to show, that to the man of science, as well as to the Christian, the inquiry before us is one of the highest interest.

2. The subjects of the Bible in general suggest to us the importance of ascertaining its truth. It treats of the nature and government of God; of the soul of man; of a future state of retribution; and, in short, of all the truths which it is most necessary that we should understand; and upon each of these subjects its statements are widely different from any which the unaided mind of man has ever conjectured.

3. But that fact which most of all proves the momentous character of this inquiry is, that the Bible makes our eternal happiness to depend upon our heartily believing certain doctrines which are peculiar to itself. The question before us, therefore, is one which involves our highest interests both in this world and in the world to come. Upon other subjects, error is comparatively of little consequence; but if upon this subject we come to a wrong conclusion, we are certainly and for ever undone.

4. But perhaps some of my hearers may say, "We have no doubt whatever of the truth of Christianity and the Bible; and why then should we be called together to hear discourses upon

what we all believe?" To this inquiry I answer, that there may be some here who do not implicitly admit the divine origin of the Christian religion; and to such the present discourses may prove of advantage. Or, admitting that this is not the case, and that there is not and will not be among us one sceptical mind, there are still several reasons, weighty reasons, for the course at present to be pursued. Two or three may perhaps be named.

(1.) The present is an age of advancing information. The minds of men are becoming more fully instructed upon almost all subjects of ordinary science and literature. Our own town,* remote as it is from the heart of the empire, has shared in the quickened impulse of the publie mind, and we have institutions among us whose object is the cultivation and diffusion of knowledge. These, from their constitution, necessarily preclude direct religious instruction. It is, therefore, the more proper that upon this subject, of all others confessedly the most important, an opportunity should be supplied to young persons of inquiring minds, to obtain such a measure of information as may correspond with the general intellectual advance of the age.

(2.) But this subject may be put in a yet

* Penzance.

stronger form. The diffusion of knowledge, without a proportionate communication of religious truth, has been observed very extensively to lead to scepticism. I shall not pause on this fact; but assuming it to be capable of satisfactory proof, it must be, in the judgment of all Christians, desirable to supply, in one degree or other, an available antidote to this evil. Every one will allow that it is only justice to hear both sides of an argument; and hence, when the temptations to unbelief abound, a statement of the Christian evidences is the more necessary on the other hand, that every inquirer may thus be enabled to judge on which side the truth actually lies.

(3.) In the course of reading, there is every probability of your meeting with some of the representations of unbelievers. Now, against these it is necessary you should be guarded; for they are not to be trusted. I am sorry to be under the necessity of expressing myself upon this subject with any thing like harshness; but I cannot do justice to my subject or to my auditors without remarking that, among modern infidels, there is the most lamentable disregard of truth; and that they frequently make assertions which they themselves must be perfectly convinced are notoriously false. Let me cite but one example:

A modern infidel-one, too, of no mean learning —has asserted, that the names of Christ and of the Christian religion were never heard of till between the years 60 and 100; and that then they were exclusively confined to Asia Minor. Of course, every man of education must have known this to be a barefaced falsehood; but it was not unlikely to impose upon the ignorant ; and this was sufficient for its unprincipled inventer, since he who could believe this statement would necessarily perceive that the NewTestament history was altogether incredible. Happily, we have ample evidence on the subject, and that from writers whose abhorrence of Christianity was quite as strong, and whose misrepresentations of its professors were quite as groundless, as those of the author before us. I will take the present opportunity of citing the testimony of Tacitus, who lived about the era of St. John, and who wrote the Roman annals. In giving an account of the reign of Nero, he says that that monarch, "in order to suppress this rumour, [of his having set fire to the city of Rome,] apprehended certain criminals, and caused them to suffer the most cruel punishment.” Now, mark what follows: "These were the persons commonly called Christians, who were universally

hated for their crimes. The author of this sect was Christ, who, in the reign of Tiberius, was condemned to death by the procurator, Pontius Pilate. This detestable superstition, though thus partially suppressed, broke out anew, not only in Judea, where it originated, but also in Rome itself, a city where all sorts of atrocities are practised." (Tacit. Annal. 1. xv. c. 44.) Now, this example, which is only one out of many that might be adduced, will show how important it is for you who are diligent readers, to get your minds prepared, by information on the evidences of Christianity, to repel such wicked attempts to shake your faith. We have nothing to fear but ignorance and sophistry; and what was said by our Lord of the individual good man, is equally true of the cause we espouse: "He that doeth good cometh to the light, that his deeds may be manifest that they are wrought in God." These cursory remarks may perhaps be sufficient to show the importance of the subject before us. We proceed, therefore,

II. To offer a few suggestions upon the views and feelings with which we ought to come to this inquiry.

1. We should recollect that the manners and customs of which the Bible treats are wholly dif