صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

that the defenders of the Gospel have appeared with very different degrees of ability for the work; nor could it be otherwise among such numbers of

mankind, that the light of nature is a perfect rule, and, therefore, that all revelation is needless and indeed impossible. Another disguises the miracles of Christ by false representa-them: but, on the whole, though the tions of them, and then treats them as idle tales. A third takes a great deal of fruitless pains to shew, that some prophecies referred to in the New Testament are capable of another sense, different from that in which the apostles have taken them.

These things have been set in a very artful and fallacious light by persons, whose names will, perhaps, be transmitted to posterity, with the infamous stigma of having been leaders in the cause of infidelity; but not a man of them undertakes to ascertain the grand fact. Nay, they generally take no more notice of the positive evidences by which it is even demonstrated, than if they had never heard it proposed; though they cavil at incidental passages in those books in which it is most clearly stated. And as for what they have urged, though perhaps

some who were before weary of Christianity may have taken occasion to reject it, and others, for want of consulting the answers to them, may have been unwarily ensnared; yet the examination of these points has been greatly for the honour and vindication of the truth, which seems on this occasion to have been set in a clearer and stronger light than ever, at least in these latter ages.

The cause of Christianity has greatly gained by debate, and the Gospel comes like fine gold out of the furnace, which the more it is tried, the more it is approved. It must be owned

patrons of infidelity have been masters of wit, humour, and address, as well as of a moderate share of learning, and generally much more than a moderate share of assurance; yet so great is the force of truth, that (unless we may except those writers who have unhappily called for the aid of the civil magistrate in the controversy) we cannot recollect to have seen any defence of the Gospel, which has not, on the whole, been sufficient to establish it, notwithstanding all the sophistical arguments of its subtle antagonists.

This is an observation that is continually gaining new strength, as new assaults are made upon the gospel: and we cannot forbear saying, that as if it were by a kind of judicial infatuation, some who have distinguished themselves in the wretched cause of

infidelity, have been permitted to fall into such gross misrepresentations, such senseless inconsistencies, such

palpable falsehoods, and, in a word, into such various and malignant superfluity of naughtiness, that to a wise and pious mind, they must appear like those venomous creatures, which are said to carry an antidote in their own objections, particularly a noble Lord, who has given up several of the deistical objections, and even acknowledged the divine original

of the Gospel: for he asserts, "That no religion ever appeared in the world, whose natural tendency was so much directed to promote the peace and happiness of mankind."

He declares, that, " "No system can be more simple and plain than that of a natural religion, as it stands in the Gospel." He avers, that, "he will not say, that the belief that Jesus was the Messiah is the only article of belief necessary to make men Christians. There are other things doubtless contained in the revelation he made of himself, dependant on, and relative to, this article, without the belief of which, I suppose, our charity would be very defective. But this I say, that the system of religion which Christ published, and his evangelists recorded, is a complete system to all the purposes of religion, natural and revealed. It contains all the duties of the former, it enforces the whole law of faith, by promising rewards and threatening punishments, which he declares he will distribute when he comes to judge the world." The same writer alloweth, "that the Gospel is, in all cases, one continued lesson of the strictest morality, of justice, of benevolence, and of universal charity." He professeth a great concern for true charity, in opposition to the ology, and says, that "genuine Christianity was taught of God." And, not to multiply passages to this purpose, he pronounces that, "the Christian system of faith and practice was revealed of God himself, and it is absurd and impious to assert, that the divine Being revealed it incompletely and imperfectby. Its simplicity and plainness shew that it was designed to be the religion of mankind, and also manifests the divinity of its original. After reading those quotations, and a great variety of others, which might be

produced from his Lordship's writings, the reader may easily judge what religion has to fear from this. noble writer's arguments, and we will venture to assert, that he has himself entirely confuted his own objections.

