**Zgive thefe Books
1 foi" the foi&ldiag of a. Collegt. in, this Colony^

>YALIl°¥MIIYEI&SinrY-

Gift of

THE BROSS LIBRARY
Volume I

EYIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

LECTURES
BEFORE
THE LOWELL INSTITUTE,
REVISED AS A TEXT-BOOK

WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTEU CONSIDERING SOME ATTACKS ON THE
CRITICAL SCHOOL, THE CORROBORATIVE EVIDENCE OF RECENTLY
DISCOVERED MANUSCRIPTS, ETC., AND THE TESTIMONY
OF JESUS ON HIS TRIAL.

MARK HOPKINS, D. D., LL. D.,
LATE PRESIDENT OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE.

PRESENTATION EDITION, ON THE
BROSS FOUNDATION, LAKE FOREST COLLEGE.

T. E. MARVIN & SON,
BOSTON, 1909.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1803, by
MARK HOPKINS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the
District of Massachusetts.

Copyright, 1880.
MARK HOPKINS,
Williamstown, Mass.

Copyright, 1909,
BY THE TRUSTEES OF LAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY,
Lake Forest, 111.

T. R. MARVIN AND SON, PRINTERS.

THE BROSS FOUNDATION

The Bross Foundation was established in(1"879jjy the
late William Bross, Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois from
1866 to 1870. Desiring some memorial of his son, Nathan
iel Bross, who died in 1856, Mr. Bross entered into an
agreement with the " Trustees of Lake Forest University,"
whereby there was finally transferred to them the sum of
forty thousand dollars, the income of which was to accu
mulate in perpetuity for successive periods of ten years, the
accumulations of one decade to be spent in the following
decade, for the purpose of stimulating the best books or
treatises " on the connection, relation and mutual hearing
of any practical science, the history of our race, or the facts
in any department of knowledge, .... and to demonstrate
the divine origin and the authority of ihe Christian Scrip
tures ; and, further, to show how both science and revela
tion coincide and prove the existence, the providence, or any
or all of the attributes of the only living and true God,
' infinite, eternal and unchangeable in Sis being, wisdom-,
power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth?"

4 THE BROSS FOUNDATION.
The gift contemplated in the original agreement of 1879
was finally consummated in 1890. The first decade of the
accumulation of interest having closed in 1900, the Trus
tees of the Bross Fund began at this time to carry out the
provisions of the deed of gift. It was determined to give
the general title of " The Bross Library " to the series of
books purchased and published with the proceeds of the
Bross Fund. In accordance with the express wish of the
donor, that the " Evidences of Christianity " of his " very
dear friend and teacher, Mark Hopkins, D. D.," be pur
chased and "ever numbered and known as No. 1 of the
series," the Trustees secured the copyright of this work,
which is now numbered as Volume I of the Bross Library.
The trust agreement prescribed two methods by which
the production of books and treatises of the nature contem
plated by the donor was to be stimulated:
1. The Trustees were empowered to offer one or more
prizes during each decade, the competition for which was
to be thrown open to "the scientific men, the Christian
philosophers and historians of all nations." In accordance
with this provision, a prize of $6,000 was offered in 1902
for the best book fulfilling the conditions of the deed of
gift, the competing manuscripts to be presented on or
before June 1, 1905. The prize was awarded to the Rev
erend James Orr, D. D., Professor of Apologetics and Sys
tematic Theology in the United Free Church College,
Glasgow, for his treatise on "The Problem of the Old

THE BROSS FOUNDATION. 5
Testament," which was published in 1906 as Volume III
of the Bross Library. The next decennial prize will be
awarded about 1915, and will be announced in due time.
2. The Trustees were also empowered to "select and
designate any particular scientific man or Christian phi
losopher and the subject on which he shall write," and to
" agree with him as to the sum he shall receive for the book
or treatise to be written." Under this provision the Trus
tees have, from time to time, invited eminent scholars to
deliver courses of lectures before Lake Forest College, such
courses to be subsequently published as volumes in the;
Bross Library. The first course of lectures, on " Obliga
tory Morality," was delivered in May, 1903, by the Rever
end Francis Landey Patton, D. D., LL. D., President of
Princeton Theological Seminary. The copyright of these
lectures is now the property of the Trustees of the Bross
Fund. The second course of lectures, on " The Bible : Its
Origin and Nature," was delivered in May, 1904, by the
Reverend Marcus Dods, D. D., Professor of Exegetical
Theology in New College, Edinburgh. These lectures
were published in 1905 as Volume II of the Bross Library.
The third course of lectures, on " The Bible of Nature,"
was delivered from September 24 to October 3, 1907, by
Mr. J. Arthur Thomson, M. A., Regius Professor of Natu
ral History in the University of Aberdeen. These lectures
were published in 1908 as Volume IV of the Bross Library.
The fourth course of lectures, on "The Religions of Syria

O THE BROSS FOUNDATION.
and Palestine To-day," was delivered from November 30 to
December 14, 1908, by Frederick J. Bliss, Ph. D., of Bei
rut, Syria, and will appear as the fifth volume of the Bross
Library. As indicated above, it was the express wish of the donor
of the Bross Fund that Dr. Mark Hopkins's " Evidences of
Christianity " should forever stand as the first of the series
of books published by the Fund. In accordance with this
behest, the Trustees offer in the present volume, uniform
with the other volumes of the Bross Library, a presentation
edition of Dr. Hopkins's great work, which is no less im
portant in the history of American higher education than in
the history of Christian ajnologetics.
JOHN" SCHOLTE NOLLEN,
President of Lake Forest College.
iiake foeest, illinois,
January, 1909.

The following Lectures, published seventeen years
since, having been extensively used as a text book, are
now revised, with the hope of adapting them more fully
to that end. In doing this, the arguments have been
separated from each other, and captions have been given
to the paragraphs. Changes have also been made in
arrangement, a few things have been omitted, and some
additions have been made. Neither these, nor the rea
sons for them, need be specified. The general form and
substance of the Lectures have been retained, but, as
now presented, it is hoped that the arguments will be
both more readily apprehended and more easily remem
bered. The Lectures were originally written on the invita
tion of John A. Lowell, Esq., to deliver them before
the Lowell Institute ; and my sense of his kindness and
courtesy were expressed in connection with their former
publication. That expression I desire to renew, and
to add that the same kindness and courtesy have been
still further illustrated in connection with the present
edition. MARK HOPKINS.
Williams College, September, 1S63.

PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.

The following Lectures are published as they were de-
livered. Perhaps nothing would be gained, on the whole,
by recasting them ; but they must be expected to have the
defects incident to compositions prepared under the pressure
of other duties, and required to be completed within a lim
ited time.
When I entered upon the subject, I supposed it had been
exhausted ; but on looking at it more nearly, I was led to see
that Christianity has such relations to nature and to man,
that the evidence resulting from a comparison of it with
them may be almost said to be exhaustless. To the evidence
from this source I have given greater prominence than is
common, both because it has been comparatively neglected,
and because I judged it better adapted than the historical
proof to interest a promiscuous audience. It was with refer
ence to both these points, that, in the arrangement and
grouping of these Lectures, I have departed from the ordi
nary course ; and if they shall be found in any degree pecul
iarly adapted to the present state of the public mind, I think
it will be from the prominence given to the Internal Evi
dence, while, at the same time, the chief topics of argument
are presented within a moderate space. 14)

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 9
The method of proof of which I have just spoken has one
disadvantage which I found embarrassing. If Christianity is
compared with nature or with man, it must be assumed that
it is some specific thing; and hence there will be danger,
either of being so general and indefinite as to be without
interest, or of getting upon controversial ground. Each of
these extremes it was my wish to avoid. That I succeeded
jn doing this perfectly, I cannot suppose. Probably it would
he impossible lor any one to do so in the judgment of all.
My wish was to present the argument. This I could not do
without indicating my sentiments on some of the lead
ing doctrines of Christianity up to a certain point; and
if any think that I went too far, I can only say that it was
difficult to know where to stop, and that, if I had given the
argument precisely as it lay in my own mind, I should have
gone much farther. It is from the adaptation of Christianity
as providing an atonement, and consequently a divine Re
deemer, to the condition and wants of man, that the chief
force of such works as that of Erskine, and " The Philosophy
of the Plan of Salvation," is derived ; and I should be unwill
ing to have it supposed that I presented any thing which I
regarded as a complete system of the Evidences of Christian
ity, from which that argument was excluded.
But if, in some of its aspects, the evidence for Christianity
may be said to be exhaustless, it may also be said that several
of the leading topics of argument have probably been pre'
sented as ably as they ever will be. Those topics I thought
it my duty to present, and in doing so I had no wish to sac
rifice force to originality, and did not hesitate to avail my
self freely of such labors of others as were within my reach.
If I had had time to do this more fully, no doubt the Lec
tures would have been improved.

10 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
For much recurrence to original authorities in the histori
cal part, I had not time. The quotations in that part are
generally taken from Paley or Home, or from some source
equally common. Those quotations, however, are of unques
tioned authority; they are to the point, and perhaps nothing
could have more usefully occupied the same space.
The importance of the object intended to be accomplished
by the founder of the Lowell Institute, in this course of Lec
tures, cannot be over-estimated. Let there be in the minds
of the people generally a settled and rational conviction of
the truth of Christianity, such as a fair presentation of the
evidence could not fail to produce, and there will be the best
and the only true foundation laid for a rational piety, and for
the practice of every social and civil virtue. That these
Lectures were useful, to some extent, when they were deliv
ered, in producing such a conviction, I had the great satisfac
tion of knowing; and I now commit them to the blessing of
God, with the hope, though there are so many and so able
treatises on this subject already before the public, that they
will have a degree of usefulness that will justify their publi
cation. "Villiams College, April, 1846.

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.
I-AGB
Object of the Course. — Responsibility of Men for their Opinions.
— Revelation proyable. — This shown from a Comparison of
Mathematical and Moral Evidence, and from an Analysis
of the Argument of Hume  13

LECTURE II.
Preliminary Observations. — Revelation probable: Krst, from
the Nature of the Case ; secondly, from Facts. — Probability
of Miracles, aside from their Effect in sustaining any particular
Revelation. — Connection between the Miracle and the Doc
trine. — The Christian Religion, or none. ... - 89
J
LECTURE IE.
Internal and External Evidence. — Vagueness of the Division
between them. — Reasons for considering the Internal Evi
dences first. — Argument first : From Analogy. ..... 68
4
LECTURE IV.
Argument second: Coincidence of Christianity with Natural
Pieligion. — Argument third : Its Adaptation to the Conscience
as a perceiving Power. — Peculiar Difficulties in the Way of
establishing and maintaining a perfect Standard. — Argument
fourth : If the Morality is perfect, the Religion must be true. 91

LECTURE V.
Argument fifth: Christianity adapted to Man. — Division first:
Its Quickening and Guiding Power. — Its Adaptation to the
Intellect, the Affections, the Imagination, the Conscience, and
the Will  125

CONTENTS.
LECTURE VI. PAGE
Argument fifth, continued : Division second: Christianity as a
Restraining Power. — Argument sixth: The Experimental
Evidence of Christianity. — Argument seventh : Its Fitness
and Tendency to become universal. — Argument eighth: It
has always been in the World  155
LECTURE VII.
Arcument ninth : Christianity could not have been originated
by Man  183
LECTURE VIH.
Argument tenth : The Condition, Character and Claims of Christ. 210
LECTURE IX.
The External Evidence. — General Grounds on which this is to
be put. — Argument eleventh . Authenticity and Integrity of
the Writings of the New Testament  238
LECTURE X.
Argument twelfth : Credibility of the Books of the New Testa
ment  269
LECTURE XI.
Argument thirteenth: Prophecy. — Nature of this Evidence.
— The General Object of Prophecy. — The Fulfillment of
Prophecy. .......  299
LECTURE XII.
Objections. — Argument fourteenth : The Propagation of Chris
tianity. — Argument fifteenth : Its Effects and Tendencies. 
Summary and Conclusion  ... 328
SUPPLEMENT.
Attacks of the Critical School. — New Evidences, from Ruins
and Ancient Manuscripts. — Exclusive Traits of Christianity.
— The Testimony of Jesus on His Trial  357

EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

LECTURE I.
OBJECT OF THE COURSE. — RESPONSIBILITY OF MEN FOR THEIR
OPINIONS. — REVELATION PROVABLE.— THIS SHOWN FROM A
COMPARISON OF MATHEMATICAL AND MORAL EVIDENCE, AND
FROM AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARGUMENT OF HUME.
In entering upon this course of lectures, there is one
impression against which I wish to guard at the outset.
It is, that I come here to defend Christianity, as if its
truth were a matter of doubt. Not so. I come, not
to dispute, but to exhibit truth ; to do my part in a
great work, which must be done for every generation,
by showing them, so that they shall see for themselves,
the grounds on which their belief in the Christian
religion rests. I come to stand at the door of the
temple of Truth, and ask you to go in with me, and
see for yourselves the foundation and the shafts of those
pillars upon which its dome is reared. I ask you, in
the words of one of old, to walk with me about our
Zion, and go round about her, to tell the towers there
of, to mark well her bulwarks, to consider her palaces,
that ye may tell it to the generation following.*
Persons to be benefited. — In doing this, I shall hope
to be useful to three classes of persons.
First Class. — To the first belong those who have
received Christianity by acquiescence ; who have, per-
* Psalm xlviii. 12, 13. (13)

14 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
haps, never questioned its truth, but who have never
examined its evidence. This class is large, — it is to
be feared increasingly so, — and it does not seem to
me that the position of mind in which they are placed,
and its consequences, are sufficiently regarded.
The claims of the Christian religion present them
selves to those who enter upon life in a Christian coun
try, in an attitude entirely different from that in which
they were presented at their first announcement, when
they made such rapid progress, and when their domin
ion over the mind of man was so efficient.* Then, no
man was born a Christian. If he became one, it was
in opposition to the prejudices of education, to ties of
kindred, to motives of interest, and often at the sacri
fice of reputation and of life. This no man would do
except on the ground of the strongest reasons, per
ceived and assented to by his own mind. Christianity
was an aggressive and an uncompromising religion. It
attacked every other form of religion, whether Jewish
or pagan, and sought to destroy it. It "turned the
world upside down" wherever it came; and the first
question which any man would naturally ask was,
"What are its claims? What are the reasons why
I should receive it ? " And these claims and reasons
would be examined with all the attention that could be
produced by the stimulus of novelty, and by the deep
est personal interest.
Now, however, all this is changed. Men are born
nominally Christians. The truth of the religion is taken
for granted ; nothing leads them to question it, nothing
to examine it. In this position the mind may open
itself to the reception of the religion from a perception
of its intrinsic excellence, and its adaptation to the deep
wants of man ; but the probability is that doubts will
arise. The occasions of these are abundant on every
* See Whately's Logic, Appendix, p. 32S.

DOUBTS. 15
hand — the strange state in which the world is ; the
number of sects ; the conduct of Christians ; a com
panion that ridicules religion ; an infidel book. One
objection or doubt makes way for another. The objec
tions come first, and, ere the individual is aware, his
respect for religion, and his confidence in it, are under
mined. Especially will this be so if a young man
travels much, and sees different forms of religion. He
will see the Hindoo bowing before his idol, the Turk
praying toward Mecca, the Papist kneeling before his
saint, and the Protestant attending his church ; and, as
each seems equally sincere, and equally certain he is
right, he will acquire, insensibly perhaps, a general
impression that all religions are equally true, or — which
is much the same thing — that they are equally false , and
any exclusive attachment to the Christian religion will
be regarded as bigotry. The religion itself will come
to be disliked as a restraint, and despised as a form.
It is chiefly from this class that the ranks of fanaticism,
on the one hand, and of infidelity, on the other, are
filled ; and it will often depend on constitutional tem
perament, or accidental temptation, whether such a one
shall become a fanatic or an infidel.
At this point, there is doubtless a fault both in Chris>
tian parents and in Christian ministers. Where there
is a proper course of training, this class can never be
come numerous ; but it is numerous in all our congre
gations now. Needless doubts are not to be awakened,
but it is no honor to the Christian religion to receive it
by prescription. It is no fault to have those question
ings, that desire for insight, — call them doubts if you
will, — which always spring up in strong minds, and
which will not be quieted till the ground and evidence
of those things which they receive are distinctly seen.
Are there such among my hearers ? Them I hope to
benefit. I hope to do for them what Luke did for the

16 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
most excellent Theophilus — to show them the "cer
tainty" of those things in which they have been in
structed; to refer them, as he does again the same
person in the Acts, to those " infallible proofs " on which
the religion rests.
Second Class. — To the second class whom I hope to
benefit belong those who have gradually passed from
the preceding class into doubt and infidelity. Jor such,
I think, there is hope. They are not unwilling to see
evidence. Their position has led them to look at objec
tions first, and they have, perhaps, never had time or
opportunity to look at the embodied evidence for Chris
tianity. They have fallen into infidelity from associa
tion, from vanity, from fashion ; they have not found
in it the satisfaction they expected, and they are willing
to review the ground, or rather to look candidly, for
the first time, at the evidences for this religion.
Exceptions. — Besides this class of infidels, there are,
however, two others, whom I have very little hope of
benefiting. One is of those who are made so by their
passions, and are under the control of appetite, or am
bition, or avarice, or revenge. As these were not made
infidels by argument, argument will not be likely to
reclaim them. "They never think of religion but with
a feeling of enmity, and never speak of it but in the
language of sneer or abuse." Another class is of those
who have been well characterized as " a cold, specula
tive, subtle set of skeptics, who attack first principles
and confound their readers or hearers with paradoxes."
Apparently influenced by vanity, they adopt principles
which would render all argument impossible or nu
gatory, and which would lead to fundamental and
universal skepticism. This class seems not to be as
numerous or as dangerous at present as at some former
times.* * Alexander's Evidences, p. 9.

CERTAINTY AND ITS EFFECTS. 17
Third Class. — The third class whom I hope to ben
efit consists of Christians themselves.
Certainty and Efficiency. — It is one of the condi
tions of Christian character and efficiency, that, on some
ground, there should be such a conviction of the truth
of Christianity as to form a basis of action and of self-
sacrifice, which, if it should be required, would be
carried even to martyrdom. The grounds of such a
conviction cannot be too well examined. There is no
man, who finds himself called to act upon any convic
tion, who does not feel his self-respect increased, and
his peace of mind enhanced, and his strength for action
augmented, when he has a clear perception of the ground
of the conviction upon which he acts. And even though
he may once have seen the Christian evidences in all
their force, and been astonished at the mass of proof,
and have been perfectly convinced, yet, after a time,
these impressions fade away, and it is good for him to
have them renewed. It is as when one has looked at
the Falls of Niagara, and stood upon the tower, and
gone round upon Table rock, and been rowed in the
little boat up toward the great fall, and had his mind
filled with the scene, but has again been occupied in the
business of life till the impression has become indistinct
on his mind. He would then gladly return, and have
it renewed and deepened.
This feeling of certainty seems to have been one of
the elements of the vigorous piety of ancient times.
They believed; therefore they spoke. They knevr
whom they believed ; therefore they were ready to be
offered. They spoke of "certainty," of "infallible
proofs," of being "eye-witness&s," of the "more sure
word of prophecy." Their tread was not that of men
who were feeling their way in the twilight of doubtful
evidence, but that of men who saw every thing in the
light of clear and perfect vision.

18 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
I would not, indeed, limit the amount of knowledge
and conviction with which piety may exist. If it can
spring up in the twilight, and grow where doubts over
shadow it, and where it never feels the direct rays of
truth, we ought to rejoice ; but, at the same time, we
ought to know that the growth will be feeble, and that
the plant must be despoiled of the beauty and fragrance
which it will have when it grows as in the light of the
open day. To produce this feeling of certainty in one
already a Christian, was the avowed object for which
the Gospel of Luke was written ; and it is this feeling,
containing the elements both of peace and of strength,
that I hope to produce and to deepen in the minds of
Christians. Cooperation needed. — But if I am to be useful to
either of these classes, it must be with their own co
operation. The principle involved in this assertion, in
reference to all moral truth, and, indeed, to all truth the
acquisition of which requires attention, is as obvious to
philosophy and common sense as it is plainly announced
in the Bible. Nothing is more common, in reference
to their present, as well as their future interests, than
for men to " have eyes and see not."
Objection — Belief necessary . — Here, however, I am
met by the objection that the belief of a man is not
within his own power, but that he is compelled to
believe according to certain laws- of evidence. This
objection I do not apprehend to be of very wide influ
ence ; but I have met with a few men of intelligence
who have held to it, and it has been sustained by some
names of high authority. I am therefore bound to
notice it.
In this case, as in most others of a similar kind, the
objection involves a partial truth, from which its plausi
bility is derived. It is true, within certain limitations,
and under certain conditions, and with respect to cer-

BELIEF AND THE WILL. 19
tain kinds of truth, that we are not voluntary in our
belief; but then these conditions and limitations are
such as entirely to sever from this truth any conse
quence that we are not perfectly ready to admit.
We admit that belief is in no case directly dependent
on the will ; that in some cases it is entirely independ
ent of it ; but he must be exceedingly bigoted, or un
observant of what passes around him, who should
affirm that the will has no influence. The influence of
the will here is analogous to its influence in many other
cases. It is as great as it is over the objects which we
see. It does not depend upon the will of any man,
if he turns his eyes in a particular direction, whether
he shall see a tree there. If the tree be there, he must
see it, and is compelled to believe in its existence ; but
it was entirely within his power not to turn his eyes in
that direction, and thus to remain unconvinced, on the
highest of all evidence, of the existence of the tree, and
unimpressed by its beauty and proportion. It is not
by his will directly that man has any control over his
thoughts. It is not by willing a thought into the mind
that he can call it there ; and yet we all know that
through attention and habits of association the sub
jects, of our thoughts are, to a great extent, directed
by the will.
It is precisely so in respect to belief; and he who
denies this, denies the value of candor, and the influ
ence of party spirit, and prejudice, and interest, on the
mind. So great is this influence, however, that a keen
observer of human nature, and one who will not be
suspected of leaning unduly to the doctrine I now ad
vocate, has supposed it to extend even to our belief of
mathematical truth. "Men," says Hobbes, "appeal
from custom to reason, and from reason to custom, as.
it serves their turn, receding from custom when their
interest requires it, and setting themselves against

20 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
reason as oft as reason is against them ; which is the
cause that the doctrine of right and wrong is perpetu
ally disputed both by the pen and the sword ; wnereas
the doctrine of lines and figures is not so, because men
care not, in that subject, what is truth, as it is a thing
that crosses no man's ambition, or profit, or lust. For,
I doubt not, if it had been a thing contrary to any man's
right of dominion, or to the interest of men . that have
dominion, that the three angles of a triangle should be
equal to two angles of a square, that doctrine should
have been, if not disputed, yet by the burning of all
books of geometry suppressed, as far as he whom it
concerned was able." "This," saysHallam, from whose
work I make the quotation, " does not exaggerate the
pertinacity of mankind in resisting the evidence of truth
when it thwarts the interests or passions of any partic
ular sect or community." * Let a man who hears the
forty-seventh proposition of Euclid announced for the
first time, trace the steps of the demonstration, and he
must believe it to be true ; but let him know that, as
soon as he does perceive the evidence of that proposi
tion so as to believe it on that ground, he shall lose his
right eye, and he will never trace the evidence, or come
to that belief which results from the force of the only
proper evidence. You may tell him it is true, but he
will reply that he does not know, he does not see it to
be so.
So far, then, from finding in this law of belief — the
law by which it is necessitated on condition of a certain
amount of evidence perceived by the mind  an ex
cuse for any who do not receive the evidence of the
Christian religion, it is in this very law that I find the
ground of their condemnation. Certainly, if God has
provided evidence as convincing as that for the forty-
seventh of Euclid, so that all men have to do is to
* Literature of Europe, vol. iii.

CANDOR ALONE NEEDED. 21
examine it with candor, then they must be without ex
cuse if they do not believe. This, I suppose, God has
done. He asks no one to believe except on the ground
of evidence, and such evidence as ought to command
assent. Let a man examine this evidence with entire
candor, laying aside all regard for consequences or re
sults, simply according to the laws of evidence, and
then, if he is not convinced, I believe God will, so fai
forth, acquit him in the great day of account. But if
God has given men such evidence that a fair, and full,
and perfectly candid examination is all that is needed
to necessitate belief, then, if men do not believe, it
will be in this very law that we shall find the ground
of their condemnation. The difficulty will not lie in
their mental constitution as related to evidence, nor in
the want of evidence, but in that moral condition, that
state of the heart, or the will, which prevented a proper
examination. " There seems," says Butler, " no possible
reason to be given why we may not be in a state of
moral probation with regard to the exercise of our un
derstanding upon the subject of religion, as we are with
regard to our behavior in common affairs. The former
is a thing as much within our power and choice as the
latter." When truth has a fair chance. — And here, I re
mark incidentally, we see what it is for truth to have
a fair chance. There are many who think it has this
when it is left free to combat error without the inter
vention of external force ; and they seem to suppose it
will, of necessity, prevail. But the fact is, that the
truth almost never has a fair chance with such a being
as man, when the reception of it involves self-denial,
or the recognition of duties to which he is indisposed.
Let " the mists that steam up before the intellect from
a corrupt heart be dispersed," and truths, before ob-
scure, shine out as the noonday. Before the mind of
B

22 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
one with the intellect of a man, but with the purity and
unselfishness of an angel, the evidence of such a sys
tem as the gospel would have a fair chance.
Is it true, then, that, if a perfectly candid attention
be given to its evidences, a certainty of the truth of
Christianity will be produced in the mind at this late
day, and in these ends of the earth? I say, Yes ; and
I say it in full view of the kind of evidence by which
Christianity is supported, and which, by some, is sup
posed incapable of producing certainty. Let us look
at this point.
The hind of evidence — probable and mathematical
evidence compared. — What, then, is the kind of evi
dence by which Christianity is supported ? And hei-e I
am ready to say, it is moral evidence, as opposed to
mathematical, and what is called probable evidence, as
opposed to demonstrative. Is, then, mathematical evi
dence a better ground of certainty than moral evidence ?
On this point, and also respecting the subjects to which
mathematical evidence can properly be applied, there is
a wrong impression extensively prevalent, not only in
the community at large, but among educated men.
Figures, it is said, can not lie ; and there seems to be an
impression that where they are used, the result must
be certain. But when a surveyor measures the sides
and angles of a field, and ascertains the contents by
calculation, is he certain ho has the exact contents of
that field? He may be so if no mistake has been
made in measuring the sides and angles. But of that
he never can be certain ; or, if he is, it can not be by
mathematical evidence. His accuracy will depend upon
the perfection of his instruments, of which he never
can be certain. So it will be found in all cases of what
are called mixed mathematics. There are elements
entering into the result that do not depend on mathe
matical evidence, and therefore the evidence for that

SPHERE OF MATHEMATICAL EVIDENCE. 23
result is not demonstrative. Even in those results
in which the greatest confidence is felt, and in which
there seems to be, and perhaps is, an entire coincidence
with fact, the certainty that is felt does not result from
mathematical evidence. No man, who understands the
nature of the evidence on which he proceeds, would
say he had demonstrated that there would be an eclipse
next year. His expectation of it would depend, not on
mathematical evidence, but upon his belief in the sta
bility of the laws of nature. And even in accordance
with those laws, it is not impossible that some new-
comet may come in athwart the orbit of the earth o*
the moon, and disturb their relative position.
Facts can not be demonstrated. — But, says the ob
jector, I speak of pure mathematics, and of the certainty
of its evidence. I say, then, with regard to pure-
mathematics, that it has no application to facts. No'
fact can be demonstrated. Nothing whatever, no asser
tion about any thing that ever did exist, or ever can
exist, can be demonstrated, that is, proved by evidence
purely mathematical. This will be assented to by all
who understand the nature of mathematical evidence ,,
and it can be easily shown. It can be demonstrated
that the two acute angles in every right-angled triangle
are equal to the right angle ; but can this be demon
strated of any actually existing triangle ? Draw what
you call a right-angled triangle, and can you demon
strate it about that? No. You can not demonstrate
that your given triangle is right-angled. Whether it is.
or not will depend upon the perfection of your instru
ments and the perfection of the senses. Accordingly,
demonstration never asserts, and never can assert, of
any triangle, that it is right-angled ; but its language
is, Let it be a right-angled triangle, suppose it to be,
and then the two acute angles will be equal to that right
angle. It asserts nothing whatever about any thing

24 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
that actually exists, but only the connection between a
certain supposition and a certain conclusion.* What
ever certainty we have, therefore, about any thing that
actually exists, or has existed, or can exist, is derived,
not from mathematical, but from what is called moral
or probable evidence.
What, then, shall we say of the reasonableness, or
rather of the folly, of those who ask for mathematical
evidence to prove the truth of the Christian religion,
when that evidence can not be applied to prove any one
fact whatever ?
I would by no means disparage mathematics. I ac
knowledge its extensive utility and application. I am
surprised at that skill in the construction of instru
ments by which truths demonstrated concerning sup
posed lines and figures can be so correctly and generally
applied to the purposes of practical life. I look with
wonder upon that structure of the universe, by which
truths demonstrated concerning these same abstract
propositions are found to apply with so much exactness
to its forms, and forces, and movements ; but still, I
would have this science keep within its own sphere, and
not arrogate to itself a certainty which does not belong
to it in virtue of its own authority, and which operates
practically to throw distrust upon our conclusions in
other departments.
Either, then, there is certainty on other ground than
mathematical evidence, or there is no certainty concern
ing any fact or existing thing whatever, and there will
be no stopping short of that absolute skepticism
which denies the authority of the human faculties, and
doubts of every thing, and finally doubts whether it
doubts. Grounds of certainty. — If, then, such certainty
may be attained, our next inquiry will be, What are
* Stewart's Elements, vol. ii. chap. ii. sec. 3.

GROUNDS OF CERTAINTY. 2b
the grounds of it? And of these there are no less
than six.
First : Consciousness. — The first ground of certainty
is consciousness. By this we are informed of what is
passing within our own minds. We are certain that
we think and feel.
Second : Reason. — The second is that which is now
commonly called reason in man, or by some the reason.
by which he perceives directly, intuitively, necessarily,
and believes, with a conviction from which he can not
free himself, certain fundamental truths, upon which all
other truths, and all reasoning, properly so called, or
deduction, are conditioned. It is by this that we be
lieve in our own existence and personal identity, and
in the maxim that every event must have an adequate
cause. This belongs equally to all men, and, within its
own province, its authority is perfect. No authority
can be higher, no certainty more full and absolute, than
that which it gives. No man can believe any thing with
a certainty greater than that with which he believes in
his own existence ; and, if we may suppose such a case,
he who should doubt of his own existence, would, in
that single doubt, necessarily involve the doubt of every
thing else.
Third: the Senses. — The third ground of certainty
is the evidence of the senses. I do not deny that the
senses may deceive us — that they sometimes do ; but
I affirm that generally the evidence of the senses is the
ground of entire certainty to the mass of mankind. To
them " seeing is believing," and they can conceive of
no greater certainty than that which results from this
evidence. Whatever doubt some may attempt to cast
over this subject, it is obvious that no event whatever —
not the flowing of water toward its source — can be a
greater violation of the laws of nature, more in opposi
tion to its ordinary sequences, than would be a decep-

26 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
tion upon the senses of men with respect to certain
things and under certain circumstances. It would be
as great a miracle to make three millions, or one mil
lion, of people believe that they went out and gathered
manna — that they saw, and felt, and tasted it — when
they really did not, as it would if water should flow
back toward its source, or should divide and stand up
in heaps.
Fourth: Memory. — The fourth ground of certainty
is the evidence of memory. Without entire confidence
in this, no testimony could be taken in a court of jus
tice, no criminal could be convicted. When its testi
mony is perfectly clear and distinct, it leaves no doubt
on the mind.
Fifth: Testimony. — The fifth ground of certainty is
testimony. With respect to this, I would say substan
tially the same that I have said of the senses. No
doubt, as has been said by Hume, and as every body
knows, testimony sometimes deceives us ; but it has
not been enough insisted on, that testimony may be
given by such men, and so many, and under such cir
cumstances, as to form a ground of certainty as valid
as any other can possibly be. I do not now say that
the testimony for the Christian religion is of this char
acter ; but I say, if it is not, the difficulty lies, not in
the kind of evidence, as distinguished from mathemati
cal, but in the degree of it in this particular case.
Sixth: Reasoning. — The sixth ground of certainty
is reasoning. That this is so in mathematics, all will
admit. On other subjects, the certainty may be equally
full and absolute. When Robinson Crusoe saw the
track of a man's foot upon the shore of his island, he
was as certain there had been a man there as if he had
seen him. It was reasoning ; it was inferring, from a
fact which he knew by sensation, another fact which he
did not thus know ; but how perfectly conclusive ! The

GROUNDS OF CERTAINTY. 27
skeptic never lived who would have doubted it. This
kind of evidence is capable of every degree of proba
bility, from the slightest shade of it upward. It often
requires that a large number of circumstances should
be taken into the account, and, in many cases, does not
amount to positive proof. In many others, however,
it does ; and the circumstance on which I wish to fix
attention is, that it may be the ground of a belief as
fixed and certain as any other.
These, then, are the grounds of certainty, and each
has its peculiar province. Of these, each of the first
three — consciousness, reason, and the senses — is en
tirely competent within its own sphere, and, indeed,
scarcely admits of collateral support. Not so the last
three. The evidence of memory, of testimony, and
of reasoning, may mutually assist and confirm each
other. It is upon the last two, the evidence of testi
mony and of reasoning, that we rely for the support
of what are called the external proofs of Christianity ;
and if one of these is capable of producing certainty,
much more, if certainty admitted of degrees, would
they both when conspiring together.
A habit of doubt — credulity and skepticism equally
weak. — I have dwelt on this subject because it seems
to me that many persons indulge themselves in a sickly
and effeminate habit of doubt on all subjects without
the pale of mathematics and physics, and more es
pecially on the subject of religion. So much has
been said, there are so many opinions and so much
doubt respecting different points of the religion itself,
that this feeling of doubt has been transferred to the
evidence by which the religion is sustained. I wish,
therefore, to have it distinctly felt that the kind of evi
dence by which Christianity is sustained is capable of
producing certainty, and I claim that the evidences are
such that, when fully and fairly examined, they will

28 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
produce it. They amount to what is meant by a moral
demonstration. There are many subjects on which,
from want of evidence, or because they are beyond the
reach of our faculties, it is wise, and the mark of a
strong mind, to doubt ; and there are also subjects on
which it is equally the mark of a weak mind to doubt,
and of a strong one to give a full assent. The day,
I trust, has gone by when a habit of doubt and of
skepticism is to be regarded as a mark of superior
intellect. Possible conflict of reasoning and testimony — the
argument of Hume. — But, though testimony and rea
soning may produce the certainty of mathematical
demonstration in some circumstances, yet is it not pos
sible that one of these sources of evidence may so come
in conflict with the other as to leave the mind in entire
suspense ? Is it not possible that an amount of testi
mony which, when we look at it by itself, seems per
fectly conclusive, may yet be opposed by an argument
which, when taken by itself, seems perfectly conclusive,
and thus the mind be left in a state of hopeless per
plexity? This may be conceived; and, putting the
testimony for Christianity in the most favorable light,
it is precisely the condition in which it is claimed, by
Hume and his followers, that the mind of a reasonable
person must be thrown, by his argument on miracles.
Shall I, then, go on to state and answer that argument?
I am not unwilling to do so ; because it will, I pre
sume, be expected ; and because it is still the custom
of those who defend Christianity to do so, just as it was
the custom of British ships to fire a gun on passing the
port of Copenhagen, long after its power had been
prostrated, and its influence had ceased to be felt.
According to Hume, "Experience is our only guide
in reasoning concerning matters of fact." Our belief
of any fact from the report of eye witnesses is derived

HUME'S ARGUMENT. 29
from no other principle than experience ; that is, our
observation of the veracity of human testimony. Now,
if the fact attested partakes of the marvelous, if it is such
as has seldom fallen under our observation, here is a con
test of two opposite experiences, of which the one de
stroys the other as far as its force goes, and the superior
can only operate on the mind by the force which remains.
"But," says Hume, "in order to increase the proba
bility against the testimony of witnesses, let us suppose
that the fact which they affirm, instead of being only
marvelous, is really miraculous ; and suppose, also, that
the testimony, considered apart and in itself, amounts
to an entire proof; in that case there is proof against
proof, of which the strongest must prevail, but still
with a diminution of its force in proportion to that of
its antagonist. A miracle is a violation of the laws of
nature ; and as a firm and unalterable experience has
established these laws, the proof against a miracle, from
the very nature of the fact, is as entire as any argu
ment from experience can possibly be imagined."
Again, Hume says, "It is experience only whiuh gives
authority to human testimony ; and it is the same expe
rience which assures us of the laws of nature. When,
therefore, these two kinds of experience are contrary,
we have nothing to do but to subtract the one from the
other, and embrace an opinion either on one side or the
other, with that assurance which arises from the re
mainder. But, according to the principle here explained,
this subtraction, with regard to all popular religions,
amounts to an entire annihilation ; and therefore we
may establish it as a maxim, that no human testimony
can have such force as to prove a miracle, and make it
a just foundation for any such system of religion."
The claim — no room for it on the ground of Theism.
— The claim here is, not that we are to be cautious, as
doubtless we are, in regard to all evidence for prodigies

30 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and miracles, but that the latter hold such a relation to
the grounds of our belief that they can not be proved
by human testimony. Let the question, however, be
argued, as Hume claims to argue it, on the ground of
theism, and let it be fairly stated, and it would seem
impossible that there should be any difficulty respecting
it. Do we believe in the existence of a personal God,
intelligent and free ? — not a God who is a part of nature,
or a mere personification of the powers of nature, but
one who is as distinct from nature as the builder of the
house is from the house? Do we believe, with our best
philosophers, either that the laws of nature are only
the stated mode in which God operates ; or that all
nature, with all its laws, is perfectly under his control?
Then we can find no difficulty in believing that such a
God may, at any time when the good of his creatures
requires it, change the mode of his operation, and sus
pend those laws. Would Hume accept this statement
of the question? If so, the dispute is at an end; for
this relation of God to nature involves the possibility
both of a miracle and of its proof. It is incompatible
with this relation, that experience should ever attain
that character of absolute and necessary uniformity, in
virtue of which alone its evidence can be set in oppo
sition to that of testimony. If he would not accept
this statement, he is an atheist or a pantheist ; and we
are not yet prepared to argue the question of miracles,
for that can not be argued till it is fully conceded that
a personal God exists.
Two spheres and movements — the mind adapted to
both. — The above seems to me a sufficient answer to the
argument of Hume. Our minds are constituted with
reference to our position under both the natural and
the moral government of God. But Hume does not
take the moral government of God into his account at
all. This is his great mistake. It is like the mistake

A DOUBLE MOVEMENT. 31
of the astronomer who should carefully notice the recur
ring movements of the planets around their primary,
but should fail to notice that mightier movement by
which, as we are told, the planets and suns are all borne
onward toward some unknown point in infinite space.
Experience may enable him to determine and to calcu
late the movements of the first order ; but if he would
know that of the second, he must inquire of Him who
carries it forward. The moral government of God is
a movement in a line onward toward some grand con
summation, in which the principles, indeed, are ever
the same, but the developments are always new, — in
which, therefore, no experience of the past can indicate
with certainty what new openings of truth, what new
manifestations of goodness, what new phases of the
moral heavens may appear. To this movement, the
circular and uniform one, in which alone experience is
possible, is entirely subordinate ; and it accords with our
natural expectations and grounds of belief that the less
important should be flexible to the demands of that
which is more so. It is on this double movement, and
the subordination of the lower, that the high harmonies
of the universe depend. The constitution of our nature
is adapted to both movements separately, and as related ;
and that nature is true to itself and to its position when
men readily accept evidence for miraculous events. To
render such ' events fully credible, we only need to
show that they are demanded by great moral interests.
The presumption of uniformity is then balanced by that
of interposition, and the full weight of testimony comes
in without a counterpoise. It is thus that there is
provision for both the scientific and the supernatural
element ; and the system that would exclude either is
narrow and inadequate.
The difficulty with the most of those who have op
posed Hume has been, that they have permitted him,

32 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
while arguing the question ostensibly on the ground of
theism, to involve positions that are really atheistic.
They have permitted him to give, surreptitiously, to
the mere laws of nature a sacredness and a permanence
which put them in the place of God. If we grant to
Hume that the laws of nature are absolutely uniform,
we preclude, of course, all proof for a miracle. This
is really, though not avowedly, the essential premise
by which he attempts to show that a miracle can not be
proved by testimony ; and whoever grants him this,
grants the very point in dispute. The laws of nature,
when once it is conceded that they are invariable, are of
equal authority ; and it is in vain to attempt to inval
idate the authority of one by bringing against it that of
another, by whatever amount of induction it may have
been established.
Reply of Dr. Chalmers. — This does not seem to
have been perceived by Dr. Chalmers in his very elab
orate attempt to refute the argument of Hume. He
grants that the laws of nature are uniform, and says
that there are laws of testimony that are a part of the
laws of nature, as uniform as any other, and that there
are certain kinds of testimony in regard to which the
uniform experience is, that they do not deceive us ; and
then he goes on to show, with great power, how the force
of testimony may be accumulated so as to overbalance
any improbability whatever. I admit fully all that he
says on the force of testimony. But let its force be
ever so great, if it were a fact that no testimony was
ever known to deceive us, yet even then, if we admit
the premise of Hume as he would have it understood,
we only balance uniform experience against uniform
experience, and thus produce the very case of perplexity
spoken of by him. Chalmers saw with great clearness
the overwhelming force of testimony as proof. He
says, in opposition to Campbell and others, that our

TESTIMONY AND EXPERIENCE. 33
belief in testimony is founded solely in experience, and
that there are certain kinds of testimony of which we
have uniform experience that they do not deceive us.
But he failed to see that no uniform experience of the
truth of testimony could prove a fact that had been
already admitted to be contrary to " a firm and unal
terable experience." "A firm and unalterable experi
ence " of the truth of testimony, can never prove a fact
which can be fairly shown to be contrary to another
"firm and unalterable experience."
The argument of Hume is not avowedly against the
possibility of miracles, though, as he must, if he would
not beg the question, he constantly insinuates, and
implies in his definitions, that they are impossible. The
avowed argument is against the possibility of the proof
of miracles by testimony.
Testimony and experience not in conflict. — But if we
allow the possibility of a miracle, the authority of testi
mony and of experience can not be fairly set against each
other, because one is positive and the other negative.
Experience can not prove a negative. It can not tes
tify that a miracle has not taken place. That is the
point in question, and to prove it, would require the
positive testimony of every human being who has lived
from the beginning of time. Had Hume been asked
why he believed the course of nature to be absolutely
uniform, he must have answered that he believed it on
the ground of experience. And then, if asked how he
knew what that experience had been, he must have
replied, by testimony, for there is no other possible
way. And thus it would appear that, while he seems
to oppose the evidence of experience to that of testi
mony, he is only opposing the evidence of testimony to
that of testimony. And what would the testimony on
the side of Hume amount to in such a case? Why,
absolutely nothing, because it is, as has been said,

34 EVLDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

negative. Let a thousand men swear, in a court of jus
tice, that they did not see a murder committed, and it
will not diminish in the least the force of the testimony
of one man who swears that he did see it, unless the
thousand pretend to have been on the spot, and to have
had opportunity to witness it. In this case, the expe
rience of the thousand men would be properly said to
be contrary to that of the one. But in no such sense
can experience be said to be contrary to the testimony
for miracles. If any number of men, if the whole
race, — with the exception of those who had an oppor
tunity to see, and who did see, a miracle, — should tes
tify that they did not see it, that would not invalidate, in
the least, the testimony of those who did see it. We
should judge of that testimony on its own proper
merits. Thus stands the argument, if, with Hume, we place
our belief in the uniformity of nature on the ground of
experience. But is this really the ground of that belief?
I think not. Nor can I agree with Stewart and other
metaphysicians, who place "the expectation of the con
tinued uniformity of the laws of nature " among what
they call the fundamental laws of belief, which we be
lieve in necessarily, and without reference to experience.
This is not the place for the full discussion of this point.
I merely observe that, so far is this from being to the
mind a law of belief, to the exclusion of supernatural
agency, that narrations of such agency have been re
ceived in all ages upon the slightest evidence ; and
that, if this were the law, then no man ought to believe,
or could believe, in the resurrection of the dead, or a
future judgment, or in the destruction or change of the
present order of nature in any way whatever. The
difficulty lies in an incautious and narrow statement of
the true law. The true law of belief is, that the same

PARTICULAR FALLACIES. 35
causes will, in the same circumstances, produce the
same effects. This is the law ; and when applied to
the permanence or uniformity of the course of nature,
it will stand thus : The present course of nature will
be uniform and permanent, unless other causes than
those now in operation shall intervene to interrupt or
destroy it. The probability of the intervention of such
causes is a point on which every man must decide for
himself. To me it seems probable — to you, perhaps,
improbable ; but there is nothing in the nature of the
case to prevent it from being proved, like any other
fact. Having thus put this question upon its true basis, it
will be necessary to say very little of the particular
fallacies and consequences connected with the argument
of Hume. I will simply add, that, —
Hume's argument is a practical absurdity . — 1. Ac
cording to Hume, the very fact that renders a miracle
possible, must render the proof of it impossible. With
out a settled uniformity, a miracle could not be con
ceived ; with it, according to him, it can not be proved.
To suppose that the mind can be placed in such a
relation as this to any possible truth, is a practical
absurdity. Would contradict the senses. — 2. The argument of
Hume proceeds on a principle which would make it
unreasonable to believe a miracle on the testimony of
the senses. There is precisely the same reason for
opposing the evidence of experience to that of the
senses, as for opposing it to that of testimony. If the
argument would overthrow a " full proof " from testi
mony, the senses, standing as they do in the same rela
tion to experience, could give nothing more.
Begs the question. — 3. Hume begs the question.
The only way in which a miracle can be a violation of

36 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
the course of nature, or contrary to experience, is, that
it never happened, and was never observed ; for if it
had happened, and had been observed, then it would
constitute a part of universal experience. But to say
that a " violation," or, more properly, a suspension of
the laws of nature never happened, because those laws
are uniform, and to define a miracle as something
" that has never been observed in any age or country,"
is taking for granted the very point in dispute. It is
is bald and barefaced a begging of the question as can
well be imagined. "But," says Hume, "it is a miracle
that a dead man should come to life, because that has
never happened in any age or country. There must
therefore be a uniform experience against every mi
raculous event ; otherwise the event would not merit
that appellation." Is this reasoning?
He uses " experience " in two senses. — 4. Hume uses
the term experience in two senses. Personal experience
is the knowledge we have acquired by our own senses.
General experience is that knowledge of facts which
has been acquired by the race. If, therefore, Hume
says a miracle is contrary to his personal experience,
that proves nothing ; but if he says it is opposed to
universal experience, that, as has already been said, is
begging the question.
Simply opposes testimony to testimony. — 5. He
opposes the evidence of experience to that of testi
mony, evidently with the intention of opposing to
testimony the high authority that belongs to personal
experience ; whereas, in the sense in which he must use
the term " experience," — since, as has been said, we can
know what general experience is only by testimony, —
he is only opposing testimony to testimony.
Renounced by Hume. — And, finally, Hume has him-
Belf renounced the principle of his own argument. He

ADMISSIONS BY HUME. 37
seems to have had a perception of some of the absurd
consequences to which it must lead, and therefore adds,
" I beg the limitations here may be remarked when I
say, that a miracle can never be proved so as to be the
foundation of a system of religion. For I own that
otherwise there may possibly be miracles, or violations
of the usual course of nature, of such a kind as to
admit of proof from human testimony." This single
admission destroys at once the whole force of his argu
ment. As an example, he says, "Suppose all authors,
in all languages, agree that from the 1st of January f
1600, there was a total darkness over the whole earth for
eight days ; suppose that the tradition of this extraor
dinary event is still strong and lively among the people ;
that all travelers who return from foreign countries
bring us accounts of the same tradition, without the least
variation or contradiction ; it is evident that our present
philosophers, instead of doubting the fact, ought to
receive it as certain." "But," he adds, with reference,
however, to another example, " should this miracle be
ascribed to any new system of religion, men in all ages
have been so imposed upon by ridiculous stories of that
kind, that the very circumstance would be full proof of
a cheat, and sufficient, with all men of sense, not only
to make them reject the fact, but to reject it without
further examination." On the consistency and candor
of this passage I make no comment. As showing a
tendency of our nature, the argument is just the re
verse. Who, after reading this, can fail to feel that
Hume was guilty of a heartless, if not a malignant
trifling with the best interests of his fellow-men ?
Summary. — Thus, after mentioning the classes of
persons whom I shall hope to benefit, I have endeavored
to show, first, that you, my hearers, are responsible
for the manner in which you use your understandings,
and for the opinions you form on this great subject.
c

38 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
And, secondly, that there is nothing in the nature or
kind of evidence by which Christianity is sustained,
nor in any conflict of the evidence of experience and
of testimony, to prevent us from attaining that certainty
upon which we may rest as upon the rock, and which
shall constitute, if not "the assurance of faith," yet the
insurance of understanding.

LECTURE II.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. — REVELATION PROBABLE: FIRST,
FROM THE NATURE OF THE CASE; SECONDLY, FROM FACTS.—
PROBABILITY OF MIRACLES. ASIDE FROM THEIR EFFECT IN
SUSTAINING ANY PARTICULAR REVELATION. — CONNECTION
BETWEEN THE MIRACLE AND THE DOCTRINE. — THE CHRISTIAN
RELIGION, OR NONE.
The Christian religion admits of certain proof; and
to show this was one object of the last lecture. But,
in searching for that proof, we may proceed in two dif
ferent methods. We may either try the facts in ques
tion by the laws of evidence, precisely as we would any
other facts ; or we may judge beforehand of their prob
ability or improbability. In the first case, we should
allow nothing for what we might suppose previous prob
ability or improbability, nothing for the nature of the
facts as miraculous or common. We should hold our
selves in the position of an impartial jury, bound to de
cide solely according to the evidence. This course alone
is in accordance with the spirit of the inductive philoso
phy, wrhich decides nothing on the ground of previous
hypothesis, but yields itself entirely to the guidance of
facts properly authenticated, and refuses no conclusion
which the existence of those facts necessarily involves.
Let those who are to judge of Christianity approach it
in this spirit, and we are content.
Need of the philosophic spirit. — And surely, if this
spirit was demanded when the processes of nature only
were in question, — and the whole history of huina<>
(39)

40 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
conjecture there is but the history of weakness and
folly, so that science made no progress till facts estab
lished by proper evidence were received without refer
ence to hypothesis, — much more must this same spirit
be demanded when the procedure of God in his moral
government is concerned. On such a subject, nothing
can be more contrary to that wise caution which adheres
to facts, and balances evidence, and keeps the mind open
to conviction, than to come to a decision under the
influence of a prejudication of the case on the ground
of any antecedent improbability.
Spirit of the age — tendency to reaction. — But,
unphilosophical as such a course plainly is, it springs
directly from the spirit of the age. The human mind,
in its constant oscillations between the extremes of
credulity and skepticism, is now ranging somewhere on
the side of skepticism. There was a time, both before
and after the revival of letters, when a belief in fre
quent supernatural agency was common. But Avhen
many things, supposed to be owing to supernatural
influence, were referred, by the light of science, to nat
ural causes, and a large class of superstitions was thus
expelled, then men passed to the other extreme, and it
became weak and superstitious to believe even in the
possibility of any other causes than those that were nat
ural. It was the progress of this feeling toward the
utmost limits of skepticism, that was called by many
the progress of light in the world ; and it was taken
advantage of, and urged on, by skeptics, in every possi
ble way. But a general tendency of the human mind
is never altogether deceptive. It is the indication of
some great truth. This is so with the tendency of man,
admitted even by Hume, to believe in supernatural
agency. And when the reaction is over, and men set
tle down in the light of a large experience, it will be
readily conceded, I doubt not, that, while the gen-

GROUND OF PROBABILITY. 41
eral course of nature is uniform, so as to lay a foun
dation for experience, and give it value, there is also
something in the system to meet our tendency to
believe in that which is supernatural ; that there are
powers, higher than those of nature, connected with
the natural and moral administration of the universe,
that may interfere for the welfare of man.
Facts to rest on evidence. — But, however this may
be hereafter, it is not so now. The legitimate force
of the evidence for Christianity is constantly neutral
ized by assertions, purely hypothetical, of the improb
ability of the facts. Now, we admit of no such im
probability. We hold that no man has a right to con
struct a metaphysical balance in which he shall place
an hypothesis of his own as a counterpoise for one
particle of valid evidence. To do it, is to go back into
the dark ages. It is to apply, in religion, maxims long
since discarded in physics. It is, therefore, out of a
regard to the exigencies of the time, and not because
I think it essential to the Christian argument, that I
proceed to adduce some considerations to show the
antecedent probability of a revelation from God.
Probability — how judged of. — To judge of the
probability of any event, we must know something of
its causes, or of the intentions of the agent who may
produce it. If we know nothing of these, we have no
right to say, of any event, that it is probable or im
probable. If we know all the causes that are at work,
or all the intentions of the agents employed, we can
foretell with certainty what will take place. It is ob
vious, therefore, that an event which may seem highly
probable to one man, or, perhaps, nearly certain, may
seem to another altogether improbable. So sensible,
however, are most persons of their ignorance of the
causes, and agents, and purposes, that may exist in this
complex and wonderful universe, that it requires but a

42 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
slight amount of evidence to substantiate events of
which we should have said, beforehand, that the chances
against them were as a million to one. Especially is
this the case when the actions of a free agent are con
cerned, and when we are but slightly acquainted with
his character and purposes.
But this is precisely the case before us. The question
is, whether it was probable, beforehand, that God
would give a revelation to man. Of this we can judge
only as we are acquainted with the character of God,
and the emergency requiring his special interposition.
That he could give such a revelation, and confirm it by
miracles, every theist must admit ; and the simple ques
tion is, whether, as a free Agent and a moral Governor,
(for I acknowledge no man as a theist who does not
admit these two characters of God,) he would think it
best to give a revelation.
Objection. — I know it is said, by some, that this is
ground on which we ought not to tread. God, they
say, is an infinite Being, and- the complexity of his
plans, and the range of his operations, must be so
great that it would be presumption in creatures like us,
creatures of a day, dwelling in this remote corner of
the universe, to judge what would, or would not, be
probable under his government. Far better might the
little child, yet learning its alphabet, judge of the prob
abilities respecting the purposes and actions of the
Government of these United States.
What follows ? — That this is sometimes said sin
cerely I am not disposed to deny ; but there is often
connected with it a fallacy which is by no means harm
less. Admit, then, the justice of it all ; and what will
follow ? An argument against the probability of a rev
elation ? Certainly not. It will simply follow that we
can not tell whether a revelation would be probable or
improbable ; and then a candid man will judge of the

INCONSISTENCY OF OBJECTORS. 43
evidence for a revelation just as he would of that for
any other event. And this is all we desire. Let no
antecedent improbability be assumed, and we are will
ing to go at once to the evidence and the facts.
Objectors do that to which they object. — But is this
the state of mind of those who speak of man as thus
ignorant? Is it their object to produce such a state of
mind? I think not, but rather to bring doubt and
uncertainty over the whole subject. It is assumed that
we are ignorant of the purposes of God, and then, from
that ignorance, the improbability of a revelation is
argued. But it seems to be forgotten that we need
previous knowledge, to judge of the improbability, no
less than of the probability, of events ; and while these
persons shrink back with a pious horror from the pre
sumption of judging what God might or might not do,
they covertly assume a knowledge of his purposes, or
at least of what he probably will not do in a given case.
We say, that whoever affirms it is improbable that God
would give a revelation, assumes, in proportion to his
confidence, a knowledge of the previous plans and pur
poses of God ; and then we ask him where he obtained
that knowledge. God has not told him so, for that
Would be a revelation. He can not know it from expe
rience, for the case stands by itself. We have no ex
perience of what God does with his creatures, if such
there are, similarly situated in other worlds. The uni
form course of nature can be no objection, for the very
question at issue is, whether that course shall be sus
pended. It is admitted that God can do it with perfect
ease ; and how can such a man know that the exigencies
of his moral government may not require it ?
Not wholly ignorant. — I am, however, far from
assenting to what is thus said of our ignorance on this
subject. If we use the term "beforehand" in the
strictest and highest sense, perhaps it would be pre-

44 Evidences of Christianity.
sumption in us to judge what God would do. But, in
all our arguments respecting Christianity, we take for
granted the great truths of natural religion. We have
some knoAvledge of God, and of his providential deal
ings with the race ; and it is not presumption in us to
say whether it would be in accordance with that char
acter, so far as known, and analogous with his dealings
in other respects, if he should give to man a revelation.
This is the true question. Is there any thing in what
we know positively of the character of God, in connec
tion with the condition of man, that would render it
probable or improbable that he would give a revelation?
Probability of a revelation — God a father. — And
why should he not ? I know not why it should be con
sidered so strange a thing that God should make a rev
elation to man. If I mistake not, it would have been
much stranger if he had not. It may be strange that
he should have created the world at all, or put such a
being as man upon it ; but if we believe that God made
him with a rational and a religious nature — a child —
capable of communion with him, and of finding in him
only the highest source of happiness and means of moral
perfection, — then it would be exceedingly strange if
God should not reveal himself to him. Shall not a
father speak to his own child ?
Communion with God needed — not a strange thing. —
It is demonstrable, on the principles of reason, that, if
man had continued in a state of innocence, the high
est progress, and expansion, and felicity of his nature
could not have been attained except by communion with
God. Man becomes assimilated to that with which he
voluntarily holds communion. And since God is the
fountain of all excellence, why should he not communi
cate himself to an innocent creature whom he had made
with faculties to know, and love, and enjoy him? In
the original and highest sense of the word, a state of

revelation not strange. 45
nature is a state of direct intercourse with God. Ac
cordingly, the Bible, instead of regarding it, as infidels,
and, I must say, many divines, do, as a strange thing
that God should hold communion with men, speaks of
it as a matter of course ; and the traditions of all
nations have connected with an age of innocence the
frequent intercourse of man with the gods. There
is nothing, either in the nature of the case or in the
instincts of humanity, to give rise to that strangeness
with which infidels have invested a revelation from
God ; but the reverse. It is strange that man is at all.
It is strange that God is. In one sense, every thing is
strange, and equally so. But supposing God to be,
and to make such a creature as man, it is not strange that
he should make a revelation to him. Indeed, to sup
pose God to make man a being capable of religion,
requiring it in order to the development of the highest
part of his nature, and then not to communicate with
him, as a father, in those revelations which alone could
perfect that nature, would be a reproach upon God, and
a contradiction. Nor, even in a state of innocence, would the revela
tion of God in his works have been sufficient, since in
them he reveals chiefly his natural attributes, and not
that holiness and perfection of moral character from
wrhich the great obligations, and interests, and duties,
and the high delights of his service, are derived. Even
now we sometimes find a man groping about this rigid
framework of general laws, and exclaiming, " O that I
knew where I might find him ! that I might come even
to his seat ! " and how much less would man in a state
of innocence have been satisfied without direct commu
nion with God ! The highest and most natural concep
tion of the universe is that which makes God the Father
of his rational and spiritual creatures, which constitutes
them a family, and which implies communication be-

46 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
tween him and them as personal beings, he making
known his will and character, and they obeying and
adoring him.
Effects of sin — ground of hope. — If, indeed, an
innocent being should sin, we could not say beforehand
what would be done. We should naturally expect that
justice would have its course. But, looking at the race
as it is, evidently favored by God to some extent, vis
ited by his rain and sunshine and by fruitful seasons,
we should have as much reason to think, from the
nature and position of man, that there would be^ such
a thing as true religion on the earth, as that there would
be such a thing as true science upon the earth. Foi
that man has a moral and a religious nature is as evident
as that he has an intellectual nature. Wherever he is
found he makes the distinction between right and wrong,
and worships some superior being. If there have been
a few who have professed themselves atheists, and we
were to give them that credit for entire sincerity which
many facts would lead us to withhold, this would no
more prove that man has not a religious nature, than
the fact that a few men have overcome the social in-'
stinct, and withdrawn from society, proves that he has
. not a social nature.
Religious nature central. — Nor are these principles,
which thus lead man to anticipate future retribution,
and to recognize superior powers, merely secondary, or
subordinate to others. They are peculiarly those by
which man is distinguished from the brute. They are
those, as shown by all history, in connection with the
cultivation and full development of which, all the other
powers of man reach their highest perfection ; in con
nection with the perversion and debasement of which,
all the other powers are ill regulated and dwarfed. So
effective, indeed, has the influence of these principles
been felt to be, that all former governments have sought

RELIGION INERADICABLE. 47
their aid, and have endeavored to associate the power
of religion with that of the temporal arm. It has been
from these principles, rather than from any others, that
motives to high resolve, and long endurance, and vol
untary poverty, and a martyr's sufferings, have been
drawn. Eemove from the history of the past all those
actions which have either sprung directly from the
religious nature of man, or been modified by it, and you
have the history of another world and of another race.
Ineradicable. — I know the manifestations of this
principle have been exceedingly various, and sometimes
as whimsical and debasing as can well be conceived.
There is no absurdity which men have not received, no
austerity which they have not practiced, no earthly
good, and no natural affection, which they have not
sacrificed, in the name of religion ; and the very variety
and absurdity of religious rites, with the sincerity of
men in them all, has been made, and still is, a capital
argument of infidels to show that there is nothing in
any religion. But it has been well replied, that "the
more strange the contradictions, and the more ludicrous
the ceremonies, to which the pride of human reason has
been reconciled, the stronger is our evidence that reli
gion has a foundation in the nature of man." * Indeed,
no fact can be better established, both by philosophy
and by history, than that mankind are so constituted
that they must have some religion. Man has a religious
nature, which is a fundamental and elementary constit
uent of his being. This nature will manifest itself.
Let the true religion be removed, and a false one will
come in its place. This is a truth, the clear perception
of which by the public mind I deem of great impor
tance ; for if society is to make progress, it must be
by cultivating the faculties that belong to human nature,
and not by attempting to eradicate them ; and hence all
* Stewart.

