ARISING

This leads us, then, BRIEFLY TO REVIEW THE ARGUMENT FROM THE INTERNAL PROOFS OF CHRISTIANITY, which have formed the subject of this division of our course, as we reviewed the argument from the external at the close of our last volume.

In doing this, let us notice the general nature of the argument, the particular topics into which it divided itself --its remarkable agreement with man's probationary state, and the inseparable unity of the whole.

1. You will remember that the GENERAL NATURE of the argument springs from those various marks of excellency in the inward frame-work of Christianity which serve to confirm our faith in its divine original. They are the internal characters of divinity which strike every considerate inquirer, the more he studies the religion, and compares it with the powers, and tendencies, and wants of such a creature as man, and with the confessed dealings of Almighty God in his natural providence and moral government of the world.

For the main features of Christianity are not in all respects unknown to man; but rather fall in with his purest notions of God and conscience and moral duty on the one hand, and with his uniform experience of human weakness and depravity, on the other. They confirm every thing which natural religion guessed at, rather than knew; enlarging, purifying, correcting, elevating the remains of the original Revelation, and the dictates of that moral nature, which, though darkened and corrupted by the fall, is not wholly obliterated and lost. They contain, besides, a new and mysterious dispensation of mercy in the incarnation and sacrifice of the Son of God, which gives energy to the dormant principles of essential religion, makes them practicable and delightful, and carries them on to all the ends for which they were first implanted.

Accordingly, in tracing out these effects and bearings of the Christian Religion, we discovered innumerable marks of design, of contrivance, of divine sublimity and harmony, of agreement with the wants and necessities, the desires and anticipations of man.

These are the internal evidences; and they furnish a most conclusive argument in support of those external credentials of the religion by which its reception is first secured. They add the test of experience and observation to the historical testimony of authenticity, credibility, divine authority, miracles, prophecy, supernatural propagation, prominent good effects: And when these internal proofs are still further confirmed by the inward witness of Christianity to the heart, in its answers to prayer, in its fulfilment of all its promises, in its communication of the grace of the Holy Spirit, in its actually changing and elevating the whole moral character of man, there seems to be every imaginable species of evidence combined.

All the faculties and feelings of man's nature are brought to bear testimony to the truth of Christianity. His common sense and ordinary capacity of judgment in the EXTERNAL evidences: his heart and affections, his faculty of tracing out final ends, his perception of harmony and beauty, in the INTERNAL proofs: an inward consciousness of moral health, and peace, and joy, communicated to the mind; an experience of the highest practical good effects produced in him, in the test and INTERIOR WITNESS.

Let us suppose a case, to illustrate the force of the internal argument. If a philosopher had a revelation made to him of the system of the creation, he would begin by considering the historical proofs of the divine authority of the communication. Here he would rest at first. Afterwards, when he found there was nothing in it directly contradictory to the fixed laws of nature apparent in the small portions of matter which he had before subjected to his experiments, but that every thing went to confirm the results of his narrow observations, whilst all seemed intended for his convenience, relief, assistance, in many important respects, of which he was before ignorant,-this would exceedingly confirm his faith in the truth of the revelation. He would not be surprised to find much in it that was new, much unthought of, many uses and plans which he had never been able to conceive or conjecture; a vast enlargement of the

field of vision; many causes of things laid open; and much declared to him that was mysterious, incomprehensible, beyond and above his finite powers. But if, in the midst of all this, he constantly found that the facts in nature, as they had lain before his view, were confirmed, that every thing agreed with his previous experiments and observation; and if, moreover, he found that the practical results of the whole were some most important benefits to himself, these convictions would raise his faith in the divine origin of the communication to the utmost height."

Such is the nature of the argument from the internal evidences.

2. It is not necessary for me to RECAPITULATE THE DETAILS of this evidence. It is not necessary for me to do more than refer you to the ADAPTATION to the state and wants of man, which we found to pervade Christianity-as contrivance and provision for his necessities pervade the visible creation.

Nor need I do more than refer to that plan of redemption, formed before the ages, of which the DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY are the development, and of which the practical summary is the love of God and the love of man.

