pearance of inconsistency of statement; he could present truth to every man with evidence that would afford no room for resistance. Jesus Christ, as the Sovereign of the world, could conduct his providential dealings in such a way as to stop the mouths of all infidels, and fill unbelief with confusion and terror. Since, then, he does not this; since he has left his revelation open to specious objections from ignorance, rashness, and disaffection; since he permits his enemies to speak against him, and he is silent; since his hand wields the sceptre of heaven and earth, yet he darts no thunderbolts against the heads of his blasphemers, he must design his word to be a touchstone of the allegiance of the world to the throne of God.

If no plausible objections could be made against Christianity, were its evidence such as to overpower unbelief, man would be as hostile to the Divine character as he is now, yet that hostility would not be apparent; disaffection to the truth would be as strong, yet would no tongue utter that disaffection. The manner of Revelation, then, and the nature of its evidences, are designed to bring out the hatred of the human heart to the character and ways of God. They are as gins and as snares to the wisdom of this world. Let those who carp at the word of God, on account of difficulties and objections, which are plausible only from their own ignorance, indolence, and disaffection to God, consider this solemn truth with attention and seriousness. They

seem to think that God was obliged to give evidence of his revelation that could not be resisted. One objects to this part of the Divine testimony, another to that; one will have this evidence, another will have something else. Some will even require that a particular revelation should be made to every individual, and that miracles should be successively presented to all eyes. How unreasonable is all this! If God condescends to supply evidence of any kind, it is sufficient to condemn gainsayers. Whom do we advantage by our faith? From the way in which many speak on this subject, it might be thought that we confer a favour on God by accepting his testimony. The benefit is altogether our own; the injury done by our unbelief falls upon our own heads. Let unbelievers then weigh the evidences of Revelation. Let it not be the work of an hour, but the work of their lives.

But if even the external testimonies of Revelation are elucidated by candid and attentive examination, how much more will the observation apply to the internal evidences. There is no end to our discovery of the evidence of Divine truth. Every page of the inspired volume will present us with rich mines, which cannot be exhausted, and which astonish and delight the Christian as he advances in the discovery. The authenticity of the Scriptures is not to be viewed as that of the title-deeds of an estate, which, when once admitted and registered, need not afterwards be con

sulted. The Bible is valuable for the treasures it contains; and while any thing in it is unknown, or imperfectly discovered, it must be a subject of study. Were we even fully acquainted with all its contents, the necessity of meditating on it would not cease. It is the food of the Christian, and by pondering its glorious truths he is nourished. The importance, then, of studying the truth of Revelation, is seen in this, that the believer thereby advances in the knowledge of the things contained in the Bible, and his faith is continually strengthened by keeping its evidence before his mind. The same reason that renders the constant remembrance of the death and resurrection of the Saviour necessary to edification, comfort, and growth in grace, also evinces the importance of keeping alive on the mind the evidence of those things that are reported in the Scriptures. The life of Methuselah would be well spent in the investigation of Divine truth; and the constant discoveries made to faith exercised in humility and a teachable disposition, would repay a thousandfold in the riches of knowledge and grace. Independently, then, of any additional knowledge, this study is eminently useful to the Christian; but as to additional knowledge there is no boundary, the subject is inexhaustible in extent, and infinite in moment.

It has been too much the practice to defend the truth of the Christian religion, as something distinct from its grand distinguishing doctrines, apart from

which no system deserves the name of Christian. Without reference to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, some of the sources of evidence must be entirely unperceived, and very many of them seen in an obscure light. If the Gospel is not clearly understood, it is impossible for the ablest writer fairly to exhibit its evidence. This circumstance forbids Christians to leave their cause on this subject in the hands of those eminent men who have generally volunteered the defence of the truth of Christianity. Many of them have been totally ignorant of the Gospel, and actual opposers of the salvation which the Scriptures reveal. Others of them, to say the least, have had a very inadequate knowledge of its doctrines; and where they have been uninformed, their defence, if not erroneous, must be lame and unsatisfactory. By the force of those natural talents with which God had endowed them, they have indeed succeeded in representing many parts of the evidence in a very striking light, as well as in repelling the attacks of its assailants; but with their statements on the subject, they have in general either overlooked or misrepresented the nature of that religion whose truth they undertook to demonstrate. It is often something of an entirely different character which their labours are calculated to establish.

If we suppose an unbeliever to read with attention the works of these writers, to be struck with the force of the evidence they produce, and to embrace their

sentiments, he would still not only remain unacquainted with the plan of salvation, but would, moreover, be confirmed in a system directly opposed to its design. The Apostles represent men, while destitute of the knowledge of Christ, as being without God, without hope, and under condemnation. They conclude that a man is justified by faith without works, and that the righteousness of God is freely imputed to all who believe, without any difference arising from their previous dispositions or conduct, and, consequently, that all boasting is excluded. But many acute and learned writers on the Evidences of Christianity represent what they call natural religion as the foundation of all our hopes; they explain the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel as descriptive of a pure system of morality enjoined on men, and faith as a disposition to cleave to God, which may be possessed by those who are unacquainted with Divine revelation. Instead of promoting in their readers the belief of the Gospel, by connecting the evidences of its truth with its essential character-by which alone these can be properly and fully illustrated-they distort and misrepresent its character and doctrines in such a way as to bring the whole in the end to correspond with the maxims of a vain philosophy, and the deceitful reasonings and selfrighteousness of the depraved heart. They abandon the Apostolic doctrine, and substitute in its place a system, which to every unenlightened man will appear b

VOL. I.