Excerpt from The Merely Amiable, Moral Man, No Christian: A Discourse

There has long been a warm dispute whether man in his fsl len state is wholly destitute of true religion. Some have advo cated the aflirmative, and many the negative of the question. The greatest objection, which hasi ever been urged gainst the doctrine of the entire moral depravity of man, before he under goes a spiritual renovation, has been taken from certain agrees ble principles, still remaining in human nature, such as sympathy, pity, parental and filial affections. Correct knowledge then of these principles is of high importance, as it has an immediate bearing upon our religious character, and the conditions of our salvation. The passage which has been read, naturally introdu; ces this subject for examination. The person to whom the text refers was a young man and a ruler, probably a member of the Jewish Sanhedrim, the highest court then of their nation. He was strictly moral, and in outward deportment obedient to the laws of God as it appears from his own testimony and from the Saviour's treatment of him. When a few of the precepts of the moral law as a specimen of the whole were named, the young ru ler replied, all these have I kept from my youth up; what luck I yet Had he lived in open violation of the divine law, it can hardly be supposed he would have dared to make this broad as sertion of perfect innocence before our Lord. Besides had he been immoral, and guilty of such falsehood in avowing his purity, our Saviour would have reproved him for Christ perfectly knew the characters of all men; and when the guilty attempted to cover their iniquities and deceive him, he always detectedthelr hypocricy, and administered faithful reproof. But on this occasion he did not even intimate that the young ruler was immoral or deceitful; and his profound silence on this head fair ly implies a virtual admittance of his innocence in external de portment. And not only was he moral, but he was amiable and serious. He came running, and kneeling before our Lord, of fectionately addressing him good master, what shall I do that l'mav inherit eternal life Should we now behold an amiable moral youth, with such seriousness and solicitude for his future wefllheitrg, presenting himself in this humble attitude before a re ligious teacher, asking this most interesting of all questions, what must be done to obtain future eternal happiness, how should we view him 3 Should we net look upon him and love him. We are informed that the Saviour of the world did look upon him and love him. Certainly he possessed lovely qualities of he never would have attracted the aflection of Him who was actuated by a perfectly enlightened and correct taste.

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