extinguish conscience and put off our whole intellectual and moral nature, before we can reject the evidences of Christianity.

I rely not on one or two minute points. I press not the accuracy or force of all the particular facts and arguments I have adduced. I proceed on the broad and commanding features of a divine religion, which present themselves on whichever side we view it. It is not one thing only, but every thing, that converges and concentrates its light on the Christian doctrine.

And yet such is the obvious excellency of that doctrine in itself, that it requires but little external proof. Any one of the points we have been reviewing, is enough, and more than enough, to form the credentials of a religion, bearing on its very surface all the impress of the holy and gracious Creator and Preserver of mankind. It wants, so to speak, no historical evidence; and yet it possesses every species of it in the highest degree. Its purity challenges of itself the reverence and obedience of mankind; and yet it comes surrounded with all the splendor and attraction of miraculous powers and predictive inspiration.

2. Whence is it, then, that men are so backward to receive this divine guest? Whence is it that with no one solid reason to be advanced against it, objections and difficulties are continually urged? Whence is it that men who act on infinitely less evidence every day of their lives, refuse to act upon the evidence of the Christian revelation? Whence is it that the cause of infidelity, unsustained by a single argument, survives and is propagated?P

The answer to these inquiries is, the simple fact, that when the rules of ordinary judgment are applied to Christianity, we have to overcome the reluctance, the corrupted appetites, the self-will of the human heart. The reception of Christianity is a joint act of the understanding and the will. Men assent readily enough to the slightest external proofs,

(p) Not one of the chief works on the Evidences of Christianity was ever answered. Who answered Lardner-Michaelis-Paley-Porteus-T. H. Horne?—Or even the brief and select arguments of Lyttleton and Leslie? Gibbon's vapid objections against Christianity received thirty or forty replies at once!

when a thing meets their inclinations, and falls in with their taste and habits. Men assent readily enough to the highest and most incomprehensible doctrines of mathematical science, and venture every thing upon the truth of the practical consequences of them, because these things touch not their passions and vices and moral inclinations. But in religion the same men start aside, reason inconclusively, act the most absurd part, deny their own convictions, and violate all the dictates of prudence and truth. The fall of man, and the disorder of all his powers is such, that he is credulous to excess, can believe without proof, and follow without inquiry, when his affections lead the way; whilst no force of evidence can win his heart, if he dislike the inferences to which he knows his assent must conduct him.

3. It is to lead you to break through this unreasonable opposition of the passions; it is to determine you by the grace of God (without which we can do nothing aright) to yield to the force of conscience, and the claims of true reason early in life, before vice has hardened your hearts, and converse with the wicked has embolden you to resist evidence that we have addressed this course of lectures to you.

To the candid and sincere mind all is light in the Christian doctrine. To the heart pre-occupied with vice and irreligion, all is darkness. Christianity is a probation of the state and feelings of all to whom it is addressed. If it be examined with any thing of simplicity, its evidences shine forth brightly upon the view, they convince the understanding, they awaken the force of conscience, they bow the will; and the inquirer prostrates himself at the footstool of the divine majesty, revealing his grace to his dependent and sinful creatures. The whole soul receives the impression of the glory and wisdom and foreknowledge and power and mercy of God. The discoveries of revelation fall in with the wants and miseries and forebodings which visit every heart. The remedy proposed suits precisely the fears of the guilty mind, and the apprehensions, which natural religion, illuminated by the Christian revelation shining around it, injects into the stoutest breast.

Especially, young persons who have been educated in the Christian doctrine and have observed its holy effects in those who obey it, cannot but be sensible of the claims which religion has upon their faith and obedience. Most of those whom I address are in this state of mind at least. They know that the holy religion of the gospel is true. They know that when they fear God and live in prayer and are willing to be obedient to his will, all is easy in the Bible. Objections are then without force. The direct proofs of a divine origin shine forth from every doctrine and precept, like the sun in the firmament.

