power of God, let us pray that this effort may not be lost on all even of such; but that God may indeed give some of them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

Those however for whose benefit more especially these lectures are intended, and to whom we have more lively hopes of their being useful, are such of God's Children as he has permitted for his own wise ends to fall partially into this snare, or at least to be distressed with grievous doubts as to the vital truths of Christianity. "My sheep," says Jesus, "hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hands. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." They may wander from Jesus for a season, they may be caught in traps, and drop into pit falls, but the good Shepherd will seek them out and bring them back again, and ever afterwards they will be more distrustful f themselves, and walk more humbly with their God. If there are any such here, oh, pray to God to remove the veil from your eyes, and to shine upon his own word, that you may see in it the unsearchable riches of Christ. Ask him to send his Spirit into your heart to guide you into all truth, to preserve you from all error, and to set your feet on the rock. Beseech him "that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God,"

There is yet another class of persons, who we hope may derive benefit; namely, those who do know the truth, who believe it and love it, but yet are not able to give an answer to every one that asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them. They are not aware of the strength of their own position, and consequently are always liable to be staggered by some specious objection, or clever sophistry being brought against them. They have perhaps not had time or opportunity to study the scriptures so closely, as to be armed at every point: it is true, they have the shield of faith, and that will certainly quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one; but St. Peter tells us to add to our faith knowledge; and St. Paul bids us take the whole armour of God." Now I hope by God's help to bring

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such a mass of scriptural evidence before you, as will leave no doubt in the mind of any humble and sincere inquirer, as to the vital truths of Christianity, and enable the believer to stand unmoved against any assaults, however powerful, that may be made upon his faith.

Let it not however be thought that I have forgotten the solemn words, "No man can say that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost," No, I feel the force of them intensely. No one can study the Unitarian controversy without feeling it. Such apparently powerful arguments, such staggering objections, such plausible theories, and all put together in the most attractive form, and with such consummate address, that it would be almost impossible for any one, unless he was either spiritually enlightened by the Holy Ghost, or thoroughly acquainted with the scriptural evidence on the other side to stand against it. And considering how very many nominal Christians are neither one nor the other, the only wonder is that more are not caught in the snare. A man may say with his lips that Jesus is the Christ, without being at all taught by the Spirit; but no man can rec ive Jesus into his heart as the Christ, that is, as his annointed Prophet, Priest, and King, but by the converting enlightening grace of the Holy Ghost. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but God alone can give the increase. What may be the effect of these lectures, depends simply upon the blessing of God. I know not whether souls may be saved, believers be established, or unbelievers be hardened; perhaps all three: but this I know, that in not one single instance does God's word ever "return unto him void," but must "accomplish the thing whereunto it is sent;" that it is "unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish;" to the one it is a "savour of death unto death," to the other a "savour of life unto life Let us all then plead earnestly before the throne of grace, that the seed which will be sown may bring forth fruit a hundred fold, to the praise and glory of God.

It is very probable that Unitarian tracts will be distributed among you, and Unitarian lectures delivered, on these occasions; and you may ask whether you should read the tracts, and hear the lectures. Now of course those who disbelieve, or who doubt, the catholic faith, will do so, whatever I may say. It can only be those who know the truth, and perhaps not all of them, that would be willing to follow a minister's advice on the subject. But to such I would answer the question in the words of a wiser man than any here, and an inspired man as well,

Cease my son from hearing the instruction which causeth to err from the words of knowledge." And a greater than Solomon says, "Take heed what ye hear." In obedience to which St. Paul exhorts Timothy "to withdraw himself from such as taught otherwise." I know how easy it will be to call this bigotry, even though I have used the words of Solomon, Paul, and Christ himself; I know how easy it will be to say in triumph, it must be a weak cause that won't bear to hear both sides; and if this was a law suit between Unitarians and Trinitarians, and you were the jury, then no doubt it would be wrong to decide without hearing both parties; but as it is a matter that concerns the salvation of your own souls, and nothing else, I dare not but follow the example of every prophet and apostle in the Bible, who invariably warned his hearers against even listening to false teachers. Let me therefore solemnly advise you, before God, as you value your peace of mind, and the salvation of your soul, not to read a line of any such publication, that may be given you, and to take care that no one else does, by putting it behind the fire. A little tract that is read in five minutes, may plant a thorn in your heart that may rankle there long; and you have no one but yourself to blame for the injury and pain you suffer from it. When you know the truth, it is tempting God to tamper with error. If you don't want to fall, keep off the ice; if you would not cut yourself, don't play with edged tools; if you would escape the fever, beware of infection. If you have such confidence in the strength of your own constitution, that you think you can take any quantity of poison without being hurt by it, depend upon it, you'll get a dose some day, that will be too strong for you. God will make you feel your own weakness, and the sinfulness of such vain confidence, perhaps by a severe and long fall. Ah! how many instances of this are here before me! How many are there bere, who once would have shuddered at the thought of

• As this advice seems to have given such offence, I must take the opportunity of stating, that after an interval of two months, I am still perfectly satisfied that it was Scriptural and therefore proper advice; and further, that having read it before it was printed to a party of eight or ten clergymen, they every one expressed their unqualified assent to it. I certainly should not have recommended the course that was adopted, namely, tearing them up on the spot, because it might look like an intentional insult; but if it was wrong for a man to read them himself, (which I clearly showed) it must of course have been wrong for him to let any one else do so; and the only certain way of preventing this was either to burn or in some way to destroy them. I need not say that this refers only to given, not to lent, tracts; such should be immediately returned. (See p. 53.)

denying the Deity of their Saviour, or rejecting his atonement, but were not afraid to hear and read what they knew to be false; they were not afraid to parley with the tempter, they must hear what he had to say, and know both sides; and God let them have their own way, and left them to him: so that while they were amusing themselves with examining the net, it was being unconsciously fastened on them, till they were bound hand and foot, "unable to deliver their souls, or to say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Do they not cry out to us as with a voice of thunder, "Take heed what ye hear." Dear brethren, listen to the warning. Keep clear yourselves, and implore the Holy Spirit for them, to make his own word sharper than any two-edged sword, to cut the net in pieces, that they may be able to say with gratitude and joy, "The snare is broken, and we are escaped."

LECTURE II.

ON THE GENUINENESS AND INSPIRATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE.*

"For I testify unto every man, that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book."-Rev. xxii. 18, 19.

STARTLING words these to people who call this book "a forgery," a "bundle of riddles," and speak of "the so called book of Revelations!" Rather a stern and uncompromising answer to the question we are so often taunted with-Do you think a man cannot be a Christian who does not believe in the book of Revelations? Surely a man should weigh well the claims to authority of a book, which ends with such a sentence as this, before he rejects it! And how thankful ought we to be, that the evidence in its favour is so perfectly overwhelming, that if he does weigh it with any thing approaching to honesty, he cannot doubt. For besides the general evidence there is for it equally with the other books of the Bible, we have further decisive proof in the historical fulfilment of its prophecies. Whatever differences there may be amongst the learned about the interpretation of it, the main outlines of the history both of the Church and the world, for the last 1800 years, are seen there so strikingly and indisputably, that "he who runs may

Some persons may not be aware that in the original language of the Bible, Hebrew and Greek, no stops are used; they are a great help to us, but are not, strictly speaking, part of the Bible, and of course of no inspired authority. Neither, we may add, are the divisions into chapters and verses, the headings of the chapters and pages, or the marginal references.

B