THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, IN THEIR EXTERNAL, OR HISTORICAL, DIVISION: EXHIBITED IN A COURSE OF LECTURES, BY CHARLES PETTIT M'ILVAINE, D.D., BISHOP OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE STATE OF OHIO. sat casta deliciæ meæ scripturæ tuæ ; nec fallar in eis, nec fallam ex eis.--AUGUSTINE. EIGHTEENTH THOUSAND. REVISED AND IMPROVED BY THE AUTHOR, WITH THE ADDITION OF A PREFACE PHILADELPHIA: SMITH & ENGLISH, No. 36 NORTH SIXTH STREET. 1857 Entered by the author, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1832, in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States for the Southern D.strict of New York. COLLINS, PRINTER. PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. BY OLINTHUS GREGORY, D.D., LL.D. THE English friends of the author of these Lectures on the Evidences of Christianity are unanimous in deciding that they will constitute a valuable addition to our sacred literature. On a subject which has been repeatedly treated, and often by men of distinguished talent and learning, much that is essentially new is not to be expected. Yet the specific purpose for which a work of this kind is undertaken may cause the main arguments to be placed in such a position, while some of the subordinate topics may be exhibited in so strong a light, as to give to the whole an air of light and freshness well fitted to convey high gratification in union with rich instruction. Several, indeed, of the trains of reasoning pursued by the author seem to be entirely original; at the same time that they are conducted with considesible skill, and by their accumulative property, lead to an ultimate issue that must make a deep and salutary impression on the mind of any candid investigator of this ever momentous subject. It may, farther, be added, that the Christian feeling, benevolence, and warmth with which the author conducts his inquiry, in its several stages, honourably distinguish this work from many of its predecessors; while they show that, instead of regarding Christian truth as supplying matter for a pleasing speculation, he considers it as that which alone can make men truly holy, happy, honourable, and useful, and transform the world from an Aceldama to the Paradise of God. |