Rheims, (A.D. 1582,) which is undoubtedly one of the worst that ever appeared in our language.' 925 Thus far then have we proceeded in our view of the Evidences of Christianity. We have shown the Authenticity and Credibility of the Holy Bible; that is, that the sacred books of it were really written by the authors whose names they bear, and contain a true and faithful history of facts as they occurred. Here let us pause and ask ourselves whether, so far as we have gone, OUR FAITH PRACTICALLY CORRESPONDS with what we have admitted in argument. You have "been instructed" from your infancy in the things which “ are most surely believed amongst us," as those were to whom St. Luke, in the text, addressed his gospel. The authenticity and credibility of these books, and of the matters they contain, have been laid before you, that you may know the "“ certainty" of the divine facts as they were delivered by those "who were from the beginning eye-witnesses and ministers of the word." Does then your personal and practical persuasion of the truth of all you read in the Holy Scriptures, answer to the means of certainty thus afforded you ? You receive daily the witness of men; does the witness of God weigh proportionably on your minds? It might have pleased God that all the external proofs of the authenticity and credibility of his word should have been swept away by the besom of time, and that we should have been left to the proofs deducible from the books themselves, and their effects upon mankind. Does the exuberance of the divine goodness in the preservation of evidences from all imaginable sources of testimony, excite your gratitude, overcome your scruples, augment faith, quicken love, promote obedience? 25 Dodd. Evidences. If we repose and act in human affairs daily on every degree of probability, even the lowest, do we act on the strong probability, or rather, the unanswerable moral certainty, which sheds its glory on the book of God? Alas! how weak is the faith of multitudes, how infirm and uncertain their judgments, how inconsistent and indecisive their conduct! How little are they governed by the weight of testimony in religion! Unless there be a right state of heart, how small is the deference which men practically pay to the Evidences of Christianity! It is for this reason that I insist so continually on the importance of a religious and candid temper. Men believe according to the state of their affections. How little do multitudes act as if a Saviour had been really born, as if he had truly died for our redemption, as if he had really sent down his Holy Spirit upon his church, and was about to return to judge the world! How little do men act upon the "life and immortality which are brought to light by the gospel!" They hesitate-they are negligentthey just admit the authenticity and credibility of the gospel-they are just not unbelievers-but they want feeling, interest, a sense of the importance of religion. II. Let such, then, awake to the IMMENSE VALUE OF CHRISTIANITY, the facts of which repose on such foundations of evidence. Let every proof of a genuine and credible history, lead them to a deeper persuasion of their own concern in the events, and their own obligation to obey the doctrines, thus attested. Let them not believe the Bible, as they do the history of civil and national transactions, which pretend not to affect the heart nor change the conduct. But let the credibility of the gospel sink deeply into the soul, affect the practical judgment, overcome the power of temptation, vanquish the resistance of the world, con quer every lust, and bring the whole man "into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” To admit speculatively, coldly, the authenticity and credibility of the gospel, is little-I want your hearts -the penitence and faith which the gospel demands -the subjection of a ruined and fallen creature to the yoke of the Son of God. It is in this docile and practical temper of mind that the Evidences of Christianity are to be studied. On the mere scholar, the mere disputer of this world," truth falls weak and inefficacious, even if it be theoretically admitted. The humble and practical student alone pleases God, and understands fully the force of the divine argument. He may not be able to reason with the gainsayer. He may not be skilled in human learning. He may not be competent to follow me in all the external testimonies which I have been detailing in the present and the former lectures. He may not be accustomed to weigh conflicting testimonies. But he feels the value of the scriptures. He understands the practical part of the testimonies drawn from its style, its contents, and the character and circumstances of the apostles. Such a man knows the use and worth of the Bible, as the mariner knows the use and worth of the compass. A mariner, if illiterate, has neither opportunity nor learning enough to inquire why his needle takes a polar direction, or what the scientific have to say upon its variations in different parts of the globe-he knows nothing of the laws of magnetism, or the dependence of them on electricity---when or by whom they were laid down, and who adapted the compass to the purposes of navigation. But he knows, unlearned as he is, that it is by this needle only that he can find his way through a trackless deep; he knows that by this alone he can escape the dangers of his voyage, and proceed safely to his destined haven; he knows that this only will bring him to his home, his family, his friends. In like manner the humble Christian feels the value of the scriptures; he feels that they are the only guide through a trackless ocean; that they are the only means of safety in his perilous voyage; that if he would escape the "making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience," and would avoid the rocks and quicksands on which thousands, trusting madly to their own guidance, and neglecting the heavenly direction, perish, he must follow his inspired guide--his sacred compass. He does so; and passing "safely through the troublesome waves of this present world," he arrives, at length, at his destined haven, where are his family, his friends, his Saviour, his eternal rest, his end, his ALL. 26 26 Cecil's Remains. 150 LECTURE VII. DIVINE AUTHORITY OF CHRISTIANITY. MARK II. 10-12. But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. THE arguments in our former Lectures have been directed to prove the authenticity and credibility of the books of the New Testament. In order to ascertain these points, we have examined them by the strictest rules of historical testimony, and we have found them to be established by far stronger proofs than men uniformly consider as satisfactory on similar subjects. During this inquiry, we have deferred the consi |