ated nature, insomuch, that he who possesses it, charges even his angels with folly; and when created nature is not only imperfect, but sinful, we thren look to the recoil of the Divinity from all contact, and from all approximation. We think of the purer eyes than can behold iniquity, and of the presence so sacred, that evil cannot dwell with it. We think of that sanctuary into which there cannot enter any thing that defileth, or that maketh a lie, a sanctuary guarded by all the jealousies of the Divine nature, and so repugnant to the approach of pollution, that if it offer to draw nigh, the fire of a consuming indignation will either check or will destroy it." If these views of the holiness of God be correct, the benevolence which the Bible ascribes to God, for the traces of which we ought to look in his works, is a holy benevolence. It is a desire to produce happiness and promote it, in accordance with justice and truth and mercy, and every other moral perfection, looking with complacence and approbation on all who intentionally accord with its own character, and graciously rewarding them; but frowning in righteous indignation on all who voluntarily destroy the happiness of the Universe, or who depart from that justice, truth and purity by which itself is regulated. Whether such an attribute would be ascribed to God, from the mere examination of his works, we will not positively decide; but it is certain that every thing which we see and know of his Providence accords exactly with this representation. The dictates and admonitions of conscience, its remorse, and its apprehensions when we have disobeyed-our indignation at the wickedness of others-the peace and the blessings which follow obedience, and the punishments which God so generally inflicts on transgressors, harmonize, to say the least, wonderfully, with the idea of a moral government, as exercised by a holy God. On this single point, we should not hesitate to say that nature teaches this important truth, were we not struck with the enquiry; where is the man, to whose unassisted reason, this holy government of God, has been clearly taught by his works? A person, however, who has accustomed his mind to scriptural views of this subject, can scarcely conceive that any candid enquirer should deny or doubt that this is a fair inference from the facts to which we have alluded. In connection with the holiness of God, Mr. Gisborne endeavours to prove, that the depravity of man, by which he has forfeited the favour of God, his fall from a state of original innocence and holiness, the mercy of God towards him, which has actually made his condition here, partly a state of penal discipline, and partly a situ ation in which he may hope for pardou and use the means of being restored to the Divine image and favour-are all, not only confirmed, but suggested by Natural Theology. That the nature and character of man is depraved, is a fact which reason, enlightened by revelation in regard to the nature of holiness and sin, is capable of discovering, we are far from denying. It may be ascertained like any other general fact, by observation and experience. On this point, we have a pleasure in quoting the words of our author. It is a fact ascertained beyond the possibility of contradiction; it is a fact confirmit is a fact open to the view of every indied by all history, and by all experience; vidual; it is a fact, therefore, specifically placed within the province of natural the ology, and demonstrable by her testimoTo discover to man that his nature is corny; that human nature is pervaded by sin. rupt, is not the appropriate office of the Scriptures. They affirm that corruption: tent; they disclose the cause of it, and the they afford a clearer insight into its exremedy; they bring life and immortality to light by the Gospel. But to the discov ery that this corruption is now universally The fact is one "which by observation inherent, natural theology is competent. and natural reason man is capable of attaining;" one which, if he employs even but an ordinary portion of attention in conhim, and exercises even but an ordinary templating himself and mankind around measure of reason in fairly weighing the particulars which his attention has col- sanctions, in the face of which the general It is not so plain, that reason would conclude that man, as he came from the hands of his Creator, was holy; yet there are considerations which confirm that doctrine of revelation. That a nature radically indisposed to perform the will of its Creator, bent on gratifying itself by indulging in pursuits and practices which He abhors and peremptorily forbids, should have been originally implanted, such as it is, in a created being by a Deity invested with the power, and the wisdom, and the benevolence, and the other attributes which Natural Theology developes; it is absolutely impossible to conceive. The true conclusion is inevitable; and it is pronounced by Natural Theology. Human nature is fallen from the state in which it was ori ginally formed by the creative goodness of God. Human nature has corrupted itself, has corrupted itself universally. The time, the mode, the immediate cause, the attendant circumstances, of the primeval depravation of man, Natural Theology knows not. For information