Doddridge and Rousseau, contrasted, ii. 257.
Effects of Christianity a proof of its divine authority, i. 269. Christianity implants good principles, 270; arouses conscience, 270; discourages vices, and establishes contrary virtues, 270; mitigates insatiable ardor after worldly possessions, 270; im- plants enlarged benevolence, 271; expels indolence, 271; and elevates the whole character of man, 271. Christianity banishes an immense mass of evils; idolatry, 271; murder, 272; exposing of infants, 272; divorce and polygamy, 272; the deg- radation of the female sex, 273; the cruelties of domestic slavery, 273; private assas- sination, 274; and a thousand similar evils, 275. Christianity mitigates many other evils-such as the horrors of war, 275; the spirit of faction and party, animosities in states, 277; venality and corruption, 278; offences against temperance and cbas- tity, 278; and raises the standard of public opinion as to morals and religion, 278. Christianity has conferred, and is conferring, numerous substantial benefits on in- dividuals and nations; it has elevated the female sex, 279; blessed the lower orders of society, 279; instituted charitable designs for the relief of human wretchedness, 280; encircled age with reverence, 281; given man a day of rest, 281; has infused into Christian legislators and princes the temper of equity and mercy, 281; confer- red the blessing of equal distributive justice, 282; extends its salutary influence to distant provinces, 282; and civilizes states, 283.
Effects, the ultimate, which Christianity will produce when all obstacles are removed, ii, 147.
Egyptians, present state of, confirms ancient prophecies, i. 230.
Eusebius, quotation from, respecting the propagation of Christianity, i. 252. Evidences of Christianity, not to be continually dwelt upon, i. 31; but occasionally, 32; and not in a way of testimony merely, 32; but in a practical manner, 33; as in the early centuries, leading men on to the inward excellencies of the religion itself, 33. They demand attention at the present time on account of the young, 34; the lapse of time since Christianity took its rise, 35; the decayed state of piety, 35; a spurious philosophy spread far and wide, 36; the neglect of the Christian religion, 37; and the daring assaults of scepticism, 37. They are forcible, 38; and may be NOW considered with facility, from the diffusion of education, 38; progress in the study of the law of evidence, 39; the avowed necessity of following nature, 39; and the revival of primitive piety and zeal, 39. Their importance, 42; their accumula- tion, 266. The simplicity, variety, independence, and force of, increase man's obligation, ii. 346. They have arisen in an incidental manner, ii. 380. The actual mass at the present time, 384.
Evidences, external and internal, compared, and their respective places and merit de- termined, ii. 25. The topics of the internal, stated, 28.
Evidences, external, recapitulation of, i. 336.
Evidences, internal, the nature of the argument arising from, ii. 367; recapitulation of the details of, 369; correspond with the probationary and imperfect state of man, 371; are to be collected together, 372.
Example of his disciples, Christ the, ii. 110.
Facts now admitted assist the consideration of the question of evidences, ii. 387. Faith should practically correspond with what we admit in argument respecting Christianity, i. 147.
Faith, definition of, ii. 283; the principle by which human society is moved, 283; de- finition and illustration of faith in a divine Revelation, 284; distinction between faith exercised on human testimony and on divine, 285; difference between a living and dead, 286; the corruption of man forms the great difficulty in exercising faith on divine testimony, 286, 287; for man hesitates to exercise faith in Christianity,
although GOD is the author of the Revelation, 288; it regards man's supreme inter- ests, 288; and comes to him in the moment of danger, 288; the scriptural account of 289; prayer for, 290; the reasonableness of, after admitting the divine authority of Christianity, 290; both as to the discoveries of the Christian religion, 291; and as to the necessity of divine aid, 294; the extent of, 296; embracing every part of Revelation, 297; assigning to each the relative importance which it finds ascribed in Scripture, 298; but, stopping where Revelation stops, 299; and following, as much as possible, the language as well as the sentiments of Scripture, 301; produ- ces tranquillity, 302; and is the principle of the Christian life, 304; must be vital and influential, 286, 305; is obtained in answer to prayer for the grace of the Holy Spirit, 290, 306; and is calculated to produce humility of mind, 308; implies an honest application of our natural understanding to the Scriptures, 311; includes a willingness to submit it, together with our heart, to all the truths which God has been pleased to reveal, 312; puts us in possession of many of the blessings of which the Scriptures treat, 313; leads the Christian to seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit, 314; guards him against the danger of hazardous interpretations, or false use of difficult passages, 315; disposes him to resort to all the necessary helps in order to obtain a sound interpretation of Scripture, 315; Historical, will only in- crease condemnation, 208. A sound interpretation of Scripture springs directly from a true, 311.
