When satisfied with the credibility of the original and divinely appointed witnesses of Christianity, we naturally proceed to consider the kind of evidence by which the authenticity and correctness of the document in which their testimony is recorded, may be ascertained. This becomes a question both of criticism and of history. We call in the aid of both, and find that they powerfully confirm and illustrate each other. We are furnished with a continued and unbroken chain of testimonies by the friends of Christianity, from the earliest period of its existence to the present day. And from the mouths and pens of its adversaries, we extract decisive proofs, that the books of the New Testament, are in all important respects-indeed we might almost say, verbatim et literatim the same now that they were in the first century. The researches of criticism and philology come in aid of the same conclusion. Manuscripts of the whole or greater part of the New Testament, of great antiquity, still exist; translations of it into various languages, which began to be made even in apostolic times, still remain; its phraseology and structure, its idioms and allusions, all sustain its claims, and establish its birth-place and its age. It is not more certain that Cæsar wrote his Commentaries, or Virgil his Æneid, than it is that Matthew and John and Luke and Paul were the writers of the New Testament. We have not more satisfactory evidence that the former were Romans, and wrote in Latin,-the one what he saw and did, the other the creations of his fancy,-than we have that the latter were Hebrews, and wrote in Greek, what they saw, and felt, and handled of the word of life. To be consistent, the person who rejects the authenticity of the books of the New Testament, ought to reject all ancient history, and all human testimony, and believe only what comes under his own observation. When these points have been determined, there is still another kind of external evidence by which the religion of Jesus may be tried. The record of it contains predictions of many most important events; some of which were to be accomplished shortly after they had been committed to writing, and others of them in a far distant futurity. If the predictions of the events which were soon to happen should be form the low opinion we have adverted to, when their nature is fully examined. The divine Author of Christianity foretold his own death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven; together with the opposition his cause, should experience, its triumph over that opposition, and the destruction of his deadly enemies the Jews. An impostor never would have rested his claims on such proofs; or, if he had, discomfiture must have followed. The Apostles foretold the rise, progress, and completion of a most horrid corruption of the system which they propagated. They predicted also the overthrow, at the distance of many ages, of that apostacy, and the restoration of the religion of Jesus to its pristine purity, and more than its primitive glory. Of the accomplishment of many, indeed of the greater number of these predictions, we are capable of judging. Their fulfilment has been recorded, not by the interested followers and partial friends of Christ, but by the impartial, unintentional, and often hostile pen of history. The supernatural and miraculously accredited testimony of the primitive æra, has been supported and reiterated in every age, by the voice of a continued providence. The rise and fall of empires; the revolutions of states; the declension and revival of science, literature, and religion; the progress of art, of public opinion, of discovery and of liberty, have all a relation, not only to the interests of the kingdom of Christ; but to the evidence that it was set up, and has been continually preserved, by the God of heaven. The other great division of evidence has been usually denominated the internal, which opens a wide and most interesting field of argument and illustration. Two distinct views may be taken of this department. It may be viewed as embracing, chiefly, the marks or proofs furnished by the Bible itself, of its genuineness and authenticity; that is, that it was written at the time and by the persons to which it is usually ascribed; and that the occurrences and events which it describes actually took place. Those who wish to ascertain how much can be done in this way, are referred to the admirable work of Paley, the Horm Pauline, in which, without travelling out of the record itself-the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Paul he establishes, by a series of indirect arguments and incidental notices, the truth of a great part of the New Testament. But another view is usually taken of the internal evidence, of far more importance, and more generally intelligible. It is alleged, that the Bible contains in itself the most decisive evidence of its heavenly origin, in the views which it furnishes of the infinitely glorious character of God as the moral governor of the universe; in its representations of the present state and circumstances of human nature; in the powerful remedy it reveals for the deliver globe, a ground for its grand appeal; appeal can never be made altogether Wherever it finds a human creature p of rationality, it addresses him in 1 which he may understand, on a subject portant to be