In order to know the plan on which divine inspiration proceeded, we must trace out the wONDERFUL UNION We must ascertain the EXTENT OF IT, according to the variety of matter which the books contain ERRATA. Page 35, note, for XVIII, read XVII. 50, note, for 41, 42, read 40, 41. 81, 10th line from bottom, for been, read have. 235, line 13 from top, for individual, read individuals. LECTURES. LECTURE I. INTRODUCTION.. 1 PETER II. 15. Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. It is one mark of the truth of our holy religion, that it courts enquiry. Christianity lays open its claims to every one that asks a reason of the hope which it inspires, and declines no species of fair investigation. The hope of which the apostle here speaks, is that humble confidence of escaping from the deserved wrath of God, and obtaining everlasting life which the death and resurrection of Christ received by faith, were the means of exciting in the breasts of the first Christians, VOL. I. B and for which they willingly surrendered all interests and advantages of a worldly nature, and incurred the fiery trial. of persecution and death. This hope is for substance the same in every age; and the manner in which the Christian renders a reason of it, cannot essentially differ. His answer will chiefly relate to the unspeakable blessings which Christianity communicates, and the holy effects which it produces; and will dwell on historical and external proofs in proportion as the period in which he lives, and the information of those whom he is anxious to persuade, may require. The hope that is in him will ever be the ultimate object of his reply or APOLOGY.' The outward evidences, though requiring in some ages of the church, a long detail, will still be adduced as only subsidiary and subordinate. The Christians of the first century would doubtless assign the reason of their faith in very decisive and energetic terms. "We entertain this blessed hope," would the Ephesian or Thessalonian converts say, "because the Son of God has died for the redemption of sinful man, and has risen again from the dead and sent his apostles with the power of miraculous works, to assure us of the truth of 1 Ετοιμοιδὲ ἀεὶ πρὸς ̓ΑΠΟΛΟΓΙΑΝ. his religion, and invite us to partake of its blessings. We saw the holy apostles. We beheld their miracles. We heard from them the discourses of Christ, and considered well the proofs he gave of his divine mission. We received ourselves the gifts of the Holy Ghost upon believing the divine record. Besides this, we are actually witnesses of the spiritual benefits of the gospel. It has brought us from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. It has revealed to us the one living and glorious Creator of the universe. It has made known to us the fall and ruin of our nature, and a glorious method of recovery by Jesus Christ. We are delivered from the grossest and most debasing ignorance, idolatry, vice, and misery. We cannot make others understand this inward power of Christ's religion, till they have received it themselves. But we give them all reasonable satisfaction that the religion is from God. We appeal to the undoubted miracles, and the other external evidences which attend the Christian doctrine. We show them the fruits of this divine religion in all who obey it. It makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus. It enables us to live pure and holy and beneficent lives. It strengthens us to rejoice. in sufferings and death for Christ's sake. And our desire and wish is to bring them thereby to |