Dr. Sherlock (who succeeded Dr. Gibson as Bishop of London) expresses himself much to the same purpose in the first volume of his Sermons. Observing that the books of the New Testament may be considered as either historical, as doctrinal, or as controversial, and some as a mixture of the two last, he thus proceeds:" by the doctrinal we understand those matters of faith and rules of duty which do not regard this or that particular faith, but were intended for the use of the world, and are to continue to the end of it. And if there be a clear law, and clearly expressed in the world, this is the law. Can words more clearly express the honour and worship we are to pay to God, or can more familiar expressions be given in this case than are to be found in the gos pel? Is not idolatry clearly condemned in the gospel? Is there any thing relating to divine worship that we yet want instructing in? Are not the duties likewise which we owe to each other made evident and plain; and can there be any dispute about them, except what arises from lust, or avarice, or other self-interest? As to the peculiar

performance the author discovers a profound acquaintance with Oriental literature. See, likewise, Tennant's Recreations, a work full of curious information on the subject of India, both as to its morals and its religion. Some singular specimens of Egyptian antiquities are deposited in the British Museum, which may still further illustrate the religion of the Eastern nations of the world.

benefits of the gospel, are they not declared without obscurity? Can you read the gospel, and doubt whether Christ died for you? Whether God will grant pårdon to the penitent, or his as sistance to those who ask it? whether he will reward all such in glory who continue the faithful disciples of his Son? What other revelation do we want or can we desire, in these great and weighty concerns? or what is there wanting to make up a complete system of religion?"

The immortal Locke also observes" Who ever would attain to a true knowledge of the Christian religion, in the full and just extent of it, let him study the holy scriptures, especially the New Testament, wherein are contained the words of eternal life. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter." Even Rous seau confessed himself struck with the majesty of the scriptures, the purity of the gospel, and the character of Jesus Christ. See the late Dr. Gerard's Dissertations on the Internal Evidence of

Christianity, and also Dr. Craig's Life of Christ, written with great good sense and simplicity.

Many of the serious friends of Christianity are alarmed at the progress of Atheism and Deism, both at home and abroad, But let not the friends of truth be discouraged. That revealed (as well as natural) religion is encumbered with difficul

ties, has never been denied; and this trait will, with a considerate mind, he construed into a presumptive proof of its authenticity. "It would be a miracle (says Dr. Watson, the present Bishop of Landaff) greater than any we are instructed to believe, if there remained no difficulties; if a being with but five scanty inlets of knowledge, separated but yesterday from his mother earth, and to-day sinking again into her bosom, could fathom the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of Him, which is, which was, and which is to come-the Lord God Almighty, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever! We live in a dissolute but enlightened age: the restraints of our religion are ill suited to the profligacy of our manners; and men are soon induced to believe that system to be false which they wish to find so: that knowledge, moreover, which spurns with contempt the illusions of fanaticism, and the tyranny of superstition, is often unhappily misemployed in magnifying every little difficulty attending the proof of the truth of Christianity, into an irrefragable argument of its falsehood. The CHRISTIAN RELIGION has nothing to apprehend from the strictest investigation of the most learned of its adversaries; it suffers only from the misconceptions of sciolists and silly pretenders to superior wisdom: a little learning is far more dangerous to the faith of

those who possess it than ignorance itself. Some I know affect to believe, that as the restoration of letters was ruinous to the Romish religion, so the further cultivation of them will be subversive of Christianity itself: of this there is no danger. It may be subversive of the reliques of the church of Rome, by which other churches are still pol luted; of persecutions, of anathemas, of ecclesiastical domination over God's heritage, of all the silly out-works which the pride, the superstition, and the knavery of mankind have erected around the citadel of our faith; but the CITADEL itself is founded on a rock, the gates of hell cannot prevail against it-its master-builder is God; its beauty will be found ineffable, and its strength impregnable, when it shall be freed from the frippery of human ornaments, and cleared from

the rubbish of human bulwarks* "›

The excellent Dr. Doddridge also thus happily expresses himself on the subject: The cause of Christianity has greatly gained by debate, and the gospel comes like fine gold out of the furnace, which the more it is tried the more it is approved.. I own the defenders of the gospel:

*This prelate has published two Sermons in defence of Revealed Religion, together with some Charges, well worthy of perusal.. His discourse before the London Hospital, May, 1802, contains a popular illustration of the evidences of Christianity.

have appeared with very different degrees of ability for the work, nor could it be otherwise. amongst such numbers of them; but on the whole, though the patrons of infidelity have been masters of some wit, humour, and address, as well as of a moderate share of learning, and generally of much more than a moderate share of assurance, yet so great is the force of truth, that (unless we may except those writers, who have unhappily called for the aid of the civil magistrate in the controversy) I cannot recollect that I have seen any defence of the gospel, which has not on the whole been sufficient to establish it, notwithstanding all the sophistical arguments of its most subtle antagonists. This is an observation which is continually gaining new strength, as new assaults are made upon the gospel. And I cannot forbear saying, that as if it were by a kind of judicial infatuation, some who have distinguished themselves in the wretched cause of infidelity, have been permitted to fall into such gross misrepresentations, such senseless inconsistencies, and such palpable falsehoods, and in a word, into such various and malignant superfluity of naughtiness, that to a wise and pious mind, they must appear like those venomous creatures, which are said to carry an antidote in their bowels against their own poison. A virtuous and well-bred Deist must turn away from