on these points, and on topics connected with them, she refers man to the Power who knows all things. As to the existence of the corruption, she is irresistibly decisive. p. 154. Writers on Natural Theology have usually obviated the objections to the benevolence of God, by considering this life as one of trial and of disci pline, in reference to a future state. Sumner acknowledges frankly, that the disorders of this world cannot otherwise be reconciled with the divine benevolence. Paley says 'Of all views under which human life has been considered, the most reasonable in my judgment, is that which regards it as a state of probation." Whatever conjectures unassisted reason might form on this subject, the gospel clearly teaches us, that the natural and moral evils of this life, are intended as a trial of the virtue of God's children, and as a discipline to prepare them by his grace for the inheritance of the saints in light, aud it is pleasing to see how exactly this declaration of the Word of God, accords with the actual state of the world, and the actual effect of suffering and trials on the heirs of glory, and how completely this truth removes the objections which have been urged against the benevolence of God. Whether the instances of reformation and restoration to comparative holiness which are seen among mankind, would suggest to the student of Natural Theology, while destitute of the light of revelation, that God is merciful, and would lead him to hope for the pardon and favor of God, is at best doubtful. That they exactly coincide with, and by their coincidence confirm the declarations of God's word, is too manifest to be insisted on. But while these views of human nature prove man to be in a fallen state, in a state of transgression, and cousequently in a state which renders bim obnoxious to punishment at the hand of his God; there are concomitant circumstances, connected with the subject, and within the scope of Natural Theology, which are calculated to cheer the heart with hopes and intimations of mercy. By instances displayed in every period, and in every station of life, experience is continually testifying that human nature is capable of an essential and a radical change. Drunkards are rendered sober; thieves become honest; churls practice kindness; liars veracity; and not through the operation of motives resting on health, or on character, or on worldly interest, but through the influence of principle on the conscience. The pbilosopher ascribes the transformation to the power of reason; the Christian knows that it was wrought by Divine grace. But the change, to whatever cause the student of Natural Theology may attribute it, is manifest to his observation, is undeniable. The capability of such a change demonstrates, that offending Man has not been wholly cast off by his Creator. It intimates, that mercy may be behind; that mercy may be at work; that from the inscrutable counsels of an unseen God there may emanate some mighty plan, by which pardon and reconciliation may be extended to the sinner without impeachment of the divine holiness. If there bad not been intended an opening for mercy, we might bave expected purishment to be immediate, or the transgressor to be fixed in obduracy. pp. 159, 160. The faculties of the mind, Mr. Gisborne thinks, "in their general amount, and in the sum of the attainments to which they are competent, there is a discernible fitness to the condition of a being under the displeasure of his Maker, yet not rejected from mercy," This is stating the fact as it should be stated. To render the argument from it conclusive, natural religion ought to show, as perhaps it might, that the facul ties, and the possible capable attainments of man were different as he came from the hands of his maker, and have been reduced by transgression to their present state. The observations of our author on this subject, are so striking, and even pathet ie, that we give them, notwithstanding the defect of the argument. In him foresight does not ensure safety: nor perseverence the protection or the recovery of his rights; nor study the acquisition of the knowledge of which he may stand in need; nor medical skill the removal of the debility under which he labours, or of the torture under which he groans. Investigation may end in disclos ing to him inevitable dangers; or in proving that the evils which oppress him are beyond remedy. All his pursuits of knowledge are accompanied with drawbacks. Every accession is an additional step of elevation, which shews to him the progressively enlarging borizon of his ignorance. His mind is a store-house of limited capacity; and if it be subdivided into many compartments, for the recep tion of numerous articles, the smaller is the portion which can be deposited in each. It is a granary with a floor perforated by crevices, through which the corn is incessantly trickling away. We sometimes speak with astonishment of the quantity of particulars which an individual remembers. The astonishment may be just, on a scale of comparison; but the general feeling, as to memory, might well be that of surprise at the scantiness of her gleanings. I speak of intellects of the ordinary standard. How few are the transactions of past life, of which a man can deliver a