nicious evils, 560; and is the spontaneous dictate of the
humble and teachable, 363.
Interests, the immense, at stake, carries the obligations of
Christianity to an inconceivable height, ii. 387.
Interpretation, the sound, of Scripture, ii. 330; springs directly
from a true faith, which implies an honest application of our
natural understanding to the Scriptures, 331; includes a
willingness to submit our understanding and heart to all the
truths which God is pleased to reveal, 332; puts us into
possession of many of the blessings of which the Scriptures
treat, 333; leads the Christian to seek the assistance of
God's Holy Spirit, 335; guards him against the danger of
hazardous interpretations, or a false use of difficult passages,
335; disposes him to resort to all necessary helps, 336;
common sense, and the ordinary laws of human language,
suggest that the simplest sense is, generally, the true one,
337; the occasion of the books being written should be con-
sulted, 339; brief passages explained by those which are
more full, 340; figurative and poetical parts interpreted by
their appropriate laws, 341; we should suspend our judg-
ment where a passage is, after all, not obvious, 343; the
scope and analogy of truth will either solve all material
difficulties, or render them practically useful, 344. The
inspiration which belongs to the Bible, requires us, in in-
terpreting its contents, to rise to the sublimity of the Scrip-
ture mysteries, 345; to give to the last portion of Revela-
tion that weight which it may justly claim, 346; to discover
the lustre of what is permanent and uniform, amidst all that
is temporary, local, and extraordinary, 347; to distinguish
between vital Christianity and what is merely nominal ad-
herence to its external ordinances, 349; to derive from
Scripture the use, place, and bearings of truth, as well as
the truth itself, 350; not to force the simple meaning of
Scripture, either to express or exclude mysteries, according
to our turn of mind, 352; and not to reduce divine truths
to a human system, 354. The diversity of interpretations
has been greatly exaggerated, 356; is not chargeable on
Christianity, 357; falls chiefly on subordinate matters, 358;
the evils may be avoided in practice, 358; the universal
church has presented but one front of truth to mankind, 358.
Vital Christianity in the heart can alone interpret aright,
359.
Josephus, testimony of, to the facts of Christianity, i. 127.
Irenæus' testimony to the inspiration of the New Testament,
i. 340.
Ishmael, the present state of the descendants of, agrees with
the prophecy concerning them, i. 242.
Julian, the apostate, allows the facts of Christianity, and ad-
mits the gospels as the works of the apostles, i. 98.
Justification by faith only is the leading truth of the whole
gospel, ii. 37, 50.
Justin Martyr, testimony of, to the authenticity of the books of
the New Testament, i. 95; to the inspiration, 340.
Koran of Mahomet condemned by its contents, i. 80.
Lardner, Dr., quotation from, as to the number of quotations
from Scripture in the works of Irenæus, i. 92.
Latimer's last words, ii. 286.
Lectures, order of, i. 18.
Life, the Christian's holy, best defence of Christianity, i. 21.
Love of Christ constrains, ii. 74.
Love of Christians to the Bible, attested by Pamphilus, i. 97;
Valens, 97; Constantine, 98; has furnished us with the
proofs of its authenticity, 116. Exhortation to the duty, 117.
Mahometanism, propagation of, i. 276.
Mahomet does not venture to question the facts of Christianity;
i. 132; apostacy of, 246.
Man, every, lies under an obligation to obey the divine Reve-
lation. See Obligation.
Man's guilt and condemnation as a transgressor against God,
Manner in which the evangelists give the character of our
Lord, ii. 113.
Manuscripts of the New Testament, the number and antiquity
of, i. 101.
Medals, by their inscriptions, attest the credibility of the gos-
pel history, i. 133.
Meditations supposed to be made by one who has made a trial
of the blessings of Christianity, ii. 208.
Meekness and lowliness of spirit of our Lord, ii. 103.
Men of the finest talents convinced by the Christian history,
i. 132, 275.
Ministers of Christ's Church, address to, ii. 425; in danger of
mistaking talents for the operations of grace, 426; need ex-
pansive charity, 427; diligence and compassion in their
pastoral duties, 428; and should pay attention to the sub-
ject of evidences, 429.
Miracle, definition of a, i. 152. The wonderful actions as-
cribed to our Saviour and his apostles, and called miracles,
really took place, 154. In every miracle, there are two
distinct and palpable facts, 153; these are attested by the
credibility of the books, 155; the converts of the first century
believed them, 156; monuments were set up in memory of
them, and continue to the present day, 157; the account
itself, as recorded in our books, establishes them, 159. Ob-
jections against the credibility of miracles answered, 160.
The wonderful actions were plain and palpable miracles,
163; they were done by Christ and his apostles, as divine
acts, 164; before the Jewish nation, 165; consisted of nu-
merous and various suspensions of the course of nature, 165;
produced permanent effects, 167; and were wrought for a
high and holy end, 168. The miracles of which our Lord
was the subject, 167. Our Saviour and the apostles ap-
pealed to them in proof of their mission, 168; they had
been predicted as the express evidence of Messiah, 169;
they form an appropriate attestation to a divine religion,
170; they were performed by those who had all other signs
of a divine mission, 170; the inference from them to the
truth of Christianity is conclusive, 171; they are incorpo-
rated with the instructions of Christianity, 172; confirmed
by the success of the gospel, 173. The religion of the
Bible, the sole religion, set up and established by miracles,
174.
