THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, IN THEIR EXTERNAL, OR HISTORICAL, DIVISION: EXHIBITED IN A COURSE OF LECTURES, BY CHARLES PETTIT M'ILVAINE, D.D., BISHOP OF THE PROTESTANT EFISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE STATE OF OHIO. Sint castæ deliciæ meæ scripturæ tuæ ; nec fallar in eis, nec fallam ex eis.-AUGUSTINE. SEVENTH EDITION. REVISED AND IMPROVED BY THE AUTHOR. PHILADELPHIA: DANIELS & SMITH, No. 36 NORTH SIXTH STREET. 1852. 5720 (RECAP) Entered by the author, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1832, in the Printed by T. K. & P. G. Co.ina. PREFACE. Taɛ history of the following lectures may be given in few words. In the autumn of eighteen hundred and thirty-one, when the University of the City of New York had not yet organized its classes, nor appointed its instructers, it was represented to the Council, that a course of lectures on the Evidences of Christianity was exceedingly needed, and would probably be well attended by young men of intelligence and education. On the strength of such representation, the author of this volume was requested, by the Chancellor of the University, to undertake the work desired; not, he is well aware, on account of any special qualifications for a task which many others in the city would have executed much more satisfactorily; but because, having lectured on the Evidences of Christianity, while connected with the Military Academy at West Point, he was supposed to be in a great measure prepared at this time for a similar effort. It was under a considerable misunderstanding of the extent to which the proposed engagement would be expected to go, that the author expressed a hesitating willingness to assume its responsibility. The next thing was the honour of an appointment, by the Council of the University, to the office of "Lecturer on the Evidences of Christianity." Alarmed at the prospect of so much additional work, but desirous of serving a rising and most hopeful institution, as well as of advocating the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; he consented to the appointment, with the expectation of fiuding, in the manuscripts of the former course, enough preparation already made to prevent any considerable increase to his accumulated engagements. What was his disappointment, on inspecting those compositions, to find himself so little satisfied with their plan and whole execution, that instead of attempting to mend their infirmities and supply their deficiencies, it seemed much better to lay them all aside in their wonted retirement, and begin anew both in study and writing! Thus, in the midst of exhausting duties, as a parish minister,* and in a state of health by no means well established, he was unexpectedly committed to an amount of labour which, had it been all foreseen, he would not have dared to undertake. Mean while, a class of many hundreds, from among the most intelligent in the community, and composed, to a considerable The author was at that time Rector of St. Ann's Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. 5 50 47 cop2 |