eye

1 shall he not see 1?"

the "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?" Again, "We might as well doubt whether the sun were intended to enlighten the earth, or the rain to fertilize it, as whether he who framed the human mind intended to announce righteousness to mankind as his law."

3

Nevertheless, reason cannot entirely be relied on, because it is liable to be led astray by want of information, and distorted by evil habit, passion, and prejudice. Reason taught men for five thousand years that the sun went round the earth, and greatly were they surprised when Copernicus showed that they were in error. One would have thought that reason would prevent men from worshipping stocks and stones; but hear how deeply Isaiah laments their want of understanding :-" None considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?" In the use, therefore, of this appeal to reason, whether pointedly made, as in the instances just mentioned, or whether in the mere silent assumption of their concurrence in your assertion, you must

1 Psalm xciv. 9.

2 Rom. ii. 21.

3 Isaiah xliv. 19.

always bear in mind the intellectual and spiritual con-
dition of your hearers. In some men
"the eyes
of
the understanding are opened" by the Spirit of Grace;
in others, the spark of reason is almost extinguished
by sensuality, apathy, and sin. "They," says Mr.
Davison, "in whom the sense of religion, the desire
of holiness, integrity, and purity are the highest, and
their minds most alive to such objects, will see, by
a real intuition, the excellence of a code of doctrine,
to which others will be feebly attracted by any sym-
pathy of their feeling or judgment; or, it may be, will
turn from it with the alienation and distaste of a mind
opposed to its whole spirit. It is no more than this
admitted principle, that evidence in moral subjects, is
modified by the mind to which it is addressed 1.” In
a church congregation, you may venture to appeal to
a reason informed at least on the general principles of
right and wrong, and to build your argument on this
appeal.

Allied to the foregoing is an argument or mode of reasoning, which, if I may be allowed to invent a term hitherto unknown to rhetoricians, I would call the argument from reminiscence. It is when you appeal to your hearers' remembrance of former feelings, in order to persuade them to act, or to deter them from acting, "What fruit had ye then," asks St. Paul, “in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the

now.

end of those things is death." This sort of argument, though not capable of much variety, is very useful to a preacher; he may confidently appeal not only to his hearers' remembrance of the fruitlessness and discomfort of sin, but to the pleasure and satisfaction of serving God, the comfort of prayer, and of holiness, which some at least will be able to call to mind.

Advancing a little step farther, we cross the boundary which separates intuitive from deductive evidence. And the first sort of argument which comes under our notice is the argument from experience. Unlike the appeal to reason, which derives its chief force from our knowledge of the nature of the subject matter on which we employ it, experience rests on repeated observation, without any reference to causes. For instance, we observe that the barometer almost invariably falls before rain, and whether we, know the physical cause or not, we act upon the strength of the experience. It is the same in morals. We know the difficulty of resisting temptations; we know the danger of bad habits, from our own experience. We know our own hopes and fears, comforts and disquietudes; and we doubt not, that, ordinarily speaking, other men, being of like passions with ourselves, feel in the same manner. And it should be outlives the me

noted that the force of experience mory of the facts on which it was built; the conclusion remains when the premises are lost; a fact, which accounts for the tenacity with which old people

retain their opinion; you cannot overturn it by refutation, because they have forgotten the grounds on which it was formed.

The most glorious field for the operation of experience, is in confirmation of our faith. Here the power of experience is far beyond that of any other argument. What was it that filled the breasts of the Apostles with holy zeal, and made them devote their lives to the cause of the Gospel? What was it

that animated the blessed martyrs with courage, nay, with joy and exultation? What was it that inspired with heroic fortitude even delicate women when led to the stake, and sustained the faith of ignorant and illiterate persons under torture and death? Was it the force of argument and demonstration? No, it was simply the effect of experience. It was "experience that worked hope'," and "hope was the anchor of their soul, both sure and steadfast "."

2

This, after all, is the strongest of all arguments, not only to the simple and illiterate, but even to the wise and learned. Without experience the faith of the wisest men is but built on sand. They may have convinced themselves of the truth of the Gospel by the closest historical research; they may be able to prove it by the plainest moral reasoning; but, if experience be wanting, they lack that which alone is able to carry them through the ordinary temptations

and trials of life. Without experience they will be found wanting in the hour of danger. That man only who knows by experience the power of truth, who has felt the adaptation of the Gospel to his own case, who has discerned the influence of religion working in him, -subduing the power of sin, controlling his passions, and purifying his heart; who feels himself brought nearer to God, and is conscious of elevation, of hope, of inward peace-that man, in short, who knows by experience that the Gospel has made him a better and a happier man-he alone, whether he be high or low, learned or unlearned, has his faith based on a firm and sure foundation. He alone is clad in the armour of God, and will be able in the evil day to stand.

In some cases testimony, or the recorded experience and knowledge of others is a valuable argument. Its chief use is to establish past facts. It rests for its support on human veracity, and its value varies according to the credibility of the witnesses. In some instances it may amount to moral certainty; as when a sufficient number of witnesses concur, who are unimpeachable in character, disinterested, and furnished with full means of knowing the truth; or when many concur without collusion, whatever their character may be; or when adversaries, or unwilling witnesses, agree. Revealed religion rests, in the first instance, on testimony, though the corroborative effect of inter

1 The Author believes that he is indebted for some of these sentiments and expressions to Bishop Wilson of Calcutta.