him one, all stocked, and ready for his labor. He, too, is strong and well able to work; work agrees with his constitution and preserves his health. The offered farm has always produced a large income beyond all its expenditures. His family are all able to go, he has money to go with, the roads and rivers are all open. Is it credible that, in such a case, a man would not start upon the journey at once?

When a man sees that a good immeasurably and in all points better than his present enjoyments is offered, he finds it easy to seize upon it. Were the offered farm, though good, encumbered with debt, should its situation, though pleasant to the eye, be found so distant from navigable streams as to render its produce unmarketable, were the way thither impassable, across the ocean, so that a family of children could not easily be removed there, were no money to be had to get there with, or were our friend weak and feeble in health so that he could not endure the journey, we could easily understand why he should reject the distant and unattainable good. Or, indeed, if he were a lazy, shiftless, intemperate man, we can understand why the effort at removal would seem too great for one who would never, when he could avoid it, drag one foot after another. The good in prospect for him is bad to him, for it requires an exertion, which in itself is not a good in his judgment.

And when many people speak of the "sweet fields," as they stand "dressed in living green," and profess to hold them in great estimation, we find on the other hand, there is always an evil in their view accompanying the possession of them, an evil of magnitude sufficient to render them worthless. Religion is good,-yes, it is good, they say, for old age, for the afflicted; good, if one will only resign real, tangible pleasures, for those which are distant and uncertain. Or, if they profess that it is good, or even best for the present, still some great evil stands in the way of its attainment. The mind wants energy to resolve upon it, the mind cannot drag one foot after another, the effort is so great, on the way to attain it. And the want of energy is the terrible evil, which, so long as it cannot be repaired, renders the good worthless.

Let any one, then, who is seeking to lead a religious life, who feels at times that religion is the best of all things, use such means as shall persuade him that religion is indeed the best; that it is not

like the starry night or the mountain-top. He must look for clearer, fuller views of religion, brighter manifestations of it; he must know it, as he knows daylight; he must see it, until he finds that it is as applicable to the common purposes of life as daylight is. And when this view has been afforded him, he must inquire if in its attainment there is no such difficulty as actually renders the wished-for possession worthless. There can be no such difficulty. The character of God, his infinite perfection, his infinite goodness, is our assurance that no difficulty lies in the way to him. "The way of transgressors is hard;" and it is easier to leave it, than to continue in it. The difficulties, which beset the religious path, are those of the imagination and of ignorance. Obedience to God is the best good; and such obedience as Jesus demands, and his life exemplifies, is the easiest of all things.

There is a difficulty attending good actions, singly performed. Actions spring from principles, and are a natural, inevitable fruit. To adopt the principle which approves itself to the heart, to the conscience and to the understanding, is not difficult. For a man to change his place of residence, when he is persuaded it is best, is just as difficult, as to change one's principles upon thorough per

suasion.

And Christ's word is the best persuasion to us. Put faith in him when he directs you, just as you would place confidence in the advice of any worthy friend. As you willingly follow the direction of older and wiser minds, without knowledge on your own part, follow also the direction of Christ. Believe that what he says is true. Let your mind accept his views; confide in his promises. If he says there are difficulties, preventing those who approve religion from accepting it, believe that there are such. If he gives his commandments plainly, simply, without explanation or qualification, as if he expected men to obey them with simplicity, and supposed that they could do so with ease, believe that you can obey him. Believe that you can obey him in all things, that you can be his disciple; that you can love God with sincerity, that you can pray to him with fulness and with satisfaction.

E. B.

PALFREY'S LOWELL LECTURES.*

We have read these volumes with pleasure and profit. Much as has been written upon the Christian Evidences, there was room for more, and this work occupies it well. It is impossible to say any thing new upon this subject, without being fanciful and unsatisfactory. What we needed was an interesting, brief and comprehensive statement of the well known grounds of credibility.

This work differs from all that have preceded it in comprehensiveness. It is a full magazine of arguments for the truth of Christianity and against Infidel objections. There is no important testimony of any kind which has not here its place, and there is no honest objection which is not fairly met. To accomplish this in so small a space was no easy matter; but it has been done by sacrificing any unnecessary and cumbersome show of learning, while we have the best results of it, and by suppressing all merely ingenious speculations and fancies. There is, too, through the book a candid reliance upon the good faith of the reader, shown in the naked statement of arguments, too substantial to need reiterated enforcement or anxious presentation. This, with a careful classification of objections, after which one blow at the heart demolishes what a hundred decapitations could not exterminate, has enabled the author to compress a vast deal within a narrow compass.

