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spirit of man. He has departed from "the fountain of living waters," and the entire range of creature enjoyment has proved but a broken cistern to him. He is not, indeed, rightly affected with the true nature of his malady, nor does he properly appreciate the means by which his peace and happiness may be restored; but he is in that precise state in which, if he will open the revelation of God, and prayerfully examine its contents, he will find the very blessings after which he sighs, and in the application of them will perceive that the Author of his being is also the God of his salvation.

In the promise of a Saviour, divinely accomplished in the fulness of time, and in the propitiatory sacrifice of the cross, we behold a scheme which bears along with it indubitable proofs of its conformity to the character of God, and of its adaptation to the guilt and necessity of man. It is so far, indeed, above all his natural conceptions of a divine interposition, that it may well be styled "the wisdom of God "* but it is at the same time so

in a mystery;'

* 1 Cor. ii. 7.

exquisitely adjusted to his moral relations, and to the moral catastrophe in which he is involved, that he has only to open his eyes that he may see, and his heart that he may feel. The problem of his salvation is here solved, while the claims of the moral governor remain unimpaired. His conscience tells him that he is a transgressor; but it suggests no effectual method of escape from merited condemnation. But Christianity points him to "the blood of the Lamb," to the "one offering" of Jesus Christ, "for the sins of the people." He feels that he is at a fearful moral distance from God; but he sees in the method of his reconciliation the means whereby his nature may be reclaimed, and learns that a heart all rebellion may be drawn by the mighty attractions of divine love into the habit of cheerful, unreserved, and filial obedience.

To doubt that such a scheme,-so perfect in its conformity to all that we connect with the infinitely pure Spirit, and so admirably adapted to the nature, condition, and prospects of man, -to doubt that such a scheme is from heaven,

is to do violence to the surest inductions of enlightened reason, to turn a deaf ear to the voice of conscience, and obstinately to lose sight of a coincidence which distinctly shews that the nature of man and the means of his redemption lay claim to a common origin.

Without the provisions of the Bible, man is a wanderer and an outcast. He beholds, in some measure, his responsibility and his guilt; but he has no well defined prospect of how it may fare with him when his body goes down to the dust. He feels that this world is a wilderness, and all its inhabitants mourners; but he is unable to solace himself in the prospect of a blessed immortality. He finds himself the subject of indefinite forebodings, and discovers nothing in the wide range of created nature that can fill up the desires of a mind distanced from its native element; but how to impart a fixed character to his hopes, and how to satisfy his enlarged desires, he knows not. Let him turn, then, to the wellsprings of salvation, let him view the character of God as set forth in the doctrine of the gospel, let him examine for himself the great mystery of

godliness, let him yield up his whole soul to the impression of redeeming love, let him implore the spirit of Christ to unfold the infinite grace and loveliness of his character, let him bow down his reason to the verities of the cross,then will his guilt subside, his fears vanish, his prospects brighten; then will his soul glow with ardent love to God; then will the darkness which broods over the scenes of earth be scattered; then will the truth of revelation be felt; then will the self-evidencing power of the gospel be verified; and then will the proud objector be converted into a "little child," and the vain disputer into a meek and humble disciple of the Son of God.

SECTION II.

THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.

By the external evidences of Christianity we are to understand those attestations to its divine origin which have been either directly vouchsafed from heaven, or which may be infallibly traced in its early success and in its great moral

results. And if, by an impartial survey of

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the various topics connected with internal evidence, we are compelled to admit the presumptuous boldness of those who can disburden their minds of all apprehension in rejecting a scheme distinguished alike by its grandeur and adaptation, by a careful examination of exter nal evidence, we are driven to the conclusion, that the rejector of Revelation is at war with omnipotence, and that he is standing out against a species of proof which demands of every intelligent and accountable creature the most prompt and unhesitating submission. Such is the nature and such the variety of external evidence, that it leaves every man inexcusable who remains in secret or avowed opposition to the claims of the gospel. In treating of the subject of external evidence I begin

1. With Miracles.

If the Bible be from God, it must be true in itself, irrespective of all miraculous attestation ; and if it be not from God, it is equally clear that no miracle can have been vouchsafed on its behalf. A MIRACLE IS AN ACT OF OMNIPOTENCE,

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