HISTORY. 



113 



vellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth 

 right well.&quot; 



Omitting the consideration of several other 

 departments of science, I shall in the mean time 

 notice only another subject connected with reli 

 gion, and that is History. 



History embraces a record and description of 

 past facts and events, in reference to all the na 

 tions and ages of the world, in so far as they are 

 known, and have been transmitted to our times. 

 As natural history contains a record of the ope 

 rations of the Creator in the material world, so 

 sacred and civil history embraces a record of his 

 transactions in the moral and intellectual world, 

 or, in other words, a detail of the plans and 

 operations of his providence, in relation to the 

 inhabitants of our globe. Through the medium 

 of Sacred History, we learn the period and the 

 manner of man s creation the reason of his fall 

 from the primitive state of integrity in which he 

 was created, and the dismal consequences which 

 ensued : the various movements of Providence 

 in order to his recovery, and the means by which 

 human redemption was achieved ; the manner 

 in which the gospel was at first promulgated, the 

 countries into which it was carried, and the im 

 portant effects it produced. Through the me 

 dium of Civil History we learn the deep and 

 universal depravity of mankind, as exhibited in 

 the wars, dissensions, and ravages, which have 

 desolated our fallen race, in every period, and in 

 every land ; we learn the desperate wickedness 

 of the human heart, in the more private acts of 

 ferocity, cruelty, and injustice, which, in all ages, 

 men have perpetrated upon each other ; we be 

 hold the righteousness of the Supreme Ruler of 

 the world, and the equity of his administration, 

 in the judgments which have been inflicted on 

 wicked nations and the improbability, nay, the 

 impossibility, of men being ever restored to moral 

 order and happiness, without a more extensive 

 diffusion of the blessings of the gospel of peace, 

 and a more cordial acquiescence in the require 

 ments of the divine laws. 



Such being some of the benefits to be derived 

 from history, it requires no additional arguments 

 to show, that this branch of knowledge should 

 occasionally form a subject of study to every in 

 telligent Christian. But in order to render the 

 study of history subservient to the interests of 

 religion, it is not enough merely to gratify our 

 curiosity and imagination, by &quot;following out a 

 succession of memorable events, by tracing the 

 progress of armies and of battles, and listening 

 to the groans of the vanquished, and the shouts 

 of conquerors. This would be to study history 

 merely as skeptics, as atheists, or as writers of 

 novels. When we contemplate the facts which 

 tne historian presents to our view, we ought to 



rai^e our eyes to Him who is the Governor 

 among the nations, u who doth according to his 

 will in the armies of heaven, and among the in 

 habitants of the earth,&quot; and who overrules the 

 jarring interests of mortals, for promoting the 

 prosperity of that kingdom which shall never be 

 moved. We should view the immoral propensi 

 ties and dispositions of mankind as portrayed in 

 the page of history, as evidences of the depravity 

 of our species, and as excitements to propagate, 

 with unremitting energy, the knowledge of that 

 religion, whose sublime doctrines and pure pre 

 cepts alone can counteract the stream of human 

 corruption, arid unite all nations in one harmoni 

 ous society. We should view the contests of 

 nations, and the results with which they are ac 

 companied, as guided by that invisible Hand, 

 which &quot; mustereth the armies to the battle ;&quot; and 

 should contemplate them either as the accom 

 plishment of divine predictions, as the inflictions 

 of retributive justice, as paving the wav for the 

 introduction of rational liberty and social happi 

 ness among men, or as ushering in that glorious 

 period, when &quot; the knowledge of the Lord shall 

 cover the earth,&quot; and the nations shall learn war 

 no more. 



Thus I have taken a very cursory survey of 

 some of those sciences which stand in a near 

 relation to the objects of religion ; and which 

 may, indeed, be considered as forming so many 

 of its subordinate branches. There are many 

 other departments of knowledge, which, at first 

 view, do not seem to have &quot;any relation to theo 

 logical science ; and yet, on a closer inspection, 

 will be found to be essentially connected with the 

 several subjects of which I have been treating 

 For example some may be apt to imagine that 

 arithmetic, geometry, trigonometry, and other 

 branches of mathematics, can have no relation 

 to the leading objects of religion. But if these 

 sciences had never been cultivated, the most im 

 portant discoveries of astronomy, geography 3 

 natural philosophy, and chymistry, would never 

 have been made ; ships could not have been na 

 vigated across the ocean ; distant continents, 

 and the numerous &quot; isles of the sea,&quot; would have 

 remained unexplored, and their inhabitants left 

 to grope in the darkness of heathenism ; and 

 most of those instruments and engines by which 

 the condition of the human race will be gradu 

 ally meliorated, and the influence of Christianity 

 extended, would never have been invented. 

 Such is the dependence of every branch of useful 

 knowledge upon another, that were any one por 

 tion of science, which has a practical tendency, 

 to be discarded, it would prevent, to a certain 

 degree, the improvement of every other. And, 

 consequently, if any one science can be shown 

 to have a connexion with religion, all the rest 

 must likewise stand in a certain relation to it. 

 It must, therefore, have a pernicious effect on the 



