CONTENTS. LECTURES ON THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. LECTURE I. INTRODUCTION. THE present is intended to be the first of a series of Discourses upon the Truth and Divine Origin of Christianity and the Bible. We shall not at present enter upon the argument itself, as there are several other matters which we must consider in the first place. It is desirable that our minds should be impressed with the importance of the inquiry in which we propose to engage. We ought also to understand the views and feelings with which it should be entertained; and it is likewise proper that we should have a tolerably clear apprehension of the mode of conducting it. A few suggestions upon each of these subjects will be offered in this first lecture. B I. Our first business, then, is to offer some remarks upon the importance of the inquiry in which we propose to engage. 1. And this, I think, may be partly apprehended, if for a moment we lay aside all religious considerations, and regard it merely as a question of science. The Bible professes to be the most ancient history in the world, and the subjects which it embraces are, even as matters of fact, interesting beyond all others;-such as the origin of the human race-the deluge-the diversities of language-the rise, glory, and decay of the most singular and the most long-lived of all nations, the descendants of Jacob-the origin of the Christian faith, and its extraordinary spread in the first ages of its existence.-These, and the like, render the inquiry into the truth of the Bible the most momentous of all historical researches. It is also to be noted, that the conclusion to which we come upon this subject very materially affects all other history. If that of the Bible be not credible, it is demonstrable that there is no ancient history upon which we can place any reliance. In several other respects a similar mode of reasoning may be applied to the Scriptures: but this illustration alone will be sufficient |