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Different Views in regard to its Importance.

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phenomena of the world with their Sovereign Author; whatever awakens our zeal in the search for biblical truth, and impresses us with a sense of the congruity between the teachings of nature and those of grace; whatever constitutes the foundation on which the revealed system must be established, and makes us familiar with those cardinal truths which involve the principle of all others; whatever requires of us such investigations and rewards us with such results, must not only discipline every faculty of the intellect, but also enrich the heart; must exert an influence which, like the author of all science, is omnipresent, and will be everlasting.

We are well aware, that the views which we have now advanced with regard to the province, the scientific character, and the important uses of Natural Theology are not conformed to the standards of some theological parties. There are two conflicting tendencies among divines, in their speculations on this subject. One is a wish to honor the Bible by showing its harmony with the teachings of nature, and by proving, independently of Scriptural aid, the whole system of religious truth. The other is a desire to aggrandize the Bible by showing its necessity, and by proving that the unaided intellect can discover no important theological doctrine. Each of these extremes we regard as unmanly and unphilosophical. The Christian spirit requires us to seek for the truth, and forbids the wish, however politic, to press an argument beyond its natural extent, or, on the other hand, to resist any degree of its natural force. The Scriptures are disparaged, in attempting to prove by them either too much or too little. They are dishonored, whenever we feel obliged to confirm our faith in them by torturing our reason, and urging our way against the instructions of the volume of nature. If we imagine that we can establish every important truth of religion without the Scriptures, we derogate from their usefulness. If, on the other hand, we fancy that we are unable without their aid, to prove any fundamental religious truth, we undermine their foundation; we imply that we could not, without their teachings, feel our moral accountability; that we could not sin against a Deity, because we could not obtain a knowledge of one; that the Bible was not given, therefore, to men who had abused their knowledge, but to men who had received no instruction which they could abuse; that its messages are the result of divine goodness and compassion exercised toward us as miserable beings, but are not the result of divine grace exercised toward us as guilty

beings; for "grace is no more grace," whenever the recipients of it were previously without a known law, by the transgression of which, they could deserve punishment, and thereby could be fit subjects for receiving a gracious favor.

It is a very singular fact, that with all his alleged rationalism, Mr. Locke attempted to make the Bible responsible for certain articles of our belief, on the previous reception of which the authority of the Bible, and indeed of all truth, is dependent. He distinctly affirms, that "concerning the existence of finite spirits, as well as several other things, we must content ourselves with the evidence of faith?" we have ground from revelation and several other reasons, to believe with assurance that there are such creatures" as "finite spirits, and other spiritual beings, besides the eternal God." In order, then, to believe the doctrine that there are finite minds in existence, we must first believe the truth of the Bible. But the Bible presupposes the existence of such minds, and also the existence of an infinite spirit, which is certainly not less difficult of proof, than is the existence of a finite spirit. Now some have regarded it as highly honorable to revelation, that it can thus be made the source of all our knowledge respecting the real existence of human intelligences; but in reality such a supposition renders it impossible for us to entertain a rational faith in the Bible, or even to draw any inference from any premise; for every process of reasoning implies the existence of a mind which reasons; and if that which it presupposes is not, therefore, entitled to our belief, then that which it seems to prove cannot be considered as, therefore, true. All such attempts to

make Revelation the basis of those doctrines which are either perceived intuitively, or are learned by instantaneous deductions, result in ultimate skepticism, not merely with regard to the truths of reason, but also with regard to the very existence of a revelation. Mr. Locke himself has frequently rebuked these suicidal efforts to exalt the written word on the ruins of the system which God has revealed from heaven. "Reason," he says, "is natural revelation, whereby the eternal Father of light, and Fountain of all knowledge, communicates to mankind that portion of truth which he has laid within the reach of their natural faculties. Revelation is natural reason, enlarged by a new set of discoveries communicated by God immediately, which reason vouches the truth of, by the testimony and proofs it gives that they come

1 Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book IV. Ch. II. § 12.

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Opinions of Locke, Baxter, Berkeley and Bacon.