altogether despised. W it finds a sinner, it finds a man who ne blessing which it brings, and to whe blessing is free and suitable. And whe finds a subject of misery, let that mise from what it may, and exist in whate gree, it announces tidings which, if t must infallibly relieve it. The testin which these things are applicable must God, and not of men. Thus by combining the external and evidence together, we are furnished mass of proof of the most solid and app nature; worthy of the great subject t it relates, and of the source whence its affording supreme satisfaction and de the believer, and justifying the unlimit fidence he reposes in it: but involving quences of the most solemn and tren description to the man who wantonly d or deliberately rejects it. Its representations of our state, as the creatures of the divine government, are not more awful than we feel them to be just. It enters into the heart, and exposes its most secret evils and springs of iniquity. It thus affords undeniable proof that its darkest recesses are naked and open to the Author of the exposition. We find it impossible to dispute its statements respecting our guilt and its desert; and equally impossible to doubt that all our misery is the result of our apostacy and rebellion. One thing constitutes our bane, and one antidote alone is suited to destroy it. Sin is the cause of sorrow and of death; in God the help must be found. Without a return to him, in a way honourable to his government and suited to our circumstances, the curse can never be removed. This way of return, the gospel reveals. The divine provision of mercy, through the atonement of the Son of God, is the grand discovery of Christianity. This discovery at once brings into view, and perfectly harmonizes all the attributes of God. Here justice asserts all its claims and receives all its due-holiness ap-quaintance with them. Even the sligh pears in its purest lustre-faithfulness in its most encouraging aspects-while love beams with all its tenderness, and mercy shines forth with most engaging attractions. Here God and man are once more reconciled; the former by the removal of the cause of displeasure, the latter by the destruction of his enmity. "God is by Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to men their trespasses" The adaptation of this heaven-devised cure is felt by all who receive it. In the God of love, the sinner finds his best and his only effectual friend. In his revealed character, he feels the attraction which draws, and the pattern of excellence which excites him. Here he obtains relief from the sense of guilt, and from the fear of punishment; while he experiences, in the object of his contemplation, an absorbing and transforming power, which withdraws him from evil, and unites him to what is good. He discovers at once the secret of his misery and his restlessness, and the source of all that is pure in enjoyment, sublime in expectation, and powerful in efficiency. In the gospel he finds all that he needs as a sinner, all that he wants as a creature, and all that he can enjoy on this side eternity. He "rejoices, therefore, with joy unspeakable and full of glory."-"Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, he is changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit." The best apology I can offer for dwe long on the evidences themselves, is. will both facilitate and abridge my sta of the advantages arising from an exten tention to what has been brought forwar convince every intelligent individual vast importance of studying the extensi diversified proofs, that the Scriptures ar velation from God. No inquiry can hav powerful claims upon us, and in no inqu we engage with so great a prospect of tage. He who neglects to institute it, goes about it in a careless manner, or in culative humour, does injustice to hims fronts the truth and authority of God, a a part as foolish, and unreasonable, a criminal and dangerous. Whatever pre claim to be a revelation from God, is e to be heard; and a book which possesse claims as the Bible, the rejection or re of which brings such consequences alor it, ought to be examined with the utm riousness and candour. Considered as the means of intellect provement, I know not a more importan cise in which any person can engage, th examination of the arguments in support truth of Christianity. Were the conduc schools and academies to direct the at of their pupils to this subject, instead o of the trivial or less important matters frequently occupy much of their time. no doubt that great benefit would accru it. Not that I would recommend their into the hands of young persons books c It is thus that Christianity makes its appealing the strength of the infidel cause, the to the understanding and the conscience, to the feelings and the wants, to the hopes and the fears of man. It is thus it carries its own witness along with it. It bears on its bosom a message of mercy to every creature, it furnishes a cure for every evil, and provides an may find answers to them. This would judicious. But with great safety migh put into their hands some of the best w support and illustration of the Christian s and direct them to a course of reading, by they would be gradually fitted for unde on which the entire edifice of Christianity rests. It This investigation would sharpen their acuteness and stimulate