128 THEOLOGY. 



our own personal errors, we may rejoice in the goodness and mercy 

 of our Creator ; both in providing a way for our salvation, and in 

 revealing that way to our knowledge, so clearly, that all who truly 

 seek it may find it, and attain to light and life eternal. 



The Revelation of which we speak, and the only one which we 

 recognize to be such, is the Bible, comprising the Old and New 

 Testaments. True it is that human reason has been exercised in 

 proving the truth of this Revelation, and ascertaining its meaning: 

 but this detracts nothing from the excellence or importance of the 

 Holy Scriptures. It has been beautifully said, that " reason is 

 the compass by which we steer our course ; and revelation is the 

 polar star, by which we correct its variations." The value of reve- 

 lation appears from this, that by its aid, the youth of the present 

 day, may know more of religion and morality, than the wisest of the 

 heathen philosophers ; although many of them employed a long life 

 in studying the mysteries of their origin and their destiny. In illustra- 

 tion of this point, we may here add that Socrates, the worthiest of 

 them all, deemed it necessary " that an instructor should be sent 

 from heaven, with special authority to reveal and enforce the duty 

 of man." 



Engrossed as we are by the cares, the pursuits, and the pleasures 

 of this life, who can realize the wondrous realities that await us in a 

 future state of being! Or who can prepare for that state, as he 

 would wish to have done, when the lamp of life shall flicker in its 

 socket, the world recede like a dreamy shadow, and the soul wing 

 its flight to eternity ! Shall we rise, upborne on angels' wings, to 

 the mansions of a Saviour's love, there to serve Him who shed his 

 precious blood to save us, and enjoy His blissful presence forever ? 

 Or will our own conscious guilt, in sinning against such mercy, and 

 neglecting so great salvation, drag us down, self-condemned, to the 

 gulf of eternal perdition, of darkness and despair ? It is well to 

 think of these things, and well to choose our course ; lest, drifting 

 aimless on life's uncertain sea, the storm overtake us, and bury our 

 frail bark beneath the unfathomable waters. How inexpressibly 

 awful, and affecting, is that saddest of all shipwrecks, the shipwreck 

 of the soul ! 



There are many questions relating to the Divine government, and 

 to the different orders of being, which the Bible leaves, and doubt- 

 less wisely leaves, enveloped in mystery. Such are the origin of 

 physical and moral evil ; the relation of man's free will to God's 

 foreknowledge ; the nature of the soul, and of spiritual existence ; 

 the particular duties and enjoyments of angelic beings ; the inhabit- 

 ants, if such there are, of the starry worlds around us ; and other 

 similar themes, which will readily occur to the reflecting mind. In 

 reference to these subjects, we can only offer the suggestion, that the 

 world which we inhabit, and the races which inhabit it, constitute 

 but an infinitely small portion of the works and creatures of Provi- 

 dence ; and that our apostacy may serve as a warning to other orders 

 of being, by which they are kept from rebellion and from woe. It 

 must have been so permitted, by the Creator, or it could not so have 

 been; but the Divine purposes therein, it were impious for us to 



