PREFAC E. THE subject of the following Lectures, all will admit to be of supreme importance. Whether the Bible is true, and worthy of all acceptation, or whether it is a wicked fabrication, and a clumsy imposture, is a question not merely nor mainly speculative, but strictly and highly practical, involving the interests, the happiness, and the obligations of all. As we believe and feel upon this question, so will our conduct be affected for good or evil; and in so far as the generations coming after us, in succession and dependence, must take their education, their institutions, their habits, and their religion, from us; so far their condition, also, to an extent scarcely appreciable, will depend upon the opinions we may form upon this momentous subject. In an age when the inroads of Infidelity are feared by some, and the growth of Popery by others, it cannot be deemed unseasonable to attempt an illustration, under a somewhat new form, of the eternal and blessed verity of Holy PREFACE. THE subject of the following Lectures, all will admit to be of supreme importance. Whether the Bible is true, and worthy of all acceptation, or whether it is a wicked fabrication, and a clumsy imposture, is a question not merely nor mainly speculative, but strictly and highly practical, involving the interests, the happiness, and the obligations of all. As we believe and feel upon this question, so will our conduct be affected for good or evil; and in so far as the generations coming after us, in succession and dependence, must take their education, their institutions, their habits, and their religion, from us; so far their condition, also, to an extent scarcely appreciable, will depend upon the opinions we may form upon this momentous subject. In an age when the inroads of Infidelity are feared by some, and the growth of Popery by others, it cannot be deemed unseasonable to attempt an illustration, under a somewhat new form, of the eternal and blessed verity of Holy Scripture. It is highly desirable that the young, and especially the educated young, of all our Protestant communities, should be fortified against errors, which will inevitably be urged upon them by the controversial spirit of the times. The bulwark of their faith will henceforth be found in the Bible" the Bible only." If that cannot stand before the scrutinizing temper which is now rife among us, then their faith must be soon and utterly subverted: but if that divine foundation cannot be invalidated, then the faith that rests exclusively upon it, will be safe. Infidelity and Popery may rouse themselves to gigantic efforts, but all will be unavailing; the former will neither persuade us that the Bible is a lie; nor the latter, that, though inspired, we cannot understand it. He who, like Timothy, has known the Holy Scriptures from his childhood, and by them been made "wise unto salvation," will identify both these parties in the results at which they aim; he will perceive that they endeavour to remove his heart and conscience from under the immediate influence of the divine authority; that the infidel does it by affirming, that there is no such authority in the Bible; and the Roman Catholic does it by interposing a human authority, a medium which distorts and defiles the whole revelation; but a medium which he insists is absolutely necessary, to prevent the heavenly light from becoming downright darkness, leading those who confide in it to destruction. |