Does the Gospel testify that this salvation is conferred freely by faith in Christ Jesus? May not any man see that this is the only ground on which it can be available? If all men are sinners, as all men ought to confess, they cannot escape wrath in any way of human merit. A free salvation is the very salvation that all men need. The Gospel, then, is in every respect adapted to the state and necessity of man, and by this wonderful adaptation carries its own evidence with it that it is from God.

But above all, the Christian possesses innumerable sources of evidence of the truth of the Scriptures, to which others have no access. In his own experience he finds a confirmation of all the accounts they give of the character of God and of man. In his own mind he finds the distinction between the old man and the new-between him that is of this world, and him that is born of God. The Scripture testimony that formerly was denied, or not understood, with respect to the corruption of human nature, he now knows to be true. What to all natural men must ever appear absurd and fanatical, namely, the assertion of the Apostle Paul, that no good thing dwells naturally in man, he now feels and laments. Formerly, he may have devised schemes of interpretation to evade the Scripture testimonies respecting human nature; his own heart now testifies that all is literally true and applicable to every man. He sees himself in the light in which divine truth represents human nature, and instead of glorying as formerly in the goodness of his heart, he condemns himself as a sinner; instead of pleading his righteousness before God, he humbles himself in dust and ashes.

The change of heart and character essential to the new birth, he also experiences, and knows that the

Scripture doctrine with respect to this is from Heaven. While he sees that in himself by nature there is no good thing, he is conscious of love to God, to the Saviour, to Christians, to men in general, and of a real hatred of sin. That description of a Christian given in Romans, vii., which none but the Christian can understand, as belonging to the same man, at the same time, he now realizes completely in himself.

Formerly, he may have acknowledged the Scripture doctrine of the deity of Christ; now he feels that he must have an Almighty Saviour. He glories in the cross of Christ, because, from conviction of his sin and unworthiness, he feels that he needs to stand before God in the righteousness of his Son. He needs no external evidence to convince him that he has in himself no righteousness that can meet the demands of the divine law. This is testified by his own awakened conscience, as by the thunders of Sinai; and he feels it as strongly as if it were proclaimed by an angel from heaven. But in the righteousness of God he has peace. The righteousness of Christ, as being the righteousness of God, appears to him a firm and safe ground of confidence, by which he can confide in divine mercy, while he can meet divine justice. Here he sees the union of humility and boldness, and while with Raul he exclaims, who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect, with the publican he exclaims, God be inerciful to me a sinner!

The view that the cross of Christ has given the Christian of the divine character, is so strong a ground of hope, that he is enabled not only to overcome the fear of death, but to long for the appearing of the Son of God in the clouds.

This is the view which the Scriptures themselves give of this matter. Jesus Christ says, "if any man

will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." John, vii. 17. The Apostle John also declares," he that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself." 1 John, v. 10. This takes it

for granted, that every believer has evidence in himself, independently of all external proof, that the Gospel is true. While this ought to instruct the Christian on this head, and cause him to consider the grounds of conviction here referred to, it has also the nature of internal evidence. No other writers ever rested their proof on such grounds as this. Evidence with respect to the truth of the Gospel proposed to the ear, is found in the mind of those who are addressed. The internal witness to the truth of the Gospel speaks distinctly and intelligibly to all who believe it; but this is a conception that must have come from Heaven. It has no resemblance to the natural anticipations of the human mind.

It is then a truth attested by Heaven, a truth verified by every Christian, that every believer has in himself the most satisfying evidence of the truth of the Scriptures as a revelation from God. While the infidel wanders in darkness in the midst of light, the Christian beholds the truth in its own evidence in himself with the clearness of a sunbeam. God, who commanded the light of creation to shine out of darkness, shines in his heart, to give him the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION.

IT is evident from the several testimonies to the Messiah appealed to in the foregoing pages, that no truth was ever presented to the human mind, recommended by proofs so numerous, so various, so connected, and so conclusive as that of the Christian religion. They are united, yet independent—distinct, though interwoven. They have uniformity in the midst of variety, simplicity in union with endless complication, and harmony in object among parts apparently discordant. History, miracles, types, and prophecies, each afford a separate and independent testimony. What an amazing thought, that the earliest and most authentic history in the world—a history in its progress extending from the creation to the last of the Prophets, selecting its parts throughout this whole range, and written by various hands through a period of 1500 years-should concentrate in one point, to mark out the Messiah and to shadow forth his character!

All other religions it is easy to trace to their origin of fraud, imposture, or corrupted tradition. Christianity, accompanied by the most direct and incontrovertible historical proofs, draws an accession of evidence from every conceivable source. We have observed it taking its rise from the fall of man, and proceeding forward on a uniform plan. Confined for a long period to one particular people, it maintains

among them just and consistent views of the worship of God, while all the rest of the world are buried in darkness. At length it breaks forth on every side, and by its own convincing evidence, accompanied by the blessing of its divine Author, but unaided by human power or learning, obliges the whole civilized world, in spite of its most determined opposition, at least to assume its outward form. The facts on which it rests are attested both by friends and enemies, and persons indifferent to it, and are not contradicted in any quar

ter.

We have seen a nation separated from all others, acting a conspicuous part on the theatre of the world, and possessing the most ancient records. Their writings are carried on from age to age, recording, as they occur, the transactions of the people among whom they are compiled; entirely coinciding with their own oral traditions, as well as with those of other nations. The history itself is, in the most momentous occurrences, indissolubly interwoven with that of the principal kingdoms then in the world. Egypt, confessedly the parent of civilisation and science, the instructress of Greece and Rome, was the first theatre on which this nation appears.

Nothing could be more memorable to the Egyptians than the occasion of the settlement of the Israelites in their land. A young man introduced among them as a Hebrew slave, raised to the office of Prime Minister, directing the affairs of the nation with singular prudence during seven years of plenty, and seven years of famine, in the course of which, and by his administration, a very essential change in the government took place, were events which could not soon be forgotten. To provide for his father and family, he brings them