throws a veil over the great light of the intel lectual and moral world, and locks up th treasures of wifdom and knowledge. Thi conduct is an opposition to the counfels and benevolence of the Divine Being, whose in spiration hath enriched and adorned the facred pages, and whofe goodness defigned that these oracles should be imparted to mankind, to be a light to their feet, and the support of their nobleft hopes. This conduct is injustice and cruelty to the fouls of men: for not only are the means of knowledge, righteousness, and comfort withheld, but withheld from the common people, whom uncultivated capacities, fcanty mental furniture, and laborious avocations, deprive of the means of redress in the investigations of reafon, or the difquifitions of philofophy. Such conduct is fufficient to awaken an abhorrence of the principles and genius of that Church in every bosom, not indifferent to the love of truth and to the interests of virtue and human happiness.

But to fhew the juftness of these cenfures, the folid grounds on which Popery is, in this refpect, arraigned and condemned, let the extenfive usefulness of the Scriptures be confi

dered: let their worth and excellence, as containing the best principles of knowledge and truth, reformation and virtue, be examined. The Apostle, in the text, suggests the heads under which we may range our thoughts on this important subject. We may shew, that the Scriptures are fully and admirably calculated to enlighten the understanding,—to confute error-to reprove and cenfure iniquity and vice, and to teach and enforce the practice of all righteousness. All

Scripture-is profitable for doctrine, for "reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." To the illuftration of these points we would devote the present moments. And,

I. We obferve, that the Scriptures are profitable for doctrine. Here truth guides our steps, and heavenly light fhines round our paths. Here the grand and leading principles of religious faith are clearly inculcated, reprefented with a becoming dignity, and conveyed in all the pathetic and beautiful modes of inftruction. Its important lessons enlighten the understanding, and its fublime themes give an elevation of fentiment. Do

we wish, for instance, to be fatisfied about the origin of this world, and the character of its Almighty Maker? Here we are informed, that "in the beginning GOD created the "heavens and the earth:" That "He fpake, "and it was done; He commanded, and it "ftood faft:" that to Him " belong power "and mercy, and He is mighty in strength and "wisdom;" He is "a juft GOD; the un

changeable Author of every good and per"fect gift; light itself, in whom there is no "darkness at all; love itself," free from all weakness and malignity. Do we wish to know, how far the world, which He hath formed, is his care and charge? Ye are here taught to lift up your eyes, and behold the "LORD preparing his throne in the heavens,' and to extend your views to observe the univerfal rule of his kingdom: "from the place "of his habitation He looketh upon the inha"bitants of the earth: the LORD is nigh unto "them that are of broken heart; He faveth "such as be of contrite fpirit.'

* Gen. I. I. ⚫ Pfalm xxxiii. 9. • Pf. lxii. 11, 12. Job xxxvi. 5. d Ifai. xlv. 21. James i. 17. 1 John i. 5; iv. 8. .Pf. ciii. 19. f Pfalm xxxiii. 13, 14. Pf. xxxiv. 18.

Is the conduct of the Almighty towards man, as a rational creature, formed for religion and virtue, the object of our enquiry? The Scriptures place his care over us in this respect in various ftriking views; and lead us, from the beginning of time, through a feries of difpenfations, wherein the wonders of wisdom and power are feen, and the attractions of goodness felt. The creation; the fall; the divine proceduce of juftice, confequent upon it, tempered with mercy; the deluge; the repeopling of the earth by the family of Noah; the call of Abraham; the removal of Jacob's family into Egypt, their miraculous deliverance out of that country; the separation of the Ifraelites from the other nations of the earth, to be a peculiar congregation, and like a beacon on a hill, to diffuse the light of divine knowledge in the darkness of the earth; the divine miffion and extraordinary authority of Jefus, the Chrift or Meffiah, his useful character, his mighty works, his amiable virtues, his ignominious death, the triumphs of his resurrection, the glory of his afcenfion; the erecting of his kingdom in the world, a kingdom of truth, of pure religion, and divine

mercy; the victory gained by his gofpel over idolatry, fuperftition, and vice ;- these are the inftructive facts, which unfold the government of GOD over us, and exhibit the benevolent schemes pursued, through different ages of the world, for the reformation and happiness of mankind..

Do we defire to penetrate into futurity, and are we folicitous to difcover what portion awaits us beyond the narrow bounds of this life? How profitable, how fatisfactory is, here, the facred book of GOD! It unveils futurity, and brings life and immortality to light. It teaches us, that there is another world, of purity, perfection, and bliss: and it afferts, without doubt or obfcurity, the resurrection of the dead. Here we, as it were, fee the world diffolved; the Judge appearing with aweful glory; the dead awakening from their dufty beds; and the folemn, interesting process of the judgment to come. Thefe predictive pages of truth open to our fight the glories of heaven, the affured recompenfe of a patient continuance in well-doing; and they uncover the bottomless pit, the blackness of darkness