DIVINE AUTHORITY.-BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY.-1 TIM. iv. 8. The divine authority of Christianity appears from the Christianity IMPLANTS THOSE PRINCIPLES upon which the welfare of individuals and states depend Christianity has actually BANISHED AN IMMENSE MASS OF The New recognized by sacred writers, as of same autho- The PROMISES made by our Lord, and the GIFTS received by the apostles prove the inspiration Our Lord's promises include inspiration Our Lord's last commission implies it THE CLAIMS MADE BY THE APOSTLES THEMSELVES PROVE The acknowledged facts of the case THE TESTIMONY OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS AGREES WITH PLAN OF INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRIP- TURES, AND REVIEW OF THE WHOLE AR- In order to know the plan on which divine inspiration We must ascertain the EXTENT OF IT, according to the variety of matter which the books contain RECAPITULATION of whole argument from external evi- dences LECTURES. LECTURE I. INTRODUCTION. 1 PETER III. 15. Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Ir is one mark of the truth of our holy religion, that it courts inquiry. Christianity lays open its claims to every one that asks a reason of our faith. It declines no species of fair investigation. The hope of which the apostle here speaks, is a humble confidence of escaping from the deserved wrath of God and of obtaining everlasting life, through the death and resurrection of Christ. For this hope the first Christians cheerfully surrendered all worldly interests and advantages, and braved the terror of persecution and death. It is for substance the same in every age; and the manner in which the Christian renders a reason of it, does not essentially differ. His answer will chiefly relate to the blessings which Christianity communi VOL. I. B cates and the holy effects which it produces, and will dwell on historical and external proofs in proportion as the period in which he lives, and the information of those whom he is anxious to persuade, may require. The hope that is in him will ever be the ultimate object of his reply or APOLOGY.' The outward evidences, though requiring, in some ages of the church, a long detail, will chiefly be adduced as subsidiary and introductory. The Christians of the first century would perhaps assign the reason of their faith in such decisive and energetic terms as these: "We entertain this blessed hope," would the Ephesian or Thessalonian converts say, "because we know that the Son of God has died for the redemption of sinful man, and has risen again from the dead and sent his apostles with the power of miraculous works, to assure us of the truth of his religion. We saw the holy apostles; we beheld their miracles; we have considered well the discourses of Christ, and the proofs he gave of his mission. We ourselves received, upon believing the divine record, the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Besides this, we are in some measure witnesses of the spiritual benefits of the gospel. It has "brought us from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" it has revealed to us the one living and glorious Creator of the universe; it has made known to us the fall and ruin of our nature, and a glorious method of recovery by Jesus Christ. We know, we feel that we are actually delivered from the grossest and most debasing ignorance, idolatry, vice, misery. We cannot, of course, make others understand all this inward power of Christ's religion, till they have received it themselves. But we give them all reasonable satisfaction that the religion is from God, by appealing to the un |