rection of the errors above mentioned, and the substitution of right views of the true God, and of human duty. 5. THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 1st. Historical Evidence. The great foundation facts of Christianity proved by an unbroken chain of history from our own day to that of Jesus Christ-and the genuineness of the books of the New Testament proved in the same way, by following them up to the disciples themselves. 2d. Internal Evidence. Many of the facts recorded in the Gospel history, had they been false, must have destroyed Christianity in its very birth-the age unable to have produced such a religion—and the character of this religion wholly inconsistent with imposture. 3d. External Evidence. The unparalleled progress of Christianity-the admissions of its early opposers-the sufferings of its first teachersand the existence to this day of institutions commencing with the very occurrence of certain events in the Gospel history, of which they are commemorative.

II. Such are the results to which we have been brought by our inquiry. The arguments that have been employed we have endeavored to state in a fair and candid manner, and we have been careful not to force them beyond their respective limits, nor to draw from them any illogical or improper conclusions. Many sound and weighty arguments have been omitted, because to have introduced them at length would have swelled the volume beyond its intended size. But without these, it is believed that sufficient has been advanced to satisfy the reader, that the claims of Christianity as a Revelation from God, are such as are not lightly to be passed over.

III. If he who is reading is an unbeliever, we ask the liberty to urge him, with something of earnestness, to pause a little, and reflect upon what has been said. He cannot deny, we think, that much important evidence has been adduced in support of the truth of the Christian re

ligion-that many strong proofs of this have, in the course of the preceding observations, been laid before him; and in view of this, we request him, as a candid man, to put these questions to himself:-Can this evidence be destroyed? Can these proofs be denied? If not, what is the course I ought to pursue? We re

quest this with all sincerity, for we verily believe, that, if he presses these questions upon his candor, and forces himself to give a reasonable answer to them, he will come to the conclusion that Christianity is the truth of Heaven.

CHAPTER IX.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. THE QUESTION OF MIRACLES.

INTRODUCTORY.

IN strictness of speaking, we are under no obligations to consider the subject embraced in the title of this chapter; because, until the positions established in the preceding pages are destroyed, all objections are out of place. It is in vain to raise supposed difficulties to a few isolated passages, and on the strength of these to pronounce the Gospel history even doubtful, while the great chain of historical evidence continues unbroken-while the mass of internal and external proof offered in support of its authenticity remains untouched. As well might one attempt to destroy the giant oak by cutting away a few sticks of shrubbery about its roots, while he leaves the trunk unharmed. Such attacks, we repeat, are altogether ineffectual-they do not reach the question at issue; and the sceptic has made no progress in the overthrow of Christianity, until the arguments in its behalf are fairly met and fairly answered-- until the historical facts by which it is established, and, with these, the very foundations of human knowledge, are all prostrated in the dust. Until he has accomplished this, every objection must fall short of the mark.

2. Notwithstanding this position is so perfectly plain, it is a well-known fact that no attempt has been made to meet Christianity on this only proper ground. No unbeliever has ever yet attacked the Christian records by attempting to disprove, step by step, the historical evidence adduced in their support.* This is a field on which the opposers of the Gospel have never been disposed to enter, for they are well aware that they cannot maintain themselves here. They have been urged and exhorted, again and again, to take position here: the Christian has repeatedly affirmed, that this is the only fair and honorable way of deciding the question, and he has pledged himself to rest the matter upon this point, and here to abide the issue. But to these earnest calls there is no answer; to these continued solicitations for a fair trial, the only reply has been, a studied silence. And why is this? Plainly from a consciousness that failure must inevitably follow such an attempt.

3. But this is not all. Though he refuses to meet the question where it can only be met to any purpose, he still continues to throw out his objections to Christianity, as if they were sufficient to falsify the voice of all past history. Though he knows, or ought to know, that these very objections have been refuted, and refuted over and over, he nevertheless advances them now with all the confidence of originality, as if they were entirely new, and had for the first time been published to the world. The truth is, that the great mass of these objections, with one or two

*The nearest approach that has been made to this, perhaps, is the work of Strauss, recently translated and published in England. The theory on which the argument of it rests will be examined in the next chapter. We are told that the plates of the English edition have been sold to a publisher in Philadelphia, and that an American edition may be looked for soon. 3 vols, 8vo.

exceptions, are as old as the days of Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian, by whom they were first started, and from whom they have been borrowed by succeeding sceptics down to the present time. Answers to these have been published from fifteen to sixteen hundred years, and republished, as often as have been the objections, and yet not the least notice has been taken of them, and no attempt has been made to prove them unsound. What then shall we think of men who, with these facts staring them in the face, will continue to bring forward these threadbare and exhausted objections to Christianity, as if they were new? Is it honorable? Is it a manifestation of that spirit which seeketh after the truth? We would not speak harshly, but we do think we have reason to complain of a want of fair dealing.

4. However, with all this, we are disposed to go over the ground again, that there may be no failure on our part, and no cause of complaint on the part of the unbeliever. It will therefore be the objeet of the following chapters to examine some of the difficulties, and to point out the weakness and insufficiency of some of the more common objections to the authenticity of the Gospel history, or the truth of the facts therein related.