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the universe, as seen in the light of revelation, is more beautiful and grand, animated by a purer, and loftier Spirit, and lighted up with a brighter, diviner radiance.

On the other hand, how has science shed light upon the Bible! With what new interest have modern discoveries invested such passages of Scripture, as the first chapter of Genesis, fortieth of Isaiah, and the eighth Psalm. The modern Astronomer, any enlightened Christian of these days, sees a beauty and sublimity beyond the conceptions, may I not say, I of David and Isaiah themselves in such descriptions as these: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of man, that thou visitest him." "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure. All nations before him are as nothing, and are counted to him less than nothing and vanity." All such descriptions, all the illustrations of the divine wisdom and goodness in the Bible, will be enhanced in beauty and sublimity and impressiveness in exact proportion to our increasing knowledge of the divine works. A perfect system of mental science, should such a system ever be discovered, would probably add to the clearness, with which we understand, and the power, with which we realize divine truths, no less than the discoveries in natural science have already done. So far then from being alarmed at the progressive influence of science upon religion, it is with emotions of delight too big for utterance, that I look down the tract of time and see with the eye of faith science and religion pouring a flood of light upon each other; seal after seal broken, and page after page of surpassing beauty and glory opened to view simultaneously in nature and revelation; doubts removed and mysteries explained; the elements conquered, and the passions subdued; man reclaimed, and God honored; and the world at length irradiated with the blended beams of a sanctified literature and an enlightened Christianity. To the men of that happy day, "heaven alone will indeed be but a reward for heaven enjoyed below." To behold the dawning of that day, and pray and labor for its approaching consummation, is a privilege, which prophets and kings of former times never enjoyed.

3. It is the duty and the interest of every man to fall in with the analogies-the harmonious arrangements-of nature, provi

dence and grace. Take an illustration of my meaning. It has been already observed, that nature, providence and grace in their development to man usually advance together, and that all are making simultaneous and gigantic strides in our own day. It becomes us then to notice the point towards which they converge, the end to which they are advancing. Do I mistake in saying, it is the conversion of the world? See in heathen lands walls of prejudice and caste and despotic power, high as heaven and hard as adamant, prostrated to make way for the Gospel; see at the same time in christian lands resources accumulated in the hands of benevolent men, associations formed on the broad scale and in the enlarged spirit of universal christian philanthrophy, means of conveyance improved, langauges mastered, rags converted into Bibles, sailors into missionaries, and the elements into winged messengers-all united to convey the Gospel to the ends of the earth; and even if you did not see the church awakened to an unprecedented interest in this specific object, could you doubt, that the era for the world's conversion is approaching? And is it safe for you to oppose, is it wise for you to neglect, are you willing to stand aloof from an enterprise, which nature, providence and grace are coöperating to achieve?

The same questions, or similar questions may be asked respecting most of the analogies and divine arrangements, which we have been considering.

Humility and faith, sustain the same important relation to the kingdom of nature, the kingdom of providence and the kingdom of grace-they are necessary and profitable for all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and also of that which is to come. Is it then consistent with your duty and interest to denounce the one as a mark of meanness, and the other as an arbitrary requirement?

To cooperate with God is the highest honor to which man can aspire-to resemble God, the highest perfection to which he can attain. Instead of finding fault then, with that arrangement which requires a union of divine and human agency in every important concern, we should humbly and gratefully acknowledge the condescension and love of God in permitting us to coöperate with him in his benevolent designs, and be equally ready to avail ourselves of his gracious aid, and render to him our poor but faithful and devoted service.

While we fall in so far as possible with his plan of operations,

we should endeavor to act ever on general principles, to be guided by general laws, and to render to them as uniform and complete obedience as if they were self-executing.

Though we have no right to do evil, that good may come, we may strive to resemble God, and rejoice that we live in a world, where we can resemble him, and coöperate with him, in bringing good out of evil, order out of confusion, and light out of darkness.

So long as we do our duty, we should not allow our faith to be shaken or our feelings to be greatly disturbed by the slow process of human amelioration on the one hand, or the sudden and violent revolutions that may occur on the other, but should be "steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord," following the leadings of Providence, promoting in God's wise manner, God's holy and benevolent end, the progress of ourselves and others in knowledge and virtue, the highest happiness of the creature and the greatest glory of the Creator.

