EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY INCREASING. 



135 



foim of Christianity which has been established 

 in Italy, in Germany, in Russia, or in Britain ; 

 or as it is professed by Episcopalians, Presbyte 

 rians, Independents, or any other sectary ; or as 

 it is expounded in the catechisms, confessions, or 

 systems of divinity, which have been published 

 by the different denominations of the Christian 

 world. In all these cases, its true glory has been 

 obscured, its beauty defaced, and its purity con 

 taminated, by passing through the atmosphere of 

 human folly and corruption ; and opinions and 

 practices have been incorporated with its leading 

 principles altogether repugnant to the liberal and 

 expansive spirit for which it is distinguished. It 

 is to the Christianity of the Bible alone to which I 

 refer. It is there alone that it is to be seen in 

 its native purity, simplicity, and glory ; and he 

 who neglects to study the Scriptures, unfettered 

 by the trammels of human systems, will never be 

 able fully to perceive or to appreciate the true 

 excellence of that religion, which is &quot; pure and 

 peaceable, full of mercy and good fruits,&quot; and 

 which breathes &quot; good will towards men.&quot; For, 

 in some of the forms which Christianity has as 

 sumed in certain countries, it has been so much 

 blended with human inventions, as to be scarcely 

 distinguishable from heathenism ; and, conse 

 quently, in such cases, it has seldom been ac 

 companied with those, beneficial effects which it 

 is calculated to produce. And, among almost 

 all the sectaries in every country, either some of 

 its distinguishing features have been overlooked, 

 or its doctrines mixed up with metaphysical dog 

 mas, or its practical bearings disregarded, or opin 

 ions respecting its forms and circumstantials set 

 in competition with its fundamental truths and 

 moral requisitions. &quot; Nevertheless, the founda 

 tion of God standeth sure,&quot; and the Divine 

 fabric of Christianity will remain unshaken and 

 unimpaired, so long as the Scriptures are preserv 

 ed uncontaminated and entire. 



The evidences to which I have now adverted 

 are continually increasing rn their clearness and 

 force. Time, which is gradually undermining 

 the foundation of error, is enlarging the bulwarks 

 of truth, and adding to their strength and stabil 

 ity. Opposition has tended only to clear away 

 the rubbish which has been thrown around the 

 Christian fabric, but is has shown its foundations 

 to be firm and impregnable. The historical evi 

 dence has been gaining strength ever since the 

 davs of the apostles, and since the time when 

 Herbert, Chubb, Tindal, Morgan, and other in 

 fidel writers attempted to undermine the cause 

 of -evealed religion. The defences which were 

 published by Grotius, Stillingfleet,Butler, Leland, 

 Watson, Paley, and others, have shown, that the 

 more the arguments for Christianity have been 

 opposed, sifted, and examined, the more irresisti 

 ble have they appeared, and the more have they 

 shone with increasing brightness ; so that no in 

 fidel has ever attempted to meet them on fair 



grounds. The evidence from prophecy, from its 

 very nature, is continually progressive ; ad, in 

 proportion as Scripture predictions are studied 

 with judgment and intelligence, and compared 

 with the history of past ages and the present state 

 of the nations, will a new light be thrown on the 

 prophetical writings,which will cause the evidence 

 of their divinity to shine forth with a brighter, 

 lustre, and enable every intelligent observer to 

 read, in passing events and in the revolutions of 

 empires, the faithfulness of the Almighty in ac 

 complishing those declarations, which, &quot; at sun 

 dry times and divers manners, he spake to the 

 fathers by the prophets. The internal evidence 

 which has been more overlooked than it ought to 

 have been, is likewise increasing, and will conti 

 nue to increase, in proportion as the Scriptures 

 are perused with judgment and care, as nature is 

 contemplated with humility and reverence, and 

 as useful knowledge is diffused over the world. 

 When the holy principles of our religion shall 

 have acquired a greater influence over the tem 

 pers and conduct of its professors ; when the de 

 liberations of statesmen and tho conduct of states 

 and empires shall be directed by its maxims and 

 laws ; when Christianity shall be divested of the 

 false drapery with which its pretended friends 

 have attempted to adorn it, and freed from the 

 corruptions which human folly has incorporated 

 with its institutions; when all who recognise its 

 leading doctrines, throwing aside party disputes 

 and animosities, shall form themselves into one 

 grand and harmonious association ; when a few 

 more portions of the heathen world shall have 

 been brought into subjection to the Prince of 

 Peace, and when the general happiness result 

 ing from such events shall be felt and acknow 

 ledged then, all who behold such blessed trans 

 formations will be enabled to read, in characters 

 that cannot be mistaken, that the Creator of the 

 universe is the original author of Christianity, 

 and that the promotion of the best interests of 

 mankind is the great end of all its revelations. 



My intention in giving the preceding summary 

 of the evidences of Christianity is, to show, that, 

 without habits of rational thinking and a certain 

 portion of general information, these evidences 

 cannot be thoroughly investigated, nor their 

 weight and importance duly appreciated. For, 

 how can a mind unaccustomed to reading and re 

 flection be supposed capable of entering into all 

 the topics and considerations requisite to be at 

 tended to in such investigations, of balancing 

 arguments, of comparing prophecies with their 

 accomplishment in the history of nations, of 

 detecting sophisms, or of feel ing the force of rea 

 sonings, however clear or powerful ? It is des 

 titute of those fundamental principles and general 

 ideas on which all moral ratiocinations are 



