by the new creed, that its enemies prophesied such a conflict of opinion, as would speedily bring its tenets into disrepute.

They were not aware how well adapted were the doctrines of the Gospel to minds of the most opposite structure and the most varied capacity; and how compatible with a sincere belief in them were the most perfect freedom and independence of the reasoning powers. On their side also speedily were ranged the most enlightened of men; and every succeeding age has found them supported by the profoundest scholars, by those who, after severe study and conscientious application, have convinced themselves that the New Testament is the revealed word of God. What a noble army of martyrs too have fought the battle for Christianity; how many more moral heroes has she produced than all other forms of belief besides; yet-I now use the language of the late Dr. Chalmers "the proudest of her recorded distinctions is, that she is the religion of the poor, that she can light up the hope of immortality in their humble habitations; that the toil-worn mechanic can carry her Sabbath lessons away with him, and enriching his judg ment and his memory with them all, can bear them through the week in one full treasury of comfort and improvement; that on the strength of her great and elevating principles, a man in rags may become rich in faith; and looking forth through the vista of his earthly anticipations, can see, on the other side of all the hardship and of all the sufferin with which they are associated, the reversion of a splendi eternity."

The inherent power of Christianty to subdue hardened hearts and regenerate society, was remarkably illustrated by the circumstances attending its early propagation and triumph. Opposed to all the prejudices, the cherished sins and follies of mankind, having arrayed against it the weight of learned authority, the advantages of birth, and the

edicts of the civil power, its triumph scarcely ever was in doubt; from the day of Pentecost to the conversion of Constantine, it went on conquering and to conquer, until it effected an entire revolution in mental science, and in the manners of the most civilised and best instructed portion of the human race. Nor did the revival of learning, after the darkness of the middle ages, endanger the continuance of its influence. No mere human system could have survived that terrible shock to existing opimions, when the dawn of philosophy broke into the monkish cells; when the writings of Plato emerged from the ruined Athenian temples; when science and commerce, liberty and discovery, received an impetus greater than they had experienced in any previous age. The resurrection of intellect in the fifteenth century, only gave new energy and increased vigour to the Christian faith. And so it ever has been and ever will be;-religion gains by every convulsion, and controversy and struggle. It has emerged victorious already from many a conflict, and each succeeding battle leaves it stronger in the affections of the world.

"Moor'd in the rifted rock,

Proof to the tempest's shock,

Firmer he roots him the ruder it blows."

But it does more than hold its own. The flickering light, which the Sanhedrim in vain endeavoured to stamp out, now illumines half mankind. It makes continual and steady progress. Sometimes a passing cloud may for a moment obscure its splendour, but its shining is always clearer after rain. The old covenant was confined to one people, and one little country; the new, to use the nervous language of Isaac Taylor, "is not the religion of a shrine, of a sepulchre, of a chair, or of a den, but of all the broad

ways of the world, and of every place where man is found." Amidst its various corruptions, the church always, moreover, has been the treasure-house of divine truth. In the worst times of Popish superstition and ignorance, there were never wanting some faithful spirits who guarded well the holy shrine. "The light of truth," says the author of Hyperion, "streamed through the ruins of centuries, and down in the valley of time, the cross of the Christian church caught its rays, though the priests were singing in mist and darkness below."

It remains for me now only to remark that Christianity is the source of all true happiness. God has ordered it so that the purest enjoyment is found only in his service. Pascal expresses it thus:-"Une des merveilles de la religion chrétienne est de réconcilier l'homme avec soi-même, en le réconciliant avec Dieu." It is the benign influence of our religion which diffuses the blessings of peace and comfort through the homes of Britain and America; it makes solitude pleasant, sweetens the breath of society, and enables feeble mortals to triumph over every species of privation, suffering, and toil. Eighteen hundred years ago it illumined the face of Stephen with a heavenly radiance; the other day, on the banks of the far-off Jumna, it enabled a young English officer to sustain the faith of a native convert, and to yield up his own spirit in the act of glorifying his Lord. You have read, I dare say, the narrative of old Mother Seacole-who acted like a mother to many a brave British soldier in the Crimea. "I have stood by," she says, "receiving the last blessings of Christians; and closing the eyes of those who had nothing to trust to, but the mercy of God; and I say decidedly that the Christian's death is the glorious one, as is his life." But, perhaps, in this vast assembly, there are some not altogether convinced of the Divine origin of a religion, which has done so much to

ameliorate the condition of mankind, and which has taken the sting from the grave.

Few reflecting minds have not, at one time or another, been troubled with doubts and difficulties. Dr. Johnson said that everything that Hume advanced against Christianity, had occurred to him long before. The great French preacher Massillon says, L'orgueil est la source secrette de l'incredulité;" Wilberforce and Bishop Butler agree that its great source is the endeavour to get rid of moral restraints; but, perhaps, scepticism, in most instances, arises from want of information, and an imperfect acquaintance with the facts necessary in order to form an opinion. Dr. Johnson says that in his early years he was a sort of lax talker against religion, although he did not think much about it. Augustine, in his Confessions, mentions that it was ignorance of Christianity which led him at one period of his life to defame it; and Bacon, I believe, expresses the most general cause of unbelief when he says, "A little philosophy inclineth man's mind to Atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." I invite any among you, who may be perplexed by honest doubts, to study the Evidences in a candid spirit, to consider not only the social influence, the wonderful success, and the increasing power of the doctrines taught in the written Word, but the internal nature of the holy books themselves, their tendency and coincidences, as well as the light thrown upon them by history. I ask you to search with all diligence the records of science; at your earliest leisure to read that noble contribution left to sacred literature by the late lamented Hugh Miller, "The Testimony of the Rocks ;" and if you are not content with a mere surface examination, but sift the question to the last, you will find the mists of unbelief pass away like the morning cloud, and the early dew. How important the investigation! How useless, unlovely, dreary, desolate, and pleasureless 18

the life of the sceptic! How terrible, in many instances, has been his latter end! One naturally feels sad and regretful emotions as, wandering on the Levantine shores, he gazes on granite columns strewed beneath the waves, the sole mementos of what once was Tyre,-as turning into the Athenian Acropolis, he contemplates the fallen friezes of the Parthenon, as he inspects the deserted temples of Thebes and Luxor, or looks down on the arch of Titus and the Coliseum from the vine-covered bastions of the Palatine; but

"Earth has more awful ruins-one lost mind,
Whose star is quench'd, has lessons for mankind,
Of deeper import than each prostrate dome
Mingling its marbles with the dust of Rome."

Permit me a word in conclusion, suggested by the signs of the times. If Christianity, and Christianity alone, can purify and elevate society, has not a nation which professes it a solemn duty to perform? Why has God given Great Britain influence, wealth, and colonies? Is there no reason for the sun never setting on the empire acknowledging our Queen? Admitting the obligation, how has it been fulfilled? Does the boom of artillery from the banks of the Ganges suggest any answer to your minds? Is it possible that it was necessary for the Almighty to permit a wholesale massacre of her sons and daughters, in order to awaken the conscience of England, and show her that her dominions in India were held together by a rope of sand? Two hundred millions of immortal beings had been committed to our care. We scarcely bestowed a thought upon their condition or claims; any question regarding them emptied the House of Commons; planters, missionaries, and natives, urged inquiry upon Parliament and people in vain. It may be that for this criminal apathy God has sent his destroying