their improvement. would lead them to examine the different kinds of testimony and evidence ;-to discriminate the pretensions of imposture from the claims of truth;-to appreciate the value of solid argument, and to scorn the wickedness of misrepresentation and the impiety of levity and jesting on sacred subjects. It would induce a love of truth, a reverence for its claims, a hallowed regard to its authority, with a hatred of every thing opposed to integrity and honour, which might form the basis of moral habits of the most important description. It would be impossible to promote this acquaintance with the evidences of revelation without extending the range of their general knowledge. An uninformed or ignorant person is not capable of estimating the full strength of the Christian cause. It supposes an acquaintance with many subjects, if its full amount is to be ascertained. History, criticism, science, and experience in argument, all furnish their aid in this important inquiry, and contribute their respective quotas to confirm or elucidate the claims of the word of God. Even an acquaintance with the opposition it has encountered, and over which it has triumphed, tends powerfully to confirm the mind in its truth and divinity. Revelation has been assailed by adversaries of no ordinary character. All that learning could discover, all that eloquence could allege, and all that wit, sophistry, and cunning could contrive and assert, have been employed to injure the Christian cause. But these things have only called forth the most splendid talents on the side of that cause. The most powerful productions of human genius and industry have been furnished by the advocates of Christianity; and in this interesting field of labour some of the most exquisite intellectual repasts are to be found. In profound and masterly argument, we have nothing to compare with the Analogy" of Butler, and the Defence of Miracles by Campbell. In laborious, patient, and candid research, the world has furnished nothing superior to the works of Lardner. In luminous and unanswerable reasonings, where is the volume that will admit of comparison with Paley? These are the mighty masters in the school of argument and philosophy: but the time would fail to enumerate the names and do justice to the labours of Cudworth, and Baxter, and Newton, and Locke, and Leland, and Addison, and Chandler, and Littleton, and West, and Watson, and Hailes, and Porteous, and Jenyns, and Chalmers, and Haldane, and Erskine, and Mearns, and Bogue, and Beattie, and Gregory. In the writings of these, and many others that might be mentioned, the ablest defences of the truth are to be found. only to be ranked among the subordinate advantages of an extensive acquaintance with Christian evidence. Its moral advantages are of a far higher order, and prefer still greater claims to our consideration. Were Christianity addressed to our speculative faculties only, we should be justified in treating it as we do other speculations. But it is addressed to man chiefly as a lapsed and ruined creature. Its object is not so much to gratify his curiosity, as to restore and renovate his nature. It comes as a remedy, and not merely as a fact or proposition: so that if it does not prove the savour of life, it will doubtless prove the savour of death to those who hear it. If it be true as a religious dispensation, it is exclusively true. If there is salvation in the name which it reveals, there is no other name by which men can be saved. If eternal life be the result of believing it, eternal damnation must be the consequence of rejecting it. The mere examination of the evidence of such a subject ought not therefore to be a matter of indifference or of mere speculation: it must bring good or evil along with it. From the outline of the evidences sketched in this discourse, it appears that those evidences cannot be fully entered into without a considerable acquaintance with the matter and substance of revelation itself; and this I conceive to be one source of the moral advantage of studying those evidences. We cannot do justice to them without studying the Bible; and it is impossible to study the Bible in a serious temper of mind without being the better for it. God, in his perfect wisdom, has so constructed his word, that we cannot examine it closely, with a view to ascertain any one point, without having its leading subjects constantly pressed on our attention. The moral glory of the divine character; the holiness, justice, and goodness of the law; the infinite benevolence and appropriateness of the gospel; the deplorable condition of the sinner; the safety and blessedness of the Christian; the emptiness of the world, and the eternal weight of glory which is to be revealed; continually present themselves when examining the Bible, either from mere curiosity, or from the desire of ascertaining its claims, acknowledging its authority, or discovering its meaning. Such a range of subjects, embracing every topic bearing directly on the salvation of man, must produce some considerable influence and impression on the mind of the inquirer. Their importance, their grandeur, and their adaptation to his wants and circumstances must be, in some degree, felt. Other subjects, also, belonging to the evidence, though less closely connected with salvation, necessarily lead the soul to