The necessity of a divine revelation was virtually acknowledged by the heathens themselves. They considered the nature and will of the gods, as things necessary to be known, but as too vast for the hu man intellect to discover. Hence all their legisla tors who established their civil and religious poli ties, were regarded as Theodidacti, or taught of God. They would have reckoned it impiety to suppose that the knowledge of God could be acquir ed by the natural resources of human reason; and had they been sufficiently sensible of their ignor ance and their misery, they might have concluded that a more perfect revelation than they had yet re ceived, would, in due time, be communicated. For, if man is placed in the world for the purpose of happiness, as they very generally supposed, it was reasonable for them to expect that a specific rule would be given to conduct them to the end pro posed, and that they should not be left entirely at the mercy of the varying and contradictory opin ions of men. On a view of the whole case, indeed, it appears not so wonderful, that a general revela tion should have been given, as that it should have been so long withheld.
Very satisfactory reasons, however, may be as signed why the gospel was so long withheld ; at least, we can discover many important advantages to the cause of truth, resulting from this circum stance. There could have been no fulfilment of prophecy, had Christ been completely manifested immediately on the fall of our first parents ; and Christianity would thus have been deprived of one of the strongest evidences of its divine origin and authority. Our Saviour and his disciples always laid particular stress on this species of proof, and dwelt on the completion of the prophecies, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, as furnishing the most satisfactory evidence, that he was the Messiah whom the Jews expected. We have found Mm, says one of the first disciples, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. By the length of time, which elapsed between the fall of man, and the manifesta tion of the Son of God ; and by a great variety of intervening prophecies and remarkable events, we are enabled to view the gospel, not as a detached and anomalous dispensation, but as connected with all the measures of the divine government since the beginning of the world. There were obstacles enough to the reception of the gospel, in the pas sions and prejudices of the human heart ; these ob stacles would have been increased in a tenfold de gree, had the world been taken by surprise, without any previous intimation of the stupendous plan which was afterwards revealed. It would have
been a strong objection to it, had men been able to say, " We never heard any thing of this before," and had its advocates not been able to show from prophecies, and a long train of preceding events, that the world had been prepared for the complete development of it in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Another advantage was gained by the length of time which intervened between the fall and the re covery of mankind. They had an opportunity of estimating the character and resources of human nature. Had the important information, afterwards communicated by the gospel, been imparted imme diately after the fall, had it been diffused among the first race of men, and by them transmitted to their descendants, we should not have been able at this day to decide, whether we had derived it from a divine revelation, or from our own resources. But the ignorance, misery, and sin which overspread the world during the reign of heathen darkness, contrasted with the light, the purity, and the con solations of the gospel, show us how much we owe to the mercy and goodness of God, and give us the most humiliating view of our natural helplessness and sin. But though, for wise reasons, a general revelation was long withheld, a partial revelation was no less wisely given to a particular people, that the will and the gracious intentions of the Almighty might stand recorded ; and that mankind might see that he had never forgotten their interests, but was steadily carrying forward the plans of his mer cy, even when the world was lost in trespasses and sins.
Religion is usually divided into natural and re vealed ; but it is easier to make the division, than to fix the boundaries of each. The distinction, in deed, does not appear to be at all necessary ; for it is obvious that the religion of nature, as it has been called, has no doctrines peculiar to itself, and none that it can challenge as its own undisputed proper ty. The existence of a God anti a future state, pro vidence, prayer, and public worship, are supposed to belong to the province of natural religion, be cause they can be established by reason, and be cause they have found a place where no revelation was known to exist. But all these articles of faith and of practice lie at the very foundation of reveal ed religion ; whose object is to explain them in all their bearings and tendencies on the characters and hopes of men ; whilst, in the course of this process, it brings to light many important facts and doc trines, which had eluded all the scrutinies of human reason.