Mahometanism, on the one hand, and the religion of Jesus Christ on the other. The more enlarged field embraces the science of Divinity generally. The particular compartment of it on which we are now engaged is that which constitutes the Evidences of Christianity; and to this our attention will be exclusively confined.

a fact

As the ground work of my argument I shall be content with this postulate:-That Christianity exists; and therefore must have been in some way, and at some time, established. Perhaps there are few, even of the most ignorant, or most bigoted, who would not be content to allow that it has existed for ages; but it is enough to say that it exists now;which at least none of those into whose hands this little treatise may fall, can deny. And it must have had an origin, for if not, it will follow that it has existed from all eternity. This, (except so far as concerns the secret purpose of God, with which we have not now to deal,) Christians disavow; and it would but ill serve the turn of those whose wish might be to cast a doubt upon its claims. We may therefore assume, that it owes its origin to something that has occurred in the past history of our earth. What that something is, our Scriptures profess to make known; and I shall now proceed, by the deductions of the simplest reasoning, to demonstrate that this is, in truth, the real history of its origin: and in the course of our investigation, we shall find enough to show, that if it be, Christianity, and nothing but Christianity, is the true expression of the will and work of God with reference to man. But the limits I have prescribed to myself, and indeed the object I have in view, will not admit of any thing like a full development of the several branches of the subject. It will be my endeavour to explain and illustrate these by selecting a few tolerably complete sperimens, rather than by giving a more has y ske ch of the whole argument belonging to each head; and this, I trust, will serve to bring the method of proof within the reach of the Indian reader, and enable those unaccustomed to such investigations, to understand the principles on which they are conducted. An elementary treatise cannot do more than this, and indeed, would cease to be elementary if it did; and those who have the will and opportunity to follow out the subject, may consult the more voluminous works

wherein the learned have given to the world the result of their elaborate researches.-May it please that only true God, whose Revelation I am employed in vindicating, to vouchsafe a blessing on my humble efforts, and while we mark the bulwarks and count the towers of his Zion, make these few pages instrumental in bringing numbers within her walls, and giving increased confidence to those who have already found therein a refuge.

PART I.

THE TRUTH OF THE CHRISTIAN STORY IS ESTABLISHED BY COMPETENT HISTORICAL EVIDENCE; AND UNEQUIVOCAL INTERNAL MARKS OF VERACITY.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The necessity and consequent probability of a Divine Reve lation. The Proof of it in Evidence.-Different kinds of evidence; direct inspiration; direct teaching of those inspired; their writings. Miracles a proof of Divine Inspiration.-Historical Testimony a proof that the miracles were actually wrought.-Internal evidences.

It is the more usual plan with writers on the evidences, to commence by demonstrating the necessity of a Divine Revelation. This they elucidate by showing what was the state of the world in general before the appearance of Christ on earth, or that of the countries still strangers to the Gospel; and by adducing the examples of those ages and nations where the light of Revelation has been most obscured: for it has always been found that the soundness of moral principle has borne a direct proportion to the clearness of the scriptural light enjoyed. The testimony of ancient writers is brought forward to show the depravity of mankind in general, and the opinions of eminent philosophers are quoted, who have asserted that, without a direct interposition from above, the reformation of the world was a hopeless task. Thus Socrates observes, "You may give over all hopes of amending men's manners for the future, unless God be pleased to send you some person to instruct you;" and similar sentiments are advanced by Plato, Cicero, and others. The confession of Porphyry, an inveterate enemy of Christianity, is worthy of remark; it was to the effect that there was wanting "some universal method of delivering men's souls, which no sect of philosophy had ever yet found out."

Having thus established the necessity of a Revelation, we may fairly argue, from the relation in which we stand to God, as creatures of an all benificent Creator, that such being the wants of man, and such the character of his

Maker, the antecedent probability of some interference on the part of the latter, in behalf of the former, is great; and this probability will appear greater, as our sense of these two particulars becomes more clear and better defined. But there is the less need to dwell upon this, first, because practically we find that most men are fully alive, alike to the necessity, the possibility, and the probability of a Revelation; for, in point of fact, all save infidels, that is, all of any religion at all, profess to derive their tenets from such a source, and practically show, that with them at least, there will be no obstacle to the reception of Christianity, on the ground that they cannot entertain the idea of an interposition from above: and secondly, because, though a great step is gained when we have shown the antecedent probability, and consequent credibility, of any thing not in itself impossible or self-contradictory, this is never absolutely necessary; for no antecedent improbability, however great, can overturn the certainty of a fact supported by competent evidence. The opposite of this has been urged, that no evidence can prove a miracle; on the ground that it is contrary to experience for a miracle to be true, but not contrary to experience for testimony to be false. The former assertion means nothing more than that we have never seen a similar case; or at least that such cases are not commonly seen; for to say they have never been seen, is to beg the question. If a miracle, or a Revelation, be not a thing in its own nature impossible, (and none we presume will venture to assert this,) it may happen; and whatever may happen, is capable of being proved, if it do happen. I do not say that the proof will always lie within our reach; but this is an accidental circumstance; it is capable of being so; and the only question is, whether the proof adduced is sufficient to demand an assent to its truth. Testimony is unquestionably often false, but nothing short of impossibility can, in any case, make it necessarily so. The strangeness of the occurrence witnessed may give a presumption against it, and call for stronger evidence; still, that evidence must be weighed on its own intrinsic merits, before it be discarded as unworthy of credit. Let any thing, within the comprehension of our nature, be presented to the bodily senses of any man in the full possession of all his faculties; we may venture to say, however strange and unexpected, however impossible, in ordinary language, the occurrence