events, are parts of God's moral government

which are adapted to man, to his accountable-

ness, to his capacities of observation, to his

various faculties and powers.

The natural world, also, is suited to his pecu-

liar wants and his means of receiving know-
ledge the light is adapted to his eye-the beau-
ties around him to his perceptions of pleasure-
the products of the earth, to his various appe-
tites and necessities-the remedies with which
nature abounds, to his diseases.

All is adaptation to his circumstances, in the
world around him and in the providential govern-
ment of God: all affects his relation with other

men as a moral and social being—all has an in-

fluence on the principle of self-preservation, and

the pursuit of happiness implanted in his breast

by the Almighty.

Man perceives and admires this suitableness :

it is one of the noblest offices of philosophy to
point out the particular indications of it. In
proportion as these are more clear and express,
as they converge from more distant and un-
looked-for quarters, and bear more directly upon
man's happiness, is the evidence of divine con-
trivance.

In like manner, it will be found, that in the
matter and form of divine revelation, there is
an adaptation as clear, as widely spread over all

the parts of it, as various and important in its
bearings upon human happiness; converging
from points as distant and unlooked for, as in the
works of the same divine Architect in creation.
The book of nature and the book of revelation
are written by the same hand, and bear evident
traces of the same manner and style.' So that
as the performances of a great painter are recog-
nized by a similarity of outline and colouring,
and by other peculiarities of his art; the books
of nature and Christianity are recognized as
performances of the same divine Artist, by the
similarity of adaptation and contrivance, for the
faculties and wants of the beings for whose use
they were designed.

The Christian revelation, then, is suited to
man, as it speaks A DECISIVE LANGUAGE, and
gives repose to the mind in the most perplexing
difficulties-as it UNFOLDS THE MYSTERIES OF
HIS CONDITION—-as it provides A REMEDY FOR
ALL HIS WANTS-and as it is calculated FOR
UNIVERSAL DIFFUSION.

I. THE BIBLE IS SUITED TO MAN AS IT
SPEAKS A CLEAR AND DECISIVE LANGUAGE,
AND GIVES REPOSE AND SATISFACTION TO THE
MIND OF MAN IN THE GREATEST AND MOST
PERPLEXING DIFFICULTIES.

1 J. Scott.

LECTURES.

LECTURE XIV.

SUITABLENESS OF CHRISTIANITY TO THE STATE

AND WANTS OF MAN.

1 COR. XIV. 24, 25.

But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face, he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

HAVING Considered in our former Lectures the first great division of the Evidences of Christianity, those which establish the Authenticity, Credibility, Divine Authority, and Inspiration of our sacred books; we come now to the second

VOL. II.

B

division of them, those arising from the excellency of the contents of the religion itself.

The first division is termed THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCES, because they attend the religion from without, and attest its divine origin; the second are called THE INTERNAL, because they come from within, and arise from those characters of truth which are wrought into the very nature and composition of the revelation.

External evidences are the credentials of the messenger who comes to us from the Lord of heaven and earth; the internal are derived from the excellency of the message which he delivers. The latter evidences, therefore, follow the former, and are subsidiary to them.

Our Lord and his apostles placed Christianity on this footing. They came with the most undoubted miraculous works, and claimed at once the obedience of mankind; and afterwards, they appealed to those unnumbered indications of a divine excellency which the matter of their doctrine contained.

The external evidences now raise us as nearly as possible to the same situation with the Jews and Heathen at the promulgation of the gospel. By means of them, we still see, as it were, the miracles, and witness the divine works, of our Lord and his apostles.' We 1 Lect. vii. vol. 1.