abroad by its connexion with the country where it was born, but which sought to strangle it in its birth. Emerging from Judæa, it made its way outward through the most polished regions of the world-Asia Minor, Egypt, Greece, Rome: and in all it attracted notice and provoked hostility. Successive massacres, and attempts at extermination, prosecuted for ages by the whole force of the Roman empire, it bore without resistance, and seemed to draw fresh vigour from the axe; but assaults, in the way of argument, from whatever quarter, it was never ashamed or unable to repel; and, whether attacked or not, it was resolutely aggressive. In four centuries it had pervaded the civilized world, it had mounted the throne of the Cæsars, it had spread beyond the limits of their sway, and had made inroads upon barbarian nations whom their eagles had never visited. It had gathered all genius and all learning into itself, and made the literature of the world its own. It survived the inundation of the barbarian tribes, and conquered the world once more, by converting its conquerors to the faith. It survived an age of barbarism. It survived the restoration of letters. It survived an age of free inquiry and scepticism, and has long stood its ground in the field of argument, and commanded the intelligent assent of the greatest minds that ever were. It has been the parent of civilization, and the nurse of learning; and if light and humanity and freedom be the boast of modern Europe, it is to Christianity that she owes them. Exhibiting in the life of Jesus a picture, varied and minute, of the perfect human united with the divine, in which the mind of man has not been able to find a deficiency or detect a blemish-a picture copied from no model and rivalled by no copy-it has satisfied the moral wants of mankind;-it has accommodated itself to every period and every clime ;—and it has retained, through every change, a salient spring of life which enables it to throw off corruption and repair decay, and renew its youth, amidst outward hostility and inward divisions. Yet this religion, and all its moral miracles,-this mighty impulse which no time or space can check or exhaustproceeds, if we believe Strauss and his admirers, from a Myth casually produced in the fancies of some Galilean peasants. The moral world of modern civilization has sprung from the fortuitous concourse of some atoms of Mythology in the brains of unknown SOMEBODIES!

Credulous as Christians may be thought, they are too sceptical to believe this. And no doubt, in a short time, the very admirers of such a theory will cease to believe it, and turn to some new Fiction, just as absurd but more fresh, and therefore better suited to the changing fashion of unbelief. "But ye, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ."

And remember that the walls of our Jerusalem are to be "built in troublous times," when we cannot safely lay aside either sword or helmet while engaged in the dangerous work. Those, indeed, of our own number who would cry "peace" when there is "no peace," are really some of our most dangerous enemies.

A late writer, for example,* who professes a great regard for Christianity, would have all young persons kept in ignorance that any one ever doubted Christianity! and thinks that, if we neglect this sage advice, we shall run a serious risk of making our children infidels by laying before them the evidences of their religion. He forgets that a child cannot read the New Testament without learning that "some believed the words that were spoken, and some believed not." And that no one can, in these days, be so completely debarred from all knowledge of history as not to hear of the French at the Revolution abjuring Christianity, and of multitudes of their Priests professing unbelief.

And as to saying that inquiry must lead to unbelief—it is strange that such writers should not perceive that an admission of this kind, coming from a professed friend to Christianity, tends more to shake men's faith in it than all the attacks of all the avowed infidels in the world put together. For, what would such a writer say of some professed friend coming forward, as his advocate, and saying "my friend here is a veracious and worthy man, and there is no foundation for any of the charges brought against him; and his integrity is fully believed in by persons who thoroughly trust him, and who have never thought of reasoning or inquiring about his character at all: but, of all things, do not make any investigation into his character: for, the more you inquire and examine, the less likely most people will be to believe in his integrity!"

* Fraser's Magazine, No. 274, p. 442.

You will remember that we have already noticed in these Cautions the injury done to Christianity by these its professed friends; and you will remember also that we pointed out other classes also of professed friends by whom similar injury is inflicted on the cause they claim as their own.

Those, for instance, who avow the doctrine of Reserve, create disbelief by leaving men uncertain whether their real inward opinions are the same as they ostensibly maintain. Those, again, who are for penal laws and coercion in religious matters, produce the same effect by appearing to distrust the force of argument; and (even still more) by representing Christ as insincere when He declared his kingdom not to be so of this world as that his Disciples should fight for Him, and in bidding men to "render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's and unto God the things that are God's."

And lastly, those who represent Christianity as an immoral Antinomian system. These persons directly propagate infidelity; because every one sees at once that such a system cannot be from God.

Now, as it has been often remarked that an epidemic disease often indirectly saves more lives, by rousing men to attend to cleanliness, sobriety, and good ventilation, than it destroys directly-so, if we use it aright, the present prevalence of Infidelity may do more good than harm. It may put us upon purifying our religious atmosphere-clearing away the old corrupted buildings where the seeds of disease lingered-and guarding our children more carefully than we were guarded against dangers, the magnitude of which we have learned by woful experience.

INDEX.

The Roman numerals refer to the "Caution," the Arabic to the page.