cern, as a great evil under the sun, and the one that has most of all others retarded the development of true and natural genius. 295 SERMON XI. DEISTICAL REFORMERS. “The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." ONE would think there is not so great a fool on earth as to say so in his heart; for my part, I do not believe there is an atheist in the world; else he must be deaf, blind, and insensate. Yet it is worthy of remark, that the term deist is not of older date than the middle of the sixteenth century; the class of unbelievers who now assume this appellation were till then denominated atheists; and it was to avoid the odium of that name that they arrogated to themselves the less forbidding and alarming title by which they are now distinguished. Now, as I look upon unbelief as the leading sin of the age, I regard it my duty to contribute my mite towards the preservation of the sublime truths of Christianity, fully convinced of the pernicious effects of infidelity on the virtue and happiness of mankind, and the guilt and danger in which it involves all who embrace it for a rejection of Christianity, as it certainly leads to speculative and practical atheism, as the sparks fly upward. Does it What is that thing called natural religion which the deist clings to? for I declare I do not comprehend it. Has it a local habitation and a name in any nation under heaven, or is it merely a theory for speculating upon? promise its adherents either peace, safety, or future happiness? Christianity haş a footing in the world, and is still gaining ground, but where is this cherished religion of the deist to be found? If it were the religion of nature, how comes it that the God of nature has extinguished it from the face of the earth, save from the mouths of captious cavillers? It is only to be found in the alleged capacity of certain men to discover it, or in the mouths and writings of those who are obliged to borrow its doctrines from holy writ. The history of mankind is like the history of an individual. There is one period in which the mind is open to impressions, and credulous even to folly; and there is another in which philosophy attempts to combat truth. Our country is, I think, fast approaching to this last stage of existence. Our very priests, who, in the opinion of the modern class of infidels have so long triumphed over the human understanding, now admit that it was the failing of mankind, a few centuries ago, to believe in every absurdity which their predecessors in their ignorance imposed on them. The error of this age is to believe too little, save in some things more extravagantly ridiculous than was ever promulgated in any former age. But if we go on improving at the present rate, I should not be surprised to see a set of philosophers endeavouring to persuade the world to believe in nothing, not even in Rowism itself. Wisdom, I apprehend, consists in knowing both what to receive and what to reject; and I have made up my mind that no ridicule which a deist can throw on. the religion of Jesus shall ever eradicate from my belief one item of the truth of that Divine institution; and if my simple and humble efforts can establish but one wavering soul in the same resolution, I shall consider my time well bestowed. I deem it more contemptible to be a deist than the slave of superstition. Ridicule is the instrument of their persecution; and as they stop at no manner of blasphemy, I have often found it difficult to contain my countenance, and refrain from tears, at hearing the profligacy of the sentiments of learned men. But as the terror of death should never make me a |