the bursting of the tombs, and the last shrill wailing of him who loved us and gave himself for us; and we are invited, entreated, commanded by our dying Benefactor to commemorate all this, but especially his death-and that in a way which he himself pointed out and instituted. He bequeathed it as a fountain of grace, at which all his flock may drink, imbibe new strength, and call up the beloved image of the Shepherd to remembrance, until he come to gather them into his fold. Can I be said to believe in this death, and in Him "who loved me, and gave himself for me," if I omit the very act by which I am urged to shew my belief, and to prove my acceptance of the gift?

Imagine one more case: if we could know, for certain, that the next occasion of our gathering here together would be the last-that when the table shall be spread on the next Lord's day, it would be literally our last supper, and that we should go from the altar straight to meet the Bridegroom oh! what prayer, what searching of the heart, what preparation would there be during the ensuing week; what dwelling upon the cross, what striving to imitate Christ's death and resurrection, by being dead to sin and entering upon a new life of holiness; what an eagerness to apply the text to ourselves, so that each might truly say with the Apostle, "I am crucified with Christ; I live by the faith of "the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself " for me;" and when the appointed day arrived, and the last prayers were uttered, and the last anthem

sung, and the last sermon concluded-tell me, oh! tell me, if you think there would be one individual in this congregation who would go forth out of the sanctuary to meet the bridegroom, without having first trimmed his lamp at the bridegroom's altar?

And why, then, should the mere circumstance of uncertainty, whether that shall be our last supper or not, scatter every energy, and whisper delay till a more convenient season? For if the day of his coming were revealed, we should not be benefitted. In that case, we should be acted upon by fear; but we have shown that the faith of the true believer must work by love and if we knew that we should live for a thousand years, would our love and gratitude to him who first loved us, and gave himself for us, excite even the thought that we could commemorate him too soon, or too frequently? Let us be glad, then, to put on the marriage-garment; let us go in the spirit, with sorrow, indeed, to Gethsemane and Calvary: but let us go up also in the spirit with joy to Jerusalem and keep the feast; and may we not turn the text, thus dwelt upon, into a prayer for each of ourselves? 'Lord, may I be so "crucified with Christ," that I

I so

may live with him, here and hereafter: may "live the life in the flesh" that I may bear about ' with me the marks of "the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.'

"For we have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty*.

IT is often useful to recur to the evidences of our faith. Indeed, we may affirm it as necessary, both for the preachers and hearers of the Word, to take a review, at times, of the ground-work

* As this discourse turns chiefly upon some of the evidences of Christianity, the author thinks it right to state that he does not pretend to claim the discovery of any new arguments, but simply the recasting and compression of much matter that is well known; his object being to place before the unlearned reader, a clear but very short outline of reasons, handled at large by "Paley," "Horne," and other standard writers, upon "The Evidences."

on which is built our belief" that Christ Jesus 66 came into the world to save sinners." For every man, as a soldier of Christ, ought to be ready armed to refute gainsayers, and "to give

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a reason for the hope that is in him." And yet, we appeal to your experience, whether it is not the fact, that many who possess much knowledge upon other subjects, which are not so often brought before them as once in every week— many, indeed, who never questioned the truth of revelation would still be at a loss to give the simple but sound reasons why that which they profess to believe, is true. This want of knowledge, or, perhaps, confusion of ideas, may arise, partly from the negligence of the hearer, and partly from the omissions of the preacher. If the hearer take no interest in satisfying his mind, privately, upon that which claims to affect his own soul's destiny, or if he give only a partial attendance to the public instruction of the reading-desk, or the pulpit, it is clear that, at most, he can but acquire a disjointed knowledge of his salvation; or, on the other hand, if the preacher be apt to assume too much upon the supposed knowledge of his hearers, entering into the midst of doctrines, as it were, without first clearing the way by simple explanation, and adding fresh materials, Sunday after Sunday, to the spiritual edifice, without distinct reference to the ground-work in either case, a con

gregation may remain very dark in the midst of the scattered light; they may be “ever learn

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ing, and never able to come to the knowledge "of the truth;" and we shall venture, therefore, to adopt, as a preface to this discourse, those words of St. Peter that precede the passage selected for our text. Wherefore, I will not be you always in remembrance "of these things, though ye know them, and "be established in the present truth."

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negligent to put

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We propose to speak, then, as if it were possible some one might be present who had never read, or heard, or at least never weighed seriously, the proofs which attest the truth of our religion. And we begin with a fact, which the concurrent testimony of all history affirms, that there never existed a people, even a clan amongst the wildest barbarians or the darkest savages, who have not entertained some notion or other of a Superior Being. However shattered might be the intellect, or distorted het imagination and mental machinery of the savage, one idea has always been left standing, like a splendid fragment towering amidst ruins-and that is the idea of SOME ONE above him, mysterious and powerful. But if there be a thought, which conscience has always whispered, and from which even the savage could not escape, if he wished, it is evident that this cannot be an invention, or cunningly-devised fable;" and another fact is