the existence of God, his attributes and government, are therein displayed in a more comprehensive and sublime manner, than can be found in any other writing.

Convinced that there is a God, and that man is a rational, accountable creature, it is highly proper, as a necessary improvement of this discourse, to indulge a few serious reflections. Since the general persuasion of the divine existence prevails among mankind, how is it there are such numberless erroneous opinions concerning his perfections? As a conviction of guilt in the human breast is almost as common as the belief that there is a God, how can man be happy while in a state of rebellion against his Maker? If we are transgressors against God, how can our crimes be pardoned; and the fountain of our vile nature be changed so that our views of God may be correct, and our happiness be secured? In all ages men of various descriptions have attempted more or less to answer such important questions; and by maxims of philosophy have lent their aid to cultivate mankind. But the evil still exists. None of those rules have been sufficient to inform us, if God can or will pardon transgressors! And, if this solemn point be not determined, it is impossible we can be truly happy, or die in peace. Let me ask you what impression these reflections make upon your mind? If you receive them aright, they will teach you the absolute necessity of God's making a NEW REVELATION of his mind and will in your favour. And it is with joy and confidence I assure you, that the book we call the BIBLE contains an adequate REVELATION to answer the important purposes of his glory and the salvation of sinners. To show you the evidences of the AUTHENTICITY of the BIBLE, will be the subject of my next Lecture.

IT may be presumed, from the words of our text, that there were persons in the early age of Christianity, who insinuated, the disciples of Jesus followed fables purposely to delude the unwary. So far from this being the case, Peter asserts that himself, with others, were eye witnesses of the glory of the Lord. The number of the disciples of Christ was great; they had the Old Testa ment writings in their hands; and had every desirable means of information for their own conviction and the benefit of others.

Closing my last Lecture, which was on the Being of GOD, we made some reflections by which you could not but perceive the absolute necessity of God's making a new revelation of himself, so as to give us, as sinners, hope of endless bliss. Agreeably to my promise, I shall now lay before you a few plain evidences, that the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, comprises the necessary revelation of God to men, for the purposes of dis

playing his attributes and saving sinners. A subject so nearly connected with your most important interest, I presume will not fail to claim your attention; and I hope will prove so far beneficial, as to convince you that in a profession of Christianity you have not followed cun-ningly-devised fables.

1. Let us examine the PERSONS who wrote the Bible. These were not a set of men of one language, in one country, and united for the purpose of composing a volume cunningly devised, to delude mankind, or to promote their own temporal interest. On the contrary, they lived in different countries, were of different languages, unknown to each other, and existed in various ages through a course of several thousand years; yet their sentiments perfectly agree, they recite the same histori cal facts, and invariably point to MESSIAH as the great Personage in whom a guilty race should be saved. None of those marks which are essential to hypocrisy or to imposture are found upon them. They discountenanced vice, and practised virtue. They sought not the applause of men, nor worldly wealth and honour; but exposed themselves to poverty, reproach, and death. What is very remarkable, those persons uniformly confessed their dependence upon God, lived a life of devotion and prayer, and in all that they wrote, in the most solemn manner asserted, Thus saith the Lord. Will you suppose such a set of men capable of imposition? Are there any marks of deception upon their writings? There are none. Have not the writers of the Bible given more rational sentiments of the perfections and works of the Almighty, and a more correct view of man in his state and diversified circumstances, than are to be found in all other writings? I am disposed to go a step further.

"Have the opposers of the Bible exhibited better charac ters than those who wrote it? While they decry that volume, and attempt to prejudice the unwary, have they put a volume in our hands more moral, instructive, and calculated to relieve the woes of sinful men? They certainly have not. I am therefore compelled to venerate the characters of the sacred penmen. And I am likewise obliged to acknowledge that none but a set of men, raised up by the Almighty, would have been competent to the task, and persevered in a life of virtue, amidst such a multiplicity of opposition.

2. I shall now claim your attention to some of those peculiar SUBJECTS which distinguish the Bible from every other volume presented to mankind. Here we find the most ample description of human characters, and a discovery of the fountain of their depravity. It exhibits the law of our Creator in its purity, and finds mankind under its curse, through transgression. It displays an adequate redemption by the merits of Messiah, with a total exclusion of all moral fitness to obtain, or to receive the favour of God. It asserts the author of our redemption to be God and man united in one person, and that the completion of that redemption, and every truth in the Bible, centered in his death and resurrection. It discovers a way in which the fountain of iniquity in the heart of man can be changed; and enjoins the practice of the most sublime virtues, unknown in the schools of philosophy. God is revealed to sinners as the God of all grace. It provides an antidote against the sting of death, and hath brought life and immortality to light. These are a few of those subjects which distinguish the Bible from all other writings; and these are the very subjects which are of the highest consequence to sinners: and it

is equally observable, that none but sensible sinners cordially received those distinguishing truths to their hearts. From whence could such peculiar sentiments proceed? Not from men unassisted, for they are not only beyond the reach of human minds to have devised, but are contradictory to our carnal conceptions, and are extremely mortifying to our pride. I must, therefore, consider the peculiar sentiments of the Bible, as a weighty argument in favour of its authenticity; and instead of its being a cunningly-devised fable, believe that holy men of old wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

3. Whoever reads the Bible, must perceive that it contains many PROPHETIC DECLARATIONS; which, if fulfil led in their time and manner, must afford you another evidence that this book is not a cunningly-devised fable. The knowledge of future events is confessedly known only to God, and to those to whom he shall reveal them. We find prophecies concerning Egypt, Ninevah, Babylon, and the Hebrews, which, with the history of their certain accomplishment, leave no room to doubt of their being under the administration of God; and that those who declared the prophecies were inspired by him. The great portion of prophecies were directed to the appearance, work, and benefits of Messiah; that he should come before the Jewish government and the second temple were destroyed; that he should be born of a virgin of the tribe of Judah and the seed of David; particularly that he should die a violent death, bring in everlasting righteousness, and make his soul an offering for sin. All which have been minutely fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ, and in no other person. To which also I may add the predictions made by Jesus himself, con cerning the future conduct of his disciples, and of Judas