gion. Contrast with it the absurd rules of the law of honour, of a mere respect to fame and human authority, of the notions of chivalry, as guides of life.

None of these put forth any distinct end bearing upon the happiness of man-none of these fulfil the conditions by which we demonstrate a tendency towards the highest welfare of mankind. None of these have any facts to produce: nor do they form any distinct religious doctrine professing to come from Almighty God for the benefit of man. Even reason,

virtue, and natural religion, if separated from Christianity, or placed in opposition to it, lose most of their beneficial tendency, and utterly fail in their professed objects. They are at best only some perverted relics of the Revelation originally made, and now restored and enlarged, in the gospel.

So that, as we searched in vain, in our last Lecture, for the founder of a religion to compare with our divine Saviour, till we dragged Mahomet from his hiding place to expose his vices and deformities, we now search in vain for a religion to contrast with Christianity in its tendencies upon human happiness, till we descend into the same gulf, and compel the false prophet again to submit to our examination the bearings and native force of his imposture. And what, I ask, are the tendencies of

this corruption of the Christian doctrine, this supplemental revelation-for so it pretended to be this GROSS IMPOSTURE, as it really is? Let Europe and Asia testify-let the ignorance, despotism, vice and misery of the nations subject to its iron sway, declare. I ask nothing about its proposing to itself the true end; I ask nothing about the facts of a beneficial nature which it can produce. I pass by all our topics; and I contrast the manifest mischievous tendency of the whole religionof its want of adaptation to man-of the doctrines and precepts it enjoins-of the rites it introduces of the character of its founder-of its sanguinary spirit; of all the points, in short, to which we have had so frequently to alludeand I say that this deleterious poison is in direct opposition with the divine and healing tendency of the Christian faith.

But, in fact, it is only by concession that we speak at all of the pretensions of human folly. I feel almost a self-reproach in setting for a moment reason or natural light, or human philosophy, or infidelity, or Mahometanism, in contrast with the holy tendencies of Christianity. The inmost soul of man perceives the wide and immeasurable distance. The inmost soul of man feels that every one of these pretences carries its own condemnation in its mischievous operations. The inmost soul of man concludes that that

religion cannot but be the true one, which wants only to be universally received, to remedy all the evils that fill the earth, and render men as much like holy and happy angels, as most of them are at present like deceitful, malignant, apostate spirits. The need in which the world stood of such a remedy, its evident tendency to promote in the highest degree the true welfare of men, and its actual efficacy as they rightly make use of it, proclaim its divinity in the most decisive manner, even apart from miracles, the fulfilment of prophecy, and all other external marks whatever.1

But I go too far in saying this. My argument requires a confirmation only, not a proof. The proper evidences of our religion have already been established. It is only as an additional and subsidiary argument, that I adduce the tendency of our holy faith. Yes, Christianity has the stamp of God upon it. Every Lecture upon its internal character, opens new fields of contemplation, and lays new grounds of confidence, as the constitution and framework of the religion is more and more developed.

But I pause. I leave the general subject. I entreat each one before me to apply it individually to his own heart. I appeal to every candid and serious mind. What is the tendency of

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the Christian religion? What is the incontrovertible force of the argument derived from it? What would it make you, your children, your family, if allowed its full power?

1. Let each one, then, ask himself, WHAT IS THE TENDENCY OF MY CHRISTIANITY? What is the influence and virtue which in my case it exerts? What force does my faith, my love, my obedience, put forth, to promote in the highest degree the temporal and spiritual welfare of those around me?

Let each one remember that the grand practical objection to Christianity is derived from THE UNHOLY LIVES OF PROFESSED CHRISTIANS. Men will not distinguish, as they ought, the bearings of a religion in itself and when duly received, from the lives and spirit of those who ever so slightly and imperfectly hold by it. The world looks to names rather than things; and seeing too many nominal believers as vain and treacherous, as cruel and proud, as dishonest and covetous, as profane and wicked, as others; they rashly conclude that all opinions are of secondary importance, that a man may believe what he likes, and that a moral life is all that the great Creator demands of him. Base and fatal inference! Let your lives, brethren, go to undeceive a misguided world. Show them the genuine tendencies of

Christianity. Let them see in your spirit and temper the true effects of reliance upon Christ, of humility and self-denial, of subjection to the influences of the Holy Spirit, of separation from the love and the vain pursuits of the world, of good-will and forgiveness of injuries, of a hope and expectation of heaven, of a zeal for the glory of Christ and the propagation of his gospel, of an habitual regard and preparation for eternity. Let them see Christianity embodied in its true virtue in your persons, in order that they may be led to a consideration of its nature and authority.

Let each one roll away the reproach falsely cast upon the Christian religion, so far as he is concerned. Let every one consider the honour of God as committed to his custody.

Open, then, your hearts, my friends, and especially my young friends, to receive the heavenly doctrine! Welcome the gospel! Let it have free course in you. Oppose not its mighty and sacred tendencies. Whatever obstacles to it exist in your principles, your habits, your pursuits, remove them out of the way. Take up the Holy Bible: let it work its work upon you. Remove the interposing hindrances; God will effectually help those that call upon him.

2. And when Christianity has had its due oper