INTRODUCTION. 15
came the Bible, and what is the secret of its mysterious power.
The moral endowments of man's nature constitute his highest excellence. In these, more than in anything else, his likeness to God appears ; and on these the well-being of individuals and of society chiefly depends. To man's moral nature the Bible is addressed. It is not a work of science intended for the improvement of the intellect only, but it presents laws to regulate the heart and life, and motives to induce obedience to these laws. It claims that its laws are the highest standard of duty, and its motives the strongest that omnipotent love can present. These claims it becomes us, as moral beings, to examine: and, in a matter which so intimately concerns the highest excellence of our nature, we are false to ourselves, if we decline to make the investigation.
The immortality of the soul is a doctrine of natural religion ; but natural religion cannot teach us what enjoyments or sufferings await us in the future state. How vast must be the interests which it comprehends ! How infinitely must they transcend in value all that is most dearly prized, in this world of fleeting show! Yet all these interests lie in a region which no human eye has ever explored. What they are, and how to secure them, unaided reason cannot discover. We labor to look through the darkness which hides the future world from our view ; but we labor in vain, till we receive light from the Bible; for life and immor- tality are brought to light through the gospel. [1] This book describes an inheritance reserved in the heavenly land for all the followers of Christ, and conveys to them
- ↑ 2 Tim. i. 10.
2*
B