We have been particularly struck while reading this work, with the simplicity, directness and satisfactory character of the positive testimony to the divine truth of our religion. Such pains is taken to represent the external evidences of Christianity as difficult of mastery or within the ken only of the very learned, that plain minds rarely undertake to satisfy themselves on this point by examination. It seems to us, that no learning is requisite to the full appreciation of the historical proofs of the genuineness and authenticity of the Gospels. To collect the testimony requires learning;

* Lowell Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity. By John Gorham Palfrey. With a Discourse on the Life and Character of John Lowell, Jr. By Edward Everett. Boston: James Munroe & Co. 1843. 2 vols., 8vo. pp. 367, 444.

to satisfy one's self that it is fairly collected, and then to use it, demands only a judicious and disciplined mind. Nothing can be more simple and straightforward than the train of argument, and any Christian who can appreciate the internal, can equally judge the external evidences of his religion. It is most important to urge this fact upon public attention; for at a time when Revealed Religion is so often attacked by scholars, it is well that Christians should know, that the settlement of this question does not rest with scholars only, that any man of good sense is competent to understand the merits of the controversy and to decide it for himself.

Another point, which is illustrated by the opinions of Infidel writers, as exhibited in this work, cannot fail to have struck any intelligent Christian in talking with skeptics, and that is, their almost uniform ignorance of the arguments upon which we rely for the truth of Christianity. They never undertake to confute the successive steps in the believer's argument. They do not treat the subject in an orderly manner, beginning at the beginning and following it down to the close. But there is an irregular discharge of flying artillery, not directed at our batteries, passing over head or falling short of our positions, which creates great smoke and noise, concealing the defender of the faith from view, and in their opinion therefore annihilating him. We do not see the Infidel writer knocking the successive links of the chain of Christian testimonies with his hammer. Assertion, ridicule, mysticism, or else violent assaults upon points which intelligent Christians do not defend, comprise their armament and mode of attack. The objections of Deists have been again and again met in order, item after item. Christians have not been contented with stating the positive evidences of their religion, but whenever objections have come up, they have been methodically and thoroughly discussed. Skeptics seem to seek only the weakest points in the Christian argument; Christians are glad to find any Infidel objection having substance enough to admit of refutation.

But just here is the difficulty-the extreme vagueness of Infidelity. And leaving their published writings, this is the peculiarity of mind marking most skeptics. How rare it is to find a man, the strength of whose skepticism is not comprised in a disorderly rabble of such popular objections to Christianity as Paine and Vol

taire have circulated through the world. The fountains of these objections have been filled up long ago. But here and there a stagnant pool remains of the poisonous waters they discharged. Gibbon and Hume have been thoroughly disproved or overthrown, time and again, but their arguments, never so forcibly stated as by themselves, reappear at intervals precisely as if just now thought of. Now it is idle to discuss the evidences of Christianity with those who know only the popular objections to it. You cannot establish Christianity by disproving objections. You must offer the argument in favor of Christianity as an answer to all objections, and when that has been candidly considered, it will be time enough to remove difficulties. But this cannot be done against the will of the objector, and most commonly he will do no such thing; proving that his skepticism is either the pride of singularity, the love of opposition, or worse still, originates in a bad heart. Without the love of truth, it is idle to discuss any question. We must not concern ourselves too much about the conversion of Infidels. We throw away upon them often more feeling than they deserve. It can be soon seen whether a man is a lover of truth and goodness, or not. If so, let all pains be taken to relieve his mind from anxious doubts; but do not waste words upon the self-complacent, sneering doubter.

To those who go for years with great doubts upon their minds as to the truth of Christianity it is to be said, that they may go on to their deathbeds with the same uncertainty, if they expect to find belief merely by talking the matter over with every believer they meet. They only perplex their minds the more by this course. A month's careful study in such books as the one before us is worth years of disputation and casual inquiry. Nor does it appear to us that satisfaction in this matter depends upon any very nice inquiry. The truth of Christianity does not depend upon giving exact value to every particle of favorable testimony. The balance does not descend in its favor by the last straw thrown upon it. The evidence is in large masses, conspicuous, striking, decisive. It is not a matter demanding the study of years. And he who doubts it, after even a cursory examination, will find that he doubts it on grounds which disturb all the received rules of evidence. The stronghold of Infidelity is in the imagination, not in