tianity; our whole history, since we have known the gospel, has been a putting its claims to a practical

test.

If questioned concerning its truth now, or in after life, or in the solemn hour of death, let our humble, yet thankful declaration concerning it invariably be, (6 WHEREOF WE ALL ARE WITNESSES." 29

29 Acts ii. 32.

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LECTURE XXI.

THE VANITY AND FUTILITY OF THE OBJECTIONS BROUGHT AGAINST THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

2 PETER iii. 3, 4, 8, 9.

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts; and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

years,

and

IT is impossible to pass over entirely, in a work like the present, the objections which unbelievers advance against the Christian faith. So holy and humiliating a Revelation must, of course, meet with much resistance in the pride and passions of erring man; and this resistance will be in proportion to the magnitude of the discoveries, the incomprehensibility of the mys

teries, and the purity of the precepts which the religion contains.

We might, perhaps, in strict reasoning, dismiss these objections with a very few remarks; for we have, from the first, required in the student of the evidences, a docile and candid mind;' and the faith with which the Revelation is to be received, as we shall show in a following lecture,2 implies a victory over interposing doubts. But we rather prefer entering upon the subject, both because Satan, the great spiritual adversary, chiefly works by the injection of difficulties into the mind, and because, in an age of literary and scientific inquiry like the present, the young are peculiarly open to the shafts of ridicule and scorn.

We enter, therefore, on the subject; and we hope to prove that the slightest review of the main objections of unbelievers, and of their lives and deaths, as compared with those of sincere Christians, will not only leave the evidences in favour of our religion untouched, but will furnish a strong subsidiary argument in support of them. We shall be enabled, we trust, not only to defend our own fortress, but to storm that of the enemy to take possession of his arms-turn them against himself, and complete his overthrow by the means of his own weapons.

In the present Lecture we shall consider THE OBJECTIONS THEMSELVES; in the following, THE Lives AND DEATHS of those who advance them.

In both, we shall most especially need the aid of Almighty God, to remove prejudices from our understandings, and to sway our hearts; for nothing can convince a prejudiced mind; the medium of persuasion is wanting. Unless, therefore, we humbly implore the influence of God's grace in our study of this subject, it will be impossible for us to attain any solid satisfaction.

Lect. II.

2 Lect. XXIII.

3

How, then, shall we best treat the question of THE OBJECTIONS THEMSELVES? We cannot, perhaps, do better than by acting as we did in the case of the Tendency of Christianity. We then adverted to the subjects most nearly allied to the one which was before us; and considered how a tendency was demonstrated in the instances of reason, of moral virtue, and of natural religion. In like manner, let us now begin, by considering how the speculative objections, which men raise against one or more of these principles, are treated.

The beneficial effects of moral virtue on the happiness of man are admitted; facts prove it; concurring testimony of all kinds sustains the case; experience confirms it daily.

The natural government of God in the world is propounded upon the footing of innumerable traces of design and contrivance, of goodness, and of provision for man, in the works of creation and providence.

The obligation of religion, as unquestionably due from man to God, his Creator, Benefactor, Judge, is asserted; conscience, the final causes of things, a retributive providence, the very powers and faculties of man, prove the truth.

Now, objections are perpetually raised against these elementary principles. And how are they met? The objections are divided into two classes. If they are advanced by candid inquirers, with an apparent desire of attaining to truth; if they seem to rest on fact and experience; if they are directed with fairness against the evidences of the principle in question; if they are consistent with each other, and urged temperately and calmly; if, in short, they appear to carry any force with them, when fairly stated-they are then considered with care, and answered cautiously and solidly by the detection of the fallacies contained in them,

3 Lect. XVIII.

and by the adduction of more decisive and overwhelming facts and reasonings.

But if the objections are urged with no apparent desire of attaining truth; if they are merely speculative; if they are directed not against the proofs, but against the matter of the principles which the proofs go to establish; if they are contradictory with themselves, and put intemperately and unfairly; and if, after all, they are found to be merely cavils, the offspring of human ignorance or pride, they are altogether disregardled-theory against positive facts is considered to be of no avail-barren conjectures against the experience of mankind, are accounted worse than folly.

Let us, then, proceed in this manner with the objections against Christianity. Let us divide them into two classes. Let the doubts advanced modestly and fairly by the sincere inquirer, be tenderly treated and diligently examined. This is what we have been aiming at throughout this work. But let the cavils and objections of the presumptuous and overbearing be met with a decided protest against their whole spirit and aim. This is what we shall now attempt; and, in doing so, shall endeavour to render some further aid to the young and inexperienced Christian. For the unreasonable objections of the sceptic, by which he attempts to poison the minds of the uninformed, will be found to resolve themselves into those very risings of pride and vain curiosity which are natural to the fallen heart of man, which every Christian feels, and feels continually; but which he outweighs by contrary considerations, and subdues by the influences of grace and the persuasion arising from a solid experience of the effects of Christianity on his heart and life.

We shall show then, first, that the objections of infidelity are, for the most part, speculative opinions, directed not against the evidences, but the matter of