It is to confirm you in these good impressions; it is to set before you the incomparable strength of the Christian evidences; it is to shield you against the darts of the spiritual adversary; it is to lead you on to that fixed love and obedience to your Saviour which no temptations can materially disturb, that we now address you. Yield, then, amiable and youthful hearers, just entering upon life, to the full force of your Christian calling. Follow the impulse of conscience; listen to the small still voice of mercy in the gospel. Whether you can enter fully into the historical evidences of the Christian religion or not, is of less moment. There are proofs of Christianity level to the unlearned and ordinary inquirer, as well as to the literary and scientific. You can understand, at least, that the external evidences are far stronger than men deem satisfactory every day in the concerns of life. You can understand that the agreement of all pious and learned men in opinion, as to the force and validity of these evidences, is as good a ground for you to stand upon, as you are compelled to take a thousand times a-day as to the practical results of scientific and abstruse investigations. The vast body of mankind are always acting on the judgment of others, in matters of which they cannot fully judge for themselves. These are reasonable grounds enough for you, as to the historical evidences. And when these are joined to a conviction of the intrinsic excellency of the Christian religion, and a perception in some measure of its holy effects, they place you on an impregnable bulwark which no sophistry of the

wicked can assail. You have found the pearl of unknown price. You have found the infallible remedy for all your moral diseases. You have reached the port and haven of truth. You have come up from the pit and cave of vice and darkness, to the noon day sun of divine illumination and grace.

4. Act, then, fully on the revelation you profess. Secure all these advantages by a more entire submission of heart to God. Remember that the Christian evidences can only bring you to the doors of the sacred temple. To enter that temple must be the fruit of grace. It is not the proof of authenticity or credibility that can change the heart. It is not the magnificence of miracles that can infuse the love of God. It is not the wonderful accomplishment of prophecies that can subdue our sins. It is not the propagation or beneficial effects of the gospel that can produce holiness in our lives. It is not the conviction of the inward excellency of the Christian doctrines, that can engage our obedience to God. It is not the persuasion of the force and obligation of all the combined proofs of our holy faith, that can generate a correspondent frame of heart.

All these proofs are only as an introduction to a further end. It is the grace of God's Holy Spirit, sought for by earnest prayer, that alone can renew the will, sway the affections, and purify the heart of fallen man. It is the power of that Saviour whose gospel you receive, that alone can strengthen you against temptation, and form you to holy love. And this is the end to which we would lead you. You were born in a Christian land, you have been brought up in the Christian religion, you have partaken of the Christian sacraments, you have, many of you, been lately ratifying your vows in the face of the church. Put then your Christianity into practice. If you listen to the seductions of vice, I warn you of the consequences. If you lend an ear to its sorceries, your senses will be bewildered, your understanding clouded, your heart hardened. The evidences of Christianity will fade and escape from your view. You will remain a mere speculative believer, if you sink not into open unbelief. But if you follow conscience; if you

avoid the company and practices of the wicked; if you dismiss indifference and prejudices and worldliness of mind; if you implore the grace of God by fervent prayer; if you act on what you know, you will be secure and happy. Rise, then, to the true dignity of your nature. Repulse the suggestions of a depraved heart. Adhere to the great revelation of mercy in the gospel. Behold your heavenly father reconciled. Behold all his love exhausted in the amazing gift of his own Son to die as a sacrifice for your sins. See around the person of the Son of God all the truths of revelation concentrated. Behold every part of the divine doctrine casting its glory on the face of Jesus Christ. Let the authentic and credible records of your faith lead you up to the feet of this Saviour incarnate for your sake, performing his mighty works, promulgating his healing doctrine, fulfilling all the ancient prophecies concerning himself, delivering new and most august predictions, promising his Holy Spirit to his disciples, and ascending up to heaven to carry forward all the designs of redemption, to accomplish all the other prophecies of the divine word, and to close the whole dispensation of his mercy at the final tribunal of his judgment.

Choose the good part. Take your side with truth, and holiness, and wisdom. Yield not to the wretched dictates of a proud, or the base appetites of a sensual heart. You are made for eternity. You are capable of the knowledge and love of God. The grace of God will not be denied to fervent prayer. That grace can rectify, elevate, purify, save you. That grace can make your youth chaste and devout, and your age pure and honorable. Thus will you answer all the anxious efforts and labors of your parents, your ministers, your friends. Thus will you experience the true and elevated ends of Christianity in its peace and tranquillity of conscience, in its gift of the forgiveness of sins, in its consolations under sorrow and affliction, in its sustaining power at the moment of death. Thus will eternity only begin your happiness. It will be disarmed of its terrors. Your feelings and wishes will be in conformity with the inevitable course of things. Futurity-the dread of the