God. It is impossible, for instance, to examine the prophecies of the Old Testament, with their recorded fulfilment in the New, without having the mind affected by the various parts of the the Saviour shows the magnitude and difficulty of the undertaking, and must lead the mind to reflect on the nature and extent of the evil which rendered such an expedient of deliverance necessary. His foretold sufferings show the method through which redemption was contemplated from the beginning, and harmonize with the symbolical rites of the Patriarchal and Levitical institutes. In the minuteness of the prophetic detail, respecting the time and place of his birth; his parentage and family; his circumstances and treatment in the world; his sufferings, and death, and glorification; we recognise the infinite wisdom of God in providing against the possibility of an impostor sustaining the character of the Messiah. When all these things are examined along with the New Testament history, and the perfect correspondence which obtains between the prophecies, and the character and work of Jesus of Nazareth, is ascertained, we arrive, not only at a full conviction that he is indeed the Christ, but have a most powerful and salutary impression produced upon the mind by this display of the wisdom, the faithfulness, and the goodness of God. of their evidences tends to produce a n pression on the mind, a certain state disposition is necessary to the clear perception of their heavenly nature an A serious inquirer will not proceed mar in the progress of discovery, withou that his advancement very much cor with the condition of his moral and feelings. On every page of the sacre it is inscribed, "If any man incline will of God, he shall know of the whether it be of God,"-" then shall if ye follow on to know the Lord." I position be wanting to receive and app truth, to obey its dictates and choose mises,-if the object be to find occasion it, material to justify ungodliness, or f prurient or misguided fancy,-let su beware how he proceeds. There are t stumbling-blocks, which will expose imminent hazard. As the righteous ment of his unhallowed dispositions, he may be left to see, yet not perceiv ing he may hear, and yet not understa he should see with his eyes, and hear ears, and understand with his heart, In examining the miracles of Scripture, too, converted and healed." If there is no especially those wrought by our Lord Jesus "the love of the truth, that he may be Christ, we cannot overlook the moral princi- he may be given over to strong delusio ples which they were designed to illustrate. lieve a lie, "that he may be damned His miracles were never unnecessary or osten-believing the truth, but having pleasur tatious displays of power; they were never righteousness." wrought to gratify an idle curiosity, or in compliance with importunate demands for satisfaction. Nor were they ever performed with the mere design of establishing his claims, and refuting the calumnies of his enemies. They were always wrought in connexion with the highest and most important end-the good of those who were the subjects or witnesses of them. They were all miracles of benevolence; and thus they perfectly harmonized with the nature and genius of Christianity, as a dispensation of love, and not of judgment. They illustrate the character, as well as the claims, of the Redeemer; and prove him in every sense to have been the friend of sinners. While we dwell on the greatness of Him whom the winds and the seas obeyed, and at whose voice the dead came forth; we cannot overlook the infinite condescension and tenderness, which regarded the fears of the disciples, pitied the sorrows of the widow, and wept at the grave of Lazarus. While we admire the hand which performed the wonders, we adore the heart which dictated its mighty operations. One view of the miracles of Jesus produces the exclamation of Peter, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Another view of them extorts the exclamation, "Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel." Thus every part of this subject leads to the works and the ways of God. These will ever be found most worthy of himself, and never fail to effect on the serious mind the most valuable impressions. The subjects of revelation, and the proofs that it is from God, are so interwoven that they cannot be separated. The individual most conversant with the Bible On the other hand, the greatest enc ment is held out to the humble, patie sincere learner. To him "the Father of has promised the spirit of wisdom and tion, to guide him into all truth; to as weakness of his understanding, and to the waywardness of his heart. As he a in the inquiry, he will find his difficul after another giving way; his convic the truth growing in strength and pr his perceptions of its moral glory and s ness becoming more and more power distinct; till at length" in the light of sees light clearly," and in the joy of enabled greatly to rejoice. There is an evident fitness in thus c ing the knowledge of the evidence meaning of the word of God with a condition of our moral faculties and tions. Sin is that disease of our na which the word of God reveals the cur highly proper, therefore, that the m cherishes and fosters the disease, and courages prejudices against the grand and its infinitely benevolent author, sh left to experience the