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from God. So that he who takes away reason to make way for revelation, puts out the light of both; and does much about the same as if he would persuade a man to put out his eyes, the better.to receive the remote light of an invisible star by a telescope.1 We deprecate all attempts to force the human mind forward or backward, in order to recommend the written word; for we believe that the highest honor of that word is imparted by the truth, unconstrained, undistorted. Its glory is to be the superstructure, under which lies so magnificent a foundation as the truths of Natural Theology. The more we venerate these truths, so much the greater will be our reverence for the system, which rises sublimely upon and over them. One proof of its divine origin is the fact, that it presupposes so many truths of human reason, and then goes far beyond all which reason can discover; and also that it condescends to remind us graciously of those doctrines which we did "not like to retain in our knowledge," and for our neglect of which it had been just for God to give us up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart. Richard Baxter had no suspicion that he was undervaluing the sacred volume when he said, "I do more than ever of late discover a necessity of a methodical procedure in maintaining the doctrine of Christianity, and of beginning at natural verities as presupposed fundamentally to supernatural truths." Lysicles is introduced in one of Berkeley's Dialogues as making the following acknowledgement: "The belief of God, virtue, a future state, and such fine notions are, as every one may see with half an eye, the very basis and corner stone of the Christian religion. Lay but this foundation for them to build on, and you shall soon see what superstructures our men of divinity will raise from it. The truth and importance of those points once admitted, a man need be no conjurer to prove, upon that principle, the excellency and usefulness of the Christian religion." A similar concession has been often made by infidel writers. They have seen, that the revealed system of truth is ingrafted upon the rational system, and have been far from supposing that the divines who extol the latter, are thereby induced to depreciate the former. There cannot be a more singular charge. No true friend of either system can wish to divorce it from its help-meet. What God has united, let not man separate. Let reason be regarded as the friend, the indissoluble ally of revelation. Wherefore, to conclude this part, let it be ob

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1 Essay concerning Human Understanding, Book IV. ch. 19. § 4. 2 Minute Philosopher, Dial. IV.

served," in the words of one who, notwithstanding his disesteem of the theory of final causes, could not yet deny the importance of our science, "let it be observed that there be two principal duties and services, besides ornament and illustration, which philosophy and human learning do perform to faith and religion. The one, because they are an effectual inducement to the exaltation of the glory of God; for as the Psalms and other Scriptures do often invite us to consider and magnify the great and wonderful works of God, so if we should rest only in the contemplation of the exterior of them, as they first offer themselves to our senses, we should do a like injury unto the majesty of God, as if we should judge or construe the store of some excellent jeweller, by that only which is set out toward the street in his shop. The other, because they minister a singular help and preservative against unbelief and error; for our Saviour saith, 'you err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God;' laying before us two books or volumes to study, if we will be secured from error; first the Scriptures revealing the will of God, and then the creatures expressing his power; whereof the latter is a key unto the former, not only opening our understanding to conceive the true sense of the Scriptures, by the general notions of reason and rules of speech, but chiefly opening our belief, in drawing us into a due meditation of the omnipotency of God, which is chiefly signed and engraven upon his works."

ARTICLE III.

LIFE, CHARACTER, WRITINGS, DOCTRINES AND INFLUENCE OF CONFUCIUS.

By Rev. Ira Tracy, formerly Missionary in China.

As that great nation, which has from the earliest ages, occupied the eastern part of Asia, is becoming more and more an object of admiration and interest to us, it is natural to inquire what are its peculiarities, and by what process did it come to possess them. Its greatness, recluseness and singularity, conspire to awaken our curiosity and attract our attention. This curiosity and inte

1 Lord Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Book 1.

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Our Obligations to the Chinese.

285 rest it is well to cherish. We should have little reason to laugh at the sons of Han for supposing that China is "all under heaven," if we, in the plentitude of our knowledge, should practically and habitually regard it as one of the less important nations of the earth. Our error would be more unpardonable, and of more injurious tendency, than theirs. It includes probably one third of the great family, of which we and they are, in common, members, and for the well-being of the whole of which we should

care.

To the welfare of this great family, the Chinese have contributed perhaps more largely than is generally supposed. If they had sent to western nations nothing but their tea, our debt to them would not have been small. How many the pleasant hours it has made around the tables of the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant. How different the social visits of our female ancestry, and of our own mothers and sisters too, from what they would have been, had the stupifying ale, or the maddening punch passed around their circles, instead of the mildly cheering beverage which China gave them.

Silk, which is acknowledged to be of Chinese invention, has had not a little to do in refining the manners and cherishing the industry and ingenuity of the western world.

The manufacture of white earthern ware, for the first knowledge of which we are indebted to the Chinese, has also done much to increase our comforts, and improve our sentiments as well as our habits. But for the Chinese, we should, for aught we know, have been using brown earthen to this day.

And not to dwell on many things of less importance that China has done for us, it is worthy of notice and remembrance, that the art of printing, gunpowder and the mariner's compass, which have wrought such general and beneficent changes in the condition of nations and the state of society here, made their appearance in Europe soon after Marco Polo had published his travels in China, where they were all in use.

The Chinese have more peculiarities than any other portion of the human family, except, perhaps, the Japanese, who are probably much like them. Savage and barbarous people cannot have so many, for they have less in which it is possible to be peculiar; and all the other civilized nations of the earth have exerted an assimilating influence upon each other; but the Chinese are a civilized people, whose character, condition and habits have not been affected, in any appreciable degree, by any other civilized people.