Thus have we given the reader a brief view of the chief arguments, in proof of Christianity; and the sum of the whole is this:

The Gospel is probable in theory; as considering the nature of God, and the circumstances of mankind, there was reason to hope a revelation might be given; and if any were given, we should naturally apprehend its internal evidence would be such as that of the Gospel is, and its external such as it is said to be. But it is also true in fact: for Christianity was early professed as it was first introduced by Jesus of Nazareth, whose life and doctrines were published by his immediate attendants; whose books are still preserved in the original language, and in the main are faithfully translated into our own; so that the books of the New Testament now in use may be depended upon as written by the persons whose names they bear; and admitting this, the truth of the Gospel follows, by a train of very easy consequences: for the authors certainly knew the truth of the facts they related: and, considering what appears in their characters and circumstances, we can never believe they would have attempted to deceive us; or, if they had, they could not have gained credit in the world. But they did gain it in a very remarkable manner therefore the facts they attested were true: and the truth of

he Gospel evidently follows from the certainty of those facts, and is completely confirmed by what has happened in the world since the publication of it.

This is the sum of what we flatter ourselves we have sufficiently proved; and shall now conclude what we have to say on this subject, with a few words by way of reflection :

1. Let us gratefully acknowledge the divine goodness, in favouring us with so excellent a revelation, and confirming it to us by such ample evidence.

We should daily adore the God of nature, for lighting up the sun, that glorious, though imperfect, image of his own unapproachable lustre; and appointing it to gild the earth with its various rays, to cheer us with its benign influences, and to guide and direct us in our journies, and our labours. But how incomparably more valuable is that day spring from on high, which hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet in the way of peace? Oh ye Christians, Christians, whose eyes are so happy to see, and your ears to hear, what reason have you for daily and hourly praise! When your minds are delighted with contemplating the riches of Gospel grace, when you view with wonder and joy the harmonious system of your redemption, when you feel the burthen of your guilt removed, the freedom of your address to the throne of Grace encouraged, and see the prospect of a fair inheritance to eternal glory opening upon you; then, in the pleasing transports of your souls, bor

row the joyful anthem of the psalmist, and say, with the humblest gratitude and self-resignation, God is the Lord who sheweth us light; bind the sacrifice with cords even to the horns of the altar. Adore God, who first commanded the light to shine out of darkness, that by the discoveries of his word and the operations of his spirit, he hath shined in your hearts to give you the knowledge of his glory, as reflected from the face of his Son. Let us all adore him, that this revelation hath reached us, who live in an age and country so distant from that in which it first арpeared; while there are to this very day, not only dark corners, but regions of the earth, that are full of the habitations of idolatry and cruelty.

Let us peculiarly address ourselves to those whose education and circum stances of life have given them opportunities for a fuller enquiry into the state of those ancient or modern nations, that have been left merely to the light of unassisted reason; even to those who are acquainted with the history of their gods, the rites of their priests, the tales and even the hymns of their poets; nay, we will add, the reasoning of the sagest philosophers; all the precious and all the erroneous things they have said where religion and immortality are concerned. It may be imagined, that God gave to some of the most celebrated pagan writers that uncommon share of genius and eloquence, that they might, as it were, by their art, embalm the monsters of antiquity; that so succeeding ages might see, in a more affecting view than we could otherwise have done, how weak the human mind is i

in its best estate, and the need which the greatest as well as the meanest of mankind have of being taught by a revelation from above. While we are daily conversing with such monuments as these, and are also surveying the evidences of Christianity, in a larger and more distinct view than it was possible for us here to suppose them, we are under peculiar obligations to be very thankful for the Gospel ourselves, as well as to compassionate the case of those to whom it has never been offered, or by whom it is slighted. And this leads us to another reflection:

