CHRISTIANITY. 
520 
and explained in their full latitude; what was obfcure 
is made clear; and what was foretold has been accom- 
plilhed. Hence it is plain there is no inconfiltency be¬ 
tween the two difp.enfations. They coalefce with each 
other, as parts of the- tame tyitem ; and, with an exact 
conformity to all the defigns of Providence, in the na¬ 
tural and the moral world, the more obfcure and partial 
are preparatory to the more perfeft and illultrious. The 
purity of the gofpel is indeed additional evidence of the 
word of God, and of the origin whence the holy fcrip- 
tures proceeded : it is an evidence ever prefent, ever le¬ 
gible ; and which no diltance, whether of time or place, 
can efface. That purity is fuch, as we thould naturally 
expeft from the fentiments which uncorrupted nature 
leads us to form of the Divine Being. If he had not al¬ 
ready vouchfafed to grant us a revelation of his will, with 
refpeft to our duty both to him and to one another; yet, 
if we had reafon to expe6l that he would grant it, the 
cleared dictates of our judgment, and the nobleft fenti¬ 
ments of our heart, would lead us to anticipate the fame 
diijday of benevolence on the part of God, and the fame 
encouragements to virtue among men, which are now 
■difplayed in the gofpel of Chriil. Here every declaration 
of fin and duty, every promife to engage us to purfue 
the one, and every ferious threat to deter us from the 
other, are brought forward with a precifion and fimpli- 
.city, which leave no room either for the perverfe to cavil, 
or the impartial to miflake. There is no vice which it 
does not detedl, even within the darkell receffes of the 
mind. There is no duty, connected with the glory of 
God, the welfare of our neighbour, or the true happinefs 
of ourfelves, but what it unfolds and illuftrates. Its pre¬ 
cepts are not only clear in their mode of delivery, and 
beneficial in their tendency; but they are enforced by 
every motive that is calculated to affe£l the heart, and to 
exalt and purify its affections. The promife of forgive- 
nefs and companion through Chrift, and of help and l'uc- 
cour through the divine {pint, are of the molt foothing 
and comforting nature to beings encompaffed with diffi¬ 
culties of various kinds; and expofed to moral weakneffes 
and tranlgreffions, which are degrading to our nature, 
and deftruCtive of our happinefs. But to infpire us with 
the full foul of virtue and religion, it carries our afpiring 
minds beyond the contracted views of this mortal fcene, 
to that exalted world of harmony and love, where peril 
and diftrefs are neither felt nor known. 
The blelfed effects of Chrillianity, in humanizing and 
improving the intellectual faculties.of man, are univer- 
dally acknowledged. No event which hiltory has re¬ 
corded, or philofophy inveftigated, has been attended 
with fo extenfive and aufpicious a change in private and 
public life ; in the government of nations, and in the 
manners of individuals; in the fentiments of the higher 
ranks, and the habits of the lower; in the cultivation of 
every polite attainment which adorns the mind, and the 
yet greater improvement of every profound fcience which 
invigorates and enlarges it. The progreffion of know¬ 
ledge has been conftant in every country where the gof- 
pel has been received; the fpirit of enquiry has, in every 
age, communicated itfelf to furrounding nations ; and 
while our proficiency is fuch as to jultify our claim of 
difcoveries, to many of which former generations never 
reached, and to others of which they never afpired, we 
have the confolation to refleCt, that a wide and unex¬ 
plored field Hill lies open for the mod unwearied endea¬ 
vours and the brighteil talents : that our own fucceis has 
indeed been fo rapid as to animate their emulation, and 
yet that our progrefs is hitherto fo imperfeCI, as to faci¬ 
litate, not to preclude, their molt vigorous exertions. In 
a word, from this eventful period, the fpirit of fcience 
lias been lialiening towards perfection. In every coun¬ 
try where Chrillianity has flouriffied, the fuperior accom- 
plilhments of human nature havC been encouraged and 
acquired. And when we review mankind as inhabitants 
of the fame globe, and mark the revolutions by which as 
men, or as nations, they are diftinguilhed, the character 
of Chriftian may be determined by the fuperior degree of 
intelligence which accompanies and adorns it. 