Missions, success of Christian, i. 277.
Moral government of God, the end of, promoted by the Chris-
tian doctrines, ii. 49.
Morals, Christian, level to the comprehension of man, ii. 59;
admired by unbelievers, 59. Their extent and purity: they
embrace all that is really good in the ethics of heathen sages,
61; form a complete code, 61; erect the only true standard
of duty to God and man, 62; omit many false virtues, and
insist on many real ones, 62; chiefly on the mild and retir-
ing, 63; they require also an abstinence from the proximate
causes of evil, 63; regard all forms of devotion as means
to a higher end, 64; aid each other, 64; and go to form a
particular sort of character, 65. In order to produce these,
Christianity begins with the heart of man, 66; aims at the
formation of habits, 66; directs men to seek the highest
attainments, whilst she encourages the weakest efforts, 67;
keeps aloof from secular policy, 68; delivers her code in
decisive prohibitions, 68; sets forth strong and affecting
examples, 70; and refers men to the all-seeing eye of God,
71. They are connected with every part of Revelation, and
especially with its peculiar doctrines, 71; they have the
will of God as the rule, and the eternal judgment as their
ultimate sanction, 77; they are such as makes it impossible
that Christianity should be an imposture, 81.
Muratovi, a remarkable fragment discovered by, in 1740, i. 110.
Mysteries of man's state in this world unfolded in the Christian
Revelation, ii. 17.
Nations, Christianity promotes the happiness of, ii. 130. 139.
Necessities of man met by the Christian doctrines, ii. 48.
Nineveh, destruction of, i. 239.
Novelty and sublimity of our Saviour's deportment, and under-
taking surprising, ii. 110.
Obedience indispensable in a Christian student, i. 25.
Oberlin, the last hours of Pastor, ii. 287.
Objections against miracles answered; the fallibility of human
testimony, i. 160; miracles are contrary to experience, 161;
the transmission of remote facts is weakened by the lapse
of time, 162. Against the Christian religion, ii. 215; the
best method of treating, 215; are inadmissible, being either
speculative opinions, and thus wrong in kind, 220; or against
the matter of Revelation, and thus wrong in object, 222;
contradictory the one to the other, 225; frivolous in them-
selves, 231; and manifestly spring from the pride, 231;
and ignorance of the human mind, 232; only trials of our
sincerity and submission of heart to God, and confirm, rather
than weaken, the Christian evidences, 243. They fix them-
selves in unfurnished and vain minds, 248; prepared by
vicious indulgences, 249; the departure of the Spirit of
God, 249; and the holding slightly by Christianity, 250.
They are the stratagems of Satan, 251; and the most deadly
product of the corrupt and proud reason of a fallen creature,
252. Objections to the Christian Revelation, founded on
the diversity of interpretations, refuted, 356.
Obligation to obey the divine Revelation universal, ii. 363.
The necessity of enforcing this, a proof of the corruption of
man, 364. To love and obey God antecedent to Revela-
tion, 365. Men not left to accept or reject Christianity at
their option, 367. Christianity so excellent in itself, that
the slightest external evidence would be sufficient to oblige
men to obey it, 369. Increased by the simplicity, variety,
independence, and force of the evidences, 373. Unspeak-
ably augmented by the advantages which each individual
has enjoyed, 381; the being not born in a heathen land,
381; the events of life ordered by a gracious Providence,
382; secret motions of the blessed Spirit vouchsafed, 382;
advice, example, and prayers of ministers and friends, 383.
The momentous discoveries made, and the immense interests
at stake carry it to an inconceivable height, 385; Christi-
anity makes new discoveries, 385; the immense love of
God in the redemption of Jesus Christ, 386; the day of
judgment, 387; the heavenly prize, 388; the awful contrast,
389; eternity, what is it? 390; and what protection against
it? 391.
Obstacles to the rapid diffusion of Christianity surmounted,
i. 266; the first teachers were feeble and unknown, 266; the
time of promulgation of Christianity inauspicious, 269; and
also the place, 269; these were both increased by the fiercest
persecution, 272.
Origen's testimony to the inspiration of the Scriptures, i, 339.
Paine, Thomas, the life and conduct of, ii. 261; his last mo-
ments, 284.
Pamphilus' testimony of the love of Christians to the holy books,
Pascal's demeanour on his death-bed, ii. 282.
Paul's, St., qualifications correspond with the offices he had
to fulfil, i. 327.
Perpetuity of Christianity, a proof of its divine authority, i. 280.
Persecution of the first Christians, i. 272.
Piety and devotion of Jesus Christ, ii. 100.
Pliny's testimony to facts of the gospel, i. 125; to the propa-
gation of Christianity, 262.
Polycarp, testimony of, to the authenticity of books of New
Testament, i. 95.
Pontius Pilate, testimony of, to the death and resurrection of
Christ, i. 125.
Porphyry, the Heathen, admits the authenticity of the Chris-
tian books, i. 98.
|