general diftribution of my materials; which I flatter myself will be thought to be eafier, and more natural, than that of others who have written upon the fame fubject, and to be calculated to exhibit the evidences

of revelation with peculiar ftrength and

clearness.

be

Fully fatisfied as I myself am of the truth of christianity, and of the fufficiency of the proofs which I have, in this treatife, advanced in favour of it, I am by no means fanguine in my expectations from what I have done, any farther than that it may of use in the inftruction of the young, the ignorant, or the unfettled, which was my primary object. No person who knows much of the world can expect that confirmed unbelievers will fo much as look into it, much less that they will give it a deliberate and impartial perufal. They will prefume that they have already thought enough upon the subject, and will not chufe to disturb their minds with any farther difcuffion of a question which they have long ago decided,

decided, or change that courfe of life into which they were led, and to which they have been accustomed in confequence of it.

I mention this circumftance with no other view than to admonish young perfons of the very great care they ought to take in forming their judgments upon a subject of fo much importance as this; fince in the courfe of a few years, the effect of the impreffions to which their minds must neceffarily be fubject, will be either a firm and joyful perfuafion of the truth of christianity, a great indifference to it, and neglect of it, or an obftinate and gloomy unbelief. The first of these states of mind I cannot help confidering as, in the highest degree, favourable to virtue and happiness, and the laft to be, in as great a degree, unfriendly to both. I ufe the word gloomy in speaking of the ftate of an unbeliever's mind, because I confider my own most chearful profpects as derived from that faith which he dif claims; and unless I be wholly mistaken with respect to the object of true christian M 2 faith,

faith, every defender of it must necessarily have the prejudices of the vicious and profligate against him, and the good will of all

the friends of virtue.

If the bible contain a true hiftory, we can no longer entertain the leaft doubt, or be under any uncertainty, concerning the existence, or the moral government of God. We are sure that a being of infinite power and wifdom is the author of every thing that we behold, that he conftantly infpects, and attends to the interest of all his creatures, nothing that he has made being at any time neglected or overlooked by him; and, more especially, that he is influenced by a most intense affection for all his rational offspring; that he is good and ready to forgive, and to receive into favour all who fincerely repent of the fins they have committed, and endeavour to conform to his will for the future. If chriftianity be true, we can entertain no doubt with respect to a future life, but are abfolutely certain that, though we must all die, we fhall all be made

alive

alive again, that Chrift will come, by the appointment of God his father, to judge the quick and the dead, and to give to every man according to his works.

Now the firm belief of thefe important truths (concerning which there are great doubts and difficulties on the light of nature, but none at all upon the fuppofition of the truth of chriftianity) cannot fail to elevate the sentiments, and ennoble the nature of man. It will effectually fupport us under all the trials of life, and give us hope and joy in the hour of death. On the other hand, a itate of doubt and uncertainty with refpet to these articles of faith must make every well difpofed mind (which cannot but most earnestly with them to be true) anxious and unhappy; and a total disbelief of them muft tend to debafe the foul, and prepare a man for giving into every kind of vice and excess to which he is strongly tempted. When his views and prospects are narrow and confined, his pursuits will be fo too. To adopt a coarfe, but juft obfervation, which has been made with respect

to this fubject, if a man expects to die like a dog, it cannot but be fuppofed that he will alfo live like one.

If, contrary to my expectations, any unbeliever should have the curiofity to look into the following treatife, I would premife to him, that he is to confider it as containing nothing more than my own particular view of the evidences of chriftianity; that if he perceives any thing weak or unguarded in what I have advanced, it behoves himfelf, as well as me, to confider whether the caufe in general will not admit of a better defence, that he must look into other defences of christianity for the fupply of any deficiencies which he may find in this; and not think himself juftified in his unbelief, till, after an examination of his own, an examination truly impartial, and earnest, becoming the importance of the subject, he is fatisfied, that not what has paffed for christianity, but, what is really fo, is altogether indefenfible, having had its fource in enthusiasm, or impofture, or both.

Befides