But how does he, or can he, escape the consequences of that righteous retribution of the great moral Governor, which involve and surround him? Can he elude the sanctions of the general religion, resting on the faint traces of Revelation, and the moral nature of man, which inclose the transgressor, as in a net? Can a careless, incautious youth escape a miserable and disgraceful age-can negligence, imprudence, and want of foresight be always repaired by any after-repentance-can the indulgence of pride and selfimportance be separated from inward torments and outward contentions—can an irreligious contempt of moral restraints insure itself against self-disapprobation, disease, weakened faculties, a disturbed conscience, remorse, anticipations of judgment, dread of eternity, despair?

Apply this to Christianity. The lives and deaths of infidels demonstratively show that the very same moral and judicial punishments are inflicted on the objector against Revelation. And all this so agrees with the probationary state of man, as to form a strong additional confirmation that the whole system of government in natural providence, in essential and primeval religion, and in Christianity, proceeds from the same divine hand, is governed by the same general laws, and conspires to the same end?e

THE

4. Let the humble inquirer, then, COLLECT ALL SCATTERED RAYS OF LIGHT, flowing from the several branches of the divine argument, and let him remember that these series of proofs, which are necessarily considered in separate parts, for the purpose of a better investigation, form but one uniform, candid, and inseparable body of testimony; which, like the light of the sun, though separated and divaricated into the various colors of blue, and green, and red, and the other colors of the prism, whilst passing through our mind, and being subjected to our examination; is yet, in itself, one and the same effulgent glory, shedding light and warmth from its mighty orb.f

Yes; the whole of the Christian evidences form one argument, one attestation, one inseparable and irresistible ap

(e) Butler.

(f) Warburton.

peal to the human understanding, conscience, and heart. From the simplest proof of the authenticity of our books, to the last evidence of the inspiration of all their contents; and from the first point of the adaptation, to the closing topic of the indispensable moral obligation of receiving the religion, all constitutes one undivided chain of reasoning, the most indissoluble and most binding ever offered to an accountable being.

And the grand probation of man now is, whether he will obey this Revelation, and submit his reason and heart to God; or whether he will follow his pride and passions, and dare the authority of the great Lord of all.

God grant that every reader of these Lectures may so weigh the moral obligation under which he lies, as to be WISE IN TIME; as to follow the directions of the Bible, and obtain THE GRACE NECESSARY for welcoming it with humble faith and cheerful obedience;-that thus all THE BLESSED ENDS of the Christian Revelation may be accomplished in him here and hereafter!

LECTURE XXVI.

CONCLUSION OF THE ENTIRE COURSE.

JOHN XX. 30, 31.

And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.

But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

AFTER the statements made in the last Lecture, on the obligation of receiving the Christian Revelation, and the review there taken of the result of the argument from the internal evidences, nothing now remains for us but to retire back from this minute inspection, to such a comprehensive survey as may allow us to take in at once the distinct outlines of all the divisions of our subject, and observe how they severally harmonize, both in their various component parts and with each other; and then to conclude the whole of the great argument, which has extended through these two volumes, by an address to the different classes of persons who may be supposed to be most interested.

But where shall we take our station to seize this point of view? After we have examined at so much length the different branches of the stream, and have paused at each ex

amination to survey the scenes before us, whither shall we ascend in order to catch the course and flow of the whole river?

Let us first view THE PROGRESS OF PROOF as it has been rolling down from its earliest rise, and been augmenting in its magnitude and force to the present hour. Let us then notice THE INCIDENTAL AND UNEXPECTED MANNER in which the flood has been increased. And, lastly, let us contemplate its actual volume, and THE POSITION IN WHICH WE NOW STAND as to the hopes of its visiting and fertilizing the whole earth.

I. Let us view the progress of proof AS IT HAS BEEN

ROLLING DOWN FROM ITS EARLIEST RISE TO THE PRESENT HOUR.

For observe how small and imperceptible is the first source of the stream. You scarcely distinguish its narrow thread. And yet trace its progress. It increases as it flows. In every advance the waters are augmented. From the original promise made to our first parents, to the present hour, the evidences of Revelation have been in progress. For six thousand years has our religion been before the world. The expulsion from Eden was accompanied by the first discovery of mercy. During the patriarchal age, when human life extended through centuries, truth was handed down by tradition, by the instituted sacrifices, and the consecration of the sabbath to religious worship. The call of Abraham, and the rite of circumcision, increase the means of knowledge to mankind. The Pentateuch is published, and consigns to a written record the history of the primæval ages, and the doctrine of the fall and the promised recovery. The Mosaic miracles, the Mosaic redemption, the Mosaic Canaan, are proofs to a lost world of the true faith. Kings and prophets arise. The Jewish name and religion spread; and with them the evidences of Revelation.

The Babylonish captivity plants missionary prophets in the heart of the greatest heathen monarchy. For seventy years the meek and courageous spirit of Daniel commends his God, his religion, his prophetic outlines of future mercy,

to mankind. Before the birth of the Saviour himself, a fame pervades the world that some one, springing from the East, should govern the nations.

The apostles go forth and proclaim an universal religion. They carry the credentials with them, and attest the truth of the preceding dispensations of the Almighty, whilst they establish their own. The world is penetrated with the Christian evidences. Every nation is visited, warned, invited. During the lapse of three centuries, the miraculous propagation goes on, and becomes itself an additional proof to the following ages. The holy lives, and constancy unto martyrdom, of the apostles and their converts, silently provide further evidences. Constantine acknowledges the force of the rising religion, and Paganism is dethroned. In the mean time, prophecy begins to unfold yet wider the roll of futurity, and each grand revolution in the fortunes of the church is found to have been foretold in her mystic pages. The character of the Messiah is more and more acknowledged. The dispersion and yet distinct preservation of the Jewish people, are a prophetic miracle. The persecutions of the Christian faith confirm the word of prophecy, and enlarge the proofs of its divine origin.

Apostacies arise in the east and west. Christianity seems to fade before the imposture of Mahomet, and the superstitions, tyranny, and idolatry of papal Rome. The spiritual church is driven into privacy; and she there discovers these very apostacies to have been largely delineated in the prophetic word; and she sees in the anti-christ, and the man of sin, and the apocalyptic visions, new evidences of the Christian faith.

With the revival of learning, the proofs of Revelation pour in with a fuller tide upon mankind, as an awakened curiosity and a widened sphere of observation open new channels. The Reformation springs forth and appeals to the divine records, collects fresh evidences, re-assumes truth, sweeps away the incumbrance of human tradition, exhibits Christianity to the faith and obedience of mankind. (g) A. D. 312.

(h) At the commencement of the seventh century. (i) The close of the fifteenth century.