Forgeries, the books of the New Testament cannot be, i. 89.
Fortitude and constancy of our Lord, ii. 115.
Gastrel, Bishop quotation from, on the harmony of the Christian doctrines, ii. 66. Gibbon's pride and presumption at the approach of death, ii. 267.
GOD, the being, perfections, and providence of the one living and true, ii. 53; the doctrines emanate from the character of, 60.
Grace of God is now turning the minds of men to the most effective statement of the whole argument, ii. 388.
Grandeur and sublimity of the Christian doctrines, ii. 62.
Harmony of the Christian doctrines, ii. 63.
Heathen world, before the coming of Christ, had lost the doctrine of the being of God, i. 61; they had no standard of morals, 62; no moral teaching, 63; they were impure and abominable even in their religion, 63; their depravity, both as to knowledge and practice, deep and universal, 64; and they had no principle of reformation, 65; the wisest heathens confessed their despair, 76.
Heathen countries, of the present day, the state of, prove to us that unassisted reason cannot enlighten and sanctify mankind, i. 70; the moral and religious state of India, 70; Western or Southern Africa, 71; America and China, 72; an uniformity in their vices, 72; their miserable condition should awaken our sympathy, 78. Heathen writers admit the facts of the gospel history, i. 129.
Heavenly reward promised by our Lord to his disciples, ii. 109.
Hindrances which impede the full effects of the Christian religion, ii. 138; foretold by Christianity, 147.
HOLY SPIRIT, the personality and operations of, ii. 58.
Hooker's last words, ii. 269.
Hope, the Christian's, defined i. 25; the reason of it as given by Christians of the first century, 25; of the second and third century, 27; of the ninth, tenth, or twelfth cen- tury, 28; of the eighteenth or nineteenth century, 29; to be always given with meek- ness and fear, 30, 43.
Horsley, Bishop, on the inspiration of the New Testament, i. note, 305, 324. * Humble and teachable minds admit spontaneously the inspiration of the Scriptures, i. 334.
Hume's death-bed, ii. 268.
Humiliating, the Christian doctrines are, ii. 68.
Humiliation of our Lord, ii. 108.
Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, A. D. 70, testimony of, to the authenticity of books of
Impostor, an, could not have invented the facts of the New Testament, i. 156. Infidelity blots out all Revelation, i. 76; attempts to oppose reason to faith, ii. 290. Infidels, the wretched systems of, ii. 96; horrify the sincere inquirer after morality, 97. The admissions of, respecting the character of our Lord, 128. Lives and deaths of, compared with those of sincere Christians, 249; as to the maintenance of the principles of morals and religion held by them in common, 245; their respective discharge of the duties of domestic and social life, 248; their benevolence and good- will towards men, 253; their public labors and the writings they have submitted to the eye of mankind, 258; their deaths, 265; and preparation for an eternal state of being, 274. Every one should examine with which company he is walking in the journey of life, 280. See Unbelievers.
Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures most important, i. 290; that of the Old Testament asserted by our Lord and his apostles, 293; that of the New Testament inferred from that of the Old, 293; confirmed by the promise made by our Lord, and by the gifts received in consequence, 300; claimed by the apostles themselves, 307; and attested by the early Christian church, 312; the wonderful union of divine and human agency in the inspiration of Scriptures, 318; the extent of inspiration, 321; and the advantages which we derive from both, 326; the admission of it essential to the right reception of Christianity, 330; tends to shut out the most pernicious evils, 331; and is the spontaneous dictate of the humble and teachable, 334. Interests, the immense, at stake, carries the obligations of Christianity to an incon- ceivable height, ii. 359.