consequence of duct, by eating of the fruit of his own It would be as reasonable to expect that with morbid taste and jaundiced eye, relish what is exquisite in food, and b in colour, as that the lover of sin she the glory of the truth as it is in Jesus. must be some affinity between the obje the mind which is directed to it. The of that Word which is the transcript of vine nature, which exhibits all that is in moral excellence, all that is compas nd who is taught not by flesh and blood, but y our Father who is in heaven. is generally received in the country, and taught we have received by tradition from our fathers, things must be allowed to operate in the first from the pulpit, cannot be wrong. All these stages of religious belief and inquiry. They substituted in the place of personal examinaare attended with injury, only when they are tion, and suspend the farther and more complete investigation of the subject. In numelief, and thus destroy those feelings of a perrous instances they are the chief reasons of becomfort and efficiency as Christians. sonal nature, which are so essential to our the inquiry is not carried far enough. The This holy influence is one of the most impor- on the testimony of man, and too little on the faith of many serious persons rests too much ant promises of that revelation of which we re speaking, and one of the greatest encouperception of the power and wisdom of God. agements to the conscientious inquirer.-wise and good people must be right,-that what It is too much taken for granted that so many Would you then be grounded and settled in the -uth, the teaching of the heavenly Spirit you must implore. On his teaching you must deend, rather than upon mere human labour and esearch. You must be faithful to your conictions, and follow up your discoveries to their ☛actical conclusions. You must seek to grow grace as you grow in knowledge. If you esire an extensive acquaintance with the eviences of religion, you must be careful to live nd act as religious persons, and to do justice the measure of religious light which you ave received. You must beware of sacrificing uty to convenience and inclination. You may s well abandon the examination at once, as ink of persevering in it and hoping for success, in heart and conduct you continue to resist ne admonitions of the sacred Word. Whatver tends thus to establish the connexion beveen truth and character, evidence and moral Esposition, must be of vast importance to reaonable and accountable creatures. The consequences resulting from this ignorance and indifference to the evidence of the truth, are most melancholy and disastrous. slightest shock. It is only necessary to bring The faith of such persons cannot bear even the sopher, or witling infidel, to have the foundathem into contact with some would-be philotions, if such they may be called, of their reliBut passing all other advantages arising unbelief of the human heart is ignited by the gious system completely torn up. The latent -om an extensive acquaintance with the eviences of the truth, let me direct your attenfirst spark of infidelity, and the outward proon to the vast importance of it, in order to ly. Had it not been for this lamentable ignofession founded upon it is exploded immediateur safety, usefulness, and comfort as Chrisans. These are the great objects for which gion and its truth, which pervaded both the rance and indifference on the subject of reliGod has furnished us with such abundance nd variety of testimony to the truth of his upper and lower classes of society during the wn word. These are the grand design and tings of Hume and Paine have produced such latter part of the last century, would the wrind of the whole. Without a perception of the vidence in some of its forms, what is faith? ravages as they did? Certainly not. These Credulity-What is confidence? Temerity. with the faith of the gospel, but with a base bold and impudent infidels had not to contend What is hope? Presumption.-What is zeal? substitute and pretender which had usurped its Fanaticism.-What is comfort? Delusion.- place. If they succeeded in overthrowing the What, in short, is religion? Not the reasonable ervice which it ought to be, and which it must faith of some, it was that faith which consisted e, in order to its being acceptable to God, its foundation on the testimony of God. Who, in pretence and semblance, or which never had nd profitable to ourselves. It is no better that knows that testimony, and has felt its dehan an unmeaning form-a worthless profes-lightful and transforming influence, would have ion-the thing of custom, tradition, or fancy, nstead of a faith and service, the result of painul examination, personal conviction, and enightened attachment. It is exceedingly distressing to reflect on the Extent to which many are disposed to take heir religion on trust. They are Christians For little better reason than they would have Deen Mahommedans had they been born in Turkey, or worshippers of the Grand Lama had their lot been cast in Thibet. "They so believe, because they so were bred." Such persons would never think of acting in this manner in regard to any worldly affair of importance. They would not trust the most trifling interests of time on so slender and been cheated out of his religion by the sophis- Christianity, to be unable to meet the objec- class and |