To return from these particular illustrations to the general principle of this head. The laws of nature, providence and grace, are all laws of God, all alike obligatory, and all clothed with the same sacred authority. "He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all." He that wittingly violated one of the codes, arrays them all against him. But he who obeys them all, will find that they conspire most happily to aid each other, and to bestow a great reward. It is not enough to obey only the natural, or the providential, or the moral laws. Duty is fulfilled, happiness is secured, by universal and perfect obedience. He only is an educated man, who has been trained to the utmost of his ability to "discover, apply and obey all the laws, by which God governs the universe." He, who has been thus trained in the school of nature, the school of providence, and the school of grace, he is an educated man, educated for time and for eternity, educated for earth and educated for heaven. Whether he is engaged in temporal or spiritual concerns, whether he undertakes to reform men in this world, or prepare them for the next, he will not go against wind, tide and current, but he will do it in the way of divine appointment, in accordance with all the divine laws and with the harmonious coöperation of all the divine attributes.

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ARTICLE III.

THE THEOLOGY OF SOCRATES, FROM XENOPHON'S
MEMORABILIA.

Translated from Schweighauser's Opuscula Academica, by F. M. Hubbard, Teacher of a Classical School, Boston.

Θαυμάζω, ὅπως ποτὲ ἐπείσθησαν Αθηναῖοι, Σωκράτην περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς μὴ σωφρονεῖν, τὸν ἀσεβὲς μὲν οὐδέν ποτε περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς οὔτ ̓ εἰπόντα, οὔτε πράξαντα, τοιαῦτα δὲ καὶ λέγοντα καὶ πράττοντα περὶ θεῶν, δια τις ἂν καὶ λέγων καὶ πράττων εἴη τε καὶ νομίζοιτο εὐσεβέστατος. Xenophon Mem. I. 20.

Preface.

AMONG the most precious relics of ancient writers, which have escaped the tooth of time, that wears away all things, most justly deserve to be ranked Xenophon's Memorabilia of Socrates; because they are the production of one who was well called the Attic Bee, and yet more because from them alone, as from a pure fountain, we may learn the principles of the life and philosophy of the Prince of ancient wise men. For whatever, in this book, Xenophon has delivered to us of the morals and doctrines of his master, bears every mark of truth, and thoroughly answers to the idea of that dignity, which by all ages has been ascribed to Socrates. Every where are conspicuous an earnest desire of searching out and communicating truth, a strong purpose of deriving from all knowledge some advantages for the life of men, of turning others from error and leading them to piety, to pure morals and to true wisdom, by instructions and by example; in fine, an excellent method and simplicity in discussion, which found their way to the persuasion of every man, and by which, most of all, the Socratic philosophy commended itself to all antiquity; so that we cannot hesitate to render full confidence to Xenophon. But in consulting Plato, another of the sources for the Socratic doctrine, much caution is needed. For he usually ascribes his own opinion to Socrates, and very frequently differs from Xenophon, of whose faithful record there can be no doubt, or introduces Socrates disputing about subtile and knotty questions, from which, we know he carefully abstained, or indulges too

far his own poetic genius, and forsakes the peculiar simplicity of his teacher. Since therefore we cannot employ the testimony of Plato without danger of error, and our purpose to set forth the teachings of Socrates concerning the Deity, forbids us to engage in a critical discussion on the discrepancies of authors, we shall take Xenophon only for our guide, and collect and arrange what this defender of his master has stated in different places, and attempt by brief reasonings to make clear some points which he has touched but lightly. But that we may better show what advances Socrates made in the knowledge of the divine mind, we will present a rapid sketch of the state of theology in Greece before his time.

SECTION I.

AN OUTLINE OF THE STATE OF THEOLOGY AMONG THE GREEKS BEFORE SOCRATES.

I. The older Poets and Priests.

The religion, which the oldest priests and poets had taught, was yet in its vigor in the age of Socrates, and none are ignorant of what absurd fables it was composed, and how utterly unworthy of the Divine majesty. Having fashioned their system after the measure of human weakness, imputing to the gods, wars, seditions, adulteries, and every crime, and sanctioning every error of man by the example of a god and sometimes also wrapping up in impious fables their theories of the material world, and constructing cosmogonies not less monstrous than ingenious, they aided to degrade religion by the very sweetness of their poetry; and while they did much to refine and soften rude and fierce spirits, they also filled the life of men with superstition. For what can more engender contempt for a God, and enkindle every lust, than to hold, that God himself is

Cicero de Natura Deorum, I. 16. II. 24 seqq. III. 24 seq. The disputants whom Cicero introduces in these places, inveigh too severely against the poets; who yet were not wholly free from blame; for though they had no intention of making men superstitious, and desired rather to please than to instruct, they really taught error, and a false opinion of the Deity, to uncultivated men, and who could not well distinguish the false and the feigned from the true.

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