gives us no pain, we are deficient in love, and guilty before God. Nor does it appear that acquiescence in the divine will implies that in this life at least we should not have a wish that all men might be happy. This seems to be clearly intimated in the conduct of Paul before Agrippa. "I would to God that not only thou, but all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." He had no reason to believe any such thing. But it would have given him great satisfaction had it been true. Jesus Christ also, who in the highest degree possessed all the sympathies of our nature without sin, wept over Jerusalem when he considered its impending fate. But while Christians ought to feel for the misery of every fellow-creature, they should beware of manifesting their love to them by calling in question the word or the justice of Jehovah. It is enough to know that, although we are unable to fathom the divine counsels, the judge of all the earth will do right.

Those, however, who contend for the truth as declared in the Scriptures on the subject in question, are often considered to be deficient in charity. The heathens in the same way charged the Christians in the first ages as the haters of mankind, because they would not grant that ail religions were equally safe and good. The same spirit often manifests itself in the disapprobation of the conduct of those who faithfully declare doctrines that are generally offensive. But it is not a Christian spirit that would induce us, out of complaisance to men, to hide or avoid any thing taught by the Spirit of God; or to express hopes, or at least to suppress fears, respecting those whom the Scriptures condemn. Charity or love does not require us to believe, contrary to evidence, that all is well with our neigh

bours, or to say that it is so; but it prompts us to neglect no means in our power to do them good. The spirit of the Gospel is a spirit of love and of a sound mind, and these ought never to be separated. We should speak the truth in love; but love without truth, like faith without works, is dead. Spurious charity* aims at extending the empire of the Gospel, by hiding some of its characteristic features, and hopes to make it agreeable to the world, by suppressing part of its testimony. This is injurious to the character of divine revelation, and ought to be loudly denounced as one of the means by which Satan, under the appearance of an Angel of light, endeavours to turn men from the truth. The spirit that dictates such a course may dignify itself with the appellation of a Christian spirit, and will be hailed and admired as such by the world, but will for ever find its condemnation in the example of our Lord and his apostles. The apostle John, who speaks so much of the importance of charity, and who was himself so bright an example of that heavenly grace, employs the strongest expressions to show the hatefulness and the danger of error.

* Charity, taken in its true sense, renders the duties of Christians at once clear, and intelligible, and compatible with one another. If we take it in a different acceptation, we shall immediately perceive a constant opposition between it and zeal for the service of God; and in the same measure in which we abound in the one, in the same degree shall we be necessarily restrained in the other. But if we view Christian charity in its true light, as meaning sincere love for its object, instead of there remaining any opposition, we shall perceive the most complete harmony betwixt these duties. Far from opposing or limiting each other in their exercises, they will reciprocally fortify and mutually direct in their application. In order to possess just ideas of different duties, we must always consider the relations they bear to each other.

And what is his definition of charity? "This is love, that we walk after his commandments." Had the truth respecting the condition of heathens not been kept so much in the background, from a fear of giving offence, Christians shutting their eyes to it would not have satisfied themselves without making any effort, till of late, to proclaim in the benighted regions of the world, the unsearchable riches of Christ.

This doctrine is calculated greatly to enhance the value of the Gospel in the esteem of Christians, and to excite in them the most lively gratitude. When so many millions of the human race are suffered to live in ignorance of the way of salvation, what thanks are due to God on the part of those whose lot has been cast in a land of light. It is likewise calculated to excite the most ardent zeal for the dissemination of the Gospel. If men might be saved through Christ by the law of nature, what encouragement would there be for this? Indeed though in respect to those who receive the Gospel, there would be an advantage beyond what they would have enjoyed, had they been saved by the light of nature, yet as to the great multitude of the inhabitants of any country which the Gospel reaches, it would be better for them that they had died without hearing its sound. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those who have heard and rejected the Gospel of Christ. The view then which is here given of the subject is the only one which encourages zeal for the spreading of the glad news of salvation. If the Gospel is the only medium of communicating to men the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, let Christians do all that lies in their power for its diffusion, till the knowledge of God shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

CHAPTER XVI.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE OF THE SCRIPTURES.

THE truth of Christianity is pressed on our belief with a greater weight of evidence than any other truth that has ever yet come under the consideration of the human mind. While some of its proofs lie open to the view of the most uneducated, there are others that may exercise the research and the industry of the most learned. But the Scriptures contain in their own bosom an inexhaustible source of evidence independent of all that is external. Were the evidence of the truth of the gospel accessible only to such as have leisure to examine all the grounds on which it may be shown to rest, it must for ever be hid from the greater number of those to whom it is addressed. The great ma

jority of the world have no leisure for such enquiries, and have no opportunity to conduct them to a proper result. But the Scriptures are addressed to all mankind, and it is at their peril that any neglect their message, even though want of education or opportunity for examination may conceal all the outward proofs.

It is the self-evident authority of the Scriptures that makes all men guilty who neglect the great salvation which they announce. Accordingly the Lord Jesus Christ declares, "This is the condemnation that light hath come into the world, and that men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are

evil." The gospel is here represented as light; "whatever maketh manifest is light," and light needs nothing external to show that it is light. Of this every man must be immediately convinced. And were not the heart of man depraved, as the Scriptures represent it, there would not have been among all the multitudes that hear the gospel one solitary individual who remained in ignorance, unbelief, or doubt. Ignorance, unbelief, and doubt, all arise from spiritual blindness and dislike to what the gospel testifies. Were the Scriptures unknown in our land to this hour, and were they now to be found on a barren waste, no man could hear them, and remain without guilt and condemnation if he should reject them.

The internal evidences of the Scriptures are inexhaustible. They meet us in every page, and almost in every expression. Evidence here crowds on the mind from every quarter. It is impossible to select a fact or a circumstance that, to those who are accustomed to contrast the wisdom of God with the wisdom of man, may not afford some portion of evidence. The Scriptures are the word of God, and who can speak like God? He may be known by his speech as well as by his power.

Without at all attempting to exhaust this subject, without dwelling on the most momentous points in which evidence is exhibited, a few instances only shall here be glanced at, in which the Scriptures manifest themselves by their own nature to be from God, and render all men guilty who reject their testimony.

First, and above all, stands the view which they give of the character of God. Were we to confine our observations to the Divine character, as manifested in the works of creation and providence, philosophy