copious or a precise detail! How little can be repeated of a volume which we have recently read! How insulated, and how tew, the fragments retained of the poem, which enraptured us twelve months ago! To be required to expend great mental labour for the recom pence of slender and fugacious acquisitions, of acquisitions too which continually prove incompetent to answer the purpose for which they sought, is an appointment accordant, not with the condition of innocent and unreservedly favoured beings, but of a race justly doomed to feel, in the very exercise of its highest faculties, mementos of transgression, and sensations of chastisement. On the other hand, the exquisite goodness of the Deity manifested in his intellectual bounties to mankind, the insight which He graciously enables man to at tain into His glorious works on the earth and amidst the skies, and the special de light which He has annexed to devout and holy contemplations, argue His own holiness; justify the expectation of His regard to holiness, nay even to endeavours after boliness, in his creatures; and encourage and warrant the humble hope, that a peniLent transgressor may be blest with pardon and acceptance.—pp. 161–163. The scriptures declare that it is a part of the curse pronounced on fallen man, that in the sweat of his face he should eat bread. To this it has been objected that labour contributes to the virtue, the improvement and happiness of man, and therefore it is ridiculous to call its necessity a curse. It is a sufficient answer to this objec tion, that man's depravity renders labour thus necessary to virtue and happiness. Mr. Gisborne however meets the objector on his own ground. He admits that a degree of labour might be beneficial to a holy being, in other respects such as man, but distingnishes between such an exercise to his faculties and virtue, and that painful labour, which nature imposes on him. But suppose that we were made acquainted with the existence of a class of beings, from whom labour was required as indispensable to their comfort and to their actual preservation, yet whose labour, when duly exerted, was from time to time proving inefficacious, inadequate to attain either its immediate or its ultimate object: being subjected to corporeal and mental pain, but in numerous cases rendered by that very pain incapable of labour, disqualified either for bodily or for mental exertion. What would be our reflec. tions? We would say: "Here is labour failing to reap its fruits. Here is an overplus of pain beyond the amount requisite as a stimulus to creatures disposed to obedieoce; an overplus tending to incapaci tate, for a season, or even permanently, for active service. The labour and the pain manifestly partake of a penal character. They attach also upon the whole race by the present constitution of its na tore. The race of beings is not a holy race. It is a race whose nature is depraved."—pp. 166, 167. Then follows a series of minute observations on the penal labour to which man is subjected. Intimately connected with this labour is the con sideration "of the general nature of the objects, produced on the surface of the earth, or within the reach of attainment, for the use of man." The sentence of condemnation pronounced on Adam commenced, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns also and thistles shall it condition of the earth fully accords bring forth to thee." The actual with this declaration of the Almighty. ded for our sustenance and comfort, The scantiness of those things proviand the difficulty with which they must often be obtained, seem fitted to the condition of a being who is under to that of one who enjoys the unthe frown of his Maker, rather than clouded smiles of the Father of his spirit; while, at the same time, they and industry, not only to preserve are sufficient, with his own labour life, which is an indication of mercy, but to superadd many comforts which are not indispensable to his existence, are not indispensable to his existence, indicate the grace and compassion of and which, therefore, more strongly his offended Sovereign. It is unne cessary that we should add, we are not here speaking of the inferences which unassisted reason would draw from these facts, but of the coincidences which an enlightened understanding can discover between the declarations of the word of God, and the tendencies of his works. This distinction, however, it will be seen in the following extracts, has not been made by our author. He points first to the indications of mercy in the productions of the earth. When the mind reflects on the number of articles which in the present argument the term materials includes; on their fit ness for the requisite ends, on their appropriate variety, and on their universality; what scope for admiration and for grati tude! A just view of the subject may perhaps be rendered the more clear, and the more forcible, if we consider how easily, so to speak, the case might have been decidedly different, or even reversed, in most or in all of these particulars, without injury to the visible economy of nature, without impediment, in our apprehension, to any of the manifested designs of the Deity, that of benefit to sinful man excepted: and what would have been the condition of men, had