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madness. The alternative of neglecting, despising, disobeying this religion, is unspeakably awful. It is not a speculation which Christianity brings you, it is not a curious inquiry, it is not an intellectual disquisition which leaves the state of men's morals and hearts and

hopes where it found them. It is a question upon which an eternity of happiness or misery depends. It is a religion which inspires hope in a hopeless world, which establishes a way of pardon and peace, which reveals all the corruption of our fallen state, in order to reveal all the blessedness of the remedy for that state which is proposed to us in the Son and Spirit of God. Christianity is not a magnificent portico, with no temple; it is not a road laboriously prepared, which leads to no city: its body of evidence is a portal which opens to the temple of the living God; its solid proofs prepare a highway which leads to heaven.

The question, therefore, as to the truth of the Christian doctrine must be infinitely important. In expounding to you the evidences on which that truth rests, I should shrink from the responsibility of the task, if I were not persuaded that no exposition can be so incomplete, as to obstruct ultimately the faith of a sincere and humble inquirer-and if I did not rely for success on the blessing of that God, who has granted us the means of conviction on this subject, in an abundance correspondent to the importance of the

case.

Let me further remind you, that since it is allowed by our opponents that there is a God, (for with the Atheist I am not arguing,) the duty of prayer to Him on en tering upon this argument, must be of paramount ob ligation. Let me entreat you, then, to unite with me in supplications to the common Father of all, whom the unbeliever professes to adore and reverence as well as the Christian, and beseech him to illuminate our minds, to dissipate all prejudices and pre

possessions, and to dispose us to receive the truth with humility and joy.

And let the pious and sincere Christian cultivate more of "the meekness and fear" which are to attend his apology for his faith. It is the holy, upright, consistent, benevolent life of the Christian which forms the best standing defence of his religion to others, and the best spring of hope in his own mind. The effects of Christianity are then prominent and decisive. Were the faith of all who call themselves Christians a really living principle, we should be able to appeal to them with more confidence, as exemplifying and embodying what we describe in our portraits of the Christian character. The inconsistent tempers and lives of the professors of Christianity are the reproach of the faithful, and the stumbling-block of the profane. For no contradiction can be so fatal in its effects on others and on ourselves, as the claim of a believer's hope and the darkness and misery of an unbeliever's life.

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LECTURE II.

THE TEMPER OF MIND IN WHICH THE SUBJECT SHOULD BE STUDIED.

LUKE XVIII. 17.

Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein.

IN entering upon a course of instruction with the design of impressing upon the hearts of young persons the truth and importance of the Christian revelation, we first naturally ask, What is the temper of mind in which the subject should be studied? To this inquiry an answer may be given from the words of the text, in which our Lord declares, with that solemn asseveration which he frequently used, that "whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein."

Some observations on THIS MEEK AND DOCILE DISPOSITION;-upon THE OBVIOUS WANT OF IT in too many of those who reject Christianity ;-and upon THE CHIEF REASONS which prove its indispensable importance, will occupy the present lecture.

I. The temper of mind here inculcated by our Lord is a simplicity and teachableness resembling

what we observe in children, who in their first infancy are free from guile, and give inplicit credit to what their friends and parents teach them, without suspecting the possibility of any thing being said to the contrary. A child-like temper as to the subject of religion, is a readiness to examine the evidences of the Christian doctrine with candour, and to submit without reserve or objection to the revelation itself, upon its being found to be of divine origin. By requiring this guileless disposition, we by no means prejudge the question, much less do we demand any renunciation of the just authority and powers of human reason-Christianity is consistent with the highest reason. We ask only for such a state of mind as the glorious majesty of God and the weakness of man require; such a temper as is obviously necessary to every serious investigation, and without which, conviction upon a moral and religious subject is impossible.

The characteristics of this temper are docility, seriousness, prayer, obedience-points which natural religion professes to enjoin, and which are therefore held in common by all with whom I am now concerned, and especially by the young Christian.

By DOCILITY I mean an aptitude to receive instruction, a readiness to inquire after the truth of Christianity, a mind not averse from the subject, a willingness to weigh arguments with impartiality, and follow truth with boldness and singleness of heart. Such a noble temper as this appeared in the Beræans, of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles, (and I quote this and other passages now, merely to explain my meaning,) that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."1

But to docility must be added SERIOUSNESS; the attention and earnestness of a mind aroused to

Acts xvii. 11.

some sense of the importance of the inquiry, recollecting the consequences which depend on the question of the truth of Christianity, filled with reverence for the holiness of the great God whose name and glory are involved, and deeply anxious to arrive at satisfaction of mind concerning it. Christianity must not be examined as an abstract, dry, uninteresting question, a matter of mere historical dispute, a doubtful point in chronology, on the determination of which little or nothing depends; but as an inquiry which involves the honour of God, and the present and eternal happiness of man. This earnestness we find described in the scripture in such terms as these, "Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God; thy Spirit is good, lead me into the way of uprightness. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Sirs, what shall I do to be saved? Men and brethren, what shall we do ?” 2

PRAYER to Almighty God must be an attendant on this docile and serious temper. We must not enter upon the inquiry for the display of intellectual acuteness, but with the devotional frame of mind which becomes those who acknowledge the existence and perfections of God, and who profess to believe that it is the duty of a dependent creature like man, to implore his aid and blessing on every undertaking, and more especially upon an inquiry which relates to the solemn revelation of his will. Fervour, humility, the submission of prayer for divine guidance and illumination, in the lowly use of our best faculties, are essential parts of a right disposition of heart.

A PRACTICAL OBEDIENCE to the will of God, so far as it is known, is the last branch of the temper on which we would insist-that course of general conduct which may prove us to be sincere in seeking to know the will of God, that we may do it; a life and

2 Ps. cxliii. 10. Matt. vi. 33. Acts xvi. 30; ii. 37.

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