in whatever circumstances they may be; and you must allow, that this agreement, in those who in other respects differ widely, gives a strong presumption in favour of Christianity. From the length of time this subject has detained us, I shall not press this upon you, but only remind you of two other particulars, not lightly to be passed over by you.

What are they?

EDWARD.

MR. B.

That whatever deductions you now make on the score of interest and prejudice, only increases tenfold the force of an argument hereafter to be urged on behalf of Christianity-the testimony of those who in privation and suffering maintained the truth of the Christian religion.

EDWARD.

And the second?

MR. B.

That the defence of Christianity has by no means been exclusively in the hands of its ministers; for there have existed a considerable number of laymen, to whom the greater part of your objections are wholly inapplicable, who have, directly or indirectly, maintained its truth, and those men of the very highest order, neither the superficial nor the vain, neither bigots nor enthusiasts nor fanatics. I leave you to consider the names of Selden, Hale, Bacon,

Milton, Boyle, Newton, Locke, Addison, Lyttelton, West, Johnson, Beattie, and Sir W. Jones; and these are merely taken from those who have flourished in our own country, and during the last two centuries.

CONVERSATION IV.

BEATRICE.

We hope you are now at liberty, my dear sir, to enter upon such a development of the evidences of Christianity as may be best adapted to our use.

MR. B

I begin then by first stating what it is my intention to establish, and what I require to be granted me, in order to enable me to do so. My object is merely to exhibit a plain view of some of those facts and arguments which have most powerfully influenced my own mind, and which it appears to me ought equally to influence yours. I shall not pretend to give you all the facts which have been thought to elucidate the subject, and which have already been collected for that purpose; still less is it my intention to attempt the collecting all the arguments, which would be almost an endless task; but I shall not keep back a single objection, nor suppress a single circumstance which it appears to me ought to deserve consideration. But, even with these limitations, it will be necessary that we restrict our inquiries to the simple question, as to the truth of the Christian religion, without entering into those of natural

religion, or of the consequences which must follow as to doctrines, if Christianity be true.

EDWARD.

You assume, then, the existence of God, and the immortality of the soul?

MR. B.

The general belief in these points authorises me so to do. The first must be true, and the second at least sufficiently probable for my argument; and as I know you have both of you read Paley's "Natural Theology," and "Tremaine," I shall refer you to those works as sufficiently establishing them, and other preliminary points which are necessary. The latter is at once interesting and instructive; the former above all praise.

BEATRICE,

You will begin, then, with the quotation given in Tremaine from Paley?

MR. B,

I shall, but do not bring it forward at present. I begin with the mere matter of fact that Christianity exists. For this fact there must have been some cause, and that cause is what it is necessary to ascertain.

EDWARD.

But though Christianity exists, who shall say

what is Christianity. The Christian world is split into ten thousand sects, which only agree in maintaining that the religion itself is true.

MR. B.

But if I say that Christianity is the religion founded by Jesus Christ, about 1800 years ago, in Judea, upon the basis of Judaism, and that by its excellence it prevailed over all other religions, to the extent now manifest,-would not all these sects agree with me?

EDWARD.

Certainly; but I believe it is doubted by some whether such a person ever existed; and your statement cannot therefore be admitted as true, in itself, without proof.

MR. B.

And what proof do you require?

EDWARD.

The same which would be necessary to establish any historical fact.

MR. B.

Is not the agreement of the Christian world upon it sufficient to establish it?

EDWARD.

Their agreement only proves their belief, and that belief only leads us to infer the probability

E