their talents always fail them. The reason is obvious. No ingenuity or acuteness can prove a coincidence between obliquity and rectitude, between a crooked line and a straight one.

I know not whether the few remaining remarks will be considered as making any addition to the aggregate of evidence already before us. To my own apprehension the accession will not be inconsiderable. Christianity speaks of mankind as we find them. Had it described the human race as generally virtuous, pleased with the character and demands of their Creator, earnest in duty, and comparatively indifferent to private interest; had it described them as generally acting from high and honorable motives, by which I mean, such motives as, if exposed, would do them honor in the estimation of the most able judges in the universe; had it represented that the affections of the human heart were habitually coincident with the dictates of the understanding, great evidence indeed would have been necessary to prove its divinity and truth; for such an account would ill correspond with experience and observation. But the testimony which the Scriptures actually give of the human character, is amply confirmed by all which we feel, see, and hear.

The writers of Scripture inform us that in respect to moral character, some are, by a divine operation, essentially changed; hating what they once loved, and loving what they once despised. It tells us of an active, well-informed enemy and persecutor of the Christian church, suddenly converted to that religion, against which he had previously "breathed out threatenings and slaughter." It speaks of thousands of others, whose character and course of life were essentially altered in a manner less surprising. Now, in all parts of the Christian world, where the purity of the gospel has been in a considerable measure preserved, -in our own country, at every period of it, many events have occurred, between which and those above mentioned, there has been a general, but striking agreement. When we behold persons who were once either heedless of religion, or openly debauched and profane, deeply convinced of their crimes and their danger, afterwards sober, mild, pure, benevolent, and spiritual;

the change is at first appearance, altogether unaccountable and perplexing. But if Christianity is true, all this is precisely as it should be; it is what we have reason to expect.

Persons no way tinctured with enthusiasm or superstition, of powerful intellect, and extensive information, have been brought to entertain, contrary to all their former opinions, just such views of their own corruption, as are given in Scripture, and have found no language so well adapted to express the state of their hearts, as that with which these writings abound.

That these circumstances afford no inconsiderable evidence in favor of the gospel, I am the more convinced when I consider that infidelity and scepticism least prevail, at those times and in those places, where these appearances are most distinct and

numerous.

LECTURE XXII.

EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.-PROPHECY.

EVEN if the consequences of receiving or rejecting the Christian religion, did not extend to a future life, no rational, and certainly no studious person, could be indifferent to its claims. The writings which contain this religion, or prepared the way for it, are of such high and acknowledged antiquity; they relate to subjects on which we can obtain so little information from other sources; they record facts of a nature so extraordinary; and the religion itself has produced such extensive and permanent effects on human society, that curiosity can scarcely be indulged on a subject, more interesting than those evidences which determine whether this religion were from heaven, or of men. But when we consider the full extent of the pretensions which these writings make; that they speak in such a style as this: He that believeth, hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Inattention or contemptuous indifference is inconsistent not only with most obvious duty, but with all principles of prudence and self-love.

You clearly perceive that whatever Christianity is, it is the same to all. If it was designed for the inhabitants of Judea, it is designed for yourselves and for me. I request you, therefore, to search with impartial assiduity, into the evidence on which it rests; and from reading and reflection to form this result, either "Christianity is a divine religion, and I must partake in its unchangeable decisions," or else, "It is not a divine reli

gion, and I am willing deliberately to set its threatenings at defiance." These observations are not made so much from any suspicion that infidelity is prevalent in this institution, as from a fear that the importance of Christianity is not duly estimated. In addition to the evidences of revealed religion, already exhibited, I shall now very briefly consider that which arises from prophecy. This lecture will consist of preliminary remarks.

1. It is evident that the New Testament claims to be supported by prophecy. Characters and events existed when Christ. was on earth, which both he and his apostles considered as having been foretold in former ages. Christ, in conversation with two disciples on their way to Emmaus, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, expounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning himself. It is hence evident that he applied to himself certain passages in the Old Testament which were thought to be prophetical descriptions of Messiah. His apostles proceeded on the same ground. When Peter addressed the Jews, astonished at the miraculous cure performed on the impotent man, he spake of the Christian age as being foretold, or alluded to by all the prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. The Christian church is represented as being built on the foundation of the prophets.

It is evident to any one but moderately acquainted with the Scriptures, that a prophetic spirit had, in the opinion of the writers of the New Testament, been communicated to individuals from the beginning of the world; and that their predictions had relation, either directly or indirectly, to the Christian religion. It would be easy to mention the promise made to our first parents, concerning the ascendancy which the seed of the woman should gain over the serpent; the promise made to Abraham of the extensive blessings which were to be diffused over the world through his seed; the prophecy of Jacob con

cerning Shiloh, and the gathering of the people unto him; the predictions of Balaam, Moses, Isaiah, and his successors.

By this series of prophets were foretold, it is believed, not only the person, character, and sufferings of Christ, but the events which should accompany the establishment of his Gospel. The astonishing effects produced by the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost, were by him considered as the completion of an ancient prophecy of Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.

Nor is it less evident that those predictions which described the fortunes of the Jewish people, and revolutions among other nations, had reference to Christianity. For as the same persons who foretold those national events, likewise described the ministry and sufferings of Christ, it is clear that honor would be done to him and his religion, by the accomplishment of those predictions which were national, as well as those which were personal. Besides, the nations whose affairs were the subject of prophecy, had an important connexion with the Jewish and Christian church. The condition of that community, whether Jewish or Christian, which has been the depositary of divine communications, has been greatly influenced by the fate of the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires.

2. It is reasonable to expect that prophecy should attend a divine revelation. It is not easy to conceive more than two ways in which any person, having received supernatural light, should be able to prove the fact to others. These two ways are miracles and prophecy. Had the most abundant communications been made to the mind of St. Paul, they might to him have been highly edifying and important; but as soon as he began to preach any new doctrine on the ground of those communications, it would be rational and just to require him to show, by something external, that he had received them. Professing to have received new instructions from God, he might with reason, be required to perform works exceeding human power, or else to foretel events evidently beyond human foresight.