DISCOURSE I.

HEB. XIII. 8.

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.

THE Prophecies delivered, and the Miracles recorded in the different parts of Holy Writ, prove the dignity of the person to whom they refer: "the testimony of Jesus being, in their respective ways, the spirit of both."

Taken collectively, they furnish an assemblage of proof, in support of the stur pendous scheme for the salvation of man, moving on from its origin in the divine councils, through several appointed stages of advancement, to its perfect accomplishment at the consummation of all things; which, if fully drawn forth and duly appreciated, places the truth of Christianity on that firm basis of Revelation, which

bids defiance to every attack that infidelity can make against it.

All sound members of the Church therefore, must consider themselves indebted to champions, who, in the armour of truth, take the field against those Goliahs of infidelity, who, in our days of rebuke and blasphemy, are come forth to defy the armies of the living God: whose object is no longer confined to insidious and disguised attacks on the Church of Christ; but has manifested itself in that open and determined hostility to it, which, in the paroxysms of their atheistic insanity, they have promised themselves, will terminate in its total destruction.

But, whilst some of the. Watchmen of Israel are engaged in the field with the -open and declared enemies of Christianity; others may be not less usefully employed, in confirming the faith of those who are still desirous of holding fast their professional engagement. Whilst some are honourably employed in tearing away the disguise from that wretched system, which, under the veil of superior perfection, is now endeavouring to cheat the world to its

utter

utter ruin; others may contribute something to the general cause, by rendering Christians less open to the specious reasonings of those false philosophers; who have proved, to the conviction of every thinking mind, that in "professing themselves wise, they are, in the emphatic and appropriate language of the Apostle, become very fools."

For, as all heresy is a stage of advancement towards open infidelity; every successful attempt to establish the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus, must tend to stop, in a degree, the progress of those baneful principles; which, in exchange for our best enjoyments and best expectations, offer nothing to the contemplative mind, but a disorganized society, and an hopeless futurity.

With these ideas before me, my object will now be, not to prove the establishment of Christianity, by tracing its fortunes, with the concurring light of history and prophecy, through the different stages of its progress in the world; a work which must have addressed itself chiefly to the learned; but to write down to the understanding of the more common Christian; by illustrat

ing and confirming the essential doctrine of the Christian religion, by that internal evidence, which the Bible, as a book at unity with itself, cannot fail, when properly understood, to furnish for that purpose.

Aware, it should seem, of the decided conclusion to be drawn from that concen→ trated evidence resulting from the united testimony of Divine Revelation, unbelievers are in the habit of adopting a ready way of disposing of all those parts of Scrip ture, which are irreconcileable with their systems; by denying their inspiration. With such underminers of the foundation, on which stands all our knowledge of spiritual things, we profess not to reason; because our admission of the current assertion, that truth can never be injured by debate, must be received in this qualified sense; that the method of debate and the subject debated on, are properly suited to each other.

If what the Apostle says, has not lost its authority, "that the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God;" 1 Cor. ii. 11. the only way of acquiring a knowledge of spiritual things, must be by an attention