they are looking with an eye of indifference upon our conduct. It may be, that had it not been for the inconsistency which subsists between the profession and practice of Christians, those that have fallen might have yet been standing in the faith; Infidelity might ere this have ceased to blot the moral creation; and all the scattered children of Israel have been numbered in the fold and flock of Christ. But these things you will say have happened according to the word of prophecy. They have. "It must needs be that offences come, but woe be to that man by whom the offence cometh." Let us, then, most diligently study to avoid that woe. Let us humbly examine our hearts, and reflect upon our lives, and strive after perfection. For all the reasons which I have advanced, "let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart also from iniquity."

DISCOURSE VIII.

COLOSS. chap. i. ver. 23.

"Continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard."

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WE have hitherto been occupied in giving a connected and systematic view of the evidences of Christianity, and in endeavouring to point out the particular power of each separate part in supporting and binding up the whole. The miracles, the doctrines, and the life of our Lord, and the prophecies by which the Messiah was described under the law, have passed before our understanding in successive review, and we have been satisfied that each link in the chain has its peculiar office; that they cannot be separated without mutual and material injury both to their beauty and strength; and that though, when singly considered, there is not one which alone and by itself can sustain the whole weight of the

Christian cause, yet that, when they are taken all together, they form as complete a demonstration of the religion of the Gospel, as it is possible to obtain of any moral proposition whatsoever. I have frequently and seriously meditated upon this course of reasoning, and I do solemnly declare that I cannot perceive in it any irrelevant or inconclusive circumstance, which should unsettle our faith in its validity, or move us" away from the hope of the Gospel which ye have heard." But as the subtilty of scepticism has somehow or other contrived to raise an ingenious objection against almost every part of the process, it will be necessary to recapitulate the various arguments of which the scheme is composed, and to consider the several objections as we go along, in order to shew that philosophy has never yet been able to discover any latent fallacy or internal weakness, in that train of evidence which, in its outward semblance at least, appears to be possessed of so much consistency and strength.

1. Having established the credibility of the Evangelists, as witnesses of the works and words of Jesus, we referred, in the first place, to his miracles; and observing: that they were wrought in defence of his claims to a divine commission, we presumed that the power by which he per

formed those miracles, proceeded either immediately or ultimately from God, as the sign and seal of his divine approbation.

Now what is it that our adversaries object to. this conclusion? They tell us that a miracle conveys no absolute proof either of the veracity or of the divine authority of the being by whom it is wrought; but is a mere mark and evidence of his extraordinary knowledge or power. Abstractedly considered, it is impossible for any proposition to be more correct and just than this. Define a miracle in what terms you will. Call it a violation of the laws of nature, with Hume; call it an exception to the laws of nature, with Rousseau; or describe it, more accurately and modestly, as a work beyond the unassisted strength and knowledge of its visible agent to perform, and still without all doubt, when considered merely as a miracle, it is a proof only of its author being endued with some unusual power over the operations of nature, or a more than common insight into her laws. But what of this? It is not from miracles, when separated from their concomitant circumstances, and considered in an abstract and insulated point of view, as mere acts of power; but it is from miracles when viewed in connexion with their circumstances, when viewed in connexion with the pur

pose for which they were advanced, and with their number, and their character, and their tendency, as well as their extraordinary nature, that we judge of the propriety or impropriety of any appeal which is made to them. It is not from their might alone, but it is from the union of might, and mercy, and multitude in the wonderful works of our Lord, combined with the fact of his appeal to them as the signs of his office, that we reason upwards to his divine authority. We argue, and we think we argue justly, thus: We say that it is inconsistent with the fundamental attributes of the Deity to suppose that any event can take place without his especial permission. We then further say, that it is equally irrational to suppose that he will in any instance permit a series of the most astonishing works, works the most congenial to his own benevolent nature, to be continually performed from day to day for the express purpose of deceiving mankind and inducing them to believe that the testimony of Heaven has been given to a lie. But the miracles of Jesus were thus performed from day to day, and, if he was indeed endued with no divine authority, performed for the express pur pose of deceiving mankind and inducing them to believe that the testimony of God had been given to a lie. If , therefore, the religion and pretensions of Jesus had been false, there appears to be a very