ESSAY IV.

ON THE INTERNAL EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.

SINCE a knowledge of history and a certain degree of general literary attainment are necessary in order to our forming a complete view of the external evidences of Christianity, and since such knowledge and attainment are necessarily placed out of the reach of a considerable portion of society, we ought to be very thankful that there are other evidences of the Divine origin of our religion, which, to the sincere inquirer, in every condition of life, are matter of observation, and, to all true Christians, matter of experience. These are usually denominated the internal evidences of Christianity.

Simple as the Christian religion is found to be in its operation, and easily understood as it is (so far as relates to its practical purposes) by persons of very limited mental cultivation, it is, in fact, a complex system, a scheme made up of numerous parts. He, therefore, who would unfold the internal evidences of our religion in all their interesting detail, must examine every essential article which it proposes to our faith, every distinct feature of its law of practice, every single motive which it supplies to action, and every particular channel through which it influences the heart: and he must endeavour to show that all the several parts of this one great

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system are worthy of the wisdom of God, and adapted to the spiritual wants of weak and degenerSince, however, it would be impossible to comprise within the proper limits of one of these Essays so extensive a discussion, I shall attempt little more, on the present occasion, than to survey some of the principal moral effects produced by Christianity as a whole. For, although the Divine origin of this scheme of religion may be traced, either in the unrivalled excellence of its moral code, or in the strength and harmony of its doctrines, and in their analogy with the known provisions of nature and providence, it is always to be remembered, that the moral effects of Christianity are, through the medium of faith and obedience, the result of its doctrines and precepts combined.

Before, however, we enter into the consideration of these effects, it ought to be clearly understood that mere pretenders to Christianity have little or no connexion with our argument-that our views must be directed exclusively to those persons who have received revealed truth with cordiality, and who, without making reserves in favour of their own perverse inclinations, have really submitted their hearts to its sanctifying and saving influence. Such persons were the primitive Christians, whose firm faith and devoted and innocent lives have been declared and recorded, even by their enemies see Plinii Epist., lib. x. ep. 97. And such also, whatsoever be their peculiar denomination, aud notwithstanding their many infirmities, are the humble, peaceable, and unobtrusive followers of a crucified Redeemer, even in the present day.

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That it is at once fair and necessary to premise this distinction, a very slight degree of reflection may convince us. If the wheels of my watch are clogged with dust-if an untutored workman, in his illdirected attempts to repair it, has added to it some fresh spring or pivot, foreign to the true principles of its structure, and has thus destroyed the order and beauty of the machine, and prevented the useful regularity of its movements-in such case the effects produced by the instrument will afford a very imperfect proof, or no proof at all, of the skill of its original fabricator. But let the wheels be cleansed from the dust, and let all extraneous additions be removed, and the nice precision with which it will now indicate the progress of time will immediately afford an ample and unanswerable evidence that he was indeed skilful. And thus it is also with Christianity. Like every other moral or civil institution, this great scheme of righteousness is liable, in the hands of man, to very considerable abuse. If we are to look at its effects where it has a merely nominal operation, or where it is obstructed by prejudice, loaded with superstition, or perverted by selfishness and passion, there can be no probability of our being able to trace in those efforts any thing more than very partial indications of the wisdom from which it originated. Much less shall we form any just apprehension of that wisdom, if we follow the example of Gibbon and other modern infidels, who appear to try Christianity, not by the consequences of its genuine principles, but solely by the fruits of many depraved affections and superstitions,

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[Ess. IV. which, although they may have found a place among the professors of our religion, are in fact totally opposed to those principles, and are known to have no other origin than the folly and wickedness of the human heart. But, if we consider the Christian system in its genuine purity, and in its native and unimpeded operation-if we reflect on its principles as they stand recorded in the unsophisticated volume of Scripture, and trace the effects of them where they are really received into the heart-then indeed we shall find abundant cause to believe that Christianity has proceeded from a Being of perfect benevolence and skill.

Let us then proceed to examine a few of the principal particulars which appertain to this branch of evidence.

I. Christianity is the instrument by which mankind are brought into the exercise of those dispositions and duties which reason teaches us to be especially required towards the Almighty himself.

It is generally allowed by such persons as confess the existence and unity of God, (whether they are believers in the Christian revelation or otherwise,) that he is a Being not only of infinite knowledge, wisdom, and power, but of the highest moral perfections. A comprehensive view even of merely natural religion leads to an easy admission of the declarations of Scripture, that God is just, holy, true, benevolent, and bounteous. Justice is, in many respects, legibly imprinted on the course of providence, as are benevolence and bounty on the contrivances of nature; and the truth and holiness

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of the Deity are powerfully evinced (even where the knowledge of an outward revelation has never penetrated) by the internal operations of that universal principle, which condemns man for iniquity, and is found to be a true and swift witness for God in the souls of his reasonable creatures. Certain it is, however, that these moral attributes of the Creator and Governor of men may be traced in some of the declarations of ancient heathen philosophy, as well as in the frequent confessions of the champions of modern infidelity.

Such, then, being the acknowledged characteristics of our heavenly Father, it is unquestionably our reasonable service to trust in his goodness, to live in his fear, to love him with the whole heart, to worship him with true devotion of spirit, to obey his law, and to seek to promote his glory: and yet it is a fact, to which the history of past ages and present observation bear alike the most decisive testimony, that by mankind, in their unregenerate condition, this reasonable service is, to a very great extent, set aside and neglected. We are prone to depend upon many a broken reed; but in an omnipresent and merciful Deity we place no real confidence. We are surrounded by numerous objects of our fear; but among these objects a very subordinate place is occupied by Him who searches the hearts and the reins, and who punishes for iniquity. Our affections towards the creatures of God are fervent and often inordinate; but towards the munificent Creator, from whom all beauty and loveliness spring, our feelings are very generally those of cold and careless indif