27 / 652
SERM.
I.]
NATURAL
RELIGION,
ITS
USES AND
DEFECTS.
17
and
his
salvation.. Let
us say
within ourselves, and
why
was
not
I
born a poor
ignorant
African,
a wild
Indian,
ignorant
of
God,' and
averse to seek
after
him,
and
without
any
person
near
me
to
give me
one beam
of
light,
and
point out
my
way
to
happiness
?
Why
was
not
I
left
merely to
the dumb and silent
lectures of
the
heavens,
and the
earth
and
sea,
or the instruction
of
the
trees,
and plants and beasts
of
the
earth,
to
teach
me
the
knowledge
of
him
that
made
me? Who
am I,
that
I
should
be
brought
into being
in
the
midst
of
sun- beams,
and not
in
a
Tegion
of thick darkness
under
the shadow
of
death? Everlasting
glory
be
given to
distinguishing
grace.
O
how
should
we
value the bible
as
our
highest
trea-
sure,
which gives
.us
such
blessed
discoveries
of
God,
and
his
wisdom
and
power,
and
his
mercy
in
Christ;
which
infinitely exceeds
all the
doubtful twilight of na-
ture, and our
own
powers
of
reasoning. O
may
the
blessed bible
lie
next
our heart,' and
be
the
companion
of our
bosoms
!
It
is
this lays a
sure
foundation
for
our
recovery from all
our
guilt, and ruin
and wretchedness.
You
that
have
any
concern for
your eternal
interests,
love
the
bible, walk
by
the rules
of
it,
and
live
upon
its
promised grace
;
and
I
dare
pronounce,
in
the name
of
God
and
his Son,
that
you
shall
be
for ever
happy.
Reflection
IV. Pity
and pray for
the
heathen
world,
the
dark corners
of
the
earth,
the benighted nations,
where
the Sun
of Righteousness never
rose,
and
where
they can
but
feel
after God through
the mists
of igno-
rance and error.
Let
us
remember
those
ancient
times
when
our forefathers
in
this nation
were led away
into
the
same
errors and
gross
idolatries, and exercise
our
compassion toward
those
who
are
still
left
under
the
same darkness. Now
and
then,
O christians,
send
a
pathetic
sigh
over
the nations, lift
up
one
compassionate
groan
to
heaven for them, and
say,
"
When
shall
the
day
come,
O Lord,
that
the
heathens
shall become thy
worshippers, and Assyria
and
Ethiopia thy
people?
When
wilt thou reveal
thyself
to
the
poor
African idolaters,
and
the
savage
tribes
of
America,
that
knòw
not God
?
When
shall the
ends
of
the
earth
learn
to know thee,
and
re-
,
nice in
Jesus
thy
Son
the Saviour
?
When
shall
all
nations, people
and
languages, begin
their
songs
of
"
Sal
-
VOL.
III.
C