and necessity of the Moral Law

41 VII. The development of the idea of holiness, and its transfer to Jehovah as an attribute 45 VIII. The origin of the ideas of justice and mercy, and their transfer to the character of Jehovah 53 IX. The transition from the material system, by which religious ideas were conveyed through the senses, to the spiritual system, in which abstract ideas were conveyed by words and parables 61 X. The medium of conveying to men perfect instruction in doctrine and duty 66 XI. Some of the peculiar proofs of the Messiahship of Christ 70 XII. The condition in life which it was necessary the Messiah should assume in order to benefit the human family in the greatest degree, by his example and instructions 75 XIII. The essential principles which must, according to the nature of things, lie at the foundation of the instruction of Christ 81 XIV. Faith, the exercise through which truth reaches and affects the soul 82 XV. The manifestations of God which would be necessary, under the new and spiritual dispensation, to produce in the soul of man affectionate obedience 89 XVI. The influence of faith in Christ upon the moral disposition and moral powers of the soul 117 XVII. The design and the importance of the means of grace—prayer—praise—preaching 133 XVIII. The agency of God in carrying on the work of redemption, and the manner in which that agency is exerted 146 XIX. The practical effects of the system as exemplified in individual cases 150

PHILOSOPHY
OF
THE PLAN OF SALVATION.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

MAN WILL WORSHIP—HE WILL BECOME ASSIMILATED TO THE CHARACTER OF THE OBJECT THAT HE WORSHIPS—CHARACTER OF HEATHEN DEITIES DEFECTIVE AND UNHOLY—FROM THIS CORRUPTING WORSHIP MAN HAS NO POWER TO EXTRICATE HIMSELF.

There are three facts, each of them fully developed in the experience of the human family, a consideration of which will prepare the mind for the investigation which follows. When considered in their relation to each other, and in their bearing upon the moral interests of mankind, they will be seen to be of exceeding importance. We will adduce these facts, in connection with the statements and principles upon which they rest, and show how vital are the interests which depend upon them.

THE FIRST FACT STATED.

There is in the nature of man, or in the circumstances in which he is conditioned, something which leads him to recognise and worship a superior being. What that something is, is not important in our present inquiry:—whether it be a constitutional instinct inwrought by the Maker—whether it be a deduction of universal reason, inferring a first cause from the things that are made—whether it be the effect of tradition, descending from the first worshippers, through all the tribes of the human family—whether any or all of these be the cause, the fact is the same—Man is a religious being: HE WILL WORSHIP.

In view of this propension of human nature, philosophers, in seeking a generic appellation for man, have denominated him a “religious animal.” The characteristic is true of him in whatever part of the world he may be found, and in whatever condition; and it has been true of him in all ages of which we have any record, either fabulous or authentic.

Navigators have, in a few instances, reported that isolated tribes of men, whom they visited, recognised the existence of no superior being: subsequent researches, however, have generally corrected the error; and, in all cases, when it has been supposed that a tribe of men was found believing in no god, the fact has been stated as an evidence of their degradation below the mass of their species, and of their approximation to the confines of brute nature. Of the whole family of man, existing in all ages, and scattered over the four quarters of the globe, and in the isles of the sea, there is scarcely one well-authenticated exception to the fact, that, moved by an impulse of nature, or the force of circumstances, man worships something which he believes to be endowed with the attributes of a superior being.

THE SECOND FACT STATED.

The second fact, connected as it is, by the nature of things, with the preceding, assumes the highest degree of importance. It may be stated in the following terms:—Man, by worshipping, becomes assimilated to the moral character of the object which he worships. This is an invariable principle, operating with the certainty of cause and effect. The worshipper looks upon the character of