If we confult the hiftory of the heathen nations, we 
{hall be aftoniffied at .the innumerable vices and abomi¬ 
nable practices, which Chrillianity has been the happy 
means of extirpating from among them. In Parthia, 
where polygamy prevailed, they are not polygamifts; in 
Perlia, they do not marry their own daughters; in BaCtria 
and Gaul, they do not violate the marriage bed ; nor do 
they, wherefoever they refide, yield to the influence of 
corrupt laws and wicked culloms, familiar to others. By 
the laws of Zoroafter, the Perfians committed incell until 
they embraced the gofpel; after which period they ab- 
ftained from that crime, and obferved that temperance 
and chaftity enjoined by its precepts. This people ex¬ 
pofed the bodies of the decealed-to be devoured by birds 
or beads of prey ; but abdained from this cudom, and 
decently interred them, after it was promulgated. 
Eufebius has furnilhed a catalogue of abominable cuf- 
toms, fome of which have been aboliffied by the gofpel; 
and proves its profeffors to be free from feveral crimes, 
not even condemned in the pagan world. Chrillianity 
was ufeful not only in its pofitive precepts, and the ge¬ 
nius which it infpired, but alfo in delivering men from 
detedable practices, perfeClly repugnant to the feelings of 
Chridians. This learned writer adures us, that profelytes 
to Chridianity no longer married their own mothers in 
Perfia; nor in Scythia did they as ufual eat human fieih, 
and facrifice their children, prompted by fuperftitibn. 
The Madiigatte ufed to facrifice their relations, and eat 
their flelh, when worn out with age; the Tibareni were 
wont to fling them down precipices; the Hyrcani and 
Cafpians expofed them to be devoured by birds and dogs. 
Thefe and fuch like cruel and inhuman culloms prevailed, 
not only among barbarous nations, but even among the 
Greeks, who were polilhed and refined. In Salamis a 
man was facrificed to the daughter of Cecrops ; and ano¬ 
ther at Chios was cruelly torn to pieces and facrificed to 
Bacchus; three were daily {acrificed to Juno ; and a man 
was dragged thrice round the altar in Diomede’s temple, 
{truck by the priefl with a fpear, and facrificed to Dio¬ 
mede. The Greeks, in general, before they w-ent out to 
war, facrificed a human victim; Ariilomenes facrificed 
three hundred together to Jove on that occafion; the 
Celtse and Carthaginians ufed human facrifices; and Italy 
was faid to have been vilited by calamities, becaule the 
tenth part of rhe men were not facrificed to the gods. In 
Laodicea a virgin was (lain in honour of the Syrian Pallas; 
in Lefbos they facrificed to Bacchus; in Phocis to Diana; 
and the Taurofcytha; offered up, at the ffirine of the fame 
goddefs, as many as were driven on their coafts by winds 
or waves. It is unneceffary to multiply inltances of cru¬ 
elty among pagan nations, fince ancient hiltory abounds 
with them. It is admitted that human victims ceafed in 
fome of thofe places before Chrift’s appearance, and that 
animal facrifices were fubllituted in their room; but 
thefe, and other abominable cultoms, were not exploded 
in many countries, until they had embraced the gofpel 
of Chriil. 
The Romans, though a polifhed people, were cruel and 
blood-thirlly before the promulgation of the gofpel, and 
its ellabiilhment in the empire. The breaking of a glafs, 
or fome fuch trifling offence, was fufficient to provoke 
Vidius Pollio to caff his flaves into fifh-ponds, to be de¬ 
voured by lampreys. The effufion of human blood was 
their frequent entertainment; fome of their fellow-crea¬ 
tures w’ere fet to fight with bealls, others to be devoured 
by them, and fome to fight againft each other. Liplius 
affures us, that no wars ever made fuch havock on man¬ 
kind, as thofe games of pleafure, which fometimes de¬ 
prived Europe of twenty thoufand lives in one month. 
From the deteftable practice of killing perfons at the fu¬ 
nerals of great men, arofe another cuftom equally cruel 
and {hocking to humanity, the fights of gladiators. The 
Romans, 
