The Evidences of Christianity

a subjection of heart to the truth of Christ, that they may themselves be witnesses of the inward blessing which it conveys. Let them attend only seriously to these evidences; and the divine doctrine will work its own way, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, in their hearts; and they shall receive the same holy influences as ourselves, and be partakers of the same exalted hope of eternal glory."

This, we may imagine, would be the sort of prompt reply of one who had known the apostles in the flesh, had witnessed their miracles, had heard their doctrines, had been a partaker of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit; and had thus seen with his own eyes the external evidences, which we receive now through the medium of authentic history.

In the second and third centuries, the answer would somewhat vary, as the apostles themselves were no longer in person among their converts, but had left the deposit of their doctrine in the sacred gospels and epistles. The appeal, therefore, would be to these writings for external proofs of the religion; but the holy effects of it on the heart and character would still be the main motive in the breast of the Christian, and would lead him to speak the same decisive language as those in the preceding century.

We cherish the hope of a resurrection to eternal life," would the persecuted Christian converts of the Roman empire in the third age, probably say, "because the promise of it is made to us in those books which were received by our immediate forefathers from the hands of the apostles, and which have ever been accounted sacred amongst us. The originals themselves are in the archives of our several churches. pies of them are sent out every where. Some of our more aged brethren still remember what doctrine the blessed Polycarp,2 taught them from the lips of the beloved disciple St. John, who survived so long the other apostles. The facts on which Christianity rests are admitted by our adversaries. But what is the most satisfactory evidence of our religion to ourselves, is that our God and Saviour attests the truth of it by kindling in our hearts the same love to Christ, the same joy of pardon, the same separation from the vices and idolatries of the world, the same patience under persecution, the same delight in obedience, which sealed the same doctrine in the first age. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus

2 Bishop of Smyrna; he suffered martyrdom A.D. 167 or 8.

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The success of the gospel, resting on the miracles, proves that the doctrine was from God

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