present condition, can least of all appreciate, yet is it gaining an ascendency, and producing a series of moral transformations, which must remain an eternal prodigy, unequalled and unexplained, unless he suppose it animated by the inspiration of the Almighty, -and that the objections to this system of evidence, after being magnified to the uttermost, and managed with the greatest dexterity, instead of doing it injury in any one department, have tended decidedly to its confirmation, rendering it clearer and more satisfactory than it was ever known to be before they were agitated.

he can

With these ascertainments before his eyes, lift up his head as a man of understanding; and under the force of a conviction which is patiently reasoned, and invincibly confirmed, he can say to him who was Jesus of Nazareth, "I believe, and am sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." We are very far indeed from depreciating the argument which is drawn from these, and similar sources. We hold that argument as the standing testimony of heaven to the divinity of our Holy Scriptures, which is destined to maintain their claims so long as the earth endures; and we fearlessly point to it as the bulwark of our religion, which the mightiest efforts of its adversaries shall never be able to demolish. It is an argument which, in hands which had nerve to wield it, has done us a most essential service; and it remains, with vigour unimpaired, in perfect readiness for new exploits. Not only is it decisive with the man who can estimate its import, but it has put opposing argument to eternal silence, and banished every thing like reputable controversy entirely from

the field. It has rescued reason from the thraldom of scepticism, and brought her over to Christianity, her natural and legitimate ally. It has made it clear as the light of day, that although a fanatic may feed his distemper under the name of Christianity, yet Christianity, in her true spirit, is the enemy of all fanaticism. In the mastery of its modern achievements, it has fairly turned the tide of opinion with the men of intellect and research, and taught the keenest of our learned adversaries, who have any sense of controversial decorum, that, if they will not yield to the faith of the Gospel, they must not venture on any thing more than simply letting it alone. Nor can it be denied, that, in instances not a few, this very argument has proved itself an overmatch for those who encountered it with hostile intentions, disclosing their sophistries before their eyes by a light which they could not extinguish, dislodging the enmity which steeled their hearts against it, and constraining them, like Saul of Tarsus, to publish "the faith which once they destroyed."

Still we must tell you plainly, that this invincible argument, with all its strength and comprehension, has carried very few to a saving reception of Christianity. The great mass of sinful men to whom salvation is proclaimed, have neither intellect nor means for tracing it to its legitimate results; and were they shut up to it alone, as their entrance into life, they behoved to perish for ever, with the Bible in their hands, through mere incapacity for examining its credentials. Of this, however, they are in no dan

ger.

There is an argument of experience, as well as of fact and induction; and a confirmed assurance

of the divinity of the Bible may be derived from the former, with far greater facility, and inconceivably deeper effect, than it ever can be from the latter. The doctrines of salvation through Jesus Christ, are read or preached to the child of guilt and profligacy— the Spirit, who endited them, carries them to his heart by irresistible divine operations-he is convinced of sin, and brought to experience the mercy of God—a change is produced, he knows not how, but its fruits evince its heavenly origin-he has the witness in himself, and shows it in his altered character-and, with sentiments of ingenuous wonder, he replies to the cavils of the sceptic, "Why, herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes." Thus it is, in the compassion of heaven, that, without the toils of erudition, or any process of lengthened argument, the Bible comes at-once to the consciences of men, and, enforced by Him who is lord of the conscience, produces an impress of its divinity, which is felt to have the power of a moral demonstration, and which sophistry may disturb, but can never obliterate.

But when we say that the system of argument . referred to above, has carried very few to a saving reception of Christianity, we mean the remark to apply to those who are perfectly capable of tracing its bearings, and have, in fact, drawn it out into clear and invincible conclusions. Some of them who believe its conclusions, are not the subjects of saving grace, but present the most deplorable anomaly of knowing the Bible to be true, and yet refusing to submit their hearts to its proffers and its discipline. And others of them, who believe to the saving of

the soul, are very well aware, that, although it fixed Christianity in their heads, it was not the light of its general evidence, but the specific force of truth coming direct from the Bible itself, just as it comes to the most illiterate, which brought Christianity down to their hearts, 'and renewed them in the spirit of their minds. These are matters of fact, founded on experience and common observation. The general argument may enlighten the head, or put an end to speculative scepticism, but it does not infallibly change the heart. It may convince the candid, or confound the obstinate, or turn the odium of bigotry and perverseness over on those to whom it belongs, but genuine conversion to the God of the Bible is very seldom produced by it.

If

But why is it that this argument does not convince instead of confounding, or lead to conversion in every instance where it produces conviction? we except a few of the frivolous or profligate, whose career is scarcely rational at all, is it not the manner of man, in all other matters, to turn his convictions into profitable practice-avoiding the evil, and gathering up the good, which they successively point out to him—and thus doing homage to the exalted dictates of a sound wisdom and discretion? Is not this the

way in which he walks, to a very creditable extent at least, in all the departments of secular pursuit; and how does it come to pass, that, at the very entrance of this one way, "his wisdom faileth him, and he saith to every one that he is a fool?" Is the argument itself, although generally good, yet deficient in logical power to work up the mind to the high point of practical certainty? So far from being

insufficient, it has all the attributes of a moral demonstration; and there are living men who will candidly admit, that the conviction which it has lodged within them is logically perfect, while yet they are unconverted. But although the argument be sufficient, is the good which it substantiates, in the truth of the gospel, so trivial or common-place, as to want the power of turning the mind to the course of activity which leads to it? The good is deliverance from everlasting destruction, reconciliation to God through the mediation of his Son, and a title to the blessedness of eternal life :-a good so great and so full of interest, that the greatest of all terrestrial things is turned into utter insignificance, when brought, for a moment, into competition with it.

If it be the case, then, that the question, why does a conviction of the truth of the Bible fall short of conversion? finds no solution whatever in any thing defective, either in the evidence of the truth of the Bible, or in the good which that evidence substantiates, we are shut up to search for the solution in the heart of man himself. This is the dark infested region where the true solution is to be found; and let it be remembered, that, in searching for it here, we can never hope to find it in any physical derangement or superinduced debility of the human faculties, but in the deep and inveterate moral depravity which has so awfully enslaved these faculties. To this source the evil is traced by Him who knows what is in man. It was Christ who said to the Jews, "If any man will do the will of him that sent me, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself:" intimating,