treatises. They are satisfied. But such a conviction gives nothing of that warm and holy persuasion of the truth of God, which an inward obedience to the gospel, and a trial of its promises, would produce. The writers know nothing of these things; perhaps nothing of the main doctrines of the incarnation and sacrifice of Christ. The reader rests contented with a general faith- -a sort of negative belief—a state of mind neither pleasing to God nor consolatory to man.

But if young people are directed from the first to consider outward evidences as introductory to internal, and all as leading to a personal experience of the power of Christianity, the result is totally different. When this divine glory and excellency of the gospel is felt, and not before, men hold to Christianity as their sheet-anchor, as their joy, their treasure, their boast all the day. They do not let its peculiarities be hidden through false shame; they do not defend it merely as a political engine for the good order of society. They feel that there is a convincing, a subduing power in God's word, which mere schoolmen cannot understand and do not approve; but which the true Christian feels and knows. Neither his reason nor the authority of men have created the belief he has of the truth of the word of God. His reason is satisfied, indeed, and in harmony with its statements, but does not establish its truth. It is the divine glory of redemption, the actual enjoyment and fulfilment of the promises, the real healing of his soul, his communion with God as a father, which commends the gospel to him. As the mirror, brightly polished and cleansed, is fitted to reflect the splendour of the skies; so is his understanding to the truth of the Scriptures, which, as a heavenly and independent sun of glory, darts upon his mind its holy rays, with such a strength and efficacy, that he believes and receives from it what his reason could never have conceived, nor historical arguments have described.

1 The discoveries of the Bible concerning the Almighty, his perfections, his grace, his redemption in Christ Jesus and the new-creating energy of his Spirit, are now brought near to his heart, by an inward and personal experience, though they still lift up themselves above the reach of his intellectual powers, which wind about their heights, as the traveller about the inaccessible summits of arduous mountains which he silently contemplates and admires. 35

Here, then, we close the argument. In our next Lecture we shall offer some DIRECTIONS to the serious inquirer when entering upon the investigation for himself.

In the mean time, I appeal to all sincere Christians before me, and I ask them whether I have overstated the NATURE of this argument, its SCRIPTURAL AUTHORITY, the facts on which it rests, or its SINGULAR IMPORTANCE? You know the excellency and grace of Christianity. You know the way in which it has answered all its promises to you, and fulfilled all the expectations it has raised. You know the peace, the tranquillity of conscience, the love of God and Christ, which it has shed forth in your mind. You are making further trial daily of the truth of its declarations. You are assured, by your own inward experience, that it is no cunningly devised fable which you have followed; no cold theory of morals; no abstract discovery of the being and attributes and worship of Almighty God. No! It is the life-giving and animating communion of the Saviour with the heart-it is the participation of a new nature-it is the Holy Spirit indwelling in the soul-it is an emanation of the holiness and felicity of God himself—it is the drinking at the divine fountain of bliss and joy—

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35 Dr. C. Malan.

it is the anticipation and pledge of the heavenly happiness.

And how natural it is that this species of evidence shouldc lose the various orders of proof, which, like lofty and substantial columns, sustain on every side the Christian edifice! It is altogether in the usual method of the divine dealings with man. There are primary discoveries and impressions which attend the first essays in any science, and there are ulterior and more ripened views which spring from longer attention to phenomena, more careful study, and a richer furniture of knowledge. A man believes the facts of the Newtonian philosophy in youth, from the testimony of others, and a slight acquaintance with a few obvious principles and a few striking experiments. If, however, he give his mind to the pursuit, and spend his life in gathering facts, collecting observations, and applying the results of mathematical science to a sound philosophical analysis, he acquires, in a course of years, a far wider, and more accurate and more practical knowledge of the great subject a knowledge, not different in kind, but vastly more exalted in degree, more mellowed into a ripened conviction, and more united with all the habits and associations of his mind, than he could have at first.

It is so in Christianity. The outward evidences are designed for those who are not in a state of mind to receive other grounds of belief. These strike the attention. Like the miracles of which they are the record, they call up men's thoughts to the interfering hand of the Almighty, and to the divine Revelation for which he thus displays his power. When these evidences are admitted and acted upon, the internal proofs open to the mind, to confirm the faith and increase the attachment already produced. And after the contemplation of the interior constitution of the religion, the divine excellency of the things revealed

in themselves, and the peculiar effects which they produce upon the heart, complete the proof and give an inward witness to the truth of Christianity, which rises as much above every other, as experience surpasses knowledge; deliverance and safety, mere barren persuasion; and the life of God in the soul, those means of belief and salvation, which, without that life, will in truth only increase our guilt and aggravate our condemnation.

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LECTURE XX.

PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE TEST TO WHICH MEN MAY BRING THE CHRISTIAN REVELATION.

PSALM XXXiv. 8.

O taste and see that the Lord is good.

WE now come to address those who are anxious to make the trial for themselves of the promises which Christianity holds out to the humble inquirer. We have already described the nature of the argument; have established its authority by a reference to the Holy Scriptures; have stated the facts in real life which support every part of the statement, and have shown the singular importance of the result educed.

But the question is so infinitely important, and yet so open to difficulties in its practical application, both from the corruption of man and the busy arts of the great spiritual adversary Satan, that I am anxious to offer, in the present Lecture, some DIRECTIONS to those who may be disposed sincerely to enter upon the inquiry.

And here I would first point out the characters which I have now especially in view.