demands. We must, however, take the evidence as we find it. It is such as God has seen fit to furnish, and it is sufficient to prove that "he has spoken by his Son." It is obvious even to our own limited discernment, that many of the demands of the infidel are unreasonable; they would probably appear still more so, if we were more fully acquainted with the scheme of the divine counsels, There are evidences of the truth of the Gospel still in reserve. And since we can even now give a sufficient reason of the hope that is in us, why should we be dissatisfied that the Gospel is yet incompletely promulgated, and that all the prophecies are not completed? These are proofs reserved for the conviction of those of the latter days; and one day we shall all see "the sign of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven."

Our Lord took occasion from the allusion to Jonah the Prophet, to shew, by a beautiful and impressive contrast, the criminality of those who rejected his words. "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; for she came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon;

and behold a greater than Solomon is here." Has he not been proved to be all that he claimed to be, by demonstration at once varied and convincing? And "he that believeth on Jesus, believeth on him that sent him." And that heavenly Messenger himself has declared, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Nay, he has even told us, and it ought to be seriously considered by all that have heard of his name, that he that believeth not in him is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God," who has been "lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' "If he had not come and spoken to us, and done the works which no other man did, we had not had sin; but now have we no cloke for our sin." And though we have not seen him in the flesh, and have not heard him ourselves, we must not conceive that hereby we can be excused. For he declared to those, who were to record his instructions, and to disperse them through the world; "He that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent

a John xii. 44, &c.

© John xv. 22-24.

b John iii. 16-18.

me." For Jesus was "that stone, which was laid in Zion for a foundation ;" and "whosoever," said he again, "shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."

We must then believe, and obey. We must "endure unto the end;" for it is even "better, as the Apostle tells us, never to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment delivered unto us." And not an Apostle only, but Jesus himself has given us the same admonition, in the concluding portion of that discourse, which was occasioned by the two cavils which we have noticed in this Lecture. He borrows from the case of the demoniacs, by his undoubted miracles upon whom they had not been convinced, a striking illustration of the fatal progress of infidelity. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of

a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house, from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last

d Luke x. 16.

Isai. xxviii. 16. Matt. xxi. 42-44.

state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation "."

a

It concerns us, who, though Gentiles, have become" fellow-heirs, and of the same body, with the chosen people of God, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel," to take heed lest we also "frustrate the grace of God,"-lest we "draw back unto perdition, lest we do not believe to the saving of the soul." For shall anything, but our unbelief, "separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?" Remember, then, that the Gospel gives us the offer of pardon, and the promise of sanctification. It is "the new covenant established upon better promises. It comes to us with sanctions of promise and of threatening. It comes recommended and enforced by numerous evidences, which appeal both to the understanding and to the heart, and which have brought conviction to the minds both of the learned, and of the unlearned.

Do you delight to peruse the histories of past ages? Are you interested and edified by tracing events up to their causes, and by pursuing

a 2 Pet. ii. 20-22. Matt. xii. 43-45.-These two passages illustrate each other. And we might, from this parabolic description given by our Lord of the progress of the infidelity of the Jews, deduce an additional argument in support of the opinion defended in the former part of this Lecture, that our Lord spoke of the unpardonable blasphemy by way of anticipation.

the order in which they produced their consequences? Consider then the existence, the operation, and the effects of Christianity. As inquisitive men, as Scholars, as Philosophers, as Christians, examine this remarkable era in the history of the human intellect, this event which was prepared by all preceding ones, which has since so materially influenced the opinions and the civilization of the world,-which predicts the future universality of its own propagation. Come to some decision respecting these things, which are important with regard to the faith and guidance of your fellow-men, and still more so as they concern yourselves. While you investigate the laws and phenomena of the material world, forget not that there is a spiritual world, hereafter to be revealed, and that we are the destined heirs of an immortality, which will be happy, or miserable, according to our characters here. And remember, that for the knowledge which is requisite in this matter, you can go to none but to Christ Jesus; for "he alone hath the words of eternal life."

Remember, that while many are doubting, and investigating, and deriving from human learning almost as much hindrance as assistance, many a poor and unlettered peasant in our own land, many an uncivilized heathen in foreign lands, is laying hold on eternal life; and finds in the purifying and consolatory tendency of the Gospel