an offended God decided on a contrary arrangement. Plants and herbs might have been as efficacious as at present for the nutriment of the animal world; might have been as acceptable to the taste of every quadruped, and bird, and insect, which feeds upon them; if not one species among the verdant inultitude had possessed the fibrous and tenacious texture capable of being converted into human clothing. The forest might have overshadowed the hills with its magnificence, might have protected from the sun and from the storm and from the frost all the beasts of the earth, and all the fowls of the air; though every tree within its immeasurable precincts had been too hard to be wrought into a structure for the shelter of man, or too perishable to repay the trouble of fabrication. Of masses of stones there might have been none; or none suitable or attainable for a wall. All might have been crumbling or shattery like chalk, or impenetrable as cast iron; none might have been fissile into slates for a roof; none capable of being converted by fire into the basis of a cement. Wood might have been in every instance, as is now the fact in some families of trees, wholly unfit for the purposes of fuel; or, though proper for combustion, might have been, through its weight or its fragibility, or its continual and irreclaimable tortuosity, useless for navigation. Quadrupeds might have enlivenod, as now, the face of the earth, and have enjoyed undiminished happiness in their sphere of being; though their skin, refusing to supply wool or leather to man, had been slimy like the covering of the snail, or horny as the armour of the rhinoceros. They would not have been less graceful, or less agile, or less joyous; had their flesh been universally unadapted for his food, or abominable to his palate. Where but to the eye of man would have been the chasm or the loss in creation, if the dog had not existed; if the place of that docile and faithful ally had been occupied by an animal, unsusceptible of attachment to a human asso men. How small a change might have at orce annihilated their usefulness! Suppose for instance, that the horse, with all his present capacities of serving mankind, were carnivorous. He would instantly become not merely a terror to his master, but a servant not to be sustained, except at an expense never to be compensated by his labour. Observe that the elephant, the camel, and all the large domesticated animals, feed only on vegetable productions. It is not that man has selected for domestication animals which subsist on herbs, and leaves, and grain: but it is that the animals, which are framed with the powers and the qualities pre-eminently fitting them for the service of man, are also appointed by Providence to be sustained entirely by the vegetable world. The qualities and the propensities are united, the powers and the habits are incorporated, by the gracious Creator; who determined that man should be benefited by the aid of animal strength and docility, and formed certain species of animals for the purpose of supplying man with that aid. The metals, and also coal, the main instrument by which in this country they are reduced to a beneficial state, might be pointedly noticed in conjunction with the present subject, had not these mineral substances been already brought forward, and amply treated in a sufficiently analogous connec tion.-pp. 128-132. Notwithstanding these abundant tokens of the compassion and grace of God, the limitation which attends them could be hardly reconciled with the full approbation and favor of the Creator, towards unoffending creatures. The degree of limitation within which it has seemed good to the Deity to circumscribe his bounty, when providing certain species of animals and other productions or contents of the earth as particularly important for the relief of human necessities, number of the kinds of animals and of ciate, or incapable of guarding his dwel-powerfully supports our argument. The ling, or of co-operating in the protection and the superintendence of his flocks? Where would have been the sorrow, except in the breast of man, had the camel, and the dromedary, and the elephant, and the lama, and the horse, and the ox, been invested with propensities, or constructed with such changes of bodily conformation, as had disqualified them for the office of labouring in his service, or rendered them intractable under his efforts to bend them to his yoke? I have alluded to conceivable changes in the propensities with which it has pleased a Deity, compassionate toward an offending race, to endow the animals specially fit for the occupations of plants, to which this description belongs, is not exuberantly copious. In an imagioary world prepared for beings assumed to be exempted from moral trials, or to be contemplated by infinite foreknowledge as stedfast in obedience, exuberance might have been anticipated as a probable characteristic. But, in our own world, the number, though sufficient for its purposes, is comprised in a narrow compass. How large a portion, for example, of the sustenance of man consists of milk, under different forms of employing it! From the temperate zones, and from the habitable parts of the colder regions, take away the cow: and what remains to be substituted? |