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ference is plain, that if so much may be contrived and urged, to mystify the existing records concerning a person who is dead but several centuries, how much more may be contrived by a perverse ingenuity against the existing records respecting an individual who lived and acted in the world nearly two thousand years ago. So that when all the late ingenious sophisms which have been propounded by infidels of a learned sort, are duly considered, we may still with great justice charge them with stupidity, that they have not been able to adduce more acute suggestions than they have done. And this stigma may indeed be stamped upon them, that their acuteness and ability have always fallen far short of their presumption and malignity. Hence every new mode of attack which they adopt, has ever been repulsed by a superior and overwhelming amount of argument and evidence.

The author of these pages does not vainly suppose that they can accomplish much in the work of establishing Christianity, in the convictions of men. A subject so vast and varied as that of the Christian evidences cannot be condensed into so small a compass. But as every individual point connected with this subject, has its own importance as related to the whole; as every objection which is answered, every doubt which is removed, and every single position which is gained, adds to the power and completeness of the final triumph; a discussion like the present one will not be without its value. He has not endeavored to say all which might have been said, or to expand his work as much as possible; but, on the contrary, has condensed his remarks as much as the subject would permit, that the main points under discussion may be presented in

clearer light, unimpeded by unnecessary digressions, and unobscured by useless words.

The order and connection of the subjects discussed are as follows:-The narratives of the Evangelists concerning Christ, the principal personage in the history of Christianity, are illustrated by the argument respecting Shakspeare. The merits of his immediate successors and apostles are discussed in the chapter on the personal characters of the Sacred Writers. The high purposes which actuated them are set forth in the chapter on the Design of the Bible. The value of their productions when written, is exhibited in the chapter on the Inspiration of the Bible. The propriety of receiving revealed truth, in a theoretical point of view, is maintained in the chapter on the Logical Necessity of Faith in any Divine Revelation. The practical claims of revelation to the acceptance of men are urged in the contrast between the religion of the Bible and Infidelity, as developed in the progress of ages. The endless contradictions and changes of Infidelity are then exhibited, to show that it does not possess that unity which is a mark of truth. In opposition to these contradictions, a condensed view of the Supreme Excellence and Harmony of the doctrines taught by the Bible is then presented. This is followed by an argument, to show that the religion of the Bible is adapted to secure and retain a universal diffusion, and a vindication of the general consistency of the Bible in opposition to the conflicting interpretations which are often put upon it. For the purpose of confirming these proofs, several of the most important modern objections of Infidelity against the Bible are examined, and an attempt is made to show

the reasonableness and truthfulness of the sacred record. The points selected, are the Scriptural account of the origin of Sin; the Scriptural fact of the Transfiguration of Christ; the guilt of Judas; and the affirmed descent of Christ to the place of departed Spirits. Some other of the doctrines and facts recorded in Scriptures, which have been especially ridiculed and opposed by Modern Infidelity, might have been thus examined and defended; but these were thought sufficient to illustrate the reasonableness and truthfulness of the whole. It is hoped that these discussions will serve to show, that Modern Infidels of every grade and shade of opinion, deserve the stigma cast upon their predecessors, by an eminent light of the primitive church: Juste cadent in sublatentem ignorantiæ foveam, semper quærentes, et nunquam verum invenientes. Irenaeus, adv. Haeres, lib. v. c. 2.

C

CHAPTER I.

HISTORIC DOUBTS RESPECTING SHAKSPEARE,

TO ILLUSTRATE INFIDEL OBJECTIONS AGAINST CHRIST.

SECTION I.

THE history of mankind clearly proves, that they have ever been prone to the contemplation of the marvelous. Whatever presents to their intense curiosity, the merit of singularity; whatever seems to be without a precedent and a parallel; or whatever involves in itself the elements of the wondrous and the mysterious, these are the subjects which will secure from men their most absorbed attention. Hence it happens, that the most valuable and serviceable principles are often neglected, simply because they have long been familiar to every one, and because their wise adaptation to the wants of mankind, have long since revealed their inherent worth.

This tendency to contemplate the marvelous among men, has naturally and almost inevitably led to the constant fabrication of it. When proper materials have not been at hand to gratify this deeply seated principle of our nature, they can easily be contrived

* For a similar mode of argument, see Dr. Whately's Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Bonaparte, and Das Leben Luthers Kritisch bearbeitet von Dr. Casuar, Tübingen, 1836.