48 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
indiscriminate attacks upon religion, as such, must
retard that progress.
Its right exercise possible. — Man, then, has a reli
gious nature ; and what purpose could a wise and good
Being have, in sustaining the race, which would not
involve the right exercise of this nature, in view of its
appropriate objects? And to suppose that God has
furnished man with no such object to draw that nature
out, is like supposing that he would create the eye with
out light or the ear without sound, or that he would
place man, as an intellectual being, in a world of such
disorder that no arrangement or classification, and con
sequently no science, would be possible. The whole
analogy of God's works, and of his dealings with men,
shows that, if man has a rehgious nature, we might
expect to find the right exercise of that nature possible,
and that there would be such a thing as true* religion in
the world.
Only through a revelation. — But if a rational being,
capable of religion, had lost the moral image, and con
sequently the true knowledge of God, and it should be
the object of God to restore him, it could be done in
no other way than by a direct revelation. This is
obvious from two reasons. First, there would be some
things which it would be indispensable for such a being
to know, and which he could not know except by a
direct communication. They are of such a kind that
nature can have no voice, no utterance, no whisper,
respecting them. Such would be an answer to the
inquiry, whether God would pardon sin at all, and, if
so, upon what conditions. And, secondly, it is not
possible that a sinful being should be restored to God,
to purity, and love, except by some manifestation to
him of the purity and love of God such as nature does
not give. So far as we can see, there must be brought
into operation that great principle of moral assimilation

THE TRIAL MADE. 49
mentioned by the apostle when he says, "We all,
beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image, from glory to glory."
If, then, it was probable that God would do any thing
to restore a race of transgressors to himself, it was in
the same degree probable that he would give a revela
tion different from any that nature can possibly give.
So far as we can see, it would be impossible for him to
do it in any other way.
Shoivn by experience. — And what we might thus
infer, from the nature of the case, is amply confirmed
by an appeal to facts. An impartial survey of the con
dition of those portions of the earth that have been
without the light of revelation, shows conclusively
that the reformation of man was hopeless without it.
A full and fair experiment has been made. It has ex
tended through thousands of years, and ample time has
been given to test every principle, to follow out every
tendency to its results, to call forth every inherent
energy of man. It has been made in every climate, under
every form of government, in all circumstances of bar
barism and refinement, by individuals who, for intel
lectual endowments, have been the pride of the race,
and by nations who have made the greatest advance
ment in literature, in science, and in the arts. What
unassisted man has done, therefore, to disperse the
religious darkness, and to remedy the moral maladies
of the world, may be regarded as a fair exemplification
of what he would do.
To show that the race has been, and would continue
to be, hopelessly benighted and degraded without a
revelation, has been the chief object of those who have
attempted to show its probability. This they have
done with much erudition and research, and this ground
is so familiar that I shall not go over it at large, but

50 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
content myself with a brief statement of some of the
more important points.
Knowledge of the divine unity lost. — And, first, the
great doctrine of the divine unity has been practically
lost without a revelation. Every where the mass of
men have been worshipers of natural objects, or of the
powers of nature personified, or of idols, or of deified
men ; and if a few philosophers have seen the folly of
this, and really held to the divine unity, it was rather
to ridicule and despise, than to benefit, the multitude.
It does not appear, however, that they held to the doc
trine except as a matter of speculation, or that they had
any habit of worshiping the one infinite God, or taught
that he ought to be worshiped. What must have been
the practical blindness and uncertainty, on this cardinal
point, of that philosopher, who, among his last requests,
could ask a friend not to forget to sacrifice a cock for
him to Esculapius ? And yet this did Socrates. What
must have been the state of the public mind among the
most enlightened people on earth, and in the Augustan
age, who could erect a statue to a woman infamous for
her profligacy, with the following inscription, making
her no less a deity than Providence itself? "The
Senate of the Areopagus, and the Senate of the Five
Hundred, to the goddess Julia Augusta Providence ! "
Of the holiness of God. — I remark, secondly, that
the heathen nations have been entirely destitute of the
knowledge of God, as a holy God, as having a perfect
moral character, and as exercising a moral government,
the principles of which reach the thoughts of the heart.
Whether there were data for the knowledge of this in
nature, perhaps we need not decide ; but, without this
knowledge of God, it is evident there can be no pure
and spiritual religion. Generally, the moral character

RELIGION AND MORALITY. 51
of God has been conceived of by transferring to him
the moral character, the affections, the passions, and
even the lusts, of men. No religion based on such a
conception of the object of worship can benefit man.
He must become debased under its influence.
Separation of religion and morality. — But, thirdly,
this ignorance of the moral character of God has led,
as it naturally must, to the introduction of forms of
worship that can not be acceptable to him, and to that
separation of religion from morality which has been so
universal, and, in most instances, so entire, among
heathen nations. What Bishop Heber said of the
Hindoos may, with some modifications, be said of all
heathen nations : " The good qualities that are among
them are in no instance, that I am aware of, connected
with, or arising out of, their religion, since it is in no
instance to good deeds, or virtuous habits of life, that
the future rewards in which they believe are proposed.
Accordingly," he says, "I really have never met with a
race of men whose standard of morality is so low, —
who feel so little apparent shame in being detected in a
falsehood, or so little interest in the sufferings of a
neighbor not being of their own caste or family, —
whose ordinary and familiar conversation is so licen
tious, or, in the wilder and more lawless districts, who
shed blood with so little repugnance." The tendency
to this separation of religion and morals is strong every
where, and nothing can be more destructive both of
true religion and of morality, or more fatal to every
interest of man. Let men think to please God by gifts,
by forms, by bodily sufferings, without regard to justice,
and benevolence, and purity, and all the foundations
of individual happiness and social order must be out
of course. And how much more must this be the
case, when the character of the object worshiped is such

52 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
as to excite and to encourage every form of iniquity,
and when, as is often the case, unnatural cruelty, and
drunkenness, and obscenity, instead of being forbidden,
become a part of the religious rites ! " When the light
that is in men becomes darkness, how great is that
darkness ! " This is a point of the greatest moment,
since no false religion ever did, or ever can, teach, and
adequately sanction, any thing like a perfect system of
morality ; and since morality, unsustained by religion,
can never furnish an adequate basis of either individual
or general progress.
Immortality. — I remark, fourthly, that without rev
elation, men have had very obscure and doubtful no
tions respecting the immortality of the soul, and, so far
as this fundamental doctrine has been received, it has
been made use of rather to control men in their conduct
here, than to fit them for another state. A great part
of the philosophers regarded this belief as a vulgar
prejudice, and those who received it held it as doubtful.
Even Cicero, who had carefully studied the arguments
of Socrates, and added others of his own, says, "Which
of these is true, God alone knows ; and which is most
probable, a very great question." And very many, too,
vho held the doctrine, held it in such connection as to
destroy its practical influence for good. Some held it
in connection with the doctrine of fate or necessity ;
some, as Plato, in connection with the doctrine of the
transmigration of souls; and some, like the present
Hindoos just noticed, severed all connection between
the moral character here and the state of the soul here
after. As a practical doctrine, therefore, "life and
immortality were brought to light by the gospel." This
alone has revealed it, with such authority and certainty,
and in such connections, as to give it all its efficiency
as a motive of action. Nothing can be more beautiful

THE PARDON OF SIN. 53
or philosophical than the maimer in which Christianity
extends the same moral laws and essential conditions
of happiness over the present and the future life, so
that the life of heaven is made to be nothing but the
brightening and expansion of the life that is commenced
here. In this respect, the coming in of Christianity
was like the coming in of the Newtonian system ; for
as that shows, contrary to the doctrine of the ancients,
that the same laws apply to things earthly and to things
heavenly, to the floating particle of dust and to the
planet in its orbit, so Christianity introduces unity and
simplicity into the moral system, and shows that the
humblest child, that is a moral agent, and the highest
archangel, are subject to the same moral law.
In these four points, — the unity of God, his moral
character, the kind of worship that would be acceptable
to him, and the immortality of the soul, — it may be
thought that the materials of knowledge were within
the reach of man. But if this is true for any, it is not
for the mass of men. The elements of the highest
mathematical truths are within the reach of all, and
those truths may be said to be discoverable ; but we
have no reason to think they ever would or could have
been discovered by the great mass of men.
Truths not suggested by nature — pardon of sin. —
But there is, as already suggested, another class of
truths, some of them fundamental and indispensable to
be known, which are not, and could not be, suggested
by nature. Such, particularly, first, is the truth that
God can pardon sin on any terms. If there is any one
primary doctrine of natural religion, it is, that God
is just. This was so strongly felt by Socrates that he
doubted whether God could pardon sin. To a sinner,
as man is, it was indispensable that this fact should be
known before any rational system of religion could be
D

54 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
framed, and, though some things in nature might lead
to the hope that a remedy would be found for moral
evil, as for so many others, yet these are too obscure
to produce any practical results, and there seems every
reason to believe that the general conviction that has
prevailed on this subject has originated in revelation.
Conditions unknown — repentance insufficient. —
But, secondly, if we were assured that God would
pardon sin, it would be impossible for us to know on
what conditions. Nothing can be more contrary to the
history of all the past, than what is asserted by some
modern deists, especially by Lord Herbert, that it is a
dictate of natural reason that God will pardon sin on
repentance. If it had been asserted that it is a dictate
of natural reason that penance, and costly sacrifices,
and self-torture, were the conditions of pardon, there
would have been much in history to support it. But
the deist may be challenged to show any heathen creed
in which this was an article, or to bring forward any
devotee of any other religion than the Christian, who
holds to that doctrine now. Having the light of the
Bible, we see distinctly that God can not properly par
don the guilty without repentance as a condition, mean
ing by repentance a thorough reformation, not only of
the life, but of the principles of conduct, — of the
motives and secret feelings of the heart. But who ever
heard of such a repentance as this, as an article in the
creed of other religions? And who, I may ask, ever
heard of a deist as exercising such a repentance and
continuing a deist ? Instances are adduced, under other
systems, of great natural goodness, in which it is sup
posed that no repentance was needed ; but I know of
none in which it has been supposed that a really vicious
and abandoned man has repented in the high and only
true sense of that term, except in connection with the
motives of the gospel. Kepentance, even as a condition

DIVINE AID UNCERTAIN. 55
of pardon, is peculiar to the gospel system ; and as an
historical fact, it is produced only by gospel motives.
The truth is, deists have borrowed this partial truth
from the Bible, and then used it to show that we do not
need the very book from which they borrowed it. The
question of the method or possibility of pardon, by a
perfectly just God, involves the highest problem of
moral government ; and there is no analogy of the oper
ation of human laws, and certainly nothing which we
see of the inflexibility and severity with which the nat
ural laws of God are administered, which could lead us
to believe in the efficacy of repentance alone for the
pardon of moral transgressions.
Divine assistance uncertain. — And thirdly, if man
should endeavor to reclaim himself from the dominion
of vice, he can not know whether God will regard him
with favor, and will assist him, or whether he shall be
left to struggle with the current by his own unassisted
efforts. Grace, favor, the great doctrine of divine aid
to the sinful and the tempted, so sustaining to the weak
ness, and so consoling to the wretchedness, of man,
coming directly from God as a personal Being, it was
impossible that nature should give any intimation of it.
It is God's own hand stretched out to guide and sustain
his benighted and feeble creatures.
Origin and end unknown. — Again, without revela
tion man could know nothing of the origin or end of
the present state of things. Nearly all the ancient phi
losophers believed that matter was eternal ; but of its
forms, as indicating intelligence, and of the races of
animals and of man, they could give no satisfactory
account. And it is obvious, that a course of nature
established, if it is ever to terminate, can, of itself,
give no indication of that termination, either in respect
to time or mode. Such knowledge would be highly
satisfactory to man, and would alone enable him to

56 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
direct his course in accordance with the purposes
of God.
The result. — Now, when we consider the passions
of men, the collisions of interest, the obtrusiveness of
the objects of sense, the pressure of animal wants, the
vices of society, and the shortness of life, who can
beheve, with this obscurity hanging over some points,
and this total darkness resting upon others, that one in
a million would sit down calmly to solve these great
questions respecting God and his government, and
human destiny ? Who can believe that any speculative
and problematical solution of one or all of them could
introduce a religion that would effectually control the
passions, and predominate over the senses, of men?
No ; it is exceedingly clear that, if any thing was to
be done to enlighten man, it must be by a voice from
heaven — a voice that should speak with "authority,
and not as the scribes."
Moral ignorance and degradation. — And if mankind
were thus benighted without revelation, it will follow,
of course, that they were degraded. Moral darkness,
voluntarily incurred, necessarily involves practical wick
edness. Without an authoritative standard of morals,
like the law of God, without a general system of moral
instruction, without the motives drawn from the moral
government of God and a future retribution, with a
religion whose doctrines and rites were often at Avar
Avith the dictates of the moral nature, we can not won
der at the tendency to deterioration that was every
where manifest, nor at the general prevalence of false
hood, and cruelty, and nameless licentiousness. If
some public and social virtues Avere cultivated, it was
chiefly during certain periods of the rise of states, in
the earlier and less corrupt stages of society, and never
in connection with the worship of a spiritual and holy
God, or with the cultivation of purity of heart and of

PRESSING NEED OF REVELATION. 57
life. Philosophy enabled its votaries rather to see and
discourse about difficulties than to remove them. It
did not even reform the lives of the philosophers them
selves, and made no attempts either to instruct or
reform the mass of the people. Quintilian says of the
philosophers of his time, " The most notorious vices
are screened under that name ; and they do not labor
to maintain the character of philosophers by virtue and
study, but conceal the most vicious lives under an aus
tere look and a singularity of dress." And when this
could be said of the philosophers, we might believe,
of the mass of the people, on less authority than that
of inspiration, that they were " filled with all unright
eousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, mali
ciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malig
nity ; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful,
proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient
to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers,
without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful." *
The extremity. — Here, then, we have a case the most
melancholy of which we can conceive, in which the
noblest faculties of a creature of God, those through
which his highest perfection and happiness should be
attained, have become the means of sinking him into
the lowest forms of immorality, and of filthy, and cruel,
and costly, and hideous superstition. The true God,
the only object corresponding to the religious nature
of man, being AvithdraAvn, the faculties of man are not
annihilated ; he can not throw off his nature ; he must
have some religion ; and superstition, and enthusiasm,
and fanaticism come in, and every form of iniquity is
perpetrated in the name of God, and the religious
nature is used as an engine to crush human liberty and
rivet the bonds of oppression. There is nothing that
«an adequately represent this dreadful mental and moral
* Rom. i. 29-31.

58 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
perversion but those forms of bodily disease in Avhich
the processes of life, that ought to build up a beautiful
and perfect body, go on only to stimulate the activity
of the fatal leprosy, only to minister to deformity, and
make it more hideous. Here, then, the question is
brought to an issue. In such a state of things, when it
is obvious that nothing but a voice from heaven can
bring deliverance, will that voice be uttered? Surely,
if a case can occur in which, from the benevolence of
God, we might hope for a special interposition, this is
that case. On the question of such an interposition
hung the destiny of the race ; and to one who could
oring his mind to the high conception of the possibility
of mercy in God, it could not appear improbable that
that interposition Avould be vouchsafed.
Revelation probable. — From what has been said, it
appears that, if Ave regard man as in a state of inno
cence, Ave should naturally expect God Avould hold
communications with him ; that, if Ave regard him as
guilty, and having lost the knowledge and moral image
of God, such a communication Avould be absolutely
necessary, if man was to be restored. We have, there
fore, the same antecedent probability of a revelation as
Ave have that God Avould interpose at all in behalf of
the guilty, or that there Avould be any true religion
upon earth. This probability, moreover, is strength
ened by the general expectation of the race, shoAvn by
the readiness Avith which they have received accounts
of supposed revelations, and by the natural tendency
of man to crave aid directly from God.
If a revelation, then miracles. — But, Avhatever prob
ability there Avas that there Avould be a revelation, the
same Avas there that there would be miracles ; because
miracles, so far as Ave can see, are the only means by
Avhich it Avould be possible for God to authenticate a
communication to man. It is true, he might make a

NECESSITY OF MIRACLES. 59
special revelation to each individual, and certify him
that it Avas a revelation, but that Avould not be analo
gous to his mode of proceeding in other things ; and
if his purpose Avas to make known his Avill to certain
individuals, to be by them communicated to the rest of
the race, it Avould seem impossible that they should
exhibit any other seal of their commission than mira
cles. This is the simple, natural, majestic seal Ariiich
Ave should expect God Avould affix to a communication
from himself; and Avhen this seal is presented by men
Avhose lives and works correspond Avith Avhat we might
expect from messengers of God, it is felt to be de
cisive. But though miracles are thus just as probable as a
revelation, even though we should not choose to say
that revelation itself is a miracle, and though the chief
object of them is to give authority to a revelation, yet,
as the main objections against revelation are made
against it as miraculous, I wish to adduce here an addi
tional consideration or two to show the probability that
miracles would occur in a system like ours.
First effect of miracles. — The first consideration will
be found in the effect miracles Avould have in producing
a conviction of the being of a personal God. This is
of the utmost importance. Let us suppose there had
been no miracle, nor any supposition of one, as far
back as history goes ; that the uniform course of nature
had moved on Avithout any supposed intervention of a
superior personal PoAver ; that, in the language of the
scoffer, all things had continued as they Avere from the
beginning of the creation ; that no flood had swept the
earth, and no law had been given in the midst of thun-
clerings and earthquakes, and no messenger from above,
Avhose form Avas "like the Son of God," had walked
Avith good men in the fire, and no other indications of
a righteous administration and of future retribution had

60 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
appeared than are connected with those unswerving
laws that bring all things alike to all, — and who can
estimate the tendency to practical, if not to speculative
atheism, of such a state of things? It may even be
questioned whether the common argument from con
trivance, for the being of a personal God, when that
stands alone, and is connected with such a uniform
course of things, would be valid. If this rigid order
could once be infringed for a good and manifest reason,
it would obviously change the whole face of the argu
ment. Could we once see gravitation suspended when
the good man is thrown by his persecutors from the top
of the rock, — could Ave see a chariot and horses of fire
descend and deliver the righteous from the universal
laAv of death, — could we see the sun stand still in
heaven that the Avicked might be overthrown, — then
should we be assured of the existence of a personal
PoAver, with a distinct Avill, Avhose agents and ministers
these laws Avere. Such attestations of his being we
might expect God Avould give, not merely to confirm a
particular revelation, but Avith reference to this feeling
of indefiniteness, of generality, of a Avant of person
ality in the supreme Power, which the operation of
general laws, necessarily confounding all moral distinc
tions, has a tendency to produce.
Second effect. — The second collateral effect of mira
cles which I would adduce is, that they show that the
laAvs of nature are subordinate to the higher laws of
God's moral kingdom, and are controlled and suspended
with reference to that. This supposes, of course, that
the miracles are neither capricious nor frivolous, but
are so wrought as to show this truth. The man, who
has not yet seen that the moral government of God is
that Avith reference to Avhich the universe is constructed
and sustained, is as far from the true system of God's
administration as he Avould be from the true system of

NATURE AND MORAL GOVERNMENT. 61
astronomy who should place the earth in the centre.
This sentiment is involved in those extraordinary words
of Christ, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass,
than one tittle of the law to fail," and might, indeed,
be inferred from the nature of the case. What man of
honor regards property at all, Avhen his moral character
is concerned ? What wise man does not sacrifice prop
erty for the true good of rational and intelligent beings ?
So, if God has a moral character, and a moral govern
ment, then what we call nature and its laws, must hold
the same relation to him that property does to the moral
character of man. The power and wisdom of God
may be seen in nature ; but his justice, and truth, and
mercy, in which his highest glory consists, can be seen
only in his dealings with his moral creatures. If a law
of nature were destroyed, it could be reestablished ; if
a system of suns and planets were annihilated, another
might be produced in its room ; if heaven and earth
were to pass away, they might be created again ; but if
the brightness of the moral character of God should be
tarnished, that character would be lost forever. This
distinction between mere nature and moral government
is fundamental ; and nothing could have a greater ten
dency to wake men up to a perception of it than to see
God, as he moves on to the accomplishment of his
moral purposes, setting aside those laws of nature
Avhich Ave had supposed Avere established like the ever
lasting hills — than to see the Avhole of visible nature,
with all its laAvs, standing ready to pay its obeisance to
the true embassadors of his moral kingdom. How else
could God express to us the true relations to each other
of his natural and moral government ?
If, then, miracles were necessary to give authority to
revelation, to give a practical impression of the exist
ence of a personal God, and to indicate the true posi
tion of his moral government, who will say, on the

62 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
supposition that he has a moral government, that they
are improbable?
Import of a miracle. — There has, indeed, been a
question raised, — and it is one of so much importance
that it may be well to notice it here, — how far Ave are
bound to receive any doctrine or command that may be
confirmed by a miracle. But this depends on the fur
ther question, Avhether a miracle can be wrought by any
being but God. If God, and God only, can Avork a
miracle, then we are bound, both by reason and con
science, to believe every thing short of a known ab
surdity, and to do every thing short of essential wick
edness, taught or commanded with that sanction. By
essential wickedness, I do not mean any outward act,
but positive malignity. To suppose God to command
this, would be a contradiction, since he could not do it
and be God. When God told Abraham to sacrifice his
son Isaac, he was to do it though it might seem to con
tradict the dictates of natural affection, and what, with
out the command, Avould have been the dictates of con
science, and to be in direct opposition to the promises
of God himself; and in doing it he honored God, and
acted in accordance with the dictates of natural religion,
and of the reason that God had given him. Not to be
lieve and obey the direct word of God, would lead at
once to absurdity and contradiction. It Avould involve
the charge of falsehood and tyranny against God. But
the moment you charge God Avith falsehood, there is an
end to all ground of faith in any thing. If I can not
believe God, I can not believe the faculties that come
from God. By charging Him who gave me my moral
nature with being false, I involve the probability that
all the notices and indications of that nature are false,
and all its distinctions baseless. Nothing could then
save me from universal skepticism. Certainly natural
rehgion, and reason itself, if it Avould not lose from

A MIRACLE BY GOD ONLY. 63
under it the very ground on Avhich it stands, would lead
me to this. When God speaks, it is sufficient. His
reason is the infinite reason, his authority is absolute
authority, and nothing more dreadful, or more opposed
to our most intimate convictions, could possibly occur
than would be involved in disbelieving and disobeying
him. Nor can I doubt that it is in the power of God
so to authenticate his Avord to the soul of man as thus
to set it in opposition to the utterances and promptings
of every natural faculty ; nor that it is only, as in the
case of Abraham, Avhen such an opposition occurs, that
the most imphcit confidence in God, and the highest
grandeur of faith, can be seen.
Miracles real and pretended. — If, then, Ave suppose
that God only can perform a miracle, its authority Avill
be absolute. But may there not be a suspension or a
reversal of the laAvs of nature caused by other beings
than God? May not some malignant agent do that
which, if it is not, must appear to us to be a real
miracle ? This is a question which I can not ansAver.
It may be so. I know not Avhat intermediate poAvers
and agencies there may be between the infinite God
and man. I know not but there may be created beings
of such might that one of them could seize upon the
earth, and hurl it from its orbit, or control its elements ;
nor do I know what range God may give to the agency
of such, or of any other intermediate beings. I do
not myself believe that any being but God can work a
real miracle. Miracles are his great seal. This may
be counterfeited; but if he should suffer it to be
stolen, I see no possible way in Avhich he could authen
ticate a communication to his creatures. A real mira
cle is to be distinguished from those feats and appear
ances which may be produced by sleight of hand, and
by collusion when once a religion is established ; and
also from any effects of merely natural agents, hoAvever

64 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
occult, under the control of science, but working ac
cording to their own laAvs. These, especially if science
and deception are combined, and in an age of popular
ignorance, may go very far ; probably far enough to
account for every thing in the Bible, seemingly miracu
lous, Avhich Ave should not be Avilling to attribute to
God. They may account for appearances and coinci
dences which, to the ignorant, must have seemed like
miracles, and for extraordinary cures of a certain class,
Avhile the principle of life remained ; but they can not
account for a reversal of a law of nature, as when an
ax is made to swim, or the shadoAV to go back on the
dial ; nor for an operation where the powers of nature
have nothing to work upon, as when one really dead is
raised to life. However, something like that of which
I have spoken above is implied in the Bible, and pro
vision is made for the state of mind which it must
induce. This speaks of "signs and lying Avonders." It
Avas said to the Israelites of old, " If there arise amonw
you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee
a sign or a Avonder, and the sign or the wonder come to
pass, Avhereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go
after other gods, Avhich thou hast not known, and let us
serve them ; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of
that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams ; for the Lord
your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the
Lord your God with all your heart and Avith all your
soul." Faith and reason. — I would say, then, that an ap
parent miracle, performed by a creature of God, would
not authorize me to receive what seemed to me to be
contradictory to my natural faculties ; and the voice of
God himself would lay me under obligation to do this
simply because the highest reason demands faith in him
as an essential condition of faith in those faculties. It
is, indeed, a contradiction to say that a man can believe

CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 65
what he knows to be an absurdity, or can be under ob
ligation to do what is wrong ; and, in general, I would
say that no man is under obligation to believe what it
is not more reasonable for him to believe than to dis
believe ; but it may be reasonable to believe, on the
authority of God, that that is not an absurdity Avhich
might otherwise seem to be so, and that the command
of God would make certain outward actions right for
us, which would otherwise not be so. If God should
Avish to make a communication to an individual that
Avould seem in opposition to the dictates of his nat
ural faculties, we might expect that he would, as in the
case of Abraham, speak himseh', and cause it to be
known that the voice was certainly his ; but when a
creature of God appears as his messenger, then his
character and the object of his mission must correspond
with what we have a right to expect of a messenger
from God ; and no prodigy, no apparent miracle, ought
to be received as a sufficient sanction for that which,
without such sanction, would appear to, be either absurd
or vicious.
No practical difficulty. — But, however we may
decide this question on the supposition of a conflict
between the message confirmed by a miracle, and the
intellectual, or the moral nature of man, there is no
practical difficulty on this point when we speak of
the Christian miracles. These are all worthy of God.
They were wrought by men of pure and benevolent
lives, and for the avowed purpose of confirming a mes
sage of the highest importance to man, and in entire
conformity to his nature. And such miracles, wrought
by such men, are, as I have said, the seal which
we should naturally expect God would affix to their
message. They are an adequate seal, and every
fair-minded man responds to the sentiment uttered by

66 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Nicodemus, "No man can do these miracles that thou
doest, except God be Avith him."
Tlie Christian religion or none. — I Avill simply say,
in closing this lecture, that whatever probability there
is that God has given a revelation at all, there is the
same that Christianity is that revelation. We have iioav
come to that point in the history of the world, in Avhich
the question among all well-informed men must be
betAveen the truth of Christianity and no religion. No
man, surely, Avould advocate any form of idolatry or
of polytheism, and there remain only the religion of
Mohammed, and Deism, to be compared with Chris
tianity. But I need not spend time in comparing, or
rather contrasting, the religion of Mohammed, unsus-
tained by miracles or by prophecies, propagated by the
sword, encouraging fatalism, and pride, and intolerance,
sanctioning polygamy, offering a sensual heaven, — a
religion whose force is already spent, which has no sym
pathy or congruity with the enlarged views and onward
movements of these days, and Avhich is fast passing
into a hopeless imbecility, — with the pure, and humble,
and beneficent religion of Christ, heralded by prophecy,
sealed by miracles, and now, after eighteen hundred
years, going forth, with all its pristine vigor, to bless
the nations.
Of Deism it may be doubted Avhether it should be
called a religion. It has never had a priesthood, nor a
creed, nor any book professing to contain the truths it
teaches, nor a temple, nor, Avith the exception of a
short period during the French revolution, an assembly
for worship. If we mean, then, by religion, any such
acknowledgment of God as recognizes our social nature,
and binds mankind in one brotherhood of equality,
while it presents them together before the throne of a
common Father, Deism is not a religion. Those who
profess to teach it have no agreement in their doctrines,

CHRISTIANITY THE ONLY HOPE. 67
and the doctrines themselves are, several of them, bor-
roAved from Christianity, and then inculcated as the
teachings of reason.
No ; there is nothing on the face of the earth that
can, for a moment, bear a comparison with Christian
ity as a religion for man. Upon this the hope of the
race hangs. From the very first, it took its position,
as the pillar of fire, to lead the race onward. The
patriarchal, and Jewish, and Christian dispensations, all
finding their identity in the true import of sacrifices,
and in the inculcation of righteousness, have been one
rehgion. The intelligence and power of the race are
Avith those Avho have embraced it; and now, if this,
instead of proving indeed a pillar of fire from God,
should be found but a delusive meteor, then nothing
will be left to the race but to go back to a darkness that
may be felt, and to a worse than Egyptian bondage.

LECTURE III.
.INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EVIDENCE. — VAGUENESS OF THE
DIVISION BETWEEN THEM. —REASONS FOR CONSIDERING
THE INTERNAL EVIDENCES FIRST. -ARGUMENT FIRST : FROM
ANALOGY. In my first lecture, I attempted to show that, if God
has given a revelation, we may certainly know it ; and
in the second, that there is no such antecedent improb
ability against a revelation, as to justify us in requiring
proof different from that which Ave require for other
events. There are laAvs of evidence according to which
we judge in other cases, and I only ask that these same
laws may be applied here.
If these points are established, we are ready to in
quire whether God has in fact given a revelation.
On coming into life, we find Christianity existing,
and claiming to be such a revelation. We Avish to sat
isfy ourselves of the validity of that claim. How shall
we proceed ? The evidence by which its claims are sus
tained is commonly divided into two kinds, the exter-
nal and the internal. This division is simple, and of
long standing ; but by it heads of evidence are classed
together, having so little affinity for each other, and, in
regard to some of them, it is so difficult to see on what
principle they are classed under one rather than the
other, that its utility may be doubted. Thus the evi
dences from testimony, from prophecy, from the mode
in which the gospel was propagated, and from its

INTERNAL EVIDENCE. 69
effects, — topics resembling each other scarcely at all,
— are classed under the head of the external evidences ;
while the various marks of honesty found in the New
Testament, the agreement of the parts Avith each other,
its peculiar doctrines, its pure morality, its representa
tion of the character of Christ, its analogy to nature, its
adaptation to the situation and wants of man, — topics
still more diverse, — are classed under its internal evi
dences. Chalmers and Wilson. — I notice the vagueness of
this arrangement, because these two classes of evidence
have often been opposed to each other, and the superi
ority of one over the other contended for ; and because
gi'eat and good men, as Chalmers formerly, have in
some instances regarded it as presumptuous to study
the internal evidences at all, as if it would be a sitting
in judgment beforehand on the kind of revelation God
ought to give ; and others, as Wilson, have thought it
arrogance to study the internal evidences first, as if the
capacity to judge of a revelation after it was given im
plied an amount of knowledge that would preclude the
necessity of any revelation at all.
Internal evidences — their study not presumptuous. —
But of which of the internal evidences mentioned above
can it be said to be presumptuous for man to judge
without reference to external testimony ? Certainly not
of those natural and incidental evidences of truth spread
every where over the pages of the NeAV Testament ;
nor of the agreement of the several books with each
other ; nor of the morahty of the gospel ; nor of its
tendency to promote human happiness in this life ; and
if there be some of the doctrines, of the probability of
which we could not judge beforehand, that is no reason
why we should be excluded from an immediate and free
range in every other part of this field. There is Avhat
has been called, by Verplanck, a critical, as well as a
E

70 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
moral internal evidence. Of the first we are competent
to judge, and, in determining the question of our com
petency to judge of the second, we are not to overlook
a distinction made by the same able writer. It is that
" between the poAver of discovering truth, and that of
examining and deciding upon it Avhen offered to our
judgment." "In matters of human science," he goes
on to say, " to how feAv is the one given, and how com
mon is the other ! Look at that vast mass of mathe
matical invention and demonstration Avhich has been
carried on by gifted minds, in eA'ery age, in continued
progress, from the days of the learned priesthood of
ancient Egypt to those of the discoveries of La Place
and La Grange. Who is there of the mathematicians
of this generation avIio could be selected as capable of
alone discovering all this prolonged and continuous
chain of demonstration ? If left to their own unaided
researches, Iioav far Avould the original and inventive
genius of a NeAvton or a Pascal have carried them?
Yet Ave knoAV that all this body of science, this magnifi
cent accumulation of the patient labors of so many in
tellects, may be examined and rigorously scrutinized in
every step, and finally completely mastered and famil
iarized to the understanding, in a feAv years' study, by
a student who, trusting solely to his oavii mind, could
never have advanced beyond the simple elements of
geometry. "This reasoning may be applied, either directly or
by fair analogy, to every part of our knowledge of the
laAvs of nature and of mind ; and it therefore seems to
be neither presumptuous nor unphilosophical, but, on
the contrary, in strict accordance Avith the soundest
reasoning, to maintain that though ' the Avorld by Avis-
dom kneAV not God,' yet, so far forth as he reveals him
self to men, and calls upon them to receive and obey
that revealed will, he has given to them faculties, by

TO JUDGE OF REVELATION NOT PRESUMPTUOUS. 71
no means compelling, but yet enabling them to under
stand his revelation ; to perceive its truth, excellence,
and beauty ; and to become sensible of their own want
of its instruction, as Avell as to estimate that extrinsic
human testimony by which it may be supported or
attended." *
Certainly, there are many things in Avhich Ave per
ceive a fitness and an excellence, when they are made
known, of Avhich we should never, of ourselves, have
formed any conception. Thus the Newtonian system
conies before the eye of the mind as a great mountain
does before that of the body, and Ave see at once that
it is Avorthy of God. No timid disclaimer of our right
to judge of the Avorks of God can prevent this effect.
Its simplicity, and beauty, and majesty, speak Avith a
voice more pleasing, and scarcely less satisfactory, than
that of mathematical demonstration. I will not say
how much of this perceived excellence, or whether any,
must belong to a revelation Avhich Ave are under obliga
tion to receive. Certainly, that of the JeAvs had to
them far less of this than ours to us. But I will say
that it is the natural impulse of the mind to examine
any thing claiming to be a revelation by such tests ; and
if it is done in a proper spirit, and Avith those limita
tions which good sense must always put to human
inquiries, it is neither presumptuous nor dangerous. It
is not judging beforehand of what God ought to do ; it
is judging of what it is claimed that he has done ; and
the same spirit that would prevent us from doing this
would debar us from any study of final causes in the
works of God. If the gospel is to act upon character,
it must be received Avith an intelligent perception of its
adaptation to our wants, and of its excellence. The
message, not less than the minister of God, might be
* Verplanck's Evidences of Revealed Religion.

72 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
expected to commend itself " to every man's conscience
in the sight of God."
Standards and tests in the mind. — I would not claim
for reason a place which does not belong to it. So far
as the Christian religion rests on facts, it must rest on
historical evidence ; but so far as it is a system of truth
and of motives intended to bear on human character
and well-being, it must be judged of by that reason and
conscience which God has given us. There are in the
mind, as God made it, standards and tests Avhich must
ultimately be applied to it. Men may be uncandid or
irreverent in applying these tests, and so they may be
in examining historical proof; and I have no more fear
in one case than in the other. In arguing for, or against
such a system as Christianity, we of course take for
granted the being and perfections of God ; Ave have
a previous knowledge of his works, of his providence,
of the difference between right and wrong, and of the
beings for whom the system is intended. Let, now, a
candid man find in the system nothing absurd or im
moral, but many things that seem to him strange, and
little accordant Avith what he would have expected, and
he Avill be still in doubt. He will make due allowance
for the imperfection of his knowledge, and the limita
tion of his faculties, and he will hold his mind open to
the full force of historical proof. But let him be shoAvn
a system Avhich, though he could not have discovered
it, he can see, when discovered, to be worthy of a God
of infinite wisdom and goodness, — let him find it con
gruous with all he knoAvs of him from his works, coin
cident with natural religion, so far as that goes, con
taining a perfect morality, harmonizing with the highest
sentiments of man, and adapted to his wants as a weak
and guilty being, — and he may find in all this a ground
of rational conviction that such a system must have
come from God, and so, that those facts which ;iro

CHANGE IN ARRANGEMENT. 73
inseparably connected with it must be true. The histor
ical testimony may then be to him much as the testi
mony of the woman of Samaria Avas to her countrymen
after they had seen and heard the Saviour for them
selves. And this is the natural course when any system
on any subject is presented to us. We inquire Avhat it
is, and how far it agrees Avith our previous knoAvledge ;
we come up to it, and examine it, and then, if neces
sary, we investigate the history of its origin.
This proof logical. — Nor is this proof from internal
evidence, as some seem to suppose, merely the result
of feeling. If God has given us a religion which Ave
are to receive in the exercise of our reason, and Avhich
is to act on us through our affections and in harmony
with our natural faculties, I can not conceive that there
should not be found in it such congruities and adapta
tions to man, — such a fitness to promote his individual
and social well-being, — as to show that it came from
Him who made man ; and the proof arising from a per
ception of this congruity is as purely intellectual, as
strictly argumentative, as that from historical evidence.
In such a case, we do not believe the religion to be
true because we feel it to be so, but because we see hi
it a divine wisdom, and the adaptation of means to an
end. Arrangement hitherto — reasons for a change. — It
has been some feeling of the kind, mentioned above as
manifested by Chalmers and Wilson, that has deter
mined the arrangement of every treatise I knoAv of,
published either in England or this country, in which
the external and internal evidences are considered to
gether. The external are treated of first, are regarded
as settling the question, and then the internal are
brought in as confirmatory. Certainly, I think the his
torical evidence conclusive, and it is indispensable, be
cause the Christian religion is not a mere set of dogmas,

74 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
or of speculative opinions, but has its foundation in
facts. It is, indeed, a manifestation of principles, but
not by verbal statement and injunction merely ; those
principles are imbodied in acts, and it is only as thus
imbodied that they have their effective power. That
Jesus Christ lived, and was crucified, and rose from the
dead, are facts as necessary to the Christian religion as
the foundation to a building ; and no one but a German
neologist could possibly think otherwise. But if the
external evidences are thus indispensable and conclu
sive, so also are the internal. What Avould have been
the effect and force of Christ's miracles, without his
spotless and transcendent character? If I am to say
which would most deeply impress me "with the fact that
he was from God, the testimony respecting his miracles,
or the exhibition of such a character, I think I should
say the latter ; and I think myself as well qualified to
judge in the one case as in the other ; and, as I have
said, I think this is the evidence Avhich now first pre
sents itself.
At first, Avhen the religion was every where called
in question, when miracles were wrought to sustain it,
before it had had time to shoAV fully its adaptation to
the wants of the individual man and of society, it was
natural to refer first to miracles and to testimony for
its divine authority ; but iioav, when the religion is
established, it is quite as natural to pass, without any
particular attention to the historical evidence, to the
consideration of the religion itself, its suitableness to
what we know of God, and to our own wants. It is,
in fact, in this way that most men Avho embrace Chris
tianity are led to do it, and I do not think it either
" presumptuous or unphilosophical " to follow, in pre
senting the evidence, the course which has been followed
by most Christians in attaining that ground of faith on
which they iioav rest.

CHRISTIANITY ITSELF TO BE EXAMINED. 7§
Let us, then, instead of going first through a long
line of historical testimony, come directly to the Chris
tian religion itself. Let us examine it, with candor
indeed, but with perfect freedom. Let us compare it
Avith, and test it by, whatever Ave knoAv of God or his
works, or of man. It courts such an examination. It
is because it is not thus examined, that it is so little
regarded. We knoAv that any system that comes from
God must be Avorthy of him ; that it must be in har
mony with all his other Avorks and with all other truth ;
that the ends proposed by it must be good, and that it
must be adapted in the best manner to accomplish
those ends. We know, I say, that such a system must
really be all this ; and, in proportion to our knowledge,
Ave shall see it to be so. If we can not understand it
fully, as indeed, if it be what it claims to be, we ought
not to expect to do, we may yet know in part. We
live in an age of light. The religion has been long in
the Avorld, and has come in contact with God's natural
providence, and with human institutions, at many points.
It was intended to act upon us ; and, if it be really
from God, it would be strange if we could not find
upon it some impression of his hand.
ARGUMENT I.
ANALOGY.
General statement. — We say, then, first, that we
find evidence of the divine origin of the Christian reli
gion in its analogy to the works and natural govern
ment of God. There is a harmony of adaptation, and
also of analogy. The key is adapted to the lock ; the
fin of the fish is analogous to the wing of the bird.
Christianity, as I hope to show, is adapted to man ; it
is analogous to the other manifestations which God has
made of himself.
The works of God are divided into different depart-

76 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
ments, each of Avhich has its laws, which are in some
sense independent of the others ; yet there is such a
correspondence manifest between them, that we rec
ognize them, at once, as having proceeded from the
same hand. Scientific research impresses upon us the
conviction that God is one, and that he is uniform and
consistent in all his Avorks ; and leads us to expect, if
he should introduce a new dispensation, that there
would be, between it and those which had preceded it,
an analogy similar to that which had been found to
exist betAveen the other departments. Now, we affirm
that the gospel contains that code of laws which God
has given for the regulation of the moral and spiritual
department of his creation in this world, and that
there is between it and the other Avorks of God the
analogy and correspondence Avhich were to have been
expected. The Bible coincident with nature. — 1. I observe,
that the Biblejs coincident with naturje, as now knoAvn.
in^Jts teachings respecting the natural__attributes of
God. The NeAv Testament seldom dwells upon the
natural attributes of God; but when it does to any
extent, as in the ascription of Paul, "To the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God," it
plainly recognizes and adopts the doctrines of the Old,
and they may, therefore, for this purpose, be fairly
taken together. Let us go back, then, to those ancient
prophets. If we exclude the idea of revelation, nothing
can be more surprising than the ideas of God expressed
by them. These ideas, of themselves, are sufficient to
give the stamp of divinity to their Avritings. Sur
rounded by polytheists, they proclaimed his unity.
Living in a period of great ignorance in regard to phys
ical science, they ascribed to God absolute eternity,
and that unchangeableness which is essential to a perfect
Being, and the}' represented all his natural attributes

NATURE AND THE BIBLE. 77
as infinite. Accordingly, it is Avhen these attributes
are their theme, that their poetry rises to its unparal
leled sublimity. "Who," says Isaiah, "hath measured
the Avaters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out
heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of
the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in
scales and the hills in a balance ? " Even iioav, Avhen
science has brought her report from the depths of infi
nite space, and told us of the suns and systems that
gloAV and circle there, Iioav can we better express our
emotions than to adopt his language, and say, "Lift up
your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these
things, that bringeth out their host by number : He
calleth them all by names, by the greatness of his might,
for that he is strong in poAver ; not one faileth." And
when science has turned her glass in another direction,
and discovered in the teeming drop wonders scarcely
less than those in the heavens ; Avhen she has analyzed
matter ; Avhen she has disentangled the rays of hght,
and shoAvn the colors of Avhich its white web is woven ,
when the amazing structure of vegetable and animal
bodies is laid open ; what can we say of Him Avho
Avorketh all this, but that he is "Avonderful in counsel,
and excellent in working " ! " There is no searching of
his understanding." And when, again, we can look
back over near three thousand years more, in which the
earth has rolled on its appointed Avay, and the mighty
energies by which all things are moved have been sus
tained, Avhat can we do but to ask, "Hast thou not
known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God,
the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth
not, neither is weary?" With them we find no ten
dency, as among the ancient philosophers, to ascribe
eternity to matter ; they every where speak of it as cre
ated ; nor, Avith the pantheists, to identify matter with
God ; nor, with the idolater, to be affected with its

<8 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
magnitude, or forms, or order, or brightness, or what
ever may strike the senses. But, with them, all matter
is perfectly subordinate and paltry Avhen compared with
God. They represent him as sustaining it for a time
in its present order, and then as folding up these visible
heavens as a vesture is folded, and laying them aside.
Nothing could more perfectly express the absolute in
finity of the natural attributes of God, or the entire
separation and disparity between him and every thing
that is called the universe, or its complete subjection
to his will.
Noav, that men, undistinguished from others around
them by learning, in an age of prevalent polytheism
and idolatry, and of great ignorance of physical science,
should adopt such doctrines respecting the natural attri
butes of God, as to require no modification when sci
ence has been revolutionized and expanded as it were
into a neAv universe, does seem to me no slight evidence
that they were inspired by that God whose attributes
they set forth.
Perfection of natural and moral law. — 2. I observe,
that there is an analogy between. ihe_laH&_Qf jjaj&rejjis
discovered byjnductiqn, and the moraHaws contained
in the NeAV Testament, not only as implying the same
natural attributes in God, but as they are carried out to
the same perfection. It is the great and sublime char
acteristic of natural law, especially of the law of grav
itation, that, Avhile it controls so perfectly such vast
masses, and at such amazing distances, it yet also con
trols equally the minutest particle that floats in the sun
beam ; and that, however wildly that particle may be
driven, — wherever it may float in the infinity of
space, — it never, for one moment, escapes the cogni
zance and supervision of this law. It never can. This
implies a minuteness and perfection of natural govern
ment, of Avhich science, as known in the time of Christ,

NATURAL AND MORAL LAAV PERFECT. 79
could have given no intimation. But iioav, how natural
does it seem that the same God, who, in the universal
control of his natural law, no more neglects the minu
test particle than the largest planet, should also, in hii
moral laAV, take cognizance of every idle Avord, and of
the thoughts and intents of the heart ! Yes ; I find, ii
the particle of dust, shown by the greatest expoundei
of God's natural laAV to be constantly regarded by him
and in the idle word declared by Christ to come unde]
the notice and condemnation of his moral law, — I find
in the minuteness and completeness of the governmem
of matter, as revealed by modern science, and evei
shoAvn to the eye by the microscope, and in that inter
pretation of the moral law which makes it spiritual
causing it to reach every thought and intent of the
heart, — a conception of the same absolute perfectior
of government, both in the natural and moral Avorld .
and I find the same infinite natural attributes impliec
as the sole conditions on which such a government ii
either of these departments can be carried on.
This idea of the absolute universality and perfection
of government in any department — the only one, hoAV-
ever, Avorthy of a perfect God — is not an idea, espe
cially in its moral applications, which I should think
likely to have originated with man. In the depart
ment of nature we knoAv that he did not originate or
suspect it till it was forced on his observation. And
how comes it to pass that this absolute perfection of
moral government, this notice of the particle of dust
there, this judgment of every idle word, of every secret
thing, of the minutest moral act of the most inconsid
erable moral being that ever lived, should have been
discovered and announced thousands of years before its
more obvious counterpart in the natural Avorld was even
suspected ?
And here I can not but notice, though I will not put

80 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
it under a separate head, how coincident all that sci
ence has discovered is with the Scripture doctrine of
the universal and particular providential government
of God. We all knoAv how sIoav men have been to
receive this ; and yet it would seem that no theist, with
a clear perception of the mode in which natural law
operates, could doubt it. Does God control constantly
immense masses of matter through natural law ? How ?
Why, by causing the law to operate, not upon the
mass as a whole, but upon every individual particle
composing that mass ; that is, he governs the vast
through his government of the minute. And if he does
this in matter, who Avill deny the probability of a prov
idential care, proceeding on precisely the same prin
ciples, Avhich numbers the hairs of our heads, and
watches the fall of the sparroAV ? Shall God care for
the less and not for the greater ? " If he so clothe the
grass of the field, shall he not much more clothe you,
Oyeof little faith?"
Kind and limit of knoivledge. — 3. I observe, that
there is an analogy, both in their kind and in their
limit, between the knowledge communicated by nature
and that by Christianity. Nature is full and explicit in
her communication of necessary practical facts, but is
at no pains to explain the reasons and methods of those
facts. She gives us the air to breathe, and Ave are in
vigorated ; but she does not teach us that it is composed
of oxygen and nitrogen, and that our vigor comes from
the oxygen alone. She gives us the light, and Ave see ;
but hoAv long did the Avorld stand before she whispered
to any one that that light was composed of the seven
primary colors ? She instructs us in the uses of fire ;
but she does not teach us hoAv the process of combus
tion is carried on. Men have boiled water equally well
from the beginning ; but it was left to this age, and to
Faraday, to discover that flame is the product of elec-

KNOWLEDGE IMPARTED PRACTICAL. 81
trical agency. She teaches us the facts ; she enables
us to go through the practical processes ; and then she
leaves us to find our way as we best may through the
philosophy of those facts.
And so it is Avith the knowledge communicated by
Christianity. There is not a great practical fact which
a moral being can ask to know, concerning which it
does not speak with perfect distinctness. The fact of a
full and a perfect accountability, and of a future retri
bution, — the fact of immortahty, of the resurrection
of the dead, of a particular providence, of the freedom
of man, of his dependence upon God, and of the mercy
of God to returning penitents, — each of these is made
known Avith entire fullness and explicitness ; but very
little is said respecting the philosophy of these facts,
or the mode in which they may be reconciled to each
other. The Bible gives the information that is needed,
and there it stops. It communicates practical, and
never speculative knowledge as such.
Now, when we consider that Christianity solves, in
its own way, all the great questions relating to human
destiny, it must be regarded as remarkable, that, in
communicating this information, it should thus stop_
precisely wherenature stops! When we consider how
strong the tendency must have been to unaided human
nature to gratify and excite man by particular descrip
tions of other worlds and of things unseen, so naturally
to be expected from a messenger from those worlds ;
when we consider how strong a hold the fanatic and
the impostor gain upon the imagination of their follow
ers by such means , and that, without miracles and
without evidence, this is, indeed, the chief hold they
can have upon them ; and when we observe the course
taken at this point by all others who have pretended
to revelation, we shall not estimate this argument
lightly.

82 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Christianity and other systems. — Hoav different the
course of Christ and his apostles, in this respect, from
that of the writers of the Shasters, and of Mohammed !
When Christ and his apostles speak of a future Avorld
of reward and of punishment, it is, indeed, in such
terms as to produce a strong moral impression, but it
is still with a severe and cautious reserve. Those terms
are general. There is no dwelling upon particulars, as
if for the purpose of gratifying curiosity, or giving a
loose rein to the imagination. They speak of "the
kingdom of heaven," of " everlasting life," of " a croAvn
of glory that fadeth not away," of " life and immortal
ity," of "many mansions," and a "Father's house;"
but then they say, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things
Avhich God hath prepared for them that love him." So,
on the other hand, they speak of " the fire that never
shall be quenched," " where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched ; " of the "everlasting fire, pre
pared for the devil and his angels ; " of " everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from
the glory of his poAver ; " of " the blackness of darkness
forever ; " but they descend into no minute descriptions.
Not so Mohammed. Speaking of heaven, he says,
"There are they who shall approach near unto God.
They shall dwell in gardens of delight. Youths, which
shall continue in their bloom forever, shall go round
about to attend them Avith goblets and beakers, and a
cup of floAving wine, — their heads shall not ache by
drinking the same, neither shall their reason be dis
turbed ; and Avith fruits of the roots Avhich they shall
choose, and the flesh of birds of the kind Avhich they
shall desire. And there shall accompany them fair
damsels, having large black eyes resembling pearls
hidden in their shells, as a reward for that which they

MOHAMMEDANISM. 83
have Avrought." * "But as for the sincere servants of
God, they shall have a certain provision in paradise,
namely, delicious fruits ; and they shall be honored ;
they shall be placed in gardens of pleasure, leaning on
couches, opposite to one another ; a cup shall be carried
round unto them, filled from a limpid fountain, for the
delight of those who drink, — it shall not oppress their
understanding, neither shall they be inebriated there-
Avith. And near them shall lie the virgins of paradise,
refraining their looks from beholding any besides their
spouses, having large black eyes, and resembling the
eggs of an ostrich covered with feathers from the
dust." f So, also, speaking of the Avorld of punish
ment, he says, " Those who believe not have garments
of fire fitted to them ; boiling water shall be poured on
their heads ; their boAvels shall be dissolved thereby,
and also their skin ; and they shall be beaten Avith
maces of iron. So often as they shall endeavor to get
out of hell because of the anguish of their torments,
they shall be dragged back into the same, and their
tormentors shall say, ' Taste ye the pains of burning.' " X
" It shall be said unto them, Go ye into the punishment
which ye denied as a falsehood : go ye into the smoke of
hell, which shall arise in three volumes, and shall not
shade you from the heat, neither shall it be of service
against the flame ; but it shall cast forth sparks as big as
towers, resembling yellow camels in color." § We can
noAv see that the stern refusal on the part of Christ and
his disciples to lift the vail and show us the invisible
Avorld was not only analogous to the course of nature,
but that it was the only course compatible with good
sense and sound philosophy. But Avhy have these men,
of all those Avho have made pretensions to inspiration,

* Koran, chap. lvi. Sale's edition. J Koran, chap. xxii.
| Koran, chap, xxxvii § Koran, chap, xxvii.

84 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
thus kept upon that difficult line which so commends
itself to the sober judgment of the thinking part of
mankind ?
Christianity and nature — relation to the infinite and
mysterious. — And not less striking is the analogy
between the limits of that knowledge which is obtained
from nature and that Avhich is obtained from the Bible ;
or, to express my thought more exactly, between the
mode in which Avhat is made known in both cases, runs
out into an infinite unknown. However long, and in
Avhatever department the student of nature may labor,
he finds himself no nearer the completion of his knowl
edge ; and, as he passes on, he is ready to exclaim,
with Burke, "What subject is there that does not
branch out into infinity ! " Even Avhen most successful,
he compares himself to a "child picking up pebbles
upon the beach, while the great ocean of truth is still
before him." The intellectual vision of one man may
extend further than that of another ; he may have a
Avider horizon ; but to both alike the sky closes doAArB
upon the mountains, and what is known stretches off
[into the infinity that is unknown. Nature places us in
the midst of infinity. She intimates a probable con
nection between our planet and the myriads of worlds
which float in space ; she suggests, by analogy, the
probability of a moral and intellectual system corre
sponding in extent to the greatness of the physical
universe ; she aAvakens our curiosity respecting the
forms and modes of being of those who dwell in the
stellar Avorlds ; but she gives us no means of gratifying
our curiosity. The language of nature to man is, 'You
are a pupil, upon one form, in the great school of God's
discipline. You are permitted to conjecture that there
are other and higher forms, but to know nothing of
what is taught there. Your business is to learn the
lessons which are taught here, and be content, though

CHRISTIANITY AND NATURE MYSTERIOUS. 85
you can not but see that all knoAvn truth has relations
Avith much more that is unknoAvn.' And just so it is
with the Bible. It does not present us Avith a defined
system of truth, squared by the scientific rule and com
pass, Avhich the human mind can master and compre
hend. Its truths take hold on the eternity that is past,
and stretch on into that which is to come. Does nature
lead us into deep mysteries ? So does the Bible. Does
she leave us there, to Avonder and adore? So does the
Bible. We claim mysteries as a part of Christianity.
We say that a religion coming from the God of nature
could not be without them. We are nothing moved
by the sneer of the infidel Avhen he asks, " What kind
of a revelation is the revelation of a mystery ? " We
say to him that it is the revelation of a fact, all the
modes and relations of which are not known, or which
may seem to conflict Avith something already known ;
and that, in the revelation of portions of an infinite
scheme to a finite mind, facts thus related Avould be
naturally expected. Is no revelation of any value but
that which is clear, full, and distinct? What kind of a
re' relation is that Avhich nature makes of the starry
heavens — dim, remote, obscure, suggesting a thousand
questions, and answering none ? And yet even this is
of infinite value to man. And thus it is that the Bible
takes it for granted that there are other orders of intel
ligent beings, angels and archangels, principalities and
powers, heavenly hosts innumerable — just such an
intellectual and moral system as we might suppose from
ouf present knoAvledge of the works of God ; but no
particulars are given ; it merely shoAvs them as the night
shows the stars, and, hke nature, it leaves us standing
in the midst of infinity, Avith a thousand questions unan
swered. Now, I can not help thinking, if the Bible had
been made by man, that it would either have been a
system perfectly defined, with the clearness, and at the

86 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
same time, the shallowness, of the human intellect ; or
it would have been wild, and extravagant, and vague ;
or it would have pretended to lay open minutely the
secrets of distant and future worlds.
Temper of mind required. — 4. I observe, that there
is an analogy or correspondence between J^he^worksjrf
God and the Bible, such as we had a right to expect,
if both came from him, because a similar temper and
attitude of mind is required for the successful study of
both. The identity of that spirit, which Christ inculcates
as the essential prerequisite to the proper understanding
and reception of the great truths Avhich he taught, with
the true philosophic spirit, Avas first noticed by Bacon.
He says, in very remarkable Avords, "The kingdom of
man, which was founded on the sciences, can not be en
tered otherAvise than the kingdom of God , that is, in the
condition of a little child." The meaning and the truth
of this Avill be manifest from a moment's attention to
the history of science. So long as man attempted to
theorize, and to sit in judgment upon God, to determine
what he ought to have done, instead of taking the atti
tude of a learner before the book of nature, nothing
can exceed the puerilities and absurdities into Avhich he
fell. But the moment he laid aside the pride of theory,
and took the humble attitude of a learner and observer,
an interpreter of nature, science began to advance.
Man talked of rearing the temple of science, as if it
were to be constructed by him. But, as far as there is
any temple, it has stood, as it now stands, in its impos
ing majesty, since the creation of the works of God ;
and all that man can do is to unvail that temple, and
show its fair proportions. The true philosopher does
not think of rearing any thing of his own. He feels
that he is a learner, and a learner only at the feet of
nature. He represses entirely the imagination, however
beautiful and enticing may be the theories Avhich it

NEED OF HUMILITY. 87
would form ; rejects all prejudice and preconceived
opinion ; and folloAvs fearlessly wherever observation,
and experiment, and facts, may lead him.
Is it said that there have been great philosophers
who have been infidels, and have not had this spirit?
I answer, no. There have been second-rate philoso
phers, Avho have distinguished themselves by following
out the discoveries of greater men ; but all the great
discoverers, those whose minds have sympathized most
intensely with nature, have been distinguished for this
spirit.* But that this spirit and temper are required by the
gospel in order to a knoAvledge of that, it is hardly
necessary to show. There we find the original requi
sition to become as a little child. It requires every
imagination to be brought down, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God ; and
that every thought should be brought into captivity to
the obedience of Christ. No progress can be made
in religion, or in science, till the pride which exalts
itself to judge over God, and to decide what he ought
to have done, is repressed, and till the man takes his
place as a learner at the feet of Jesus, as the philoso
pher takes his place at the feet of nature. So coinci
dent is the spirit of true rehgion and of true philosophy :
so perfectly did our Saviour express the true spirit of
both eighteen hundred years ago. Wonderful indeed
is it that, Avhen the great expounder of method in
natural science Avould express the true spirit of the true
method, he should find no fitter Avords than those used
by Christ, before the inductive philosophy Avas dreamed
of, to express the proper method of study in a higher
department of the kingdom and government of God.
If, then, nature and revelation are thus similarly related
to the human mind, they must be analogous to each other -
* See AVhewell's Bridgewater Treatise

88 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Mode and results of teaching. — In close connection
Avith this head, I observe that, so far as nature teaches
natural religion and moral truth, there is an analogy
between both the mode and the results of her teaching
and those of Christianity. Nothing can be more evi
dent than that the condition in which God intended
man should be placed, in this world, is that of a pro
bation, in which there should be no overwhelming force,
or preponderance of motives, on either side; in which
a wrong choice should be possible, and a right one often
difficult. No other supposition accords with the limited
knowledge of man, or with the mixed and balanced
motives in the midst of Avhich he must often act.
Accordingly, while the moral and religious teachings
of nature are real and valid, and he that has ears to
hear may hear, they are yet never obtrusive. The
voice of those teachings is a still, small voice, easily
drowned by the roar of passion or by the din of the
world, but SAveet and powerful in the ear of those who
are Avilling to listen. Accordingly, nothing is easier,
or more common, than for men " to quench the light of
natural virtue by a course of profligacy, and to acquire
contempt for all goodness by familiarity with vice."
This is the method in which nature teaches moral and
religious truth, lifting up always the same quiet voice,
whether men will hear or whether they will forbear ;
and these are the results. Christianity keeps to the
principle of that method, nor are the results different
in kind. Whether Ave consider the evidence for its
divine origin, or the moral truths which it inculcates,
we find that, Avhile it has such evidence as to be satis
factory to those who will attend to it, yet that it does
not force that evidence upon the attention of any.
Here the voice is indeed a louder voice, and he that
hath ears may hear ; but it does not compel the atten
tion of men. Accordingly, as Ave find men disregarding

THEIR TEACHINGS UNOBTRUSIVE. 89
the teachings of natural conscience, and the general
maxims of virtue, so also do we find them remaining
in ignorance, and consequent contempt, of God's reve
lation. I know that this feature of revelation has been made
an objection against it. It has been said that, if God
had given a revelation, he would have accompanied it
Avith evidence that must have forced conviction upon
every mind — that he would have written it upon the
heavens ; but the objector does not consider that, in
that case, this would have been no longer a place of
probation, and the revelation of the gospel not at all in
keeping with the revelation of nature. Are the great
truths of natural religion written upon the heavens?
Are the common maxims of temperance, and integrity,
and benevolence, forced upon the attention of all?
Instead, therefore, of finding, in the unobtrusive nature
of the evidence and claims of Christianity, an argument
against it, I find, in these very circumstances, an argu
ment that it is from that God who has caused the light
of natural religion, and even the light of science, to
exist in the world under precisely the same conditions.
A system of means. — 5. I observe, that Christianity
is in harmony with the_works of Godj Lhecauj3e__itajs a
system of means . * It is asked, by some, if God Avishes
the holiness of men, why he does not make them holy
at once ; and that he should take a long course of
means, to accomplish his wish, is objected to as deroga
tory both to his power and to his wisdom. But, surely,
I need not say that all nature is a system of means —
that the end to be accomplished never is accomplished
without the means, and that those means often require
the lapse of ages before this end is obtained. No doubt
God could create a tree at once in its full perfection ;
but, instead of this, he causes it to germinate from a
* Butler's Analogy, part 2, chap. 4.

90 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
little seed, and makes his sun shine upon it, and waters
it with showers, and subjects it to the vicissitudes of
the seasons, (during portions of which it seems to
make no progress,) till, at length, it towers toward
heaven, and defies the storms of ages. So the kingdom
of heaven in the soul is like a grain of mustard-seed,
which is indeed the least of all seeds ; but God causes
it to spring up, and shines upon it Avith the light of his
countenance, and waters it with the dews of his grace,
till it becomes a plant bearing fruit in the garden of
God. And yet those Avho believe that nature is of
God, object to the gospel because of the very circum
stances in Avhich it harmonizes with his other works.
And here I mention a ground of misapprehension
Avhich is common to nature and to Christianity. A
system of means implies the gradual development of a
plan, and of course the plan must present very different
aspects to those who view it in its different stages.
There are some processes in nature that could not have
been understood in the first ages of the world. Thus
the periods and motions of some of the heavenly bodies
Avere so obscure and complicated, that it required the
observation and study of near six thousand years to
understand and reduce them to system ; and the eye of
the philosopher who scanned those bodies before such
observations could be made, must have remained unsat
isfied and perplexed. He saw the light of the bodies,
and walked in it ; but he could not understand the
philosophy and harmony of their motions. So it is
with Christianity. While it gives freely the practical
light which is necessary to our guidance, men have
been very differently situated in regard to their oppor
tunities of judging of its philosophy. Respecting this
they have judged, and still judge, very differently, and
probably none of them, in all points, correctly. They
are not yet in the right position. Place a man in the

BOTH SYSTEMS REMEDIAL. 91
sun, and he Avill be an astronomer at once. His posi
tion Avill enable him to see the motions of the planets
just as they are. And Christianity speaks of just such
a point, in relation to itself and the moral government
of God, Avhere every man Avill hereafter be placed. It
speaks of a "day of the restitution of all things." In
the mean time, those who refuse to be governed by the
practical light of Christianity, because they can not
understand certain points of its philosophy, pursue the
same course as those philosophers Avho lived before the
time of Newton Avould have done, if they had shut
their eyes upon the light of the moon because they
could not under stand its motions.
A remedial system. — 6. I observe, fhatjCJmstjjnjty
is analogous to the system of nature because it is a
remedial system?* When the body is diseased, Avhen
a 'limb~~is broken, Avhen gangrene commences, nature
does not certainly leave the man to perish. She has
provided a remedial system ; and if the proper reme
dies are applied in season, the man may be restored.
Now, w'aat this remedial system is in the course of
nature, Christianity is in the moral government of God.
It comes to us in the same Avay, not as to the Avhole,
but as to the sick, and offers us assistance upon similar
conditions. The man Avho is sick must have sufficient
faith in the remedy to give it a fair trial, and so must he
who would be benefited by Christianity. The remedial
system of nature often requires the suffering of great
present pain, that greater future pain may be avoided ;
and Christianity requires self-denials and sacrifices
which are so difficult, that they are compared to the
cutting off of a right hand, and the plucking out of a
right eye. The remedial system of nature does not
free the sick man at once from all the painful conse
quences of his disease. He suffers, and, it may be,
* Butler, part 2, chap. 3.

92 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
lingers long under it, in spite of the best remedies. So
he who receives Christianity does not escape at once all
the painful consequences of sin. He suffers and dies
on account of it ; but the remedy is sovereign, and
through it he shall finally be delivered from sin alto
gether, and restored to perfect moral soundness. Na
ture makes no distinctions. The pains which she
inflicts are as severe, and the remedies which she offers
are as hitter, to one as to another. Christianity, also,
is entirely impartial. All Avho receive it must receive
it on the same humbling terms, and upon all who will
not receive it, it denounces the same fearful punishment.
Under this head, therefore, we find a very close analogy
between the mode of administration in nature and that
Avhich is revealed by Christianity.
A mediatorial system. — 7. I observe, that Chris
tianity is analogous to thg_jyjtemjof_nature because it
is a mediatorial system. In mentioning this, I do not
intend to enter upon any controverted ground, for all
admit that, through the sufferings arid death of Christ,
voluntarily undergone, Ave receive at least great tem
poral benefits ; and what I contend for is, that, whether
we confine his interposition and mediation to this low
sense, or suppose it the sole ground of pardon, still
the principle, as one of mediation, is not changed, and
is in accordance with what constantly passes under our
notice^itrBte-natural government of God. " The world,"
says(Butler, "is a constitution, or system, whose parts
have aThutual reference to each other ; and there is a
scheme of things gradually carrying on, called the
course of nature, to the carrying on of Avhich God has
appointed us in various ways to contribute. And when,
in the daily course of natural providence, it is appointed
that innocent people should suffer for the faults of the
guilty, this is liable to the very same objection as the
instance we are iioav considering. The infinitely greater

ANALOGY CONCLUDED. 93
importance of that appointment of Christianity, Avhich
is objected against, does not hinder, but it may be, as
it plainly is, an appointment of the very same kind
as that which the Avorld affords us daily examples of."
"Men, by their follies, run themselves into extreme
distress and difficulties, Avhich would be absolutely fatal
to them were it not for the interposition and assistance
of others. God commands, by the law of nature, that
we afford them this assistance, in many cases where we
can not do it without very great pains, and labor, and
suffering to ourselves, And Ave see in what variety of
Avays one person's sufferings contribute to the relief of
another, and hoAv this folloAvs from the constitution and
laws of nature which come under our notice ; and, being
familiarized to it, men are not shocked with it. So
that the reason of their insisting upon objections of the
foregoing kind against the satisfaction of Christ, is,
either that they do not consider God's settled and uni
form appointments as his appointments at all, or else they
forget that vicarious punishment is an appointment of
every day's experience." As therefore evils, and great
evils, and such as we could not of ourselves avoid, are
so often averted from us, in the providence of God, by
the interposition of our felloAv-creatures, so it is in
perfect harmony Avith that providence to suppose that
greater evils, otherwise unavoidable, might be averted
by the interposition of the Son of God.
In these, and other particulars which might be men
tioned, we find an analogy between Christianity and
nature, such as to shoAv that they came from the same
hand. Here is a test — its general correspondence and
harmony with the works of God and AArith the natural
and providential government of God — which no false
system can stand. And more especially remarkable is it
that Christianity can sustain this test, Avhen we consider
it in contrast Avith that to which it was subjected at its

94 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
first appearance in the world. With the presentation
of this contrast I shall close this lecture.
The early and later test contrasted — Christianity
and Judaism. — Christianity, at its commencement,
recognized the JeAvish religion as from God; and it
Avas a ground of its rejection by the JeAvs, that it
destroyed their law or ritual. Hence it became neces
sary _ and this Avas the main object of the apostle in
the Epistle to the Hebrews — to show that it Avas in
perfect harmony with the JeAvish religion Avhen rightly
understood, and was, indeed, necessary to its comple
tion. Did the JeAvs insist that Christianity had no
priesthood? The apostle affirms that it had such a high
priest as became us, "avIio is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, and made higher than the
neavens." Did the Jews affirm that Christianity had
no tabernacle ? The apostle asserts that Christ Avas the
minister "of the true tabernacle, Avhich the Lord pitched,
and not man ; " that he had " not entered into the holy
places made with hands, Avhich are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself." Was it objected that
Christianity had no altar and no sacrifice ? The apostle
affirms that " now, once in the end of the world, Christ
had appeared to put aAvay sin by the sacrifice of him
self." Thus did the apostle shoAV that the JeAvish
religion, having dropped its SAvaddling-clothes of rites
and ceremonies, Avas identical in spirit Avith Christianity.
The same correspondence was either attempted to be
shown, or taken for granted, by all the NeAv Testament
writers. But when Ave remember that Christianity is a
purely spiritual religion, encumbered by no forms, and
that the Jewish was apparently the most technical and
artificial of all systems ; when we remember that there
was not only to be preserved a correspondence Avith the
types and ceremonies, but also that there Avas to be the
fulfillment of many prophecies, Ave may see the impos-

THE TESTS SUSTAINED. 95
sibility that any human art should construct a system
so identical in its principles, and yet so diverse in its
manifestations. Nor, indeed, could there have been
any motive to induce such an attempt ; for, besides its
inherent difficulty, Christianity so far dropped all the
peculiarities of the JeAvs as to forfeit every hope of
benefit from their strong exclusive feelings, while at
the same time it came before other nations subject to
all the odium which it could not fail to excite as based
on the JeAvish religion. We accordingly find that, in
point of fact, it was equally opposed by JeAvs and
Gentiles. But such Avas the system — exclusive, typi
cal, ceremonial, external, magnificent, addressed to the
senses — between which and Christianity, simple, uni
versal, without form or pomp, it Avas necessary to show
a correspondence ; and this the apostle Paul, and the
NeAV Testament Avriters generally, did show.
Christianity and nature — extent and grandeur. —
Hoav different the test to Avhich Christianity is iioav put !
The works of God are acknoAvledged to be from him,
and, as now understood, how simple in their laAvs, how
complex in their relations, how infinite in their extent !
And can the same system, which so perfectly corre-,
sponded with the narroAv system of the JeAvs, correspond
equally with the infinite and unrestricted system and
relations of God's Avorks ? Is it possible that the reli-.
gion once embosomed in the ceremonies of an ignorant
and barbarous people, which received its expansion and
completion in an age of the greatest ignorance in regard
to physical science, should yet harmonize, in its disclo
sures respecting God and his government, with those
enlarged conceptions of his nature and kingdom Avhich
we noAv possess ? Could Newton step from the study
of the heavens to the study of the Bible, and feel that
he made no descent? It is even so. The God whom
the Bible discloses, and the moral system which it

36 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
reveals, lose nothing when compared with the extent
of nature, or with the simplicity and majesty of her
laws ; they seem rather worthy to be enthroned upon,
and to preside over, such an amazing domain. The
material universe, if not infinite, is indefinite in extent.
We see in the misty spot which, in a serene evening,
scarce discolors the deep blue of the sky, a distant
milky way, like that which encircles our heavens, and
in a small projection of which our sun is situated. We
see such milky ways stroAvn in profusion over the
heavens, each containing more suns than we can num
ber, and all these, with their subordinate systems, we
see bound together by a law as efficient as it is simple
and unchangeable. " They stand up together . . . not one
faileth ! " But long before this system was discovered,
there was made known, in the Bible, a moral system in
entire correspondence with it. We see at the head of
it, and presiding in high authority over the whole, one
infinite and " only wise God," "the King eternal, im
mortal, invisible." Of the systems above us, angelic
and seraphic, Ave know little ; but we see one law,
simple, efficient, and comprehensive as that of gravita
tion, — the laAV of love, — extending its sway over the
whole of God's dominions, living where he lives, em
bracing every moral movement in its universal author
ity, and producing the same harmony, where it is
obeyed, as we observe in the movements of nature.
We find here none of the puerilities which dwarf every
other system. The sanctions of the laAV, the moral
attributes revealed, the destinies involved, the prospects
opened up, — all take hold on infinity, and are in
perfect keeping with the solemn emotions excited by
dwelling upon the illimitable works of God. " Deep
calleth unto deep."

