CHRISTIAN'S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. 197 CARSON S Tract, is a more express acknowledgment of the work of the Holy Spirit, both in persuading a man to receive the gospel at first, and enabling him to hold by it, and to grow in spiritual fruitfulness through the use of it, afterwards. I have no doubt that the writer holds this doctrine as strongly as I do; but it is well to bring it out, and to remember that, beautiful as the gospel is in itself, and finely adapted to our wants, and established on the most irresistible evidence, still such is the depravity of man, he will not receive it, except constrained by the Almighty power of the Spirit of God. SIR, YOUR late conspicuous opposition to the Scriptures, has induced me to suggest to you a few thoughts on the evidence of the gospel. Though I consider you a most determined enemy to Jesus my Lord, my hope and my glory, you shall from me meet with none of that illiberal abuse, with which you are sometimes treated: I view you on the verge of eternal misery, and would gladly be the means of showing you the refuge of the guilty. Jesus died for his enemies, and Richard Carlile cannot be more hostile to the doctrine of the cross, than was Saul of Tarsus. Jesus has the hearts of all men in his hands; and should he open your eyes, your rebellion would be instantly subdued, and instead of reviling his word, your language would be, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" It could not then serve my purpose to undervalue your understanding, or endeavour to bring your motives into suspicion. Should you even die in blaspheming the truth, a Christian has no disposition to revile you. From my soul I pity the man who loses both worlds by his error. Permit me then, Sir, to bespeak your candid attention to what I shall submit. You must grant, that to determine correctly on this subject is a matter of the utmost importance. If the gospel is true, eternal damnation is the inevitable doom of all who believe it not. It is not then the part of a rational man to neglect to examine its pretences, or to reject it on slight consideration. To enter on the investigation of the subject determined to oppose, manifests the highest temerity. Yet, Sir, permit me to observe, that in the writings of all the infidels with which I am acquainted, there is a total want of candid discussion. Their rancorous hatred of the God of the Scriptures, urges them to endeavour to prove them untrue. 66 Yet there is a timid acquiescence in the truth of Christianity as little to be approved. Many declaimers against infidelity cry out, Why rob us of our pleasing hopes, even though vain? Why awake us from our dreams of future felicity? Let us enjoy our consoling delusions. It is cruel to deprive us of the only alleviation of human misery." This is not the language of any man who understands the evidence of the gospel it is not the language of reason. The belief of imposture can never be useful: to expose imposture cannot be criminal. If the Scriptures are a forgery, let them by candid reasoning be proved to be such. The God of truth cannot need the assistance of lies in the management of his empire. It is not my intention to undertake a defence of Christianity from all the sources of its evidence. No truth ever communicated to the world recommends itself by such a variety of means of proof. Each of these is worthy of full exhibition by those who have leisure for the task. But of all proofs the most satisfactory to a Christian are found in the Scriptures themselves. These are open to the inspection of all, and level to the meanest capacity. I shall not, however, attempt to exhibit the general evidence that appears in the Scriptures, attesting their Divine original. Even this branch of the subject would require volumes to do it justice. I shall confine myself to a single point. I undertake to prove the gospel to be true from its own nature. I maintain that the way of salvation which it proclaims, gives such a character of God, as to demonstrate its own truth; and that, were it to be found in an island, without any other testimony, it is entitled to acceptance with the fullest confidence. Those who should reject it, even in these circumstances, would reject it to their own just condemnation. No man who candidly examines the witness now at the bar, and discerns the import of his testimony, can withhold his conviction, that said witness is acquainted with the true God, and commissioned to declare him to the world. All the attributes of the Divine character are displayed in the Scriptures, in a manner infinitely more glorious than the representations of them by the wisest of the human race. Granting that the ancient philosophers had some glimmerings of the unity, power, and immensity of God, they never gave the slightest hint for the illustration of those Divine attributes which most concern the happiness of man. The God that philosophy now boasts has been principally stolen from the Scriptures. But we need not rest any thing on what, it appears from their writings, philosophers did not know: we are warranted in asserting, that the Scriptures give views of the Divine character, perfectly rational, yet utterly unattainable from a view of the works of creation. Not only were some parts of the Divine character previously unknown; they are still to be seen in no other light than that of the gos pel. On the knowledge of these attributes depends the happiness of man. I shall begin with justice. JUSTICE. The infinite justice of God is to be seen in no other view than in the redemption of sinners through the atonement. No other plan of salvation has ever attempted to show God to be perfectly just. Every system, so far as it admits guilt in men, must view God as deficient in justice, if he saves them. Now, if all the human race are finally to be happy without atonement to justice, God must be unjust in proportion to the aggregate amount of human guilt. Do you believe yourself to be in any measure guilty before God? How do you expect to free yourself from your guilt? Do you believe that the good you have done will compensate for the evil? Granting that your whole life had been a course of the highest virtue, with a single slight exception, all your goodness could not make amends for that single exception. I do not now speak from the authority of the Scriptures: I speak from reason. Is not the Author of your existence entitled to your perfect obedience? Can you do more than your duty? When you have done all, are you not an unprofitable servant? The best actions have nothing to spare for the covering of the sin. Would this pay a debt to any earthly creditor? Should any one produce to you nine good shillings with one bad one, would you accept it in payment for ten shillings? Should this person urge that as there were so many good shillings, and but a single bad one, you ought to receive the latter for the sake of the former, would you not think him either a knave or a fool? And will you venture to meet God on similar ground? You hope to escape punishment though you are not sinless; your God then is unjust. But, perhaps you will say, that as God is merciful as well as just, mercy will temper justice, and make it abate something of its demands. Granting for a moment that this is the case, I say again, your God is unjust. So far as his mercy bears down his justice, there is an inconsistency and opposition in his attributes, and the former robs the latter of its right. Your God is at war with himself, and the quarrel among his attributes, can be settled only by compromise. Will you say, that temporary punishment on yourself, either here or hereafter, will atone for your guilt? Where do you learn this? Is it a self-evident truth? But granting it to be true, if your God exacts full punishment from all, he is a God without mercy. The God of the Scriptures is the only God who is perfectly just, while he has mercy upon sinners. Now, Sir, I entreat you to consider how illustriously justice shines in the salvation of guilty men through the atonement made by the blood of Jesus Christ. Every scheme of salvation devised by human wisdom, leaves the sinner in arrear to justice. The claims of this Divine attribute are never 'perfectly respected. Here is a plan of salvation that gives infinite justice all its own. Instead of derogating from justice, the redemption of sinners by Christ, has magnified the law, and made it honourable. The eternal damnation of all mankind would not have done such honour to the law of God, nor have rendered his justice so illustrious. In the atonement of Christ, justice has a full compensation, which it never could have had in the punishment of the sinner himself. They who shall suffer for their sins, shall never have paid off the debt. What can be more honourable to the law of God, than that nothing less than the blood of his own Son could free from the wrath due to the breach of it? The infinitely worthy Sacrifice gave justice a full remuneration. Here is justice in perfection. What a solid ground of confidence does this |