recovery. Sensations of wonder and gratitude may be excited in the patient himself, and in the friends who are witnesses to his cure; of which they would have had no experience, but for the evil of his disease, and the unexpected blessing of its removal. If, on such an occasion as this, any one were to dwell on the difficulties of the case, the symp toms of the distemper, the skill displayed in the cure; and all with a view to the honour of the physician; the patient would be a strange man, if he should be offended, and mistake all this for a reflection upon himself, and his late infirmity: he would join with delight in recounting the wonders of his deliverance, and in magnifying the skill by which it had been brought to pass. Yet such is the absurdity of human wisdom, that the philosophy of the present day is offended with an heathen, if he speaks truth like a Christian. Pliny, the natural historian, observes, that the weakness and misery of man's nature is such that it seems a sin to be born. A Christian editor takes it as an affront upon him self; self; and puts the following note upon it Hac humanæ naturæ convicia a vera philosophia maximè abhorrent. Every Christian, whose eyes are really open ed, may apply what I have said to himself.God is the PHYSICIAN; his power and goodness are magnified in healing the infirmitles of our nature. If we feel ourselves offended with the consideration of this, that offence is one of the worst symptoms of our disease. The weakness of human reason, says the great Pascal, appears more in those who are insensible of it, than in such as know and confess it. We have no honour to maintain against our Creator; and his honour may well consist with our abasement. The apostle was convinced of this, when he said-Most gladly will I glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. But such doctrine as this never did, nor ever will, agree with human pride, which pleases itself with other sentiments; how wisely and justly it will soon appear from what follows. Yet, after all that can be said, the Pharisees R 4 risees will still ask, with a sneer upon the goodness of God, are we blind? Blessed and happy is he who can reply against them-One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. AN AN ESSAY ON MAN. CHAPTER I. Of Man under Sin. DURING the state of man's innocence, an harmony was established between the body and the spirit. The ruling principle preserved its superiority, and the inferior was under due regulation: the appetites were subordinate to the will; sense was governed by reason; the body was subject to the spirit; and all were in obedience to God. Peace was the immediate fruit of this subjection; and immortality would have been its reward. But it is the uniform doctrine doctrine of the Scripture, that since the en trance of sin, human nature is become degenerate; and that under this degeneracy, sense overcomes reason, the appetites corrupt the will, and the will is so inclined to evil, that it cannot be turned toward God, till it is called and moved thereto by his grace. When the Scripture speaks of man in this state, it represents him as alienated from God, darkened in his understanding, averse to righteousness, in captivity and bondage to sin, and subject to wrath and condemnation. The reason and equity of all this I am not enquiring into: I speak only of the fact; and it will appear from the Scripture, compared with the natural state of man, that the fact is as it is here represented. It is not necessary that we should take a large compass in order to shew this: the Apostle St. Paul, who insists frequently and earnestly. upon this subject, hath saved us the trouble, by collecting into one view the most remarkable passages in the Old Testament relating to the depravity of the human character. In his Epistle to the Romans, he begins with describing the deplorable corruption of the Gentiles under their apostasy. And as the Jew was apt to value himself upon comparison with them, the Apostle checks his va |