LECTURE IV.
ARGUMENT SECOND : COINCIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY WITH NAT.
URAL RELIGION. -ARGUMENT THIRD: ITS ADAPTATION TO
THE CONSCIENCE AS A PERCEIVING POWER. -PECULIAR DIF
FICULTIES IN THE WAY OF ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING
A PERFECT STANDARD. -ARGUMENT FOURTH: IF THE MO
RALITY IS PERFECT, THE RELIGION MUST BE TRUE.
If, as Avas attempted in the last lecture, a distinct
analogy can be sIioavii betAveen Christianity and the
constitution of nature, it will afford a strong presump-
tion that they both came from the same hand. But if
such anjmjdogy can_not_be_^^wjuJ_2t^ill^otii he_con-
clusive against Christianity, because Jhjjre^Jis^such a
disparity betAveen the material and the spiritual Avorlds,
and the laAvs by which they must be governed, that a
revelation concerning one might be possible, wlnchyeT;

should not seem to be analogous to the other.

ARGUMENT II.
COINCIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY WITH NATURAL RELIGION.
Not so, however, with the argument which I next
adduce, which is draAvn from the coincidence of Chris
tianity with natural religion. Truth is one. If God
has made a revelation in one mode, it must coincide
with what he has revealed in another. If, therefore,
it can be shoAvn that Christianity does not coincide Avith
the well-authenticated teachings of natural religion, it
(97)'

98 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
will be conclusive against it. Nature is from God.
Her teachings are from him, and I should regard it as
settling the question against any thing claiming to be a
divine revelation, if it could be shown to contradict
those teachings. If, on the other hand, it can be shown
that Christianity coincides perfectly with natural reli
gion, and indeed teaches the only perfect system of it
ever known, it will furnish a strong argument in its
favor, especially Avhen we consider hoAv the religion
originated. Natural religion\lLejvru^ — By natural religion, I
mean that knoAvledgeof God and of duty which may
be acquired by man Avithout a revelation. So far as
this phrase is made to imply, as it sometimes is, that
revealed religion is not natural, it is objectionable ; for
I conceive that the original and natural state of man
was one of direct communication Avith God, and even
noAv, that revelation is, in the highest sense, natural.
It ought to be used simply to contradistinguish the
knoAvledge, Avhich man might gain from nature, from
that Avhich revelation alone teaches. Of natural reli
gion the ideas of many are exceedingly indefinite ; but
that the definition iioav given is the true one is obvious,
because it is the only one that can give it any fixed and
definite meaning. It can not mean Avhat men have
actually learned from nature, for this has varied at
different times. We should be doing injustice to the
teachings of nature if Ave were to call that knoAvledge
of God and of duty, Avhich has been attained by the
most enlightened heathen, the Avhole of natural religion.
We mean, by revealed religion, not the partial and
perverted vieAvs of any sect, but that system Avhich God
has actually revealed in the Bible, and which the dili
gent and candid can discover to be there. And so we
mean, by natural religion, not what indolent, and biased,
and selfish men have discovered, but that Avhich nature

TEACHINGS OF NATURAL RELIGION. 99
actually teaches, and which a diligent and candid man
could discover in the best exercise of his powers.
Teachings — how made known. — If this, then, be
natural rehgion, how are its teachings made known?
Its mode of teaching concerning God, and concerning
duty, is not the same. Its teachings concerning God
and his attributes are made known chiefly by reasoning
from effects to their cause. In addition to this, it is
supposed by some that all men have certain intuitive
and necessary convictions concerning the being of a
God. But, hoAvever this may be, I think that the being
of a God, and the perfection of most of his natural attri
butes, might be inferred from nature as iioav knoAvn.
That nature and Christianity agree in their teachings
concerning these attributes, I have already shoAvn;
concerning the moral attributes of God, it is more diffi
cult to say what nature does teach. Certain it is that
man has never so learned them, from her light alone,
as to lay the foundation for any rational system of reli
gious morality ; or so as to free the best minds from
great and distressing uncertainty.
Her mode of teaching duty is by the tendencies and
results of different actions, and courses of action. We
can not doubt — at least natural religion does not per
mit itself to doubt — that the object of God, in the
constitution of things, and in the relations established
by him, is the good of man. If, therefore, we see any
course of conduct tending to, and resulting in, the
good of man, individually and socially, we infer that it
is according to the will of God. If we see a course of
conduct tending to, and resulting in, the unhappiness
of the individual and of society, we infer that it is
contrary to his will. It is in this way, solely, by the
tendencies and results of actions, that natural religion
teaches us our duty.
Not adapted to the common mind. — But it must be

100 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
conceded that this mode of teaching, by relations, and
tendencies, and results, is not well adapted to the com
mon mind. Even to comprehend these relations and
tendencies fully, much more to trace them out origin
ally, requires a philosophic mind of the highest order.
In some cases, indeed, the tendency of actions, or
courses of action, is obvious, and the will of God,
when we believe in his being and perfections, is thus
as clearly indicated as it would be by a voice from
heaven; but in others, nothing can be more complex
or difficult of determination even after an experience
someAvhat extended. After all their experience, men
are still divided on the tendencies and results of a
protective tariff, which we should think it would be
perfectly easy to test to the satisfaction of all ; but so
varied are the interests involved, and so complex are
the causes at work, that men seem now no nearer an
agreement respecting them than ever. And if this is
so on a subject to Avhich attention is stimulated by
immediate interest, and which appeals to interest alone,
hoAv much more must it be so with those courses of
action in which moral tendencies and results, so obscure
and tardy, are to be considered, and in which the strong
natural feelings of the heart are at work to bias the
judgment? Accordingly, though the teachings of
nature have been open to all, and have influenced all
to some extent, yet it has been only among the enlight
ened few, and at favored periods, that a system of
natural religion could be said to exist at all, or that its
teachings have exerted any considerable influence. Nor,
when we consider hoAv complex are the tendencies of
actions, and how remote are often their completed
results, — how plausible are some courses of action,
which yet experience shows to be injurious, — when
we consider the eagerness of passion, the blinding
power of selfishness, how opposed some of the virtues

NATURAL RELIGION INSUFFICIENT. 101
are to the strongest feelings of men, and how evil prac
tices, when once adopted, perpetuate themselves and
become fixed by custom and association in the commu
nity, can we wonder that nothing like a perfect system
of natural religion was ever discovered by man.
Teaching by inference, too, without any immediate
sanction to the laws she could establish, and Avithout
any certain knowledge of a future retribution, there
was very little in the voice of natural religion to arrest
the attention of man. Accordingly, Ave find that her
teachings were overlooked and disregarded by the great
mass of men. They have been entirely droAvned and
superseded by systems of idolatry, and superstition,
and fanaticism. Far, very far, therefore, have even the
wisest heathen been from listening to all the voices
uttered by nature, from reading all the lessons of Avis-
dom and virtue inscribed on her pages.
It is, indeed, often difficult to know precisely how
much we ought to attribute to natural religion. It
seems certain that there was a primitive revelation
communicating the idea of sacrifices, and modifying the
religious and moral views of after times ; rays of light
from the Jewish and Christian revelations may have
been more widely dispersed than Ave suppose, and many
things, when once made knoAvn, so commend themselves
to reason as to cause it to be felt that they might have
been discovered. Hence deists have claimed several
principles as discovered by reason, as the pardon of
sin on repentance, which are unquestionably due to
revelation alone. But whatever natural religion might
teach, we do know that it can not teach facts, but
only laws and tendencies. However complete, there
fore, we may suppose it, it never could have taught
those great facts which lie at the foundation of a system
of mercy ; but precisely hoAv much of duty it might
have taught, we can not say. We knoAv, also, that the

102 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
whole of the system never was reasoned out, nor is
there the least reason to suppose it ever would have
been. The thing to be done. — Now, if a system purporting
to come from heaven, comprises incidentally and natu
rally a perfect system of natural religion, gathering up
all the obscure voices that nature utters, tracing out the
indistinct lines which she has written ; if its precepts
are often in opposition to the common judgment and to
the strong feelings of men, and yet, when tested by
tendencies and results, are universally found to be
sustained by these sanctions of natural religion ; if it
originated among a people who had manifested no ten
dency to philosophical studies, and from men without
education, then we may well inquire, " Whence had
these men this Avisdom?" The more we consider the
extreme difficulty of tracing out these tendencies, the
minute and comprehensive knoAvledge both of man and
of nature which it must require to do it perfectly,
together with the blinding influence of selfishness and
passion in such inquiries, the more highly shall we esti
mate the marvelous sagacity that could gather up and
imbody every utterance and law of nature as declared
by results.
Christianity has done it. — But this Christianity has
actually done. Here we feel that we stand on firm
ground. At this point, we challenge the scrutiny of
the infidel. We defy him to point out a single duty
even whispered by nature, which is not also inculcated
in the New Testament ; we defy him to point out a
single precept of Christianity, a single course of action
inculcated by it, which does not, in proportion as it is
followed, receive the sanction of natural religion as
declared by beneficial consequences. In fact, moral
philosophy, and political economy, and the science of
politics, the sciences Avhich teach men the rules of

EXPERIENCE ECHOES CHRISTIANITY. 103
well-being, Avhcther as individuals or as communities,
are, so far as_Jhey are__sound, but experience and the
structure of organized nature echoing back the teach
ings of Christianity. What principle of Christian ethics
does moral philosophy iioav presume to call in question ?
What are the general principles of political economy,
but an imperfect application, to the intercourse of
trading communities, of those rules of good neighbor
hood, and of that spirit of kindness, which Christianity
inculcates ? What is the larger part of political science
but a laborious and imperfect mode of realizing those
results in society Avhich Avould Aoav spontaneously from
the universal prevalence of Christian morals and of a
Christian spirit? Does Christianity command us to be
temperate ? Science, some eighteen hundred years after-
Avards, discovers that temperance alone is in accordance
Avith what it calls the natural laAvs ; and political econ
omy reckons up the loss of labor and of Avealth resulting
from intemperance ; and then, after an untold amount
of suffering, what do they do but echo back the injunc
tion, "Add to knoAvledge temperance." Does the Bible
command men to do no Avork on the seventh day, and to
let their cattle rest ? It is iioav beginning to be discov
ered that this is in accordance Avith an organic laAV, and
that, thus doing, both men and animals Avill be more
healthy, and will do more Avork. And so, in regard to
every course that would lead men to unhappiness,
Christianity has stood from the first at the entrance of
the paths, and uttered its warning cry. The nations
have not heard it, but have rushed by, and rushed on,
till they have reaped the fruit of their own devices in
the corruption of morals, in the confusion of society
through oppression and misrule ; and then philosophy
has condescended to discover these evils, and, if it has
done any thing for the permanent relief of society, it
has brought it back to the letter or spirit of the gospel.

104 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
The stern teachings of experience are making it mani
fest, — and they will continue to do it more and more,
— that the Bible is God's statute-book for the regulation
of his moral creatures, and that the laws of the Bible
can no more be violated with impunity than the natural
laws of God.
The system completed. — If Christianity had con
tained all the teachings of natural religion known at
that day, had gathered up all that the great and wise
men of all previous time had reasoned out, and had
made some additions of its oavii, it would have been
most extraordinary, and would have required for its
production the greatest philosopher of the age. But
while it adopted many things that were then taught,
and rejected nothing that was good, it completed the
system for all ages, leaving nothing for philosophy to
do but to apply and verify its principles. And in doing
this, it promulgated many things that were entirely
contrary to all the tastes and all the teachings both of
the Jews and of the Gentiles. Several of the funda
mental principles of Christian morality — such as, if
adopted, would change the face of society — were ori
ginal with Christ, at least in their practical enforcement,
and were so opposed to every thing taught among the
Jews, that it was with great difficulty and sloAvness that
the disciples themselves were made to understand them,
or to conceive the possibility of their adoption. Such,
for example, Avere its condemnation of war, and private
retaliation, and of polygamy, and of divorce except for
a single cause ; such its inculcation of purity of heart,
of meekness and humility, of the love of enemies, and
of universal benevolence. Such was its estimation of
the poor as standing on the same level of immortality
with the rich ; such its principle of self-denial for the
good of others, its supreme regard to the Avill of God,
and its regard for the interests of the soul rather than

A NEW AND PERFECT SYSTEM. 105
those of the body. So that Christ did not merely
make some improvements, such as a great genius might
be supposed to do ; nor did he, as Linnaeus in botany,
discover a new method or system, which gave him a
clew to vast stores of new knowledge ; but, standing
precisely where other men had stood, with no education,
Avith no knowledge of Greek or Roman literature in the
ordinary way, he adopted all that Avas good in the prev
alent systems, but still introduced so much that was
new, that the system, as a whole, was not only perfect,
but Avas a new and an original system. The adoption
of it was opposed by every selfish principle, and seemed
to require, and often did require, the renunciation of
life itself. But the system was original in its motives
as Avell as in its principles. Many were led to adopt it,
and now we see that it is through these principles, and
these alone, that individuals and society can be made
happy, and we bow with humble reverence before that
Avisdom by which they were promulgated. Let these
principles be adopted and carried out, and we have an
entirely different world from that which could exist on
any others — a world from which the chief causes of
unhappiness are removed.
And is it possible that any human sagacity could have
adopted so much that was new, and yet have excluded
every thing that was injurious, or excessive, or unbal
anced? "With such an. agent as man," says Bishop
Sumner, " and in a condition so complicated as that of
human society, it is no less dangerous than difficult to
introduce new modes of conduct and new principles of
action. What extensive and unforeseen results have
sometimes proceeded from a single statute, like that
which provides for the support of the poor in England ;
a single institution, like the trial by jury ; a single
admission, like that of the supremacy of the Roman
pontiff; a single principle, as Luther's appeal to the

106 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Bible ! "* And yet, here is a new system, involving
all the relations of human society, the results of which
are invariably confirmed by those of experience.
The only possible objection to the morality of Chris
tianity is, that it is too perfect; that, though it may fit
men for heaven, it will subject those who adopt it to
injury and depredation here. But, whatever injury
may be done in this way is the result, not of Christi
anity, but of a system of wickedness which it forbids ;
and surely it ought not to be made responsible for the
results of disobeying its precepts. It claims to be a
universal system. Let it be universally obeyed, and
the objection vanishes.
ARGUMENT III.
CHRISTIANITY TESTED BY THE CONSCIENCE.
But there is another test to which the morality of
Christianity may be brought ; it may be tested, not only
by its tendencies, but by the conscience of man. The
utility of an action is one thing, its Tightness is another.
The understanding judges of the utility, the conscience
of the Tightness, of actions. That the conscience is
not an infallible test in all cases, must be conceded. It
is liable to be both blunted and perverted. Still, with
the light we now have, it is not difficult to determine,
respecting any system, whether it does commend itself
to the conscience of the race. Let it stand before men
from age to age, so as to come in contact with the
conscience, — and the more intimately, the more the
conscience is developed, — and if it is found to teach
that system, and those rules of conduct, in favor of
which the conscience gives its verdict as founded in the
eternal rules of right, then either it must have come
from God, or it must be precisely such a system as God
would reveal, — for, plainly, he would reveal no other.
* Sumner's Evidences, chap. 8.

CONSCIENCE SATISFIED. 107
Does, then, Christianity, Avhether we consider it as a
system of doctrines or of morals, fully meet the demands
of the conscience as a discriminating power ? We say,
Yes. We say that there is not a single principle of
moral government, not a single course of action, not a
temper of mind, approved by it, which an enlight
ened conscience does not also approve as right, and
suitable to the relations in which man is placed. This,
so far as the morality of Christianity is concerned, I
may safely say, because it is conceded by infidels.
There is no candid and well-informed man who does
not now concede that the morality of Christianity,
whether tested by tendencies or by conscience, is per
fect ; that, if it were fully carried out, it would promote
happiness in all the relations of life, and that it is the
only system that can do so to the same extent.
Task difficult. — But, in meeting this test, Chris
tianity has had a task to perform, the difficulty of which
is seldom appreciated. It was necessary that it should
do four things, neither of which has ever been done by
any other system.
Perfect standard, and perfect application. — And,
first, it was necessary, not only that it should assume a
standard absolutely perfect, — Avhich, however far from
any thing that man has ever done, would be compara
tively easy, — but that it should apply a perfect law to
those complex and infinitely diversified cases which
arise when law is violated. A perfect moral government
of perfect beings must require a perfect law. If Chris
tianity is to meet the demands of the conscience that
has once recognized such a law, it must utter no precept
opposed to it — nothing opposed to the highest standard
of which we are capable of conceiving. So long as a
perfect state remained, the simple law of perfection
would be the only precept required, and it Avould be
comparatively easy to obey it. The substance of the

108 EATDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
perfect law of God is the love of God and of ou*
neighbor; and where this law is perfectly observed,
nothing can occur to provoke ill-will. Hence there is
in heaven no precept that, when they are smitten on the
one cheek, they shall turn the other also. But Chris
tianity lays down a multitude of precepts intended to
regulate, in the spirit of a perfect rule, the intercourse
of beings inclined to inflict upon each other injury and
depredation. Does it, then, in order to meet the
apparent exigencies of the case, to conciliate to itself
human prejudice or passion, ever, in any of these sub
ordinate precepts, depart from its high requisitions, or
abate any thing from the integrity of its original and
fundamental principle? We know the opposition it
encountered, and that the true ground of that opposi
tion Avas the high standard it assumed. If it had been
of the Avorld, the world would have loved its own.
There was, then, the strongest temptation, if not to
Christ himself, yet to those who succeeded him, to dilute
this original principle, and soften doAvn their require
ments, lest they should incur the charge of inculcating
an impracticable morality. Have they done this ? In
no case have they done it. There are no Jesuitical
exceptions or reservations. Not only was Christ con
sistent with himself in his minor precepts, but the
apostles were in every instance true to their trust, and
no stronger proof could be given, not only of integrity,
but of Avisdom. Nothing but the most perfect integrity
could have adhered to the law in all its breadth, and
nothing but a divine wisdom could have accommodated
it to the very peculiar circumstances of man in this
world. The minor precepts of Christianity are all
consistent Avith its fundamental and its perfect laAV.
Treatment of the injurious. — And here I may remark
that not only does Christianity sustain the authority of
a perfect law, but, in the line of conduct it lays down

NEW DUTIES. 109
toward the injurious, it has adopted the very principle
which, according to the Uiavs of mental operation dis
covered in later times, must tend in the greatest possible
degree to diminish injury. It is a well-ascertained fact,
that the most powerful mode of inculcating and exciting
any quality, or temper, is the distinct and vivid mani
festation of that temper. The manifestation of anger
toAvard another excites anger in him ; and the manifes
tation of a meek and forgiving spirit has a tendency
to disarm hostility, and does all that can be clone to
prevent ill-feeling. If, therefore, a man Avere to inquire
hoAv, according to principles of mental philosophy alone,
he could do most to banish the malignant and selfish
passions from the earth, and make it like heaven, he
would be obliged to adopt the very course prescribed
by the New Testament.
New revelations and duties. — But, secondly, Chris
tianity, as I have already shown, agrees Avith nature,
so far as that goes, in its teachings concerning the
natural attributes of God, and concerning morality ;
but it reveals some things concerning God peculiar to
itself; and it imposes upon man some new duties.
The question, then, is, whether the additional revela
tions concerning God are in keeping Avith those of
nature, and Avhether they satisfy the demands of the
conscience for a perfect Being, in the moral attributes
Avhich they reveal; and, also, whether the duties it
imposes are agreeable to reason and conscience. So
far as Christianity coincides with nature, I take it for
granted that it satisfies the demands of the conscience.
Does it do this equally Avhen it passes on beyond nature
to those independent and fuller revelations which it
makes of God and of duty, so that the transition from
the one to the other is only as that from the dim
tAvilight to the full blaze of day ? We knoAV something
of God from nature, just as Ave knoAV something of the

110 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
heavens from the naked eye. Are, then, the revela
tions of Christianity respecting him in keeping with
those of nature, only more imposing and magnificent,
just as the revelations of the telescope concerning the
heavens are in keeping Avith those of the naked eye,
while they so far transcend them ?
We are so accustomed to contemplate God as invested
with all those paternal and perfect moral attributes Avith
which Christianity clothes him, — to see him in that
amazing attitude of holy sovereignty and paternal good
ness in which it represents him, — that this perfect
combination of moral attributes, this completeness of
moral character, in the Sovereign of the universe, such
that we should as soon think of adding to infinite space
as of adding any thing to its perfection, seems as a
matter of course, and we do not remember how difficult
it must have been to carry out the fragmentary revela
tion of nature to its absolute completeness, and to
combine with those tremendous natural attributes, shad-
oAved forth in the agencies of nature, the benignity
and mercy, the justice and compassion, that form the
character of our Father in heaven. We forget that
Nature has her terrific and fearful aspects, her barren
wastes, her regions of wild disorder, her lightning and
thunder, her tornadoes and earthquakes, and her breath
of pestilence, as well as her glad voices, and her quiet
sunshine that rests like a smile on the face of creation,
and her waving harvests, — and that it is by her terrific
aspects that men are most impressed, and that hence
they have been led to form gloomy ideas of God, and
not unfrequently to impersonate the principle of evil
into a sovereign divinity whose Avrath they Avere chiefly
desirous of propitiating. We forget the distressing
perplexity in which the greatest and best men of
antiquity were respecting the moral attributes of God,
and the important fact that they never so conceived of

THE GOD OF THE BIBLE PERFECT. Ill
him as to make the love of God a duty. All this, I say,
we seem to forget, and to think it was a matter of
course that Christianity should thus carry out, into all
conceivable perfection, the dim revelations of nature
concerning God. This indeed it does Avith such ease,
so incidentally, so little with the pride or in the forms
of philosophic disquisition, that Ave scarcely give it
credit for what it does, though all this but renders it
the more remarkable. It is related of a palace built
by genii, that all the treasures of a great monarch were
inadequate to complete one of the windows purposely
left unfinished. And when I see how fragmentary the
structure of religious knowledge was left by nature, —
when I see how inadequate all the labors of man had
proved for its completion, — and when I look at the
glorious and completed dome reared by Christianity, I
can not hut feel that other than human hands have been
employed in the structure. The first and fundamental
condition of a perfect religion — of one which can do
all for the moral powers that can be done for them —
is a perfect character in the object of worship. The
mind is naturally assimilated to the object which it
contemplates with delight, and especially which it wor
ships ; and it is demonstrable, on principles of reason,
that, unless the character of the God of Christianity is
absolutely perfect, then that character not only Avill not
meet the demands of the conscience, but can never do
for man, in the elevation and perfection of his character,
all that could be done for him. But, the more Ave
dwell on it, the more we shall see that the character of
the God of the Bible is absolutely perfect, and there
fore, either the God of Christianity is the true God, or
there can be no being who shall be God to us — none
who shall meet that conception of absolute perfection
which we form in our minds, and feel that we must
transfer to him.

112 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
New duties not arbitrary. — Of the new duties
demanded by Christianity, it may be said that they are
in no case arbitrary and capricious, but are exactly
those which groAV out of the new relations in which Ave
are placed by Christianity, and Avhich the conscience
can not but approve the moment these relations are
perceived. Thus, if God has shown us new evidence
of love through Christianity, then are we under new
obligations of gratitude to him. If Christ has signally
interposed in our behalf, then we are under obligations
to him in proportion to what he has done for us. If we
are intrusted by Christianity with good tidings of great
joy, then Ave are under obligation to publish them to
all people.
Thus, Avhether we consider the additional revelation
of Christianity respecting God or duty, we find that
it perfectly meets the demands of an enlightened
conscience. Lenity and law. — But, thirdly, in neither of the
particulars just mentioned do we find the most difficult
task which Christianity had to perform, if it Avould meet
the demands of conscience. Its professed object was
to introduce a system of lenity. And was it possible
it should do this, and still cause that perfect law, Avhich,
if it meet the demands of the conscience, it must sus
tain, to appear as strict and binding as if no such
system had been introduced? This it must do if it
meets the demands of the conscience ; for, when once
that has obtained the conception of absolute moral
perfection, nothing can satisfy it which would weaken
the obligation of that. Here is a fundamental difficulty.
Whatever Christianity may profess, does not lenity, in
the nature of the case, tend to weaken the sanctions of
laAV, and to deduct from its binding force ? Is it pos
sible to conceive of a laAvgiver who remits ihe just
penalty of crime, and, at the same time, manifests the

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM. 113
same abhorrence of it, and the same anxiety to guard
against its commission, as he would have done if he had
caused the penalty to be executed? All good men
agree in the essential principle, that the full authority
of God's laAV must be sustained. But how can this be
done while pardon is granted? This is a difficulty
which if Christianity has not removed, it is not because
it has not perceived it, and made the attempt. " That
he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus," is declared by the apostle to be the great
object of all that had been done by God in introducing
the Christian revelation. This is the very centre and
soul of Christianity ; and, if it has not accomplished
this, then has it failed of the very end proposed by
itself. This is a question which is not stated even, in
any false religion, because that all-important conception
of the holiness of God, out of which it grows, has not
been sufficiently distinct to produce it. If men have
offered sacrifices, and submitted to torture, it has been
under the impression that God might be moved like an
earthly monarch, and never under the idea of him as
having an impartial and inflexible adherence to rectitude,
or with the purpose of bringing forgiveness within the
range of any great principle. But this question a
religion that would deal fairly with an enlightened mind
must meet. This problem it must solve. Standing
where I do, it would not become me to state the method
in which I suppose Christianity has solved this problem.
I intend to enter upon no disputed doctrines. I take it
for granted that all Christians suppose the mercy of
God to be entirely compatible with his perfect holiness.
Let individuals adopt what views they choose in respect
to the method in which this is accomplished. I Avish
solely to draw attention to the difficulty of the problem,
to the fact that this difficulty Avas fully understood by the
original Avriters on Christianity, and that they profess

114 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
to have solved it. If they have done this, then how
divine the wisdom which could so perfectly meet the
demands of the most enlightened conscience by sustain
ing law, and at the same time provide for the wants of
the guilty ! Problems so high, human systems do not
attempt to solve ; Avisdom so divine as must be involved
in the solution of this, they do not manifest.
Justice and the disorders of the world. — There is one
thing more which it behooved Christianity to do, if it
would meet the demands of conscience as a discrimi
nating poAver. It was, to satisfy our natural sense of
justice with reference to the disorders of this present
Avorld. These disorders, in the height to which they
have risen, have always presented a great moral enigma
to those Avho have reasoned concerning the providence
and moral government of God. This was strongly felt
and strongly stated as long ago as the time of Job.
"Some," says he, "remove the landmarks; they vio
lently take away flocks, and feed thereof. They drive
away the ass of the fatherless. They take the Avidow's
ox for a pledge. They cause the naked to lodge without
clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. They
pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge
of the poor. Men groan from out of the city, and the
soul of the wounded crieth out : yet God layeth not
folly to them." "Wherefore do the wicked live, become
old, yea, are mighty in power? Their seed is estab
lished in their sight with them, and their offspring
before their eyes. They spend their days in wealth,
and in a moment go down to the grave." "The earth,"
says he, "is given into the hand of the Avicked ; he
covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not," — as
much as to say, this must be allowed whether we can
reconcile it to the righteous government of God or
not, — "if not, where and who is he?" Thus was this
wise and good man perplexed before the light of Chris-

SEEMING MORAL DISORDER. RELIEF. 115
tianity. The Psalmist found no relief under the same
difficulty until he Avent to the sanctuary of God, and
there saAV the end of the Avicked. Solomon, too, says,
" Moreover I suav under the sun the place of judgment,
that Avickedness was there ; and the place of righteous
ness, that iniquity Avas there. I said in mine heart," —
then he said, Avhen he saw this, as furnishing the only
solution of the difficulty, — " God shall judge the right
eous and the wicked." Nor does the picture assume a
brighter hue as Ave come down the ages. History is
full of multiplied, and aggravated, and unredressed
wrongs, inflicted by man upon man. Look at the slave-
trade. Look at slavery as it exists now. Look at the
peasantry of Europe. Look at Poland. Or, if we
turn from the contemplation of open and high-handed
violence, to consider the triumphs of injustice ; the
success of fraud ; the spoliations and heartless atrocities
which are effected under the forms of law ; the Avrongs,
and cruelties, and petty tyrannies, that are exercised in
families, and imbitter the lives of thousands, our diffi
culties will not be diminished. Surely, to a thoughtful
man, without revelation, this Avorld must present a most
perplexing and discouraging spectacle. He must see
that there are injuries for Avhich there is no redress
upon earth, questions unsettled for which there is no
adjudication here ; and, Avhile he has no satisfactory
evidence that a time of adjudication will ever come, he
must feel that a violence is clone to his moral nature if
these questions are to be cut short by death, and left
unsettled forever. To this state of perplexity, so natural
and so universal, Christianity furnishes complete relief.
It gives us the most positive assurance that these ques
tions shall be carried up to an impartial tribunal. It
makes known to us the Judge and the rules of the
proceedings of that great " clay of the restitution of all
things ; " — yes, "the restitution of all things." When

116 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
it is known that this is to be, then the perplexed and
agonized heart is set at rest. Then, and not till then,
there is felt to be a congruity between the course of
events, as they shall ultimately terminate, and our
moral frame and the demands of the conscience are
fully met.
Recapitulation. — What I would say, then, is, that
Christianity commends itself to a conscience fully en
lightened, not only in its morality, but by uniformly
adhering to a perfect standard of rectitude, and under
circumstances which, to mere human Avisdom, would
seem to be incompatible with it. Man is capable of
forming the idea of moral perfection ; and, having once
formed it, his moral nature requires that a religion
claiming to come from God should neither command
nor reveal any thing incompatible Avith that idea. The
necessity of meeting this requisition, whether man is
regarded as possessed of discriminating powers simply,
or as a being to be elevated and assimilated to some
thing higher and better than himself, Christianity, and
that alone, has fully perceived ; and it will be seen that
it was this very necessity which created the difficulty in
each of the cases that I have stated. In the first case,
it Avas necessary that precepts should be laid doAvn
which should be compatible both with a perfect laAV,
and with the state of things in this Avorld, so that the
conduct required should be neither wrong nor imprac
ticable. Who but Christ and his folloAvers has ever
done this? Who else has ever attempted it without
conceding much to human weakness and frailty? In
the second case, the difficulty lay in carrying out the
moral character of God, to the perfection required by
the conscience, from the imperfect and often seem
ingly contradictory revelations of nature. In the third
case, it consisted in reconciling a system of lenity Avith
the claims of this same perfect standard ; and, in the

MORALITY INCIDENTAL. 117
fourth case, in revealing a method by which, in the
administration of God, the disorders of this Avorld are
reconciled with the present existence and ultimate
triumph of a perfect law. In each of these cases, there
fore, the principle is the same. That there must be a
perfect standard established and maintained, both in the
character and law of God, is settled. That is taken
for granted ; and the difficulty lay in reconciling other
things Avith that, Avhich apparently only a divine wisdom
could have reconciled.
To my mind, the argument from these cases is of
great Aveight. But, leaving them aside, I lay my finger
upon the morality of Christianity, Avhcther tested by
consequences or by the conscience, and I claim that it
is perfect — " that the virtues inculcated in the gospel
are the only virtues which Ave can imagine a heavenly
teacher to inculcate." Is, then, this claim allowed? It
has been alloAved by infidels, and I feel confident it must
be by every candid man. But if so, who does not see
that a perfect system of duty must come from God ?
Who does not see the absurdity of supposing that it
should be originated in connection Avith a system of
falsehood and imposture ?
Morality not the primary object. — And this morality
is the more remarkable, because the great and primary
object of Christianity is not to regulate the relations
of earthly society, or to provide for the Avelfare of man
in this life. It is to bring "life and immortality to
light," and to prepare men for that immortality. In its
spirit, Ave must indeed suppose this morality to belong
to the heavenly state ; but in many of the forms of its
manifestation, it is but the earthly garment of Chris
tianity — but as the mantle of the ascending prophet,
Avhich fell from him when he was translated. Great*
then, as is the work, and the blessing of a perfect
system of morality, it is only incidental ; it is only as
H

118 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
a branch from the main stem of that species of the
palm-tree Avell knoAvn in India, Avhich still passes on
upward, and produces its fruit from a single magnificent
blossom at the top. This morality is an infinite bless
ing ; it is the fruit of Christianity ; but it is borne, as
it Avere, only by its loAver branches, Avhile it is the great
doctrine of salvation, of "life and immortality brought
to light," that expands at its top, and sheds its fra
grance over the nations.
Men, then, may say what they please of the power of
the human mind to make discoveries in moral science ;
but to me it seems that to suppose a system like this,
thus perfectly coinciding Avith all the teachings of nat
ural religion and Avith the requisitions of conscience, to
have originated Avith peasants and fishermen of Galilee,
requires nothing less than the capacious credulity of an
infidel.
ARGUMENT IV.
A PERFECT MORALITY CAN NOT BE FROM A FALSE RELIGION.
The morality of Christianity, as tested both by nat
ural religion and by the conscience, being thus perfect,
the question arises whether it is inseparably connected
with the religion ; and if so, whether it is possible that
a perfect morality should come from a false religion.
Separation of morality and religion. — That a system
of morality and of religion should coexist, and yet not
be necessarily connected, is very conceivable. The
morality may be correct, as was much of that taught
by Cicero, in his book De Officiis, and yet the religion
Avith Avhich it is associated may be entirely false. The
precepts may have no connection Avith the facts, or
doctrines, or rites of the religion. This has been the
case with all false religions. There has been no ten
dency in the doctrines or facts of the religion to form
men to the precepts of moral virtue. The morality has
often been better than the religion, and might be easily

TRUE MORALITY FROM GOD. 119
separated from it. And if this has been so with other
religions, Avhy may it not be so with Christianity?
Concession of infidels. — This question I am bound
to notice, because infidels have not been backAvard in
conceding to the morality of Christianity all that we
ask. They speak in terms of high eulogy of the Ser
mon on the Mount ; they eagerly claim whatever they
can of its peculiar doctrines as the teachings of nature,
and seem to perceive no difficulty even in admitting
that the morality is perfect, and yet rejecting the reli
gion. But that the two are inseparable, and must be re
ceived or rejected as one whole, appears, —
True morality must be from God. — First, because
we can not otherAvise account for the morality. It
seems to me, as I have already attempted to show, that
man could not have originated such a system of morals.
When I stand betAveen tAvo cliffs rent asunder by a con
vulsion of nature, I do not need to be told that that
passage Avas not opened by a human arm. When I see
the boAV spanning the heavens, I do not need to be told
that no human hand has bended it. So, when I com
pare such a system with the intellectual and moral
power, not merely of unlettered fishermen, but of man,
and especially with all the attempts he has actually
made, I feel that there is an utter disparity betAveen
them. I feel that the morality must have come in con
nection with the rehgion of which it forms a part.
An attempt to deceive incredible. — But, secondly, it
is incredible and contradictory, contrary to all the
known laAvs of mind, to suppose that men whose moral
discrimination and susceptibilities Avere so acute — who
could originate a system so pure, so elevated, so utterly
opposed to all falsehood — should, without reason or
motive that we can see, deliberately attempt to deceive
mankind concerning their highest interests. If they

120 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
had a system of morality to communicate, Avhy did they
not, like honest men, communicate it as an abstract
system, unencumbered with doctrines which were, and
which they must have foreseen Avould be, to the Jews a
stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness ? Why
did they connect with it a narrative of facts which, if
false, might have been easily disproved? How much
more safe and dignified to have delivered the system in
its abstract form, after the manner of the philosophers !
The combination of folly and wickedness, which such
a course would involve, with those high qualities,
both of the intellect and of the heart, in Avhich alone
such a system could have originated, seems to me im
possible. The morality grows out of the facts and doctrines. —
Once more, thirdly, the peculiar morality of Christian
ity can not be separated from it, because it so groAvs
out of its facts and doctrines, and so derives its power
from them. It does not lie in the religion, as the gem
does in the rock, but is an organized part of one vital
whole. It is as the hands and the feet to the heart and
the brain. And surely nothing but a divine wisdom
could cause all the great doctrines and facts of such
a religion to bear, either in the way of instruction or
motive, upon the formation of a right moral character.
How difficult — I may say how impossible — that a
writer of fiction should introduce an extraordinary per
son, like Christ, possessed of high supernatural powers,
and yet not attribute to him one Avild or fanciful adven
ture, such as Ave find in every account of heathen gods ;
not one capricious, or selfish, or unworthy exertion of
his miraculous powers ; but that he should make all the
exertions of those powers, and all the events of his
life, such that they bear powerfully as motives on the
practice of a then unheard-of and perfect morality !
New motives. — As I have already said, there are

NEAV RELATIONS FROM CHRISTIANITY. 121
many new duties growing out of the new relations in
Avhich we are placed by the facts of Christianity ; but
not to these only, to every duty, those facts furnish neAV
and powerful motives, without Avhich the system, as a
practical whole, has no poAver. Certainly, it is from
the character of God as revealed by Christianity, and
from the new relations assumed by him toAvard us, that
the most effective motives are drawn for the perform
ance of many of our duties toward our fellow-men.
The paternal relation of God to man, as a practical
doctrine, is made knoAvn only by Christianity. It is
true — what Avas said by Madame De Stael — that, if
Christ had simply taught men to say, " Our Father,"
he would have been the greatest benefactor of the race.
If the heathen had some notion of the beneficence of
the supreme j)OAver, from the operation of general laws,
yet there Avas a difference heaven-Avide between that
and all that is involved in the doctrine of a particular
providence and of paternal regard and supervision.
Yet how effectively does Christ himself use this doc
trine, and those high moral qualities revealed in con
nection with it, to enforce practical duty ! Does he
command us to love our enemies, and bless them that
curse us ? It is that we may be the children of our
Father which is in heaven, Avho " maketh his sun to rise
on the evil and on the good." Does he teach us the
duty of forgiveness? It is because God forgives us.
If the master forgives the debt of ten thousand talents,
the servant should forgive his felloAv-servant the debt
of a hundred pence. Does he teach that the pure in
heart are blessed? It is because "they shall see God."
Does he teach the duty of letting our light shine ? It
is that we may glorify our Father which is in heaven.
Would an apostle teach men the duty of mutual love ?
" Herein," says he, " is love ; not that we loved God,
but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propi-

122 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
tiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, Ave
ought also to love one another." And in the same way
are the character and acts of Christ referred to. Would
Peter teach us to bear injuries patiently ? He tells us
of Him "who, Avhen he was reviled, reviled not again;
when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed
himself to Him that judgeth righteously." Would Paul
teach us lowliness of mind, and to esteem others better
than ourselves, what is his argument? He says, "Let
this mind be in you, Avhich was also in Christ Jesus ;
Avho, being in the form of God, thought it not rob
bery to be equal with God, but made himself of no
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant."
Indeed, the more we examine this point, the more Ave
shall be surprised to see how almost exclusively the
motives to Christian morality are drawn from the Chris
tian religion, and how its doctrines, and facts, and
motives, and precepts, all coalesce and become indisso-
lubly united in one harmonious and perfect Avhole.
The morality proves the religion. — The morality
and the religion being thus blended as one Avhole, the
inquiry arises, Avhether it is possible that such a moral
ity should either originate in, or be thus incorporated
with, a false religion.
A common faculty for both. — There are those, I
knoAV, who say that the foundations of morality in man
are different from those of religion ; and I am not dis
posed to deny that certain faculties are called into high
activity in religion, which are excited slightly, if at all,
in the duties of morality. Still, so far as duty is con
cerned, which is the Avhole of morality, and which is
the central and indispensable part of any true religion,
they both appeal to the same conscience, and to that
alone. Depending thus upon a common faculty, a true
religion and a true morality must have an essential
unity.

FALSE RELIGIONS AND MORALITY. 123
A perfect religion involves a perfect morality. — That
a perfect religion must comprise a perfect morality, is
certain, because a perfect religion must include every
religious duty ; and Ave are under obligation to perform
our duty to our fellow-creatures, not simply from our
relations to them, but because the performance of that
duty is the will of God. Hence every moral duty is,
and must be, also binding as a religious duty ; and
hence no man can be truly religious further than he is
moral. Perfect morality impossible from a false religion. —
But a true religion, carried out, Avould thus certainly
bear as its fruit a perfect morality. Is it possible that
a false religion should bear the same fruit ? Then truth
Avould be no better than error ; the true God no better
than an idol. Then a corrupt tree might bring forth
good fruit ; " a clean thing might come out of an un
clean." The question is not simply to what extent a
true morality and a false religion may coexist, but
Avhether such a morality can be the necessary outgroAvth
and fruit of such a religion. That it can be, is opposed
to our primary and intuitive convictions.
It is not conceivable that a perfect system of moral
duty should coalesce and harmonize Avith the religious
duty taught by a system of falsehood, such as the
Christian system must be, if it did not come from God.
But in the Christian system, the moral and religious
duties do thus coalesce, and form a part of one indc-
laendent whole. The religious morality of the Bible, if
I may call it so, — that Avhich relates to God, — is quite
as extraordinary as that which relates to man ; it is
quite as far elevated above that of any other system ;
and these, when united and interwoven as they are in
the Bible, form one Avhole, perfect and complete. Be
sides, a perfect system of morality could not be laid
doAvn, even in an abstract, or tabular form, in connec-

124 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
tion with a false religion ; because many of our duties
to our fellow-men, as well as the motives by which they
are enforced, arise out of our relations to them as the
children of a common parent, and a knowledge of these
relations can come only from a true religion.
Conclusion. — Our conclusion then is, that if the
morality is what we claim it to be, the religion must be
true; and infidels must either — as they can not — deny
that the morality is perfect, or accept tiie religion.
Christianity is no heterogeneous mass, promiscuously
thrown together. It is one, an organic whole, and
must be accepted or rejected as such. From the nature
of the case, therefore, we might expect — what all
experience shows has happened — that any attempt to
separate this morality from this religion, and yet give
it power, would be like the attempt to separate the
branch from the parent stock, and yet cause it to live.
We might expect, if we were ever to see a perfect
morality coming up from the wilderness of this world,
that she would come, not walking alone, but " leaning
upon her Beloved."

LECTURE V.
ARGUMENT FIFTH: CHRISTIANITY ADAPTED TO MAN. — DIVISION
FIRST, ITS QUICKENING AND GUIDING POWER. -ITS ADAP
TATION TO THE INTELLECT, THE AFFECTIONS, THE IMAGI
NATION, THE CONSCIENCE, AND THE WILL.
Christianity is analogous to nature ; it coincides
with natural religion : it meets the demands of the
conscience as a discriminating poAver ; and, as embo
soming a perfect morality, it must be from God.
We next inquire after its adaptation to man. What
are its capacities to quicken and guide those leading
faculties in the right action of Avhich his perfection and
happiness must consist. Those faculties are the Intel
lect, the Affections, the Imagination, the Conscience,
and the Will.
Christianity and the intellect. — Information and
reflection. — By the adaptation of Christianity to the
intellect, I mean its tendency to give it clearness and
strength. I mean by it just Avhat is meant Avhen it is
said that nature is adapted to the intellect. The intel
lect is enlarged and strengthened by the exercise of its
poAvers on suitable subjects. This exercise can be
induced in only tAvo Avays — by furnishing it Avith
information, or by leading it to study and reflection;
and Avhichever of these Ave regard, Ave need not fear to
compare Christianity Avith nature as adapted to enlarge
and strengthen the intellectual poAvers. (125)

126 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Information. — And, first, of information. If we
consider the Christian revelation, as Ave fairly may in
this connection, as it recognizes, includes, and presup
poses the Old Testament, there is no book that can
compare Avith it for the variety and importance of the
information it gives ; nor can it be exceeded by nature
itself. From this, and from this alone, do Ave know
any thing of the origin of the Avorld and of the human
race ; of the introduction of natural and moral evil ;
of the history of men before the deluge ; of the deluge
itself, as connected Avith the race of man ; of the early
settlement and dispersions of the race ; of the history
of the Joavs ; and of the history of the early rise and
progress of Christianity. Without the Bible, an im
penetrable curtain would be dropped between us and
the Avhole history of the race further back than the
Greeks, or certainly the Egyptians ; and Avho does not
feel that the letting doAvn of such a curtain Avould act
upon the mind, not simply by the amount of informa
tion it Avould withdraw, but Avith the effect of a chill
and a paralysis, from the necessity of that information
to give completeness to knoAvledge as an organized
Avhole ? It Avould be like taking the hook out of the
beam on Avhich the Avhole chain hangs. And, again,
Avhat information gained from nature can be more
interesting than that which the Bible gives concerning
God as a Father, concerning his universal providence,
our accountability, a resurrection from the dead, the
second coming of Christ, and an eternal life? Who
Avould substitute the mists of conjecture for this mighty
background, piled up by revelation along the horizon
of the future?
Philosophic spirit required. — But — to say nothing
of information, as it is not from that that the mind gains
its chief efficiency — I infer that Christianity is adapted

CHRISTIANITY AND TRUTH. 127
to the intellect, 1. From the fact of the identity of
its spirit with that of true philosophy. Of this I have
already spoken.
Indirectly favorable. — 2. Christianity is indirectly
favorable to the intellect by bringing men out from
under the dominion of sensuality, and of those low
vices by which it is checked and dAvarfed in its groAvth.
The temperance and sobriety of life which it enjoins
are essential, as conditions, to the full expansion and
power of the intellect.
Its estimate of truth. — 3. That Christianity is favor
able to the intellect, is obvious from the place which it
assigns to truth. Truth, in this system, lies at the
foundation of every thing. It is contradistinguished
from every other system, pretending to come from God,
by this. Christ said that he came into the Avorld to
bear Avitness of the truth. He prayed that God Avould
sanctify men, but it Avas through the truth. It seems
to have been the object of Christ to place his disciples
in a position in Avhich they could intelligently, as well
as affectionately, yield themselves to him, and to tin
government of God. How remarkable are his Avords !
"Henceforth," says he, "I call you not servants; for
the servant knoweth not Avhat his lord doeth ; but I
have called you friends ; for all things that I have heard
of my Father I have made knovm unto you." Christ
is spoken of as a light to lighten the Gentiles. The
object of Paul was to turn men from darkness to light,
as well as from the power of Satan unto God. He
spoke the words of truth as well as of soberness. If
he was strongly moved by the conduct of a church, it
was because it did not obey the truth. Does the beloved
disciple exhort the elect lady not to receive some into
her house? It is those who do not teach the truth.
Light in the understanding is scarcely less an object,

128 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
with Christianity, than purity in the affections. Its
whole scope and tendency is to magnify the importance
of truth. The enemies of Christianity can not point
out any thing, either in its letter or spirit, which would
restrict knowledge or cramp the intellect. We are,
indeed, required to have faith ; but Ave are also required
to "add to faith knowledge." We are to adopt no
conviction on the ground of any blind impulse ; we
are always to be able to give a reason of the hope that
is in us. We glory in Christianity, as a religion of
light not less than a religion of love.
Freedom of opinion required. — 4. Christianity is
favorable to the intellect, because, wherever it exists in
its purity, there must be freedom of opinion, and this
is one great condition of vigorous intellect. Recog
nizing truth as the great instrument of moral power
and of moral changes in the soul, making no account
of any forms, or external conduct not springing from
conviction, Christianity claims truth as the right of the
human soul. What was the fundamental principle of
the Reformation, but the right of the people to the truth,
and the whole truth — access for themselves to its foun
tain-head in the Bible ? And whence did that principle
spring, but from the Bible itself, from that Bible found
and read by Luther ? It is to the very book he abuses
that the infidel OAves that freedom by which he is per
mitted to abuse it ; for where, except Avhere the Bible
has influence, do you find opinion free? The fact is,
that Christianity gives to God and truth a supremacy
in the mind which unfits man for becoming either the
dupe or the tool of designing men ; and hence, chiefly,
their attempts to corrupt it, and to take it from the
people. Adapted as nature is. — 5. But I have intimated
that Christianity is adapted to the intellect in the same
way that nature is. I wish to shoAV this. How is it,

NATURE AND CHRISTIANITY  MODE OF TEACHING. 129
then, that nature improves the mind? Evidently only
as it contains thought. Mind can not commune with
chaotic matter, but only Avith mind ; and therefore the
study of nature can improve the intellect only as we
gain from it the thought of its Author. It would seem
to be plain that nothing, whether a book, or a machine,
or a work of art, or of nature, can be a profitable object
of study, except for the thought it contains ; and that
Avhen the whole of that thought is grasped by the mind,
there can be no longer any improvement in the study of
that object. And nature seems to be so constructed,
in almost all her departments, (perhaps for the very
purpose of training the intellect,) as to render it diffi
cult to discover the controlling thought according to
which they were constructed. On the surface, all seems
confused and irregular; but as we penetrate deeper,
perhaps by long processes of observation and induc
tion, we find a principle of order and harmony running
through all. What more confused, apparently, than
the motions and appearances of the heavenly bodies ?
See, now, the ancient astronomer studying these ap
pearances. How does he grope in the dark ! How
fanciful and inadequate are his hypotheses ! Plainly,
he is but groping after the true idea or thought of the
system, as it lay in the mind of God. Give him this
carried out into its details, and he has the science of
astronomy completed. It has nothing more to say to
him. So the heavens are constructed ; so they#move.
Not less confused to the eye of man, for ages, was the
vegetable creation; but at length, running like a line
of light through all its species and genera, the true
principle of classification was found. So it was in
chemistry ; so in geology, if, indeed, the true thought
there be yet found.
It would appear, then, that nature is adapted to the
intellect of man only, first, as it contains the thought

130 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of God ; and, secondly, as it is so constructed as to
stimulate and task the powers of the intellect in the
attainment of that thought. Noav, I have no right to
assume, here, that the Bible contains the true thought
of God ; but I do say that its thoughts are not less
grand and exciting than those of nature, and that there
is between its construction and that of nature a singular
analogy, as adapted to the intellect. There is the same
apparent want of order and adjustment, and the same
deep harmony, running through the whole. An indi
vidual truth, revealed in one age for a particular pur
pose, and, by itself, adapted to the use of man, lies
imbedded here, and another there. By comparison, it
is seen that they may pome together, as bone to its
fellow-bone, till, at length, the mammoth frameAvork
of a complete organization stands before us. Does the
Bible contain a system of theology? Yes, a complete
systtim ; but it contains it as the heavens contain the
system of astronomy. Its truths, lie there in no logical
order. They appear at first like a- map of the apparent
motions of the planets, Avhose paths seem to cross each
other in all directions ; but you have^i-ry to find the
true centre, and the orbs of truth take their places,
and circle around it like the stars of heaven. Ajid I
venture to say that the efforts of thought, the straggles
of* intellect, that have been called forth for the adjust
ment of this system, have done more for the humau
mind than its efforts in any other science. Its questions
have stirred, not the minds of philosophers alone, but
every meditative human soul. Does the Bible contain
a system of ethics ? Yes ; but it is as the earth contains
a system of geology ; and long might the eye of the
listless or unscientific reader rest upon its pages Avith-
out discovering that the system Avas there, — just as
men trod the earth for near six thousand years Avithout
discovering that its surface was a regular structure, with

TAVO CLASSES OF QUESTIONS. 131
its strata arranged in an assignable order. And after
we have reason to suppose there is a system, Avhether
in nature or the Bible, we often find facts that seem to
contradict each other, that can be reconciled only by
the most patient attention ; perhaps, in the present
state of our knowledge, can not be reconciled at all.
Hoav strong, then, is the argument, draAvn from this
structure of the Bible, that it did not originate in the
mind of man ! The mind loves unity ; it seeks to sys
tematize every thing. It is in finished systems that
great minds produce their Avorks, never leaving truths,
seemingly incompatible, lying side by side, and requir
ing or expecting us to adopt them both. But so does
the Bible, and so does nature. Our conclusion, there
fore, is that, if nature is adapted to the mind of man,
so, and on the same principle, is the Bible.
A higher kind of knowledge given. — 6. Once more,
Christianity is adapted to the intellect because it puts
it in possession of a higher kind of knowledge than
nature can give. It solves questions of a different
order, and those, too, which man, as an intellectual
being, most needs to have solved. There are plainly
tAvo classes of questions which we may ask concerning
the works of God ; and concerning one of these, phi
losophy is profoundly silent. One class respects the
relation of the different parts of a constituted Avhole
to each other and to that whole. The other respects
the ultimate design of the Avhole itself. In the pres
ent state of science, questions of the first class can
generally be ansAvered with a good degree of satisfac
tion. Man existing, the philosopher can tell the number
of bones, and muscles, and blood-vessels, and nerves,
in his body, and the uses of all these. He may, per
haps, tell how the stomach digests, and the heart beats,
and the glands secrete ; but of the great purpose for
which man himself was made, he can know nothing.

132 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
But this knowledge Christianity gives. It attributes
to God a purpose Avorthy of him ; one that satisfies the
intellect and the heart ; and the knoAvledge of this
must modify our views of all history, and of the Avhole
drama of human life. It gives us a neAv stand-point,
from Avhich we see every thing in different relations and
proportions. We had seen the river, before, on which
we Avere sailing ; now we see the ocean. Entirely dif
ferent must be the relation of man to God, both as an
intellectual and a practical being, when he knows his
plans and can intelligently cooperate with him. He
now comes, in the language of our Saviour, into the
relation of a friend. Surely no one can think lightly
of the influence of this on the intellect !
Testimony of facts. — From the arguments now
stated, we infer that Christianity is adapted to the
intellect ; and these arguments are confirmed by fact.
No book, not nature itself, has ever waked up intel
lectual activity like the Bible. On the battle-field of
truth, it has ever been around this that the conflict has
raged. What book besides ever caused the writing of
so many other books? Take from the libraries of
Christendom all those Avhich have sprung, I will not
say indirectly, but directly from it, — those written to
oppose, or defend, or elucidate it, — and hoAv would
they be diminished ! The very multitude of infidel
books is a witness to the power with which the Bible
stimulates the intellect. Why do we not see the same
amount of active intellect coming up, and dashing and
roaring around the Koran? And the result of this
activity is such as Ave might anticipate. The general
intellectual, as well as moral superiority of Christian
nations, and that, too, in proportion as they have had
a pure Christianity, stands out in too broad a sunlight
to be questioned or obscured. Wherever the word of
God has really entered, it has given light — light to

CHRISTIANITY AND THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 133
individuals, light to communities. It has favored liter
ature ; and by means of it alone has society been
brought up to that point at which it has been able to
construct the apparatus of physical science, and to carry
its investigations to the point which they have now
reached. The instruments of a Avell-furnished astro
nomical observatory presuppose accumulations of wealth,
and the existence of a class of arts, and of men, that
could be the product only of Christian civilization.
Accordingly, we find, Avhatever may be said of litera
ture, that physical science, except in Christian countries,
has, after a time, either become stationary, or begun to
recede ; and there is no reason for supposing that the
path of indefinite progress which now lies before it,.
could have been opened except in connection with
Christianity. Individual men who reject Christianity,
and yet live within the general sphere of its influence,
may distinguish themselves in science ; they have done
so ; but it has been on grounds and conditions furnished
by that very religion which they have rejected. Chris
tianity furnishes no new faculties, no direct power to
the intellect, but a general condition of society favorable
to its cultivation ; and it is not to be wondered at, if,
in such a state of things, men who seek intellectual
distinction solely, rejecting the moral restraints of
Christianity, should distinguish themselves by intel
lectual effort.
Objection. — But if there is this adaptation of Chris
tianity to the intellect, ought not those who are truly
Christians to distinguish themselves above others in
hterature and science ? This does not follow. Up to
a certain point, Christianity in the heart will certainly
give clearness and strength to the intellect ; and cases
are not wanting in which the intellectual powers have
been surprisingly roused through the action of the
moral nature, and of the affections, aAvakened by the
I

134 EVIDENCES OP CHRISriANITY.
religion of Christ. But Avhen wo consider that the
change produced by Christianity is a moral change ;
that the objects it presents are moral objects ; that it
presents this Avorld as needing not so much to be
enlightened in the more abstract sciences, or to be
delighted with the refinements of literature, as to be
rescued from moral pollution, and to be won back to
God ; — perhaps we ought not to be surprised if it has
caused many to be absorbed in labors of an entirely
different kind, who Avould otherwise have trodden the
highest walks of science.
Distinguished piety not unfavorable to intellectual cul
tivation. — And here, precisely at this point, I think
we may see hoAv an impression has been originated in
the minds of some that distinguished piety is even
unfavorable to the highest cultivation of the sciences
and arts and to refinement of taste. If this were so, —
as it is not, — it Avould prove nothing against Chris
tianity ; nor would it invalidate at all the position I
have taken, that it is favorable to the intellect. There
are things more important than science, or literature,
or taste. Nor is it in these that the true and the highest
dignity of man consists. Perhaps Paul, if he had not
been a Christian, might have shone as a philosopher.
He did not become less a philosopher by being a Chris
tian ; but the energies of his mind were given neither
to philosophy nor to literature, but to something far
higher. In a noble forgetfulness of self, he strove to
turn men " from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan unto God." And so, now, many of the finest
spirits of our race are diverted from science by the
practical calls and self-denying duties arising from the
spiritual wants of the world. But does this dwarf the
intellect? Far from it. It leads it to grapple practi
cally -with questions higher than those of science, though
»t may be not so as to gain the admiration of men -,

THE BD3LE AND POPULAR LITERATURE. 135
and hence we often find in a humble Christian a breadth
of mind which we should look for in vain in many
professed votaries of literature. Can that dwarf the
intellect which shoAvs it realities more grand than those
of science ; Avhich, Avith a full comprehension of the
nature, and processes, and ends of science and of litera
ture, yet gives them their rightful, though subordinate
place ? Never ; even though it should sometimes lead
to the general feeling expressed by one who said that
he would attend to his more immediate duties here,
and study the science of astronomy on his way up to
heaven. No ; men may do Avhat they please in dissem
inating school libraries, and scattering abroad cheap
publications ; but, for energy and balance, I would
rather have the intellect formed by the Bible alone, —
by grappling with its mighty questions, by communing
with its high mysteries, by tracing its narratives, by
listening to its matchless eloquence and poetry, — than
to have that formed by all the light and popular litera
ture, and by all the scientific tracts, in existence ; and
if these efforts should practically exclude the Bible, and
prevent a general and familiar acquaintance with it on
the part of the young, instead of being a blessing, they
would bring only disaster.
The Bible adapted to all. — Before leaving this sub
ject, perhaps I ought to advert to the manner in which
the teachings of the Bible are given, as a book adapted
to the instruction of all classes, and of all ages. This,
though a minor point, is one of great interest. In this
respect, again, the Bible is like nature, and is indeed a
most wonderful book. What a problem it would be to
prepare a book iioav, which should be equally adapted
to the young and to the old, to the learned and to the
unlearned ! Man could not do it. But such a book is
the Bible. It has a simplicity, a majesty, a beauty, a
variety, which fit it for all ; and, as the eye of the child

136 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
can see something in nature to please and instruct it,
while the philosopher can see more, and yet not all, —
so does the youngest and most ignorant person, Avho
can read its pages, find, in the Bible, narratives, para
bles, brief sayings, just suited to his comprehension ;
while the profoundest theologian, or the greatest phi
losopher, can never feel that he has sounded all its
depths. And here we may perhaps see one great
reason why the revelation of God was written by so
many different persons, at different times, and with
such different habits of thought and of feeling. It was
because it was intended to be a book for the instruction
of the race, and this it could not be if it were written
in any one style, or were stamped with the peculiarities
of any one human mind. In order to this, it must
embrace narratives, poetry, proverbs, parables, letters,
profound reasoning, — which, while they all harmonized
in doctrine and in spirit, should yet be as diversified
as the hills and valleys of the green earth ; should yet
refract the pure light of inspiration in colors to catch
and fix every eye. Wonderful book ! If some of its
parts seem to us less interesting, let us remember that
nature too has many departments, and that it was made
for all ; and the more we study it in this point of vieAv,
the more ready shall we be to join with the apostle in
saying. tnat " <dl scripture is given by inspiration of
God." We say, then, that Christianity is adapted to the
intellect, because its spirit coincides with that of true
philosophy ; because it removes the incubus of sensu
ality and low vice ; because of the place it gives to
truth; because it demands free inquiry; because its
mighty truths and systems are brought before the mind
in the same way as the truths and systems of nature ;
because it solves higher problems than nature can;
and because it is so communicated as to be adapted to
every mind.