2. What reason we have to pity those who reject this glorious Gospel, even when they have opportunities of inquiring into its clearest evidences. Such undoubtedly we have in our own age and nation: and surely we should sometimes bestow a compassionate thought upon them, and lift up humble prayers for them, that God, peradventure, may give them repentance to the acknowledgment of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snares of the devil, who are now led captive by him at his pleasure. We should pity Heathens and Mahometans under their darkness and errors: but how much more deplorable is the case of these, who though they dwell in Emanuel's land, and in the valley of Zion, turn it into the valley of the shadow of death, by closing their eyes against so bright a lustre, and stopping their ears against the voice of the charmer! They are, indeed, in their own conceit the only wise people, but their wisdom will die with them so that

to be sure they will scorn our pity. But who can forbear it? Is there a more melancholy thought than this, that the Son of God should have done so much to introduce and establish the gospel, and his Spirit so much to perpetuate and increase its evidence ; and that, after all, it should be contemptuously despised, even by creatures who are perishing without it? This is not only done, though we believe most frequently, by men of profligate and abandoned lives; but sometimes by persons who have the appearance of external morality, decency, and humanity, (for such are to be found among them) as well as men of wit and genius, of politeness and learning, of human prudence and experience in worldly affairs. It may also be added, that it is the case of some who were the children of pious parents, who were trained up in religious exercises, who once discovered. serious impressions, and gave very encouraging hopes. Alas, whither are they falling! How shall we shelter those that were once our brethren, that are perhaps still our friends, from the awful sentence which the Gospel denounces against all that reject it, without any exception? As to the wretches that add insult and derision to their infidelity, we tremble to think of that load of guilt which they are bringing upon themselves; and how near their approach to the unpardonable sin, if they have not already committed it. For the rest, who behave in a more modest and sober manner, it will, no doubt, be a very difficult task to convince them; and so much the rather, some of them, by too easy a tran

:

sition, have renounced many of the most important principles of natural religion nay, it might be added, even the whole of it, together with the Christian revelation. But the influences of divine grace are Almighty. Let us recommend them to it, and omit no other proper method, either of recovering such as are already seduced, or at least of securing those who are not yet infected, but may be, as most of the youth are, especially in the most populous places, in imminent danger of the contagion. To this end let us add,

3. How reasonable it is, that Christians should form a familiar acquaintance with the great evidences of our common faith.

It is what we so apparently owe to the honour of God, to the interest of Christ, to the peace of our own souls, and the edification of others, that we hope we need not to urge it at large, especially considering what has been said before. In consequence of all, let it be your care to make evidences of Christianity the subject of your serious reflection and frequent converse. Especially study your Bibles, where such marks of truth and divinity are to be found, that we hope few who have familiarly known them, and have had a relish for them, were ever brought to make a shipwreck of their faith as it is in Jesus. Above all, let it be your care to act on the rules which are here laid down: and then you will find your faith growing in a happy proportion, and experience the truth of our Saviour's declaration, that if any man will resolutely and faithfully do his will, he shall know

of the Christian doctrine, whether it be of God. We verily believe, that it is the purity of its precepts which lies at the bottom of most men's opposition to it; or a natural pride of heart, which gives them an aversion to it; or a fond affection of seeming wiser than others, in rejecting what most of their neighbours do, and profess to believe. When these unhappy prejudices and conceptions are, by divine grace, conquered and rooted out, the evidence of truth will daily appear with increasing lustre ; as the light of the sun does to an eye recovering from a film with which it hath been overgrown; and which before hath veiled it with midnight in the midst of noon.

4. How solicitous should we be to embrace and obey that Gospel, which comes attended with such abundant evidences!

We may undoubtedly address ourselves to most of our readers, and say, as Paul did to king Agrippa: Believe thou the prophets? I know that thou believest: yet let me intreat and charge you not to rest here; but attentively to examine how far your hearts are affected, and your lives regulated, by such a belief. Christian revelation is a practical thing; and is heard, believed, and professed in vain, if it be not obeyed.

The

In this Gospel the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness of men: but it is revealed with redoubled fury against that audacious sinner, who holds the truth in unrighteousness. In this Gospel the blessed Jesus is exalted both as a

« السابقةمتابعة »