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against the Lord and against his anointed," heathens may rage, and common people may imagine a vain thing;" but "he that sitteth in the heavens shall have them in derision." His "decree hath set his king upon his holy hill of Zion," and shall give him the "heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession."

The doctrine of our text is taught by our Saviour, I think, three times in the course of his ministry in almost the same words; the first in the ordination sermon, which he delivered to his twelve apostles, when he first appointed them to teach; this you may read in the tenth chapter of Matthew. The second time was in a discourse addressed to an innumerable multitude of people, or, to speak more accurately, in a discourse in the hearing of an innumerable multitude, the first part of which was addressed to his disciples, and the rest to all the company; you may read this in the twelfth chapter of Luke, and remark particularly the first, and the fortyfirst verses. The doctrine of our text is in the first part of that sermon. The third time was when he was with his disciples coming from the temple on the mount of Olives. Some of them were speaking of the beauty of the building, and our Lord took occasion to speak of the destruction of it, and of the city in which it stood, and foretold the persecutions and afflictions of his disciples; and in order to prevent their fears, and even their prudence in giving evidence of his Gospel, he strictly charged them to "settle it in their hearts not to premeditate what they should speak;" but, saith he, "speak ye whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." Remark two words. Observe the word hour. Our Lord fixes the time for this inspiration; it was "when they should be brought before kings and rulers, councils and synagogues, and while they should be in any manner bearing their testimony. There is therefore no reason, as there is no necessity for Christians to suppose, that this promise is made to all good men to the end of the world. Observe further, it is said (this is the account given in Mark), "It is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost," or, as Mat

thew expresses it, "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you." From these passages, as well as from many more like them, we conclude that the Holy Spirit extended his inspiration both to the matter taught by the apostles, and to the words in which they taught it. "We speak," said the apostle of the Gentiles, "in the words, which the Holy Ghost teacheth." The conclusion is equally strong for the words in which they wrote their testimony.

Let us attend to the subject. I am going this even ing to try to engage you to love the Bible, both on account of the wisdom contained it, and the good which you derive from it; and in order to this I shall endeavour to convince you . . . that the holy Scriptures were inspired by the only wise God . . . and that the truths contained in them, have an irresistible power to answer the end for which they were given. O Almighty God, our heavenly Father!" who at sundry times, and in divers manners, didst speak in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, and hast in these last days spoken unto us by thy Son," grant we may "give the most earnest heed to that great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him ;" thou, irresistible God! "bearing them witness with signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to thine own will!"

My brethren, signs and miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost there are without number, to prove the truth of our holy religion in general, and of the inspiration of the holy Scriptures in particular. There are learned. proofs to satisfy the doubts of learned men, and there are plain proofs to satisfy plain men; there were prophecies fulfilled in the person of Christ to satisfy his countrymen in his own time, and there are prophecies concerning Christ and his church, the Jews and other nations, to satisfy people of all nations and in all ages; there were miracles wrought by Jesus Christ to satisfy those who inquired at his mouth, "who gave him authority," and which were so satisfactory to the inquirers, that they could not help exclaiming, "This is, of a truth,

that prophet that should come into the world;" and though there are no miracles now, yet there are irresistible motives to engage us to say to him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure, that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." All these I lay aside, for the same reason that you have left your money at home, you have no occasion for it in this barn. I choose one proof of the inspiration of the Holy Scripture, and that is, that it is a good book, and therefore the gift of a good God. I do not mean a good book in common with other good books; but a book so true as to have no falsehood in it, so wise as to recommend nothing foolish, and containing a religion so good as to have nothing weak or wicked in it. A common good book, like a good man, is not without its defects, but good upon the whole; but this good Gospel resembles a good angel, perfect without a mixture of imperfection. I confirm this notion of Scripture by the words of the apostle Paul; "All Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, able to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, wise unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ." Further, I lay aside all the books of Scripture except the four Gospels, because if the four Gospels be true, the Old Testament, and the remainder of the New must be true also; and as is the complexion of the one, so is the colour of the other.

