limits of human life. But the knowledge of a Chriftian takes a more exalted and a more certain aim; it refpects a degree of felicity, which exceeds our utmoft powers of conception, and a fituation of pleasure and delight without alloy, and without end-It relates to a state of exiftence, when the fpirits of the juft will be made perfect, and the tranfcendent blifs of angels will be imparted to glorified and immortal man.

Such being the excellence of Christianity, and fuch the important end, which it propofes, every perfon, who defires to be fully acquainted with divine truth, and to build his happiness upon the moft folid basis, will take, with the greatest fatisfaction, a particular and distinct view of its nature and evidences. Then will he avoid the imputation of being a Chriftian merely in compliance with the prejudices of his parents, or the cuftoms of his native country; and he will become one in confequence of a proper examination, and a rational preference. His conviction of its truth will then

be

b Were a man defigned onely, like a flie, to buzz about here for a time, fucking in the air, and licking the dew, then soon to vanish back into nothing, or to be transformed into worms; how forry and defpicable a thing were he? And fuch, without religion, we fhould be. But it fupplieth us with bufinefs of a moft worthy nature, and lofty importance; it fetteth us upon doing things great and noble as can be; it engageth us to free our minds from all fond conceits, and cleanfe our hearts from all *corrupt affections; to curb our brutifh appetites, to tame our wild paffions, to correct our perverfe inclinations, to conform the dif

pofitions

be folid and clear; he will plainly perceive the ftrength of its foundations, and fully understand the extent of its advantages: he will be perfuaded that it bears the character and ftamp of Divinity, and that it has every claim to the reception of mankind, which a divine Revelation can reafonably be expected to poffefs.

The proofs of the truth of the Chriftian Revelation are numerous, clear, and conclufive. The moft obvious and ftriking are thofe which arife; I. From the AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. II. THE CHARACTER OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR. III. THE PROPHECIES of which he was the fubject, as well as thofe which he delivered. IV. HIS MIRACLES. V. THE SUBLIME MORALITY OF HIS PRECEPTS. And, VI. THE RAPID AND EXTENSIVE PROPAGATION OF HIS RELIGION under circumftances the most hoftile to its advancement. Thefe, together with fome remarks on the futile objections of Unbelievers, and a concluding exhortation to perfeverance in the duties of our holy religion, will form the fubjects of this and the following chapter.

pofitions of our foul, and the actions of our life to the eternal laws of righteoufnefs and goodness: it putteth us upon the imitation of God, and aiming at the refemblance of his perfections; upon obtaining a friendship, and maintaining a correspondence with the High and Holy one; upon fitting our minds for converfation and fociety with the wifeft and pureft fpirits above; upon pro viding for an immortal state; upon the acquist of joy and glery Everlasting." Barrow's Sermons, vol. 1. ferm. iii. P. 36.

1. The Authenticity of the Books of the
New Teftament.

The New Teftament is the fource, from which the knowledge of the Chriftian fyftem is derived. That the Gospels and the Acts of the Apoftles were written by St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, neither Gentiles nor Jews have ever been fo hardy as to deny. The Epiftle to the Hebrews indeed, the fecond Epiftle of St. Peter, the Epiftles of St. James and St. Jude, and two of the Epiftles and the Revelation of St. John, were not received at firft by all the congregations of Chriftians. As foon however as their authenticity was made known, they were admitted into the Canon of Scripture. That the Gofpels are the fame in every article of importance, as they were when firft published by their respective authors, there can be no doubt; as they have been preferved through every fucceffive age with the greatest care. From the time of the Apoftles to the prefent hour, even those fects of Chriftians, that have been the most at variance upon other points, have concurred in guarding them with equal diligence, and have held them in equal veneration. The proofs of their genuineness are more numerous than can be adduced in favour of any other ancient writings. Every relation of a fact is marked by the moft exact detail of names, perfons, times, and places, that can in any degree throw light upon the fubject, and eftablith its truth. The hiftory, the manners, and the opinions

opinions of the times, as they may be collected from all other accounts, agree with the narratives of the facred Writers, and confirm their general veracity. The Evangelifts were placed in fituations the most favourable for obtaining complete and authentic information. St. Matthew and St. John, two of the difciples of our Lord, heard his divine inftructions from his own mouth, beheld his aftonishing miracles, and attended him during the whole courfe of his miniftry. They drew their accounts from an intimate knowledge of perfons, and a ively recollection of facts. St. Mark and St, Luke are entitled to all the credit of contemporary Biographers, as they were enabled to trace the truth to its fource, in confequence of living in habits of the clofeft intimacy with thofe who had feen and converfed with our Lord. Few of those hiftorians, whose works we moft efteem, and whofe fidelity we moft refpect, were fo nearly connected with the fubject of their writings, or poffeffed fuch ample means of genuine information. Any one of the Evangelifts was perfectly well qualified to record the Hiftory of Chrift, and to fatisfy us upon his own credit only: and all of them taken together, and combining their accumulated.ftrength, form a body of evidence fufficient to remove the fcruples of every candid mind, and to establish the truth upon a folid and lafting foundation.

We may affert with the most perfect confidence and truth, that fo far from there being any traces extant of a Hiftory of Chrift and his followers, con

tradictory to that of the Evangelifts, there is not a contemporary, or a fubfequent writer, whether Jewish or Pagan, who adverts to the subject at all, who does not confirm the leading facts of the Gospel History.

The New Teftament likewife contains Epiftles written by the holy perfons, who were engaged in preaching the Gofpel immediately after the af cenfion of their divine Mafter. These Epiftles refer continually to the original facts contained in the Gospels, and confirm their truth. A perfect harmony of defign is evident both in the one and the other. They prefcribe the fame rule of faith.— They inculcate the fame articles to be believed, and the fame precepts to be obeyed. They contain many ftriking references to the labours, which St. Paul, the great Apoftle of the Gentiles, underwent ; and the peculiar energy and carneftnefs, with which he addreffed his converts, have all the marks of feriouinefs and fincerity, which can give to any writings whatever the ftamp of originality. All thefe Epiftles, when taken together, are not to be

с

See the animated and affecting defeription of his sufferings, 2 Cor. xi. &c.

The proofs of the genuineness of his Epistles deduced from remarkable coincidences, and clofe though not ftudied connexion with the Gofpel Hiftory, as well as from allufions to particular incidents, perfons, times, and places, are fated by Dr. Paley, with great precision and clearness. See more particularly his Hora Faulinæ, p. 11, 14, 34, 169, 216, 312. He concludes with a fhort view of the external Evidence, p. 386, 403. And gives fome ftriking remarks on the Talents, Character, and Conduct of St. Paul, p. 411.

confidered