Interpretation, the sound, of Scripture, ii. 310; springs directly from a true faith, which implies an honest application of our natural understanding to the Scriptures, 311; includes a willingness to submit our understanding and heart to all the truths which God is pleased to reveal, 312; puts us in possession of many of the blessings of which the Scriptures treat, 313; leads the Christian to seek the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, 314; guards him against the danger of hazardous interpreta- tions, or a false use of difficult passages, 315; disposes him to resort to all necessa- ry helps, 315; common sense, and the ordinary laws of human language, suggest that the simplest sense is, generally, the true one, 316; the occasion of the books being written should be consulted, 318; brief passages explained by those which are more full, 319; figurative and poetical parts interpreted by their appropriate laws, 320; we should suspend our judgment where a passage is, after all, not obvi- ous, 321; the scope and analogy of truth will either solve all material difficulties, or render them practically useful, 322. The inspiration which belongs to the Bible, requires us, in interpreting its contents, to rise to the sublimity of the Scripture mys- teries, 323; to give to the last portion of Revelation that weight which it may justly claim, 324; to discover the lustre of what is permanent and uniform, amidst all that is temporary, local, and extraordinary, 325; to distinguish between vital Chris- tianity and what is merely nominal adherence to its external ordinances, 326; to derive from Scripture the use, place and bearings of truth, as well as the truth itself, 327; not to force the simple meaning of Scripture, either to express or exclude mysteries, according to our turn of mind, 329; and not to reduce divine truths to a human system, 331. The diversity of interpretations has been greatly exagger- ated, 333; is not chargeable on Christianity, 333; falls chiefly on subordinate mat- ters, 334; the evils may be avoided in practice, 334; the universal church has pre-
sented but one front of truth to mankind, 334. Vital Christianity in the heart can alone interpret aright, 335.
Irenæus' testimony to the inspiration of the New Testament,i. 313.
Ishmael, the present state of the descendants of, agrees with the prophecy concerning them, i. 229.
Japheth, the present state of the descendants of, agrees with the prophecy concerning them, i. 231.
Jerome, St. testimony of, to the authenticity of the books of the New Testament, i. 106.
Jews, the dispersion of, i. 224; a standing miracle, 240.
Josephus, testimony of, to the facts of Christianity, i. 131.
Julian, the apostate, allows the facts of Christianity, and admits the gospels as the works of the apostles, i. 108.
Justification by faith only, is the leading truth of the whole gospel, ii. 57, 68.
Justin Martyr, testimony of, to the authenticity of the books of the New Testament, i. 105; to the inspiration, 313.
Koran of Mahomet condemned by its contents, i. 91.
Lardner, Dr., quotation from, as to the number of quotations from Scripture in the works of Irenæus, i. 102.
Latimer's last words, ii. 271.
Lectures, order of, i. 40.
Life, the Christian's holy, best defence of Christianity, i. 30.
Love of Christ constrains, ii. 89.
Love of Christians to the Bible, attested by Pamphilus, i. 107; Valens, 107; Constan- tine, 107; has furnished us with the proofs of its authenticity, 122. Exhortation to the duty, 123.
Mahometanism, propagation of, i. 258.
Mahomet does not venture to question the facts of Christianity, i. 135; apostacy of, 232.
Man, every, lies under an obligation to obey the divine Revelation. See Obligation. Man's guilt and condemnation as a transgressor against God, ii. 55.
Manner in which the evangelists give the character of our Lord, ii. 123.
Manuscript of the New Testament, the number and antiquity of, i. 110.
Medals, by their inscriptions, attest the credibility of the gospel history, i. 136. Meditations supposed to be made by one who has made a trial of the blessings of Christianity, ii. 205.
Meekness and lowliness of spirit of our Lord, ii. 113.
Men of the finest talents convinced by the Christian history, i. 134, 257. Messiah. See CHRIST.
