Part 31 (1/1)

We know the effects of the light and warmth of the sun; and we may safely be left to infer the horror, the misery, the world-wide ruin, and the utter dreariness and desolation that would follow if the orb of day were extinguished, or for ever and utterly withdrawn Religion is the sun of the spiritual world; it is its light and life, its joy and blessedness; and its extinction would be the death and destruction of our race

While belief in God is favorable to virtue generally, it tends also to produce displays of superior excellence; of unusual courage, perseverance, and endurance The believer in Godis, that he who is for hiainst him It is no vain boast in him to say, 'I fear God, and know no other fear' It is natural that he should say, when threatened by nant men, 'You may kill me, but you cannot hurt me' The Christian believer can afford to be a martyr When excited by unGodly or inhue He can bear too to suffer disrepute He can trust his reputation to his ohty Friend He can bear to look with patience both on the adversity of the good, and the prosperity of the bad He knows the fate,--he sees the end,--of both The Judge of all the earth will do right He knows no evil but sin He knows no security but righteousness

And Christian faith is a fountain of all conceivable _comfort_ It is a co It is a comfort to feel assured that we are beloved of God It is a comfort to feel that we love Him in return It is a comfort to believe that the universe has a Head, a Lord, a Ruler It is a comfort to believe that we are not orphans, fatherless inhabitants of a Godless world There is pleasure in adratitude

There is a pleasure in tracing the wonders and beauties of creation to a living, loving Creator It adds to the pleasure of science to believe, that behind the wonderful phenomena which we behold, there is a Great Unseen fro heart they all proceed It is a pleasure to believe that our ways are ordered by infinite wisdom It is a pleasure to believe that our sorrows are known to an al Friend It is a pleasure to believe that our kindred and friends have a helper greater than ourselves It is a pleasure to believe that our lot is appointed by an infinite Father; that we shall not be perth; that in every te can har can destroy us, however terrible; that all things work together for our good In short, there is no end to the strength which a Christian belief in God is calculated to give to our virtue, or to the consolation which it is calculated to impart to our souls

But what can be sadder than to be without God, and without hope, in a world like this? With all our science how little we kno terrible the thought that we have no unerring guide! With all our powers how feeble we are! How terrible the thought that we have no alhty friend!

And vast and numberless as are the provisions that are made for our happiness, how often we are thwarted, how prone we are, even in the midst of plenty, to be dissatisfied; and how soon we ht that there is no restorer! Is it strange that, when faith in God is lost, the value of life is felt to be gone?

We have no harsh word for the doubter or the disbeliever, but we raise our warning voice against the dangers which beset the way of youth, and counsel all to consider well their steps 'There are hich at tiht unto men, but the end thereof is death' 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdo' Science has advanced; arts have ed; and ion and virtue are exploded But woe to the man that yields to the terief; and his heart distracted with horror But peace and purity and joy shall be the lot of the faithful Christian The light of life shall shi+ne upon his path The wisdo, he shall be secure

12 The Christian has the highest, the happiest employment He works in the spirit of eternal love He works for the highest and the holiest ends And he works in hope He sees the harvest in the ploughing of the field, the co crop in the scattered seed The result of his labors neth; and the plans of His eternal love can never fail

And all things rich and beautiful are his The earth and its fulness are his The heavens and their glories are his All sights of beauty, all sounds of ht are his There are no forms, no elements of bliss from which he is excluded

All the innocent pleasures of sense, all that can delight the soul through the eye, the ear, the taste, or the feelings; all that is rich in art; all that is rapturous in song; all the pleasures of science and literature, all are his

And all earth's blessings, all pure and harmless pleasures, he can enjoy more truly and reater beauty and glory to the universe, his hope of ireater sweetness to his earthly life The brightness of the eternal world throws a celestial radiance over the present, and gives to earth a portion of the blessedness of heaven

A FEW TESTIMONIES OF GREAT MEN IN FAVOR OF CHRISTIANITY

We live in the reatness, and of the source from which they flow We speak of our civilization, our arts, our freedoe a share of all is due to Christianity--_Coleridge_

There never was found in any age of the world, either philosopher or sect, or law or discipline, which did so highly exalt the public good as the Christian faith--_Bacon_

As the man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men are; so the skeptic, in a vain attees into a darkness more deplorable than that of the common herd--_Colton_

Since the introduction of Christianity, huot in advance of Christianity Men have outgrown other institutions and systerow Christianity--_Channing_

I have lived long enough to knohat I did not at one time believe--that no society can be upheld in happiness and honor without the sentiion--_La Place_

It is heaven on earth to have one's mind to move in charity, to rest on Providence, and follow truth--_Bacon_

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are most essential In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotisreat pillars of human happiness; these firmest props of virtue And let us not suppose that ion Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect national ious principle--_Washi+ngton_

I have carefully and regularly perused these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion, that the voluin, contains more sublimity, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains of eloquence, than can be collected froe they may have been written--_Sir William Jones_