Much less need I dwell on the MORALS of the gospel, in which Christianity comes down to the conscience of every human being, sets right the mistakes of all the sages of antiquity, and presents a morality, as practicable as it is pure and elevated; and which, flowing from the doctrines, carries with it a demonstrative evidence of the whole Revelation.

But I must pause for one instant, to remind you of the inimitable perfections of OUR LORD'S CHARACTER, in his mediatorial office, his personal and most lovely human virtues, and his conduct as the founder of a religion. Yes, the character of Christ embodies the Christianity which he taught; whilst the very facts of his incarnation and sacrifice form the ground-work of the doctrines which he revealed. The sun in the firmament is not a more glorious centre of (x) Lect. xv.

(v) Verplank. (y) Lect. xvi.

(w) Lect. xiv.
(z) Lect. xvii.

the natural creation, than Jesus Christ is of the spiritual. All converges towards him, centres in him, tends to illustrate and glorify him.

I will not again speak of the INWARD WITNESS of Christianity in the fulfilment of all its promises of grace to man; because we have given it a large consideration in the course of our Lectures. But it seems to bring down the proof to that very test of matter of fact and actual phenomena, of which both the natural and moral philosopher so loudly boast; and which nothing but prejudice and irreligion of heart can prevent them from acknowledging in Christianity.

After these prominent points, need I refer, or at least, do more than refer,-to what we have so lately considered, the OBJECTIONS raised against Christianity, both in themselves, and as respects the persons who advance them?

On the topics of FAITH, INTERPRETATION, and OBLIGATION, I say nothing; because they are involved in every step we have taken, and cannot be denied, without overthrowing all trust and confidence amongst men; all honesty and fair dealing in the intercourse of society; all that moral sense and conscience which distinguish men from the inferior creation much more than the barren possession of reason. In short, he that enters fully into the preceding arguments, will be the first to yield to the inevitable consequencesflowing from them.

But I advert to a subject, interposed amongst all thesethe TENDENCY of Christianity d—which I have reserved for the purpose of making one reflection. For, if in addition to all the above evidences, there is in Christianity an innate and strong direction and bias towards human happiness in the highest sense of the term; if the known hindrances are capable of being enumerated; if those hindrances are gradually being overcome, and are now daily lessening; if the good effects of the religion have uniformly burst forth, as a mighty river, in proportion as the hindrances have been removed, and have fertilized the face of the adjacent lands;

(a) Lects. xix. and xx.

(c) Lects. xxiii. xxiv. and xxv.

(b) Lects. xxi. and xxii. (d) Lect. xviii.

if the religion itself foretels the chief impediments to this tendency, and points out the causes of thein in men's abuse of the divine mercies, whilst it limits their duration; if the same records declare an ultimate aad glorious consummation as about to take place, when all the tendencies of Christianity shall be turned into effects, and the whole world be a scene of light, and peace, and holiness; and if every sincere Christian feels in himself this tendency, and is engaged in removing obstacles out of the. way of it, and hastening its progress in himself and others;-if this be so; then, I say, the crown is placed on the brow of the Christian evidences, and every species of proof is accomplished by this finishing point; then, I say, the tendency within Christianity runs on parallel with the predicted course of divine prophecy, which forms one of the most remarkable of the external proofs from without it; and the only demand upon man's reason, is to acknowledge his own ignorance, as to the origin and permission of evil, and the designs. and will of the incomprehensible God; and to repose his faith in the wisdom, justice, and mercy of the almighty and most glorious Judge of the world-a demand so natural, that it is surprising it should ever have been questioned.

3. And this touches upon that PROBATIONARY AND IMPERFECT STATE in which man confessedly is, and with which the general nature of the internal evidences of Christianity remarkably corresponds. Undoubtedly, the sceptic may, if he please, reject all this mass of evidence; undoubtedly he may refuse to obey the Christian Revelation; undoubtedly he may magnify petty difficulties, and lend himself to speculative reasonings. That is, he may act, with regard to Christianity, just as he acts with regard to God's natural providence, or his moral government of man; he may pretend that all is involved in darkness, and that he can see no clear path before him. Thus the youth may also conduct himself in human life. He may refuse to take precautions, to form habits, to look forward to future scenes of difficulty, to act with prudence and self-restraint; he may spurn any moral subjection to the claims of the Almighty, or to the checks upon the appetites, which his natural law imposes.