THE AFFECTIONS. 137
Christianity adapted to the affections. — But, if
Christianity is adapted to the intellect, as a religion
of light, it is not less adapted to the affections, as a
religion of love. The affections are that part of our
being from Avhich we are most susceptible of enjoyment
and of suffering. They are the source of all disinter
ested action, of all cheerful and happy obedience.
They are, to the other faculties of man, Avhat the light
is to the body of the sun, what its leaves and blossoms
are to the tree ; and the system in which they are not
regarded, and put in their proper place, can not be
from God.
Affections — how elicited. — The affections, as we all
knoAv, are not under the immediate control of the will ;
that is, we can not love any object Ave choose, simply
by willing to love it. We may act toward an unworthy
being — a tyrant, for example — as if we loved him;
but, unless we see in him qualities really excellent
and lovely, it is impossible Ave should love him. The
natural affections, so far as they are instinctive, have
their oavii laAvs. Laying them, then, aside, the first
condition on which it is possible for us to love a moral
being, as such, is a perception of some excellence in
his character. If Ave are rightly constituted, we shall
love him on the perception of such excellence, whether
he has any particular relation to us or not. But the
whole strength of our affections can be elicited only
when goodness is manifested toAvard us individually.
That which should call forth our strongest affections
would evidently be a being of perfect moral excellence,
putting forth effort and sacrifice on our behalf. To be
adapted to the affections, then, any system must first
recognize and encourage them ; and, secondly, it must
present suitable objects to call them forth.
Support in trials. — I observe, then, first, that Chris
tianity is adapted to the affections, because it encourages

138 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and supports them in the relations and trials of the
present life. And here, perhaps, I ought to mention
that the domestic constitution, which Christianity, and
that alone, enjoins and maintains in its purity, is funda
mental to a pure and healthful state of the natural and
social affections. It is impossible there should be,
under any other system or conditions, the same conjugal,
and parental, and filial affection as there will be Avhen
the domestic constitution, as enjoined by Christianity,
is strictly regarded. Here we see the far-reaching
wisdom of Christ in casting up an inclosure, the mate
rials of which we iioav see were provided in the nature
of things, which should be to the affections as a walled
garden, where their tendrils and blossoms might put
forth secure from any intruder. Accordingly, who can
estimate the blessings of peace, and purity, and hallowed
affection, which have been enjoyed through this consti
tution, and Avhich are now enjoyed around ten thousand
firesides in every Christian land? But, besides this,
Christianity encourages directly the natural affections
of kindred and of friendship ; it never condemns grief
as a weakness ; and it affords the most effectual conso
lation when these relations are sundered by death. In
this respect, it is contrasted not only with the selfish
Epicureanism and sensual indulgences by which the
heathen became " without natural affection," but espe
cially with the proud spirit of Stoicism — a spirit far
from having become extinct with the sect. Stoicism
would fain elevate human nature, but it really dismem
bers it. It was an attempt to destroy that which they
knew not how to regulate. To do this, they Avere
obliged to deny their oavh nature, and to affect insensi
bility, when it Avas impossible that man should not feel.
It was, indeed, a hard task which this system imposed,
— to feel the cold hand of death grasping those Avarm
affections which are so deeply rooted in the heart, and

CHRISTIANITY NOT STOICAL. 139
withering them up, and tearing them aAvay, and yet
shed no tear. They were driven to this because they
could find no consolation in death. They kneAv not
the rod, or Him Avho appointed it ; but assumed an
attitude of sullen defiance, and steeled themselves as
Avell as they were able against the bolts of what they
deemed a stern necessity. This system, indeed, was
not favorable to the growth of the natural affections at
all ; and many who adhered to it refused to suffer them
to expand, or to enter into any intimate alliances. But
Christianity neither destroys those affections in which
Ave find the beauty and the fragrance of existence, nor
does it nourish those which must bleed, Avithout furnish
ing a balm to heal the wound. It is indulgent to our
Aveakness, and never sneers at the natural expression
of sorrow. " Jesus wept." Surely, if we except our
own death-bed, there is no place where we so much need
support as at the death-bed of a friend, a wife, a child ;
and the religion or the system, the Stoicism or the
Skepticism, which fails us there, is good for nothing.
How desolate often the condition of those
Who "to the grave have followed those they love,
And on th' inexorable threshold stand ;
"With cherished names its speechless calm reprove,
And stretch into th' abyss their ungrasped hand " !
But just here it is that Christianity comes in with its
strong supports. This it does, 1. By the sympathy
Avhich it provides ; for it not only supposes those Avho
are afflicted to weep, but it commands others to Aveep
with them. 2. By teaching us that our afflictions are
brought upon us, not by a blind fate, but by a Avise and
kind Parent. 3. By the blessed hopes Avhich it enables
us to cherish. We sorrow not as those Avho have no
hope; "for, if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also Avhich sleep in Jesus will God

140 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
bring with him." 4. And by encouraging and enabling
us to fix our affections upon a higher and better object.
So long as we have something to love, the heart is not
desolate. Christianity furnishes us Avith an object that
can not fail us. It suffers the affections to shoot out
their tendrils here upon the earth as vigorously as they
may; but it trains them up, and trains them up, till
it fixes them around the base of the eternal throne.
Then, if these lower tendrils are severed, they do not
fall to the dust to be trampled on, and wither, and
decay, till our hearts die within us ; they fix themselves
the more firmly to their all-sufficient and never-failing
support. It is easy to see that all these circumstances
must make the valley of affliction far less dark than it
once Avas. To the true Christian there is light all the
way through it, there is light at the end of it.
Thus Christianity aims at no heights of Stoicism. It
neither uproots nor dAvarfs the affections, on the one
hand, nor does it, on the other, leave them to the Avild
and aimless paroxysms of a hopeless sorrow ; but it
encourages their groAvth, and, in affliction, gives them
the support Avhich they need.
Presents an adequate object. — And this leads me to
observe, secondly, that Christianity is adapted to the
affections because it presents them with an object, upon
which they can rest, that is infinite, perfect, and un
changeable. Here we find the transcendent excellence
of this religion, in that it presents God as the object of
our affections ; and I know of nothing in it more amaz
ing than the union that it presents, in God, of those
infinite natural attributes Avhich raise in the mind the
highest possible emotions of awe and sublimity, — and
of those holy moral attributes Avhich cause the angels
to vail their faces, — with the pity, and condescension,
and love, which Christianity represents him as mani
festing toAvard the guilty creatures of a day. Here

GOD AN OBJECT OF LOVE. 141
was a difficult point. Beforehand, I should have thought
it impossible that the infinite and holy God should so
reveal himself, to a creature so insignificant and guilty
as man, as to lead him to have confidence in him, and
to look up and say, " My Father ! " Yet so does Chris
tianity reveal God. It is a revelation adapted, not to
angels, but to just such a being as man, guilty, and
having the distrust that guilt naturally engenders, yet
seeking assurance that a God so holy, and so dreadful,
and so infinitely exalted above him, could yet love him
and be the object of his love. Certainly it abates
nothing of the infinite majesty or purity of God. It
enthrones him with the full investment of every high
and holy attribute, and yet nothing can exceed the
expressions of tenderness and compassion with which
he seeks to Avin the confidence of his creatures. He
is represented as having an unspeakable affection for
the race of man ; as Avatching over all in his universal
providence ; as the Father of the fatherless, and the
widow's God and Judge ; as strengthening men upon
the bed of languishing, and making all their bed in
their sickness ; as hearing the groanings of the prisoner
and the cry of the poor and needy, when they seek
water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for
thirst ; as the God that hears the faintest whisper of
true prayer ; as the God upon Avhom we may cast all
our cares, because he careth for us ; the God who com-
forteth those that are cast down ; Avho shall Avipe aAvay
all tears from all faces ; avIio is more ready to give to
man the Holy Spirit (the greatest of all gifts) than
earthly parents are to ghre good gifts to their children ;
Avho so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish,
but have eternal life. If such expressions, and such a
pledge, do not satisfy men of the love of God, and lead
them to him, nothing can. Well might the apostle say,

142 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
"He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up
for us all, Iioav shall he not Avith him also freely give us
all things ! " Well might he invite men to " come boldly
unto the throne of grace," that they may " obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need." Nothing can
be more tender or winning, more calculated to secure
the confidence of men, more unspeakably touching and
affecting, than the mode in which God is revealed to us
in the gospel of his Son.
Holiness and happiness provided for. — But, in thus
offering himself as the object of affection to man, Ave
can not fail to see that God has made provision, in the
very nature of things, both for his holiness and his
happiness. It is impossible that Ave should truly love
Him, Avithout being conformed and assimilated to his
character. The moment the first throb of affection is
felt, that process must begin, spoken of by the apostle,
where he says, "We all, beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
And when this process is once commenced, through the
operation of the great principle that we become morally
conformed to that which we contemplate Avith delight,
it will go on to its consummation. Nor, if we can
contemplate them separately, is provision less made in
this Avay for happiness than for holiness — since the
happiness derived from the affections must arise from
their exercise, and since the highest conceivable happi
ness would arise from the perfect love of such a beinf
as God. It is in this Avay only that God can become
the portion of the soul ; and thus he may become its
infinite and only adequate portion. Let the affections
rest upon a perfect being, and happiness, so far as it
can be derived from them, will be complete ; but
when their object is not only perfect, but infinite and
unchangeable, then is there provision both for perfect

LOVE PECULIAR TO CHRISTIANITY. 143
happiness, and for its perpetuity and augmentation
forever. God must be presented as an object of love. — Here,
then, Ave find a mark which must belong to a religion
from God. From our present knoAvledge of the facul
ties of man, and of their relations to each other, and
of the conditions on which alone they can be improved
and perfected, we see that a religion which is to elevate
man, and make him either holy or happy, must present
God as the object of love, and provide for the assimi
lation of the character of man to his character.
No other religion does this. — But what of this love
do Ave find provided for, or possible, out of Christianity ?
Absolutely nothing. The love of God never entered
as an element into any heathen religion ; nor, with their
conceptions of God, Avas it possible it should. The
affections, as already stated, are drawn forth by moral
excellence, especially when manifested in our behalf.
Was it possible, then, on either of these grounds, that
.the Jupiter, or Pluto, or Bacchus, of old, should be
loved? Were their moral characters even reputable?
Did they ever make disinterested sacrifices for the good
of men ? Is it possible that the present Hindoos should
love, on cither of these grounds, any being or thing
that is presented for their worship ? According to the
very constitution of our minds, it is impossible. The
objects of worship are neither in themselves, nor in
their relations to man, adapted to draw out the affec
tions. Again, is it possible that the affections should
be strongly moved by the God of the deist, who mani
fests himself only through general laws that bring all
things alike to all, who never speaks to his creatures,
or makes himself known as the hearer of prayer ? I
think not. Who ever heard of a devout deist? Who
ever heard of one who Avas willing to spend his life
in missionary labor for the good of others ? It is not

144 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
according to the constitution of the mind that such a
system should awaken the affections. And what is
true of these systems is true of every false system.
All such systems leave the heart cold, and, accord
ingly, exert very little genuine transforming power
over the life.
Love made the governing principle. — And this,
again, leads me to observe, thirdly, that Christianity is
adapted to the affections, from the place it assigns to
love as the governing principle of action. Moral order
requires obedience to God. But what is that obedience
Avhich can honor God and make him who renders it
happy? Plainly, it is not a selfish, external obedience,
Avhich would be Avicked ; not an obedience from fear, —
for all " fear hath torment ; " but it can be only an
intelligent and an affectionate obedience. Such an obe
dience would honor God, and make him Avho rendered
it happy. There is in it no element of degradation or
slavish subjection. On the contrary, as the whole
intellect, and conscience, and heart, conspire together
in such an act, performed with reference to the will of
such a Being, it must elevate the mind. It is the only
possible manner in which we can conceive a rational
creature to act so as to honor God, and make himself
happy ; and, therefore, that system of religion which is
so constructed, Avith reference to the human mind, as
to produce intelligent and affectionate obedience in the
highest degree, must be the true religion ; and no other
is possible. Now, Ave certainly can see that no heathen
system can produce such obedience, and that the Chris
tian system is adapted to produce it in the highest
possible degree.
Its representation of a future state. — But I observe,
once more, that Christianity is adapted to the affections
from its representations of a future state. It does
not, like Hindooism, or Pantheism, represent man as

THE IMAGINATION. 145
absorbed into the Deity, nor, like Mohammedanism, as
engrossed in sensuality ; but it represents heaven as a
social state of pure and holy affection. It does not,
indeed, tell us that we shall recognize there our earthly
kindred, though it leaves us no ground to doubt this ;
but it tells us of a Father's house, and of the one family
of the good who shall be gathered there, and to whom
we shall be united in nearer bonds than those of earth.
What possible representation could be better adapted
to a being endowed Avith affections ? — the one infinite
Father and Redeemer of his creatures, and the united
family of all the good !
The imagination. — We next proceed to the imagi
nation. And I observe that Christianity is no less
adapted to this than to the conscience, the intellect, or
the affections. The imagination is a source of enjoy
ment, a spring of activity, and an efficient agent in
molding the character; and any system may be said
to be adapted to it which is calculated to give it the
highest and purest enjoyment, and so to direct the
activity which it excites as to mold the character into
the finest form.
As a source of enjoyment. — Looking at the imagi
nation simply as a source of enjoyment, that system
will be best adapted to it which contains the most
elements of beauty and sublimity, and which leaves
for their combination the widest range. And in this
respect, certainly nothing can exceed Christianity. There
are no conceivable scenes of grandeur equal to those
connected with the general judgment and the final con
flagration of this world ; no scenes of beauty like those
connected with the new Jerusalem — with the abodes
and the employments of those who shall be sons and
heirs of God, and to whom the whole creation will be
given, so far as it may be subservient to their enjoy-

146 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
ment. And if the present scene is filled up with so
much of beauty and sublimity, Avhat imagination can
conceive of the splendors of that world whose external
decorations shall correspond Avith its spiritual glory?
Let no one say, then, that Christianity would repress
the imagination ; or that God did not intend that
imagination, and poetry, and the exertion of every
faculty which brings with it what is beautiful and pleas
ing, should be connected with it. He did intend it ;
he has made provision for it, and that not in this life
only. There will be poetry in heaven ; its numbers
will measure the anthems that swell there. There will
be imagination there. This is no impertinent faculty,
given, as some seem to suppose, only to be chided and
repressed. No ; its wing, however strong, will always
find room enough in the illimitable universe and the
unfathomed perfections of God.
As prompting to activity. — But it is chiefly of the
imagination as prompting to activity that I would
speak. "The faculty of imagination," says Stewart,
" is the great spring of human activity, and the prin
cipal source of human improvement. As it delights
in presenting to the mind scenes and characters more
perfect than those which we are acquainted with, it
prevents us from ever being completely satisfied with
our present condition or with our past attainments, and
engages us continually in the pursuit of some untried
enjoyment, or of some ideal excellence." Again he
says, "Tired and disgusted with this world of imper
fection, we delight to escape to another of the poet's
creation, where the charms of nature wear an eternal
bloom, and where sources of enjoyment are opened to
us suited to the vast capacities of the human mind.
On this natural love of poetical fiction Lord Bacon
has founded a very ingenious argument for the soul's
immortahty ; and, indeed, one of the most important

IMAGINATION AND REALITY. 147
purposes to which it is subservient is to elevate the
mind above the pursuits of our present condition, and
to direct the vieAvs to higher objects." *
With this representation of the office and importance
of this faculty I agree in the main ; but, instead of a
Avorld of the poet's creation for it to range in, I would
have one of God's creation. Certainly we can, by
means of this faculty, form to ourselves models of
individual excellence, and of what Ave may conceive to
be a perfect state of things, which shall essentially
guide our activity and affect our character and influence.
But here, no less than in the intellect, does all experi
ence show that we need to find the thought of God as
a model and guide to this formative power. Left to
itself, how many false standards of character has it set
up ! How many Utopian schemes has it originated !
How little has it ever conceived of individual excel
lence, or of an ultimate and perfect state of things,
worthy of God or having a tendency to exalt man !
Witness the heathen gods and representations of
heaven ; the classic fables ; the speculations of Plato,
even, respecting a future state ; the Hindoo mythology,
and transmigration; and the Mohammedan paradise.
These are to that future, and to that heaven which God
has revealed, what the conjectures and systems of
ancient astronomers were to the true system of the
physical heavens. Not more do the heavens of true
science exceed those imagined by man, — not more
does the actual Milky Way, composed of a stratum of
suns lying rank above rank, exceed that conception of
it from which its name is derived, — than the glory of
the millennial day, and the purity and grandeur of the
Christian heaven, exceed any future ever imagined by
man, and adopted as the basis of a religion invented
by him. In both cases, in the moral no less than in. the
* Elements, vol. i. chap. 7.

148 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
physical heavens, Ave need to have given us the outline
as sketched by God, and then it is the noblest work of
the imagination to fill it up.
Ideal excellence. — Christianity alone furnishes the
model of a perfect manhood, and the true elements of
social perfection ; it alone furnishes to the imagination
a representation of a perfect state on earth ; and it
unfolds the gates of a heaven, at whose entrance it can
only stand and exclaim, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things Avhich God hath prepared for them that love
him ! " It is therefore perfectly adapted to the imagi
nation, so far as that is a faculty Avhich leads to activity
by setting before us ideal excellence which we may
attempt to realize in actual life.
How attained. — Before leaving this point, I may
just say that Christianity does not, like systems of
philosophy, present us Avith an ideal excellence without
shoAving us how to attain it. The obedience of its
precepts would realize the excellence it portrays ; and
it is a remarkable fact that thus, and thus only, can
there be brought out, into the bold relief of actual life,
the visions of those ancient prophets whose imagina
tions were fired by these scenes of grandeur and of
beauty. The conscience. — The excellence above spoken of
could be realized only by obedience, under the guid
ance of an enlightened conscience. Is, then, Chris
tianity adapted to quicken and exalt the action of the
conscience ?
Force of the argument. — This is a point of the first
importance ; for if it can be shown that the moral powers
are quickened and perfected in proportion as the mind
comes under the action of any system, that system
must be from God. That a false system should tend
to perfect the conscience in its discriminating, and

THE CONSCIENCE.

149

impulsive, and reAvarding, and punishing power, Avould
be not only impossible, but suicidal. It would purge
the eye to a quicker perception of its own deformities,
and nerve the arm for its own overthrow. Other sys
tems act upon men through prescription, through aAve
and reverence, through hope and fear, and not by com
mending themselves, as righteous, to every man's con
science, in the sight of God.
Provides a perfect standard. — But Christianity pro
vides for quickening the conscience, first, by the perfect
standard which it sets up. This is found in the char
acter and law of God. In training the conscience,
nothing can countervail the absence of a right standard.
In every community, the tendency is to try actions by
the public sentiment, the usages and customs of that
community. These will vary according to the supposed
interests of each ; and in the use of such tests, con
science must remain in abeyance, and become dwarfed.
It can be trained and perfected only by a full activity,
in the light of a perfect law ; and this is furnished by
Christianity. Doctrine of responsibility. — Secondly, Christianity
is adapted to the conscience by its doctrine of respon
sibility. Than this, nothing can be more entire. As
was said in the second lecture, the moral law, which
Christianity imbosoms, is as universal and pervading
as that of gravitation. Under it there can be no con
cealment, or evasion ; for it reveals a future judgment,
and an omniscient and righteous Judge. This must
tend to a careful scrutiny of all moral acts, and so to
the full activity and perfection of the conscience.
Sanctions and pardon. — Thirdly, Christianity is
adapted to the conscience, on the one hand by the
force of its sanctions, and on the other by its provision
for pardon. These are brought together as equally
manifesting that which is the central element of Chris-

150 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
tianity, and the source of its power over the moral
nature. This is its intense regard for the moral quality
of action. This being the centre and life of the sys
tem, it can not fail to give life.
Only needs to be applied. — It is thus that Chris
tianity does all that we can conceive any system should
do, to quicken and to perfect the powers of moral per
ception and of action. The adjustments of the system
are made ; they are perfect ; it only needs to be ap
plied. Accordingly, we find that an efficient and an
enlightened conscience exists just in proportion to the
prevalence of pure Christianity ; and we must see that
its full influence would banish moral evil as the sun
disperses the darkness. It is by the light and strength
drawn from Christianity itself that Ave are able to apply
many of those tests which we iioav apply in judging of
it ; and the more fully we are under its influence, the
more competent shall we be to apply such tests, and
the more convincing will be the evidence derived from
their application.
The xvill. — Two modes of adaptation. — It now only
remains to speak of Christianity as adapted to the Avill.
A system may be adapted to the will of man by flatter
ing his pride, by taking advantage of his weaknesses,
by indulging his corruptions ; and in this sense false
systems have been adapted to it with great skill. But,
properly speaking, a system is adapted to the will of a
rational and moral being when it is so constructed that
it must necessarily control the will in proportion as
reason and conscience prevail. This is a point of high
importance, because, the will being that in man which
is personal and executive, nothing is effected till this is
reached; and the system which can not legitimately
•jontrol this may have every other adaptation, and yet
be good for nothing.

THE AVILL. 151
Provides for pardon and aid. — I observe, then,
first, that Christianity is adapted to the will because it
provides for the pardon of sin, and for divine aid in
the great struggle in which it calls upon us to engage.
I remarked, when speaking of the intellect, that Chris
tianity was adapted to it because it relieved it from the
incubus of vice. It is much in the same Avay that it
acts here in reference to the will. The will of man
neArer acts Avhen the attainment of his object is abso
lutely hopeless ; and a sense of pardoned sin, and a
hope of divine aid, if not immediate motives, yet come
in as conditions on Avhich alone the Avill can be brought
up to the great struggle of the Christian warfare. With
out these, a mind truly enlightened Avould rest under a
discouragement that would forever paralyze effort.
Adapted to the affections. — I observe, secondly, that
Christianity is adapted to the will because it is adapted
to the affections. I do not, as some have done, regard
the Avill and the affections as the same. They are, hoAV-
ever, intimately connected ; and the affections being,
as I have said, the only source of disinterested action
and of happy moral obedience, it is evident that, just
in proportion as any system takes a strong hold of
them, it must be adapted to move the will. It is not
enough to know our duty, and to wish to do it simply
as duty. We need to have it associated Avith the im
pulses of the affections, Avith that love of God, and of
man, implanted in the heart, which are the first and the
second great moral precepts of Christianity, andAvhich,
where they reign, must induce a happy obedience.
Because of its sanctions. — I observe, thirdly, that
Christianity is adapted to the will from the grandeur
of those interests which it presents, and from its
amazing sanctions. Here it is unrivaled. Here every
thing takes hold on infinity and eternity. Here the
greatness of man as a spiritual and an immortal being

152 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
assumes its proper place, and throAvs into the shade all
the motives and the interests of time. Its language is,
" What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul ; or Avhat shall a man give
in exchange for his soul ? " It makes the Avill of God
our rule ; it places us under his omniscient eye ; it
points us forward to the tribunal of an omnipotent Judge,
to a sentence of unmixed justice, and a reward of match
less grace. Nothing can be more alluring, on the one
hand, or more terrific, on the other, than its descrip
tions of the consequences of human conduct. It speaks
of " eternal life ; " of being the " sons and heirs of
God ; " of a " crown of life ; " of " an inheritance incor
ruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away."
It speaks, also, of " the blackness of darkness forever ; "
of "the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not
quenched." Laying aside, then, the affections, and look
ing solely at the direct motives of duty and of interest
which it presents, surely no other system can be so adapt
ed to move the will as this, when it is really believed.
Teachings not abstract. — I observe, finally, that
Christianity is adapted to the will, and to the whole
emotive nature of man, because its teachings respect
ing the character of God and human duty are not by
general and abstract propositions, but by facts, and by
manifestations in action. At this point Christianity is
strongly contrasted with natural religion, and with
every thing that tends toAvards pantheism. "It is
indeed," says Erskine, " a striking, and yet an undoubt
ed fact, that we are comparatively little affected Avith
abstract truths in morality." "A single definite and
intelligible action gives a vividness and a power to the
idea of that moral character which it exhibits, beyond
what could be conveyed by a multitude of abstract
descriptions. Thus the abstract ideas of patriotism
and integrity make but an uninteresting appearance

THE AVILL AND ABSTRACT PRINCIPLES. 153
when contrasted with the high spectacle of heroic
worth which Avas exhibited in the conduct of Regulus,
when, in the senate of his country, he raised his soli
tary voice against those humbling propositions of
Carthage, which, if acquiesced in, would have restored
him to liberty, and which for that single reason had
almost gained an acquiescence ; and then, unsubdued
alike by the frantic entreaties of his family, the weep
ing solicitations of the admiring citizens, and the
appalling terrors of his threatened fate, he returned to
Africa, rather than violate his duty to Rome and the
sacredness of truth." " In the same way, the abstract
vieAvs of the divine character, drawn from the observa
tion of nature, are, in general, rather visions of the
intellect than efficient moral principles in the heart and
conduct ; and, however true they may be,' are uninter
esting and unexciting when compared with the vivid
exhibition of them in a history oi: definite and intelli
gible action. To assist our Aveakness, therefore, and
to accommodate his instructions to the principles of
our nature, God has been pleased to present us a most
interesting series of actions, in which his moral char
acter, as far as Ave are concerned, is fully and perspic
uously embodied."
So great is this difference, as ideas are presented in
different modes, that an idea or a principle may be
apparently received, and approved, in its abstract
form, which shall not be recognized as the same when
it takes the form of action. " A corrupt politician, for
instance, can speculate on and applaud the abstract
idea of integrity ; but when this abstract idea takes the
form of a man and a course of action, it ceases to be
that harmless and welcome visitor it used to be, and
draws on itself the decided enmity of its former appar
ent friend." "In the same way, many men will admit
the abstract idea of a God of infinite holiness and good-

154 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
ness, and Avill even take delight in exercising their
reason or their taste in speculating on the subject of
his being and attributes ; yet these same persons Avill
shrink with dislike and alarm from the living energy
which this abstract idea assumes in the Bible." * The
great object of Ersldne is to show, first, that there is
this difference between ideas thus presented; and,
secondly, that God has made in action such mani
festations of himself as must, if they are believed,
bring the character into conformity Avith his. Whatever
we may think of the second proposition, there can be
no doubt of the principle involved in the first ; nor of
the fact that the emotive nature of man is addressed, in
accordance with it, both in the Old Testament and in
the New. All that series of mighty acts which God
performed in behalf of the Israelites — the deliverance
from Egypt, the giving of the law, the passage through
the wilderness and through Jordan — could not but
affect their hearts and Avills infinitely more than they
could have been by any description of God, or by any
mere precepts. Probably it Avas better adapted than
any thing else could have been to give that people cor
rect ideas of God, and to lead them to a full and joyful
obedience of his commandments. And so the great
fact of the New Testament, that "God so loved the
world, that he gave his only-begotten Son," and the
example of our Saviour, " who loved us and gave himself
for us," have ever been among its most powerful and
constraining motives. They have, in fact, been those
without which no others would have been of any avail.
Whether, then, we consider its offers of pardon and
of aid ; its connection with the affections ; the power
of its direct motives ; or its mode of appeal by facts
and manifestations in action, — we see that Christianity
is perfectly adapted to the will of man.
* Internal Evidence.

LECTURE VI.
ARGUMENT FIFTH, CONTINUED. DIVISION SECOND: CHRISTIAN
ITY AS A RESTRAINING POWER. — ARGUMENT SIXTH: THE
EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. — ARGUMENT
SEVENTH : ITS FITNESS AND TENDENCY TO BECOME UNIVER
SAL. — ARGUMENT EIGHTH: IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN THE
WORLD. Man is a complex being. He has been called the
microcosm, or little world, because, while he has a
distinctive nature of his own, he is a partaker and rep
resentative of every thing in the inferior creation. In
him are united the material and the spiritual, the ani
mal and the rational. He has instincts, propensities,
desires, passions, by which he is allied to the animals ;
he has also reason, conscience, free-will, by which he is
allied to higher intelligences and to God. Hence the
ends he is capable of choosing, and the principles by
which he may be actuated, are very various. Body and
soul, reason and passion, conscience and desire, often
seem to be, and are, opposing forces, and man is left
" In doubt to act or rest,
In doubt to deem himself a god or beast,
In doubt his soul or body to prefer."
"The intestine war of reason against the passions,'
says Pascal, "has given rise, among those who wish for
peace, to the formation of tAvo different sects. Tha
C155)

156 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
one wished to renounce the passions, and be as gods-,
the other to renounce reason, and become beasts."
Excitement, guidance, restraint — difficulty of. —
With this wide range of faculties, and consequent variety
of impulses and motives, in the individual, and especially
when we consider the variety of his social relations,
we may well say that, if any problem was beyond
human skill, it Avas the choice of ends, and the arrange
ment of means and motives, — the contrivance of a
system of excitement, and guidance, and restraint, —
which should harmonize these jarring elements, and
cause every Avheel in the vast machinery of human
society to move freely and without interference. Ac
cordingly, Avhether we look at the faculties excited, or
at the ends to Avhich they have been directed, or at the
restraints imposed, we find in all human systems a great
want of adaptation to the nature of man. Excitement,
guidance, restraint, — these are what man needs; and
a system which should so combine them as to lead him,
in its legitimate influence, to his true perfection and
end, would be adapted to his whole nature. I have
already spoken of the power of Christianity to excite
and to guide some of the principal faculties. I now
proceed to make some observations upon it as a re
straining power.
No naturcd principle to be eradicated. — There is no
natural principle of action which requires to be eradi
cated, but there are many which require to be directed,
subordinated, and restrained. There are principles of
our nature, which conduce only to our well-being when
acting Avithin prescribed limits, Avhich become the source
of vice and wretchedness when those limits are over
stepped. But to put the check upon each particular
wheel, precisely at the point at Avhich its motion Avould
become too rapid for the movement of the Avhole, re
quires a skill beyond that of man.

LIMITS OF RESTRAINT. 157
Tlie appetites — too much or too little restraint. — To
fix, for example, the limits within which, for the best
interests of the individual and of society, the appetites
should be restrained, requires a knowledge of the human
frame, and of the relations of society, Avhich no philos
opher, unenlightened by the Bible, has ever shoAvn. I
need not say hoAv essential it is to the Avell-being of any
community that these limits should be rightly fixed.
If there is too much restraint, society becomes secretly,
and often hopelessly, corrupt ; to other sins the guilt
of hypocrisy is added, and sanctimonious licentious
ness — the most odious of all its forms — becomes
common. If there is too little restraint, vice walks
abroad Avith an unblushing front, and glories in its
shame. The state of the ancient heathen world is
described by the apostle in the first of Romans. The
accuracy of that description is remarkably confirmed
by testimony from heathen writers, and, according to
the testimony of all impartial travelers, that chapter is
true, to the letter, of the heathen of the present day.
The tendency of human nature to sensuality, in some
form, is so strong that no false religion has ever dared
to lay its hand upon it, in all its forms. Mohammed,
it is well known, did not interfere essentially with the
customs of his country in this respect ; and, in fact, all
his rewards and motives to religious activity were based
on an appeal to the sensitive, and not to the rational
and spiritual part of man. In instances not a few, the
grossest sensuality has been made a part of religion ;
and, in almost all cases, the voluptuary has been suffered
to remain undisturbed, or has been led to commute, by
offerings, for indulgence in vice.
Ascetic tendency . — Those, on the other hand, Avho
have recognized the higher nature of man, and have
felt that there was something noble in the subjugation
of the animal part of the frame, have been excessive.

158 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Instead of regulating the appetites, they have attempted
to exterminate them ; and the mass of their follow
ers have been ambitious, corrupt, and hypocritical.
"Nothing," says Isaac Taylor, "has been more constant
in the history of the human mind, wherever the religious
emotions have gained a supremacy over the sensual and
sordid passions, than the breaking out of the ascetic
temper, in some of its forms ; and most often in that
which disguises virtue, now as a spectre, now as a
maniac, now as a mendicant, now as a slave, but never
as the bright daughter of heaven."*
Sensuality and self-torture. — But not only have men
framed systems of religion which allowed of sensual
ity, — not only have they attempted to subdue the
animal nature altogether, — they have also ingrafted
sensuality upon self-torture. There is in man a sense
of guilt; and, connected with this, the idea has been
almost universal that suffering, or personal sacrifice,
had, in some way, an efficacy to make atonement for it.
Hence the costly offerings of heathen nations to their
gods ; hence their bloody rites, the offering up of
human victims, and even of their oavii children. But
when once the principle was established that personal
suffering could do away sin, then a door Avas opened
for license to sin; and hence the monstrous, and ap
parently inconsistent spectacle, so often witnessed, of
sensuality walking hand in hand Avith self-torture.
The Christian method. — In opposition to these cor
ruptions and distortions, hovv simple, how clearly in
accordance with the original institutions and the evident
intentions of God, are the principles of Christianity !
Christ assumed no sanctity in indifferent things, such
as that by which the Pharisees sought to distinguish
themselves. He swept aAvay, without hesitation or
compromise, the rabbinical superstitions and slavish
* Lectures on Spiritual Christianity.

THE CHRISTIAN METHOD. 159
exactions which had been ingrafted on the Jewish law.
He came " eating and drinking." He declared that that
which entereth into a man doth not defile him. He
sanctioned marriage, and gave it an honor and a sacred-
ness little known before, by declaring it an institution
of divine origin, which Avas appointed in the beginning.
" The superiority of the soul to the body was the very
purport of his doctrine ; and yet he did not waste the
body by any austerities ! The duty of self-denial he
perpetually enforced ; and yet he practiced no factitious
mortifications ! This teacher, not of abstinence, but of
virtue, — this reprover, not of enjoyment, but of vice, —
himself went in and out, among the social amenities
of ordinary life, Avith so unsolicitous a freedom as to
give color to the malice of hypocrisy in pointing the
finger at him, saying, 'Behold a gluttonous man and
a wine-bibber ; a friend of publicans and sinners ! ' " *
But, while he did this, he did not yield at all to the
prejudices and vices of the age, but forbade all impu
rity, even in thought. The teaching and course of the
apostles was marked by the same wisdom. Paul asserts,
in relation to meats, that every creature of God is good,
and to be received with thanksgiving ; and says of mar
riage, that it is honorable in all ; while, at the same
time, he ranks drunkenness, and gluttony, and impurity,
among those sins which will exclude a man from the
kingdom of heaven. He Avas a preacher of temperance,
as well as of righteousness and of a judgment to come,
and insisted upon that temperance in all things.
Malevolent and selfish passions. — Nor are the prohi
bitions and restrahits of Christianity laid with less
discrimination upon the malevolent and selfish passions,
— as anger, malice, envy, revenge, of the first; and
vanity, pride, and ambition, of the second. These,
with the exception of anger, it absolutely prohibits ;
* Lectures on Spiritual Christianity.

160 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and it prohibits that, so far as it is malevolent. It
distinguishes between the holy indignation which must
be excited by wickedness, and any mere personal feel
ing, or desire to inflict pain for its own sake ; and hence
it speaks of Christ as looking on men " Avith anger,
being grieved for the hardness of their hearts," and it
commands us to " be angry and sin not."
To be prohibited. — Of the propriety of an absolute
prohibition of the malevolent feelings, probably few
at this day will doubt. They are dissocial, and are
destructive alike of the happiness of him Avho indulges
them and of those against whom they are indulged. It
is impossible that a man, in whose breast they bear
SAvay, should be happy ; and, so far as their influence
extends to others, they produce unhappiness of course.
We can not conceive of them as entering heaven, which
Avould no longer be heaven if they Avere there, nor of
their having a place in a perfect society on earth.
Nor, if we analyze them fairly, can there be more
room to doubt the propriety of prohibiting what I have
called the selfish passions — as vanity, pride, and ambi
tion. Vanity, notwithstanding the commendation of it
by Hume as a virtue, will be condemned by all as
weak, if not wicked; and if we regard pride and
ambition as the love of superiority for its own sake,
and of ruling over others, we must see that they are
both selfish and mischievous. By confounding pride
with true dignity, and ambition with the love of excel
lence, some have been led to suppose that these were
necessary elements in an efficient and elevated character.
But Christianity fully recognizes the distinction between
these qualities; and while it asserts, far beyond any
other system, the true dignity of man, — Avhile it sets
before him the pursuit of an excellence, and the objects
of an ambition, which must call forth every energy,
though their attainment implies no inferiority on the

DESIRE OF PROPERTY. 161
part of others, — it prohibits, and, by its doctrines and
very structure, eradicates every selfish element of what
are usually called pride and ambition. It is, indeed, a
great distinction and glory of Christianity, that its
objects of pursuit and its sources of enjoyment are like
the sunlight and the air, which are free to all ; and that
the highest attainments of one have no tendency to
diminish the happiness of others.
The desire qf property. — I mention another strong
principle of action — the desire of property, which
Christianity regulates wisely. Recognizing the inade
quacy of property to meet the wants of a spiritual
being, it prohibits covetousness as idolatry, and exhorts
the rich not to trust in uncertain riches, but in the
living God. At the same time it forbids indolence,
requiring industry and frugality ; and when, by means
of these, or by any other means, property is acquired,
it commands us to do good, to be "ready to distribute,
willing to communicate." He that stole is to steal no
more, but is to labor, working with his hands, that he
may have to give to him that needeth. Thus would
Christianity transform every lazy, thievish pest of soci
ety into an industrious, useful, and liberal man. It is
also worthy of remark how careful Christianity is to
guard its ministers against the love of money, and how
entirely free it is, as we find it in the New Testament,
from holding out any inducement to the people to build
up rich and pompous religious establishments. Its
ministers are to take the oversight of the flock, not for
filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. In instructing both
Timothy and Titus whom to ordain, Paul mentions the
love of " filthy lucre " as a disqualification. And while
such a motive on the part of the minister is prohibited,
and would be contrary to the entire spirit of Chris
tianity, it never speaks of the giving of money to him
as peculiarly meritorious. It provides for his support,

162 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and makes provision for that, simply, a common duty.
Its exhortations would all lead men to works of general
beneficence, — to give to him that needeth, whoever he
may be, — and would thus cause money to become a
means of spiritual culture to him who has it, as well as
of blessing to him to whom it is given.
Three remarks. — Prohibitions on the source of acts. —
I need not speak further of the particular things which
Christianity prohibits and regulates. Respecting them
all, three remarks, of much importance, are to be made.
The first is, that these prohibitions are laid, not upon
the outward act, but, in all cases, upon the spirit or
temper from which outAvard acts spring. Nothing can
be more evident than that Christianity legislates for
man as a spiritual being, and the subject of a kingdom
in which eArery secret thought is known, and every
malicious, and covetous, and impure desire is a crime.
This has often been mentioned as a proof of the wis
dom and superiority of the Christian system of morals,
because the only possible way of regulating the external
act is to regulate the spirit. But, however wise and
necessary this might be in a system of morals, it was
not adopted by Christianity as a system of morals, but
because it recognizes man as a member of a spiritual
kingdom, in Avhich volition itself is action, and char
acter itself, and not its outward manifestation, is the
object of legislation. It is far enough from striking at
the principle of wickedness because this is necessary to
restrain the outward act ; but because it deals with
realities, and not with appearances, and is at war with
wickedness itself, which has no existence in act as
distinguished from its principle.
A religion of principles. — The second remark, inti
mately connected Avith the first, is, that Christianity,
considered as prohibitory, is not a religion of mere
precepts, but of principles. "The New Testament,"

NO MERE PROHIBITION 163
says Taylor, " contains vital principles ; not always
defined ; but Avhich, as they are evolved one after
another, and are successively brought to bear upon the
opinions and manners of Christianized nations, do
actually remove from them those flagrant evils which
had accumulated in the course of time, and which, so
long as they are prevalent, abate very much the reli
gious sensibilities even of those who are the most
conscientious." He says, further, "that the New Tes
tament, considered as embodying a system of morals
for the world, — a system which is slowly to develop
itself, until the human family has been led by it into
the path of peace and purity, — effects this great pur
pose, not by prohibiting, in so many words, the evils it
is at length to abolish, but by putting in movement
unobtrusive influences, which nothing, in the end, shall
be able to withstand." * It is thus that Christianity has
Avrought the revolution in favor of woman ; that it abol
ished the ancient games and gladiatorial contests ; that
it has mitigated the horrors of war ; that it has, over a
large portion of the earth, abolished slavery, and that
it is noAv hastening to bring it to a full end. This
peculiarity of Christianity gives it a power of expansion,
and of adaptation to all circumstances, which fits it for
man as man.
Prohibits only as it excites and guides. — The third
remark is, that Christianity is a system of prohibition
and restraint only as it is a system of excitement and
guidance. Plainly, there are two kinds of self-denial :
the one from fear — formal, slavish, barren; the other
from love — blessing the spirit, and strengthening it in
virtue. So far as Christianity requires self-denial, it is
uniformly and only of this latter kind. It does not call
men off from the world, that they may sit sullenly by
and envy others the pleasures which they can not share.
• Lectures on Spiritual Christianity.

164 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
If it calls them at all, it calls them to something higher,
purer, nobler, happier. Its self-denial is that of a son
who is laboring for the support and comfort of a mother ;
of a mother who denies herself that she may educate a
son ; of a soldier who is marching on to do battle for
hberty ; of a racer Avho is speeding to the goal. It is
the self-denial of the great Howard, traversing Europe,
and diving into dungeons to " take the gauge of human
misery," with his heart too much interested in this
service to spend much time even to look at the mas
terpieces of art. And who will say that he did not
find a satisfaction higher, and more consonant to his
nature, than any work of art could have given? Chris
tianity excludes man from no enjoyment that is com
patible with his highest good. It can not, indeed,
reconcile incompatibilities. It can not make a man a
soldier on duty, and let him be at the same time
enjoying himself by his fireside ; it can not make him
a racer, and at the same time permit him to sit doAvn
at his ease by the side of the course. It does call
men to be soldiers, but it is in the army of the Captain
of their salvation ; it does make them racers, but it
sets before them an immortal crown. Utterly do they
misapprehend the religion of Christ who regard it as
gloomy and austere — as a system of formal prohibi
tions and restraints. No ; its self-denial is from love.
It is a system of prohibition and restraint only as it is
a system of excitement and guidance. Let Christians
be fully inspired with the great positive ideas and
motives of their religion, and it is impossible there
should be in their deportment any thing austere, or
sanctimonious, or gloomy, more than there was in the
deportment of Christ and of his apostles. It is only
under the influence of self-denial from love that the
highest character can be formed.
Balance of motives. — Nor, in speaking of Christianity

CHRISTIAN MANHOOD. 165
as a system of excitement and restraint, ought Ave to
omit its wonderful balance of motives, and the manner
in Avhich every weak point is guarded. Of particular
instances of this I have spoken incidentally ; but the
system is full of them. Thus, in the case recently
mentioned, Avhile a selfish pride is guarded against and
destroyed, the true dignity of man is secured ; while
the ambition of superiority and comparison is repressed,
the ambition of excellence is cherished ; while the
deepest reverence toward God is demanded, it is made
compatible with an affectionate and filial confidence ;
while humility, that virtue so peculiarly Christian, is
promoted, there is no approach toward meanness cr
servility. It is " sorroAvful, yet ahvays rejoicing ; " it
requires active beneficence, yet represses all self-gratu-
lation ; it insists strongly on the duties of piety and of
devotedness to God, but it excludes mysticism and
monachism, by insisting equally upon our duties to
man ; it inculcates universal benevolence, but weakens
no tie of family or of country.
Christian manhood and Christian society. — If, then,
there is this adaptation of Christianity to man ; if it is
adapted to his conscience, his intellect, his affections,
his imagination, his will, — exciting and guiding them
aright ; if it represses only evil, and that at its source ;
if its motives are wonderfully balanced, so that the
character produced by them would be one of great love
liness and symmetry, — then it Avill folloAV that it must
carry the individual to the highest state of perfection,
not simply as a Christian, but as a man. There are,
indeed, manly traits which are not distinctively Chris
tian ; but no man can become a Christian without
becoming a better man, or can improve as a Christian
Avithout improving in manhood, and the ideal of true
manhood will find its completion only in the perfection
of the Christian character. And Avhat is thus true of

166 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
the individual must, for that very reason, be true of
the community. If we may suppose Christianity to
have done its Avork upon all the individuals of a com
munity, they Avould be like the stones and the beams
prepared by the workmen of Solomon in the mountains,
and Avould be ready to go up into the magnificent temple
of a perfect society, without the sound of the ax or
the hammer. And, moreover, the same process Avhich
would perfect individuals as such, and at the same time
fit them to coalesce in an harmonious society here, would,
of course, fit them for that perfect state of society
which is represented as existing in heaven. In this
respect, Christianity commends itself to our reason.
It does not, like other religions, care for rites, and
forms, and ceremonies, except as they bear upon char
acter. It lays doAvn no arbitrary rules, to the observ
ance of Avhich it offers a reward in the form or on the
principle of Avages, but it goes to form a definite
character ; and Ave can see that the character it forms is
precisely such as must be a preparation for the heaven
which it promises. It speaks of a holy heaven, and its
great object is to make men holy here that they may be
fit to enter there. This is its great object; but, in
doing this, it Avould bring the individual man, consid
ered as an inhabitant of the earth, to the highest
perfection, and Avould adjust, in the best possible
manner, the relations of society.
Would accomplish all that can be accomplished. —
This is a point upon which I insist that Ave are competent
to judge. It is a vital point to all who Avould do any
thing to advance society beyond its present state. We
know something of man; and we certainly can tell
what would be the effects upon the individual, and
upon society, if the law laid down in the Bible — the
great law of love — were universally obeyed, and if the
principles there insisted on Avere universally regarded.

EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE. 167
We knoAv what the representation of heaven is, as
made in the Bible, and we certainly can tell whether the
following of Christ Avould be a natural and necessary
preparation for such a state. My object has been to
compare Christianity with the nature of man ; to observe
their adjustments to each other, and to see what that
nature would become, if yielded wholly to its influence.
And if, imperfectly as this has been done, I yet find
that the powers of the individual man come forth, in
their true strength and proportion, only under its influ
ence ; if I find that there can be no perfect state of
society except in accordance with its laAvs ; if I see that
it would fit man for a heaven of purity and love, involv
ing the highest activity and fullest expansion of every
poAver, — then I am prepared to say that, if this religion
be not from God, it must yet be true ; and that, if God
should reveal a religion, it could neither propose nor
accomplish any thing higher or better.
ARGUMENT VI.
THE EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE OF CHRISTIANITY.
I have iioav brought to a conclusion the argument
from a comparison of Christianity with the constitution
of man. There is another, usually termed the experi
mental evidence of Christianity, Avhich is intimately
connected Avith this ; for, if this religion is indeed
adapted to act thus fully and poAverfully upon the mind,
it can not but be that he who yields himself to its
influence, Avill find, growing out of that very influence,
a deeply-wrought conviction of its Avisdom, and of its
adaptation to his nature and wants. Of the validity of
this argument there have been various opinions. Some
have objected to it altogether, as fanatical ; while others
have supposed that it might be valid for the Christian
himself, but neither ought to be, nor could be, any
ground of conviction for another. What, then, is the

168 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
nature of this argument? What ought to be its force,
first, upon the minds of Christians, and, secondly, upon
the minds of others? An answer to these inquiries
would exhaust the subject.
Nature of the argument. — What, then, is the nature
of this argument, and the consequent force which it
ought to have upon the mind of the Christian himself?
The Christian contends that he has a knowledge of
Christianity, and a conviction of its truth, which he did
not acquire by reasoning, and which, therefore, reason
ing can not, and ought not, to shake. Can he have
such a knowledge and conviction in a rational way ? By
confounding reasoning with reason, many have been
led to suppose that we could have no rational conviction
of any thing which we could not prove by reasoning.
Than this no mistake could be greater ; for a very large
part of our knowledge is neither acquired by reasoning
nor dependent on it. This is so with all the intuitions
of reason, and Avith all the knowledge acquired by
sensation and by experience. The very condition of
knowledge at all is a direct power of perception ; and
Avhere this does not exist, there can be no reasoning.
Thus, no one can know what it is to live, but by living ;
what it is to see, but by seeing ; what it is to feel, but
by feeling ; nor, in general, can any one know what it
is to be any thing, but by becoming that thing. Direct
knowledge, thus gained, is the condition of all reason
ing, and it is not Avithin the proper province of reasoning
to call it in question. The knowledge is not gained by
reasoning, but it is in the highest degree rational to
admit it and act upon it. The question is, whether
there is a knoAvledge of Christianity which is obtained
in this way ; whether, in order to be a Christian, a man
is simply to believe something, or Avhether he is to
become something.
Essential to the system. — And here I observe that,

EXPERIENCE THE TEST OF REMEDIES. 169
if Christianity be true, there must be such a knoAvledge.
It claims to be, not a mere system of rites and forms,
nor a system of philosophical belief, but a life; and,
if so, that life can be known only by living it ; if so,
there must be gained, by living it, immediate percep
tions and experimental knowledge, such as we gain by
living our natural life. Without these it would be
merely a form, or a creed in the understanding, or an
external rule — something dead and formal ; and not as
"a well of water springing up into everlasting life."
Without these, it is impossible that the words of Christ
should be " spirit and life."
Moral and physical maladies. — The analogy is often
draAvn in this respect, and, so far as I can see, properly,
betAveen Christianity, as a remedy for the moral mala
dies of man, and remedies for bodily disease. It is
plain that he Avho takes a remedy for bodily disease
may have an evidence and conviction of its efficacy
entirely independent of any testimony or reasoning,
and more convincing than either or both of these could
give. He may try the remedy in such a variety of
forms, may so watch the symptoms as he takes or omits
it, that he can have no more doubt of its effect than he
has of the rising and setting of the sun. Here is some
thing which comes within the province of consciousness
and of direct knowledge, and it is in vain that you
attempt to destroy a conviction thus produced. You
may tell him that he is not sick, and never was ; that
the dose was minute, or the medicine inert, and
therefore could not have done him any good ; but he
may have had experience of such a kind that it would
be practically irrational, and the height of folly, for
him to lay aside his medicine on the ground of any
reasoning, or previous estimate of probabilities. And
)SO, when the mind is awakened to the realities of its
spiritual condition, if, as the conscience is quickened

170 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and the moral eye is purged, it is perceived that there
is a wonderful correspondence betAveen the discoveries
which a man makes concerning himself and the delinea
tions of the heart which he finds in the Bible ; if this
correspondence is the same in kind with that which he
finds in the writings of those who have best described
human character, but is more perfect ; if it is such that
an uncultivated man, to whom the Bible becomes a neAV
book, may well say, as one recently did say, " I see
now that a man's history may be Avritten before he Avas
born ; " if he finds in himself wants, hungerings and
thirstings of spirit, for Avhich Christianity, and nothing
else, makes provision, and feels that that provision is
precisely adapted to his wants ; if he finds himself
engaged in a conflict for Avhich Christianity furnishes
the only appropriate armor ; if he obtains answers to
prayer, and finds grace to help in time of need, so that
his evil tendencies are overcome and his virtues are
strengthened, — then it Avould be no more rational for
'lim to doubt the truth of the Christian religion than
to doubt the testimony of his senses. Of such corre
spondences between his heart and the Bible, of such
wants and their supplies, of such helps and of such
conquests, we might naturally suppose the Christian
would have an experimental knowledge, if Christianity
be true ; and I venture to say that no religion could
do for man what Christianity proposes to do Avithout
furnishing to those under its influence this kind of
evidence. Christianity promises it. — And not only might we
rationally expect such a ground of conviction, but
Christianity itself, understanding its own nature and
the grounds on Avhich it would be believed in, promises
to give it to all Avho will put themselves in a position
to avail themselves of it. " If any man," says Christ,
"will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine."

THIS EVIDENCE OPEN TO ALL. 171
"He," says John, "that believeth on the Son of God,
hath the Avitness in himself." "The Spirit itself," says
Paul, " beareth witness with our spirit that we are the
children of God." This evidence Christianity regards
as indispensable. It counts itself to have done nothing
till this is given. Till then, it is like the physician
Avho stands by the bedside and exhibits the evidences
of his skill, but accomplishes nothing, if the patient so
dislikes the remedy that he prefers to suffer the pain,
and risk the consequences of the disease, rather than
to take that remedy. Here, indeed, is the great point
of difficulty. It is not so much that men are not spec
ulatively convinced of the truth of Christianity, as that
they defer applying it to themselves, and thus fail of
the highest of all possible grounds of conviction — that
of experience.
Possessed by all Christians. — And as this evidence
might be anticipated from the nature of the case, and
is promised in the Scriptures, so we find it possessed
by all true Christians, though in a degree by no means
proportioned to their learning or talents, but to the
sincerity of their faith and the fullness of their obe
dience. Hence, unlike those species of evidence which
require learning, it is open to all, and forms, for Chris
tians of every age and of every variety of attainment,
a ground of conviction, which they do not perhaps state
as an argument, but which is rational, and satisfactory
to all. To the philosopher it is satisfactory, because
he can trace it up to its principles, and can feel that, in
resting on it, he is resting on precisely the same kind
of evidence which commands assent in all other cases
of consciousness ; and it is not less satisfactory to the
unlettered man through that healthy assent, unaccom
panied by any reflex act of the mind, by Avhich we gain
all our primary knowledge. "Merely literary men,1'
says Wilson, taking the thought from Verplanck, " are

172 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
slow to admit that vulgar minds can have any rational
perception of truths involving great and high contem
plation. They overlook the distinction between the
nice analysis of principles, the accurate statement of
definitions, logical inferences, and the solution of diffi
culties, and the structure of our own thoughts and the play
of the affections. They discern not betAveen the theory
of metaphysical science and the first truths and rational
instincts which are implanted in the breasts of all, and
which prepare them to see the glory of the gospel, to
feel its influence, and to argue from both for the divinity
of Christianity. The one is an elevating employment
of the intellect ; the other, the germs and seeds of all
intellectual and moral knoAvledge, Avhich lie dormant
till they are called forth by occasions, and then burst
forth into life and power."*
Ground of martyrdom. — And this evidence, being
thus universal, sIioavs us the true reason of that hold
Avhich Christianity has upon the minds of men, and of
the place Avhich it holds in the earth as a leavening and
extending power. It is through this that the weak are
made strong and the timid brave ; that persons of every
description have become martyrs, equally in the first
freshness and power of the religion, and near the seat
of its origin, and, in these last days, in the remote
island, and among the semi-barbarous people, of Mada
gascar. I know it is said that all religions can claim
their martyrs, and that for a man to die for his religion
only shows that he is sincere, and not at all the truth
of the religion. But it seems to me that the Christian
religion is peculiar in this respect, on the ground we
are uoav considering, and that its martyrdoms do show
something more. As between Christian sects, martyr
dom can, indeed, show nothing concerning the truth of
particular tenets ; and it may be doubted whether other
* Wilson's Evidences.

CHRISTIANITY AND MARTYRDOM. 173
religions have had their martyrs, in the strict sense of
that Avord. In confirmation of Avhat other religion can
it be shoAvn that any considerable number of persons
have laid clown their lives solely from their belief in the
religion, unconnected Avith ambition, or the revolution
of parties? I know of none. What other religion
could go to the Island of Madagascar, and, not only
without any temptation of honor or gain, but in oppo
sition to every motive of this kind, and to the entreaties
of friends, could induce persons to change their religion,
and then lead them, solely for the sake of the new
religion, to Avander about destitute, afflicted, tormented,
and finally to lay doAvn their lives ? And here Ave see
only the operation of the same principle that led per
sons of all descriptions, under the Roman emperors,
to submit to the loss of all, and to martyrdom. Such
martyrs, — the most enlightened philosophers and schol
ars, multitudes of the common people, women, and even
children, evidently upheld by the same convictions, —
I contend, are peculiar to the Christian religion. The
history of the world can show nothing like them ; and
whoever will consider them candidly, must confess that
they show, not merely the sincerity of those who suf
fered, but the adaptation of the religion to take a deep
hold of the human mind, and its power to produce
conviction, in the manner of which I am now speaking.
In this power we rejoice. We point it out to the
infidel. We say to him that, as long as this poAver
remains, his Avarfare against Christianity must be in vain.
We tell him that he may argue, may ridicule, may scoff;
may think, with the mild Pliny, that " such inveterate
obstinacy ought to be punished ; " and he may persecute
and kill ; — but that he can never cause the true Chris
tian to yield his faith, or prevent the working of those
secret but mighty affinities by which he becomes more
attached to it than to kindred, or wealth, or hfe.

174 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Satisfactory to Christians. — If, then, this evidence
is of a nature so unexceptionable ; if it is promised in
the Scriptures ; if we find such evidence of it in the
lives of Christians, — we may Avell conclude that it
must be, to them, a rational and satisfactory ground of
conviction that the religion is true.
Should be to others. — But the unbeliever may say,
This may be all very well for the Christian himself, but
it can be no evidence to me. Let us see, then, whether
it would be no evidence to a candid man ; Avhether an
attempt is not made in this, as in so many other cases,
to judge of religion in a way and by a standard differ
ent from those adopted in other things. To me it
seems that the simple question is, whether this kind of
evidence is good for the Christian himself; for if it is,
then the candid inquirer is as much bound to take his
testimony as he is to take that of a man who has been
sick, respecting a remedy that has cured him. If a
large number of persons, whose testimony would be
received on any other subject, should say that they had
been cured of a fever by a particular remedy, there is
no man Avho would say that their testimony was of no
account in making up his mind respecting that remedy,
though he had not himself had the experience upon
which the testimony was founded. If it is said that the
evidence to the Christian himself is not well founded,
and is fanatical, very well. Let that point be fairly
settled. But if it be a good argument for him, then we
ask that his testimony should be received on this subject
as it Avould be on any other. The testimony is that of
many witnesses ; and I am persuaded that a fair exami
nation of facts, and a careful induction, after the manner
of Bacon, would settle forever the validity of this argu
ment, and the proper force of this testimony. Every
circumstance conspires to give it force. It is only from
its truth that Ave can account for its surprising uniformity,

IDENTITY OF CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 175
I may say identity, in every age, in every country, and
when given by persons of every variety of talent and of
mental culture. Compare the statements given, respect
ing the poAver of the gospel, by Jonathan Edwards, by
a converted Greenlancler, a Sandwich Islander, and a
Hottentot, and you will find in them all a substantial
identity. They have all repented, and believed, and
loved, and obeyed, and rejoiced ; they all speak of
similar conflicts, and of similar supports. And their
statements respecting these things have the more force,
because they are not given as testimony, but seem
rather like notes, varying, indeed, in fullness and poAver,
Avhich may yet be recognized as coming from a similar
instrument touched by a single hand. If I might allude
here to the comparison, by Christ, of the Spirit to the
wind, I should say that in every climate, and under all
circumstances, that divine Agent calls forth the same
sweet notes whenever he touches the iEolian harp of a
soul renewed. And this uniform testimony does not
come as a naked expression of mere feeling ; it is
accompanied Avith a change of life, and with fruits meet
for repentance, showing a permanent change of princi
ple. This testimony, too, is given under circumstances
best fitted to secure truth — given in affliction, in pov
erty, on the bed of death. How many, how very many,
have testified in their final hour to the sustaining poAver
of the gospel ! And Avas there ever one, did any body
ever hear of one, who repented, at that hour, of having
been a Christian? Why not, then, receive this testi
mony? Will you make your own experience the
standard of what you will believe? Then we invite
you to become a Christian, and gain this experience,
Will you be like the man who did not believe in the
existence of Jupiter's moons, and yet refused to look
through the telescope of Galileo for fear he should see
them ? Put the eye of faith to the gospel, and if you

176 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
do not see new moral heavens, I have nothing more to
say. Will you refuse to believe that there is an echo
at a particular spot, to believe that the lowest sound
can be conveyed around the circuit of a whispering
gallery, and yet refuse to put your ear at the proper
point to test these facts ? Put your ear to the gospel,
and if you do not hear voices gathered from three
worlds, I have nothing more to say. Will you refuse
to believe that the colors of the rainboAV are to be seen
in a drop of water, and yet not put your eye at the
angle at which alone they can be seen? Or, if you
think there is nothing analogous to this in moral mat
ters, — as there undoubtedly is, — will you hear men
speaking of the high enjoyment they derive from view
ing works of art, and think them deluded and fanatical
till your taste is so cultivated that you may have the
same enjoyment? Surely, nothing can be more unrea
sonable than for men to make their own experience, in
such cases, a standard of belief, and yet refuse the
only conditions on which experience can be had.
Conclusion. — I have thus endeavored to show, first,
that there is in Christianity a self-evidencing power,
and that the experimental knowledge of a Christian is
to him a valid ground of belief; and, secondly, that a
fair-minded man will receive his testimony respecting
that knowledge as he would respecting the colors in a
drop, or the echo at a particular point, or the pleasures
of taste, or any other experience which he had not
himself been in a position to gain.
ARGUMENT VII.
FITNESS AND TENDENCY OF CHRISTIANITY TO BECOME UNIVERSAL.
There is one argument more, intimately connected
with the adaptation of Christianity to the constitu
tion of man, to which I now proceed. A fitness and

OBJECT OF CHRISTIANITY. 177
tendency to become universal must be discernible in a
religion coming from God, and claiming to be given
for the race ; and if there is the adaptation for which I
have contended, then Christianity must have this fitness
and tendency.
What it is not — its object as related to human insti
tutions. — The fitness, however, of Christianity to
become universal, arises as much from what it is not
as from Avhat it is, and can be fully appreciated only
by looking at the relation of its object to all human
institutions. That object is a moral object, with no.
taint of any thing earthly about it ; and, in pursuing
it, Christianity keeps itself entirely aloof from all polit
ical and local questions. It regards man solely as a
moral and spiritual being, under the government of
God ; and its object, distinctly announced from the
first, is to save men from the consequences of trans
gression under that government. " His name shall be
called Jesus," said the angel, "for he shall save his
people from their sins;" — not from the Roman yoke —
not primarily from any earthly evil — but from their
sins. Upon this one object Christianity steadily keeps
its eye. The Son of man came " to seek and to save
that which was lost." It is simply a system of salvation
from sin, and its consequences under the government
of God ; and whatever may be his age, or language, or
country, or the form of government under which he
lives, it is equally adapted to every child of Adam who
is led to ask the question, "What must I do to be
saved ? " It comes with pardon and hope to every one
who feels the guilt of sin, or who is subject to bondage
through fear of death. There are certain great moral
interests which are common to the race, — certain
chords in the human heart which vibrate whenever
they are struck ; and it is remarkable that Christianity
concerns itself only with those interests, and strikea

178 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
only those chords. It has to do with individuals as
guilty under the government of God, without respect
to their earthly relations ; and hence it has the power
to enter in as a new element, and to pervade and en
lighten every form of society, as the sunlight enters
into and pervades the body of the atmosphere. Hence,
in its original diffusion, regarding man simply as man,
it swept as freely as the breeze of heaven past all terri
torial and national limits. All other religions are
adapted to particular climates ; are upheld, like that
of the Jews, by association with particular places ; but,
since Christ has entered into the true tabernacle above,
incense and a pure offering may go up from every place.
All other religions are connected with the government,
and we have no evidence that without such connection
they could be sustained. But " Christianity, as a spir
itual system, is always superior to every visible insti
tution." Some systems and institutions may oppose
greater obstacles to its progress than others ; but none
can become Christianity, nor can they do any thing for
it except to give it free scope to do its own work upon
individual character. It is not monarchy, it is not
democracy, it is not Episcopacy, it is not Congregation
alism ; it is something Avhich may pervade and bless
society where any of these exist, and Avhich may be
AvithdraAvn and leave either of these standing as an
organization through which human passion and corrup
tion shall work out their own unmixed and unmitigated
effects. Hence, too, Christianity attacks no visible
institutions as such. It goes to the slave, and tells
him he is the Lord's freedman ; it goes to the master,
and tells him he is Christ's servant. It tells both master
and slave that they are brethren. It goes to the king,
and tells him he is the subject of a higher poAver ; it
goes to the subject, and tells him he may become a
king and priest to God. It raises all men to the level

MODE OF AVORKING. 179
of a common immortality ; it depresses them all to the
level of a common sinfulness and exposure ; it subjects
all to a common accountability ; it offers to all a com
mon salvation ; it proposes to all a laAV of perfect equity
and a principle of universal love ; and then it leaves
these principles and motives to work their own effect
— assured that, in proportion as they act, they must
change the nature, if not the name, of all visible insti
tutions opposed to its spirit. It is capable of taking
human organizations, as culture took the peach when it
Avas dAvarfed and its fruit Avas poisonous, and of caus
ing other juices and vital fluids to circulate through the
pores of those same organizations, and far other fruit
to hang upon their branches. It understands perfectly
that no change of form is of any permanent value with
out a change of spirit ; and seeks (and oh that men
Avould learn this lesson ! ) a change of form only
through a change of spirit. Hence it Avorks like leaven,
that passes on from particle to particle, and finds no
limit till the whole lump is leavened. Hence, too, I
may remark here, Christianity is the most formidable
of all foes to tyrants and to every form of oppression.
No walls, or fortifications, or armed legions, can keep
it out, and no weapon can smite it. Working silently
upon the consciences of men, it is impossible to say
where it is, or to what extent, and the opposer knows
not Avhere to strike. The very executioner chosen by
persecution offers himself to die with the martyr ; and
when it is supposed that the two witnesses are dead,
and there is great rejoicing, they suddenly rise and
stand upon their feet.
Positive adaptations. — But the fitness of Christianity
to become universal does not result from any proper
ties merely negative, nor from the possibility of its
becoming so ; but from all those adaptations by Avhich
it appears that it contains the moral laws of God, and

180 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
lays down the only conditions of individual and social
well-being. Of some of these adaptations I have
spoken ; and, for my present purpose, it can not be
necessary that I should speak further, because, Avhat-
ever men may think of the divine origin of Christianity,
— however far they may be from yielding practically
to its claims, — they almost universally concede that its
tendency is good, and that society is improved just so
far as it prevails. This is conceded by philosophers,
and politicians, and men of the world; and, with the
exception of a few of the lowest and most bigoted of
them, by infidels themselves. They can not deny its
tendency to promote industry, and honesty, and tem
perance, and peace, and good order. And, if this is
so, then Christianity has a positive fitness to become
universal in the same way that any truth or practical
knoAvledge has ; and, if there is ever to be any thing
like universal order, it must take its place as a part
of it.
If fitness, then tendency. — But, if there is this fit
ness in Christianity to become universal, then it must
have a tendency to become so, or else there is neither a
tendency to progress, nor a law of progress, for man.
The whole of our hope here rests on the belief that
there is inwrought into the constitution of things a
tendency by which those things that have a fitness to
promote happiness shall gradually remove obstacles,
and become universal. That the Saviour intended his
religion should become universal is plain, because he
left it in charge to his disciples to preach it to every
creature. That a real apprehension of its truths, and
of their value to the race, would lead a benevolent
mind to Avish to communicate them, is equally plain ;
and hence Ave say that, from the command of Christ,
and from the very nature of Christian truth and of
Christian motives, Christians themselves can never rest

TENDENCY TO PREVAIL. 181
till they have carried this gospel over the earth. But
Ave say, further than this, that Christianity has the same
tendency to prevail that reason has to prevail over
brute force, or that virtue has to prevail over vice, or
truth over error, — the same tendency that correct doc
trines respecting peace, or justice, or political economy,
have to prevail over those that are false. Man is
capable of scientific insight, and he seeks to be happy.
There are certain moral laAvs of God, as fixed and
unchangeable as any physical laws, in accordance with
which alone he can be so. Those laws, Ave say, are a
part of Christianity, and that all true progress in society
must be a progress toAvard the realization and estab
lishment of those laAvs. We say that every step in the
progress of moral and political science shows that, Avhen
these shall be complete, they will be seen to be only the
scientific expression of the precepts and laAvs of Chris
tianity. Hence there is the same tendency to univer
sality in Christianity, — not as a mode of salvation, but
in its earthly aspects, — that there is to any advancement
and progress in morals, or in politics, or in political
economy. The true laAvs of these, and of human, hap
piness as depending on them, will be found to be iden
tical Avith the spirit of Christianity, and they can never
be practically applied except as that spirit prevails.
Conclusion. — Thus we see a preparation made, in
the adaptation of Christianity to the nature and Avants
of man as man ; in the command of Christ ; in the na
ture of Christian love and of Christian motives ; and in
the identity of Christianity, in some of its aspects, Avith
moral and political science, for that final and universal
triumph predicted by the prophets and Avaited for by
the church ; and through these, in connection with that
divine aid which is promised and has never been Avith-
held, Ave think it rational to expect, not only that it
will be perpetuated till the end of time, but that "the
M

182 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
mountain of the Lord's house will be established in the
top of the mountains, and that all nations will flow
unto it." ARGUMENT VIII.
CHRISTIANITY HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN THE -WORLD.
Having thus spoken of the continuance of Christian
ity till the end of time, I Avill close this lecture by
observing that, in substance, if not in form, it has con
tinued from the beginning. That it should have been
always in the world, is mentioned by Pascal as the
mark of a religion from God. It is a mark Avhich we
might expect Avould belong to the true religion, and
this mark Christianity, and that alone, has. The pa
triarchal, the JeAvish, and the Christian dispensations,
are evidently but the unfolding of one general plan.
In the first we see the folded bud ; in the second, the
expanded leaf; in the third, the blossom and the fruit.
And iioav, hoAv sublime the idea of a religion thus com
mencing in the earliest daAvn of time ; holding on its
way through all the revolutions of kingdoms and the
vicissitudes of the race ; receiving neAv forms, but ahvays
identical in spirit ; and, finally, expanding and embra
cing in one great brotherhood the Avhole family of man !
Who can doubt that such a religion was from God ?

