holy religion of the gospel is true. They know that when they fear God and live in prayer and are willing to be obedient to his will, all is easy in the Bible. Objections are then without force. The direct proofs of a divine origin. shine forth from every doctrine and precept, like the sun in the firmament.

It is to confirm you in these good impressions; it is to set before you the incomparable strength of the Christian evidences; it is to shield you against the darts of the spiritual adversary; it is to lead you on to that fixed love and obedience to your Saviour which no temptations can materially disturb, that we now address you. Yield, then, amiable and youthful hearers, just entering upon life, to the full force of your Christian calling. Follow the impulse of conscience; listen to the small still voice of mercy in the gospel. Whether you can enter fully into the historical evidences of the Christian religion or not, is of less moment. There are proofs of Christianity level to the unlearned and ordinary enquirer, as well as to the literary and scientific. You can understand, at least, that the external evidences are far stronger than men deem satisfactory every day in the concerns of life. You can understand that the agreement of all pious and learned men in opinion, as to the force and validity

N N

But why do I remind you of the prophecies in their scheme and plan, when I see their accomplishment surrounding me with wonder-when the person of the Messiah unites a thousand most extraordinary indications of prescience-when Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles, and the Jews dispersed before our eyes, are a standing miracle-when the desolations of Nineveh and Tyre and Babylon remain to the present day-when the Arabs and Egyptians are witnesses of the prophetic inspiration-when the sketch of the division of empires in the wonderful predictions of Noah, and the mystic image of Nebuchadnezzar, is being filled up in every age-when the great apostacy of the western church strikes the heart with dismay in one view, and yet relieves it in another from the oppression, which such corruptions, if not marked out in the word of prophecy, would have produced? And whither do not the unaccomplished parts of the great scheme lead the labouring faith of the Christian? 13

But, my brethren, I check myself. When was there such a combination of moral proof for the truth of any one subject, as conspires to illustrate the Christian evidences? All the wisdom and power and goodness and sovereignty of the Almighty are displayed to our obedient faith.

13 Lect. VIII. and IX.

It is not merely a stream of evidence; it is a swelling tide-a flood which bears away the vessel, and against which not a breath or whisper of solid objection can be raised. It stands alone. It bears the unequivocal impress of the majesty of the one revelation which the blessed God has vouchsafed to man.

And why should I add a word on the PROPAGATION of Christianity, and its BENEFICIAL EFFECTS, except to say, that they constitute of themselves independent proofs which nothing can invalidate; and that, when connected with the preceding, they shut up and conclude the external evidences of Christianity?14

Nothing can be added. So far as we can judge, the case admits of no stronger evidence. All the attributes of the Almighty, refulgent in the MIRACULOUS powers; and dispersed all around in the word of PROPHECY, as reflected in the events of the world for six thousand years; and concentrated in the PROPAGATION of the gospel; and blessing mankind daily in its BENEFICIAL EFFECTS, emblazon the Christian revelation with a glory which must burst upon every eye, and penetrate every heart which is not wilfully closed and hardened by perverseness and obduracy.

And the whole evidence is sealed by the

14 Lect. X. and XI.

doctrine of the DIVINE INSPIRATION of the scriptures, which leaving every thing human as to the form, renders every thing infallible as to the matter of the revelation which it conveys; and thus unites the highest emanations of the wisdom and power of God with the most compassionate exercises of his condescension and grace. 15

And yet the whole of these evidences form but one division of the great subject. Those arising from the intrinsic excellency of the revelation itself, and its suitableness to the state and wants of man, are yet to be considered, and will constitute a body of proof, as complete in its kind, and as powerful in its demands upon our faith, as what we have been now reviewing. But we conclude,

1. It is surely not too much to say, that on any subject of worldly prudence, such a mass of evidence would be considered as rising to a moral demonstration which no reasonable man could resist it would be considered as an act, not so much of faith, as of coMMON SENSE, to follow such proofs-the man who refused so to do, would be condemned by all the rules of conduct which he is compelled to follow every day of his life. We might more reasonably ques

15 Lect. XII. and XIII.

tion the existence of Julius Cæsar, Alfred, or Charlemagne — or the authenticity and credibility of the histories of Thucydides, or Bede, or Davila, or Clarendon-or all the facts and history in the world, than we could deny the facts and miracles and truth of the Christian religion. We must reject the evidences of our senses, we must spurn the testimony of all past history, we must throw into confusion the elements of all knowledge, we must dig up the foundations of civilization and law and science and jurisprudence, we must extinguish conscience and put off our whole intellectual and moral nature, before we can reject the evidences of Christianity.

I rely not on one or two minute points. I press not the accuracy or force of all the particular facts and arguments I have adduced. I proceed on the broad and commanding features of a divine religion, which present themselves on whichever side we view it. It is not one thing only, but every thing, that converges and concentrates its light on the Christian doctrine.

And yet such is the obvious excellency of that doctrine in itself, that it requires but little external proof. Any one of the points we have been reviewing, is enough, and more than enough, to form the credentials of a religion, bearing on its very surface all the impress of