It is common enough to hear it said by professed friends of Christianity, that it is congenial to hu man nature; and so it is when once the heart adopts its precepts; its yoke is then felt to be easy and its burden light. But there must be many a struggle and many a sacrifice before this surrender of the heart is made; and whilst we would recommend the gospel as in the highest degree calculated to promote the happiness of man, we would wish it, at the same time, to be remembered, that it is only accommodated to our real wants, but not to our misjudging wishes; that it promotes our real dig nity, whilst it lays prostrate in the dust our imagi nary consequence; and that it advances our best interests fvr time and for eternity, by opposing many of our decided inclinations.
It is a proof, then, that the gospel is heavenly, when we see it so obstinately resisted by the sinful feelings of men; and in every instance where it has ultimately been rejected, the reason may be found in some depraved affection, or some sinful bias of the human heart. It is the intimate and indissolu ble union between the doctrines and the practical precepts of the gospel—the inseparable connexion between faith and holiness, that appears so formi dable to the indolence and inveterate prejudices of men. It is not the abstract creed of Christianity that gives offence. Men are by no means nice as to their creed; there is no absurdity too monstrous for them to swallow; and Christianity, when de graded to the rank of a superstition, and disjoined from its influence on life and morals, is as popular as any other, and will as readily obtain proselytes. This was proved by the success of the Romish missionaries, one of whom tells us that his arms were completely tired with baptizing the immense multitudes of heathens who flocked to conversion in one day. if the gospel were satisfied with such converts, we do not believe there would be any diffi culty of christianizing in a short time the whole world. For no religion can come forward with such pretensions as Christianity; and were it not so intimately connected with the heart and the con duct, it would soon become the dominant religion throughout the world.
It is not the fault of Christianity, then, that it is not more readily and more extensively received. It has a work to accomplish OD the mind of every in dividual, which is in direct opposition to confirm ed habits and preconceived opinions; and the trans formation of character which it effects cannot be brought about without resistance on the part of our natural feelings. One great design of the gospel is to ‘, bring the whole man into subjection to the obedience of Christ," that is, to emancipate the mind from the dominion of ignorance, prejudice, and sin, and to substitute in its place the sovereign ty of reason, knowledge, and virtue, as embodied in the law of God. Who can doubt that such a change is desirable, and that it should be the object of a divine religion to attempt to accomplish it? And who is so ignorant of human nature as to sup pose that this change can be effected without a struggle? The gospel, then, bears in its face one distinct feature of divinity, in being opposed to all the sinful, and degrading, and mischief-working. propensities of human nature.
It will probably be alleged that, according to this reasoning, there arc insuperable obstacles to the general reception of the gospel, in the very princi ples of human nature. To this we would answer,
that the observations which have been made apply chiefly to ripened sinners, to those whose natural propensities have not been checked by early culture, and who have been allowed to grow up in anti christian habits and feelings. Even with regard to these, though their conversion be difficult, it is not impossible. They are in the situation in which all heathen nations have been when the gospel was first announced to them, and their prejudices, however strong, are not invincible. But we can easily con ceive a situation in which these unfavourable symp toms may, in a great measure, disappear ; and that situation will occur, when Christian discipline, ju dicious education, and good example, are all brought to operate on the youthful mind. and arc employed to train it from the very first evolution of its feelings, to Christian habits and sound knowledge. The visi ble opposition to the gospel will then vanish, because the principles on Which that opposition is founded, have been crushed before they acquired ungoverna ble strength, and because the mind has been made familiar with the enlightened doctrines and useful tendency of Christianity.
The internal evidence for the divine origin of Christianity which has hitherto been adduced, is founded on the wisdom and utility of its instruc tions as connected with the history and the hopes of man. And, in fact, every argument produced to show the reasonableness of any of the doctrines of Christianity, is to be considered in the light of an internal evidence in its behalf. But there is an extensive class of arguments of this description arising neither from the doctrines nor from the pre cepts of Christianity, but from circumstances con nected with its history. The low and suffering condition of Christ, for instance, is in perfect con sistency with what is stated to he the great end of his mission, viz. to lay down his life a ransom for many. Had he appeared in the splendour of regal dignity, and maintained throughout a state corres ponding to it, the great consummation of his death could not have happened. The same circumstances would have disqualified him for a teacher, and for an example to suffering mortals. As nothing is of so much consequence to us as to be taught to en dure the ills of life with patience, fortitude, and hope, so we find that he who is set forth as the hope of Israel, and of all nations, was placed in ex actly such circumstances as best qualified him for giving us useful lessons of faith, fortitude, and re signation. Had he lived respected, and died re nowned, he could not have shown us the efficacy of Christian faith, in supporting the heart amidst the severest trials, and in realizing to us the hope of a better world. His doctrine was, "fear not them who can kill the body;" or in other words, hold fast integrity and a good conscience, though at the expense of life itself: and he illustrated the precept by his example. No degree of suffering could make him swerve from his purpose, or relinquish his feelings of benevolence and love to the human race. Since, then, man is born to sorrow, is it not a proof of wisdom and goodness on the part of God that " the Captain of our salvation was made per fect through suffering?" It was this condition alone that perfected him as a teacher, as an exam ple, and as a propitiation.