ON THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY; CONTAINING AN EXAMINATION OF THE COSOCIAL SYSTEM,22 AND OF ALL THE SYSTEMS OF SCEPTICISM OF ANCIENT AND HELD IN THE CITY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, FROM THE 13th ROBERT OWEN, OF NEW LANARK, SCOTLAND, AND ALEXANDER CAMPBELL O Lord of Hosts! blessed is the man that trusteth in thee! DAVID BETHANY, VA. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY ALEXANDER CAMPBELL. PUBLIC LIBRARY 567549 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA, to wit: BE IT REMEMBERED, That on this cighteenth day of June, Anno Domini 1829, and in the fifty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, Alexander Campbell, of the said District, hath deposited in my office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words and figures following, to wit: "Debate on the Evidences of Christianity; containing an Examination of the "Social System," and of all the systems of Scepticism of ancient and modern times: held in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, from the 13th to the 21st of April, 1829, between Robert Owen, of New Lanark, Scotland, and Alexander Campbell, of Bethany, Virginia. Reported by Charles H. Sims, Stenographer. With an Appendix, written by the parties." "What then is unbelief?-'Tis an exploit, A strenuous enterprize. To gain it man Parts, like half sentences, confound. Read his whole volume, Sceptic, then reply!". YOUNG. "O Lord of Hosts! blessed is the man who trusteth in thee!"-DAVID. Bethany, Va. Printed and published by Alexander Campbell. 1829.” In conformity to an Act of the Congress of the United States of America, entitled "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned:" And also, to an Act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an Act, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." JASPER YEATES DODDRIDGE, Clerk of the Western District of Virginia. PREFACE. THERE is a charm in the number three, to which authors, phi losophers, poets, and divines, are not insensible. Every sentence of a rhetorical cast must have three members, and every noun substantive requires three adjectives to make it expressive, elegant, and sonorous. Hence the good old style of having a preface, introduction, and dedication prefixed to every volume. With the first and second of these we may dispense, as the first speech of each dispu tant is a sort of preface and introduction for himself. And were 1 to think of a dedication of this volume, I would be constrained to dedicate it to the whole human family, if I were to be guided by the grand principles of that diffusive benevolence which the side of the question on which I stand suggests. But were I to imitate the inventors of dedications, and select some person to whose auspices I could consign this book, I should be unable to find any one individual to whose pre-eminent virtues I could exclusively inscribe it. But if either the urbanity, hospitality, and public spirit of a particular city; or if the orderly behavior, and christian deportment of any one congregation, made it necessary for a publisher, such as I am, to inscribe a volume in commendation of one, or other, or both, the city of Cincinnati, and that congregation which for eight days patiently attended upon the discussion, would present claims which neither logic with all its rules of reason, nor rhetoric with all its arts of persuasion, could set aside. But again something whispers in my ear if any seven reasons would justify the inscription of this work to any seven gentlemen, to the exclusion of all other persons, for any special attentions paid to the cause, the parties, and the public, the Honorable Judge Burnet, Major Daniel Gano, Col. Francis Carr, Rev, Timothy Flint, Rev. Oliver Spencer, Henry Starr, Esq. and Col. Samuel W. Davis, are entitled to it for the attentive and dignified manner in which they presided over this discussion. But as there are so many considerations presenting rival calls upon my pen for a special dedication, I must either depart from old usage or take some comprehensive, all-embracing sweep, and dedicate it to every saint and sinner into whose hands it. may fall. But I cannot so easily dispense with apologies as with dedications? for the loose and diffuse style of my speeches requires an apology from myself, as well as a liberal share of indulgence from the learned reader. Being always an extemporaneous speaker, and, on this occasion, every speech of mine, with the exception of the first one, being unpremeditated, many redundancies, expletives, and other inaccuracies in arrangement may be expected, and, I hope, pardoned. Extemporaneous speakers are generally diffuse in their style, and defective in their arrangement. This is, for the most part, unavoidable; and more especially when a very promiscuous assembly is |