all rest on the supposition, that things are as they seem to be, and will continue to manifest the same attributes and results.

Scepticism is a state of mind in which these constitutional grounds of certainty fail to produce confidence. Sometimes the evidence does not satisfy the mind, in respect to its sufficiency; and in other cases, where the argument seems to be intellectually conclusive, it fails to produce any corresponding sense of the reality and certainty of the things proved. Sometimes, in cases of mental alienation, confidence is suspended, and men doubt their own being, or personal identity. When it respects intuition, demonstration loses its power. When the senses are distrusted, experimental knowledge fails. Instances are not uncommon, in which persons have supposed themselves, or their friends, to have become some other person; and I have just read of a gentleman who, for two years past, has refused to leave his dwelling, from the full persuasion that he is a tea-pot, and should endanger his earthen vessel by an unrestrained intercourse with external objects.

It is the field of moral government, however, and accountability, over which the mist of darkness is apt especially to gather, and doubts to settle down. For here the temptation to doubt, is greatly enhanced by sinful character and its liabilities; and the facilities of perversion and distrust, from the nature of the evidence, are proportionably multiplied.

It is scepticism in relation to the being and gov

ernment of God, and our relations to it as accountable subjects, as disclosed in the Bible, which will constitute the subject of this lecture.

I employ the term Scepticism in preference to the terms Atheism, Infidelity, and Heresy, because these are more invidious, and because scepticism marks more accurately the state of this entire class of minds. In fact, there are few who positively disbelieve the being of God, or the inspiration of the Bible. To doubt, is commonly the extent of human attainment, in throwing off reluctant responsibility to the government of God. The Atheist does not know that there is no God. He merely does not believe it, and doubts. The Deist does not disbelieve the inspiration of the Bible. He is merely not convinced that it is true, and doubts. Those who reject the received doctrines of the Bible, do not fully disbelieve them. They fear, often, that they are true,-hope earnestly that they are not, and doubt.

The present is eminently an age of scepticism throughout the world. Pagans are becoming scep tical in respect to their ancient systems,-Mahometans are beginning to distrust their ancient Prophet, and Papists to distrust the infallibility of His Holiness, and the Church. And Protestants, instead of taking things upon trust, are with increased determination, appealing from the decisions of men; and even sceptics themselves, are beginning to doubt, whether in their sceptical wanderings, they have not got out of the wy and may not be in danger of being lost.

Whenever an epidemic sweeps over the world, we take it for granted that there is some universal cause; and on the same principles, when we witness the wide-spread aberration of mind, on the subject of evidence, we conclude that there are some causes of corresponding extent and power, which produce the result.

It will be the object of this lecture to develope some of the causes of this mental phenomenon, as respects the being of God, the inspiration of the Bible, and the exposition of some of its doctrines.

Undoubtedly, the generic cause without which all others would be powerless, is to be sought in the alienation of man from God, and his deep aversion to the responsibilities of his perfect and eternal government. It might not at first be supposed, that a perfect government, consulting wisely and benevolently, the highest good of every subject, could be the subject of aversion; and to loyal minds, it would not be; but to the disloyal, its very perfection and stability are its terrific attributes. An attempt to execute strictly the laws of the land, on all points, would create a revolution-not because the laws are not good, but because men are evil. And it is because God is good, and men are evil, that they are averse to responsibility, and seek to alleviate their fears by the interposition of uncertainty and doubt. They are willingly negligent of the acquisition of evidence, and slow of heart to believe what is proved, and dexterous, by inattention, to throw the testimony into a quick oblivion, and perB

petuate around them a sceptical and unrealizing state of mind.

The great perversion of christianity during the dark ages, by the downfall of the Roman empire, the incursion of the northern barbarians, and the extinction of civil and religious liberty, has been, from age to age, a source of prejudice against christianity, and a fruitful cause of declamation and scepticism.

During the midnight which settled down upon the world, by the extinction of science and religion, the feudal system arose, which lies at the foundation of that inequality of rank and property which characterizes and curses modern Europe. To perpetuate this unjust monopoly, the state gave its protection to the church, and the church gave its terrific power to the state, until at length the latter became the ascendant, and ruled the world with a rod of iron. Under this ecclesiastical despotism, the nations of the civilized world groaned, travailed in pain a thousand years. During this long night, liberty, and virtue, and vigorous enterprise slept in chains, and were punished as felons, while no debasement, or impurity, or fraud, or cruelty, which human ingenuity could invent, or human power execute, was unpractised. These abominations of ecclesiastical despotism, have brought upon christianity an odium, and surrounded the system with a jealousy, which the Protestant Reformation, and the restoration of civil and religious liberty, have not been able to wipe away. And to this day, the disciples of those who achieved this illustrious eman

cipation, are involved in the odium against christianity, created by the priesthood, whose horrid despotism their great predecessors were employed to overthrow.

The anti-christian conspiracy, the long-delayed but terrific result of perverted christianity, has given a new impulse to the cause of scepticism.

The revival of letters at the reformation, which emancipated half Europe, produced so much light in countries where ecclesiastical dominion still maintained its empire, as rendered the darkness visible and intolerable, and produced, first, Deism, and at length Atheism, and the French Revolution. For more than half a century, the conspirators attempted, by argument and ridicule, to emancipate the people from the power of superstition and the priesthood, and the prostituted energies of civil government, until they came to the conclusion, that while irresponsible men were permitted to wield the sanctions of Christianity, there could be no liberty; and that there was no way to emancipate the nation, but to obliterate all belief in the being of God and the Bible, and to sweep away every vestige of Christianity. And this they systematically attempted, and most thoroughly accomplished, by falsehood, by ridicule, and by argument, until aided by the corruptions of the reigning system, they succeeded in obliterating from the mind of a nation, all traces of belief in the being of God, and a future state. The explosion was terrific. It did, indeed, for a time, suspend the entire action of the divine government, and overturned thrones and