish an insane enmity against all the loveliness of nature, and obstinately close his eyes to every exhibition of

it, and the light of the sun, though it were sevenfold, as the light of seven days, can do nothing for him; it can neither open nor penetrate his lids. The error in his taste and will must be corrected; and then, and not before, the light will be of use to him. So, when a man hates God, and will not do his will, and the eyes of his understanding are consequently closed to the glory of the Book which he inspired holy men to write, it is not in the nature of evidence, nor of the light of truth that shines from the sacred page, to overcome the difficulty. The prejudices of a corrupt heart must be removed, hatred changed into love, and the spirit of willing obedience take the place of the spirit of willful transgression, and then the light of truth will penetrate, and he will see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Until this is done, in vain do we present proofs of the truth of the Gospel; in vain does it present its own evidence. Though an angel's tongue should verify it, and utter its messages with all the melody of heaven, at the very best, his words will be "as the very lovely song of one that can play well upon an instrument, and hath a pleasant voice;" there will be no surrender of the heart-there will be no practical admission of their Divine authority.

Shall we say that a man's want of holy perceptions that the stupidity of a sinful heart, which refuses all sympathy and interest in heavenly and

Divine truth, excuses him in his unbelief? Excuse him! Is not his unbelief the very proof and aggravation of his guilt and corruption? St. Paul tells us, that since God has inscribed upon the book of nature proofs of his eternal power and Godhead, so that "from the creation of the world they are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made," those who in the vanity of their foolish imaginations, and in the darkness of their sinful hearts, do not perceive this evidence, "are without excuse." They sin against the light of God in nature. They sin against the voice of God in their own consciences. He tells us that their blindness is the result of their opposition to the holy nature of God. They are without excuse. Surely then, upon the same ground, and with the same justice, those who, in the blindness of their corruption and enmity, do not discover the glory and grace of God in the Gospel, will be convicted of the far greater sin of having rejected the only begotten Son of God, the only name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Surely, then-surely, reader, God is fully warranted in commanding all men every where to repent, and to believe the Gospel without hesitation or delay. Had he left it to depend upon testimony of men, then might you with some reason withhold your decision, until that testimony has been weighed; but we know from the nature of things there must be, and in fact