THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Is it not a difficulty to hold a religion to be an imposture, which, though taught by a few unlettered fishermen and a tent-maker, has taken possession of so large a portion of the world, and that the most civilized and intelligent?—which seems to go along with God's Providence without-for a man is found, in the long run, he or his, to prosper or to fail, according as he walks with it or against it;-which seems to go along with God's witness within-for peace of mind is ever the companion of him who follows it, disquietude and remorse of him who disclaims it ;— which, in its main features, accords most remarkably with the moral system under which we livenatural religion running side by side with it, and pleading no less than itself for a future state of rewards and punishments-of rewards and punishments dealt out, not capriciously, but according to desert-for this life being a state of trial and discipline, for things here being in wreck and ruin-and for the mitigation of the mischief being effected (so far as it is effected) by the instrumentality of others, by the dispensation of a Mediator ;-which its first propagators;-the very men who professed to be eye-witnesses of his

miracles which were its

any

credentials-devoted their lives to spread, and their blood to set their seal to facts to which even heathen evidence testifies;-which was foretold by prophecies many and minute-prophecies translated out of the original language, and recorded in another, long before Christ appeared, and in that translation clear and cogent ;—which, in its morality, does not lay itself out for popular acceptance, but the contrary, and yet has that in it which approves itself to the heart nevertheless;-which it is felt to be good to entertain, and which it is impossible to impute to base or fraudulent origin; for patience, rather than prowess; purity of the thoughts, rather than conformity of the outward acts; self-restraint, rather than self-gratification; indifference vulgar fame, and a reference of all to the motive within these are features which we at once recognise as belonging to no hollow dispensation, but to such as is sound, and wholesome, and trustworthy ;-which, in the universality of its application, is never found wanting-so fitted to the wants of men as never to desert him; rising with every occasion, the more trying the more true; coming home to him with such force in the hour of his need; and guiding him with such discretion in the maze of his perplexities; teaching where industry ends, and covetousness begins;

to

what is compassion, and what is weakness; what is refreshment, and what is sloth; what is moderation, and what lukewarmness; what is zeal, and what passion; what is simplicity, and what folly; what is scrupulousness, and what superstition; what it is to honour, and what it it is to be time-serving; what is firmness, and what obstinacy—with a hundred other niceties of the like kind, on which we are called every day we breathe to decide and act; which challenges the most searching scrutiny into the character of its records, and then demands whether they do not bear the most triumphant marks of truth; whether the names they introduce, the facts to which they allude, the date to which they assign them, are not in perfect conformity with the times, as represented by accounts altogether independent of them-the age, the country, the actors, (be it observed) shrouded in no darkness or obscurity, but the most open to inquiry of almost any since the world beganwhether they do not convey the idea of perfect fairness in the writers; no attempt at the suppression of incidents which might be turned against them, no concealments of their own frailties, no precautions against cavil or mistake; whether on checking one document by another they are not found to be full of coincidences, great and small, the most casual and undesigned, such as could by no

possibility be the fruit of any contrivance, however subtle, however far-seeing; whether, for instance, any two witnesses in any court were ever submitted to a more rigorous cross-examination, in order to detect inconsistency or collusion in their depositions, than St. Paul, and St. Luke in the "Hora Paulina" of Paley (the masterpiece of that great writer), and came out of the scrutiny more unimpeached. And yet what facts are involved in the truth of their testimony! That crowning one above all, the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Himself, described or alluded to by them both, and which once established, what other foundation of our faith do we want or wish for!

Quarterly Review.

THE JEWISH NATION.

THE great end which God had in view by the selection of the Israelitish nation was to prevent all knowledge of Himself, as the Creator and Governor of the world, from being totally obliterated from the minds of men ; and to keep alive the expectation of the Promised Seed who was to effect the great deliverance of mankind from the yoke and consequences of sin, and the dominion of Satan. Had it not been for this, the worship of those powers and intermediate agents by which God acts upon the earth, and the world at large, and produces all the phenomena observable in the physical world—of their symbols, or deified men and women-would have entirely superseded the worship of their Almighty Author; and the whole earth would have been so covered with this palpable darkness, that no glimpse of light would have been left to foster the hope and prove the germ of a future day of glory.

Bridgewater Treatise.

KIRBY.