Are you aware what a dangerous task the man would undertake, who should presume to deny either that the Gospel is good, or that, though it be good, yet it was not inspired by God? If it be not good, it must be wicked; but what order of bad men could write such a book? Do you know any ignorant people who could do so? Is it conceivable that misers, or drunkards, or swearers, or liars, or any other sort of profligate people, could or would compose such a book as this? It is both above their virtue, and above their invention. No, the Gospel is not the production of such men. Matthew was not a blasphemer of God, Mark was not a slanderer of man

kind, Luke was not a stupid ignorant man, John was not an artful propagator of false and idle tales. Would the profligate forsake father and mother, houses and lands; would the wicked expose themselves to poverty, and ridicule, and imprisonment, and death, to give credit to a lie? If the book were written by good men, then it was inspired, for the writers expressly declare that it was not they who spoke, but the Holy Ghost who taught them what to say. A man who invents and spreads a false report is wicked; but his wickedness becomes tenfold more, if he affirms the God of truth spoke in him, it was not he himself that spoke, but the Spirit of the Father of all mankind. In one word, the apostles were good men, and their testimony ought to have been credited even before the contents of their message had been examined by such as had personal knowledge of them. For our parts, we ask no favour for men, who are above the want of any; and we are going to examine the Gospel without regard to the characters of the writers, as if the book had been brought to us in the bill of a bird flying with it into this assembly.

Though we do not avail ourselves of the characters of the writers, yet this article must have great weight with every reasonable inquirer. There were at the time great numbers of witnesses, and Christ was seen after his resurrection from the dead, "of above five hundred brethren at once." Now here are four credible witnesses, though in general it is allowed that "the testimony of two men is true," and the law of Moses allows the sufficiency of two witnesses, and requires no more than three in capital cases. Our four evangelists are men of good character, virtuous and good men, whose testimony would obtain credit in any court in the world. There is also an exact harmony among the evangelists; there are differences, but no contradictions; though it is very clear, that the four had not consulted together, that one had not read the Gospel written by another, and that John, the last writer, who had probably read the other three Gospels, took no pains to agree in every circumstance with the other three. Suppose yourselves sitting as jurymen in a court; suppose four witnesses-to

come in and relate the same fact with the same circumstances in the very same words, and you would instantly perceive that they had consulted together, and that their testimony had the air of a forgery. Suppose, on the contrary, four witnesses relating a history in the manner of the evangelists, and their very differences are arguments in favour of the truth of their testimony. The differences are only small circumstances of time or place; but their agreement in persons and facts is exact and convincing. Our evangelists persisted to their death in attesting the same facts, and there is no instance of any one having ever denied them. Observe further, they bore witness not in a cause of their own, but in that of Jesus Christ, who had he been an impostor could never reward them for their fidelity. They had no interest in reporting falsehood; on the contrary, all their worldly interest lay on the other side. Nor were our evangelists credulous men, easily imposed upon; they discovered a backwardness to believe Christ himself. They were eye-witnesses, and sensible men. Collect these nine characters of the witnesses of the life and doctrine, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and you will perceive an irresistible argument for the truth of the Christian religion. I repeat these characters again. Observe the number. . the virtue . . the harmony.. the constancy of the evangelists. . not in their own cause .. having no interest in falsehood. . far from prejudice and credulity.. being eye-witnesses.. and men full of prudence and good sense. In pleading for the truth of Christianity we are in the condition of men of immense riches, who lay aside the far greater part for the sake of tasting and enjoying a little. We lay aside, for the present, the characters of the evangelists, and attend to that single proof of their inspiration, which rises out of the goodness of the Gospel itself. We contend, the evangelists wrote by inspiration of God, and the goodness of what they wrote proves their inspiration.

It is an undeniable fact, that Jesus Christ promised extraordinary assistance to his apostles. "Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom;