Ministers of Christ's Church, address to, ii. 425; in danger of mistaking talents for the operations of grace, 426; need ex- pansive charity, 427; diligence and compassion in their pastoral duties, 428; and should pay attention to the sub- ject of evidences, 429.
Miracle, definition of a, i. 152. The wonderful actions as- cribed to our Saviour and his apostles, and called miracles, really took place, 154. In every miracle, there are two distinct and palpable facts, 153; these are attested by the credibility of the books, 155; the converts of the first century believed them, 156; monuments were set up in memory of them, and continue to the present day, 157; the account itself, as recorded in our books, establishes them, 159. Ob- jections against the credibility of miracles answered, 160. The wonderful actions were plain and palpable miracles, 163; they were done by Christ and his apostles, as divine acts, 164; before the Jewish nation, 165; consisted of nu- merous and various suspensions of the course of nature, 165; produced permanent effects, 167; and were wrought for a high and holy end, 168. The miracles of which our Lord was the subject, 167. Our Saviour and the apostles ap- pealed to them in proof of their mission, 168; they had been predicted as the express evidence of Messiah, 169; they form an appropriate attestation to a divine religion, 170; they were performed by those who had all other signs of a divine mission, 170; the inference from them to the truth of Christianity is conclusive, 171; they are incorpo- rated with the instructions of Christianity, 172; confirmed by the success of the gospel, 173. The religion of the Bible, the sole religion, set up and established by miracles, 174.
Missions, success of Christian, i. 277.
Moral government of God, the end of, promoted by the Chris- tian doctrines, ii. 49.
Morals, Christian, level to the comprehension of man, ii. 59; admired by unbelievers, 59. Their extent and purity: they embrace all that is really good in the ethics of heathen sages, 61; form a complete code, 61; erect the only true standard of duty to God and man, 62; omit many false virtues, and insist on many real ones, 62; chiefly on the mild and retir- ing, 63; they require also an abstinence from the proximate causes of evil, 63; regard all forms of devotion as means to a higher end, 64; aid each other, 64; and go to form a particular sort of character, 65. In order to produce these, Christianity begins with the heart of man, 66; aims at the
formation of habits, 66; directs men to seek the highest attainments, whilst she encourages the weakest efforts, 67; keeps aloof from secular policy, 68; delivers her code in decisive prohibitions, 68; sets forth strong and affecting examples, 70; and refers men to the all-seeing eye of God, 71. They are connected with every part of Revelation, and especially with its peculiar doctrines, 71; they have the will of God as the rule, and the eternal judgment as their ultimate sanction, 77; they are such as makes it impossible that Christianity should be an imposture, 81.
Muratovi, a remarkable fragment discovered by, in 1740, i. 110. Mysteries of man's state in this world unfolded in the Christian Revelation, ii. 17.
Nations, Christianity promotes the happiness of, ii. 130. 139. Necessities of man met by the Christian doctrines, ii. 48. Nineveh, destruction of, i. 239.
Novelty and sublimity of our Saviour's deportment, and under- taking surprising, ii. 110.
Obedience indispensable in a Christian student, i. 25.
Oberlin, the last hours of Pastor, ii. 287.
Objections against miracles answered; the fallibility of human testimony, i. 160; miracles are contrary to experience, 161; the transmission of remote facts is weakened by the lapse of time, 162. Against the Christian religion, ii. 215; the best method of treating, 215; are inadmissible, being either speculative opinions, and thus wrong in kind, 220; or against the matter of Revelation, and thus wrong in object, 222; contradictory the one to the other, 225; frivolous in them- selves, 231; and manifestly spring from the pride, 231; and ignorance of the human mind, 232; only trials of our sincerity and submission of heart to God, and confirm, rather than weaken, the Christian evidences, 243. They fix them- selves in unfurnished and vain minds, 248; prepared by vicious indulgences, 249; the departure of the Spirit of God, 249; and the holding slightly by Christianity, 250. They are the stratagems of Satan, 251; and the most deadly product of the corrupt and proud reason of a fallen creature, 252. Objections to the Christian Revelation, founded on the diversity of interpretations, refuted, 356.
Obligation to obey the divine Revelation universal, ii. 363. The necessity of enforcing this, a proof of the corruption of
man, 364. To love and obey God antecedent to Revela- tion, 365. Men not left to accept or reject Christianity at their option, 367. Christianity so excellent in itself, that the slightest external evidence would be sufficient to oblige men to obey it, 369. Increased by the simplicity, variety, independence, and force of the evidences, 373. Unspeak- ably augmented by the advantages which each individual has enjoyed, 381; the being not born in a heathen land, 381; the events of life ordered by a gracious Providence, 382; secret motions of the blessed Spirit vouchsafed, 382; advice, example, and prayers of ministers and friends, 383. The momentous discoveries made, and the immense interests at stake carry it to an inconceivable height, 385; Christi- anity makes new discoveries, 385; the immense love of God in the redemption of Jesus Christ, 386; the day of judgment, 387; the heavenly prize, 388; the awful contrast, 389 eternity, what is it? 390; and what protection against it? 391.
Obstacles to the rapid diffusion of Christianity surmounted, i. 266; the first teachers were feeble and unknown, 266 ; the time of promulgation of Christianity inauspicious, 269; and also the place, 269; these were both increased by the fiercest persecution, 272.
Origen's testimony to the inspiration of the Scriptures, i. 339.
Paine, Thomas, the life and conduct of, ii. 261; his last mo- ments, 284.
Pamphilus testimony of the love of Christians to the holy books,
Pascal's demeanour on his death-bed, ii. 282.
Paul's, St., qualifications correspond with the offices he had to fulfil, i. 327.
Perpetuity of Christianity, a proof of its divine authority, i. 280. Persecution of the first Christians, i. 272.
Piety and devotion of Jesus Christ, ii. 100.
Pliny's testimony to facts of the gospel, i. 125; to the propa- gation of Christianity, 262.
Polycarp, testimony of, to the authenticity of books of New Testament, i. 95.
Pontius Pilate, testimony of, to the death and resurrection of Christ, i. 125.
Porphyry, the Heathen, admits the authenticity of the Chris. tian books, i. 98.
Prayer, the necessity of, in considering the Evidences of Christianity, i. 21. 25.
Propagation of Christianity, a proof of its divine authority, i. 258; appears from the singularity of the attempt, 259; the rapidity and extent of it, 260; the nature of the doctrine thus propagated, 265; the obstacles surmounted, 266; the change wrought in the converts, 274. Compared with that of Mahometanism, 276; with the success of our Christian missions amongst Jews and Heathen, 277; and with reforms in Christian countries, 279. The propagation of Christi- anity is fulfilment of prophecy, 283.
Prophecy, definition of, i. 183; its extent, 185; harmony of all its parts in the person of the Saviour, 187; the infinite wisdom apparent in the contrivance of them, 189; the double sense of prophecy, 192; the practical and important ends which prophecy subserves, 197, 224; it has the im- press of the majesty of God, 191; fulfilment of it, 207.
Prophecy, fulfilment of, in the person of our Lord, i. 208; as to the time, place, &c. of his birth, 209; his life, sufferings, death and resurrection, 209; his miracles and doctrine, 210; uniting qualities and attributes the most contradic- tory, 211; and as to his spiritual offices, 221. Circumstances connected with the fulfilment increase the proof of divine foreknowledge, 215. Prophecy of the destruction of the city and polity of the Jews, and their dispersion fulfilled, 227; others which relate to various cities, nations, and em- pires, 239; Nineveh and Tyre, 239; Babylon, 240; des- cendants of Ishmael, 242; Egyptians, 242; descendants of Canaan, Shem, and Japheth, 242; Daniel's prediction con- cerning the four empires, 243; prophecies of Daniel, St. Paul, and St. John, respecting the western apostacy, 245; those concerning the future conversion of the world, and the final triumph of holiness and truth, 249.
Prophets, the, had a solemn mission and call, known by all the nation, i. 194; were men of sincere personal piety, 194; their prophecies form but a small part of their general in- structions, 195; their messages were often of the most distressing nature to their personal feelings, 196; they suffered even unto death, 196; they record minutely every thing, even though it might seem to make against them, 196. They performed miracles, 196. The number and ages of the prophets, and the independence of their predictions, in- crease the proof of divine prescience, 213.
Prophetical argument, the force of, i. 252.
Prophetical inspiration, accumulation of, i. 216. Prudence and discretion of Jesus Christ, ii. 105.
Reason conducts us to Revelation, ii. 307; her province marked out, 311; Mr. Locke's account of, 310; Bishop J. B. Sumner's observation respecting, 311; Lord Bacon's remark on the office of reason, 312.
Reasonableness of faith in the Christian Revelation, ii. 307. Reasoning defined by Dr. Thomas Browne, ii. 311; the clearer laws of, now acknowledged, aid us in examining the Chris- tian Evidences, ii.
Recapitulation of the external evidences, i. 365; of the inter- nal, ii. 394.
Redemption in the incarnation and sacrifice of the only-begotten Son of God, ii. 37.
Reformations in Christian countries, progress of, i. 279. Regeneration of man described, ii. 39.
Remedy, the Bible provides a, for all the wants of man, which works by proposing adequate motives, 19; placing him in a favourable state of probation, 20; proposing a sys- tem of means adapted to his powers, 20; all agreeing with his outward circumstances, 21; calculated to draw out to the utmost all his faculties, 21; and to carry him on to his true end, 22.
Resurrection of the dead, and the last solemn judgment, ii. 40. Revelation, the necessity of a divine, appears from the state of the heathen world, before the coming of Christ, i. 44; of unbelievers at present scattered in Christian lands, 50; of pagan nations of the present day, 54; and of the countries of Christendom themselves, 57. A general impression has prevailed that God has granted one to man, 61.
Ridley's dying address to Latimer, ii. 286.
Rites and usages, religious, springing out of Christianity, and subsisting at the present day, i. 132.
Rome, the Church and Bishop of, the great western apostacy foretold by Daniel, St. Paul, and St. John, i. 245.
Rousseau and Doddridge contrasted, ii. 269. Rousseau on his death-bed, 282.
Rulers and governors of our country, address to, ii. 422.
Rules for the sound interpretation of Scripture, ii. 339.
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