lieve that all true Christians have this kind of internal knowledge from a suitableness of the truth and goodness of the gospel to their now quickened, illuminated, and sanctified souls."* Let no one venture to reject Christianity, then, who has never made it the subject of his intense regard, in connexion with the exigencies which press upon his own condition and prospects. It can be but ill understood by the man who has never looked at it in its adaptation to his own case. It is an individual, as well as a general remedy; and the true study of Christianity is the examination of its coincidence with the wants and wishes, the hopes and fears, which press upon every son and daughter of Adam. For the want of this close inspection of the individual aim of Christianity, it is to be feared that thousands either reject it, or are utterly indifferent to it. But how contrary is all this to the spirit of true science, which rejects nothing, and admits nothing but upon actual experiment. * See Baxter's reply to Lord Herbert, entitled "More Reasons for the Christian Religion," 12mo. 1672, pp. 135, 136. Let Christianity be fairly put to the test-let it be taken home with unhesitating confidence to the heart-let its divine remedies be applied to the distempered mind-let its proffered influence be implored-let its true character as a restorative system be fully and impartially tried, and then, should it after all fail to impart peace, to heal the malady of the soul, to answer its own professed designs, let it be held up to that obloquy which it deserves. But where is the man who ever betook himself to Christianity without finding it to be the refuge of his weary mind? Who could ever, upon actual trial, charge it with a lack of faithfulness to its own pretensions? Who ever embraced its animating hopes without finding them productive of peace, and purity, and joy? Who ever became a true Christian without feeling the self-evidencing power of the gospel? Who ever believed on the Son of God without having proof, in his own mind, that the Bible is true? Who ever made actual trial of Christianity without finding it to be the "wisdom of God, and the power of God," to the salvation. of his soul? Who ever knew the truth as it is in Jesus without being made free by it from the thraldom of sin and the bondage of corruption? The man who is a genuine believer is as fully eonscious as he is of existence, that Christianity is no cunningly devised fable. It has established its throne in the deep-seated convictions of his heart. He has felt the transformation it has wrought: "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. His entire character has been favourably affected by it. Upon his once gloomy path it has shed the light of immortality, it has taught him to "rejoice even in tribulation,"t-it has changed all the aspects of life, by throwing over them the hues of eternity, it has conferred on him a reality of happiness which the whole creation had no power of imparting. In his own person he beholds a monument of the truth and excellence of Christianity, which forbids him for ever to doubt. By other evidences, indeed, his faith is confirmed; but in his peace of mind, in that * 2 Cor. v. 17. † Rom. v. 3-5, xii. 12. "hope which is full of immortality," and in the heavenward bearing of his once earthly character, he is enabled to feel that Christianity is no" cunningly devised fable." Having briefly looked at what may be regarded as the experimental evidence which Christianity is capable of planting in every man's bosom, we may now advance to other parts of this momentous subject. CHAPTER III. CONTAINING A BRIEF SURVEY OF THOSE BRANCHES OF EVIDENCE WHICH IT IS PROPER TO URGE UPON THE ATTENTION OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOT AS YET YIELDED UP THEIR MINDS TO THE DIVINE AUPOWER OF THE THORITY AND TRANSFORMING SOME of those evidences may be traced in the internal character of Christianity itself, and others in those outward attestations by which Divine Providence has demonstrated the fact of its celestial origin. As I am fully convinced of the self-verifying power of the religion of Jesus Christ, I think it well to begin with the first of these branches of evidence, that no one may, with truth, imagine that we shrink from a thorough investigation of the internal structure and actual tendencies of our Holy Faith.* *I do not think, judging from the manner in which infidels themselves have written, that the most successful |