 of his
reasons, very few took any alarm at the innovation.
    »When we consider the great diversity of the human character, influenced as
it is by education, by opportunity, and by the physical and moral conditions of
the creature, my dear hearers,« he earnestly concluded, »it can excite no
surprise, that creeds, so very different in their tendencies, should grow out of
a religion, revealed, it is true, but whose revelations are obscured by the
lapse of ages, and whose doctrines were, after the fashion of the countries in
which they were first promulgated, frequently delivered in parables, and in a
language abounding in metaphors and loaded with figures. On points where the
learned have, in purity of heart, been compelled to differ, the unlettered will
necessarily be at variance. But, happily for us, my brethren, the fountain of
divine love flows from a source, too pure to admit of pollution in its course;
it extends, to those who drink of its vivifying waters, the peace of the
righteous, and life everlasting; it endures through all time, and it pervades
creation. If there be mystery in its workings, it is the mystery of a Divinity.
With a clear knowledge of the nature, the might, and majesty of God, there might
be conviction, but there could be no faith. If we are required to believe in
doctrines, that seem not in conformity with the deductions of human wisdom, let
us never forget, that such is the mandate of a wisdom that is infinite. It is
sufficient for us, that enough is developed to point our path aright, and to
direct our wandering steps to that portal, which shall open on the light of an
eternal day. Then, indeed, it may be humbly hoped, that the film, which has been
spread by the subtleties of earthly arguments, will be dissipated, by the
spiritual light of heaven; and that our hour of probation, by the aid of divine
grace, being once passed in triumph, will be followed by an eternity of
intelligence, and endless ages of fruition. All that is now obscure, shall
become plain to our expanded faculties; and what, to our present senses, may
seem irreconcilable to our limited notions of mercy, of justice, and of love,
shall stand, irradiated by the light of truth, confessedly the suggestions of
Omniscience, and the acts of an All-powerful Benevolence.
    What a lesson of humility, my brethren, might not each of us obtain, from a
review of his infant hours, and the recollection
