from its external evidences, that it has a divine origin.

It is in this manner we reason as to the works of nature and providence. When once we have admitted the being and perfections of an all-wise Creator, from the grandeur and contrivance and harmony pervading the general order of creation, we conclude that the unnumbered parts of it which we do not yet understand, are good, because they come from the same divine hand. Thus also, when we have once received a divine revelation on its undoubted miraculous proofs, we are bound to conclude that all the matter of it is good and right, because it comes from the God of truth and holiness.

It is necessary to observe, however, here,-what will be obvious to every considerate person,-that the internal evidences do not arise from all the parts of revelation; but from those which are level in some measure to our comprehension, or addressed to our experience. They do not spring from the matter of revelation as it respects the being, subsistence, and will of the ever-blessed God; his purposes, his permission of this or that course of things, his choice of this or that method of recovering man. These are quite out of our sight. We have no data to proceed upon, and therefore can know nothing. They are of the nature of discoveries, and are made to us from a system of things of which an infinite Being is the author. We receive these implicitly on the footing of the external evidence, and there we leave them; except as any inferences drawn from them may bear upon our duty and hopes.

But internal evidence arises from the matter of revelation as it respects the SUITABLENESS OF THE RELIGION, in its practical bearings, to the obvious wants of man; as it regards the display of the moral attributes 6 Bishop Gibson.

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8 Present Lecture..

7 Davison.

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of the Supreme Being in the DOCTRINES REVEALED; as it appears in the EXCELLENCY OF THE RULE OF MORAL DUTY; 10 as it is beheld in the INIMITABLE EXAMPLE OF OUR LORD;" as it is viewed in the TENDENCY OF REVELATION TO PROMOTE IN THE HIGHEST DEGREE HUMAN HAPPINESS; as it proposes A TEST TO WHICH EVERY ONE MAY BRING IT, BY SUBMITTING ΤΟ ITS DIRECTIONS, AND MAKING A TRIAL OF ITS PROMISED BLESSINGS.13

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In these respects we have data to go upon. We have feelings; we are capable of judging in some respects of moral causes and consequences; we have means of tracing out the same indications of divine wisdom, the same holy ends and contrivances in the gospel, as we find in the general providential government of God in the world. We are thus applying the revelation to its proper purposes, considering it according to its own principles and structure, and advancing in our knowledge and admiration of its various parts.

This evidence is most important. It might indeed have pleased God, so far as we can judge, to give us a revelation so elevated in all its parts, as to furnish no internal evidences, or very slight ones, in the sense in which we now understand the term. We should have been still obliged to receive and obey it with humble thankfulness, and wait for the reasons of things in a future world. But it has pleased God to grant us a revelation, from many branches of which internal tes-' timonies flow in rich abundance; and we have only to put them in their due place, and use them for their proper ends, in order to derive all the advantages they' were designed to convey.

The external evidences are first in point of time, and superior in respect of authority; they are as the

9 Lect. XV.

11 Lect. XVII.

10 Lect. XVI.

12 Lect. XVIII.

13 Lect. XIX, and XX.

outward credentials of an act of a human legislature, proving the source whence it emanates, and the obligation which it imposes.

The internal evidences are second in point of time, and subsidiary as it regards the divine authority of revelation-they spring from the excellent and appropriate contents of the law itself.

But though the internal proofs are second in point of time, they have a force peculiar to themselves, and such as no human laws can claim. For as revelation proceeds from the infinitely wise God, and relates to the eternal salvation of mankind, the matter of it must have a perfection and an interest far surpassing all that the wisest acts of human legislation can possess.

The internal evidences, in fact, raise us from the mere conviction of truth, to the love and admiration of it. The external proofs are addressed to mankind generally, to awaken their attention; the internal, to disciples who have already received the religion, and have a confidence in all its declarations. The external evidences prove that the religion is obligatory; the internal show that it is good. The one attests the authority of the divine Legislator; the other proves to us the wisdom and efficacy of his enact

ments.

The internal evidences are, therefore, in some respects, of a more satisfactory kind, and bring more repose to the inmost soul of man than the external. The one makes an impression upon the understanding through the medium of the senses; the other upon the heart, by means of its best affections and hopes. To know that a revelation is come from God, is one thing; to perceive its divine excellency, and feel its salutary effects, is another.

The internal evidences are also more intelligible to the great mass of Christians. They can understand, indeed, sufficiently, as we have shown, the external evidences, When the case is laid before them on

the testimony of the great body of learned and enlightened men, whom they are accustomed, in all their most important concerns, to trust, they can perceive the general force of the accumulated and uncontradicted facts. Still they cannot receive fully and adequately all the parts of the question, because this requires a preparation of historical knowledge, habits of critical inquiry, and a good acquaintance with the general laws of reasoning and the course of events throughout the different ages of time. But to understand and feel the internal evidences, demands only a sincere and lowly mind. The humblest peasant can discern, in the starry firmament, the marks of the wisdom and glory of God; though the philosopher alone can demonstrate the laws of the planetary system.

Nor is there any thing more calculated to confirm the faith of young persons, and fix them in the love and obedience of the gospel, than a persuasion of the unspeakable excellency of the matter of it. For, though we ought to receive with implicit belief a revelation which is once proved to have come from God; yet, such is the nature of man, that he always follows what he considers to be good, rather than what he is merely convinced to be true.

The internal evidences, therefore, are amongst the chief inducements to faith in every age. It is indeed an unspeakable act of divine goodness, first to surround Revelation with the majestic glories of miracles and prophecies; and to fix immovably our faith afterwards, by the display of all its softer moral beauties of holiness and grace.

Infidelity will never be silenced in Christian countries, till we unite more closely the internal with the external evidences-till we honour God in the excellencies of his revelation-till we make the extrinsic an entrance to the intrinsic proofs -till, having shown men the elevation and proportions of the Temple

from without, we display to them the beauties of its structure and use from within. The two branches of proof leave men, where Christianity when first promulgated left them-convinced of the authority of Revelation by the miracles and prophecies, and then contemplating and adoring the infinite perfections of

its contents.

We proceed, then, to consider the first branch of Internal Evidences,

THE SUITABLENESS OF THE CHRISTIAN REVELATION TO THE OBVIOUS STATE AND WANTS OF MAN AS AN IGNORANT AND SINFUL CREATURE.

Contrivance for the benefit of man, pervades the works of God in creation. The world was made for such a being as man, and no other. The order of the seasons, the necessity of labour and forethought to make the earth fruitful; the warnings-the natural warnings-given us of the consequences of such and such conduct; the prospective arrangements and compensations apparent in the daily order of human events, are parts of God's moral government which are adapted to man, to his accountableness, to his capacities of observation, to his various faculties and powers.

The natural world, also, is suited to his peculiar wants and his means of receiving knowledge: the light is adapted to his eye-the beauties around him to his perceptions of pleasure-the products of the earth, to his various appetites and necessities-the remedies with which nature abounds, to his diseases.

All is adaptation to his circumstances, in the world around him and in the providential government of God: all affects his relation with other men as a moral and social being-all has an influence on the principle of self-preservation, and the pursuit of happiness implanted in his breast by the Almighty.

Man perceives and admires this suitableness: it is

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