through the mediation of the Son; because, notwithstanding his natural weakness, he is enabled to walk in the way of righteousness, by the power of the Holy Spirit; because a sense of the divine love and approbation dwells in his heart; because he is taught to regard every tribulation as a moral discipline directed to greater good; and, lastly, because he is animated by the expectation of a future joy, perfectly unsullied in its nature, and eternal in its duration.

Now the several excellent results which have formed the subject of these observations, have never been adequately produced in men by any principles, except those of christianity; but by the principles of christianity, when cordially embraced and fully submitted to, they are produced without fail. Experience may convince us that the contrivance of so comprehensive, so extraordinary, and so operative, a moral system, was placed far beyond the reach of human invention like the works of nature, it can be traced to nothing less efficacious than the wisdom, the power, and the love, of God.

Christianity, therefore, is the religion of God; and, since it is impossible that in bringing his reasonable creatures into true piety, virtue, and happiness, the God of all truth should employ a mere illusion, it plainly follows that christi

anity is true that its doctrines are real, its hopes substantial, its promises certain.

V. Christianity, then, being the religion of God-the true, and only true religion-where are we to find an authorized record of the doctrines of which it consists? I answer, not in the scholastic productions of polemical divines; not in the treatises of modern and uninspired theologians; not in the declarations of any particular church: but in the genuine compositions of inspired men; in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament.

The genuineness of the New Testament is a point to which I have already adverted. That of the various books of history, law, psalmody, and prophecy, which compose the Old Testament, is satisfactorily evinced by the quotations made from these writings in every part of the New Testament; by a Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures, written at a date long prior to the christian era; by the plain testimony of Josephus, Philo, and other Jewish writers; by the care which the ancient Jews are known to have exercised, in order to the incorrupt preservation of their sacred books; by the fact that, before the captivity, the law of Moses was often read in public, and that after the captivity, the reading of both the law and the prophets formed a

regular part of the synagogue service; and, lastly, by a variety of internal evidences, derived from language and style, from the circumstantiality of description and narrative, and from the mutual yet incidental accordance of part with part.

It being admitted that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are genuine, that the gospel history is true, and that Christ was a divinely commissioned teacher; we are placed at once in possession of satisfactory evidence that these writings were given by inspiration of God. That such was the fact, as it regards the Old Testament, is expressly declared by the apostle Paul. II. Tim. iii. 16; and the testimony of this apostle on the subject, is confirmed by that of Jesus Christ himself, who, in his conversations with the Jews and with his disciples, frequently referred to the Jewish Scriptures in such a manner as plainly to attribute to them an absolute and indefeasible authority. With respect to the New Testament, we learn from the authentic history which it contains, that the persons by whom it was written, (especially the apostles who composed the greater part of it,) were directly inspired; and inspired for the purpose of promulgating christian truth. Whether it was by preaching

or by writing that they performed the service thus committed to them, it is indisputable, (since the gospel history is true,) that their doctrine rested not on their own authority, but on that of the Divine Being whom they served, and flowed, from no other source than his Holy Spirit. See Matt. x. 18-20, Luke xxiv. 46-49, John xiv. 26, Acts ii. 4, I. Cor. ii. 3-5, &c.

Inspiration, it may be remarked, operates under various circumstances, and is bestowed in various measures. Now that the inspiration of the apostles and of some of their companions was of a very high and plenary description, may be inferred from a most important fact already noticed--viz. that they were endued with the power of working miracles. The work of God confirmed the word of God. The signs and wonders which the Lord displayed through the agency of those gifted men, afforded a specific and irresistible evidence, that he was also the author of their doctrine, in whatsoever form that doctrine was delivered.

To the external proofs of which we are thus in possession, that the Holy Scriptures were given by inspiration, and that their contents are therefore to be received as of divine authority, are to be added many powerful internal evidences. He who takes a sound and compre

hensive view of the wonderful variety and richness of the sacred records-of the admirable moral harmony which pervades the whole volume-of the perfect adaptation of the preparatory system, as described by Moses and the prophets, with the fulness of gospel light as revealed to us in the New Testament-of the practical excellence of those doctrines, precepts, and sentiments, which distinguish the Bible from all other books, or which, in other books, are simply borrowed from the Bible—will presently confess not only that the religion unfolded in the Scriptures is divine, but that the record itself must be traced not to the unassisted efforts of fallible men, but to the spirit of perfect wisdom-to the mind which cannot err.

The Scriptures, then, are a divinely authorized record of religious truth. If I am told that there is much in the Bible which even the learned cannot understand, and some things, perhaps, which the wicked have perverted to evil purposes, I would observe in reply, that in this respect there is an obvious analogy between the written word and the works of God; for there is much also in the science of nature itself, which the wise cannot comprehend, and which the vicious have misapplied to evil. And I would further remark, that the Scriptures are