Ministers of Christ's church, address to, ii. 392; in danger of mistaking talents for the operations of grace, 393; need expansive charity, 394; diligence and compassion in their pastoral duties, 395; and should pay attention to the subject of evi- dences, 395.
Miracle, definition of a, i. 161. The wonderful actions ascribed to our Saviour and his apostles, and called miracles, really took place, 152. In every miracle, there are two distinct and palpable facts, 153; these are attested by the cred- ibility of the books, 154; the converts of the first century believed them, 154; monuments were set up in memory of them, and continue to the present day, 155; the account itself, as recorded in our books, establishes them, 157. Objections against the credibility of miracles answered, 159. The wonderful actions were
plain and palpable miracles, 162; they were done by Christ and his apostles, as divine acts, 162; before the Jewish nation, 163; consisted of numerous and various suspensions of the course of nature, 163: produced permanent effects, 165; and were wrought for a high and holy end, 165. The miracles of which our Lord was the subject, 165. Our Saviour and the apostles appealed to them in proof of their mission, 166; they had been predicted as the express evidence of Messiah, 167; they form an appropriate attestation to a divine religion, 167; they were performed by those who had all other signs of a divine mission, 168; the inference from them to the truth of Christianity is conclusive, 168; they are incorporated with the in- structions of Christianity, 169; confirmed by the success of the gospel, 170. The religion of the Bible, the sole religion, set up and established by miracles, 171. Missions, success of Christian, i. 259.
Moral government of God, the end of, promoted by the Christian doctrines, ii. 67. Morals, Christian, level to the comprehension of man, ii. 76; admired by unbelievers, 77. Their extent and purity: they embrace all that is really good in the ethics of heathen sages, 77; form a complete code, 78; erect the only true standard of duty to God and man, 78; omit many false virtues, and insist on many real ones, 79; chiefly on the mild and retiring, 79; they require also an abstinence from the prox- imate causes of evil, 80; regard all forms of devotion, as means to a higher end, 80; aid each other, 80; and go to form a particular sort of character, 81. In order to produce these, Christianity begins with the heart of man, 82; aims at the forma- tion of habits, 82; directs men to seek the highest attainments, whilst she encourages the weakest efforts, 83; keeps aloof from secular policy, 83; delivers her code in decisive prohibitions, 84; sets forth strong and affecting examples, 85: and refers men to the all-seeing eye of God, 86. They are connected with every part of Revelation, and especially with its peculiar doctrines, 86; they have the will of God as the rule, and the eternal judgment as their ultimate sanction, 91; they are such as makes it impossible that Christianity should be an imposture, 94. Muratori, a remarkable fragment discovered by, in 1740, i. 118.
Mysteries of man's state in this world, unfolded in the Christian Revelation, ii. 35.
Nations, Christianity promotes the happiness of, ii. 136, 144.
Necessities of man met by the Christian doctrines, ii. 66.
Nineveh, destruction of, i. 227.
Novelty and sublimity of our Saviour's deportment, and undertaking surprising, ii. 119.
Obedience indispensable in a Christian student, i. 46.
Oberlin, the last hours of Pastor, ii. 272.
Objections against miracles answered; the fallibility of human testimony, i. 158; mir- acles are contrary to experience, 159; the transmission of remote facts is weakened by the lapse of time, 159. Against the Christian religion, ii. 210; the best method of treating, 211; are inadmissible, being either speculative opinions, and thus wrong in kind, 214; or against the matter of Revelation, and thus wrong in object, 216; contradictory the one to the other, 219; frivolous in themselves, 224; and mani- festly spring from the pride, 225; and ignorance of the human mind, 229; ouly trials of our sincerity and submission of heart to God, and confirm, rather than weaken, the Christian evidences, 234. They fix themselves in unfurnished and vain minds, 239; prepared by vicious indulgences, 239; the departure of the Spirit of God, 240; and the holding slightly by Christianity, 240. They are the strata- gems of Satan, 241; and the most deadly product of the corrupt and proud reason of a fallen creature, 242. To the Christian Revelation, founded on the diversity of interpretations, refuted, 333.
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