INTRODUCTION.

Ir is the object of the following work to exhibit a popular view of what may be termed the Intellectual evidence of the Christian Revelation. Its direct and historical evidence has been so amply unfolded, and been laid before the public in such a variety of forms, that it would seem to be almost a hopeless attempt to throw any further light upon this subject. Nor have those internal proofs of our religion which arise from the excellency of its doctrines been by any means overlooked or forgotten. But it is still a desideratum to possess a manual of those evidences which connect it more immediately with the philosophy of the human mind, which point out its relation to the various faculties of man, to the order and constitution of the world; and which may thus demonstrate its pre

sumptive truth, from its alliance with our intellectual powers and with the moral laws

of nature.

What

Though much of this kind of reasoning is to be found scattered in the works of our English divines, yet little has hitherto been attempted in the way of a regular and systematic arrangement of this species of evidence. What may be termed the Philosophy of Christianity, has accordingly been but little cultivated, though the philosophic principles of the arts and sciences have been developed with considerable success. Thus Professor Campbell has pointed out the connection of rhetoric with the various principles of our nature, whilst Adam Smith has presented the world with an admirable specimen of the same kind of reasoning, in his history of astronomy and of the ancient physics. For as the general . principles of all sciences have their foundation in the constitution of our minds, so in a particular degree must this be true in those sciences which are more immediately related to our moral faculties. If it be a fact that any Revelation has been given by

God to man, it must have been given through the intervention of our reason; not only its evidences, but its doctrines must bear some proportion and correspondence to our intellectual faculties. Hence it will become not merely an interesting, but an important subject of enquiry, to ascertain, as far as we are able, the nature, and extent of this connection.

Even

Perhaps, however, the reason why this department of theology has hitherto been so little cultivated, may be traced to the very obscure and imperfect manner in whichthe philosophy of the human mind was studied, till Dr. Reid had established it on the foundation of inductive science. now the name of metaphysics is esteemed by many as synonymous with all that is dark, uncertain, and mystical: they confound the ontological subtilties of the schoolmen with the plain phenomena of self-observation, and will not be persuaded to think that there is no more connection between a faithful history of the mind, and the imaginary speculations of antiquity, than between the experimental philosophy

of Newton and the gratuitous hypotheses of Des Cartes. *

When we appeal to the internal principles of our nature, we appeal to them as facts and phenomena of which every man is conscious; we do not attempt to explain them as causes but to exhibit them as facts. Upon these fundamental principles, all truth and all evidence must depend. We can be assured of the truth of Revelation through no other channels than those through which we derive our ordinary knowledge; and in proportion as we can trace out this connection between faith and reason, we shall enjoy a clear and philosophic perception of the credibility of Revealed Religion.

By this method we shall also be enabled to determine the question which has so long been agitated respecting the import and origin of Natural Religion. For if the doctrines of Revelation have a connection with the principles of the human mind,

* See an eloquent apology for this branch of science in Stewart's Philosophical Essays, ch. 1. & 2. Also a masterly review of the same work in Bowdler's Selec Pieces, vol. ii.

they must in some measure be natural, as well as revealed; they are not to be regarded as arbitrary appointments, but as possessing a real foundation in the nature and constitution of man. Yet if this be true of the peculiar doctrines of Revelation, it must apply with still greater force to those duties that are founded on the obligations which a creature owes to his Creator and Preserver. To attempt to resolve our whole perception of such obligations into mere tradition and acts of memory, is evidently to misrepresent the state and condition of our minds.

But on the other hand, it is equally unreasonable to deny that man was originally instructed by his Maker in his religious duties; for it is contrary both to history and to reason to imagine that an intelligent creature should have been left at his first creation, in total ignorance of those obligations which are due to the Author of his being. Upon the principles of sober theism, as well as of Christianity, therefore, the truth of a first revelation should be admitted. But when such an original Revelation is allowed, it is impossible to