LECTURE VII.
ARGUMENT NINTH : CHRISTIANITY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ORI
GINATED BY MAN.
If we could possibly be called on to argue the ques
tion Avhether the ocean Avas made by God, or Avhether
it Avas an artificial salt lake, made by man, Ave should
show, on the one hand, that it Avas worthy of God, and
that it corresponded with his other Avorks ; and, on the
other, that it was impossible it should have been made
by man. Every fact respecting its vastness and depth
Avould show that it was worthy of God, and every rela
tion that could be pointed out betAveen that and the
other works of God would be an argument to show
that they Avere fashioned by the same hand. Probably
no one could see the sun evaporating its Avaters, the
atmosphere bearing them up in clouds, the clouds pour
ing them doAvn upon the waiting tribes of vegetation,
the springs Avelling them up for the service of animals
and of man, Avithout being convinced that He Avho made
the sun, and the air, and the grass, and the animals,
and man, made also the ocean. Such relations of
mutual dependence could exist only in the different
departments of the works of one Being.
Method of the argument. — Hitherto, I have endeav
ored to show that Christianity was Avorthy of God, and
that it so corresponds Avith his other works, that He
(183)

184 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
who made nature, and the mind, must have been the
author of Christianity. I now proceed to show that it
could not have been produced by man. It may, per
haps, amount to the same thing, whether I attempt to
show that Christianity must have come from God, or
could not have come from man ; but as the terms of
comparison are different, it will lead to a presenta
tion of the subject in an entirely different point
of view.
Reason for continuing it. — I continue to pursue this
method of proof, bringing Christianity, in different
relations, alongside of the human mind, because it is
perfectly within the reach of every person of good
sense, whether learned or unlearned. We know the
capacities of the human mind, and we are capable of
forming, within certain limits, a judgment, respecting
what it can or can not do, upon which we may rely.
The poAvers of the mind are limited no less than those
of the body ; and as we can judge what man can do, in
given circumstances, by his physical strength, and, in
some cases, be sure we are right, so we can judge Avhat
he can do intellectually and morally, in given circum
stances, and, in some cases, be sure we are right. The
question, then, is, whether it is possible that the human
mind should have originated the Christian system,
under the circumstances in Avhich it was placed. Had
unassisted man the capacity to originate such a system ?
Was there any motive to lead him to labor for its estab
lishment ? Upon this point I have already incidentally
touched, but it requires further attention.
Christianity to be accounted for. — And here I
observe, that the question concerning the origin of
Christianity can not be disposed of by a general refer
ence to the facility with which mankind are deluded,
and the frequency of impostures in the Avorld. This may

CHRISTIANITY AND THE GULF-STREAM. 185
Ho when speaking of the origin of local and temporary
movements, but not Avhen Ave approach the deepest and
mightiest movement that has appeared on the earth.
It is admitted that delusions are not uncommon ; that
fanaticism, and enthusiasm, and interest, and fraud,
and, possibly, all these combined, may go a great way ;
but is it possible that any thing thus originated should
overturn systems the most deeply seated, and receive
the homage of the highest intellect and of the most
extensive learning the world has ever seen, and gain
vigor by opposition, and survive, for eighteen hundred
years, every change in the forms of society, and, at the
end of that time, stand at the head of those influences
which are leading manldnd on to a higher destiny?
For such a religion, or delusion, or movement, to arise,
is not an every-day occurrence. It is altogether unpre
cedented in the history of the race ; and to put aside
the question of its origin by telling us that mankind are
easily deceived, is much the same as it would be to put
aside the question about the origin of the Gulf Stream
by telling us that water is an element very easily moved
in different directions. Certainly, water is a fluctuating
and unstable element ; but to say this, is not to account
for a broad current in mid ocean that has been uniform
since time began ; nor is it any account of a uniform
current of thought and feeling, setting in one direction
for eighteen hundred years, to say that the human mind
is fluctuating and unstable ; that man has been often
deceived ; and that there have been great extravagances
in belief. The origin of such a movement is to he
investigated, and not to be shrouded in mist. The New
Testament gives a full and satisfactory account of it ;
and it behooves those who do not receive that account,
to substitute some other that shall, at least, be plausi
ble. This they have failed to do.
Five causes of Gibbon. — Perhaps no one Avas more

186 EVLDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
competent to do this, or has been more successful, than
Gibbon ; and yet the five causes which he assigns for
the spread of Christianity — namely, " the zeal of
Christians," "their doctrine of a future life," "the mi
raculous powers ascribed to the primitive church,"
¦"their pure and austere morals," and "their union" —
are obviously effects of that very religion of which they
are assigned as the cause.
Must be from God. — To me, when I look at this
religion, taking its point of departure from the earliest
period in the history of the race ; when I see it anal
ogous to nature ; when I see it comprising all that
natural religion teaches, and introducing a new system
in entire harmony with it, but Avhich could not have
been deduced from it ; when I see it commending itself
to the conscience of man, containing a perfect code of
morals, meeting all his moral wants, and unbosoming
the only true principles of economical and political
science ; when I see in it the best possible system of
excitement and restraint for all the faculties ; when I see
hoAv simple it is in its principle, and yet in hoAv many
thousand Avays it mingles in with human affairs, and
modifies them for good, so that it is adapted to become
universal ; when I see it giving an account of the ter
mination of all things, worthy of God and consistent
with reason ; — to me, when I look at all these things,
it no more seems possible that the system of Christian
ity should have been originated or sustained by man,
than it does that the ocean should have been made by
him. These considerations, however, have been ad
duced to elucidate that phase of the argument by which
it Avas intended to show that the religion must have
come from God ; and I shall not further apply them
here except as —
Cardinal points taken for granted. — I observe, that
*he more? we examine the state of opinions among the

END PROPOSED BY CHRISTIANITY. 187
Jews, or among the surrounding nations, at the time
Christianity arose, the greater will be our surprise that
it should be Avhat it is, respecting almost all those car
dinal points Avhich it does not so much reveal as take
for granted. Such are the unity and spirituality of
God, his holy character, the spirituality of his Avorship,
his paternal relation to us, the doctrine of a resurrec
tion and of human accountability. The most of these
doctrines are not so much systematically taught, as
implied, in Christianity ; and they are not only consist
ent Avith reason, but are essential as conditions to the
end Avhich Christianity proposes to itself.
End impossible to an enthusiast. — And this leads
me to observe, that the end proposed by Christianity,
distinctly announced from the first, and perseveringly
adhered to, was one which could not have been adopted
either by an enthusiast or an impostor. In the very first
annunciation of the gospel, it was said by the angel,
" Thou shalt call his name Jesus ; for he shall save his
people from their sins." Christ himself said that he
came "to seek and to save that Avhich Avas lost" —
"that the Avorld through him might be saved." Peter
calls upon men to " repent, and be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins ; " and, again,
to "repent and be converted, that their sins may be
blotted out." Nothing can be plainer than that the
great end of Christianity is to deliver men from the
poAver and the consequenees of sin under the government
of God. With the light Avhich Ave noAV have, Ave can
see that the object of a religion from God must be to
correct the state of the heart ; but this object could
never have been adopted by enthusiasm. It is not of
a character to awaken enthusiasm, for it implies a recog
nition of guilt, and, moreover, it involves a clear per
ception of the deepest and most fundamental truth on
Avhich the reformation of the world depends. Before

188 evidences of Christianity.
the miseries of the world can be removed, their cause
must be known ; and this shows an insight into the
cause of human wretchedness such as we find nowhere
else. Men are unhappy, perhaps wretched, and they
impute it to fate, to others, to the want of wealth or
of external advantages, or to the constitution of society ;
but Christianity takes it for granted that sin, moral
guilt, is the true cause, the cause of all the other
causes, of the unhappiness of man ; and that, in saving
him from this, it saves him from every thing that a
rational being has to fear. And is not this so ? Does
not man bring upon himself, by his sins, the greater
part of the evils which he suffers? Remove war, and
the fear of it ; remove dishonesty of every kind ; re
move indolence, and intemperance, and licentiousness,
and envy, and detraction, and revenge, and pride, and
a selfish ambition, — and let the virtues opposite to
these reign ; remove, also, those apprehensions and
terrors of conscience, and that fear of death, Avhich
come in consequence of sin, — and this Avorld Avould
become comparatively a paradise. Christianity, then,
strikes at the true cause of all the miseries of man.
Instead of endeavoring to check or control particular
streams of evil, it goes at once to the fountain Avhence
all those streams Aoav, and would seal that up forever.
To my mind, nothing can be clearer than that moral
evil is the true cause of the miseries of the world ; but
can this deep, and sober, and philosophical view of the
cause of human misery, and an attempt to remove it,
be the product of enthusiasm? Of all feelings, a con
sciousness of guilt is that which most represses enthu
siasm. An enthusiast, therefore, could not come to
those only who Avould acknoAvledge themselves guilty,
and call them to the uiiAvelcome duty of repentance,
and of renouncing cherished indulgences and habits.
He could not say, " They that are whole need not a

END IMPOSSIBLE TO AN LMPOSTOR. 189
physician, but they that are sick ; " "I am not come to
call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
Or an impostor. — But if such an object could not
have been selected by an enthusiast, much less could it
have been by an impostor. An impostor must have a
personal and selfish motive ; but suppose this object
gained, of what advantage would it be to him? Is it
not a contradiction to suppose an impostor to call upon
men to repent of all sin, Avhen, in the very act of thus
calling upon them, he is guilty of one of the blackest
sins of which man is capable ? And, further, an impos
tor estimates the chances of success. But let any man
look at the state of things when Christ appeared, and
see what chance there could have been, in the eye of
an impostor, that such an object should succeed. The
great doctrines which lie at the foundation of repent
ance Avere but very imperfectly known. Superstition
and formality had almost entirely excluded the spirit
of any true religion, Avhether natural or revealed. Sin,
as such, Avas not disliked or deplored ; and if in any
case it should be, the Jews had a mode for its removal,
as they supposed, divinely constituted, and Avith which
they Avere satisfied ; while the Gentiles Avere attached to
their own religions, and hated and despised the JeAvs.
Now, in such a state of things, for an impostor — a
young man without learning, or wealth, or influential
friends ; a Jew, Avho Avould naturally have shared in
the prejudices and national feelings of his countrymen
— to arise and call upon men to repent of sin in gen
eral, and believe in him ; at the same time proposing
no definite scheme, either political or ecclesiastical ;
directing the energies of his followers to nothing that
could gratify their ambition, or love of gain or pleas
ure, on earth ; and proposing rewards, hereafter, that
can be enjoyed only as men are morally good, — and
yet to make such an impression upon the Avorld as to

190 evidences of Christianity.
overturn systems that had stood for ages, — does seem
to me far more improbable than any miracle recorded
in the Bible. The disparity betAveen the means em
ployed and the effect to be produced Avould not be
greater, if a single, unaided man should attempt to
unseat Mount Atlas, and lift it from its bed. In mak
ing it its object to remove guilt, and to rectify the state
of the heart before God, Christianity stands alone ; and
we can iioav see that this is the only ultimate object
Avhich a religion from God could propose. To my
mind, therefore, the simple choice of this object,
requiring such breadth and accuracy of view, so im
possible to have been chosen by enthusiasm or impos
ture, taken in connection Avith the movement produced
by Christianity, is a sufficient proof that it originated
with God, and Avas accompanied by a divine power.
No adaptation to prejudices. — But perhaps the suc
cess in carrying forward this object may be accounted
for by a skillful adaptation of some features of the
system to the prejudices, orAvants, or habits of thought,
of the age. Did Christ, then, adapt his system to the
prejudices and expectations of the Jews ? So far from
this, nothing could have been more strongly opposed
to all the habits of thought and long-cherished associ
ations both of Jews and of Gentiles. This point has
been most ably presented by Bishop Sumner, of Avhose
labors I shall avail myself in the particulars I shall
adduce respecting it.
Appealed to no sect. — The JeAvs were divided into
three great sects — the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and
Essenes. The sentiments and modes of thought of the
first two are sufficiently knoAvn. The Essenes Avere a
comparatively small sect, professing a community of
goods and the most austere celibacy. Among these
sects were found the great and influential men of the

CHRISTIANITY AND THE JEAVISH SYSTEM. 191
nation : but neither of these did Christ endeavor in
the least to propitiate ; he attacked them all equally.
With the general tone of thought, and laxity of morals,
of the Sadducees, his whole system Avas in direct con
flict ; and Ave all knoAV hoAv terrible Avere his denuncia
tions of the Pharisees and scribes, as hypocrites and
formalists, and as having put false glosses upon the
law of God. The spirit of sect is among the most
bitter and formidable that can be aroused ; but, instead
of taking advantage of this, or of commending himself
to any party, Christ armed every influence that could
be drawn from such sources against himself.
Opposed the whole Jewish system. — But, though the
JeAvs were divided into sects, there were many points
Avhich they held in common as JeAvs, and Avhich Avere
to them the ground of a strong and exclusive national
feeling. If Ave can suppose it possible that Christ him
self should have risen superior to all the prejudices and
associations of his nation, yet, if we look at him either
as an enthusiast or an impostor, Ave can not suppose he
would have gone counter to every feeling that Avas
strongly and distinctively Jewish ; much less can we
suppose he would have attempted to bring to an end a
system which he himself, in common with all his coun
trymen, acknoAvledged to be from God, and to the rites
of Avhich he conformed. Yet so did Christ.
Jewish notions of the Messiah. — Hence I observe,
that, while Christ claimed to be the Messiah expected
by the JeAvs, his Avhole appearance, and character, and
object, were totally opposed to all their interpretations
of prophecy, and wishes, and long-cherished anticipa
tions. In the language of Sumner, "They looked for
a conqueror, a temporal king, and had been accustomed
to interpret in this sense all the prophecies Avhich fore
told his coming. The Jews were at the time suffering
under a foreign yoke, which they bore Avith great unea-

192 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
siness and impatience. And whether we suppose Jesus
to have been an impostor or enthusiast, this is the
character which he would naturally assume. If he
were an enthusiast, his mind would have been filled
with the popular belief, and his imagination fired with
the national ideas of victory and glory. If he Avere an
impostor, the general expectation would coincide Avith
the only motive to Avhich his conduct can be attributed
— ambition and the desire of personal aggrandizement.
How, then, can we explain his rejecting, from the first,
and throughout his Avhole career, all the advantage
which he might have derived from the previous expec
tation of the people, and even his turning it against
himself and his cause? Why should he, as a Jew,
have interpreted the prophetic Scriptures differently
from all other JeAvs? Why should he, as an impostor,
have deprived himself of all personal benefit from his
design ? " *
Set aside the ceremonial law. — Again: "No feeling
could be stronger, or better founded, than the venera
tion of the Jews for the Mosaic laAv. The account of
its origin Avhich had come down to them from their
ancestors ; its singularity ; the effect that singularity
had produced in establishing a wide separation between
themselves and other nations; above all, the important
results which they expected from obeying it, as entitling
them to the favor and protection of God ; all these
circumstances united to render that attachment to their
national law, which is common among every people,
inconceivably strong in the case of the Jews." Yet
Christ said to these same Jews, "The law and the
prophets ivere until John." Himself acknowledging its
divine origin, he yet abrogated the ceremonial law, and
put new interpretations upon the moral laAv. Of the
distinction between these he had the most accurate
* Sumner's Evidences, chap. ii.

EXCLUSIVENESS DESTROYED. 193
perception ; for, Avhile he struck doAvn the one, declar
ing that the hour had come in which men need no longer
worship at Jerusalem, but that every where the true
worshipers should Avorship the Father in spirit and in
truth, he yet declared that heaven and earth should pass
away sooner than one jot or tittle of the moral laAV
should fail. But though he retained the laAv as the
moral code of the universe, he yet abrogated it so far
as it applied exclusively to the JeAvs, and in all those
respects in which it Avas chiefly valued by them.
Destroyed exclusiveness. — Further : " It Avas a favor
ite belief among the JeAvs, confirmed by the Avhole
course of their history, that their nation enjoyed the
exclusive regard and protection of the true God. But
the first principle of the Christian religion tended to
dislodge the JeAvs from these high pretensions, and to
admit all other nations, indiscriminately, within the
pale of God's church."
Jerusalem, the temple. — And, once more : "The city
of Jerusalem Avas universally believed to be secure
under the especial care of God, as being the seat of
the only true rehgion, and its temple consecrated to
his peculiar service by divine institution and ancient
usage. Yet Christ and his disciples declared that total
destruction Avas quickly approaching both the temple
and the city."
Neither Jews nor Gentiles conciliated. — Thus Christ
not only armed against himself the spirit of sect, but
also that peculiar national feeling which was stronger
among the Jews than among any other people. But
Avhile he did this, and while it Avas declared, from the
first, that he should be a light to lighten the Gentiles,
he himself never went among the Gentiles, but declared
that he was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. All this, Ave may safely say, neither an
enthusiast nor an impostor could have done.

194 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Essential to a universal religion. — But, while the
origin of Christianity is so anomalous and inexplicable
on the supposition that the agents Avere actuated by
merely human motives, every thing becomes perfectly
consistent and reasonable the moment Ave suppose they
were the agents of God to introduce a neAv and universal
religion. If such a religion Avas to be introduced, the
Avhole JeAvish economy must of necessity have been
removed. But was a Jewish peasant, unlettered and
untraveled, going up Avith his countrymen every year
to Jerusalem, the person to see this? Was he to have
the inconceivable arrogance to assume to himself the
authority to remove that dispensation, at the same time
that he admitted it to be from God ?
If an impostor, Christ not the author of Christianity.
— I proceed to another point : Extraordinary as Avas
the character of Christ, and unaccountable as Avas his
conduct Avhile he was alive, yet, if Ave suppose him to
have been either an enthusiast or an impostor, there
must have been some one among his disciples, after
his death, Avhose character and conduct Avere still more
extraordinary and unaccountable ; for it is to be remem
bered that, on this supposition, Christ can not, Avith any
propriety, be said to be the originator of the system
which bears his name. This is a point not sufficiently
noticed, if indeed it has been noticed at all.
It will not be denied that the resurrection of Christ
lies at the foundation of the system. It did so in the
mind of Paul Avhen he wrote to the Corinthians that,
if Christ Avere not raised, their faith Avas vain ; and
it has been regarded as fundamental by Christians ever
since. Did Christ, then, or did he not, know the place
which his death, and the story of his resurrection, Avere
to have in the Christian system? If Ave suppose him
to have been any thing except what he claimed to be,

AUTHOR OF CHRISTIANITY  WHO? 195
he could not have known this. Without the gift of
prophecy, he could not have known that the Roman
governor would sentence him to death. Besides, it is
absurd to' suppose that any enthusiast or impostor could
frame a scheme of Avhich his oavii death on the cross,
and a story of his resurrection, to be started and sub
stantiated by others, should form a necessary part.
His death must, then, on the supposition on Avhich Ave
are arguing, have been unexpected, both to himself and
to his folio Avers. His schemes, Avhatever they Avere,
must have perished with him ; for of the Christian
system as contained in the New Testament, involving
his own death and resurrection, he could by no possi
bility have had any conception. This system did nol
become possible till after his death. Previous to that,
the very foundation of it had no existence, nor could
it even have had if his death had not been public ; for,
otherAvise, his death would not have been certain, and
the story of the resurrection Avould have excited no
attention. Who, then, was that man, the true author of Chris
tianity, of quick and original thought, who, in that
moment Avhen the JeAvs supposed they had triumphed,
when the plans of Christ himself, Avhatever they Avere,
had failed, saw, from the very fact of the crucifixion,
that a story of a resurrection might be framed, and
be so connected with the former life and instructions
of Christ, and with the JeAvish Scriptures, as to form
the basis of a new religion? Who was this master
spirit, — for the unity of the system shows that it must
have been the product of one mind, — Avho was so
prompt in combining the fearful fact of his master's
execution, and the strange story of the resurrection,
with his former life and teachings, so as to make one
connected Avhole ? Who rallied the dispersed and dis
heartened disciples, opened to them his plan of deception,

196 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
assigned to each his part, and induced them to stand
firm by the cause even unto death ? Certainly, if Christ
was not what he claimed to be, there was some one con
cerned, in the origin of the Christian system, who Avas
a greater and more extraordinary person than he, and
the true author of that system is unknown.
Scheme impossible. — But here let me ask, supposing
such a scheme to have been originated, whether any
person of common sense could possibly have hoped for
its success ; whether any but madmen could have been
persuaded to engage in it. For Avhat was the scheme ?
It was nothing less than to persuade all mankind to
receive one as a Saviour, and to believe in him as the
final Judge of the world, who, they themselves acknowl-
edged, had been put to death by crucifixion betAveen
tAvo thieves. And, in order to realize fully what this
undertaking was, Ave must further, first, remember how
alien from all the habits of thought among the Gentiles
and among most of the Jews, how utterly improbable,
the story of a resurrection must have been ; and, sec
ondly, Ave must divest ourselves of all the associations
which we have gathered around the cross, and, going
back to that period, must furnish our minds with those
which were then prevalent. We must remember that
the cross was not only an instrument of public execu
tion peculiarly dreadful, but also peculiarly ignominious j
that it was unlawful to put a Roman citizen to death in
this way ; and that it was a punishment reserved only
to slaves, and persons of the lowest description.
And, now, with these facts before us, I ask whether
the idea of the resurrection of a person thus put to
death, and of his exaltation to be the Saviour of men
and the Judge of the whole earth, occurring to a per
son without any manifestation of miraculous power,
is in accordance with the laws of human thought ;
whether an attempt to make mankind believe such a

CREDULITY OF INFIDELS. 197
story, and to cause them — the very Jews who had
just crucified him, the Gentiles who held all Jews in
contempt, and would more especially despise and abhor
a crucified Jew — whether the attempt to cause them
to forsake their own religions, and to acknowledge
such a Saviour and Judge, is compatible with what
we know of the laws of human action. Can we con
ceive of any enthusiast so utterly Avild, of any impostor:
so utterly foolish, as to suppose he could make such
a story and such a proposition the basis of a religion
which should overthrow all others, and become uni
versal? Can we conceive, not only that such an
attempt should be made, but that it should succeed?
The man who can believe this, can believe any thing-
What an astonishing contrast betAveen such a point of
departure of the Christian religion, and that moment
when a Roman emperor turned his expiring eyes t(>
heaven, and said, " O Galilean, thou hast conquered ! "
And here, again, what is so entirely unaccountable
if we exclude divine agency, is perfectly accounted
for the moment we allow that these men were what
they claimed to be, and were endoAved with power
from on high.
Conduct of the disciples. — I might pursue this trairj
of thought at great length, applying it to the conduct
of the disciples individually and as a body, and partic
ularly to the conversion and subsequent course of the
apostle Paul. I think it can be shown, on the supposi
tion of imposture or enthusiasm, — and no other is
possible without admitting the truth of the religion, — ¦
that the conduct of these men was as contrary to knoAvn
and established laws of human action as any miracle
can be to the laws of nature.
Jewish and Christian system — would not have been
connected. — But I proceed to observe that no enthu
siast or impostor either would or could have effected
N

198 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
that peculiar connection, doctrinal, typical, and prophet
ical, which exists between the Jewish and the Christian
rehgion. This no man would have done. For while,
as I have just shown, they rejected so much, and such
parts, of the system as would excite to the utmost the
hostihty of the Jews, they yet declared it to be identical
in spirit with the Jewish rehgion, and thus presented
themselves at a great disadvantage before the Gentiles.
Accordingly, we find the Roman magistrates speaking
in the most contemptuous manner of the whole thing,
as being a question of Jewish superstition. Thus
Festus, giving an account of Paul's case to Agrippa,
said, "Against whom, when the accusers stood up,
they brought none accusation of such things as I sup
posed, but had certain questions against him of their
own superstition, and of one Jesus, which Avas dead,
whom Paul affirmed to be alive." So* also, when
Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, and the Jews brought
Paul before him, and he was about to defend himself,
Gallio said unto the Jews, "If it were a matter of
wrong or Avicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would
that I should bear with you ; but if it be a question
of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it ;
for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave
them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks
took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and
beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared
for none of those things." This feeling was perfectly
natural, and the author or authors of Christianity must
have known it would be excited if such a connection
was retained between the new religion and that of the
Jews. The course pursued, therefore, was apparently
the most impolitic that could have been adopted,
whether the feelings of the Jews or of the Gentiles
were regarded.
Could not have been. — But this is not the point of

IMPOSSIBILITY OF IMPOSTURE. 199
the greatest difficulty. No impostor, or enthusiast,
could have adopted such a course, if he Avould. For,
first, no human wisdom could have taken the JeAvish
system, complicated as it was, and have draAvn the line
with a judgment so unerring between those things
which ought to be rejected and those which might be
retained ; between those things Avhich Avould, and those
which would not, harmonize Avith the new system.
And, secondly, that a system depending so much upon
facts over which the authors of it had no control, such
as the place of Christ's birth, and the time and maimer
of his death — a system that had never before been
thought of, or provided for — a system springing up at
a particular juncture from enthusiasm or imposture, —
should have so many correspondences with a system
originated thousands of years before, that the attempt
should be universally made to convert the Jews by
reasoning out of their oavii Scriptures, showing that
"so it was Avritten," — and that such a book as the
Epistle to the HebreAvs could be Avritten, — is, to my
mind, inconceivable. Nor is it less inconceivable — what
I have spoken of in a former lecture — that man should
invent a system which Avould permit its advocates to
pass from the JeAvish synagogue, Avhere their whole
argument had been based on the Old Testament Scrip
tures, into a company of Athenian philosophers, and,
with the same confidence, and freedom, and power,
argue with them from the book of nature, and the
moral constitution and Avants of man. Nothing can be
more striking than the contrast betAveen Paul's speech
on Mars Hill and that recorded in the thirteenth of
Acts, in a Jewish synagogue at Antioch, or even that
before Agrippa, in which he made the appeal, "King
Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ? "
On the whole, then, laying aside those analogies
and adaptations by which it is shoAvn that Christianity

200 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
must have come from God, and taking only the par
ticulars adduced in this lecture, have we not reason
to conclude that it could not have been originated by
man? The books. — I have thus far spoken chiefly of the
system of Christianity. I shall devote the remainder
of this lecture to the consideration of some points of
evidence drawn from the books in Avhich its records and
doctrines are contained — confining myself, hoAvever, to
6uch as must be judged of in the same Avay as those
which Ave have been considering. These books open to
us a field of such evidence as every man of good sense
and candor can judge of, scarcely less extensive and
rich than the system itself; but to this my time will
permit me but briefly to refer.
I observe, then, in accordance with the general scope
of this lecture, that no impostor, or enthusiast, either
would, or could, have Avritten the books of the NeAV
Testament. No motive for a forgery. — And, first, no such person
would have Avritten them ; for they are of such a char
acter that it is impossible to assign a motive for a
forgery. The motive could not have been gain. For
Avhat is the relation of these books to Christianity?
Plainly, they presuppose its existence. To suppose
that the books themselves, coming out as a mere bald,
naked fiction, could have been received by both Jews
and Gentiles, and have worked a revolution in society,
and that, too, in an age Avhen printing was unknoAvn,
and the number and influence of books were compar
atively small, is absurd. Christianity must, then, have
sprung up, and spread more or less extensively, and
then the books must have been Avritten to give an
account of its origin and progress. If, then, gain had
been the object, it was necessary to Avrite an account

MOTIArE NOT FAME OR POWER. 201
that could not be discredited. No forgery could have
escaped both neglect and contempt.
Not fame. — Nor could the motive have been fame.
No one, from reading the Gospel of Matthew, would
suspect Avho the author was. He speaks of himself
very little, and mentions that he belonged to a class
who Avere despised and hated by the Jews. Would
any man, could any man, compose the Sermon on the
Mount — a production, for its beauty, and majestic
simplicity, and morality, unequaled since the world
stood — for fame, and then ascribe it to a fictitious
person, or one Avhom he knew to be an impostor?
Nor power. — Nor could his motive have been power
or influence. No bookAvas ever more unskillfully con
structed for such a purpose. It had no connection with
politics or parties, uor does it contain any thing to
give distinction or influence to its author. What, then,
could have induced a man capable of surpassing, as a
moralist and as a deep thinker, all the philosophers of
antiquity, to conceal himself entirely behind an impos
tor ? Hoav could he have induced the world to mistake
that impostor for himself?
The Epistles. — And what is thus true of the Gos
pels, and of the Acts, is equally true of the Epistles.
Indeed, there are some circumstances which would seem
to render a forgery of these peculiarly improbable. If
I were to select the last form in which a forgery would
be likely to come before the world, it would be this.
These are extraordinary productions, and it is incon
ceivable that any man should introduce them into the
world by the fiction of addressing them to a church,
and should connect such admirable sentiments with the
details of their peculiar difficulties, and with salutations
addressed to mairy persons by name. Let any man read
the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, (which
is almost entirely made up of greetings and saluta-

202 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
tions,) and ask himself if it is possible that any man,
writing a letter for the purpose of deception, could have
written it. Observe his particularity. Not only does
Paul himself salute many persons, but Timotheus, his
work-fellow, is joined with him, and Lucius, and Jason,
and Sosipater, his kinsman, and Tertius, who wrote the
Epistle, and Gaius, his host, and Erastus, the chamber
lain of the city, and Quartus, a brother.
If, however, it should be said that there were for
geries afterward, I reply, that all great originals, all
genuine articles of great value, present temptations to
imitation and forgery, but there is no such temptation
to forge the original work. No instance of such a
forgery can be adduced.
Could not have been forged. — The strong point here,
however, is, that no enthusiast or impostor could have
forged these books. This is manifest from the marks
of honesty Avhich they bear upon their face. It is with
books as with men. Without stating to ourselves the
ground of it, we all form a judgment of the character
of men from their appearance. There is in some men
an appearance of openness, and candor, and fairness,
in all they do and say, which can hardly be mistaken.
There is often something in the appearance and modes
of statement of a Avitness on the stand, there are cer
tain undefinable but very appreciable marks of honesty
or of dishonesty, which Avill and ought to go very far,
with one who has been accustomed to observe men
under such circumstances, in fixing the character of his
testimony. Now, this is remarkably the case Avith the
writings of the New Testament. We can not read a
chapter without feeling that we are dealing with real
ities. The writers shoAv no consciousness of any possi
bility that their statements should be doubted. They
have the air of persons who state things perfectly well
known. They express no Avonder ; they do not seem

NARRATIVES MINUTE. 203
to expect that their statements, extraordinary as they
are, will excite any ; they enter into no explanations,
attempt to remoArc oi1 evade no difficulties ; they speak
freely of their oavii faults and Aveaknesses ; they flatter
no one ; they express no malice toward any. There is
no ambition of fine Avriting, no special pleading, no
attempt to conceal circumstances apparently unfavorable
— as the agony of Christ in the garden, so liable to be
imputed to Aveakness ; the fact that he was forsaken of
God on the cross, that Peter denied him, and that the
disciples forsook him and fled. Their narratives are
minute, circumstantial, graphic, giving the names of
persons and the time and the place of events. At every
step they lay themselves open to detection if their ac
counts are, I will not say fabrications, but false in any
respect. Do they give us the Sermon on the Mount?
They tell us tnat multitudes heard it. Do they give an
account of the resurrection of Lazarus ? They give the
place and the family, and state its effects upon different
classes of persons. Do they speak of the Roman gov
ernor, or of the high priest? They mention his name.
There is the Sea of Galilee, and Capernaum, and Jeru
salem, and the temple Avith its goodly stones. There
are the JeAvish feasts, and their sects, and traditions.
Every thing is thoroughly Jewish, and still there is the
publican and the Roman soldier. All these seem to
stand before us with the distinctness of life — not by
the force of rhetorical painting, but by the simple nar
ration of truth.
Number of ihe books — discrepancies. — The chief
difficulty, hoAvever, in fabricating these books, Avould
not have been in giving them singly an air of truth,
hoAvever striking and life-like, but in constructing so
many of them Avith such numerous and incidental marks
of correspondence as to negative entirely the supposi
tion of imposture. And here it ought to be observed,

204 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
that the number of books is itself a strong reason foi
supposing that there was no imposture. An imposture
would naturally have appeared in one well-considered
and well-guarded account. So have all impostures of
the kind appeared. The Koran was wholly written by
one man. So was the Mormon Bible. But here we
have twenty-seven books, or letters, written by eight
different men, each implying the truth of most of the
others, and, as they stand, giving an opportunity for
comparison, and for what the lawyers would call cross-
questioning, which must have proved fatal to any fabri
cation, and to Avhich imposture was never known to
subject itself. We have four independent histories of
Christ. Between these there are a few apparent dis
crepancies respecting minor points, such as Avill always
occur Avhen independent witnesses state their OAvn
impressions respecting a series of events. These lie
for the most part on the surface, are such as might have
been easily avoided, and such as imposture certainly
Avould have avoided. They show that the witnesses
Avere independent, that there was no collusion between
them ; Avhile the points of agreement are so many, and
of such a character, as can be accounted for only on
the supposition of truth.
Conscious security of truth. — Of the advantages thus
furnished, the opposers of Christianity have eagerly
availed themselves ; but they are careful not to state,
if, indeed, they reflect, that the very fact that these
advantages are thus gratuitously furnished shows the
conscious security of truth, and affords the strongest
possible presumption that nothing can be made of them.
The discrepancies are feAv in number, and may be rec
onciled; Avhile the coincidences, evidently undesigned,
between the four Gospels, and between the Gospels and
the Acts, are so numerous as to have been collected,
by Mr. Blunt, into a volume.

UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCES. 205
The Acts, and the Epistles of Paul. — But, as if to
furnish the best possible opportunity for this species
of proof, we have the history of the apostle Paul stated
fully and circumstantially in the Acts ; and then we
have thirteen letters of the same apostle, purporting to
have been Avritten during the period covered by the
history. If, therefore, the history and the letters are
both genuine, we should expect to find the same gen
eral character ascribed to the apostle in the history that
is indicated by his letters ; we should expect to find in
the letters numerous minute and undesigned references,
such as could not be counterfeited, to the facts stated
in the history. And all this Ave do find. The character
of Paul Avas strongly marked, and no one can doubt
Avhether the Epistles ascribed to him were written by
such a man as he is described in the history to have
been. How different are the characters of Paul, of
Peter, and of John ! and yet how perfectly do the
writings ascribed to each correspond Avith his character !
If the history had given us an account of a person like
John, and then these letters had been ascribed to him,
how differently Avould our evidence have stood !
Horce Paulines. — But the argument from the coin
cidences betAveen the different Epistles, and between
the Epistles and the Acts, has been presented in a full
and masterly manner by Paley, in his Horse Paulinae, a
book to Avhich, so far as I know, infidels have judged
it Avise not to attempt an answer. In this argument,
Paley does not notice those coincidences which are
direct and striking, and which might have been fabri
cated ; but those which are evidently undesigned, Avhich
are remote and circuitous, and so woven into the Aveb
that the supposition of art or imposture is impossible.
This argument is best illustrated by examples. Thus
Ave find, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the fol-
loAving passage : " Even unto this present hour we both

206 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted,
and have no certain dAvelling-place ; and labor, work-
ing with our oavii hands." We are expressly told, in
the history, that at Corinth St. Paul labored with his
own hands: "He found Aquila and Priscilla; and,
because he was of the same craft, he abode with them,
and wrought ; for by their occupation they were tent-
makers." But, in the text before us, he is made to say
that he labored "even unto this present hour," that is,
to the time of writing the Epistle, at Ephesus. Now,
in the narration of St. Paul's transactions at Ephesus,
delivered in the nineteenth chapter of the Acts, nothing
is said of his working Avith his oavii hands ; but in the
tAventieth chapter Ave read that, upon his return from
Greece, he sent for the elders of the church at Ephesus
to meet him at Miletus ; and in the discourse which he
there addressed to them we find the following : "I
have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel ; yea,
ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered
unto my necessities, and to them that Avere with me."
That manual labor, therefore, which he had exercised
at Corinth, he continued at Ephesus ; and uot only
so, but continued it during that particular residence at
Ephesus, near the conclusion of Avhich this Epistle Avas
written ; so that he might, with the strictest truth, say,
at the time of Avriting the Epistle, " even unto this
present hour, we labor, working with our own hands."
" The correspondency is sufficient, then, as to the unde-
signedness of it. It is manifest to my judgment that,
if the history in this article had been taken from the
Epistle, this circumstance, if it appeared at all, would
have appeared in its place — that is, in the direct ac
count of St. Paul's transactions at Ephesus. Nor is it
likely, on the other hand, that a circumstance which
is not extant in the history of St. Paul at Ephesus
should have been made the subject of a factitious

UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCES. 207
allusion in an Epistle purporting to be written by him
from that place ; not to mention that the allusion itself,
especially as to time, is too oblique and general to
answer any purpose of forgery whatever.
Again we find, in the Second Epistle to the Thessa
lonians, iii. 8, "Neither did Ave eat any man's bread for
naught ; but wrought with labor, night and day, that
we might not be chargeable to any of you ; not because
we have not poAver, but to make ourselves an ensample
unto you to follow us." Here, again, his conduct —
and, what is much more precise, the end which he had
in view by it — is the very same Avhich the history
attributes to him in this discourse to the elders of
the church at Ephesus ; for, after saying, " Yea, ye
yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto
my necessities, and to them that were with me," he
adds, " I have showed you all things, hoAv that, so labor
ing, ye ought to support ihe weak." " The sentiment in
the Epistle and in the speech is, in both parts of it, so
much alike, and yet the words which convey it shoAV
so little of imitation, or even of resemblance, that the
agreement can not well be explained without supposing
the speech and the letter to have really proceeded from
the same person."
Do we find Paul saying abruptly, and without ex
planation, to Timothy, "Let not a widow be taken into
the number under threescore years old " ? We also
find, from the Acts, that provision was made, from the
first, for the indigent widows wrho belonged to the
Christian church. Does he say to Timothy that from
a child he had known the Holy Scriptures ? The Acts
tells us that his mother was a Jewess. Do we hear him
exhorting the Corinthians not to despise Timothy ? We
hear him saying to Timothy himself, "Let no man
despise thy youth ; " and again, " Flee also youthful
lusts." Does Paul, in the Epistle to Timothy, refer

EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
particularly to the afflictions which came unto him at
Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra? We find from the
history, in the most indirect way imaginable, that Tim
othy must have lived in one of those cities, and have
been converted at the time of those persecutions. Does
Paul, in the Epistle to the Romans, ask their prayers
that he might be delivered from them that did not
believe, in Judea? We hear him saying, in the Acts,
with reference to the same journey, " And now, behold,
I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing
the things that shall befall me there ; save that the
Holy Ghost Avitnesseth in every city, saying that bonds
and afflictions abide me." Do Ave hear him, in the
Epistle to the Romans, commending to them Phoebe, a
servant of the church at Cenchrea? We find, from the
history, that Paul had been at Cenchrea, only from the
folloAving passage : " Having shorn his head in Cen
chrea, for he had a voav." Of such coincidences Paley
has pointed out, perhaps, a hundred, and he has by no
means exhausted the subject.*
And not only do we find Epistles directed to churches,
— the last species of composition that an original im
postor, Avhether Ave suppose that the church did or did
not exist at the time, could have thought of fabricating,
— but Ave have, in more than one instance, two letters
addressed to the same church, the last having all that
reference to the first that Ave should expect. We find
it also directed that the letter to one church should be
read in another ; Ave find it implied that one of the
churches had written to the apostle, and his letter is
partly in reply to theirs ; we find such points discussed
as would naturally have arisen in societies constituted
as Christian churches must then have been ; and, finally,
we find a strength of personal feeling, a depth of
tenderness and interest, a promptness in bestowing
* Horse Paulina;, passim.

SUMMARY. 209
deserved censure, a tone of authority, and a fullness of
commendation, Avhich could have sprung only from the
transactions of actual life. Am I not, then, even from
this view of their internal evidence, so briefly and
imperfectly presented, justified in the assertion that
no impostor either would, or could, have fabricated
these books?
Conclusion. — And now, whether we look at the
relations which Christianity must have sustained either
to the Jews or to the Gentiles ; at the course pursued
either by Christ himself or by the apostles ; at the con
nection between the Christian and the Jewish system ;
or at the impossibility of fabricating the books of the
New Testament, — I think we may reasonably con
clude that this rehgion, and these hooks, did not
originate with man.

LECTURE VIII.
ARGUMENT TENTH: THE CONDITION, CHARACTER, AND CLAIMS
OF CHRIST.
Thus far, we have attended to the system of Chris
tianity, to its marvelous adaptations, and to the
impossibility that it should have come from man. We
now turn from the system to its Author. Who was the
author of this system ? What were his condition, his
claims, and his character? We have already seen that
the object he proposed, and the system he taught, are
worthy of God, and correspond perfectly with the
nature of man. But, were his condition in life, the
claims he preferred, and the character he sustained,
such as we can now see ought to have belonged to one
who claimed the spiritual headship of the race ? Is it
possible that he should have been an impostor? Do we
not find, meeting in him alone, so many things that are
extraordinary, as to forbid that supposition? These
questions it will he the object of the present lecture to
answer. Basis of the argument. — And if there is any subject
to which Ave can apply, not only the tests of logic, but
the decisions of intuitive reason, and of all the higher
instincts of our common humanity, it is the condition
in life, and teachings, ajid proposed object, and char
acter, of one who presents himself Avith the claims put
forth by Jesus Christ. We have an intuitive insight
(210)

CHRIST CLAIMS AFFECTION. 211
into character. We have, in the history of the world,
large experience of it in all its combinations. We are
all capable, when our moral nature is quickened, of
judging Avhether the character of one who claims the
homage both of the understanding and of the heart is
in accordance with such a claim. "I know men," said
Napoleon Bonaparte, " and I tell you that Jesus Christ
Avas not a man." We also know men, and, presented
as Christ is to us by the evangelists, not by description
or eulogy, but standing before us in his actions and
discourses, so that he seems to live and to speak, Ave
feel that Ave can judge whether he bore the true insignia
of his office or the marks of an impostor. If his claim
had been to any thing else, it would be different. A
claim to property, or to external homage, or to belief
in a particular case, may be substantiated by external
testimony ; but when any being claims that I should
believe a thing because he says it, — when he claims an
affection from me greater than that which I owe to
father, or mother, or brothers, or sisters, or wife, or
children, — I not only do not, but I can not, and I ought
not to, yield this confidence and affection on the ground
of any external testimony. There must be presented
an object of moral affection which shall commend itself
as worthy, to my immediate perception, before I can
do this. We can not yield our affections except to
perceived excellence ; and, since no man becomes a
Christian who does not make Christ himself an object
of affection, it is plain that his character, as well as his
teaching, is a point of primary importance.
Christianity unique. — Character of Christ central. —
And here, again, as in every thing else, Christianity
stands by itself. If other systems are, to some extent,
vulnerable through the character of their authors, no
other presents its very heart to be thus pierced. In
an abstract system of philosophy, Ave do not inquire

212 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
what the character of its author was. The truth of
the system of Plato, or of Adam Smith, or of Jeremy
Bentham, does not depend on the question whether
they were good or bad men ; but if it could be shown
that Christ was a bad man, — nay, if we were simply
to Avithdraw his character and acts, — the whole system
would collapse at once. His character stands as the
central orb of the system, and without it there Avould
be no effectual light and no heat. This arises from two
causes. The first is the very strildng peculiarity, —
which, in considering the evidences, has not been enough
noticed, — that the Author of Christianity claims, not
merely belief, but affection. What Avould have been
thought of Socrates, or Plato, if they had not merely
taught mankind, but if they and their disciples had
set up a claim that they should be loved by the whole
human race Avith an affection exceeding that of kin
dred? This affection Christ claimed, and his disciples
claimed it for him. Paul says, "If any man love not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, mara-
natha," making the mere absence of the love a crime.
But if he is to be thus loved by all men, he must first
place himself in the relation to them of a personal
benefactor, and then, by the very laws of affection, he
must present a character which ought to call forth their
love. The second cause why the character of Christ is
so essential is, that in the moral and spiritual Avorld
power is manifested, and movement is effected, only by
action. A moral system must, indeed, like any thing
else, be the object of the intellect ; but no abstract
system of moral truth, no precepts merely enunciated,
but not embodied and manifested in actual life, could
ever have been the means of moral life to the world.
Men need, not only truth, but life — the truth and life
embodied. They need a leader, some one to go before
them as the Captain of their salvation, whose voice they

LOAVLY CONDITION OF CHRIST. 213
can hear saying, "Follow me." While, therefore, in
all other systems, the character of the founder is of
little importance, it is vital here. But no one can fail
to see the infinite difficulty and hazard of introducing
such an element as this into any system of imposture.
It opens a point of attack against Avhich no such system
could ever rear an effectual barrier.
Condition in life. — Let us, then, first, as was pro
posed, look at the condition in life * of the Author of
Christianity, and at the suitableness of that condition
to one Avho was to be the teacher and spiritual deliverer
of man. And here I need hardly say that our Saviour
was in humble circumstances, and was entirely without
property. This fact we find indicated by himself in the
simplest and most affecting manner. He did not speak
of it in the language of repining and complaint, nor yet
of stoical indifference and contempt of wealth, but in
the language of kindness, and to prevent disajDpoint-
ment in one who proposed to follow him, without
understanding the true nature of his kingdom. He
had become celebrated, both as having the power to
work miracles and as a great teacher. Multitudes fol
lowed him ; and a certain man, no doubt with some
hope of worldly gain, said unto him, "Lord, I will follow
thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto
him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests ;
but the Son of man hath not Avhere to lay his head."
The beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven had
places of rest and shelter ; but the greatest benefactor
of men, when he came to dwell among them, had noth
ing that he could call his own. He had no legal title
to any thing, no control over any thing which men call
* The argument from this topic is so similar to what is said respecting it by the
author of the " Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation," that I think it proper to say,
that it was copied almost, literally from an unpublished discourse, delivered before
the publication of that work. O

214 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
property. And not only was he poor after he com
menced his ministry, but from his early days. His
parents had no such Avealth and consideration as would
procure them a place in an inn in Bethlehem when there
was a croAvd, and accordingly he was cradled in a
manger. He Avas early driven into a strange country ;
and Avhen he returned, his parents, through fear, turned
aside and dAvelt in a place Avhere there was neither
wealth nor refinement, and which had connected with
it no elevating associations. He was called a Nazarene
by Avay of reproach, and it was asked, " Can any good
thing come out of Nazareth?" So poor were Joseph
and Mary, that they do not seem to have been able to
give their children any particular advantages of educa
tion ; for it is said that, when Christ taught, the JeAvs
marveled, saying, "How knoweth this man letters,
having never learned ? " He chose for his companions
poor and unlettered men ; and as he went from place
to place, he Avas supported — shall I say by charity?
Yes ; but there are two kinds of charity. He was not
supported by that kind of charity Avhich is drawn forth
in vieAV of distress, and accompanied with pity ; but,
wherever he went, there Avere those Avho received him
in the spirit of his mission, to whom his words were
gracious Avords, and Avho esteemed it an honor and a
privilege to minister to him of their substance. Sup
port floAving from such a source, Avhich Avas but a simple
reflection of the spirit which he himself manifested, he
was Avilling to receive, and did receive, and never seems
to have had any other.
Fitness of — to exclude wrong motives. — Such was
the condition in life of the Author of Christianity, and
it was fit and important that it should be so ; first, to
show that his kingdom Avas not of this world, and
to prevent any from attaching themselves to it from
worldly motives. There is a kingdom of matter, gov-

fitness of Christ's condition. 215
p.rned by gravitation and the laws of affinity ; there ia
a kingdom of sense and of sensitive good, governed by
desire and by fear ; and there is a moral and spiritual
kingdom. In this kingdom the government is by
rational motives, by a perception of right and of wrong,
and by moral love. The motives by which a man is
led to become a subject of this kingdom can have noth
ing to do Avith any thing material. The moment any
consideration of Avealth or of power comes in, to induce
any one to enter into its visible inclosure, its very
nature becomes changed. It Avas of infinite importance
that this point should be guarded ; and in no way could
this have been done so eflectually as by the humble
condition, the entire separation, on the part of the
Author of Christianity, from all connection Avith wealth
or Avith power. Perhaps such a separation was even
required by consistency, in one who said that his king
dom was not of this world.
For personal dignity. — Secondly, such a condition
was necessary to the personal dignity of Christ as the
head of a spiritual kingdom, and to the highest evidence
of the reality of such a kingdom. If Christ was Avhat
he claimed to be, he could not receive title-deeds from
men. He came out from God on a great mission, as
the embassador of an infinite and an eternal kingdom ;
and it would not only have interfered Avith that mission
in its spirit, but Avould have debased and degraded it
beyond expression, if he had shoAvn any regard for
wealth, or had had any thing to do with the petty strifes
of men for temporary poAver. Moreover, it could not
otherAvise have appeared that his true kingdom could
stand by itself, and that it needed none of those attrac
tions and supports at which alone men are accustomed
to look. If Christ had possessed either Avealth or
power, I should feel that I Avas conducting this argu
ment at an immense disadvantage.

216 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
To give wealth and power their place. — Thirdly, such
a condition was necessary, not only that he might shoAV
his OAvn estimate of wealth and power, but that he
might lead his followers to a right view, and a right
spirit, concerning them, and concerning the distinctions
which they bring. They are external to the spirit.
They have nothing to do Avith that state of it in Avhich
character consists, and on which its true dignity and
happiness must depend. Christ came to prepare men
for a kingdom where neither property nor wealth exists
as an clement of enjoyment, but where all things Avill
be as the air and the sunlight ; and where, if intellectual
and moral beings differ, it will be only as one star differs
from another star in glory. It is impossible, therefore,
that any one who truly sympathizes with the spirit of
Christ should have that selfish and idolatrous attachment
to them which has been the cause of so much disorder
and unhappiness among men.
To show the dignity of man. — And, once more : this
condition of Christ was requisite to show the true worth
and dignity of man as man. In a world where respect
for man as an immortal being, in the image of God, had
so far given place to respect for wealth and rank, it was
of the first importance that a spiritual teacher should
himself stand in the simple grandeur of a true and
perfect manhood. By doing this, Christ furnished to
the poor in all ages, many of whom were to be his
disciples, a model, and a ground of self-respect ; and he
made it impossible that there should not be, wherever
the spirit of his religion prevails, a true respect for
every human being. With that estimate of man, or, if
you please, of men, which ministers to the pride of
talent, or of wealth, or of power, he had no sympathy.
He looked at man as a spirit, at all men as standing
upon the same level of immortality ; and his teachings,
his labors, and his sufferings, Avere equally for all.

CLAIMS OF CHRIST. 217
Who can see the humble Avalks of life thus trodden,
and not feel that the race is one brotherhood, and not
be ready to give the hand of felloAVship, of sympathy,
and of aid, to every one Avhom Christ thus represented,
and for Avhom he thus cared ?
Strange, then, and offensive as it was at the first, as
it always has been to many, it must yet be admitted
that, if Christ Avas to be a spiritual deliverer, to eradi
cate pride and selfishness, and to unite all men in one
brotherhood, it Avas essential that he should appear in
the very circumstances and condition of life in which
he did appear.
Claims of Christ. — We next inquire what were the
claims of this man, — so humble in his condition ; so
lowly ; so destitute of learning, of wealth, of influen
tial friends ; Avhose public ministry but little exceeded
three years, and Avas terminated by crucifixion. In
general, he claimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God,
and the Saviour of men. As I Avish to avoid here all
disputed points, I shall not move the great question
whether he claimed to be a truly divine person, or to
be " the Lamb of God, that taketh aAvay the sins of the
world," in the sense of making an atonement, but shall
observe, —
1. That he claimed to be a perfect teacher ;
2. To set a perfect example ; to be the model man
of the race ;
3. To be a perfectly sinless being ;
4. That all men should love and obey him ;
5. To work miracles as no other man ever did ;
6. That in him the prophecies of the Old Testament
were fulfilled ;
7. That he Avould himself rise from the dead ;
8. To be the final judge of the world.
Such Avere his claims — claims till then unprece-

218 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
dented, unheard of, undreamed of, by the wildest and
most extravagant imagination.
Character of Christ. — Let us next see, so far as we
have the means of detennining, hoAv he sustained these
claims. In doing this, we shall, of necessity, as was
proposed, consider his character.
Nothing local or temporary. — And here, before say
ing any thing under the particular heads specified, I
shall enrich this lecture with three general remarks from
one whose eloquent voice will long echo in the public
halls of this city. "We are immediately struck," says
Dr. Channing, in his Dudleian lecture, "with this pecu
liarity in the Author of Christianity, — that Avhilst all
other men are formed in a measure by the spirit of the
age, we can discover in Jesus no impression of the
period in which he lived. We knoAv, Avith considerable
accuracy, the state of society, the modes of thinking,
the hopes and expectations of the country in which
Jesus was born and greAV up ; and he is as free from
them as if he had lived in another world, or with every
sense shut on the objects around him. His character
has in it nothing local or temporary. It can be explained
by nothing around him. His history shows him to us a
solitary being, living for purposes Avhich none but him
self comprehended, and enjoying not so much as the
sympathy of a single mind. His apostles, his chosen
companions, brought to him the spirit of the age ; and
nothing shows its strength more strikingly than the
sloAvness with which it yielded, in these honest men,
to the instructions of Jesus."
Vastness of views. — Again : " One striking peculiar
ity in Jesus is the extent and vastness of his views.
Whilst all around him looked for a Messiah to liberate
God's ancient people, — Avhilst, to every other Jew,
Judea was the exclusive object of pride and hope, —

CHRIST A8 A TEACHER. 219
Jesus came, declaring himself to be the deliverer and
light of the world ; and in his whole teaching and life
you see a consciousness, which never forsakes him, of
a relation to the Avhole human race. This idea of bless
ing mankind, of spreading a universal religion, was the
most magnificent which had ever entered man's mind .
All previous religions had been given to particular
nations. No conqueror, legislator, philosopher, in the
extravagance of ambition, had ever dreamed of subject
ing all nations to a common faith."
Confidence. — Once more : he says, "I can not but
add another striking circumstance in Jesus ; and that is,
the calm confidence with which he always looked for
ward to the accomphshment of his design. He fully
knew the strength of the passions and powers which
were arrayed against him, and Avas perfectly aAvare that
his life was to be shortened by violence ; yet not a Avord
escapes him implying a doubt of the ultimate triumphs
of his religion. * * * This entire and patient relin
quishment of immediate success, this ever-present per
suasion that he Avas to perish before his religion would
advance, and this calm, unshaken anticipation of distant
and unbounded triumphs, are remarkable traits, throwing
a tender and solemn grandeur over our Lord, and wholly
inexplicable by human principles, or by the circum
stances in which he was placed ! "
Christ a perfect teacher. — The matter of his teaching.
— I now proceed to observe, 1. That, under that gen
eral claim to Avhich these remarks apply, Christ claimed
to be a perfect teacher — to be not only a light, but the
light of the Avorld. And who can point out any defect
in his teaching, either in respect to matter or to manner ?
As a teacher of religion, he set before us, in the matter
of his teaching, the paternal and the holy character of
God, and taught us to love him, and to worship him in

220 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
spirit and in truth. It is evidently impossible that Ave
should have a higher conception of God in any of his
attributes, or of his worship, than he communicated.
la. the same character, he taught us the great doctrines
of a perfect human accountability, of the immortality
of the soul, of the resurrection of the dead, and of the
final reward of the righteous and punishment of the
wicked. As a teacher of morality, he introduced a
system, the great characteristics of which are, (1.) That
it establishes a perfect standard. (2.) That it takes
cognizance of the heart. (3.) That it forbids all the
malevolent and dissocial passions. (4.) That it for
bids all merely selfish passions, as vanity and pride.
(5.) That it forbids all impure passions. (6.) That
it includes all its positive duties under the two great
requisitions of love to God and love to man, which all
moralists now agree is the sum of human duty. If we
look at man as a practical being, what point is there on
which Christ did not shed light enough to lead him, if
he will but follow his instructions, to his true happi
ness, whether in this world or the world to come?
The manner. — Nor was the manner of his teaching
less extraordinary. He taught them as one having
authority, and not as the scribes, or as the philosophers
who ran into subtile distinctions, and deduced every
thing from the nature of things. In opposition to all
the learning, and authority, and prejudices of his age
and nation, he simply said, "Verily / say unto you."
He spoke with the calmness, and dignity, and decision,
of one who bore credentials that challenged entire def
erence. But, if his manner was authoritative, it was
also gentle and condescending ; if it was dignified, it
was also kind ; if it was calm, it was also earnest.
While his instructions were the most elevated that were
ever uttered, they were uttered with such plainness,
were so clothed in parables, and illustrated by common

THE MODEL MAN. 221
objects, that they were also the most intelligible.
Nothing can exceed, nothing ever equaled, in depth
and weight, some of his discourses and parables ; and
yet they are simple and beautiful, "are adapted to
the habits of thinking of the poor, are opened and
expanded to their capacities, separated from points of
difficulty and abstraction, and presented only in the
aspect Avhich regarded their duty and hopes." * The
most exalted intellect can not exhaust his instructions,
and yet they are adapted to the feeblest. " Never man
spake like this man." No teacher ever so combined
authority and condescension, dignity and gentleness,
zeal and discretion, sublimity and plainness, Aveight of
matter and a facihty of comprehension by all.
Christ a perfect example and model. — 2. But if the
claim to be a perfect teacher was so high, far higher
was that to set a perfect example, and to stand before
the world as the model man.
The need of this. — In every practical science, a per
fect system of instruction must include both precept
and example. If God Avas to institute a perfect system
for the instruction and elevation of man, both as a spec
ulative and a practical being, it was necessary that he
should not only give him perfect precepts, but that he
should cause a perfect example to be set before him.
The constitution of man requires this. He is, and
must be, more affected by example than by precept.
Even in the exact sciences, when a rule is given, though
it really covers every possible case, it is yet necessary
to give examples to shoAv practically its application.
Much more must this be needed in the ever-varying
adjustments of moral relations. A great example will
speak, though silently, yet powerfully, to the sympa
thetic feelings, and will aid the imagination in giving
direction and definiteness to its ideas of perfection.

222 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Its adaptation to man. — And here we find one great
adaptation of the Christian system to the moral con
dition and wants of man, which is not even attempted
in any other. It is one on which I did not dwell when
on the subject of adaptations, because I intended to
speak of it here. The Author of Christianity, in claim
ing to give such an example, at least showed his knowl
edge of what a perfect system required ; and if he has
done it, he has not only done what unassisted man could
not do, but what I am inclined to think he could not
even conceive of. It was not in the power of man to
form a conception of the character of Christ before
he appeared. It is one thing to recognize a perfect
character as such, when it is presented, and quite
another so to combine the qualities as to form such a
character, and to manifest it in action. It is at this
point that we find all the difference between the com
mon power of judging of the productions of genius in
the fine arts, and of producing models of excellence
in those arts ; and I do not hesitate to say that, as a
work of art, a product of genius, simply, the exhibition
in life of a perfect model of human nature would be
the highest conceivable attainment. That man has
genius who can embody the perfection of material
forms in his imagination, and cause those forms to live
before us in the marble, on the canvas, or on the
printed page ; and he has higher genius still who can
arrange the elements of character into new yet natural
combinations, and cause his personages, as organized
and consistent wholes, to speak and act before us. In
all these cases, when Michael Angelo produces a statue,
or Allston a painting, or Milton a landscape, or Shak-
speare a character, we can judge of it, though Ave could
not have made that combination. It is, indeed, the
great prerogative of genius to produce thoughts, and
forms, and characters, and I will add here actions, of

GENIUS AND ACTION. 223
which other men recognize the excellence, but which
they could not have produced. Yes, I add actions ; for
if the conception and delineation of an original course
of action require genius, it must be equally required,
and in combination, too, with high practical qualities, to
realize that same conception in the bolder relief of
actual life. The power to act thus does not always,
perhaps not generally, involve the power of delineation,
but it does involve the very highest form of genius, and
something more ; and it is only because there is genius,
that expresses itself in great action, that that of delin
eation has either dignity or worth.
Its difficulty. — Noav, as the highest effort of genius
in statuary would be to produce a perfect human form,
one of which it might be said that, though no form in
nature ever equaled it, yet that every form was perfect
in proportion as it approximated toAvard it, so it Avould
be the highest conceivable effort of genius, involving
its most complex elements, to present, as an organized
and consistent whole, and to cause to speak and act
before us in all the diversified relations of life, a perfect
human being, — one of whom it might be said that,
though no other ever manifested the same excellence,
yet that all others were excellent in proportion as they
approximated toward him. Philosopher, man of genius
and of taste, here is a task for you. We challenge you
to it. Would you, could you, not merely describe in
general terms, but present in detail, the words and
actions even of a consistent and perfect piety? No.
You would not, and you could not. Attempts had
often been made to portray a model character, but it
does not appear that it was within the power of human
genius ; and when the majestic, the simple, the beauti
ful, the perfect character of Christ appeared, it was
seen how poor those attempts had been. Certainly,
applying the most philosophical tests, if the evangelists

2i'4 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
did invent this character, they manifested higher genius
than any other men that ever lived. But if the bare
representation of such a character would be so difficult,
who could have thought of really being such a person,
of expressing it in life and action ?
Of philosophical interest. — Now, the question wheth
er the true model of humanity has been really thus
presented, is one, to my mind, not only of religious,
but of the deepest philosophical interest. If mankind
are ever to advance intelligently in excellence, they
must have the true model before them. There can be
no true progress, either of individuals or of society,
without this. The greatest amount of human activity,
hitherto, has had no tendency to advance the cause of
humanity, and it never can have till men adopt a right
model, and seek to conform themselves to that. To
conform ourselves to such a model we do aspire in our
better moments. Is there one here who has not felt
the stirrings within him of something that would lead
him to take hold on this? Wherever there is any thing
truly elevated in human nature, it is this that it seeks
for ; it is this that, in its blindness and moral ruin, it
still gropes after; it is this respecting which many,
very many, when they have beheld the character of
Christ, have exclaimed, with a deeper joy than that of
the philosopher, " Eureka, Eureka ! " — I have found
it, I have found it !
Part of the system. — Yes, we do claim that this
model was presented, as a part of the system of Chris
tianity, in the character of Christ ; this deep want of
human nature we say that he has supplied. The more
we look at the character of Christ, the more we shall
be satisfied that there is there presented Avhat we seek
— the more ready shall we be to exclaim, "Who is this
that cometh up . . . traveling in the greatness of his
strength?" It is obviously not every part of his life

PIETY OF CHRIST. 225
that was intended to be an example to man, but only
that in Avhich he stood in the relations common to men,
in which he moved and walked as one of them. And
he did move and mingle freely with men of all classes
and of all conditions. He was placed not only in such
a condition in life, but in so many situations — he came
into collision with human passion and interest in so
many ways — as most fully to test his character, and
make him an example to all. At this example we will
briefly look.
His piety. — I observe, then, first, that his piety was
most exemplary.* On all occasions he acknoAvledged
God, and always did those things that pleased him.
He conformed to the ceremonial law. He expounded
the Scriptures, and honored them as the word of God.
He attended public worship on the Sabbath. There are
indications that he was in constant habits of devotion,
and on all solemn occasions he prayed. " It is recorded
of him on no less than six occasions, that he gave
thanks to God on partaking and distributing food."
When he was baptized, he prayed. Before he chose
his twelve disciples, he went out into a mountain to
pray. When he had wrought a great number of cures
publicly for the first time, he "rose up a great while
before it was day, and went into a desert place, and
prayed." When many came together to hear him, and
to be cured of their infirmities, he retired into desert
places, and prayed. When he had fed five thousand
with five loaves and two fishes, he dismissed the multi
tudes, and went up into a mountain apart, to pray. On
one occasion, he continued all night in prayer. He
prayed for Peter. He prayed, if it may he called
prayer, at the grave of Lazarus. He prayed at the
close of the institution of the Lord's supper. He
* On this whole subject, see Archbishop Newcome's " Observations on oul
Lord."

226 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
prayed in his agony. He prayed on the cross. He
taught his disciples to pray, and gave them that form
of which Paley says that, " For a succession of solemn
thoughts, for fixing the attention upon a feAv great
points, for suitableness to every condition, for suffi
ciency, for conciseness Avithout obscurity, for the Aveight
and real importance of its petitions, it is Avithout a
rival." In all things he had reference to the will of
God, so that he could say that it Avas his meat to do his
will. The doing of God's Avill perfectly Avas evidently
the great element in Avhich he lived. And this piety
was a rational piety, Avithout any tinge of mysticism,
or gloom, or fanaticism, or extravagance. For, —
His benevolence. — Secondly, it was equaled only
by his benevolence. Of this it can not be necessary
that I should adduce particular instances. His Avhole
history, in this respect, is comprised in five words —
"He went about doing good." All his acts Avere entirely
unselfish. He never refused to relieve the distress of
any, but never used his miraculous powers for his oavii
benefit, or to gain applause. His benevolence Avas uni
versal, embracing, in direct opposition to the spirit of
his age and nation, not only the Jews, but the Samar
itans and the Gentiles. His benevolence rose superior
to injuries. He neither reviled, nor complained, nor
ceased from his labors and sufferings for the good of
men, when he Avas the most cruelly treated.
Compassion — combination of opposite qualities. —
And not only Avas he benevolent, but compassionate.
He had compassion on the multitude Avhen they Avere
hungry and faint. He Avept over Jerusalem. He Avas
full of sympathy. When he saAv Mary Aveeping, and
the Jews also Aveeping avIio came Avith her, "Jesus
wept." He was full of gentleness and condescension,
taking up little children in his arms and blessing them ;
and yet he Avas fearless and terrible in his reproofs of

BALANCE OF CHRIST'S CHARACTER. 227
iniquity in high places. He " came eating and drink
ing," and was free from all austerity ; and yet he was
"pure in spirit." He had great meekness and lowliness,
in union Avith an evident consciousness of the highest
dignity. He Avashed his disciples' feet, at the same
time that he told them that he Avas their Lord and Mas
ter. He Avas not elated by popularity, nor depressed
when his folloAvers deserted him. He had a zeal Avhich
led his friends to say he Avas beside himself; and yet
nis prudence, as shoAvn by his ansAvers to those Avho
Avould entrap him, was equal to his zeal. Nor Avas his
zeal indiscriminate ; for, Avhile he insisted on the silent
Avorship which is in spirit and in truth, he yet gave
their proper place to external observances, even to the
tithing of mint, and he rebuked zeal in his oavii cause,
when it did not proceed from a pure motive. He was
keenly sensible to suffering, and yet he bore it without
murmuring. He was subject to his parents in early
life, and remembered his mother on the cross. There
is no virtue which he did not exemplify, and man can
be placed in no situation in Avhich his example will not
be applicable.
Positions to try piety and benevolence. — But, to sum
up what has been said of the example of Christ, it has
often seemed to me remarkable that he should have
been brought into such positions as to try, in the high
est possible manner, both his piety and his benevo
lence, and to lead him to give of each of these the
highest possible example. No doubt this Avas so or
dered of God. The two great principles of conduct,
which men need to have constantly set before them, are
love and submission to God, and benevolence to men.
And did not he manifest a perfect love and submission
to God, who could say, in the prospect of his dreadful
sufferings, and in the hour of his agony, " Not my Avill,
but thine, be done " ? Did not he love others as himself,

228 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and exemplify his own most difficult precept of forgiv
ing injuries, who prayed for his murderers on the
cross ? " Behold the man ! "
A perfect example, and something more. — And here
I would observe, that I do not regard the setting of a
perfect example, in every thing that may strictly be
called a duty, as comprising every thing that should
belong to a perfect humanity. A perfect humanity
implies a sensibility, a refinement, a grace, a beauty of
character, which can not be said to be required by duty.
And all these the Saviour had in the highest degree.
There was no pure and exquisite emotion of human
nature to which he was not keenly alive ; and it is the
union, in him, of every thing that is tender and gentle
with those higher and sterner qualities, which renders
him a fit example, not for man only, but for woman.
How just and perfect must have been his perception of
the beauties of nature, who could say of the lilies of
the field, that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed
hke one of these ! In all the attitudes in which Christ
was placed, in all the words that he uttered, there is
nothing unseemly, or offensive to a just taste. His
susceptibilities to both joy and suffering were intense.
He rejoiced in spirit, and his joy instantly burst forth
in devout thanksgiving. He was prone to compassion,
and repeatedly melted into tears. The innocence of
children engaged his affection. His heart was open to
impressions of friendship. "Jesus loved Martha, and
her sister, and Lazarus." He had a beloved disciple.
When he saw an amiable young man, he loved him.
He was grieved at unbelief, and had a generous indig
nation against vice.
An example, and yet the 'Messiah. — In all these
respects — in his piety, in his benevolence and other
virtues, in the refinement and delicacy of his character
— he is a suitable example for us. But, as difficult as

BALANCE OF CHARACTER. 229
it must have been to present in action this combination
of human excellences, it must have been much more so
to combine with them those qualities, and that deport
ment, which were appropriate to him as the Messiah
and Saviour of the world. Is it possible that He Avho
claimed to be greater than Solomon, to command legions
of angels, to raise the dead, — who spoke of himself
as the Son of God, and as the final Judge of the world,
— should so move, and speak, and act, as to sustain a
character compatible with these high pretensions, and yet
have the condescension, and gentleness, and meekness,
of Christ ? And yet such is the character presented by
the evangelists. There is no break, no incongruity.
Like his own seamless garment, the character is one.
He seems to combine, with perfect ease, these elements,
apparently so incompatible. This, I confess, excites
my astonishment. The presentation of a perfect man
hood in a lowly station had been beyond the power
of human genius ; but when this is combined with the
proprieties and requisitions of a public character, and
an office so exalted as that of the Messiah and the
Judge of the world, then I have an intuitive conviction
that I stand in the presence of no human invention ;
then this character presents itself to me with the gran
deur and wonder that belong to the great mountains
and the starry heavens.
Rousseau. — Is there an infidel who hears me, and
who says that these impressions are made on a mind
predisposed to receive them, and that they are not
those which would legitimately be made? — let him
hear what one of his own prophets has said. " I con
fess," says Rousseau,* "that the majesty of the Scrip
tures astonishes me ; that the sanctity of the gospel
speaks to my heart. VieAV the books of the philoso
phers, — with all their pomp, what a littleness have
* Emile, as translated by Newcome.
P

230 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
they when compared with this ! Is it possible that a
book at once so sublime and simple should be the work
of men ? Is it possible that he Avhose history it records
should be himself a mere man ? Is this the style of an
enthusiast, or of an ambitious sectary? What SAveet-
ness, what purity, in his manners ! what affecting
grace in his instructions ! what elevation in his maxims !
what profound Avisdom in his discourses ! what presence
of mind, what dehcacy, and what justness, in his rej
plies ! what empire over his passions ! Where is the
man, where is the philosopher, Avho knows how to act,
to suffer, and to die, without weakness and without
ostentation?* . . . Where could Jesus have taken,
among his countrymen, that elevated and pure morality
of which he alone furnished both the precept and the
example ? The most lofty Avisdom Avas heard from the
bosom of the most furious fanaticism ; and the sim
plicity of the most heroic virtues honored the vilest of
all people. The death of Socrates, serenely philoso
phizing with his friends, is the most gentle that one
can desire ; that of Jesus, expiring in torments, injured,
derided, reviled by a whole people, is the most horrible
that one can fear. When Socrates takes the poisoned
cup, he blesses him who presents it, and who at the
same time Aveeps ; Jesus, in the midst of a horrid pun
ishment, prays for his enraged executioners. Yes ; if
the life and death of Socrates are those of a philoso
pher, the life and death of Jesus Christ are those of
a God."A perfect example and sinlessness. — 3. According to
the idea of many, the claim to set a perfect example
involves the claim to be perfectly sinless. But, in
some respects, the claim to be sinless involves more
* Part of this passage is here omitted. I wish to add the following : " What
prejudices, what blindness, must they have, who dare to draw a comparison
between the son of Sophroniscus and the son of Mary ! What distance is there
between the one and the other ! "

SINLESSNESS OF CHRIST. 231
than the claim to exhibit a perfect model of humanity,
since this exhibition respects an outward manifestation ;
and who can say that it may not be compatible Avith
some wrong feeling or affection? And, in some respects,
again, the claim to be a model man is more extensive
than that to be perfectly sinless. A human being
might be sinless, and be destitute of many of the per
fections of the character of Christ. And then, again,
these claims look in such different directions, and re
spect such entirely different objects, that there is a
propriety in considering them apart. The claim to
present a perfect manhood has respect to the Avants of
man ; the claim to be sinless has respect to the rela
tions of the individual to God, and to his fitness to be
a Redeemer from sin. It must, I think, be conceded,
that he who would deliver others from the power of
sin must himself be free from its power — be entirely
above and aloof from it. While, therefore, Ave can
conceive of an exhibition of our nature that would
appear to us faultless, Avhile we might not be certain
that it was sinless, yet we can not conceive of one,
coming as a redeemer and deliverer from sin, who had
himself ever SAverved from moral rectitude even in
thought or feeling. But since the great purpose for
which Christ came Avas to " save his people from their
sins," it became necessary that he should himself be,
and claim to be, entirely free from sin.
Christ claimed to be sinless. — That Christ made this
claim, and that his disciples made it for him, there can
be no doubt. They made it impliedly, and they made
it expressly. Christ said, " Which of you convinceth me
of sin ? " — that he did always those things that pleased
the Father — that he was one with the Father. Peter
says, expressly, that he "did no sin," that he was "the
holy one and the just ; " and Paul says that he was
"holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners."

