This is either ignorant or malicious misrepre sentation. All that the gospel inculcates respect ing the necessity of divine influence, and the aids of the Holy Spirit, is intended to stimulate, not to relax our exertions. "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which work eth in you both to will and to do of his good plea sure." Philip. ii. 12, 13. Here the operation of the Spirit of God, who works in us to will and to do of his good pleasure, is stated as an inducement to work out our salvation with fear and trembling: and it certainly is a powerful argument for exer tion when we reflect that every virtuous emotion proceeds from the Spirit of God, who promises his assistance, and calls us to be labourers together with him in the great work of salvation. At the same time this consideration may well inspire us with fear, lest we should have received so much of the grace of God in vain, and lest we be found wanting in the due improvement of the ample means and assistance with which he has furnished us. All the exhortations of the gospel correspond with this representation; hence we are called on to watch and to pray, and to be active and diligent in the use of those means which God has appoint ed and promised to bless for our edification.
And with regard to the other objection that the gospel found a ready reception, because it pointed out an easy method of salvation by teaching men to rely on the merits of another, we may safely say that human nature must be greatly changed from what it was, if this view of Christianity proved a recommendation to it. It is not commonly found that any thing which tends to sink human merit will meet with a ready reception among men; and we believe that the greatest object to the gospel has always arisen from the low estimate which it forms of human virtue; and from its representing the best services of men as unprofitable in the sight of God. 'There is nothing that men will not do sooner than believe this. They will give their bodies to be burnt, or to be torn in pieces by every conceivable torment, if any person can persuade them that hea ven may be won by such sacrifices. And it is not difficult to produce such a conviction: it is a deep rooted prejudice of the human heart: it is a wrong conclusion drawn from just and natural pre mises; it is founded on the feeling of responsibility, on the consciousness of guilt, and on the persua sion that some extraordinary sacrifice is neces sary to procure expiation. But along with these feelings and convictions, which might naturally enough lead to humiliation, there is a principle of pride no less firmly rooted in the mind of man, which teaches him to believe that the expiation may be made by his own efforts, and that his per sonal sufferings and privations will have merit to atone for any sin.
This notion lies at the foundation of all the su perstitions of polytheism; and the bodily sufferings and voluntary inflictions which were so profusely exhibited, were the result of pride rather than of humility. The infatuated visionary was attempt
ing to take heaven by force, and to establish his claim to salvation, as a debt and not as a favour. The doctrines of Christianity are the reverse of all this in every point of view, and, therefore, it must have been an objection to them that they opposed such inveterate prejudices of the human mind. So much was the Church of Rome aware of this, that to remove all objections to its external sovereignty, the only object which, as a church, it ever had in view, it laid hold of those very prejudices which Christianity had exploded, and revived the claims of human merit by prescribing certain penances and bodily services as available to salvation.
From these facts, any one may judge how far the gospel owes its success to the conformity of its doc trines with the common notions and prevailing feelings of the human mind. It is, indeed, one of the singularities attending its dissemination, that it forced its way in the world, in spite of the most formidable obstacles arising from the sins which custom had licensed, and from the prejudices which superstition had consecrated in the human mind. This is in itself sufficient evidence that " God gave visible testimony to the Nvgrcl of his grace" when he enabled the first preachers of the gospel to tri umph over obstacles, which, in modern times, re sist all the powers of learning, of eloquence, and of argument. And should any one feel disposed to regret that the same signal success does not attend the labours of modern missionaries, who are much better qualified, in point of literary attainments, than the apostles were, we would remind them that this very circumstance is one of the most decided proofs of the divine origin of our religion. Were it immediately received, we might be apt to sus pect that there was nothing peculiar in it; and were the labours of modern missionaries, who do not pretend to miracles, as successful as those of the apostles, there could be no reason for bringing in the visible power of God in behalf of the first preachers of Christianity. The many remarkable failures which we have witnessed, are proofs that the rapid success of the apostles was chiefly owing to visible interpositions of divine power; and that the want of this extraordinary aid is the cause of the slow progress of Christianity in modern times. But these failures, instead of discouraging, should ani mate our efforts; as they afford a demonstration that God himself originally established that religion which he commanded his servants to carry to the remotest corners of the earth; and we need never despair of a blessing on a work which God him self has countenanced, and which he has hitherto distinguished by his special support against all the attacks of unbelievers.