232 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Bearings of this claim. — But what a claim is this !
. — a claim never made by any other human being.
Such a claim, the most extraordinary, and the most
difficult to be sustained, of any that was ever set up,
while it is implied in the idea of a redeemer from sin,
must have been fatal to any impostor. Is this claim
admitted, or is it denied ? If it is admitted, the claims
of Christianity are admitted Avith it. If it is denied,
the claims of Christianity, as a religion, are denied ;
for, as a mode of deliverance from sin, and of salva
tion, its whole value turns upon this. Men may have
what knowledge they please of external evidences, and
of mere facts, but this can never work a spiritual ren
ovation. They must come to Christ, and believe in
him as a sinless Redeemer, or there can no virtue go
out of him for their spiritual healing.
Proof. — The proof that Christ was a sinless being
will be founded, first, on the same facts that prove his
perfect example. Here, too, we may properly receive
his own testimony, since he could not have been de
ceived on this point. His perfect sinlessness is also to
be inferred from the effects produced by his life upon
his disciples ; from its effects upon the world ; and from
the fact that, as the mind of any individual becomes
more pure and elevated, he perceives a greater and
greater purity and elevation in the character of Christ,
so that, to whatever height he may attain, he still
perceives the majestic form of the Redeemer moving
before him. I leave the point by remarking, that
if any wish to see it fully illustrated, I would refer
them to an excellent essay upon it by Dr. Ullman in
the " German Selections," translated by Edwards and
Park. Claims of Christ to obedience. — 4. Christ also
claimed that all men should love and obey him. This
— the assertion of a right to a paramount and spiritual

MIRACLES OF CHRIST. 233
dominion, not over one race or one age only, but over
all mankind, and through all coming ages — was, as I
have already said, entirely peculiar. It must imply a
claim to stand in the relation of a personal benefactor
to every one, and to possess such a character as ought
to call forth affection. After the other claims of Christ,
Ave need not be surprised at this. But what a glorious
kingdom of affection and love does it open before us !
Here is the foundation of that kingdom of love of
Avhich Napoleon spoke when he compared the kingdom
of Christ with his OAvn. "Alexander, Csesar, Charle
magne, and myself," said he, "founded empires; but
upon what foundations did we rest the creations of our
genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his
empire upon love, and, at this hour, millions of men
would die for him. ... I die before my time, and
my body will be given back to the earth to become the
food of worms. Such is the fate of him who has been
called the great Napoleon. What an abyss between my
deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ, which
is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and which is extend
ing over the whole earth ! "
To work miracles. — 5. Christ claimed to work mir
acles. I mention this, not because he alone has made
this claim or has Avrought miracles, but because, all the
circumstances considered, he stands entirely by himself
in this respect. I have already spoken of the character
of his miracles, as sufficient of itself to confirm his
divine mission. They were none of them wrought for
his personal advantage, or for display, or capriciously,
or to gratify curiosity. They were all benevolent and
worthy of God. He was peculiar, too, in the number
of his miracles. It is probable, from the accounts
given, that, on a single occasion, he -wrought more
miracles than had been wrought by all the prophets
from the beginning. He was also peculiar in his manner

234 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of working miracles. He performed them with entire
simplicity and facility, and generally, so far as appears,
by his own authority. "He commanded the unclean
spirits, and they came out." He said to the sea,
" Peace, be still." When he raised the dead, he simply
said, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise." The
apostles did their miracles in the name of Christ, and
the manner of the prophets was entirely different, giv
ing no such impressions of power and majesty.
That the prophecies were fulfilled in him. — 6. Christ
also claimed that in him the prophecies of the Old Tes
tament were fulfilled. I mention this among the claims
which he must be acknowledged to have made, but shall
not dwell upon it here, because I intend to speak of it
more fully at another time. The claim, however, is
not a shght one, to stand as the subject of prophecy
and the antitype of all the types in the old dispensation
from the beginning, — the claim that he was a person
of such importance as to have been spoken of from the
first by holy men, and to appeal to the Scriptures as
testifying of him.
Tliat he would rise from the dead. — 7 . Christ claimed
that he would rise from the dead. What could have
induced him to make so strange a claim as this ? And
yet, to substantiate this claim, thus put forth, Ave have
an accumulation of evidence such as we have for scarcely
any other ancient fact.
And be the Judge of the world. — 8. Of the claim of
Christ to be the final Judge of the world I shall say
nothing, because, from the nature of the case, I have
no means of verifying it. The fact that he made this
claim, however, is all that is needed for the purpose of
my present argument; and I will only observe, that it
is not more extraordinary than his other claims, and is
in perfect keeping Avith them. If we admit his other
claims, we shall of course admit this.

CHRIST NOT DECEIVED. 235
Was he deceived? — Such were the condition, the
claims, and the character, of Jesus Christ. And now,
is it possible that he was either deceived or a deceiver ?
Was he sincere in making these claims? If he was,
and they are not well founded, then I ask, Could a
young man, poor, unlearned, brought up in an obscure
village, accustomed to a humble employment, make
such claims, and not be utterly insane ? Can we con
ceive of a wilder hallucination ? Is there one of all the
vagaries entertained by the tenants of our lunatic asy
lums that is more extravagant than these? No mere
self-exaltation or enthusiasm, nothing short of insanity,
can account for such claims. I mention this the rather,
because I remember to have been struck by it in read
ing the New Testament in my early days. When I
heard this man, apparently so lowly, saying that he
Avas the light of the world, — "If any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink," — that he was one with
God, that all things were delivered to him by his
Father, that he that had seen him had seen the Father,
that Avhatsoever the disciples should ask in his name
he would do it, that he would rise from the dead, and
come in the clouds of heaven, attended by myriads of
angels, to judge the Avorld, — I felt that I had evidence,
either that those claims Avere well founded, or of a
hopeless insanity. No wonder those who did not be
lieve said of him, " He hath a devil, and is mad : why
hear ye him?" But then, as now, there was the unan*
SAverable reply, " These are not the words of him that
hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? "
When we look at his discourses, at their calmness, at
their deep insight and profound wisdom ; when we see
that the discoveries of all ages have only shed luster
upon their wisdom, and that the wisest and best portion
of the race now sit at his feet as their instructor ; when
we see the more than propriety, the self-possession, the

236 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
dignity of his deportment under the most trying cir
cumstances, — we feel that not a voice from heaven
could make it more certain that his was not a crazed,
or a weak, or an unbalanced intellect. This fact is
borne witness to by the light of its own evidence ; it
shines by its OAvn brightness.
Was he a deceiver? — Did he, then, in the exercise
of a sound mind, put forth those claims with the inten
tion to deceive others? This, as I have just intimated,
I hold to have been impossible. No impostor of com
mon sense could have had the folly to prefer such
claims. But, if this consideration is conclusive, how
much more is that drawn from the moral character of
Christ ? Look at his unaffected and all-pervading piety,
at his universal and self-sacrificing benevolence ; look
at his purity and elevation above the world ; listen to
his prayer for his murderers on the cross ; and say, is
it possible that through all this he was meditating a
scheme of deception deeper, more extensive, involving
greater sacrifices and sufferings, and more ultimate
disappointment to human hope, than any other? Do
we not know that this was not so ? If we could believe
this, would not that faith in goodness, which is the vital
element in the atmosphere of our moral life, be de
stroyed ? And what would remain to us but the stifling,
and oppressive, and desolating conviction, that there
could be no ground of faith in any indications of good
ness? We can not believe this, we will not believe it.
Take away, if you will, the vital element of the air,
disrobe the sun of his beams, but remove not from me
this life of my life ; leave to me the full-orbed and
unshorn brightness of the character of Christ, the Sun
of righteousness.
We have found the Messias. — It only remains that I
should refer to what has, indeed, been implied through
out the preceding part of the lecture — that gathering

THE MESSIAS FOUND. 237
about the person of Christ of so many and such ex
traordinary circumstances ; that clustering upon him
of so many wonderful and diverse characteristics and
appropriate insignia of a messenger from God ; that
accumulation of evidences which come in, as it were,
from the four winds, and become as a crown of many
stars upon the head of the Redeemer. It is to be
distinctly noticed, in estimating the evidence, that it is
not one only of the surprising offices and characteristics
which have been mentioned that he sustained so per
fectly, but all of them. It is the same great Teacher
around whose system natural religion, and the old
dispensation, and all human science, stand up and do
obeisance, as did the sheaves of Joseph's brethren
around his sheaf, who also set a perfect example, and
stands before us as the model man. It is the same
person who "did no sin," who wrought miracles, who
fulfilled the prophecies, who rose from the dead, around
whom there shines, as I shall show hereafter, such an
effulgence of external evidence, whose life and death
have been followed by such amazing effects. If we
were to estimate by the doctrine of chances the proba
bility that so many extraordinary circumstances, each
of which could be confirmed by so much evidence,
should meet upon a single person, the fraction express
ing that probability would be infinitely small. Had
any one of these characteristics belonged to any other
individual, it would have placed him among the most
distinguished personages of history ; but when we see
them all clustering upon the lowly Jesus, the Crucified
One, we must say, with one of old, " We have found
the Messias."

LECTURE IX.
THE EXTERNAL EVIDENCE. — GENERAL GROUNDS ON WHICH
THIS IS TO BE PUT. — ARGUMENT ELEVENTH : AUTHENTICI
TY AND INTEGRITY OF THE WRITINGS OF THE NEW TESTA
MENT. When we came into hfe, we found Christianity ex
isting. It was our business, as independent thinkers,
to examine it in its relations to the human constitution
and to human well-being. This we have done in the
preceding lectures ; and if the system be such as it has
been represented to be, then we may well feel a deep
interest in every thing relating to its origin and history
— in what have been called its external evidences. To
those evidences, then, we now turn.
Object of inquiry , facts. — In this department of the
evidences, the object of our inquiry is, not adaptations,
or doctrines, or opinions, or inferences, but simply his
torical facts.
To be judged of by their own evidence. — Was there
such a person as Jesus Christ ? Was he crucified ? Did
he rise from the dead ? These are questions which we
are to settle precisely as we would settle the questions
whether there was such a man as Augustus Caesar, and
whether he became the sole ruler of the Roman empire.
These are no abstract questions, and we are not to let
any of the uncertainty which must often belong to the
discussion of such questions connect itself with these.
(338)

HISTORICAL, EVIDENCE ESSENTIAL. 239
There is a science of evidence ; there are laws of evi
dence ; and all we ask is, that those laws may be applied
to the facts of Christianity precisely as they are to any
other facts. We insist upon it that the evidence ought
to be judged of by itself, simply as evidence ; that no
man has a right first to examine the facts, and make up
an antecedent judgment that they are improbable, and
then transfer this feeling of improbabihty over to the
evidence. We hold to the principle of Butler, that,
to a being like man, objections against Christianity,
as distinguished from objections against its evidence,
unless, indeed, it can be shown to contain something
either immoral or absurd, really amount to nothing.
Facts essential. — It is, indeed, a striking peculiarity
of the Christian religion, that the truth of its doctrines,
and the power of its motives, are inseparably connected
with the reality of certain facts which might originally
be judged of by the senses, and which are now to be
determined by the same historical evidence as we em
ploy in judging of any other facts. As fully as I have
entered upon the internal evidence, as satisfactory as I
regard the proof it furnishes, as heartily as I should
deprecate a merely historical religion, necessarily desti
tute of any life-giving power, I would yet say, distinctly,
that I believe in no religion that is not supported by
historical proof. Unless Jesus Christ lived, and Avrought
miracles, and Avas crucified, and rose from the dead,
Christianity is an imposture — beautiful, indeed, and
utterly unaccountable, but still an imposture.
Christianity peculiar in this. — Perhaps it is not
enough considered how much Christianity is contradis
tinguished, in this respect, not only from other systems
of rehgion, but from all systems and questions of phi
losophy. Christ said, "Though ye believe not me,
beheve the works." So said not Mohammed. The
facts on which his system, as a religion, rests, depend

240 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
solely on the testimony of one man. So says not any
system of philosophy. It is a totally different thing
for the philosopher to present certain doctrines for our
reception on the ground of his reasoning, and for the
witness to testify, " That which we have heard, which
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, — declare we unto
you." Christianity is, indeed, a spiritual religion; but
it is a spirituality manifesting itself through facts,
clothed in substantial forms. It says to the unbeliev
ing, " Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ;
and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side."
In saying this, it offers itself to be tried by a new test
— such a one as no other religion can stand. But the
Christian religion shrinks from no test. We Avish it to
be fully tried. We know that, like the pure gold, the
more it is tried, the more clearly it will be seen to be
genuine. That a religion intended for the race would
need the kind of evidence of which I am now to speak,
is plain; but the difficulty is immeasurably increased
when it is attempted to sustain an imposture by evidence
of this kind, freely thrown open to all.
Ground of belief in similar facts. — As, then, our
object is to ascertain the reality of certain alleged facts,
it may be well to look at the grounds on which we
believe other and similar facts. It has generally been
said, that the sole ground on which we beheve facts
that we have not ourselves witnessed, is that of testi
mony. In some cases this is so, but in many others I
should think it an inadequate account of the grounds
of our belief. When a man finds an ancient mound at
the west, and in it human bones and the implements of
civilization, is it on the ground of testimony that he
believes that this continent was once inhabited by a
race now extinct? Or, again, if I were required to
prove that such a man as General Washington ever

DIFFERENT CLASSES OF FACTS. 241
existed, and performed the acts generally ascribed to
him, should I rest on the ground of testimony alone?
Perhaps the evidence of testimony is involved in the
fact that his birthday is celebrated ; but that fact is
something more than mere testimony. So, when I go
to the house where it is said he lived, and the tomb
where it is said he is buried, when I see the sword pre
sented to Congress wrhich it is said he wore, I find, in
the existence of the house, the tomb, the sword, an
evidence distinct from that of naked testimony. So,
again, when I look at the independence of this country,
and at its republican institutions, and find them ascribed
by universal testimony to what Washington did, and
when I find existing no other account of the manner in
which our independence Avas achieved, and our institu
tions established, then I find, in the fact of the inde
pendence of this country and the existence of its free
institutions, an evidence distinct from that of mere
testimony. Every lawyer knows the difference between
naked testimony and testimony thus corroborated by
circumstantial evidence.
Facts differently substantiated. — Here, then, we find
the ground of a wide distinction between the different
classes of facts for Avhich we have evidence. They may
be divided into those which rest on the evidence of
testimony alone, and those which we receive, not merely
on the direct evidence of testimony, but which produced
permanent effects in the world that are now manifest,
and which can be reasonably traced to no other causes
than those assigned by the testimony. And of this
latter kind, especially, some are so substantiated, that
no miracle could be more strange, or more difficult to
be believed, or more a violation of the uniform course
of our experience, than that such evidence should de
ceive us. The existence and history of Washington,
for example, are so much involved in the present state

242 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of things, the evidence for them comes from so many
sources, it touches so many points, that to deny them
would be a practical absurdity. We should think it no
breach of charity to say to him who questioned such
evidence, that he was insincere.
Those of Christianity in the strongest way. — Now,
it is on this general ground that the evidence for Chris
tianity rests ; and Ave say that no man can pluck away
the pillars on which it rests, without bringing down the
whole fabric of historical evidence in ruins over his head.
We say that this evidence can not be invalidated Avithout
introducing universal and absolute historical skepticism.
Christianity, with all its institutions, exists. Christen
dom exists, and it is important to our argument that
the greatness of this fact should not be overlooked. It
is the great fact in the history of the world. Here is
a religion, received by a large portion of the human
race ; by that portion, too, which takes the lead in civ
ilization and the arts. It confessedly supplanted other
religions ; it produced a revolution in the opinions and
habits of men, unparalleled in the history of the world.
It has not merely accomplished religious and moral
revolutions, but, incidentally, social and civil changes, so
as completely to transform the face of society. It came
to its ascendency through great opposition and persecu
tions, such as no other religion ever did or could with
stand ; and now it does not live by flattering the natural
passions of men, or by letting them alone and requiring
of them no sacrifices. It has not, like other religions,
depended for its existence and power upon its con
nection with the state; for, though it has often been
connected with the state, and, in some particular form,
upheld by it, yet it flourishes best when left to find its
own way, and to control the hearts of men by its own
proper force.
The religion to be accounted for. — Now, the existence

TRADITIONS. 243
of such a religion as this, in the world, requires to be
accounted for. It would be absurd to suppose that,
in a period of high intellectual cultivation, it should
spring up and subvert other religions, Avithout being
challenged by mankind, and having its credentials de
manded, and its history known. But if the facts on
which the religion was based were once knoAvn, it would
seem in the last degree improbable that the knowledge
of them should perish, and the religion remain ; or,
what would be still more strange, not only that all
knowledge, oral or written, of these facts should have
perished, but that a false and most minute account
should have been substituted for the true one, and re
ceived from the first.
Tradition. — Moreover, it is chiefly with facts that
exert an important influence on the destiny of mankind,
that tradition connects itself; and this, in connection
with institutions which enter into the fabric of society,
or with monuments or observances handed down by an
unbroken succession of persons, who have felt a deep
interest in the facts in question, can not fail to preserve
the great outlines of events as long as such observances
and monuments remain. If all Avritten records were
blotted out from this time, and yet the independence
of this nation were to be preserved, and the fourth of
July were to continue to be annually celebrated, who
can suppose that, in any length of years, all trace of
the true origin of the day should be lost, and another,
entirely false, substituted for it? So, when we find a
Christian church, that has existed as a separate inde
pendent body from the origin of the religion, celebrating
an ordinance once a week, or once a month, or once in
two months, in commemoration of the death of Christ,
if we had no other evidence for it than that of tradition,
the presumption would be very strong that, at least,
such a man as Christ lived and died, and was supposed

244 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
to have conferred some distinguished benefit. And in
this case the evidence is peculiarly strong, because the
ordinance has been so frequently repeated and so
widely extended. No delusion, from national pride
or local feeling, can y< suspected, because we find the
same tradition, ana the same ordinance, in the most
distant and remote countries. Millions of Christians
now regard this rite as the most sacred one belonging
to a religion for which they are ready to lay down their
lives ; they received it from those who were equally
attached to it ; and so it must have been up to the
point — a point perfectly well defined in history — from
which the tradition, and the Avritten history, and the
ordinance, started together.
If true, all natural and plain. — The reverse. —
Here, then, we find Christendom, and the Christian
church — a body of men as distinctly organized and as
intimately associated as those of any state — having its
institutions, its traditions, and its records, all perfectly
harmonizing with each other. These records bear on
the face of them the marks of veracity ; there is noth
ing known that is contradictory to them ; they contain
a fair and plausible account of the origin of the church.
Admit the account, and every difficulty is removed.
Refuse to admit it, and you destroy the very founda
tions of historical proof in any fact whatever. So
much, indeed, are the general facts of Christianity im
plied in the present state of the world, and so much
has it of that conviction which springs from universal
notoriety, and which we can neither doubt, nor trace
to any particular source, that I do not hesitate to say,
that the objections brought by Archbishop Whately
against the existence and general history of Napo
leon Bonaparte are quite as plausible as any that can
be brought against the existence and general history
of Christ.

TESTIMONY. 245
We receive other facts. — And more especially ought
we to receive facts thus substantiated, when Ave remem
ber how fully we believe those which are established by
testimony alone. This, as was said in a former lecture,
may be the ground of a certainty as full and perfect aa
any of which we can conceive. Can I doubt that there
is such a city as Rome, or such a person as Queen Vic
toria ? or that there has been such a person as Napoleon
Bonaparte, or George the Fourth? And yet I know
these facts solely by testimony. Who doubts, or can
doubt, that Augustus Caesar was emperor of Rome ?
Who would fear to stake his life on the fact that such
a man as Alexander the Great existed? And yet no
trace of that fact remains in the present organizations
or customs of society, and the written and traditionary
evidence for it is as nothing compared with that of
Christianity. All testimony does not deceive. — It is not, then, true
of every kind of testimony that it sometimes deceives
us. There may be testimony of such a nature as never
was, and never can be, false ; and it was a poor fallacy
of Hume to attempt to transfer over to all testimony
that uncertainty which belongs to it only in some cases.
We affirm that the testimony for Christianity, taken by
itself, is such as could not possibly be deceptive, as
was never known to be so since the world began ; and
we challenge infidels to point out an instance of such
deception. When they do this, they may talk of
the uncertainty of testimony.
Nor lose weight by age. — I may properly refer here,
also, to another common fallacy respecting testimony,
which is based on the same principle of transferring to
the whole what belongs only to a part, and which has
had some influence. It is, that testimony loses its
weight by age; that every century steals something
from its probabihty. As if testimony that was once
Q

246 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
true, would not always be true ; and the question
whether it shall appear more or less true to the minds
of men, after longer or shorter periods have elapsed, is
one that must be determined by circumstances. Noth
ing can be more untrue than the general assertion, as
made universally ; and, as applied to the evidences of
Christianity, I deny it altogether. Age itself, as such,
has no tendency to impair the force of testimony ; and
it often happens that, by the discovery of coins, or
ruins, or hieroglyphics, or inscriptions, or manuscripts,
testimony which had been doubted for ages is fully con
firmed. It is, indeed, a fact, that, from fuller research,
and from such discoveries, the historical testimony for
Christianity, instead of being diminished within the
last hundred years, has been greatly increased and
strengthened. No facts of history so well sustained. — But, valid as
is the evidence of testimony, we do not feel that we
rest upon that alone, but that the facts of Christianity
are sustained by every species of evidence by which it
is possible that any past event should be substantiated.
The great facts in history are very few — I think of
none — which are implied in the present state of the
civilized world as are those of the Christian religion.
It is as if the taking of Constantinople by the Turks
were to be confirmed by a reference to its present state.
Let us suppose, to illustrate this point more fully, that
a book purporting to be a history of the Turks, and
giving an account of their taking the city of Constan
tinople and making it their capital, were put into the
hands of a man who had never heard of that people.
If it bore upon its face evidence of its being a true
history, he might receive it, and this would be naked
testimony. But, if he should afterward travel, and find
this same people making a city of that name their cap
ital, and find still dAvelling among them the remains of

AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY. 247
a subjugated people, and should find, both among Turks
and others, one unvarying tradition of the same events,
and should find, moreover, other and independent histo
ries agreeing in all respects with the history he had first
seen, and the original letters of the commanders of the
army in those days, he would feel that all room for
doubt was removed. But all this evidence, and more,
would he have who should have the Gospel of Matthew
and the Acts of the Apostles put into his hands, and
should then be made acquainted for the first time with
the present state of the world, and with the other books
of the New Testament.
ARGUMENT XI.
AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY OF THE CHRISTIAN SCKIPTURBS.
With this general statement of the nature of the
evidence, I proceed to consider more particularly, in
reference to the books of the New Testament, the two
great questions of their authenticity and their credibil
ity. The question of credibility is, of course, the great
question ; but, in the present case, that of authenticity
is so intimately connected with this, that it can not be
omitted. Authenticity. — Let us inquire, then, what evidence
we have that the books of the NeAV Testament were
written by the persons whose names they bear, and at
the time they purport to have been Avritten. The great
storehouse of learning on this subject is Lardner; and
to him all subsequent Avriters refer, doing little more
than to quote and abridge him. For ordinary purposes,
however, such works as those of Home and Paley are
sufficiently full.*
Books and authors. — We have the New Testament,
consisting of twenty-seven separate books, written by
eight different authors. Some of these books are formal
* It is chiefly on their authority that the quotations on the subsequent pages
are mode.

248 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
histories — one is a personal narrative — but the most
of them are letters addressed to associated bodies of
Christians. That they were written by the persons to
whom they are ascribed, and at the time claimed, we
believe, —
Quoted and referred to from the first. — First, because
they are quoted and referred to by a series of writers in
close and uninterrupted succession, from that time till
the present.
Peter and Paul. — 1 . We find one apostle referring
to the writings of another. Peter refers to the writings
of Paul, characterizing them, just as many do now, as
containing some things hard to be understood; but,
what is remarkable, recognizing them as of the same
authority with the other Scriptures. The force of this
incidental reference to the Avritings of Paul, by Peter,
is less felt from the fact that both wri tings are bound
up in the same volume ; but it is really as great as if
the Epistle of Peter were now discovered for the first
time. The Epistle of James, as no student of it can
doubt, refers to the perversion, by some, of Paul's
doctrine on the subject of faith and works, as contained
in the Epistle to the Romans. The supplementary
character of John's Gospel implies the previous compo
sition and circulation of some, at least, of the other
Gospels. Jude evidently refers to and quotes the Sec
ond Epistle of Peter.
Apostolical Fathers. — 2. We have Avritings bearing
the names of persons, who, because they were contem
porary Avith some of the apostles, are called "apostol
ical" fathers. Respecting the genuineness of some of
these writings, as those ascribed to Barnabas and Her
mas, there has been much controversy. I shall refer
only to those universally admitted, and of which there
can be no reasonable doubt. We have no need of
inferior kinds of evidence.

CLEMENT. 249
Clement. — The Epistle ascribed to Clement is an
epistle from "the church of God sojourning at Rome,
to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth." It does
not contain his name, but is spoken of by the ancients
as acknowledged by all to be his. Irenaeus says it was
written by Clement, " who had seen the blessed apostles,
and conversed AA'ith them, who had the preaching of the
apostles still sounding in his ears, and their traditions
before his eyes." And Dionysius, bishop of Corinth,
about the year 170, — that is, eighty or ninety years
after the Epistle was written, — bears witness that it
had been read in that church from ancient times. In it
there are quotations from, or evident allusions to, eight
of the books of the New Testament. He expressly
names only Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, but
of the origin of the passages there can be no doubt.
Thus, "Especially," says Clement, "remembering the
words of the Lord Jesus, which he spoke, teaching
gentleness and long-suffering ; for thus he said : ' Be ye
merciful, that ye may obtain mercy ; forgive, that it
may be forgiven unto you ; as you do, so shall it be
done unto you; as ye judge, so shall ye be judged;
as ye show kindness, so shall kindness be shown unto
you ; with what measure ye mete, with the same it
shall be measured to you.' By this command, and by
these rules, let us establish ourselves, that we may
always walk obediently to his holy words." Can any
one doubt where Clement found these words, or the
following ? " Remember the words of the Lord Jesus ;
for he said, ' Woe to that man by whom offenses come :
it were better for him that a millstone should be tied
about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the
sea, than that he should offend one of these little
ones.'"* That such passages are not referred to the
evangelists byname, — for all the apostolical fathers
* Epistle of Clement, in " Apostolical Fathers."

250 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
quote in this way, — is so far from making, as has been
objected, against our argument, that it is one of its
strong confirmations. It is just thus, and only thus,
that we now always quote and refer to works that are
the most perfectly familiar, both to ourselves and to our
readers or hearers. It implies for the New Testament
Scriptures, and as nothing else could, precisely the
place that we claim for them.
As this Epistle of Clement was written in the name
of the church at Rome, and addressed to the church at
Corinth, it must be regarded as expressing the judg
ment of those churches.
Ignatius. — Ignatius, bishop at Antioch, suffered
martyrdom about the year 107. The authority of his
name led to its use for several interpolated or spurious
writings. In the few short Epistles generally acknowl
edged as genuine, there are quotations from two of the
Gospels and four of the Epistles. He expressly names
that to the Ephesians.
Polycarp. — Polycarp, a companion of Ignatius, was
a bishop at Smyrna. Irenaeus, who in his youth had
seen him, says, " I can tell the place in which the
blessed Polycarp sat and taught, and his going out and
coming in, and the manner of his life, and the form of
his person, and the discourses he made to the people,
and how he related his conversation with John and
others who had seen the Lord, both concerning his
miracles and his doctrine, as he had received them from
the eye-witnesses of the Word of life ; all which Poly
carp related agreeably to the Scriptures." Of Polycarp
we have one Epistle, concerning which there is no
reasonable doubt. In this, though short, there are
clear allusions to fourteen of the books of the New
Testament. He expressly names the Epistle to the
Pnilippians. Papias. — Papias was a companion of Polycarp. Of

THE FIRST CENTURY  HISTORICALLY BRIEF. 251
his we have nothing remaining ; but Eusebius quotes
from a work of his, in which he ascribes their respective
Gospels to Matthew and Mark.
We have thus, from persons contemporary with
some of the apostles, numerous quotations or plain
allusions to most of the books of the New Testament ;
and they uniformly treat them with the reverence
belonging to inspired books.
And here I will make a remark that needs to be
borne in mind in all our use of dates, in speaking of
the early history of Christianity. It is, that the century
commences with the birth of Christ, whereas the his
tory of the rehgion does not commence till thirty-three
years afterward, — so that the end of the first century
was only sixty-seven years from the first attempt by
the apostles to establish the neAv religion. And when
it is remembered that the first three Gospels were pub
lished, probably as soon as the year 60, or certainly be
fore the destruction of Jerusalem, and that John lived
till nearly the close of this century, it will be seen
that the means of verifying every thing were very
abundant. Justin Martyr. — Twenty-five or thirty years after
Polycarp follows Justin Martyr, universally known in
the ancient church. He was a convert from heathen
ism after he had arrived at mature age, and was distin
guished as a philosopher, a Christian, and a writer. Of
his writings we have remaining only — two Apologies
for the Christians, one addressed to the Emperor Titus
Antoninus Pius, and the other to the Emperor Marcus
Antoninus, and the senate and people of Rome ; and his
Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. We find, however, in
these, thirty-five plain quotations from the Gospel of
Matthew alone, and, in one case, a considerable part
of the Sermon on the Mount, in the very words of
Matthew. He either quotes, or clearly refers to, the

252 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Acts of the Apostles, and nearly all the Epistles, and
says expressly that the Revelation was Avritten by John.
He calls the books from which he quotes, "Memoirs
composed by the Apostles," " Memoirs composed by
the Apostles and their Companions," — which descrip
tion, the latter especially, exactly agrees with the titles
Avhich the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles now
bear. This manner of reference " shows that the books
Avere perfectly notorious, and that there were no other
accounts of Christ then extant so received and credited
as to make it necessary to distinguish these from the
rest." Justin also tells us, in his first Apology, that
the memoirs of the apostles, and the writings of the
prophets, were read and expounded in the Christian
assemblies for worship, which shows that the Gospels
were at that time Avell known in the world. To this
testimony of Justin, who sealed his belief in the Chris
tian religion with his blood, there is no objection,
except that he does not quote the different writers by
name ; but skepticism itself can not suppose that books
were read and expounded in the Christian churches so
generally that he should mention it in an apology to the
emperor, and yet that all trace and record of those
books should have been lost, and that others should
have been fabricated, and substituted in their place.
We find in this author almost a complete history of
Christ ; and yet he mentions only two circumstances
which are not contained in our Gospels.
Tatian. — After Justin Martyr follows Tatian, a
disciple of his. About the year 170, he composed a
harmony of the Gospels, which he called "Diatessaron,"
— that is, of the four, — showing that there were then
four, and only four, Gospels.
Pothinus. — About this time, the churches of Vienne
and Lyons, in France, sent a relation of the sufferings
of their martyrs to the churches of Asia and Phrygia,

IRENAEUS. 253
and the epistle is preserved by Eusebius. Among the
victims was the aged bishop of Lyons, Pothinus. He
was ninety years old, so that his testimony would join
on to that of the apostles. In this we find the follow
ing : " Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the
Lord, that whosoever ktlleth you will think that he
doeth God service ; " with similar references to Luke
and to the Acts.
Irenceus. — To Pothinus, as bishop of Lyons, suc
ceeded Irenaeus, who was, in his youth, a disciple of
Polycarp. He Avrote many Avorks, but his five books
against heresies are all that remain. In these he has
shown a full acquaintance Avith the Scriptures both of
the Old and New Testament. Being only a century
distant from the time of the publication of the Gospels,
and only one step removed from the apostles, he speaks
of himself and his contemporaries as being able to
reckon up, in all the principal churches, the succession
of bishops from the first. He mentions the code of the
NeAv Testament, as well as the Old, and calls the one,
as well as the other, the Oracles of God. His testimony
is full and explicit to all the books of the New Testa
ment, except the Epistle to Philemon, the Third of
John, and the Epistle of Jude. And here we find, for
the first time, Avhat Ave might now expect to find — an
appeal to the books as the ground of the Christian faith.
" We have not received," says Irenaeus, " the knowledge
of the way of our salvation by any other than those by
whom the gospel has been brought to us ; which gospel
they first preached, and afterward, by the will of God,
committed to writing, that it might be for time to come
the foundation and pillar of our faith. For, after our
Lord rose from the dead, and they Avere endued from
above with the power of the Holy Ghost coming down
upon them, they received a perfect knowledge of all
things. They then went forth to all the ends of the

254 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
earth, declaring to men the blessing of heavenly peace,
having all of them, and every one alike, the gospel of
God. Matthew, then, among the Jews, wrote a Gospel
in their OAvn language, while Peter and Paul were
preaching the gospel at Rome, and founding a church
there. And, after their exit, Mark, also the disciple
and interpreter of Peter, delivered to us in Avriting the
things that had been preached by Peter ; and Luke, the
companion of Paul, put down in a book the gospel
preached by him. Afterward, John, the disciple of
the Lord, who also leaned upon his breast, he likewise
published a Gospel while he dwelt at Ephesus, in Asia."
We could certainly wish nothing more explicit than
this ; and there are other passages not less so.
Clement. — After Irenaeus, we come to Athenagoras,
about the year 180, and to Theophilus, bishop at Anti
och, and to Clement of Alexandria, (A. D. 150-220,)
an author of note, who quotes from almost all the
writers of the New Testament so largely, that the cita
tions would fill a considerable volume. He gives us an
account of the order in which the Gospels were written,
and then says that he received the account from presby
ters of more ancient times.
Tertullian. — About the same time with Clement
lived Tertullian, a presbyter of the church of Carthage,
whose testimony is very full and explicit. After enu
merating the apostolical churches he says, "I say,
then, that with them, but not with them only, which are
apostolical, but with all who have fellowship with them
in the same faith, is that Gospel of Luke received,
from its first publication, which we so zealously main
tain." He adds, "The same authority of the apostolical
churches will support the other Gospels which we have
from them, — I mean John's and Matthew's, — although
that likewise which Mark published may be said to be
Peter's, Avhose interpreter Mark was." In another place,

GENERAL AGREEMENT. 255
Tertullian says that the three other Gospels were in the
hands of the churches from the beginning.
With Tertullian I close my citations from the authors
of the second century, of whom it has been said with
truth, so numerous are their quotations from the NeAv
Testament, that, if that book had been lost, it might be
almost compiled anew from these citations.
Extent of assent. — And here we may remark, with
Paley, " the wide extent through which the reputation
of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles had spread,
and the perfect consent, on this point, of distant and
independent societies. It is noAV only about one hun
dred and fifty years since Christ was crucified ; and
within this period, to say nothing of the apostolical
fathers, we have Justin Martyr of Neapolis, Theophilus
at Antioch, Irenaeus in France, Clement in Alexandria,
and Tertullian at Carthage, quoting the same books of
historical Scriptures, and, I may say, quoting them
alone." These men, too, — which is an important point,
— being bishops and presbyters, their testimony in
volves that of large bodies of men. It gives us the
authority of common consent. And certainly such
an authority and assent, extending over thousands of
miles, could never have been gained to books esteemed
as these were, except on the best grounds. There are
no other books of antiquity that can be placed at all in
competition with them in this respect.
It has been usual to continue citations down as far as
the fourth century ; but can this be necessary ? I think
not, especially as they now multiply upon us on every
side. It has also been usual, and is, perhaps, more
strictly logical, to trace the testimony upward; but,
in the present state of this argument, that can not be
important. Pecidiar titles. — But I observe, secondly, not only
were these Avritings thus quoted, but, when they were,

256 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
it was with peculiar titles and marks of respect. Thus
Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, who flourished a little
more than a century after the books were written, says,
"These things the Holy Scriptures teach us, and all
who Avere moved by the Holy Spirit, among whom
John says, f In the beginning was the Word.' " Origen
(A. D. 185-254) says, "That our religion teaches us
to seek after wisdom, shall be shown both out of the
ancient Jewish Scriptures, which we also use, and out
of those written since Jesus, which are believed in the
churches to be divine."
Read in public assemblies. — These writings, more
over, as has already been stated, were early read in the
public assemblies of Christians. Justin Martyr, who
wrote only about one hundred years after the crucifix
ion, giving an account of Christian Avorship, has this
remarkable passage : "The memoirs of the apostles, or
the Avritings of the prophets, are read according as the
time allows, and, Avhen the reader has ended, the presi
dent makes a discourse." This passage is of great
weight, because Justin speaks here of the general usage
of the Christian church, and because he speaks of it as
a long-established custom. That by " memoirs of the
apostles " he means our Gospels, is evident, because he
tells us, in another place, that they are what are called
" Gospels," and because he has made numerous quota
tions from them, and from no others.
Collected into a volume. — At Avhat time the books
of the New Testament were collected into a distinct
volume, and became known to the churches in that col
lected form, is not certainly known ; but there is no
doubt it was very early, and that this volume was ranked
from the first with the Scriptures of the Old Testament.
Polycarp says, "I trust ye are well exercised in the
Holy Scriptures, as in these Scriptures it is said, 'Be
ye angry and sin not.'" This passage, thus quoted by

EVIDENCE AS WE SHOULD WISH. 257
Polycarp, shoAvs that in his time there were Christian
Avritings distinguished as the " Holy Scriptures." This
is in perfect accordance with what Ave should expect
after the recognition, by Peter, of the writings of Paul
as a part of the Scriptures. Justin Martyr, also, in
the " Apology " of Avhich I have already spoken, (Avhich
was written about thirty years after the Epistle of Poly
carp,) says, " For the apostles, in the memoirs composed
by them, which are called ' Gospels,' have thus deliv
ered it, that Jesus commanded them to take bread and
give thanks."
Completion of the canon. — I speak of this subject
because it has been said that no such book as the New
Testament existed before the fourth century, and be
cause our evidence on this point stands just as Ave could
wish — that is, it stands just as we should suppose it
would from the nature of the case. Here are twenty-
seven separate pieces written within the space of sixty
years. It is not to be supposed that all these pieces
should be possessed at once by all the churches, or that
there should be at once a perfect agreement in regard
to them all. We should expect that copies would be
taken, and collections made, of those writings concern
ing Avhich there was no question, and that these would
be quoted and incidentally referred to, precisely as our
books are, till some question was raised about the intro
duction of another book, or about the authority or
authenticity of any part of it. Then we should expect
to find the grounds stated on which the books were
received, and formal catalogues made out of such as
were received. If, then, by saying that there was no
such book as the New Testament before the fourth
century, it is meant that the canon, as it is called, Avas
not formally settled by a council till that time, it is
true ; but if it be meant, as is insinuated, that the
writings were then first published, no man can make

258 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
such an assertion, except from the grossest ignorance,
or as a willful falsehood.
The truth is, that we have in the first century, that
is, within less than seventy years after the death of
Christ, numerous quotations, and allusions to our sacred
books, in which we have an incidental and unintentional
testimony, more satisfactory than any formal testimony
could be ; and, in these quotations and allusions, nine
teen or twenty of our present books are recognized.
In the second century, we find the testimony more
express and full, and the quotations so numerous, that
a large part of the New Testament might be collected
from them. Of this age there are thirty-six Avriters
of Avhose works some part has come down to us. In
the third and fourth centuries, Ave have more than a
hundred authors whose works testify to the authen
ticity of these books. During these two centuries,
catalogues of the authentic works were expressly drawn
up, harmonies were formed, versions Avere made into
many languages, and the canon Avas fully settled.
Eusebius. — In settling the canon, we find, from
Eusebius, writing about the year 315, that there were
seven books concerning Avhich there Avas some hesita
tion, and the grounds of the doubts are fully given.*
Eusebius begins his enumeration of Scriptures univer
sally acknowledged in the following manner : " In the
first place are to be ranked the sacred four Gospels ;
then the book of the Acts of the Apostles ; after that
are to be reckoned the Epistles of Paul ; in the next
place, that called the First Epistle of John, and the
Epistle of Peter, are to be esteemed authentic ; after
this is to be placed the Revelation of John, about which
we shall observe the different opinions at proper seasons.
Of the controverted, yet well known, or approved by
* He has preserved a catalogue by Origen, probably of the year 210, which is
substantially the same as his own.

EVIDENCE PERFECT. 259
the most, are that called the Epistle of James, and that
of Jude, and the Second of Peter, and the Second and
Third of John, whether written by the evangelist or
by another of the same name." Concerning these last,
however, all doubt was gradually removed, so that, by
the time of Jerome and Augustine, A. D. 342-430,
many catalogues are given, including all our present
books, and none other.
While, therefore, it appears that many of the writings
of the New Testament were collected while some of the
apostles were yet living, or immediately afterward,
and known under the name of the Gospels and the
Apostles ; while the references to this volume, during
the second century, are almost numberless ; while no
doubt ever arose respecting the mass of them, — still
the book Avhich we now receive was not, in all its parts,
formally agreed upon, in consequence of a careful exam
ination of ancient testimony, till between three and four
hundred years after the birth of Christ. It will be
remembered, however, that if every part of the New
Testament, concerning which there had been dispute,
or doubt, were blotted out, the argument for the truth
of Christianity would not be in the least invalidated.
There is, therefore, direct evidence, as perfect as the
nature of the case admits, that those writings on which
we depend for the truth of the Christian rehgion have
existed, and were received without doubt from the
very first.
Rival parties. — So full and unexceptionable is the
testimony thus given by early Avriters, that it would
seem, in the absence of any thing to contradict it, or
to throw over it the slightest discredit, that further evi
dence could not be needed. Indeed, if we were to
stop here, we should have a body of evidence for the
authenticity of these writings such as can be adduced
in favor of no others of equal antiquity. The writings

260 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of Cicero are quoted by Quintilian, which shows that
they were then extant and ascribed to him. But the
works of Cicero excited no controversy, they gave rise
to no general opposition, they created no sects ; hence
we have no means of knowing how those works were
regarded by enemies, or by rival parties, appealing to
their authority. This, when it can be obtained, is the
very highest kind of evidence, and, in respect to the
Christian Scriptures, it is most full and satisfactory.
The heretical writers do, indeed, sometimes deny that
the apostle or writer is an infallible authority ; but they
never deny that the books were Avritten by those to
whom they were ascribed. Thus the Cerinthians and
the Ebionites, who sprang up while St. John was yet
living, wished to retain the Mosaic law, and hence
rejected the Epistles of Paul, while they retained the
Gospel of Matthew. And Marcion, A. D. 130, who
rejected the Old Testament, and was excommunicated,
though greatly incensed, and though he speaks dispar
agingly of several of the books, yet nowhere intimates
that they were forgeries. The same may be said of all
the ancient sects.
Enemies. — We have, also, the indirect testimony of
the enemies of Christianity — as Celsus, Porphyry, and
Julian. Of these, Celsus flourished only about a hun
dred years after the Gospels were published, and was
an acute and bitter adversary ; and it seems quite im
possible that any one of them, much more the whole,
should have been forged, and yet he not know or suspect
it. He attacks the books, he speaks of contradictions
and difficulties in them, but he hints no suspicion that
they were forged. Indeed, he claims the writings, for
he says, "These things, then, we have alleged to you out
of your own writings, not needing any other weapons."
In Porphyry, born A. D. 233, (the most sensible and
severe adversary of Christianity that antiquity can

EVIDENCE OF EVERY KIND. 261
produce,) we find no trace of any suspicion that the
Christian writings were not authentic, though he pro
nounces the prophecy of Daniel a forgery. Porphyry
did not even deny the truth of the Gospel history. He
admitted that the miracles were performed by Christ,
but imputed them to magic, Avhich he said he learned
in Egypt. Juhan, commonly called the Apostate,
flourished from A. D. 331 to 363. He quotes the four
Gospels and the Acts, and nowhere gives any intima
tion that he suspected the whole, or any part of them,
to be forgeries.
Ancient versions and manuscripts. — Another source
of evidence is to be found in ancient versions and man
uscripts. The Syriac version was probably made early
in the second century, and the first Latin versions
almost as early. Of course the New Testament must
have existed, and been received as the standard of
Christian truth, before those versions were made. Of
ancient manuscripts, containing the New Testament or
parts thereof, there are several thousands. About five
hundred of the most important have been collated with
great care. Many of them are of great antiquity. The
Codex Vaticanus is believed, on very satisfactory evi
dence, to be of the fourth century, and the Codex
Alexandrinus, of the fifth, — perhaps both much earlier.
Thus these manuscripts connect with manuscripts com
pared by Jerome and Eusebius, A. D. 315-420, who
prepared critical editions of the New Testament from
manuscripts then ancient. The prodigious number of
these manuscripts, the distant countries whence they
were collected, and the identity of their contents with
the quotations of the fathers of different ages, place the
New Testament incomparably above all other ancient
works in point of authenticity.
Is there, then, we are ready to ask, any kind of exter
nal evidence conceivable, which is wanting to our sacred
books ?

262 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Internal evidence. — But, strong as is the external
proof, it hardly equals that which is to be derived from
the circumstances of the case, and from internal evidence.
We are little apt to consider how difficult the thing
to be done Avas. It was to make an addition, and under
peculiar circumstances, to the number of books then
held sacred. These books Avere not confined to one
spot, and guarded by one set of men, and shrouded in
mysterjr. Moses and the prophets Avere " read in the
synagogues every Sabbath day." From the synagogue
the early church was an outgrowth, as Christianity from
Judaism ; and it was composed of Jews nurtured to a
high reverence for their sacred books, and to great
scrupulousness in guarding them. For the first fifteen
years at least, the Old Testament Scriptures, and those
only, Avere read in the assemblies of Christians. And
noAv consider what it was for such men to receive, indi
vidually, and in numerous, and large, and independent
bodies, other Avritings, and to put them on an equality
with those so venerable, and held so sacred. And yet,
within sixty years this Avas done in respect to more than
twenty separate productions, and Avith almost entire
unanimity. It was a marvel, especially looking at the
origin and position in society of the early Christians,
that they should originate productions which the in
stinctive judgments of men could tolerate by the side
of those, so wonderful, of the old seers, and bards, and
prophet-kings, even if they had not been regarded as
inspired ; it was, perhaps, a greater marvel that they
should incorporate them at once Avith those productions,
as a part of their sacred books. According to every
law of human thought or action, this could not have
been done without the most searching scrutiny. The
world has nothing to show like it. It was as if some
man, or body of men, should attempt to add a book to
our Bible, that should be universally received.

SCRUTINY BY FRIENDS AND FOES. 263
Could not be forged. — For, if these writings are not
authentic, they must be forgeries ; and they are of such
a character, and purport to have been Avritten under
such circumstances, as to render a forgery of them
impossible. Here, for example, are no feAver than nine
letters Avhich claim to have been written to numerous
bodies of men, and received by them ; and can any
man believe that such letters, often containing severe
reproof, could have been received and read, as we kneow
these Avere, by the early Christians, if they were for
geries ? " Come iioav," says Tertullian, — born only sixty
years after the death of St. John, — " come iioav, thou
who wilt exercise thy curiosity more profitably in the
business of thy salvation, run through the apostolical
churches in which the very chairs of the apostles still
preside, in Avhich their authentic letters are recited,
sounding forth the voice and representing the counte
nance of each." Can any man suppose that letters thus
spoken of at that early day could be forged ? Besides,
when could they have been forged? Not, certainly,
during the lives of the apostles, for then they would
have confuted them ; and, after their death, it is morally
impossible such letters should have been received as
from them by any body of Christians.
Opposed by both heathen and Jews. — It is to be
added, also, that Christianity sprang up in the midst
of opposition, keen-sighted and relentless. It Avas
opposed by Heathenism and by Judaism, and, more
over, there Avere ahvays in its oavii bosom soma who
Avere false-hearted and ready to betray it. During
almost three hundred years it Avas often the subject of
violent and bloody persecutions ; and, in such circum
stances, it is morally impossible that tAventy-seven books
should be forged, and imposed as authentic upon both
friends and foes, and no one, for the first four hundred
years, hint a suspicion of the authenticity of the most

264 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of the books. When Celsus reproached the Christians
with dissensions, in the second century, Origen admits
the truth of the accusation, but says, nevertheless, that
the four Gospels were received by the Avhole church
of God under heaven.
Language and style. — Again : the authenticity of
the New Testament is confirmed by the language and
style in which it is written. It could have been Avritten
only by men who were born JeAvs, and who lived be
fore the destruction of Jerusalem. Every where their
Jewish prejudices and habits of thought appear, and
the references to Jerusalem and the temple, as then
standing, are so blended with the Avhole narrative, that
we feel it impossible it should not have been written at
that time. This, hoAvever, is still more obvious from
the peculiar language in which the New Testament is
written. Greek Avas then a kind of universal language ;
but the Greek spoken in Palestine was not the Greek
of Attica. It Avas Hebraic Greek — that is, Greek
mixed with the peculiar dialect of HebreAv then in use
in Palestine ; and in such Greek are the Gospels writ
ten. After the destruction of Jerusalem, this peculiar
dialect ceased. Probably there was not a man living,
after the death of the apostle John, who could have
blended the peculiar elements of language which we
find in the New Testament. But, if these books were
written before the destruction of Jerusalem, they must
be authentic, because no books could have been forged
in the names of the apostles, while they were yet living,
and have been undetected.
Judgment by separate churches. — It is to be re
marked, too, that the books of the New Testament
were received and judged of by the churches separately.
The Gospel of Matthew was received by the churches
on its own merits, and the question of its reception was
not embarrassed by that of any other book. So the

MICHAFLIS. 265
Epistle of Paul to the church at Rome was judged of
as authentic by that church, without any reference to
the Epistle to the Ephesians. If, therefore, the New
Testament is a forgery, it is not an instance of a single
successful forgery, but of tAventy-seven separate ones,
imposed upon intelligent men Avhose interests Avere all
involved in detecting the fraud. If, now, we consider
how seldom literary forgeries are undertaken — that
they are, in fact, nearly or quite unprecedented, unless
they come out under the shadow of some great name
— that no possible motive can be assigned for the
forgery of such books ; — if we consider the difficulty
of it in any case, and the moral impossibility of it in
reference to books of such pretensions, and that have,
in fact, commanded the reverence of the civilized world,
— I think we shall feel that twenty-seven successful
forgeries, Avithin the space of sixty years, is a supposi
tion not to be entertained for a moment.
Not one mark of spuriousness. — Once more : the
reasons which render the authenticity of a work sus
picious are thus laid doAvn by Michaelis : 1. When
doubts have been entertained, from its first appearance,
whether it was the work of its reputed author. 2.
When the immediate friends of the author have denied
it to be his. 3. When a long series of years has
elapsed, after his death, in which the book Avas un
known, and in which it must have been mentioned or
quoted, had it been in existence. 4. When the style
is different from his other writings, or, in case no others
remain, from what might be reasonably expected. 5.
When events are recorded which happened later than
the time of the pretended author. 6. When opinions
are advanced contradictory to those which he is known
to have advanced in other writings. Of these marks
of spuriousness, not one can be attached to a single
book of the New Testament.

266 EArIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Contrasted with other books. — I observe, finally,
that this evidence is, if possible, heightened by the
contrast in all respects between our books and those
which have been regarded as spurious. The fact that
such books existed is sometimes made use of to create
the impression that they were once of nearly equal
authority with ours, and that there Avas difficulty and
uncertainty in making the distinction. Nothing can be
farther from the truth. For, 1 . There is no evidence
that those spurious or apocryphal books existed during
the first century ; indeed, they all were manifestly for
geries of a later age. 2. No Christian history, besides
our Gospels and the Acts, is quoted by any writer
now known within three hundred years after the birth
of Christ. 3. None of these apocryphal writings were
read in the churches. 4. None of them were ever
admitted to the volume of the New Testament. 5.
Nor do they appear in any catalogue. 6. Nor were
they alleged by different parties, in their controversies,
as of authority. 7. Nor were they the subjects of
commentaries, or versions, or expositions. 8. Nor
were they ever received by Christians of after ages,
but were almost universally reprobated by them.
And, now, is not this point proved? Is it not fully
established that these books were written by the men
whose names they bear, and at the time when they
purport to have been "written?
Integrity. — I close by a very brief reference to a
single point more, which properly belongs here. How
do Ave know that the integrity of the books of the New
Testament has been preserved? I answer, first, we
know it from the nature of the case. Augustine,
in the fourth century, reasoning with a heretic, puts
this Avell. "If any one," says he, "should charge you
with having interpolated some texts alleged by you,

INTEGRITY. 267
would you not immediately answer, that it is impossible
for you to do such a thing in books read by all Chris
tians — and that, if any such attempt had been made
by you, it would have been presently discerned and
defeated, by comparing the ancient copies ? Well, then,
for the same reason that the Scriptures can not be cor
rupted by you, they can not be corrupted by any othei
people." We know the same thing, secondly, from the
agreement of our books with the quotations in the
works of the early Christian fathers. These quotations
are so abundant that almost the whole of the New
Testament might be gathered from them ; and yet,
except in six or seven verses, there is an agreement in
all material respects between those quotations and the
corresponding parts of our books. We know it, thirdly,
from the entire agreement of our books with ancient
versions. The old Syriac version, called Peshito, Avas
certainly in use before the close of the second century.
This Avas not known in Europe before the close of the
sixteenth century. It came down by a line perfectly
independent of that by which our Greek Testament was
received ; yet, when the two came to be compared, the
difference was altogether unimportant. Is it possible
that evidence should be more satisfactory ?
Various readings. — The subject of various readings
Avas at one time so presented as to alarm and disquiet
those not acquainted with the facts. When a person
hears it stated that, in the collation of the manuscripts
for Griesbach's edition of the New Testament, as many
as one hundred and fifty thousand various readings
were discovered, he is ready to suppose that every
thing must be in a state of uncertainty. A statement
of the facts relieves eveiy difficulty. The truth is, that
not one in a thousand makes any perceptible, or at
least important variation in the meaning ; that they
consist almost entirely of the small and obvious mis-

268 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
takes of transcribers, such as the omission or transpo
sition of letters, errors in grammar, in the use of one
word for another of a similar meaning, and in changing
the position of words in a sentence. But, by all the
omissions, and all the additions, contained in all the
manuscripts, no fact, no doctrine, no duty prescribed,
in our authorized version, is rendered either obscure or
doubtful. There was a time when the rubbish of antiquity did
gather around these pillars of our evidence. The keen
eye of the infidel saw it, and he hoped to show that
they rested upon rubbish alone. But, hke every similar
attempt, at whatever point directed, a full examination
has served only to show how firm is the rock upon
which that church rests which is " the pillar and groun '
of the truth."

LECTURE X.
ARGUMENT TWELFTH; CREDIBILITY OF THE BOOKS OF THE
NEW TESTAMENT.
Our next subject, as Avill have been anticipated, is
the credibility of the books of the New Testament ;
and I proceed directly to the discussion. This question
is purely one of historical evidence ; and if there is
left for me very little that is new, either in the matter
or in the manner of presenting it, I shall yet hope for
attention, from the important place which this point
holds, and ahvays must, in the Christian argument.
Authenticity. — And the first consideration which I
adduce in favor of the credibility of these books is
their authenticity. It was because I regarded every
testimony adduced, in the last lecture, to prove the
authenticity of the gospel histories as also a testimony
to their truth, that I dAvelt so fully on that subject.
The fathers did not quote so largely from those books
because they were written by apostolical men, but
because they regarded them as true, and as having an
authority paramount to all others. The testimony of
antiquity, therefore, thus given to the authenticity of
these books, is equivalent to its testimony to the reality
of the facts which they contain.
Moreover, when men publish an account of facts
under their own names, especially of facts that are
within the immediate knowledge of the most of their
(268)

270 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
readers, and facts, too, that have excited great atten
tion, they must either publish what is substantially
true, or willfully, and without motive, sacrifice both
character and reputation. There is no instance on
record of the publication by any one, under his own
name, of an account purporting to be of facts that were
public, and recent, and concerning which a deep inter
est was felt by the community, which was not mainly
true. But here are four men who claim to have been
witnesses of most of the events which they relate, or,
if not, to have had a perfect knowledge of them.
These events must have been known, at the time the
books were published, to thousands of others, both
friends and foes, as well as to them. Nothing could
have prevented the instant detection of any falsehood ;
and yet these men published their histories at the time,
in the face of the world, and on the spot where the
transactions took place. This consideration alone ought
to be decisive, and in any other case it would be.
Means of knowing the facts. — But, secondly, these
books are credible because the authors of them had the
best possible means of knowing the facts which they
state. For the most part, they had a personal knowl
edge of them. Compare our evidence, in this respect,
with that for other ancient events. The main facts
were not such as were concealed in cabinets, or in the
intrigues of a court, but were few, and such as all might
know. But of the events of the life of Alexander, we
have no contemporary historian, and yet they are not
doubted. Of how few of the events in the histories of
Livy, or of Tacitus, had they personal knowledge !
With how few of the men, whose lives he wrote, had
Plutarch personal acquaintance ! In some cases, indeed,
— as in the account of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand,
or the Commentaries of Caesar, — we have the story of
a person who was present, and saAv what he narrates ;

NUMBER OF WITNESSES. 271
and no one can fail to feel that the credibility of those
accounts is greatly increased by that circumstance. In
these cases, however, we have but a single witness, and
the writers are the heroes of their OAvn story ; and still
these writings are received with entire confidence.
And this leads me to observe, —
The number of witnesses. — Thirdly, that the events
recorded in our books are worthy of credit from the
number of witnesses. To put this in its true light, let
us suppose that there should now be discovered, among
the ruins of Herculaneum, the writings of an officer
and companion of Caesar, giving an account of the same
campaigns and battles. Let us suppose that there was
a substantial agreement, but such incidental differences
as to show that the writings were entirely independent
of each other ; then, if we had before been inclined to
call the whole a fiction, or to attribute any thing to the
ignorance, or the prejudices, or the vanity of Cassar,
we should feel all our doubts removed on those points
in which the accounts agreed. And if, after this, we
should still find another independent manuscript, and
still another, differing entirely in style and general
manner, and yet agreeing in regard to the facts, — if,
moreover, there should be found letters written in that
day incidentally confirming these accounts by many
allusions and undesigned coincidences, — we should
feel that historical evidence could not go farther, and
that skepticism would be preposterous. If events thus
attested are not to be believed, it will not be for want
of evidence. If they are not to be believed, no ancient
history can be ; for there is no one for which we have
any thing like this amount of evidence. But all this
evidence we have for the facts of the gospel. The
fact, that the four Gospels and the Acts were bound up
together, is not to be permitted to weaken their force
as separate testimonies. This is as far as historical

272 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
testimony can go with respect to ordinary events ; but
the facts of Christianity are of such a character that
even this may, and does, receive additional confirma
tion. If Caesar's Avars had given rise to parties, and
these different parties had all appealed to these Avritings
as of undoubted authority, and if, moreover, Ave had,
at no distant day, the distinct admission of the enemies
of Caesar that these books were trustworthy as to mat
ters of fact, then I think that we can conceive of nothing
that could be added ; and all this we have in favor of
the facts of the New Testament. If we lay aside all
consideration of the nature of the events, and look at
the evidence alone, we shall see that it has all the force
of which historical evidence, as such, is capable.
Difficulties and discrepancies. — It is true, as was men
tioned in a former lecture, that there are difficulties and
apparent discrepancies in these accounts. They relate
chiefly to the two genealogies ; to the time of the taxing
mentioned by Luke ; to the two versions of the Sermon
on the Mount, to the time of the last supper, and to the
accounts of the crucifixion, and of the resurrection.
Require minute criticism. — The explanation of this
class of difficulties would require a minute criticism,
not here in place. For this, reference may be made to
the Commentaries and Harmonies. It may, however,
be said of them in general, —
Do not affect the main features. — 1. That there are
none which affect the great features of the narrative.
Are mostly negative. — 2. That many of them are
based on mere omissions. It is said, for example, that
there is a discrepancy between the account by Matthew
and Mark of the demoniacs. Matthew says there were
two, while Mark mentions but one. He does not say
there was not another ; but one may have been less
prominent and fierce, and so not have been mentioned
by him. In the same way it is objected that John

DIFFICULTIES MAY BE EXPLAINED. 273
speaks of the presence of Nicodemus at the bu; *al of
Christ, while nothing is said of it by the other evange
lists ; and this is called a discrepancy.
May be explained. — 3. Of the above-mentioned diffi
culties, those connected with the accounts of the resur
rection seem the most considerable ; and we may apply
to all of them, in substance, what is said of those in
particular, in a recent excellent work : " This examina
tion of the several narratives shows us hoAv many of
the data are wanting Avhich are necessary to enable us
to form a regular, harmonious, and complete history of
this eventful morning. Each of the evangelists gives us
some particulars Avhich the others omit, but no one of
them aims to give us a full and connected account ; and
for us to supply the missing links in the chain, is im
possible. To a superficial examination there seem many
discrepancies, not to say contradictions ; but a thorough
hrvestigation shows that the points of real difference
are very few, and that in several ways even these dif
ferences may be removed. Whilst thus we can not say
of any order that we can frame that it is certain, we
can say of several that they are probable ; and if they
can not be proved, neither can they be disproved.
This is sufficient for him who finds in the moral char
acter of the Gospels the highest vouchers for their
historic truth."*
Peculiar testimony. — But I observe, fourthly, that
this evidence is powerfully confirmed by the peculiar
testimony which was given by their authors to the truth
of these books. To state one of the fundamental prop
ositions of Paley : " There is satisfactory evidence that
many, professing to be original witnesses of the Chris
tian miracles, passed their lives in labors, dangers, and
sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the
accounts which they delivered, and solely in conse-
* The Life of our Lord. By Samuel J. Andrews.

274 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
quence of their belief of those accounts ; and that they
also submitted, from the same motives, to neAv rules of
conduct." Into the proof that they did thus labor and
suffer Paley enters at large. But it is so obvious that
men Avho, in that day, should attempt to propagate an
exclusive religion, that was entirely opposed both to
Judaism and heathenism, and also to the natural pas
sions and inclinations of men, would be obliged to
undergo labor and suffering in proportion to their sin
cerity and earnestness, that it seems to me scarcely to
need proof. Then the idea of this is so much implied
in the whole narrative, and regarded as a matter of
course, — it is so much taken for granted in the
exhortations, and promises, and consolations, given to
the disciples by Christ himself, and in the letters of
the apostles, and it is so fully testified to by heathen
writers, — that I can not think it necessary to dAvell
upon it. If, then, these men did labor, and suffer, and
finally die, in attestation of the truth of their accounts,
then are our books confirmed in the highest possible
manner, and as no other historical books ever have
been. Testimony of others than the writers. — It was not,
however, — and here we come to one of the strongest
points of the Christian testimony, — it was not simply
those who compiled the accounts Avho thus gave their
testimony, but thousands of others ; and, though their
testimony is unwritten, yet it is so involved in the cir
cumstances of the case, that it comes to us with no less
force than if they had certified, under their own hands
and seals, the truth of our accounts. Every Christian
who, in that early age, abandoned the prejudices of
education, and friends, and property, to become a
Christian, especially every one who was persecuted and
suffered death for the cause, gave his testimony, in the
most emphatic manner possible, for the truth of the

EVERY CONVERT A AVITNESS. .275
facts of the Gospels. Every member of a church which
received an Epistle of Paul, and to Avhich it was read,
was a witness of its authenticity, and of the truth of
the facts of Christianity, which is implied in all his
Epistles. The great force of this uiiAvritten testimony
is fully set forth by Chalmers, as also the fallacy by
which we are so often led to feel that heathen testimony
is superior in point of force to that of Christians, as if
the very strength of conviction which would lead a man
to become a Christian should not also furnish the best
evidence of his sincerity. It would be inconsistent that
a heathen should testify to the truth of the religion with
out becoming a Christian, and it is surely unreasonable
to make the very act by which he testified, in the high
est possible maimer, his sincerity and consistency, a
reason for not receiving his testimony. This testimony
meets a positive cavil. It may be said that the eight
writers of the New Testament were actuated, in their
labors and sufferings, by a desire to be of reputation,
to be the founders of sects, or to preserve their consis
tency. But no such motives can be imputed to the mass
of Christians in that day, each of Avhom did as really
and as impressively testify to his belief in the facts of
the New Testament as if he had Avritten a book. Men
may have motives for being impostors, but they can
have none for being imposed upon, especially Avhen the
imposition costs them all that men usually hold dear.
When, therefore, I see the apostles and their associates,
and especially when I see vast numbers of persons, in
the ordinary walks of life, preferring to relinquish any
thing, and to undergo any thing, rather than to deny
the truth of these facts ; Avhen I see them led, one by
one, or, perhaps, numbers together, to scourging and
torture ; when I see them standing as martyrs, and,
in that act, as it were lifting up their dying hand to
heaven, and taking an oath of their sincerity, — then I

276 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
know that they believed the facts for which they died ,
then I think I have found the case of which Hume
speaks, when he says, "We can not make use of a
more convincing argument " (in proof of honesty)
" than to prove that the actions ascribed to any persons
are contrary to the course of human nature, and that
no human motives, in such circumstances, could ever
induce them to such a conduct."
Authors neither deceivers nor deceived. — I observe,
fifthly, that our books are worthy of credit, because it
can be shown that their authors were neither deceivers
nor deceived ; and this is the only alternative possible
unless the religion is true. The alternative that, unless
Christ and his apostles were what they claimed to be,
they were either impostors or dupes, was first presented
by Pascal ; and since his time this whole question has
often been argued under it. The same thing, in fact,
is sometimes argued under a positive form, when it is
shoAvn that the primitive witnesses were both compe
tent and honest. The only questions that can be asked
respecting a Avitness are, Is he competent — that is, is
he well informed? and, Is he honest? Does he know
the truth, and will he tell it ? and it obviously makes
no difference whether we show that the apostles were
well informed and honest, or whether we show that
they were not either deceivers or deceived. In either
case, the truth of the religion is established.
Not deceivers. — To one branch of this alternative
— that which supposes the apostles to have been de
ceivers — all that was said, under the last head, of
their labors and sufferings, will apply. It is not in
human nature, there is no example of it, for even one
man to persevere, through a long Ufe, in undergoing
labors and sufferings, and finally to die, in attestation
of what he knew to be false ; much less can we suppose
that twelve men, yea, that hundreds and thousands, can

NOT DECEIVERS. 277
have done this. The character of Christ and of his
apostles in other respects, and the nature of the religion
which he taught, forbid the supposition that they Avere
deceivers. To suppose that men, teaching a morality
more perfect than any other ever knoAvn, and exempli
fying it in their conduct, living lives of great simplicity,
and self-denial, and benevolence, enforcing truth and
honesty by the most tremendous sanctions of a future
life, should, Avithout any possible advantage to them
selves, die as martyrs in attestation of what they knew
to be false, is practically absurd.
If so, by conspiracy . — Moreover, if they were de
ceivers, they Avere so by combination and conspiracy.
From the nature of the case this must have been so,
and the number acquainted with the secret could not
have been small. But it is morally impossible, under
the temptations which we know assailed them from
without, and in the dissensions Avhich, by their own
confession, sprang up among themselves, that such a
combination of falsehood should have held together.
A readiness to deceive always implies selfishness ; and,
in such a company of deceivers, there would have been
some one to expose any iniquity if there had been any
to expose. I omit here, what I have very briefly no
ticed in another lecture — the general air of truth and
sincerity in these narratives, their simplicity, their
candor, their particularity, their minute and life-like
touches. But I do say that, in the midst of all the
varieties of human conduct, there are some principles
as settled as the laAvs of physical nature ; and that for
men to combine to propagate such a story as this, and
to devote their lives to this object, and to die solely in
attestation of it, when they knew it to be false, is as
contrary to a fixed and uniform experience as any mir
acle can be. These men, then, could not have been
deceivers.

278 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Not deceived. — But neither, on the other hand, could
they have been deceived. This is evident from the
nature of the facts, and from their character as indicated
by their writings. And here we are to keep in mind
the distinction between testimony to facts, and infer
ences, or doctrines, or opinions. The apostles certainly
knew Avhether there was, or was not, such a person as
Jesus Christ; whether he called them to be his dis
ciples ; Avhether he spoke the discourses they have
recorded ; Avhether multitudes folloAved him ; whether
he was crucified. Nor, if we consider the number and
character of his miracles, and the manner in Avhich they
were performed, is it more possible they should have
been deceived respecting them. We read of their
bringing to him great multitudes of " sick folk," with
every variety of disease, and of his healing them all,
of his giving sight to the blind, to those born blind ;
of his raising the dead. And all this he did openly,
before friends and enemies. Noav, that men could be
deceived respecting acts of this kind, repeated for
years, under all varieties of circumstances, capable of
being tested by all the senses, — that they could, for
example, have failed to know that Lazarus Avas dead
when they had the evidence of it given at his tomb, or
that he was alive Avhen they conversed and ate with
him, — is impossible. Here is nothing that can be
resolved into any false perception, no mere momentary
effect; nor can there be any doubt whether the events,
if they took place, were miraculous. But not only did
Christ himself Avork miracles, — he communicated to
his disciples that poAver. They retained it long after
his ascension, and they could not have been deceived
in supposing they wrought the cures related, if they
did not. Either Ave must abandon our faith in the
testimony of the senses, or we must admit that events
thus tested really took place. No stretch of enthusiasm

NOT DECEIVED. 279
could have led them to believe that they saAv such things
if they did not see them. No enthusiasm is sufficient
to account for the belief of so many, that they saw the
Saviour after his resurrection, and conversed and ate
with him, and, like Thomas, could touch his hands and
his side. If Christ did not rise, it is equally impossible
to account, on the supposition that they Avere deceived,
for their belief that he did rise, and for the fact that
the body Avas not produced by the Jews.
Not enthusiastic or superstitious. — But if we look
into the writings of these men, Ave see no signs of su
perstitious weakness, or of enthusiastic fervors. There
is nothing in their character, aside from their relation of
miraculous events, and their maintaining their testimony
at all hazards, that bears any marks of enthusiasm.
On the contrary, their writings are marked with great
good sense and sobriety. There are no extravagant
expressions, no indications of excessive emotion, no
high-wrought description, no praise, and no censure.
There is a simple statement of the facts of the life of
Christ, and a record of his discourses. Such men could
not have been deceived for so long a time respecting
such facts.
But, if they were neither deceivers nor deceived, then
the facts took place, and the religion is true.
Leslie's "Short Method." — We noAV come to an argu
ment for the credibility of the facts contained in our
books, which never has been answered, and never can
be. Infidels have repeatedly been challenged to answer
it, but they have never made the attempt. It is the
argument of Leslie in his " Short Method with the
Deists." This argument rests solely upon the peculiar
ity of Christian evidence, already mentioned, by which
the truth of the religion is indissolubly connected with
certain matters of fact Avhich could originally be judged
of by the senses, and also upon the fact that there exist

280 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
in the church certain ordinances commemorative of
those facts. Thus the truth of our religion seems to
be embodied in institutions that now exist, and in ob
servances that pass before our eyes. The object of
Leslie is to show, from the nature of the case, — for
here we make very little reference to written testimo
ny, — that the matters of fact stated could not have
been received at the time unless they were true, and
that the observances could never have originated except
in connection Avith the facts. In showing this, he lays
down four rules, and asserts that any matter of fact in
which these four rules meet must be true, and chal
lenges the world to show any instance of any supposed
matter of fact, thus authenticated, that has ever been
shown to be false.
Four rules. — His four rules are these: 1. "That
the matter of fact be such that men's outward senses,
their eyes and ears, may be judges of it." 2. "That
it be done publicly, in the face of the world." 3. "That
not only public monuments be kept up in memory of
it, but some outward actions be performed." 4. "That
such monuments, and such actions, or observances, be
instituted, and do commence from the time that the
matter of fact Avas done."
The first two rules. — "The first two rules make it
impossible for any such matter of fact to be imposed
upon men at the time, because every man's eyes, and
ears, and senses, would contradict it." For example,
if any man should affirm that all the inhabitants of this
city yesterday, or last year, walked to Governor's Isl
and and returned on dry ground, while the water was
divided and stood in heaps on each side of them, it
would be impossible that he should be believed, because
every man, woman, and child would know better. It
would be one of those things respecting which the un
learned and the young could judge as well as the learned

Leslie's rules. 281
and the more experienced. Equally impossible is it
that the children of Israel, of that generation, should
have believed that they passed through the Red Sea, or
Avent out and gathered manna every morning, or drank
water from the rock, or that the law was given with the
terror and solemnity described in the Bible, if these
things did not happen. Not less impossible is it that
the five thousand should have believed they were fed
by Christ ; or that the relatives of Lazarus, and the
Jews who knew him, should have believed that he was
raised from the dead, or the parents and friends of the
man born blind, that he was made to see ; or that the
multitudes before whom he healed the lame, and the
sick of every description, should have believed that
these events took place, if they did not. These mira
cles are of such a nature, that, unless they were really
wrought, it is impossible they should have been be
lieved at the time.
"Therefore it only remains that such matter of fact
might be invented some time after, when the men of
that generation wherein the thing was said to be done
are all past and gone ; and the credulity of after ages
might be imposed upon to believe that things were done
in former ages which were not.
Tlie last two rules. — " And for this the last two rules
secure us as much as the first tAvo rules in the former
case ; for, whenever such a matter of fact came to be
invented, if not only monuments were said to remain
of it, but likewise that public actions and observances
were constantly used ever since the matter of fact was
said to be done, the deceit must be detected by no such
monuments appearing, and by the experience of every
man, woman, and child, who must know that no such
actions or observances were ever used by them." " For
example," continues Leslie, "suppose I should now
invent a story of such a thing done a thousand years

282 evidences of Christianity.
ago ; I might perhaps get some to believe it ; but if I
say that not only such a thing was done, but that, from
that day to this, every man, at the age of twelve years,
had a joint of his little finger cut off; and that every
man in the nation did want a joint of such a finger ; and
that this institution was said to be part of the matter
of fact done so many years ago, and vouched as a proof
and confirmation of it, and as having descended without
interruption, and been constantly practiced, in memory
of such matter of fact, all along from the time that such
matter of fact was done ; — I say it is impossible I
should be beheved in such a case, because every one
could contradict me as to the mark of cutting off the
joint of the finger ; and that, being a part of my origi
nal matter of fact, must demonstrate the whole to be
false." Application to books of Moses. — The case here put
is not stronger than that either of the books of Moses,
or of the New Testament. For, at whatever time it
might have been attempted to impose the books of
Moses upon a subsequent age, it would have been im
possible, because they contain the laws and civil and
ecclesiastical regulations of the Jews, which the books
affirm were adopted at the time of Moses, and were
constantly in force from that time ; and because they
contain an account of the institution of the passover,
which they assert to have been observed in consequence
of a particular fact. If, then, a book had been put
forth at a particular time, stating that the Jews had
obeyed certain very peculiar laws, and had a certain
priesthood, and had observed the passover from the
time of Moses, Avhile they had never heard of these
laws, or of this priesthood, or of a passover, it is im
possible the book should have been received. Nothing
could have saved such a book from scorn or utter
neglect.

CHRISTIAN ORDINANCES. 283
To the New Testament. — But what the Levitical law,
and the priesthood, and the passover, were to the JeAvs,
baptism, and the Christian ministry, and the Lord's
supper, are to Christians. It is a part of the records
of the Gospels that these were instituted by Christ ;
that they were commanded by him to be continued till
the end of time, and were actually continued and ob
served at the time when the Gospels purport to have
been written — that is, before the destruction of Jeru
salem. But if these books were fictions invented after
the time of Christ, there would have been at that time
no Christian baptism, nor order of Christian ministers,
nor sacrament of the supper, thus derived from his
appointment ; and that, alone, would have demonstrated
the whole to be false. Our books suppose these insti
tutions to exist ; they give an account of them ; and it
is impossible they should have been received where they
did not exist. It is, therefore, impossible that these
books should have been received at the time the facts
are said to have taken place, or at any subsequent time,
unless those facts really did take place. We now re
gard the sacrament of the supper as an essential part
of the religion ; it was so regarded by our fathers ; nor
can Ave conceive that it should have been otherwise up
to the very time Avhen the rehgion was founded. Thus
we have a visible sign and pledge of the truth of our
rehgion, handed down, independently of written testi
mony, from age to age ; and the force of which, age
has no tendency to diminish.
Strength of the evidences. — Perhaps we do not suffi
ciently dwell on the great strength which the Christian
evidences derive from this proof, or notice the contrast
it makes betAveen the evidence for the facts of Chris
tianity and those of ordina^ history. Not only is it
impossible to point out any statement of fact, substan
tiated by these four marks, that can be shown to be

284 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
false, but none of the best authenticated facts of ancient
history have them all. The fourth of July, as observed
by us, may illustrate the effects of such commemorative
ordinances as guarding against false historical accounts.
For any man to have invented the New Testament after
the time of Christ, and to have attempted to cause it
to be received, would have been as if a man had writ
ten an account of the Revolution, and of the celebration
of this day from the first, Avhen no revolution was ever
heard of, and no one had ever celebrated the fourth of
July. Nor, Avhen such a festival was once established,
would it be possible to introduce any account of its ori
gin essentially different from the true one. But the
case of the Christian religion is much stronger ; because
we have several different institutions which must have
sprung up at its origin ; because baptism and the Lord's
supper have occurred so much more frequently; and
because the latter has always been considered the chief
rite of a religion to Avhich men have been more attached
than to liberty or to life.
Two great arguments. — Thus I have brought into
close juxtaposition these tAvo great arguments. We
have seen that it Avas impossible that the apostles should
have been either deceivers or deceived ; and that the
books could not have been received, either at the time
they purport to have been Avritten, or at any subsequent
time, if the facts recorded had not taken place.
Credible because no others. — But again: our books
are credible because there are no others. That such a
movement as Christianity must have been, involving
the origin of so many neAv institutions, and such eccle
siastical and social changes, should have originated at
such a time, and in such a place, and that no written
documents should have been drawn forth by it, is in
credible. And that the true account should have per
ished, leaving not a vestige behind it, and that false

MIRACLES PECULIAR. 285
ones, and such as these, should have been substituted,
is impossible. Of the origin of such institutions we
should expect some account. That of our books is
adequate and satisfactory. There is nothing contradic
tory to it, for even spurious writings confirm the truth
of our books, and there is no vestige of any other.
Because of the character of the miracles. — I will only
add, in this general department of evidence, that our
books are credible because they contain accounts of such
miracles. In the second lecture, I spoke of miracles as
the proper and only adequate seal of a message from
God, and also noticed the peculiar import of those
words of Nicodemus, " We know that no man can do
these miracles that thou doest except God be with him,"
in Avhich it seems to be implied that the character of
the miracle, as well as the mere fact that a miracle was
wrought, may have something to do with the weight
and bearing of its evidence. I have recently met Avith
a passage, in "The Process of Historical Proof," by
Isaac Taylor, in Avhich, from a comparison of the Chris
tian miracles with the prodigies to Avhich impostors have
made pretension, he asserts that they so bear the stamp
of divinity upon them as to stand in no need of external
proof. Perhaps this is too strongly stated, but the
thought is one deserving of attention. "Whoever,"
says he, "is duly informed of the state of mankind in
ancient times, and is aAvare of the invariable character
of the preternatural events or prodigies which were
talked of among the Greeks, Romans, and Asiatics,
(the Jews excepted, whose notions were derived from
another source,) must allow that the miracles recorded
to have been performed by Christ and his apostles differ
totally from all such portents and prodigies. The be
neficent restorations AArhich followed the Avord or the
touch of Him who came, not to destroy life, but to
save, were, if the expression may be alloAved, perfectly

286 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
in the style of the Creator ; they held forth such exhi
bitions of an absolute control over the material world
as were most significant of the power of the doctrine
to restore health to the soul. If the idea of the mo
rality taught by Christ was absolutely new, so likewise
was the idea of the miracles performed by him to
enforce it." . . .
" Were there room to doubt what is the character of
the native imagination of enthusiasts — of fanatics —
of interested priests — when they have devised the
means of giving credit to their fraudulent usurpations
over the consciences of their fellows, we might read
the history of superstition in ancient Egypt, India, or
Greece ; or, if that were not enough, we might turn to
the history of those 'lying wonders,' upon which the
ministers of the Romish religion in modern times have
rested their pretensions." A missionary from India
informs me, that the traditionary miracles of that coun
try, at the present time, are generally connected with
stories the most whimsical and absurd ; that they were
wrought to establish no principle, and not unfrequently
for the purposes of cruelty and lust.
" The gospel miracles stand out, therefore, from the
uniform history of false religions, just as the gospel
morality stands out from the history of all other ethical
systems. They alone are worthy of the Creator, —
and that alone is worthy of the Supreme Lawgiver.
Instead, then, of admitting that stronger evidence is
necessary, to attest the extraordinary facts recorded in
the New Testament, than is deemed sufficient in the
common path of history, we assert their intrinsic in
dependence of external proof; and we affirm that no
sound and well-informed mind could fail to attribute
them to the Divine Agent, even though all historical
evidence were absent. Nothing is so reasonable as to
believe that the miracles and discourses of Jesus Avere

WANT OF BELIEF NOT FROM WANT OF PROOF. 287
from God, — nothing so absurd as to suppose them to
have been of men."
Summary. — Here, then, we have five authentic his
tories — four, of the same events — written by four
different persons, who were themselves eye-witnesses,
or had the best means of knowing what they relate.
We have original letters, written at the time, both to
bodies of men and to individuals, containing a great
variety of indirect, and therefore of the very strongest,
testimony. We find the books bearing every mark of
honesty. We find the facts of such a nature that the
witnesses could not have been deceived, and we find
them laying down their lives to testify that they did not
deceive others. We find institutions now existing, and
rites observed, which hold such a relation to the facts
of Christianity, as given in the books, that the books
must be true. We find, moreover, no other account,
nor the vestige of any, of the greatest revolution the
world has ever known, while our accounts are in all
respects simple, and natural, and perfectly satisfactory,
assigning only adequate causes for effects which we
know were produced ; and, finally, we find in these
books the only account of miracles that are worthy
of God. Can any man then refuse to believe facts
thus substantiated, and yet receive evidence for any
past event ? Can he do it, and pretend he is not gov
erned by other considerations than those of evidence?
Heathen writers. — And here I might pause ; but I
am to present the evidence, and there is still another
department on which I have not touched. All the evi
dence hitherto adduced has been draAvn from our OAvn
books, or from the nature of the case. Let us noAvturn
to that which we may derive from heathen writers, and
from other sources. This evidence must be noticed,
because there are those who attach to it a peculiar

288 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
value. There are those who give a weight to the tes
timony of Tacitus the heathen, which they would not
have given to that of Tacitus the Christian. This is
unreasonable ; because, if Tacitus had become a Chris
tian, it would, under the circumstances, have implied
both sincerity and more accurate knowledge. The very
fact of becoming a Christian would have been, on his
part, as it was on the part of every converted heathen,
the most striking testimony he could have given of his
belief in the facts of Christianity. Still, there are
those who will not detach the idea of partisanship from
the belief and maintenance of any great truth, and who
look upon Christian testimony, as such, with suspicion.
While, therefore, we say that they suffer the very cir
cumstance, that ought to give this evidence weight, to
impair its force, yet, for their sakes, as well as for its
intrinsic value, the evidence from other sources must
be given.
Time and place of origin. — And here, again, as at
other points, the evidence of Christianity shines with a
peculiar lustre. It may, indeed, almost be said that
our books are credible from the very time and place of
their origin. " Few persons," says the forcible writer
whom I last quoted, " few persons, perhaps, give due
attention to the relative position of the Christian his
tory, which stands upon the very point of intersection
where three distinct lines of history meet — namely,
the Jewish, the Grecian, and the Roman. These three
bodies of ancient literature, alone, have descended, by
an uninterrupted channel of transmission, to modern
times ; and these three, by a most extraordinary com
bination of circumstances, were brought together to
elucidate the origination of Christianity. If upon the
broad field of history there rests the common light of
day, upon that spot where a new religion was given to
man there shines the intensity of a concentrated bright-

PLACE OF ORIGIN. 289
ness." The Jews had their own literature , they had
been formerly conquered by the Greeks, and the Greek
language was in common use ; they were also a Roman
province, and " during more than a century, in the cen
tre of which stands the ministry of Christ, the affairs
of Syria attracted the peculiar attention of the Roman
government." " No other people of antiquity can be
named, upon Avhose history and sentiments there falls
this triple flood of historic light ; and upon no period
in the history of this one people do these triple rays so
precisely meet as upon the moment Avhen the voice of
one was heard in the wilderness of Jordan, saying,
* Prepare ye the Avay of the Lord.' " * Well, then,
might an apostle say, " These things were not done in a
corner." The time is not run back, hke that of Indian
legends, to obscure and fabulous ages ; nor is it in what
are called the dark ages of more modern times. It was
a civilized and an enlightened age — a classic age — an
age of poets, philosophers, and historians. Nor was it
in Mecca — a city little known or visited by the civilized
world, and where the people and language were homo
geneous — that Christ arose. It was in Jerusalem, in
Western Asia, — the theatre of history from the first,
— and from the bosom of a people with all whose rites
and usages we are perfectly acquainted. It AAras, per
haps, the only place on earth in which a Roman gov
ernor would have called the three languages which
contain the literature of ancient civilization into requi
sition, to proclaim at once the accusation and the true
character of Christ. "And Pilate wrote a title, and
put it on the cross. And the writing was — Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And it was
written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin."
Here, then, was a mixed population, with different
prejudices and interests, speaking different languages,
* Process of Historical Proof.

290 evidences of Christianity.
for that day a reading population, in a city to Avhich
not only the Jews dwelling in Palestine, but those from
distant countries, and proselytes, came up yearly, as
the centre and seat of the only pure worship of God
on earth. And Avas this the place to select for the
production of forged writings ? or for an imposture of
any kind to gather a force that should carry it over the
earth? I have already spoken of the opportunity furnished
by the number and variety of the Christian witnesses
for a most searching cross-examination, and we have
seen how triumphantly they come out from such an
ordeal. And here again they are brought to a test
scarcely less trying. The contemporary writers, Jewish
and heathen, in the three languages mentioned, are
numerous ; and whatever, in any of them, throAvs light
on the manners, or habits, or sects, or forms of govern
ment, or general condition of the inhabitants of Pales
tine and the surrounding countries, will enable us to
put to a most decisive test those who describe with any
minuteness important events passing upon such a scene.
The Talmud. — Of Hebrew literature, then, we have
the Talmud, a collection of Jewish traditions, the com
pilation of which was commenced as early as the second
century. This speaks of Christ, and of several of the
disciples, by name. It speaks also of his crucifixion.
It admits, also, that he performed many and great mir
acles, but imputes his power to his having learned the
right pronunciation of the ineffable name of God, which,
it says, he stole out of the Temple, or to the magic arts
which he learned in Egypt. These writings are specific
in their statements respecting the destruction of Jeru
salem, and throw much light on the sects and customs
of the Jews.*
Greek writers — Josephus. — Of Greek writers, we
* See Home.

JOSEPHUS. 291
cite first Josephus, who, though he was a Jew by birth,
and a Roman by association and habits, yet wrote in
Greek. Josephus lived at the time many of these
events are said to have happened, and Avas present at the
destruction of Jerusalem. In him, therefore, we have
the most ample means of ascertaining every thing re
lating to Jewish sects, and customs, and opinions, and
of testing the accuracy of our books respecting many
dates and names of persons and places.
And, on all hands, it is agreed that, so far as Jose
phus goes, he confirms the accuracy of our books.
Every thing said in relation to the sects of the Jews,
and the Herods, and Pilate, and the division of prov
inces, and Felix, and Drusilla, and Bernice, has just
that agreement with our accounts which we should ex
pect in independent historians. The account given by
Josephus of the death of Herod is strikingly similar to
that of Luke. The account by Luke you will remem
ber. Josephus says that Herod came into the theatre
early in the morning, dressed in a robe or garment made
wholly of silver, and that the reflection of the rays of
the rising sun from the silver gave him a majestic and
awful appearance, and that in a short time his flatterers
exclaimed, one from one place and another from another,
though not for his good, that he was a god, and they
entreated him to be propitious to them. He then adds,
"Immediately after, he was seized with pain in his
bowels, extremely violent, and was carried to the pal
ace." Luke gives the cause of the pain, saying he was
eaten of worms. Do we find in the New Testament
the Jews calling upon Pilate to crucify Jesus, and say
ing, We have no power to put any man to death?
Josephus says that they had the free exercise of their
religion, and the power of accusing and prosecuting,
but not of putting any man to death. Do vre find the
Roman captain, Avhen Paul was arrested, asking, " Art

292 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest
an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thou
sand men that were murderers ? " We find in Josephus
a full account of the transaction, which happened under
the government of Felix, and, what is remarkable,
Josephus does not mention his name, but every where
calls him " the Egyptian," and " the Egyptian false
prophet." Do our books speak of Pharisees, and Sad
ducees, and Herodians? Josephus confirms all that is
said of these in the minutest particulars. Does Luke
speak of soldiers who went to John the Baptist, using a
word (aiQUTEvofiepoi) which indicates that they were then
under arms and marching to battle ? Josephus tells us
that Herod was then at war with Aretas, his father-
in-law, and that a body of soldiers was at that very
time marching through the region where John Avas.
Does Luke speak of Herod as reproved by John for
Herodias, his brother Philip's Avife? Josephus tells us
it was on her account that Herod had sent back his
wife, and that the war Avas undertaken. Does Paul
say of Ananias, when reproached for reviling God's
high priest, "I wist not, brethren, that he was the high
priest"? We find, from Josephus, that Ananias had
been deposed, and his successor murdered, and that in
the interim, when there really was no high priest,
Ananias had usurped the place. Does Luke speak of
a body of soldiers stationed at Caesarea, called the
Augustan band? Josephus says, that though that gar
rison was chiefly composed of Syrian soldiers, yet that
there was a small body of Roman soldiers stationed
there, called by this title, and he applies to them the
very Greek term used by Luke. So minute and perfect
are these coincidences, that no one can resist the con
viction that the writers of our books lived and acted in
the scenes Avhich they relate.
But it is said that Josephus is silent respecting Christ.

josephus. 293
and Christianity. This is not true, if we admit as
authentic either of tAvo passages which are found in all
the manuscripts, and which have strong external testi
mony. The first passage is this: "Now there Avas,
about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be kiAvful to
call him a man; for he performed many wonderful
works. He was a teacher of such men as received the
truth with pleasure. He drew over to him many of the
Jews, and also of the Gentiles. This was the Christ.
And Avhen Pilate, at the instigation of the principal men
among us, had condemned him to the cross, those who
had loved him from the first did not cease to adhere to
him. For he appeared to them alive again on the third
day ; the divine prophets having foretold these and ten
thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And
the tribe of Christians, so named from him, subsists to
this time." * Subsequently we find the following :
"Ananias assembled the Jewish Sanhedrim, and brought
before it James, the brother of Jesus, who is called
Christ, with some others, whom he delivered over to
be stoned as infractors of the law." We also find a
passage speaking of John the Baptist, in exact accord
ance with our Gospels. The authenticity of all these
passages has been controverted, and there is so much
reason for doubt, that I do not quote them as authorita
tive. If they are interpolations, then Josephus is silent
on the whole subject. But that silence is not from
ignorance. We know from Tacitus that before Jose
phus wrote, the Roman people, for whom he wrote, had
seen the tortures of Christian martyrs suffering for their
faith in Jesus Christ, whom they regarded as a Jew,
and continuing himself to be a Jew, his silence becomes
an indirect but very strong testimony. As a Jew, he
could not confess the truth of the facts asserted by
* For a vindication of the genuineness of this passage, see the recent edition of
Home.

294 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Christians ; but as an historian, he did not venture to
contradict them, and, as has been seen, in all collateral
matters he confirms them. But, if we suppose Jose
phus silent, then it is certain, from Tacitus, that his
silence was not from ignorance, and, inasmuch as he
continued a Jew, it thus becomes an indirect testimony.
He could not say any thing to contradict our books ; he
says nothing different from them ; he confirms them in
all incidental points.
Demosthenes. — But, again : does Luke speak of the
Athenians as spending their time in hearing and telling
some neAv thing? We find Demosthenes, long before,
inquiring of them whether it was their sole ambition to
wander through the public places, each inquiring of the
other, " What news ? " Does Paul speak of the Cretans
as liars ? We find that to " Cretize " was a proverbial
expression, among the ancients, for lying.
Testimony of Pilate. — Before citing two Latin au
thors, I Avill say a word of what may be called " official"
testimony to the facts of Christianity. Its early de
fenders, as Justin Martyr, in his first Apology, addressed
to "the emperor and senate of Rome," and Tertullian,
addressing the Roman governor of his province, appeal
to the official communications of Pilate to the emperor
Tiberius, as confirming their statements concerning
Christ. The confidence with which they invite an ex
amination of the public records, and of the other sources
of information, — and this at a time when such an exam
ination would certainly disclose the facts, — shows tneir
unhesitating faith, not only as to the truth of the Chris
tian history, but also as to the abundant evidence then
existing and accessible, by which it was supported. If
no such documents had existed, it would have been
mere foolhardiness thus to refer to them ; if they did
exist, how perfect the evidence ! *
* Home, to whom, and Paley, I have chiefly referred in this part of the lecture.

TACITUS AND PLINY. 295
Ihcitus. — But I pass to Tacitus, whose testimony
even Gibbon admits must be received. In connection
with an account of the burning of Rome, in the tenth
year of Nero, A. D. 64, Avhich was imputed by Nero
to the Christians, he tells us that Christ was put to
death by Pontius Pilate, who was the procurator under
Tiberius, as a malefactor ; that the people called Chris
tians derived their name from him ; that this superstition
arose in Judea, and spread to Rome, where at that time,
only about thirty years after the death of Christ, the
Christians Avere very numerous. The Avords of Tacitus,
in speaking of them, are, " ing ens multitudo," a great
multitude. It is obvious, also, from the account of
Tacitus, that the Christians Avere subjected to contempt
and the most dreadful sufferings. "Their executions,"
says he, "were so contrived as to expose them to de
rision and contempt. Some Avere covered over Avith
the skins of Avild beasts, that they might be torn to
pieces by dogs; some were crucified; Avhile others,
being daubed over with combustible materials, were set
up as lights in the night-time, and Avere thus burnt to
death." This account is confirmed by Suetonius, and
by Martial and Juvenal. In his first satire, Juvenal
has the folloAving allusion, Avhich I give as translated
by Mr. Gifforcl : — "Now dare
To glance at Tigellinus, and you glare
In that pitched shirt in which such crowds expire,
Chained to the bloody stake, and wrapped in fire.''
This testimony of Tacitus, confirmed as it is, is per
fectly conclusive respecting the time and the main facts
of the origin of Christianity.
Pliny. — It would here be in place to quote the whole
of the celebrated letter of Pliny to Trajan, and the
reply ; but as these are so well known, I will simply
give two brief passages, one respecting the character,

296 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and the other the numbers, of the Christians. Pliny
was propraetor of Pontus and Bithynia, a part of Asia
remote from Judea, and the letter was written but a
little more than seventy years after the death of Christ.
Many Avere brought before him for their faith in Christ.
If they remained steadfast in it, refusing to offer in
cense to the idols, he condemned them to death for
their " inflexible obstinacy." Under this fear numbers
consented to deny Christ. Of those accused, many
said that they had once been Christians, " but had aban
doned that religion, some of them three years before,
some of them longer, and some even twenty years be
fore." "They affirmed," says he, — that is, those who
said they had once been Christians, but were not then, —
"that the whole of their fault, or error, lay in this, that
they were wont to meet together on a stated day before
it was light, and sing among themselves, alternately, a
hymn to Christ, as God, and bind themselves, by an
oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but not
to be guilty of theft, or robbery, or adultery, never to
falsity their Avord, nor to deny a pledge committed to
them when called upon to return it. When these things
were performed, it was their custom to separate, and
then to come together again to a meal, which they ate
in common without any disorder." This account seemed
so extraordinary to Pliny, that he applied torture to
two women, but discovered nothing more.
The passage in regard to numbers is — " Suspending,
therefore, all judicial proceedings, I have recourse to
you for advice ; for it has appeared to me a matter
highly deserving consideration, especially on account
of the great number of persons who are in danger of
suffering ; for many of all ages and every rank, of both
sexes likewise, are accused, and will be accused. Nor
has the contagion of this superstition seized cities only,
but the lesser towns also, and the open country." Here

STRENGTH AND VARIETY OF EVIDENCE. 297
we find the testimony given in our books of the progress
of the religion fully confirmed. Pontus and Bithynia
were remote provinces, and it does not appear that the
Christian religion had spread more rapidly there than
elseAvhere. How strong must have been that primitive
evidence for Christianity which could induce these per
sons, persons of good sense, in every walk of life, to
abandon the religion of their ancestors, and thus, in the
face of imperial power, to persist in their adherence to
one Avho had suffered the death of a slave !
Other writers. — We might also refer to Celsus, and
Lucian, and Epictetus, and the Emperor Marcus Anto
ninus, and Porphyry, — who all throw light on the early
history of Christianity, and all confirm, so far as they
go, the accounts of our books.
Coins, medals, inscriptions. — There is a single spe
cies of evidence more, that I will just mention — that
which is derived from ancient coins, medals, and inscrip
tions. The most striking of these relate to the credi
bility of the Old Testament ; still, valuable confirmation
to the New is not wanting, and I mention it because it
shows how every possible line of evidence converges
on this point.
Luke gives to Sergius Paulus a title belonging only
to a man of proconsular dignity, and it had been
doubted whether the governor of Cyprus had that dig
nity. A coin, however, has been found struck in the
reign of Claudius Caesar, (the very reign in which Paul
visited Cyprus,) and under Proclus, who succeeded
Sergius Paulus, on which the very title applied by Luke
is given to Proclus. Luke speaks of Philippi as a col
ony, and the word implies that it Avas a Roman colony.
It was mentioned as such by no other historian, and
hence the authority of Luke was questioned. But a
medal has been discovered which shows that this dignity

298 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
was conferred upon that city by Julius Caesar. It is
implied, in the nineteenth of Acts, that there was great
zeal at Ephesus for the worship of Diana ; and a long
inscription has been found there, by Avhich it appears
that, at one time, a whole month was set apart to games
and festivals in honor of her.*
There have also been found, in the catacombs at
Rome, inscriptions which show, in a touching manner,
in opposition to the insinuations of Gibbon and of some
later Avriters, the cruelty of the early persecutions, and
the number of those who suffered martyrdom.f Much
evidence of this kind might be added.
Weak and obstinate skepticism. — Thus have we every
conceivable species of historical proof, both external
and internal. Thus do the very stones cry out. And,
my hearers, if there may be such a thing as a weak and
obstinate credulity, may there not also be such a thing
as a skepticism equally weak and obstinate ?
* S«e alio p. 365, postta. f Wiseman's Lectures.

LECTURE XI.
ARGUMENT THIRTEENTH :— PROPHECY. — NATURE OF THIS EVI
DENCE.— THE GENERAL OBJECT OF PROPHECY. — THE FUL
FILLMENT OF PROPHECY.
The subject of prophecy, upon which we now enter,
is a great subject. It involves many questions of diffi
culty, and of deep and increasing interest ; and I find
myself embarrassed in the attempt to say any thing
respecting it in a single lecture.
Force of the evidence. — The term 'prophet' meant,
originally, one who spoke the words of God, not neces
sarily implying that he foretold future events ; but,
when I speak of prophecy as an evidence of revealed
religion, I mean by it a foretelling of future events so
contingent that they could not be foreseen by human
sagacity, and so numerous and particular that they could
not be produced by chance. To foretell such events,
and bring them to pass, is among the most striking of
all possible manifestations of the omniscience and om
nipotence of God. " To declare a thing shall come to
be, long before it is in being," says Justin Martyr, " and
then to bring about that very thing according to the
same declaration — this, or nothing, is the work of God."
Hume was fully aware of the force of this kind of evi
dence, and justly, though for an obvious reason, classed
prophecies with miracles, as furnishing proof of a rev-
(299)

300 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
elation from God. Indeed, a prophecy fulfilled before
our eyes is a standing miracle. Let it once be made
out that a religion is sustained by genuine prophecies, .
and I see not how it is possible that evidence should be
more complete or satisfactory.
Peculiar to Christianity. — In claiming prophecy as
a ground of evidence, Christianity again stands entirely
by itself. Miracles and prophecy — those two grand
pillars of Christian evidence — are neither of them even
claimed by Mohammedanism, and are neither of them
the ground on which it has been attempted to introduce
any other rehgion. Impostors have pretended, and
still do, to work miracles in support of systems of pa
ganism and of superstition already established ; and, in
the same way, juggling oracles have been uttered, which
seem to have resembled modern fortune-telling far more
than Scripture prophecy. Indeed, the contrast is not
greater between the Christian miracles and the ridicu
lous prodigies of paganism, than it is between the
prophecies of the Scriptures and the heathen oracles.
Those oracles were given for purposes of gain, on
special application, to gratify curiosity, or to subserve
the purposes of ambition, political or military ; all the
circumstances under which they were given favored
imposture, and the responses were generally so ambig
uous, that they would apply to either alternative.
"Thus, when Croesus consulted the oracle at Delphi,
relative to his intended war against the Persians, he
was told that he would destroy a great empire. This
he naturally interpreted of his overcoming the Persians,
though the oracle was so framed as to admit of an oppo
site meaning. Croesus made war against the Persians,
and was ruined, and the oracle continued to maintain
its credit." * But the prophecies of the Scriptures were
generally uttered on no sohcitation, and never for a
* Home.

EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY  CHARACTERISTICS. 301
selfish end. They relate sometimes to individuals and
sometimes to nations, and present us with a compre
hensive view of the kingdom of God in its rise and
progress, and of those events most intimately associated
Avith it till the end of time. They are one great and har
monious system, not one of which can be shown to have
failed, commencing in the garden of Eden, uttered by
persons of the greatest variety of character, and ex
tending over the space of four thousand years. A
system of deception like this could have been under
taken from no conceivable motive, and could have been
executed by no human power.
Gives grandeur. — This is a species of evidence which
invests the Christian religion, and especially the coming
of Christ, with a peculiar grandeur. As his coming is
the great event to which the Christian world must al
ways look hack, so prophecy makes it the great event
to which the ancient church constantly looked forward.
It makes him the centre of the system, the great orb
of moral day; and prophets and holy men of old it
makes but as the stars and constellations that preceded
and heralded the brightness of his coming.
Constantly growing. — The evidence of prophecy is
also constantly growing. This results, not from the
nature of prophecy, in itself considered, but from
the number and nature of those unfulfilled prophecies
of which there are so many, both in the Old and in the
New Testament. If prophecy has laid down a map of
time till the end, then the evidences from it must be
more full as the scroll of Divine Providence is unrolled,
and is found to correspond with this map. It has even
been said that this increasing evidence of prophecy was
intended to act as a compensation for the decreasing
evidence of miracles ; but I admit of no such decrease
in the evidence for miracles. We may be as certain
that miracles were wrought as those were who saw them ;

302 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
just as we may be as certain that Jerusalem was be*
sieged and taken as those were who saw it ; but, in
both cases, according to a common law in respect to
distance in space and time, the impression upon our
minds will be less hvely than if it had been produced
by the evidence of the senses, or from a near proximity
in time or space. We might be as certain of the fact,
if there had been an earthquake in China, as if one had
swaUowed up New Orleans or New York ; but how
much less lively would be our impressions in one case
than in the other ! It was a doctrine of Hume, that
belief consists in liveliness of ideas, and this doctrine
of a decreasing evidence for miracles seems to have
resulted from confounding these two.
Specially adapted to some minds. — The evidence from
prophecy, being thus conclusive, peculiar, grand, and
growing, can not be omitted ; though if we look at
Christianity as merely requiring a logical proof, it is
not needed. But the minds of men are differently con
stituted. Some are more struck with one species of
evidence, and some with another ; and it seems to have
been the intention of God that his revelation should
not be without any kind of proof that could be reason
ably demanded, nor without proof adapted to every
mind. To my mind, the argument from the internal
evidence is conclusive ; so is that from testimony ; and
here is another, perhaps not less so even now, and
which is destined to become overwhelming. These are
independent of each other. They are like separate
nets, which God has commanded those Avho would be
"fishers of men" to stretch across the stream — that
stream which leads to the Dead Sea of infidelity — so
that if any evade the first, they may be taken by the
second ; or, if they can possibly pass the second, that
they may not escape the third.
Evidence not the sole or great object. — This evidence,

EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY  INCIDENTAL. 303
so striking and peculiar, it has generally been supposed
it was the object of prophecy to give. That this was
one object I can not doubt. It may even have been the
sole object of some particular prophecies, as Avhen
Christ said to his disciples, respecting the treachery of
Judas, "Now I have told you before it come to pass,
that when it is come to pass, ye might believe." But,
important as this object is, it seems to me to be only
incidental. Prophecy seems, like the sinlessness of
Christ, to enter necessarily into the system — to be a
part, not only of the evidence of the system, but of
the system itself. I speak not now of this or that par
ticular prophecy ; but I say that the prophetic element
causes the whole system to have a different relation to
the human mind, and makes it quite another thing as a
means of moral culture and discipline. It is one thing
for the soldier to march without any knowledge of the
places through which he is to pass, or of that to which
he is going, or of the object of the campaign ; and it
is quite another for him to have, not a map, perhaps,
but a sketch of the intended route, with the principal
cities through which he is to pass dotted down, and to
know what is intended to be the termination and the
final object of the campaign. It is evident that in the
one case a vastly Avider range of sympathies will be
called into action than in the other. In the latter case,
the soldiers can cooperate far more intelligently with
their commander-in-chief; they will feel very differ
ently as they arrive at designated points, and far higher
will be their enthusiasm as they approach the end of
their march, and the hour of the final conflict draws on.
And this is the relation in which God has placed us, by
the prophetic element in revelation, to his great plans
and purposes. He has provided that there shall be put
into the hands of every soldier a sketch of the route
which the church militant is to pursue in following the

304 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Captain of her salvation ; and this sketch is continued all
the way, till we see the bannered host passing through
those triumphal arches where the everlasting doors have
been lifted up for their entrance into the Jerusalem
above. This is not merely to gratify curiosity ; it is
not merely to give an evidence which becomes com
pleted only when it is no longer needed ; but it is to
furnish objects to faith and affection, and motives to
effort, and to put the mind of man in that relation to
the great plan of God which properly belongs to those
whom he calls his children and his friends.
Obscurity. — Objection has been made to the obscu
rity of the prophecies. This objection can not lie
against them as indicating the general course of events,
and thus accomplishing the great end for which I sup
pose they were given. Nor can it lie against some of
the particular prophecies, for nothing can be more
direct and explicit. Others, however, are obscure.
The revelations were made by symbols which are sub
ject to their own laws of interpretation, and the mean
ing of which the prophets themselves did not always
understand. But it is through this very obscurity, in
the exact degree in which it exists, that many of these
prophecies furnish the highest possible evidence of their
genuineness. If the object had been to furnish the
very best evidence that certain prophecies Avere in
spired, it could have been done only by investing them
with such a degree of obscurity that the events could
not have been certainly recognized before their fulfill
ment, and yet by making them so clear that they could
not be mistaken afterward. And this is precisely the
principle on which many of the prophecies are con
structed. Looked at in this point of view, they show
a divine skill. If a prophecy had the plainness of a
narration, it might be plausibly said that it was the
cause of its own fulfillment. Individuals Avishing it to

OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 305
be fulfilled might accommodate themselves to the proph
ecy, or, as has been done in one famous instance,* they
might endeavor to prevent the fulfillment. Hoav eagerly
this objection would have been seized on may be seen
from the fact that Bolingbroke says, even now, that
Christ did bring on his own death willfully, that his
disciples might boast that the prophecies Avere fulfilled
in him. But Avhen prophecy, while it spans, as with a
luminous arch, the Avhole canopy of time, and reveals
some events with perfect distinctness, yet so far shrouds
others as to show only their general form, while it so
far reveals them that they can not be mistaken when
they stand in the light of actual fulfillment, then Ave see
the certain signature of a divine hand ; we have the
very best evidence that the prophecy is from God.
Connection of the Old and the New Testaments. —
Perhaps I ought to say a word on another point. Much
has been said of the connection between the Old and
the New Testaments. To some it has seemed that the
Old Testament was only a dead weight, and that Chris
tianity would move on triumphantly if it were once
fairly cut loose from this. Its morality has seemed to
them barbarous, and its narrations improbable. They
would not, perhaps, say positively that those events
never did take place, but they greatly doubt whether
they did, and they talk of "those old myths." But I
have no fears that the Old Testament will drag doAvn
the New. I have no Avish to cut Christianity loose from
any connection Avrth it, but would rather draw that
connection closer. To me the morality of the Old
Testament is the morality of the ten commandments.
I find nothing sanctioned there which these Avould not
allow, and I wish for nothing better. To me its narra
tives are facts ; and I remember that the Saviour said of
these books that they were they Avhich testified of Him.
* That of Julian

306 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Four points to be established. — With these views,
while I allow that there are difficulties connected with
the proper interpretation of some of the prophecies,
and in a few cases with the manner in which they are
referred to by the NeAv Testament writers, I yet feel
that there is overwhelming evidence, 1. Of the fulfill
ment of those prophecies which related to events that
occurred before the time of Christ. 2. That Christ
and his apostles did claim that many of the Old Testa
ment prophecies Avere fulfilled in him. 3. That those
prophecies were thus fulfilled. And, 4. That not only
the prophets of old, but Christ and his apostles,
uttered prophecies Avhich have been fulfilled since his
time, and which are in the process of fulfillment uoav.
Prophecies relating to events before Christ. — Let us,
then, look at the fulfillment of those prophecies Avhich
related to events that occurred before the time of Christ.
Of these the number is very great, relating to the Jews,
and to those nations Avith Avhom they Avere connected.
Of those respecting the Jews, I shall adduce only such
as relate to their Babylonish captivity and return ; and
of these I can give but single specimens out of large
classes of passages. Jeremiah says, (xxxii. 28,)
"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I Avill give
this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the
hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon , and he shall
take it." This is sufficiently explicit Avith respect to
the taking of the city. He says again, (xxix. 10,)
" For thus saith the Lord, that sifter seventy years be
accomplished at Babylon I Avill visit you, and perform
my good word toward you, in causing you to return to
this place." Hear, now, Isaiah, a hundred and sixty
years before these events, calling by name and pointing
out the work of one who was not yet. Isa. xliv. 28.
"That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall
perform all my pleasure : even saying to Jerusalem,

PARTICULAR PROPHECIES. 307
Thou shalt be built ; and to the Temple, Thy founda
tion shall be laid." Now let us hear the decree of this
same Cyrus, made at the expiration of the seventy
years. Ezra i. 2, 3. " Thus saith Cyrus, king of
Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the
kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath charged me to build
him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is
there among you of all his people? his God be Avith
him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah,
and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is
the God,) Avhich is in Jerusalem." History itself
could not he more plain or specific, and such events
were plainly beyond the reach of human sagacity.
The nations chiefly connected Avith the JeAvs Avere the
Ninevites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Philistines,
the Edomites, the Egyptians, the Tyrians, and the
Babylonians ; and concerning each of these there are
numerous and specific prophecies.
Of Nineveh, that exceeding great city of three days
journey, the prophet says, (Nahum i. 9,) "What do ye
imagine against the Lord ? He Avill make an utter end :
affliction shall not rise up the second time." And says
another prophet, (Zeph. ii. 13, 15,) "He Avill make
Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a AAdlderness. This
is the rejoicing city that chvelt carelessly, that said in
her heart, I am, and there is none beside me : hoAv is
she become a desolation!" Of the Moabites, and the
Ammonites, the prophet said, (Zeph. ii. 8, 9,) "I have
heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the
children of Amnion, whereby they have reproached my
people, and magnified themselves against their border.
Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel, surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the chil
dren of Amnion as Gomorrah, even the breeding of
nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation."
"Moab," says another prophet, (Jer. xlviii. 42,) "shall

308 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
be destroyed from being a people." All this respecting
Nineveh, and Moab, and Amnion, has been literally
accomplished. Of the Philistines the prophet says,
(Zeph. ii. 4,) " Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon
a desolation : they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon
day, and Ekron shall be rooted up." Of Edom the
prophecies are the more remarkable, because commen
tators on the Bible Avere long troubled to know hoAv to
dispose of them, and because their literal and exact
fulfillment has been knoAvn only a few years. This
country Avas once a great thoroughfare, and a mart for
commerce, and remained so long after the prophecies
were uttered. Here Avas Petra, that city the ruins of
which have recently become so celebrated. When this
was discovered in the midst of such utter desolation,
then, and not till then, Avas the meaning of such pas
sages as the folloAving made known. Jer. xlix. 16-18.
"Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of
thine heart, O thou that dAvellest in the clefts of the
rock, that holdest the height of the hill. Also Edom
shall be a desolation : every one that goeth by it shall
be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the
neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall
abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it."
The discovery of this country and its ruins, which no
traveler seems to have visited for a thousand years,
was hke the resurrection of one from the dead to bear
Avitness to the literal truth of the prophecies of God.
Concerning Egypt, once so mighty, it Avas said, (Ezek.
xxix. 15 ; xxx. 13,) "It shall be the basest of the king
doms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the
nations : for I will diminish them, that they shall no
more rule over the nations. And there shall be no
more a prince of the land of Egyj>t." Upon this pas
sage the Avhcle history of Egypt is but one commentary..

PARTICULAR PROPHECIES. 309
The prophecies concerning Tyre and Babylon are well
known. Of Tyre it was said, (Ezek. xxvi. 4, 5,)
"And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break
down her toAvers ; I will also scrape her dust from her,
and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a
place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea."
Alexander scraped the ruins from the site of the old
city for the purpose of filling up a passage to the new,
and the infidel Volney tells us that it is now a place
where the fishermen spread their nets. Of "Babylon,
the glory of kingdoms," it was said, (Isa. xiii. 20, 21,)
"It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt
in from generation to generation : neither shall the
Arabian pitch tent there ; neither shall the shepherds
make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert
shall lie there ; and their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures ; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall
dance there." No better description of the fate and
condition of Babylon could be written now. These
prophecies were literal, and they have been literally
fulfilled. At the time they were uttered there was
nothing to indicate the probability of such events. The
world had then had no experience of the transfer of the
seats of power and civilization. Hoav strange that all
these cities and nations should have perished ! Why
should not the Moabites, or the Ammonites, have re
mained a separate people, as well as the Jews or the
Ishmaelites? The prophets of God no longer wander
over those regions, but he has not left himself without
a witness. No voice could be more eloquent than that
of those ruined cities and desolate kingdoms, testifying
how fearful a thing it is to fall under the displeasure
of God, and how certainly he will execute all his
threatenings. Claim of Christ and his apostles. — I now proceed
u

.310 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
to show that Christ and his apostles did claim that
many of the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in
him. This claim, it seems to me, if it could have been
made by language, was made. I shall cite a few pas
sages, and leave you to judge. Christ says, (John v.
39,) "Search the Scriptures, for they are they which
testify of me." John v. 46. "For had ye believed
Moses, ye would have believed me ; for he wrote of
me." "The Son of man," said he, (Matt. xxvi. 24,)
"goeth, as it is written of him." Mark ix. 12. "It is
written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many
things." Luke xviii. 31. "All things written by the
prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accom
plished." Luke xxiv. 25-27. "Then he said unto
them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken ! Ought not Christ to have suf
fered these things, and to enter into his glory? And
beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
himself." And it was when he thus opened to them
the Scriptures, that their hearts burned within them.
Again, he said, (verses 44-46,) "All things must be
fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and
the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then
opened he their understanding, that they might under
stand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is
Avritten, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to
rise from the dead." Could Christ have claimed that
he was the subject of prophecy, not only in one portion
of Scripture, but in all the Scriptures, more plainly
than he did claim it? It is obvious, from the narrative,
that the effect was scarcely greater of seeing him alive,
than was that produced by his opening to them the
Scriptures. But what say the apostles ? " Paul went in unto the
Jews,'" (Acts xvii. 2, 3,) "and three Sabbath days

PROPHECY CLAIMED. 311
reasoned Avith them out of the Scriptures, opening and
alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and
risen again from the dead." And the noble Bereans
" searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things
were so." Again, (Acts xxviii. 23,) Paul "expounded
and testified the kingdom of God, persuading ' them
concerning Jesus, both out of the laAV of Moses and
out of the prophets." Paul declared before Agrippa
(Acts xxvi. 22) that he said " none other things than
those which the prophets and Moses did say should
come." Apollos (Acts xviii. 28) " mightily convinced
the Jews, publicly showing, by the Scriptures, that
Jesus was Christ." Peter, even in his first discourse
to the Gentiles, said, (Acts x. 43,) "To him give all
the prophets witness." And again, (Acts iii. 18,)
"Those things which God before had showed by the
mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he
hath so fulfilled." Again, (verse 24,) he says, "Yea,
and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow
after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold
of these days." And Peter says expressly (1 Pet. i.
10, 11) that "the prophets have inquired and searched
diligently, searching what or what manner of time the
Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when
it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that should folloAv."
To me it seems that these passages shoAV, if any
thing can shoAV it, not only that Christ and his apostles
claimed that the Old Testament Scriptures Avere ful
filled in him, but that the great question, Avhen they
attempted to convert the Jews, was, whether they had
been thus fulfilled.
Prophecies fulfilled in Christ. — Our next inquiry is,
whether there are prophecies in the Old Testament
which were thus fulfilled in Christ.

312 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
And here I hardly know what course to take. I
might propound a theory, or make general assertions,
and perhaps, as has too often been done, mystify the
subject ; but this would not be proof. Proof must be
drawn from a comparison of scripture with scripture.
Hence only can conviction arise. Will the audience
then permit me to present briefly, letting the Scriptures
speak for themselves, some corresponding passages of
the Old and of the New Testament on this subject?
It will be my intention to produce no passage which is
not applicable ; but, if I should, it would not invalidate
the general argument. The question here is not one
of small criticism. It is as when we stand in the light
of open day. We should not deny, perhaps, that there
might be found dark corners into which a man could
run and see nothing ; nor that so small an object as his
hand even might conceal from him the whole horizon.
So here, the question is not whether a man may not
find some dark points, or some small objection which
he may hold in such a position as to eclipse the glory
of the whole prophetic heavens ; but whether there is
not, for the candid mind, one broad flood of light pour
ing out from the prophecies of the Old Testament, the
rays of which converge, as in a halo of glory, around
the head of the Redeemer. We contend that there is,
and that this light began to shine even before our first
parents were expelled from Eden.
To bruise ihe head of the serpent. — The first intima
tion we have of a Messiah was in the promise that the
seed of the woman should bruise the head of the ser
pent. Gen. iii. 15. In the NeAv Testament it is said,
" God sent forth his Son, made of a woman." Gal. iv.
4. And again : He became a partaker of flesh and
blood, that " through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil." Heb.
ii. 14.

SPECIFICATIONS. 313
To be of the seed of Abraham. — The next general
intimation Avas given to Abraham, and his family was
predicted. " And in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed." Gen. xxii. 18. "Now, to Abra
ham," says Paul, "and his seed, were the promises
made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many ; but
as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." Gal. iii.
16. "For verily he took not on him the nature of
angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham."
Heb. ii. 16.
Of the tribe of Judah. — He was to be of the tribe
of Judah. " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come :
and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
Gen. xlix. 10. "For it is evident," says Paul, "that
our Lord sprang out of Judah ; of which tribe Moses
spake nothing concerning priesthood." Heb. vii. 14.
Of the house of David. — He was to be of the house
of David. "And in that day there shall be a root of
Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people,
to it shall the Gentiles seek : and his rest shall be glo
rious." Isa. xi. 10. "Behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch,
and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute
judgment and justice ; and this is his name whereby he
shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness." Jer.
xxiii. 5, 6. Paul says, "Concerning his son Jesus
Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh." Rom. i. 3.
Place of birth designated. — The place of his birth
was designated. " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to
be Ruler in Israel ; Avhose goings forth have been from
of old, from everlasting." Micah v. 2. "Now," says

314 evidences of Christianity.
Matthew, " when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Ju
dea." Matt. ii. 1.
The time of birth. — The time was designated. It
was not only to be before the sceptre departed from
Judah, but while the second Temple was standing.
"And I will shake all nations," says God by Haggai,
" and the Desire of all nations shall come : and the
glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the
former, saith the Lord of Hosts." Hag. ii. 7, 9. Daniel
also said, " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy
people and upon the holy city, to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint
the Most Holy." Dan. ix. 24. Accordingly we find,
not only from Jewish writers, but from the most explicit
passages in Tacitus and Suetonius, that there was a
general expectation that an extraordinary person would
arise in Judea about that time. So strong was this
expectation among the Jews as to encourage numerous
false Christs to appear, and to enable them to gain fol
lowers ; and so certain were they that the Temple could
not be destroyed before the coming of the Messiah, that
they refused all terms from Titus, and fought with des
peration till the last.
Elias to come first. — He was to be preceded by a
remarkable person resembling Elijah. "Behold, I will
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me." Mai. iii. 1. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord." Mai. iv. 5. "The voice of him that
crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God." Isa. xl. 3. "In those days came John the Bap
tist, preaching in the Avilderness of Judea, and saying,

SPECIFICATIONS. 315
Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Matt. iii. 1, 2.
Was to icork miracles. — He was to work miracles.
" Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the
lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb
sing." Isa. xxxv. 5, 6. These are precisely the mira
cles recorded as wrought by Christ in instances too
numerous to mention.
His public entry into Jerusalem. — He was to make
a public entry into Jerusalem, riding upon a colt the foal
of an ass. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion ; shout,
O daughter of Jerusalem : behold, thy King cometh
unto thee : he is just, and having salvation ; lowly, and
riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."
Zech. ix. 9. An account of the exact fulfillment of this
prophecy will be found in the twenty-first chapter of
Matthew. To be rejected by the Jews. — He was to be rejected
of his own countrymen. " And he shall be for a sanc
tuary ; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of
offense to both the houses of Israel." Isa. viii. 14. "He
hath no form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He
is despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief : and we hid as it Avere our faces
from him ; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Isa. liii. 2, 3. "He came unto his own," says John,
"and his own received him not." John i. 11. And
again : " Though he had done so many miracles before
them, yet they believed not on him : that the saying of
Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake,
Lord, who hath believed our report?" — quoting the
first verse of the fifty-third of Isaiah, and thus claiming
it as spoken of the Messiah. And after quoting another
prophecy, the apostle says, " These things said Esaias,

316 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
when he saw his glory, and spake of him." John xii.
37, 38, 41.
To be scourged and mocked. — He was to be scourged,
mocked, and spit upon. " I gave my back to the smi-
ters, and my cheeks to them that, plucked off the hair:
I hid not my face from shame and spitting." Isa. 1. 6.
"And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to
be crucified." Matt, xxvii. 26. "Then did they spit in
his face, and buffeted him ; and others smote him with
the palms of their hands." Matt. xxvi. 67.
His hands and feet to be pierced. — His hands and his
feet were to be pierced. " The assembly of the wicked
have inclosed me ; they pierced my hands and my feet."
Ps. xxii. 16. This is remarkable, because the punish
ment of crucifixion was not known among the Jews.
To be numbered with transgressors. — He was to be
numbered with the transgressors. " And he was num
bered with the transgressors ; and he bare the sin of many ,
and made intercession for the transgressors." Isa. liii. 12.
To be reviled on the cross. — He was to be mocked
and reviled on the cross. "All they that see me laugh
me to scorn ; they shoot out the lip, they shake the
head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would
deliver him : let him deliver him, seeing he delighted
in him." Ps. xxii. 7, 8. "Likewise also the chief
priests, mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
He saved others ; himself he can not save. — He trusted
in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him : for
he said, I am the Son of God." Matt, xxvii. 41-43.
To have gall and vinegar to drink. — He was to have
gall and vinegar to drink. " They gave me also gall for
my meat ; and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to
drink." Ps. lxix. 21. "And when they were come
unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, A place of
a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with
gall." Matt, xxvii. 33, 34.

SPECIFICATIONS. 317
His garments to be parted. — His garments were to
be parted, and upon his vesture lots were to be cast.
" They part my garments among them, and cast lots
upon my vesture." Ps. xxii. 18. "Then the soldiers,
when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and
made four parts, to every soldier a part ; and also his
coat; now the coat was Avithout seam, woven from the
top throughout. They said therefore among themselves,
Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall
be : that the Scripture might be fulfilled." John xix.
23, 24.
His death lo be violent. — He was to be cut off by a
violent death. "For he was cut out of the land of the
living." Isa hii. 8. "And after threescore and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself."
Dan. ix. 26.
Was to be pierced. — He was to be pierced. "And
I Avill pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of
supplications : and they shall look upon me whom they
have pierced." Zech. xii. 10. "But one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there
out blood and water." John xix. 34.
To make his grave with the rich. — He was to make
his grave with the rich. "And he made his grave with
the wicked, and with the rich in his death." Isa. liii. 9.
" Whe:i the even was come, there came a rich man of
Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus'
disciple. He went to Pilate, and begged the body of
Jesus, and laid it in his own new tomb, Avhich he had
heAvn out in the rock." Matt, xxvii. 57, 58, 60.
Was not to see corruption. — He was not to see cor
ruption. "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corrup
tion." Ps. xvi. 10. "Men and brethren," says Peter,
after citing this passage, "let me freely speak unto you

318 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulchre is Avith us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according
to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne, he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection
of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his
flesh did see corruption." Acts ii. 29-31.
And yet there are some who say that these prophecies
are no prophecies, and were never claimed to be. But
I think it evident that Peter did not belong, as an inter
preter of prophecy, to the schools of German neology.
Convergence of the passages. — These passages are
far from being all that might be adduced. Respecting
some of them as they stand, a person without previous
knowledge would be led to ask the question of the
Ethiopian eunuch, "I pray thee, of whom speaketh the
prophet this ? of himself, or of some other man ? " But
Avhen we see these passages brought together ; when
Ave see their wonderful convergence, so that the history
of Christ, from his miraculous birth — of the foretelling
of which I have not spoken — to his death, was only
their counterpart ; when we find that the Jews them
selves referred most of them to the Messiah, and that
they are expressly claimed by Christ and his apostles,
the general argument becomes exceedingly strong. How
strong it is may be seen by any one who will attempt to
apply one tenth part of these passages to any other per
son that ever lived. Let him attempt to apply them to
Titus, of whom Josephus says that he was the extraor
dinary person foretold, and see how he will succeed.
If we admit that these prophecies were extant before
the coming of Christ, — and of this we have the best
possible evidence, because, as was said by an ancient
father, the Jews, the enemies of Christianity, were the
librarians of Christians, — and if we estimate matheinat-

OFFICES OF CHRIST. 319
ically, by the doctrine of chances, the probability that
these circumstances would meet in one person, it would,
as is said by Dr. Gregory, surpass the powers of num
bers to express the immense improbability of its taking
place. Offices of Christ foretold. — But, striking as are these
passages in their application to Christ, Avhile many of
them, if not applied to him, would seem to mean noth
ing, they are yet far from giving the whole weight of
the argument ; for not only were the circumstances of
his life and death minutely pointed out, but his offices
were also described.
Was to be a prophet. — He was to be a prophet, like
unto Moses. "I will raise them up a Prophet from
among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my
words in his mouth ; and he shall speak unto them aU
that I shall command him." Deut. xviii. 18. This is
expressly quoted by Peter, in the Acts, (iii. 22,) as
fulfilled by Christ.
A priest. — He was to be a priest. " The Lord hath
sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchisedek." Ps. ex. 4. " Called
of God," says Paul, " a high priest after the order of
Melchisedek." Heb. v. 10.
A king. — He Avas to be a king. "Yet have I set
my King upon my holy hill of Zion." Ps. ii. 6. "Thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power." Ps.
ex. 3. "All power," says Christ, "is given unto me in
heaven and in earth." Matt, xxviii. 18. "For he must
reign," says Paul, " till he hath put all enemies under
his feet." 1 Cor. xv. 25.
Kingdom of peace. — His kingdom was to be one of
peace. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given : and the government shall be upon his shoulder :
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of

320 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace
there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and
upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with
judgment and with justice from henceforth, even for
ever." Isa. ix. 6, 7. " And they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ,
nation shall not hft up a SAVord against nation, neither
shall they learn war anymore." Micah iv. 3. "They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain."
Isa. xi. 9.
To include the Gentiles. — His kingdom was also to
include the Gentiles. "And he said, It is a light thing
that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes
of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel : I will
also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou
mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth."
Isa. xlix. 6. "And the Gentiles shall come to thy
light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. The
abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the
forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." Isa. Ix.
3, 5. This is especially remarkable, because there was
nothing in the feeling of the Israelites, or in their rela
tions to the nations around them, in the time of Isaiah,
to indicate the possibility of a spiritual and universal
kingdom, in which the Gentiles should become fellow-
citizens, and have equal privileges with the Jews.
Here, then, we have the three great offices of prophet,
priest, and king, united by prophecy in one person ;
we have a kingdom of peace, and that kingdom one
which was to include all nations. How perfectly all
this is fulfilled in the person and kingdom of Christ I
need not say ; nor how entirely impossible it would be
to make these passages apply to any other person or
kingdom. Prophecies seemingly incompatible. — And not only
were these three great offices united in one person,

SEEMING INCOMPATIBILITY. 321
but the prophecies respecting him were so apparently
incompatible and contradictory that it must have seemed
beforehand impossible they should be fulfilled, and they
must have caused great perplexity in the minds of those
who were unwilling to receive the Avord of God and rest
on it by simple faith. Now, he was represented as a
triumphant conqueror, as a king sitting upon the throne
of David, and ruling all nations, and now he Avas spoken
of as " despised and rejected of men," as " oppressed
and afflicted." It was said of the Messiah, "I have set
my King upon my holy hill of Zion," and that " of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no
end." It was also said of him, " After threescore and
two weeks shall Messiah be cut off." What contradic
tions, might a Jew have said, have we here ! A King
who is to have perpetual dominion, and is to reign till
he has put all enemies under his feet, and yet is to be
despised, and rejected, and oppressed ! A Messiah who
is to be slain, and yet is to reign forever ! These asser
tions might, indeed, have been received separately, by
faith, as the word of God ; a reasonable Jew would
have so received them ; but, before the event, he could
not have understood and reconciled them with each
other ; and yet the demand made by each of these as
pects of the prophecy is fully met in Christ.
Fulfilled by enemies. — Hoav, then, can the conclu
sion be avoided, that these prophecies were given by
inspiration of God ? Not by the supposition that they
were fulfilled by human contrivance, for the enemies of
Christ, far more than his friends, contributed to that
fulfillment. As was said by Paul, (Acts xiii. 27,)
"They that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, be
cause they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the
prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have
fulfilled them in condemning him." It was they that
smote him, and hung him on a tree, and parted his

322 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
garments among them, and cast lots, and pierced his
side. It Avas they Avho paid the thirty pieces of silver,
the goodly price at Avhich they valued him, and who
bought, with the price of blood, the potter's field. Nor
can this conclusion be avoided on the supposition of
chance ; for, as has already been said, it would surpass
the poAver of numbers to express the extreme improba
bility of the fulfillment of such prophecies.
Types prophetic. — Nor is this all ; for it Avould be
easy to show that the whole of the Old Testament dis
pensation, the ark of the covenant, Avith all its arrange
ments, the passover, the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the
priesthood, were all typical, and therefore prophetic ;
and that the true import and substance of all these is to
be found in the Christian dispensation. This, however,
is a great subject, and I can not enter upon it.
Prophecies by Christ and the apostles. — We now
come to the fourth point mentioned — namely, that
Christ and his apostles uttered prophecies Avhich have
been fulfilled since their time, and Avhich are in the
process of fulfillment now. Fully to illustrate this po
sition, Avould require a lecture. I can only glance at it.
The destruction of Jerusalem. — As the prophecy of
Christ respecting the destruction of Jerusalem had for
one of its objects to warn his folloAvers to escape from
that city, it was delivered in the most direct and ex
plicit terms. Before the time of Christ, and during his
life, no false Christ arose ; there Avas no Avar, and. no
prospect of one ; and the Temple, and Jerusalem, were
standing in all their strength. But he foretold that
false Christs should arise, and should deceive many;
that there should be earthquakes and famine, and fear
ful sights in heaven, and wars and rumors of wars, and
great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning
of the Avorld, nor ever should be ; and that Jerusalem

VERIFICATION. 323
should be compassed Avith armies ; and that a trench
should be cast round about it ; and that one stone of
the Temple should not be left upon another ; and that
the Jews should be carried captive among all nations.
Paul also prophesied of the great apostasy, and the
coming of the man of sin ; and John, in the Revelation,
has spoken of the course of events till the end of time.
Josephus. — To verify the prophecies of Christ re
specting the destruction of Jerusalem, and the events
preceding it, we have a history of those times, Avritten
by Josephus, an eye witness and a Jew ; and nothing
can be more striking than a comparison of the history
and the prophecy. Josephus gives particular accounts
of the false Christs and false prophets, and of their
deceiving many. He speaks of the distracted state of
those countries, corresponding to the prophecy ; of wars
and rumors of wars ; and says that the " disorders of
all Syria were terrible. For every city was divided
into parties armed against each other, and the safety
of one depended on the destruction of the other ; the
clays were spent in slaughter, and the nights in terrors."
He speaks also of famines, and pestilences, and earth
quakes, and especially of "fearful sights, and great
signs from heaven." He tells us that just before the
war, a star, resembling a sword, stood over the city,
and a comet that continued a whole year ; that " before
sunsetting, chariots, and troops of soldiers in their
armor, were seen running about among the clouds, and
surrounding cities." He says, also, "At the feast of
Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the
inner court of the Temple, they felt a quaking, and
heard a great noise, and, after that, they heard the
sound as of a multitude, saying, ' Let us depart hence ! '"
Tacitus. — Nor is Josephus alone in giving these
accounts. Tacitus, also, says, "There were many prod
igies presignifying their ruin, Avhich was not averted by

324 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
all the sacrifices and vows of that people. Armies were
seen fighting in the air with brandished weapons. A
fire fell upon the Temple from the clouds. The doors
of the Temple were suddenly opened. At the same
time there was a loud voice declaring that the gods were
removing, which was accompanied with a sound as of a
multitude going out. All which things were supposed,
by some, to portend great calamities." He speaks, also,
of the fact that Jerusalem was compassed by an army
at the beginning of the war, and that, owing to the
state of parties, many of the principal men were about
to open the gates ; but says that the Roman general
recalled the soldiers from the place without having
received any defeat, and retired from the city, without
any reason in the world. He then mentions that, when
the Roman armies approached again, a great multitude
fled to the mountains. Thus a way was made for the
disciples of Christ to escape, and it is not known that
a single one of them perished in that destruction. It
really seems to have prefigured the final destruction of
the wicked, when the righteous shall all have been gath
ered from among them.
Josephus also speaks particularly of the trench and
Avail AArhich were made about Jerusalem by Titus. This
was done with great difficulty, and, except for the pur
pose of a httle more speedy reduction of the city, with
out necessity, and was contrary to the advice of the
chief men of Titus. But so it was written. In respect
to the tribulation of those days, of which our Saviour
speaks so strongly, if the purpose of Josephus had been
to confirm the words of the prophecy, he could have
said nothing more to the point. " No other city," says
he, " ever suffered such miseries ; nor was there ever a
generation more fruitful in wickedness from the begin
ning of the world." Again: "It appears to me that
the misfortunes of all men, from the beginning of the

DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 325
world, if they be compared to those of the Jews, are
not so considerable. For in reality it was God who
condemned the whole nation, and turned every course
that was taken for their preservation to their destruc
tion." And again : " The multitude of those who per
ished exceeded all the destructions that man or God
ever brought upon the world." The great mass of the
nation was gathered within the city. They were di
vided into contending factions, who fought with the
fury of fiends against each other. Famine did its slow
but fearful work, so that women were known to eat
their own children. And while those within were thus
the prey of famine and of each other, those who at
tempted to escape were taken by the Roman soldiers
and nailed on crosses, some one way, some another,
as it were in jest, around the outside of the walls, till
so great was the number, that room was wanting for
crosses, and crosses for bodies. As Titus beheld the
dead bodies that had been thrown from the Avails into
the valleys, "he lifted up his hands to heaven, and
called God to witness that this was not his doing."
These were " the days of vengeance ; " and it is com
puted by Josephus that upward of one million three
hundred thousand persons perished in the siege of
Jerusalem alone. And not only so, but, when the city
was taken, it was, contrary to the wish of Titus, de
voted to utter destruction ; and the prophecy of Christ,
that not one stone of the Temple should be left upon
another, was literally fulfilled.
Other prophecies. — Of the other prophecies I have
not time to speak ; but the Jews Avere carried into cap
tivity among all nations, and their condition from that
time till now has been a standing and Avonderful attes
tation of the truth of the prophetic record, while their
present condition is an evident preparation for the ful-

326 EArIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
fillment of those still more wonderful prophecies which
now stand like the bow of promise overarching the
future. According to that expression of the prophet,
so wonderfully accurate, they have been sifted among
all nations ; yet have they, of all ancient people simi
larly situated, alone preserved their identity, and now
seem to be preparing for that restoration which shall not
only be to them the fulfillment of the prophecies, but
shall be as hfe from the dead to the Gentile nations.
Summary. — Thus, whether we look at the proph
ecies that related to events before the time of Christ,
or to those relating to him, or to those Avhich he uttered,
or to the present state of the Jews, and indeed of the
world, as indicating a complete fulfillment of the
prophecies, we shall see the fullest reason to beheve
that " the prophecy came not in old time by the will of
man, but that holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost."
Prophecy and Christianity as counterparts. — I will
only add, as a beautiful instance of the consistency
of all Scripture, that the magnificent pictures of the
prophets, respecting a state of future blessedness on
earth, are just such as would be realized by the entire
prevalence of Christianity, and by nothing else. These
pictures are not drawn at random, or in general terms.
They are precise and definite. They represent a state
of peace, and purity, and love — of high social enjoy
ment, and of universal prosperity. And it is only by
the prevalence of Christianity that such a state of things
can be realized. Let this become universally preva
lent, not in its form only, but in its spirit, and then
nation would no more hft up sword against nation,
neither would they learn war any more ; then the wolf
also would dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie
down with the kid ; then would the wilderness and sol-

CONSUMMATION OF PROPHECY. 327
itary place be glad for them, and the desert rejoice ;
then, instead of the thorn would come up the fir-tree,
and instead of the brier would come up the myrtle-tree ;
then would the inhabitants of the rock sing, and shout
from the top of the mountains ; the people would be al]
righteous, and inherit the land forever.

LECTURE XII.
OBJECTIONS. -ARGUMENT FOURTEENTH: THE PROPAGATION OF
CHRISTIANITY. - ARGUMENT FIFTEENTH: ITS EFFECTS AND
TENDENCIES. — SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.
Objections. — It has been my wish to present, in this
course of lectures, as I was able, the positive argument
for Christianity. I commenced the course with an
invitation to you to go with me round about our Zion,
and tell the towers thereof. Those towers are not yet
all told. To some of the most common and effective
topics of argument I have yet scarcely referred, and I
ought, in logical order, to proceed at once to the con
sideration of them. This I have thought of doing, and
of omitting to say any thing upon the objections against
"Christianity. To the consideration of these I should be
pleased to devote at least a lecture ; for, while there are
objections which are unworthy of an answer, — while
there are persons, who make them, who would be no
nearer becoming Christians if their objections were all
removed, — there are objections, the force of which I
think may be removed, that weigh heavily upon some
who are sincerely inquiring for the truth. To every
such individual I would give my hand. I would make
any effort to relieve him. I know what it is to wade in
the deep waters of doubt, and the blessedness of finding
what seems to me to be the rock. For the sake of such
I Avould gladly dwell upon this point at length ; but as
(328)

WAITING. 329
that is now out of the question, I will make a few
observations on the subject of objections generally, and
then go on with the argument.
Willingness to wait. — And here, if I may be per
mitted to drop a word in a more familiar way in the ear
of the candid and practical inquirer, referring to my
own experience, I would say, that I have found great
benefit in being willing — a lesson which we are all slow
to learn — to wait. It has not unfrequently occurred
that I have stood in such an attitude (perhaps for
months or years together) to a certain objection as to
see no way of evading it, till, at length, light would
break in, and I could see with perfect distinctness that
there was nothing in it. Are there not many here
who have unexpectedly met with something which has
removed, in a moment, objections which have lain Avith
weight upon their minds for years ? I well remember
when it seemed to me that there was a direct contradic
tion between Paul and James, on the subject of faith
and works. It seemed so to Luther, and, because he
could not reconcile them, and was unAvilling to wait, he
rejected the Epistle of James, calling it a strawy Epis
tle. I can now see that Paul and James, not only do
not contradict each other, but harmonize perfectly. I
have sometimes compared the path of a sincere in
quirer to a road that winds among the hills. Who has
not seen the hills, perhaps the high mountains, closing
doAvn upon such a road so as to render it apparently
impossible he should proceed ; and who has not been
surprised, when he reached the proper point to see it,
to find the road taking an unexpected turn, and holding
on its OAvn level way. And to such a point I think
every sincere inquirer will come, who is wilhng to fol
low the right path so far as he can find it, and to wait,
putting up the petition, and adopting the resolution, of
Elihu, " That which I see not, teach thou me ; if I

330 EVLDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
have done iniquity, I will do no more." I have the
fullest conviction, not only of the truth, but of the
philosophical profoundness, of that saying of our Sa
viour, " If any man Avill do his will, he shall know of
the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak
of myself."
No objection that objections can be made. — But, leav
ing this, I observe, in the first place, that we are not to
have our confidence in the Christian rehgion shaken,
from the mere fact that objections can be made against
it. There are those who seem to think that, if an ob
jection can be made, some degree of uncertainty is
introduced at once, and that there comes to be a balance*
of probabilities. But this is not so. When once a
thing is fairly proved, all objections must go for noth
ing. Very plausible objections may be made to many
things which we yet know to be true. Thus objections
have been made to the existence of matter, and to the
truth of the evidence of the senses, which a plain man
would find it difficult to answer, and which yet would
have no weight with him whatever. We all believe
there is such a thing as motion, and yet there may be
some here who would find it difficult to answer the
common logical objection against it. Let me put that
objection. You will, I suppose, all agree that, if any
thing moves, it must move either where it is, or where
it is not. But certainly nothing can move where it is,
for that would not be moving at all ; and it would seem
quite as certain that nothing could move where it is
not ; and hence there is no such thing as motion.
"There are objections," says Dr. Johnson, "to a vac
uum, and there are objections to & plenum; but one of
these must be true." But to any one who has been
turned aside, and is eddying round among these shoals
of doubt, I would recommend that masterly pamphlet,
by Whately, the " Historic Doubts respecting the Exist-

WORLD IN A STRANGE STATE. 331
ence and Acts of Napoleon Bonaparte." I think it would
lead him to see that there may be plausible objections
against that concerning which there can not be the least
doubt. General objections not valid. — I observe, secondly,
that, if Ave would consider the objections against Chris
tianity fairly, we must distinguish those which lie against
Christianity, as such, from those which may be made
equally against any religion or scheme of belief whatever.
This world is in a strange state. There is a condition of
things very different from what we should suppose,
beforehand, there would be, under the government of
a God of infinite power, and wisdom, and goodness ;
and it is not uncommon for men to burden Christianity
with all the difficulties that are connected with the origin
of evil, or the doctrine of the foreknowledge of God as
connected with human freedom. But these are ques
tions that belong to the race, and have equally exercised
the mind of the Grecian philosopher, of the Persian
sage, and of the Christian divine. You, as a man, may
be as properly called on to solve any difficulties arising
out of such questions, as I can as a teacher of Chris
tianity. Christianity had nothing to do with the origin
of evil. It takes for granted, what we must all admit,
that it exists ; it does not attempt to account for its
origin, but it proposes a remedy. If, then, men object
to Christianity, let them object to it as what it claims
to be. Let them show that, when fairly received and
fully practiced by all men, it would not be the remedy
which it claims to be, and their objections will be valid.
It is of no avail for infidels and deists to shoot arrows
against Christianity Avhich may be picked up and shot
back with equal force against their OAvn systems ; and
yet a much larger portion of the objections against
Christianity than is commonly supposed is of this
character.

332 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Distinction of Butler. — I observe, thirdly, that we
are to keep in mind the distinction of Butler, aheady
referred to, betAveen objections against Christiamty and
objections against its evidence. Of the evidence for
Christianity we are capable of judging. I insist upon it
that there are laws of evidence, which any man of good
sense can understand, according to which we judge and
act in other cases ; and I only ask that these same laws
may be applied to Christianity, as a matter of fact and
a ground of action, just as they would be to any thing
else. But of Christianity itself, as a part of an infinite
scheme of moral government, having relation to the
eternity that is past and to that which is to come, and
perhaps to other worlds and to other orders of being,
we ought as much to expect that we should find in it
things beyond our reach, and which would seem to us
strange and objectionable, as that there would be such
things in nature. And if, as Butler has most fully
shown, the objections which are made against Chris
tianity are of the same kind with those which may be
made against nature, then those very objections are
turned into arguments in its favor, as they show the
probability that Christianity and nature came from the
same hand. Here is one principal source of the power
of Butler's great work. It shows that all the chief
objections which are urged against Christianity may be
urged equally against the constitution and course of
nature, and would equally show that that was not from
God. If Christianity itself can be shoAvn to be either
immoral or absurd, we will reject it ; but, with these
exceptions, objections to Christianity on the part of
such a being as man, as distinguished from objections
against its evidence, are, in the language of Butler,
"frivolous." Nor, in saying this, do we undervalue
reason, or refuse to give it its true place. To quote
Butler again : " Let reason be kept to ; and if any part

MOTIVES FOR OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY. 333
of the Scripture account of the redemption of the
world by Christ can be shown to be really contrary
to it, let the Scripture, in the name of God, be given
up ; but let not such poor creatures as Ave go on object
ing, against an infinite scheme, that we do not see the
necessity and usefulness of all its parts, and call this
reasoning." Objections to every scheme. — Character of infidelity.
— But, fourthly, we are to observe that Christianity is
not the only scheme against which objections can be
made. From its position, its success, its uncompromis
ing claims, Christianity has been met from the first by
every objection that ingenuity, quickened by a love of
pleasure and hatred of restraint, could invent ; and,
from the constancy with which these have been plied,
it has been felt by many that Christianity was especially
hable to objections. It has hence been the habit of
many Christians to stand on the defensive, and infidels
have felt that it was their place to attack. In propor
tion as any scheme has about it more that is positive, it
of course presents a larger surface for objections ; but
as far as other schemes have any thing positive about
them, they are equally liable to objections with Chris
tianity, and have none of its evidence. And the only
reason that these schemes have not been as much ob
jected against is, that men do not care enough about
them. If an infidel has nothing positive in his belief,
then, of course, nothing can be objected to it. But if
it were possible, as it is not, for any man to take such
a position, we should object to that. We say that it is
a state of mind from which no good can possibly come,
either to the individual or the community. It is a poor,
cold, heartless state, furnishing no ground for hope, no
elevation to character, no motive to effort, that has no
adaptation to the wants of man even in prosperity, and
that must utterly fail him in those trying hours when he

334 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
needs such supports as religion only can give. It can
be made to appear, from the very laws of mind, that
great achievements, powerful exertions, self-denying
labors and sacrifices, must spring from a vigorous faith ;
and that, in proportion as a behef, or a religion, be
comes one of negations, it must lower the pulse of
inteUectual, and especially of moral life. Let a man,
however, have any thing positive in his belief, — let him
bring forward his own solution of the great problems
which must be connected in the mind of every thinking
man with human life and destiny, — and it would be no
difficult matter — a very child could do it — to start ob
jections against that solution, whatever it might be,
which it would trouble the wisest infidel to meet. Hence
I have sometimes been amused at the effect, upon a noisy
and boastful objector, of a quiet question or two in regard
to his own belief. I have seen those to whom it never
seemed to have occurred that we were throAvn into this
world together with certain great common difficulties,
and that other people could ask questions as well as
they. Whenever, indeed, infidelity has thus assumed
a positive form, it has been met and fairly driven from
the field ; and now, it is difficult to say what the preva
lent form of it is. It has always been Ishmaelitish in
its habits, pitching its tent now here and now there,
and constantly varying its mode of attack. The infi
delity of one age is not that of another, while Chris
tianity remains ever the same. And so we are to
expect it will be while the human heart remains what it
is. Infidelity will exist. There is at present more of
it than appears. Not being reputable in its own form,
it conceals itself under various disguises. But the
infidelity that springs from the heart is not to be
reached by a course of lectures on the evidences of
Christianity. As I have already said, argument did

PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY. 335
not cause, and argument will not remove it. For that,
we look to a higher power.
ARGUMENT XIV.
THE PROPAGATION OF CHRISTIANITY.
I now proceed with the evidence. As yet I have
said nothing of the argument to be derived from the
mode and circumstances of the propagation of Chris
tianity, and have only incidentally alluded to its effects
and tendencies. Each of these is a standing topic of
argument on this subject, and, when properly presented,
sufficient of itself to prove the truth of the Christian
religion. But I shall now be able to do little more than
to indicate the place which these arguments hold, with
out giving them their proper expansion and force.
These topics of argument are entirely distinct in their
nature, but are so connected at certain points that it is
difficult to treat of one without involving considerations
which belong also to the other.
Propagation. — First, then, of the propagation of
Christianity : And in speaking of this subject, I will
notice, 1, the facts; 2, the difficulties; and, 3, the
instrumentality. This subject has been ably treated by
Bishop M'Uvaine, in his excellent lectures on the evi
dences, and I shall avail myself of his labors in pre
senting it. *
It would appear, then, that on the fiftieth day after
the death of Christ the apostles commenced their labors.
" Beginning in Jerusalem, the very furnace of persecu
tion, they first set up their banner in the midst of those
who had been first in the crucifixion of Jesus, and were
all elate Avith the triumph of that tragedy. No assem
blage could have been more possessed of dispositions
perfectly at war with their message than that to which
they made their first address." And what was the tenor
•Lecture IX.

336 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of the address ? " Jesus of Nazareth," said Peter,
" being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore
knowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain ; whom God hath raised up. —
Therefore let all the house of Israel know, assuredly,
that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, both Lord and Christ." One would have
supposed that the same hands that had rioted in the
blood of his Master would now have wreaked their
enmity in that of this daring, and, to all human view,
most impolitic apostle. But what ensued? Three
thousand souls were that day added to the infant
church. In a few days, the number was increased to
five thousand ; and in the space of about a year and a
half, though the gospel was preached only in Jerusalem
and its vicinity, multitudes., both of men and women,
and a great company of the priests, were obedient to
the faith. Now, the converts, being driven by a fierce
persecution from Jerusalem, went everywhere preach
ing the word, and in less than three years churches were
gathered throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria,
and were multiplied.
About two years after this, or seven from the begin
ning of the work, the gospel was first preached to the
Gentiles ; and such was the success, that, before thirty
years had elapsed from the death of Christ, his church
had spread from Palestine throughout Syria ; through
almost all the numerous districts of Lesser Asia ;
through Greece, and the islands of the iEgean Sea,
the sea-coast of Africa, and even into Italy and Rome.
The number of converts in the several cities respec
tively is described by the expressions, "a great num
ber," "great multitudes," "much people." What an
extensive impression had been made is obvious from
the outcry of the opposers at Thessalonica. "These
that have turned the world upside-down are come

NUMBER OF CHRISTIANS. 337
hither also." Demetrius, an enemy, complained of
Paul, "that not alone at Ephesus, but almost through
out all Asia," he had persuaded and turned away much
people. In the mean while, Jerusalem, the chief seat
of Jewish rancor, continued the metropolis of the gos
pel, having in it many tens of thousands of believers.
These accounts are taken from the book of the Acts
of the Apostles ; but as this book is almost confined
to the labors of Paul and his immediate companions,
saying very little of the other apostles, it is very certain
that the view we have given of the propagation of the
gospel during the first thirty years is very incomplete.
In the thirtieth year after the beginning of the work,
the terrible persecution under Nero kindled its fires ;
then Christians had become so numerous at Rome, that,
by the testimony of Tacitus, a "great multitude " were
seized. In forty years more, we are told, in a cele
brated letter from Pliny, the Roman governor of Pontus
and Bythinia, Christianity had long subsisted in these
provinces, though so remote from Judea. Many of all
ages and of every rank, of both sexes likewise, were
accused to Pliny of being Christians. What he calls
the contagion of this superstition (thus forcibly de
scribing the irresistible and rapid progress of Christian
ity) had seized not cities only, but the less towns also,
and the open country, so that the heathen temples
" were almost forsaken ; " feAv victims were purchased
for sacrifice, and a long intermission of the sacred
solemnities had taken place.
Justin Martyr, who. Avrote about thirty years after
Phny, and one hundred after the gospel was first
preached to the Gentiles, thus describes the extent
of Christianity in his time : " There is not a nation,
either Greek or barbarian, or of any other name, even
those who wander in tribes and live in tents, among
whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the

338 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Father and Creator of the universe by the name of the
crucified Jesus."
Clemens Alexandrinus, a few years after, thus writes :
"The philosophers were confined to Greece, and to
their particular retainers ; but the doctrine of the Mas
ter of Christianity did not remain in Judea, but is
spread throughout the whole world, in every nation,
and village, and city, converting both whole houses and
separate individuals, having already brought over to the
truth not a few of the philosophers themselves. If the
Greek philosophy be prohibited, it immediately van
ishes ; whereas, from the first preaching of our doc
trine, kings and tyrants, governors and presidents, with
their whole train, and with the populace on their side,
have endeavored with their whole might to exterminate
it, yet doth it flourish more and more."
Nothing can so well represent the mode in which this
extension took place as the comparison, by our Saviour,
of Christianity to leaven. It had an affinity for the
human mind, by which it passed from individual to
individual, as the leavening process passes from parti
cle to particle , and no human power could arrest its
progress. Since the world stood, no change like it has
taken place, nor has any power existed that could have
produced such a change.
The difficulties. — 2. In estimating the obstacles to
this progress, we are to observe that the enterprise
of propagating a religion, as such, and especially an
exclusive religion, was then entirely new. The Jewish
system was not adapted to universal diffusion, and the
zeal of the Jews was directed rather to keep other
nations at a distance than to bring them to an equal
participation of their privileges. The Gentiles knew
nothing of an exclusive religion, nor of a benevolent
rehgion — exclusive because it was benevolent. Hea
thenism, being without a creed and without principle,

CHRISTIANITY EXCLUSIVE. 339
" had nothing to contend for but the privilege of assum
ing any form, worshiping any idol, practicing any
ritual, and pursuing any absurdity, which the craft of
the priesthood, or the superstitions and vices of the
people, might select. It never was imagined, by any
description of pagans, that all other forms of religion
were not as good for the people observing them, as
theirs Avas for them ; or that any dictate of kindness,
or common sense, should lead them to attempt the sub
version of the gods of their neighbors, for the sake of
establishing their own in their stead." This is the
species of charity and the ground of harmony — arising
from a want of the knowledge of the true religion, and
of its unspeakable value — which is so highly praised
by Gibbon and Voltaire.
But, in such a state of things, " nothing could have
been more perfectly new, surprising, or offensive to the
whole Gentile world, than the duty laid upon the first
advocates of Christianity to go into all nations asserts
ing the exclusive claims of the gospel, denouncing the
validity of all other religions, and laboring to bring
every creature to the single faith of Christ." And then,
how different the religion of the gospel, not only in its
relation to other religions, but in itself, from any of
which they had any conception! "Religion, among
the Gentiles, was a creature of the state. It consisted
exclusively in the outward circumstances of temples,
and altars, and images, and priests, and sacrifices, and
festivals, and lustrations. It multiplied its objects of
worship at the pleasure of the civil authorities ; taught
no system of doctrine ; recognized no system of moral
ity ; required nothing of the heart ; committed the life
of man to unlimited discretion ; and allowed any one
to stand perfectly well with the gods, (on the trifling
condition of a little show of respect for their worship,)
to whatever extent he indulged in the worst passions

340 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and lowest propensities of his nature. Nothing could
have been more foreign to every habit of thought, in
the mind of a native of Greece or Rome, than the
Scripture doctrines of the nature and guilt of sin, of
repentance, conversion, faith, love, meekness, and pu
rity of heart."
Both Jews and heathen opposed. — The priests. —
In the nature of the case, such a religion "must have
arrayed against it all the influence of every priesthood
both among Jews and heathens." With the power of
the priests among the Jews, and their bitterness against
Christianity, we are sufficiently acquainted, but are less
familiar Avith the superstitious dread in which they were
held, and Avith their power among other nations. " The
religion of the nations," says Gibbon, " was not merely
a speculative doctrine professed in the schools or taught
in the temples. The innumerable duties and rites of
polytheism were closely interwoven with every cir
cumstance of business or of pleasure, of public or of
private life j and it seemed impossible to escape the
observance of them without at the same time renoun
cing the commerce of mankind. The important transac
tions of peace and war were prepared and concluded by
solemn sacrifices, in which the magistrate, the senator,
and the soldier, were obliged to participate."
Speaking of the priests, the same author says, " Their
robes of purple, chariots of state, and sumptuous enter
tainments, attracted the admiration of the people ; and
they received from the consecrated lands and public
revenue an ample stipend, which liberally supported the
splendor of the priesthood, and all the expenses of the
religion of the state." It is stated, as an evidence of
the extent and power of the organizations with which
this priesthood was connected, that, sixty years after
Christianity had been the established rehgion of the
Roman empire, there were four hundred and twenty-four

CLASSES OPPOSED TO CHRISTIANITY. 341
temples and chapels, at Rome, in which their worship
was celebrated. " In connection with all this organiza
tion and deep-rooted poAver of heathenism, consider its
various tribes of subordinate agents and interested allies,
— the diviners, augurs, and managers of oracles, with
all the attendants and assistants belonging to the tem
ples of a countless variety of idols ; the trades whose
craft was sustained by the patronage of image- worship,
such as statuary, shrine-mongers, sacrifice-sellers, in
cense-merchants ; consider the great festivals and games
by Avhich heathenism flattered the dispositions of the
people, and enlisted all classes and all countries in its
support, — and say, what must have been the immense
force in which the several priesthoods of all heathen
nations were capable of uniting among themselves, and
with the priests of the Jews, in the common cause of
crushing a rehgion by whose doctrines none of them
could be tolerated. That with all their various contin
gents they did unite, consenting in this one object, if
in little else, of smothering Christianity in her cradle,
or of drowning her in the blood of her disciples, all
history assures us."
Tlie magistrates. — And with the influence of the
priests was associated the power of the magistrate.
The true principle of toleration was entirely unknown
among heathen nations, and is to this day. Toler
ation, in its true sense, — as distinguished from indif
ference on the one hand, and from zeal, manifesting
itself through a wrong spirit and in a wrong direction,
on the other, — is not natural to man. It is a Christian
virtue. The heathen were ready to tolerate any thing
which did not interfere with the estabhshed worship of
the state ; but the moment a rehgion arose which for
bade its followers to unite in that, the fires of a relent
less persecution were every where kindled, and the whole
force of the civil arm was brought to bear upon it.

342 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
The populace. — With this position of the priesthood
and of the magistracy toward Christianity, we should
naturally expect the tumults and outbreaks of popular
passion which we find were generally excited when it
was first preached. Vicious, unprincipled, accustomed,
in many instances, to gladiatorial shows and sights of
blood, — it was from the populace that the more im
mediate danger to the preachers of Christianity often
arose. The philosophers. — Nor was Christianity less op
posed to the philosophers, or less opposed by them,
than by other classes of the community. " Their sects,
though numerous, and exceedingly various, were all
agreed in proudly trusting in themselves that they were
wise, and despising others. Their published opinions,
their private speculations, their personal immorality,
made them irreconcilable adversaries of Christianity.
It went up into their schools, and called their wisdom
foolishness, and rebuked their self-conceit. 'What will
this babbler say? He seemeth to be a setter forth of
strange gods,' Avere the taunting words of certain of
the Epicureans and Stoics when they encountered St.
Paul. Mockery was the natural expression of their
minds when they heard of the resurrection of the dead.
The apostles, therefore, in attempting to propagate the
gospel among the Gentiles, were opposed by all the wit,
and learning, and sophistry, — all the pride, and jeal
ousy, and malice, — of every sect of philosophers."
General state of the world. — These remarks will
enable us to judge whether the state of the world was
at that time favorable to the propagation of Christian
ity , for on this point very different vieAvs seem to be
entertained by different persons. Of those who think
the state of the world was thus favorable, there are two
•classes. Some have thought they could see the hand of
Divine Providence in the arrangements and preparations

STATE OF THE WORLD. 343
which they think were made for its introduction ; while
others evidently speak of it in this way for the purpose
of diminishing the force of the argument usually drawn
from the propagation of Christianity. To the most,
however, it has seemed that the state of the world
never opposed greater obstacles to the propagation of
such a religion. On the one hand, it is said that the
world was at peace, and was united under one govern
ment, and that it Avas easy to pass from place to place,
and to affect a large mass, and that the force of the old
superstitions was expended, and that the minds of the
people were prepared for a neAv religion. On the other
hand, it is said that if it Avas an age of peace, that only
gave opportunity to examine the claims of the new
religion Avith the more care ; that it Avas an enlightened
age, an age of literature and refinement, of vice, of a
general prevalence of the Epicurean philosophy, and of
skepticism ; and that it was the very last period in the
history of the Avorld in Avhich any thing false or feeble
would have been likely to succeed. This is my im
pression. For the extension of such a religion as Christianity,
Avith its indubitable evidence and mighty motives, there
were certainly many things most favorable ; but if
Christianity had not been what it claimed to be, cer
tainly the most enlightened, and ciA'ilized, and skeptical
age which the world had ever seen Avould have been the
most unfavorable period for its propagation. What
Avould the infidel have said, if, instead of springing up
in this age of hght and refinement, Christianity had
first been spread among an ignorant and barbarous
people? But, however this point may be decided, if
any man thinks it could be an easy thing, under any
circumstances, to cause such a religion as Christianity
to take the place of anything, or of nothing, in the
mind of any human being, so that that person, too,

344 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
should become a centre of influence to extend the reli
gion to others, he has only to try the experiment any
where, and under the most favorable circumstances.
Let him take the first unconverted man he meets in the
streets, and try to make him an active Christian, — such
as tens of thousands and millions must have become on
the first preaching of Christianity, — and he will have
some conception of the difficulty of Avorking a change
in the wills, and habits of thought, and object of pur
suit, and whole mode of life, of people of different
nations, of the most various belief, of every age and
condition. But this did the apostles.
The instrumentality. — 3. And now, by what instru
mentality did they accomplish this? On this I need
not dwell. Eleven men, — for it was not till after the
death of Christ that the great enterprise of converting
the world was commenced, — eleven men, without
learning, or wealth, or rank, or power, from the humble
walks of life, among a despised people, never resorting
to force, and having no connection with politics, by a
simple statement of facts, by preaching Christ and him
crucified, subverted the divinely-appointed institutions
of Judaism, and overturned the superstitions of ages
throughout the known world. The history of the race
has nothing to show that can for a moment compare
with this. If Mohammedanism may be compared with
Christianity in respect to the rapidity of its extension,
it is yet in entire contrast with it in all the circum
stances in which it arose, and in all the means adopted
for its diffusion. While it confined itself to persuasion,
it accomplished nothing worthy of notice ; and it never
has been extended at all in the only method by which
it can be clearly shown that a true religion must be
extended. Its SAvay is perpetuated only as it holds its
sabre over the neck of its folloAvers, and threatens them
with instant death if they turn to any other religion.

ARGUMENT CONCLUDED. 345
Whether, then, we examine the nature of the case, or
look at it in the light of history, we must feel that the
propagation of such a religion, in opposition to such
obstacles, with such rapidity, and by such means, is a
moral miracle, and can be reasonably imputed only to
the power of truth and of God. How will the infidel
account for it ? Does he beheve that these men were
weak and deluded ? Then he believes that weak and
deluded men could accomplish a work requiring greater
moral power than any other. Does he believe they
were deceivers? Then he believes that these men
labored, and suffered, and died, to cause others to
believe that which they did not believe themselves
ARGUMENT XV.
EFFECTS AND TENDENCIES OF CHRISTIANITY.
We now proceed to the effects and tendencies of
Christianity. If it can be shewn that this religion,
and this alone, has been the cause of the greatest
blessings that mankind have enjoyed, and that, if fully
received, it Avould carry the individual and society to
the highest possible state of perfection in this life, and
fit man for the highest conceivable state of happiness
hereafter, — it must be from God. And this can be
shown. Nor, in speaking of this subject, would I con
ceal any evil that has taken place in connection with the
introduction of Christianity, or any iniquity that has
been perpetrated by those who have borne its name.
I only ask that men will distinguish, as every candid
man must, between tendencies and actual results when
those tendencies are perversely and wickedly thwarted ;
and also between names and things.
First distinction. — The persecution by Nero — to
illustrate the first distinction — was an evil, and with
out Christianity it would not have existed. But who
or what was the cause of it? Was it the inoffensive

346 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Christians, simply asserting their own inherent right to
love the Saviour, and to worship God according to the
dictates of their own conscience ? or was it the wicked
ness of Nero and of his creatures? When, at the
command of Christ, the devil Avent out of one who had
been possessed, and tore him, and left him as dead, was
it Christ Avho was the cause of this suffering? And
thus has it always been with Christianity, whether its
object has been to enjoy its own rights or to benefit
others. If evil has arisen, it has been because men
have persecuted Christians, and have sought to take from
them the inalienable rights which God has given ; or
because, when Christianity has attacked great and
deeply-seated evils, as idolatry and slavery, men have
clung to these with a Avicked pertinacity, and the devil
has not been cast out of society without rending it.
Second distinction. — In regard to the second dis
tinction, that between names and things, there is a very
general delusion Avhich steals insensibly over the mind
from the application of the term ' Christian ' to those
who are in no sense governed by Christian principle.
If men would test the effect of a medicine, they must
take that, and not something else which they may choose
to call by that name. If they take arsenic, and call it
flour, the mere fact that they call it by a wrong name
will not prevent its poisonous effects. And so am
bition, and pride, and vanity, and malice, and deceit,
will produce their own appropriate effects, in what
ever form of society they may exist, and by whatever
name they may be called. Keeping these two dis
tinctions in vieAV, it may easily be shown that Chris
tianity has really been the cause of no evil, while it has
conferred infinite blessings upon mankind, and only
waits to be fully received, to introduce a state as per
fect as can be conceived of in connection with the
present physical constitution of things.

EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY. 347
Effects. — Certainly, no revolution that has ever taken
place in society can he compared to that Avhich has been
produced by the Avords of Jesus Christ. Those words
met a want, a deep want, in the spirit of man. They
placed in the clear sunlight of truth a solution of those
profound problems and enigmas, in relation to man and
his destiny, about which the philosophers only disputed.
They more than confirmed every timid hope which the
Avisest and best of men had cherished.
He pointed men to a Father in heaven, to the man
sions of rest which he would prepare. He " brought
life and immortality to light."
He erected a perfect standard of morals, and insisted
upon love to God and love to man, and he stood before
men in the glorious light of his own perfect example.
He spoke, and that spiritual slumber of the race which
seemed the image of death was broken up, and a move
ment commenced in the moral elements that has not
ceased from that day to this, and never will cease.
Those who were mourning heard his voice, and were
comforted ; those who were weary and heavy-lader
heard it, and found rest unto their souls.
It stirred up feelings, both of opposition and of love,
deeper than those of natural affection. It therefore set
the son against the father, and the father against the
son, and caused a man's foes to be they of his own
household. Having no affinity with any of the prevalent forms
of idolatry and corruption, and making no compromise
with them, it turned the world upside down wherever
it came. Before it, the heathen oracles were dumb.
and the fires upon their altars went out.
It acted as an invisible and secret force on society,
communing with men upon their beds by night, dis
suading them from wickedness, seconding the voice of
conscience, giving both distinctness and energy to its

348 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
tones, now whispering, and now speaking with a voice
that made the stoutest tremble, of righteousness, tem
perance, and of a judgment to come.
It opened heaven, and spoke to the ear of hope.
It uncovered that world, "where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched."
It was stern in its rebukes of every sin, and encour
aged every thing that was "pure, and lovely, and of
good report."
Being addressed to man universally, without regard
to his condition or his nation, it paid little regard to
differences of language, or habits, or the boundaries of
states. Persecution was aroused; it kindled its fires, it
brought forth its wild beasts. Blood flowed like water,
but the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church.
No external force could avail against a power like this.
The word was spoken, and it could not be recalled.
The hand of God had made a new adjustment in the
movement of the moral world, and the hand of man
could not put it back. No other revolution has ever
been so extensive or so radical.
Moving on directly to the accomplishment of its own
more immediate and higher objects, the voice of Christ
has incidentally caused, not only moral, but social and
civil revolutions.
It has banished idolatry and polytheism, with their
inseparable degradations, and pollutions, and cruelty.
Human sacrifices, offered by our own ancestors, by the
Greeks, and Romans, and Carthaginians, and the ancient
worshipers of Baal and Moloch, — offered now in the
islands of the Pacific, and in India, and in Africa, —
cease at once where Christianity comes. It was before
its light had visited this continent, that seventy thou
sand human beings were sacrificed at the consecration of
a single temple.* * Prescott's Mexico.

EFFECTS OF CHRISTIANITY. 349
It has banished the ancient games, in which men slew
each other, and were exposed to the fury of wild beasts,
for the amusement of the people.
It has banished slavery, once so prevalent, from
Europe, and from a large portion of this continent.
To a great extent it has put an end to the exposure
of infants.
It has elevated woman, and given her the place in
society which God designed she should occupy.
By putting an end to polygamy, and to frequent
divorces, it has provided for the cultivation of the
domestic and natural affections, for the proper training
of children, and for all the unspeakable blessings con
nected with the purity and peace, and mutual love and
confidence, of Christian families.
It has so elevated the general standard of morality,
that unnatural crimes, and the grosser forms of sensu
ality, which once appeared openly, and were practiced
and defended by philosophers, now shrink away and
hide themselves in the darkness.
It has diminished the frequency of wars, and miti
gated their horrors.
It has introduced the principle of general benevo
lence, unknown before, and led men to be willing to
labor, and suffer, and give their property, for the good
of those whom they have never seen, and never expect
to see in this life.
It has led men to labor for the welfare of the soul,
and, in connection with such labors, to provide for the
sufferings and for the physical wants of the poor ; and
it is found that these two go hand in hand, and can not
be separated.
If there be here and there a mistaken zealot, or a
Pharisaical professor of Christianity, who would seem
to be zealous for the spiritual wants of men, and yet
would say to the hungry and the naked, Be ye clothed

350 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and be ye fed, — at the same time giving them nothing
to supply their wants, — it is also found, not only that
the truest regard for the present well-being of man must
manifest itself through a regard for his spiritual wants,
but also that, when a regard to those wants ceases, the
lower charity which cares for the body will decay Avith
it. When the tree begins to die at the top, where the
juices are elaborated that nourish it, it will die down.
Christianity alone has built hospitals for the sick and
for the insane, and almshouses, and houses of refuge,
and provided for the instruction and reformation of those
confined as criminals. Was there ever any thing in a
heathen land like what is to be seen at South Boston ?
What book is it that the blind are taught to read ? If
there had been no Bible, and no such estimate of the
worth of man as that contains, can any one believe that
the great work of printing for the blind would have
been performed ? or that the deaf and dumb would have
been so provided for ? When I recently saw those blind
children so instructed, and heard them sing, — when I
Baw thoughts and feelings chasing each other like light
and shade over the speaking countenance of Laura
Bridgman, deaf, and dumb, and blind, — I could not
but feel, though the ordinary fountains of knowledge
were still sealed up, yet that in a high sense it might
be said to them and to her, as Peter said to Eneas,
"Jesus Christ maketh thee whole."
Present effects. — And what Christianity has hitherto
done, it is now doing. It is to some extent embodying
its force in missionary operations, and it has lost none
of its original power. Men are found ready to take
their lives in their hands, to forsake their country, and
friends, and children, and go among the heathen, for
the love of Jesus ; and it is found that the same simple
preaching of the cross, that was mighty of old to the
pulling down of strongholds, is still accompanied Avith

UNSEEN EFFECTS  POWER INDICATED. 351
a divine poAver ; and nations of idolaters, savages, can
nibals, infanticides, are seen coming up out of the night
of paganism, and taking their place among civilized,
and hterary, and Christian nations.
But indications of something greater. — These, and
such as these, are the public, visible, and undeniable
effects of Christianity, uniformly produced in any com
munity in proportion as a pure Christianity prevails.
To me, however, these are rather indications of a great
work, than the work itself. They are but as the coral
reef that appears above the surface, which is as nothing
to the deep and concealed labors of the little ocean
architect. Like that architect in the ocean, Christianity
begins at the bottom of society, and works up. It
never acts successfully upon the faculties of man as an
external force. It must act through these faculties, and
hence it can change public institutions and forms of
government, and produce those great public effects
which are noticed, only as it changes individuals. How
immense the work, how mighty the changes, which must
have been wrought in individuals, before these embodied
and public effects could appear ! Such institutions and
effects are the results of a life, a vitality, a poAver ; and
they stand as the indices and monuments of its action.
When I see the earth covered with vegetation, — when
I see a vast forest standing and clothed v; ' j the green
robes of summer, — I know there must have been an
amazing amount of elemental action. I think how the
atmosphere, and the light, and the moisture, and the
earth must have conspired together, and how the prin
ciple of vegetable life must have lifted up the mass,
particle by particle, till at length it had formed the
sturdy trunk, and set his "coronal" of green leaves
upon the monarch of the forest. And so, when I see
these results, these institutions, standing in their fresh
ness and greenness, — when I see the moral desert bud-

352 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
ding and blossoming, — I know there must have been
the play of moral life, the clear shining of truth, the
movement of the Spirit of God, and the deep, though,
it may be, silent stragglings of the spirit of man.
Then I know that conscience must have been aroused,
and that mere has been the anxious questioning, and
the earnest struggle, and that the tear of penitence has
flowed, and that the secret prayer has gone up, and that
songs of hope and salvation have taken the place of a
sense of guilt and of anxious fear. Then I know that
there have been holy lives and happy deaths. Such
changes in individuals, and such results, who that lives
in these days has not seen? Such changes and results
it is the great object of Christianity to produce. When
it shall produce these changes fully upon all, fitting
them for heaven, then, and not till then, will its ten
dencies be fully carried out. Then will every thing
Avrong in the constitution and relations of society be
displaced, and without violence, as the organization of
the chrysalis is displaced by that of the bright and
winged being that is infolded Avithin it, and society
shall come forth in its perfect state. Then shall the
will of God be done ; and this earth, so long tempest-
tossed, like a clear and peaceful lake, shall reflect the
image of heaven.
Summary and conclusion. — Thus, as well as I was
able under a severe pressure of other duties, with a
sincere desire to promote the views of the munificent
founder of these courses of Lectures, and I trust with
some sense of my responsibility to God, have I pre
sented, separately, such arguments as the time would
permit for the truth of Christianity ; but, if we would
see the proof in all its strength, we must look at these
arguments in their united force. We know that an
argument may be framed from separate circumstances,

SUMMARY. 353
each of which may have little weight, while the force
of the whole combined shall amount to a moral demon
stration. It is in this way that some of the separate
arguments for Christianity are constructed ; but it is
not thus that we present these separate arguments as
conspiring together. We claim that there are for Chris
tianity many separate infallible proofs, each of which is
sufficient of itself; but still, the general impression
upon the mind may be increased when they are seen
together. We claim that the proofs for the religion of
Christ are like those for his resurrection given through
the different senses of the disciples. Some believed
when they merely saw him ; some believed Avhen they
saw him and heard his voice. Each of these was a sep
arate and adequate proof; but Thomas thought it neces
sary, not only that he should see and hear him, but that
he should put his finger into the prints of the nails, and
thrust his hand into his side. Christ did not ask his
disciples to beheve without proof then ; he does not
now. He has provided that which must satisfy, if he
be only fair-minded, even an unbelieving Thomas ; and
this proof, as it comes in from very various and inde
pendent sources, is adapted to every mind.
We have seen that there was nothing in the nature
of the evidence, or in any conflict of the evidence of
testimony and of experience, to prevent our attaining
certainty on this subject.
We have seen that there was no previous improba
bility that a Father should speak to his own child,
benighted and lost ; or that he should give him the
evidence of miracles that he did thus speak.
We have heard the voice of Nature recognizing, by
her analogies, the affinities of the Christian religion
with her mysterious and complex arrangements and
mighty movements.
We have seen the perfect coincidence of the teachings

354 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
of natural religion Avith those of Christianity ; and, Avhen
Christianity has transcended the limits of natural reh
gion, we have seen that its teachings were still in keep
ing Avith hers, as the revelations of the telescope are
with those of the naked eye.
We have seen that this religion is adapted to the
conscience, as it meets all its wants as a perceiving
power, by establishing a perfect standard.
We have seen that, though morality was not the great
object of the gospel, yet that there must spring up, in
connection with a full reception of its doctrines, a mo
rality that is perfect.
We have seen that it is adapted to the intellect, to
the affections, to the imagination, to the conscience as
quickening and improving it, and to the will.
That, as a restraining power, it places its checks pre
cisely where it ought, and in the wisest way ; so that,
as a system of excitement, of guidance, and of restraint,
it is all that is needed to carry human nature to its
highest point of perfection.
We have seen that it gives to him who practices it a
witness within himself.
That it is fitted, and tends, to become universal.
That it may be traced back to the beginning of
time. Such a religion as this, whether Ave consider its
scheme, or the circumstances of its origin, or its records
in their simplicity and harmony, Ave have seen could
no more have been originated by man than could the
ocean. We have seen the lowly circumstances, the unprece
dented claims, and the wonderful character, of our
Saviour. Around this religion, thus substantiated, we have seen
every possible form of external evidence array itself.
We have seen the authenticity of its bocks substan-

SUMMARY. 355
tiated by every species of proof, both external and
internal. We have seen that its facts and miracles were such
that men could not be mistaken respecting them, and
that the reality of those facts was not only attested, on
the part of the original witnesses, by martyrdom, but
that it is implied in institutions and observances now
existing, and is the only rational account that can be
given of the great fact of Christendom.
We have seen, also, that the accounts given by our
books are confirmed by the testimony of numerous
JeAvish and heathen writers.
And not only have we seen that miracles were wrought,
and that the great facts of Christianity are fully attested
by direct evidence, but Ave have heard the voice of
prophecy heralding the approach of Him who came
traveling in the greatness of his strength, and saying,
"Prepare ye the way of the Lord."
We have seen this religion, cast like leaven into soci
ety, go on working by its mysterious but irresistible
agency, transforming the corrupt mass.
We have seen it taking the lead among those influ
ences by which the destiny of the world is controlled,
so that the stone which was cut out without hands has
become a great mountain.
And finally, we have seen its blessed effects, and its
tendency to fill the earth with righteousness and peace.
United testimony. — These things we have seen sep
arately ; and now, when we look at them as they stand
up together and give in their united testimony, do they
not produce, ought they not to produce, a full, a per
fect, and abiding conviction of the truth of this religion?
If such evidence as this can mislead us, have we not
reason to believe that the universe itself is constituted
on the principle of deception ?
Certainty. — May I not hope, then, that as we have

356 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
thus gone together about our Zion, some of you, at
least, have felt that her towers are impregnable, — that
" Walls of strength embrace her round " ?
May I not hope that you have been led so to see the
certainty of those things in which you have been in
structed, as to gain strength in your OAvn moral conflicts,
and to tread with a firmer step, and gird yourselves for
higher exertion, in spreading this blessed rehgion over
the world? If so, I have my reward.

SUPPLEMENT.
RECENT ATTACKS.— ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS.— EXCLUSIVE TRAITS
OF CHRISTIANITY.— THE CLAIM OF JESUS TO BE THE MES
SIAH. It is now thirty-three years since the preceding
lectures were published. Since that time there has
been incessant activity, both in attacking and defend
ing the Christian Evidences, and it seems due to those
who study the lectures, that some reference should be
made to what has been done.
ATTACKS OF THE CRITICAL SCHOOL.
Strauss. — The mythical theory. — The most notable
attack that has claimed to have any thing new, has
been from what is called the Critical School. This
school became prominent in Germany, on the publica
tion, in 1835, of the " Life of Jesus," by Strauss, in
which he sought to establish the mythical theory. The
narratives of the New Testament he placed on the
same basis as the myths respecting the heathen gods.
Denying miracles, he regarded the character of Christ
as the result of the Messianic ideas of the Jews, em
bodied without conscious fraud in the Gospel narratives.
That there might be time for such myths to arise, he
undertook to show by criticism that the Gospels were
not written till near the close of the second century.
Baur. — Conscious deception. — Strauss was followed
by Baur, a professor in the University of Tiibingen,
X (357)

358 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
and by the Tubingen School. This school is identical
with that of Strauss, as rejecting miracles and relying
upon "criticism;" but attributes less to the mythical
theory, and more to collusion and fraud. Hence, as
Avilling to avoid the difficulties encountered by Strauss,
in assigning the Gospels to so late a date, they place
them earlier.
Renan. — Legendary theory. — Following the Tiibingen
School, relying on the same weapon, and also rejecting
miracles, came Renan. His " Life of Jesus " had an
extraordinary popularity, due in part to its style, and,
in part, to its falling in with the general skeptical
tendency on the continent of Europe. He is more
ready than his predecessors to assign the usual dates to
the writings of the New Testament, hut adopts, so far
as there is a difference, the legendary, rather than the
mythical theory. His work is lively, sentimental, and
has been well said to be a novel rather than a biogra
phy. He speaks in the highest terms of Jesus, yet
thinks he had weaknesses, and imputes to him conscious
deception. In connection with these leaders was a large number
of others of the same general school, as Schenkel, Keim,
Schwegler, Hilgenfeld and others.
Of this attack of the Critical School, taken as a
whole, it may be observed : —
The old assault in different form. — First, That it is
really a continuation of the deistical attack of the last
century. It is so, because its criticism is mainly in the
interest of a denial of the supernatural generally, and
of the miracles of the New Testament in particular.
These miracles, the writers of this school set aside at
the outset.' They assume that they are " unhistorical."
Thus, Strauss, as quoted by Prof. Christlieb, says, " We
now know for certain, at least what Jesus was not, and
did not do, viz., nothing superhuman or supernatural."

THE CRITICS SELF-CONDEMNED AND DISCORDANT. 359
Baur, speaking of history, says, " Its task is to investi
gate what has happened in the connection of its causes
and effects ; but the miraculous, in its absolute sense,
destroys the natural connection." Renan, too, in his
essay on " The Critical Historians of Jesus," says,
"Criticism has two modes of attacking a marvellous
narrative, for as to accepting it as it stands, it cannot
think of it, since its essence is denial of the super
natural." In his introduction to " The Life of Jesus,"
he says, " Till we have new hght we shall maintain this
principle of historical criticism, that a supernatural
relation cannot be accepted as such; that it always
implies credulity or imposture." And these are the
men who claim impartiality in the criticism of works,
a prominent feature of which is the narration of miracu
lous events ! It seems like judicial blindness that they
should thus proclaim their own unfitness for the work
they undertook.
Disagreement of ihe critics among themselves. — It is to
be observed second, That these witnesses against Christ
no more agree among themselves than did those at his
trial before the High Priest. The original theory of
Strauss was that of myths unconsciously growing up.
That of Baur was invention for a purpose. These are
incompatible theories, and both have ceased to attract
attention in the land of their birth. " The number of
those," says Prof. Christlieb, "Avho represent Baur's
theory, whole and entire, is, at least among German
theologians, very small. In Tiibingen, there is now no
longer any Tubingen School."
Renan 's theory also incompatible with that of Strauss.
Renan adopts the legendary theory. He says, "I
should prefer the words legend, and legendary narra
tives, which, while they concede a large influence to
the working of opinion, allow the action and the
personal character of Jesus to stand out in their com-

360 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
pleteness."* Again, he says, " Legend, and not myth,
is the proper word for the stories of the earhest
Christian period." Adopting this theory, he assigned,
as the theory of Strauss did not permit him to do, an
early origin to the Gospel narratives. In his intro
duction to the " Life of Jesus," he says, " Upon the
whole, I accept the four canonical Gospels as authentic.
All, in my judgment, date back to the first century,
and they are substantially by the authors to whom they
are attributed, but in historic value they are very un
equal." Of the Gospel by John, so much called in
question of late, he says in the same introduction : " But
that in substance, this Gospel issued towards the end
of the first century from the great school of Asia Minor,
which held to John ; that it presents to us a version of
the Master's life, worthy of high consideration, and
often of preference, is demonstrated by external evi
dence and by an examination of the document itself, in
a manner to leave nothing to be desired." How incom
patible Renan himself regards this Avith the view of
Strauss, will be seen from his saying, " It is a capital
point in his [Strauss's] theory, that our four Gospels
cannot, in their actual form, be assigned to an earlier
period than the end of the second century."-)- He also
says of Strauss, that he " lacks all feeling for history
and fact, and never leaves the questions of myth and
symbol."^ It is thus that while these men taken
singly, might be regarded as formidable, they cease to
be so when taken together.
Seeing thus the avowed unfitness of these men for
their work, and the incompatibility of their theories,
we turn to the theories themselves.
The real objection. — As intimated above, the real
objection is in the fact that the Gospel narratives affirm
miracles. With a certain class of scientists, this has
* Religious History and Criticism, p. 183. t Ibid. p. 194. % Ibid. p. 187.

DOGMATISM OF THE CRITICS. 361
become more and more an offence, but no theological
dogmatism ever exceeded that which assumes a priori
that miracles are to be regarded as " unhistorical," that
is, that they cannot constitute a part of a true history.
To say that, is to beg the whole question. Perhaps
there never was a more flagrant instance of the ten
dency of the human mind to pass from one extreme to
its opposite. Constantly referring us to the tendency
in former times to regard as miraculous, events that we
now refer to natural causes, and disregarding the truth
that no natural tendency ever wholly misleads us, these
men go, with a weakness quite equal to that which they
despise, to the opposite extreme. If it may be said,
looking at nature alone, that there is a presumption
against miracles, yet, as was shown in the second lec
ture, looking at nature in relation to man in his present
condition, the presumption would be in their favor.
Miracles essential, but of only relative importance. — In
themselves, miracles are of littie importance. The one
important thing is the personality of God, and miracles
are important as the only means of showing that. In
fact, any manifestation of God as personal, is substan
tially a miracle. Revelation is itself miraculous, and
hence miracles are not incidental, or needed simply as
evidence. They enter in as a part of the system. Take
from Christianity the miraculous element and it would
not be a religion. In the view of a science that knows
of nothing above nature, and so can explain nothing, a
miracle must seem impossible ; but, viewing nature as
the theatre of a moral government, and subordinate to
it, miracles might be anticipated if the exigencies of
that government should demand them.
The question one of fact and evidence. — The question
would then be, and is, simply one of fact and of evi
dence. Did Christ rise from the dead? If He did, to
say that that fact would be incapable of proof, would

362 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
be to impute an imbecility to the human faculties, that
would render any event incapable of proof. Of the
actual proof, each one must judge for himself ; but let
the evidence be fairly weighed.
Having thus placed the subject of miracles on what
we regard as its true basis, the special theories of the
Critical School, the mythical, the legendary, and the
theory of conscious deception, will hardly call for sep
arate consideration, but some general remarks may be
made. Christianity before the New Testament. — And First,
aside from the question of miracles, which is a question
of fact with which criticism has properly nothing to do,
the relative importance of the questions treated of by
the Critical School has been exaggerated. Criticism at
tacks a book, but Christianity was before the book. As
a system of salvation, it was as complete when Peter
preached on the day of Pentecost, and when not a line
of the New Testament had been written, as it is now.
Christ, himself, in his person, and character, and teach
ing, and work, was the revelation. He was not a book,
but a personal being, and revealed by direct manifesta
tion the moral attributes of God, as nature reveals his
natural attributes. He not only made statements that
could be put into a book, but wrought miracles, brought
in new adjustments, rose from the dead, and established
a Kingdom. In all this, Christ and Christianity are as
much apart from a book as nature is from a treatise on
physical science. Let the book, therefore, but estab
lish those facts respecting Christ, which must be admit
ted if history is to be credited at all, and the evidence
for Christianity itself, as involved in the great fact of
the resurrection of Christ, will remain unimpaired how
ever the minor questions of criticism may be decided.
In regard to authorship, and the original language of
the books, and the time of their composition, and their

CHARACTER OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVES. 363
verbal accuracy, and inspiration itself in its mode and
degree, there is room for diversity of opinion, without
touching the evidence for the fact that " God was in
Christ reconciling the world unto himself."
Christ known aside from the Bible. — Is it said that
the parallel between nature and Christianity, referred to
above, fails because we are brought face to face with
nature, but know Christ only through the book ? The
reply is, that he was not originally known through
the book, and, that knowing him thus we also know
him otherwise. We know him as the mightiest moral
force the world has known ; as the originator of the
only civilization that promises to be permanent ; as the
founder of a church that constantly celebrates his
death and waits for his coming ; as still the object of
determined hostihty, and, if we may accept the testi
mony of millions of intelligent and cultivated people,
as meeting the deepest wants of our spiritual nature.
Character of ihe Gospel narratives. — But second. The
Gospel narratives convey, as perfectly as narratives can,
a sense of reality. They are simply narratives, Avith
no expression of opinion or personal feeling on the part
of the narrators. Not one of them applies a single epi
thet to express his own views or feelings. There is
that on the face of narratives thus colorless, which com
mends itself to us like the openness of a countenance
which we feel cannot deceive us.
Characteristics of the Christian Era. — Third. The
period was not favorable to the formation of myths.
It was the most enlightened period of the world up
to that time. Its spirit was critical and skeptical.
Character, method and object of Christ not accounted
for. — Fourth. No theory of the Critical School at all
accounts for the character of Christ in connection with
his method and object. Taken together, they form the
grandest conception of the ages, while the Messianic

364 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
ideas of the Jews were in utter contrast to each idea
separately, and to the whole taken together.
Nor his teachings, nor those of ihe Apostles. — Fifth.
Nor can any such theory account for the sermon on the
mount; or for the perfect morality of the Christian
system ; or for the weighty character of the Apostohcal
writings. It is a marvel that four men who had been
with Christ, — Matthew, Peter, James and John, one a
collector of taxes, and three fishermen, should have so
Avritten, as to call forth more comment, and exert a
wider influence, than any equal number of writers in
classical antiquity.
Nor ihe closing scenes of his life. — Sixth. No maker of
myths or legends, no one proposing deception, could
have invented the scene in Gethsemane, or that of the
crucifixion. Nor the results of his work. — Seventh. It is not
rational to suppose that Christendom, the exponent of
the greatest revolution known in history, a revolution
not by force, but in the convictions and hopes of men,
and in their social organizations and customs, a revo
lution commending itself most fully to those most
enlightened, should have originated in myths and
legends and deception. NEW EVIDENCES.
But as there has been activity in attacking the Chris
tian evidences, so has there been in their defence ; and
now, as of old, it may be said that "the things that
have happened, have fallen out rather to the further
ance of the Gospel." As was to be expected if the
narratives were true, critical investigation has brought
new evidence to light, and obviated difficulties.*
From ancient ruins. — And first, new evidence has
come from the exploration of ancient ruins. This is not
* See a lecture by Prof. Thayer. Boston Lectures, 1871.

NEW EVIDENCE FROM ANCIENT RUINS. 365
strictly critical investigation, but is so allied to it that it
may be mentioned. Such explorations have uniformly
confirmed the sacred records, but more frequently those
of the Old Testament. As bearing on those of the New
Testament, two recent instances may be mentioned.
Sergius Paulus, Proconsul of Cyprus. — The first re
spects the statement in the thirteenth chapter of Acts,
that Sergius Paulus was Proconsul (in our version,
deputy) of Cyprus. This had long been questioned on
the authority of Strabo, who said that Cyprus was
governed by a Propraetor, (a Propraetor being an officer
appointed by the Emperor, and a Proconsul by the
Senate.) Of this difficulty, various solutions had been
given as far back as the time of Grotius; but none of
them satisfactory. It now appears that, from the
exigency of military service, the Emperor and Senate
sometimes interchanged provinces, and in this particular
case, all doubt is removed by an inscription discovered
by Gen. Di Cesnola, which is of that date, and which
designates one Paulus as Proconsul. Whether this
Paulus was the Sergius Paulus of the Acts, is of little
moment. As one name was often omitted in inscrip
tions, there is good reason for supposing that he was.*
Ephesus. — The second example is from the ruins of
ancient Ephesus, explored by Mr. Wood. He discov
ered the theatre in which the uproar mentioned in the
nineteenth chapter of Acts occurred, and also several
inscriptions indicating that Diana was the tutelary
goddess of the city. Among these is one containing
the very word f (Newxopoc;') used according to Luke, by
* Cyprus by Gen. Di CeBnola, page 229.
t An English writer, also, Mr. Thomas L. Donaldson, fa a work on the Archi
tectural Medals of classic antiquity, entitled Architecyuba Numismatica,
(page 132,) refers to the use of this word as forming " a curious, undesigned
coincidence in proof of the authenticity of the sacred Scriptures." It is, he says,
" rarely met with in ancient authors, and then only in a casual way," but the
word is applied by Xenophon, (Exp. v. 3, 6,) to an officer of Artemia [or Diana]
at Ephesus, and is found on several medals now in the British MuBeum, bearing
views of the temple of Diana in that city, of which he gives engravings.

366 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
the town clerk, in speaking of the city of Ephesus, as
a worshiper of the great goddess Diana.
Manuscripts. — New evidence has also come from an
cient manuscripts.
The Codex Sinaiticus. — And first, we have the Codex
Sinaiticus, discovered by Tischendorf in the convent of
St. Catharine, on Mt. Sinai, in 1859. This contains
the Old and New Testaments — the New complete, and
also the Epistle of Barnabas complete, Avith a part of
the Shepherd of Hermas. For antiquity and complete
ness, this version has the first place. It is supposed to
be of the middle of the fourth century. Of this, a
magnificent edition was published under the auspices
of the Emperor of Russia. A fac-simile of it is in the
Library of Congress at Washington, and no one can
look at the perfection of every letter without a convic
tion of the esteem and even sacredness in which the
books were then held. Besides, the Epistle of Barna
bas, which must have been at least a century and a half
older than this copy, refers to the Gospel of Matthew,
as of equal authority with the ancient Scriptures.
Muratori. — We have second, Muratori's fragment on
the canon, found in the Ambrosian Library, at Milan.
This is the earliest catalogue of the New Testament
books known to us, dating back to about A. D. 175, and
contains twenty-three books out of the twenty-seven. f
Ancient skeptical writers. — Besides these, various
skeptical writings have been discovered, all tending to
carry the authorship of the books of the New Testa
ment hack to the period usually assigned to them, and
going to show that within less than a hundred years
after the death of Christ, those books were generally
received as of the same authority as the Old Testament.
All this, we hold, can be accounted for only on the
supposition of the authenticity of the books.
t See Westcott on the Canon.

ITS ORIGIN IN THE LOVE OF GOD. 367
EXCLUSIVE TRAITS OF CHEISTIANITY.
We now pass to another point. Since the lectures
were published, Christianity has been attacked as never
before, by attempts to place other religions, if not on an
equality with it, yet on the same plane.
As, therefore, it claims to be not only a religion, but
the religion, and as its superiority is one evidence of its
divinity, it has been thought well to bring together
some of its exclusive traits. This was done by me in
one of the " Boston Lectures " for 1871, and the points
there dwelt upon, may be briefly stated here.
Its origin in the Love of God, and in a system super
seded yet acknowledged as divine. — First, then, it
belongs exclusively to Christianity, that it had its
origin in the Love of God. " God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." Here we have Christianity in its origin and result.
Also, if we look at Christianity as distinguished from
Judaism, it belongs exclusively to it, that it grew out
of a system which it set aside, at the same time that it
acknowledged it to be divine.
Love its essence. — But second, having its origin in
the love of God, it belongs exclusively to Christianity
that its essence is Love. As a religion, its essence is
love to God, but from this necessarily flows love to
man, and thus the rehgion and the morality of the
system, the only perfect morality, have their root in the
same principle. This is the more worthy of notice
since in other systems the religion either has no connec
tion with morality, or is the means of its corruption.
Theoretically, a perfect morality growing out of a
spiritual religion and having its sanctions, is all that can
be asked for. That we have in Christianity. What
the world waits for is that such a rehgion and morality
should be exemplified in the life.

368 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Its proposed end. — Third. The end proposed by
Christianity belongs exclusively to it. This end is com
plex. It is so as consisting of inter-dependent parts.
These are, the perfection of the individual, the per
fection of society, and the glory of God ; and this is
their natural order. These several parts of the one
complex end Christianity proposes ; it provides for their
attainment, and if they can be attained, each in its
order, it will leave nothing to be desired.
Conditioned on sin. — Fourth. It is an exclusive
trait of Christianity that it recognizes sin, in distinction
from crime, as the radical evil of this world, and that
it is a remedial system wholly conditioned on that.
"As such, it is neither the product of the religious
nature, putting out its tendrils and uttering elevated
sentiments and high aspirations, nor a blind and pas
sionate expression of a sense of guilt through self-
torture and the sacrifice of the natural affections ; but
it is a broad solution, in clear vision, of the great prob
lems of life, as they are connected with the existence of
evil, and a persistent and practical attempt, continued
from the beginning, to remove them."
Its method. — Fifth. The method of Christianity is
exclusively its own. Its method is to secure the love
and obedience of man towards God, by favor first shown
on God's part, rather than to secure the favor of God
by service first done on man's part. This reverses the
method of all other religions, and lays the foundation
for a free salvation accepted by faith.
Its adaptations. — Sixth. It is an exclusive trait of
Christianity that it is adapted to universal diffusion and
dominion, that it has looked forward to that from the
beginning, and has organized a body, both of men and
women, pledged to carry it out to that result.
The means relied on. — Seventh. It is a peculiarity
of the religion as spiritual, that it must rely wholly on

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS. 369
moral and spiritual means. Nominal Christianity may
be promoted otherwise, but the religion itself, in its
essence, cannot be.
Its Founder. — Eighth. It belongs exclusively to
Christianity to have such a Founder. Suffice it to say,
that we have in him the fullest revelation that God
has made of himself, — "the brightness of his glory
and the express image of his person."
THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS ON HIS TBIAL.
In addition to the above, I ask attention to a single
further point in the exhaustless subject of internal
evidence. It respects the testimony by Jesus himself,
on his trial, to both his Messiahship and his Kingship.
Testimony to his Messiahship. — From the commence
ment of his ministry, when he entered into the synagogue
at Nazareth, and read and expounded the prophecy
respecting himself, Jesus claimed to be the Christ ; but
on his trial, when the question was put to him officially
and explicitly, he affirmed it with the solemnity of an
oath. Certainly, when the high priest said to him, "I
adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether
thou be the Christ, the Son of God," the question was
officially and explicitly before him. Certainly, when
he replied, "Thou sayest," or, as it is in St. Mark, "I
am," "and hereafter thou shalt see the Son of Man
sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the
clouds of heaven," he did it with the solemnity of an
oath. Credibility of his testimony. — What weight then,
according to the laws of evidence, ought the high priest
and his associates to have given to this assertion ? As
in all such cases, that would depend on what they
knew of him and of circumstances, corroborative or
otherwise, of his statements. And what did they know?
They knew the testimony of John the Baptist to his

370 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
Messiahship. They knew his pure and beneficent life.
They knew his unequalled teaching. They knew his
stupendous miracles, especially the resurrection of'
Lazarus from the dead, which had just then occurred.
They knew there was nothing in his previous life,
external to himself, which could have suggested the
claim he made. He had lived in a remote and disrepu
table place ; had no learning, or wealth, or influential
friends, and his chosen foUowers were fishermen and
peasants. And if such a thought could have occurred
to an impostor, under such conditions, and such a
claim have been made, there was every reason why he
should disclaim it at that hour. For making it he
was a prisoner, was bound, it was night, every friend
had forsaken him, he was surrounded by enemies, and
was on trial for his life. Then, too, it was contrary to
the laws of thought, to suppose that an impostor thus
situated, or the craziest enthusiast, should pass at once
from simple affirmation to the self exaltation of saying
that he should sit on the right hand of God, and come
in the clouds of heaven.
But while nothing could have been more opposed
than the words and conduct of Jesus to the laws of
thought, and to probability, on the supposition of impos
ture, yet, on the supposition that he was what he
claimed to be, everything was majestic and in perfect
keeping. We say, therefore, that no testimony was
ever taken that was less likely to be perjured, or that
was deserving of greater weight.
Testimony of Jesus to his Kingship. Credibility of his
testimony as it comes to us. — But if, looking simply at
the evidence, Jesus could not have been adjudged a
perjurer by the high priest and his associates, much
less, can he be so judged by us, for we have evidence
which they had not. We have his testimony before
Pilate to his Kingship, with the same unaccountable

THE ALTERNATIA'E. 371
elements if he -were an impostor, and the same fitness
if he were really the Messiah. We have his infinite
patience and meekness under insult. We have the
scene of the crucifixion, his remembrance of his mother,
his kingly words to the thief on the cross, his prayer
for his murderers, and the commending of his spirit
into the hands of his Father. Then the overwhelming
evidence we have for his resurrection is also evidence
of his Messiahship, and we have also the great fact of
Christianity estabhshed and still progressive.
The alternative. — Shall we then say that all this was
the concomitant and outgrowth of perjury? Here was
a turning point. Had Jesus at that point renounced, or
failed to assert his claim to be Messiah and King, there
would have been no Christianity. The history of the
world would have been changed. The alternative be
fore us then is, either to say that Jesus was a perjurer,
and that but for his perjury, Christianity would not
have been, or to accept his testimony, and to say that
he was in very deed what he affirmed himself to be,
"The Christ, the Son of God."

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