SERM. 1.7 INWARD WITNESS TO CIiRISTIANITY. with such bold questions as these, How do you know that christianity is the true religion ? What tokens have you to skew that it camefrom God? If you have no other answer to make, but that it is the religion of your country, that you were born and bred up in it, tLink withyourselves how your spirits will be surprised, your comforts languish, and all your high-built hopes totter to the ground ; _unless the Spirit of God, by his uncom- mon and sovereigngrace, should give in an answer to the temptation, and by some immediate and convincing argument support your faith : but ifyou are negligent to lay a good foundation at first, you have no reason to ex- pect such a divine favour. Let the importance of this concern therefore keep your attention awake, while I briefly run over some of the proofs of christianity, and thus lead you down to the surest and best of them, which is contained in my text. Many are the outward testimonies which God bath given to the gospel of his Son; many witnesses have confirmed it from the time that Christ appeared in the flesh, to the day when St. John wrote this epistle. If we trace his life from the cradle in the manger to his cross and the grave, we shall find the rays of divinity still shining round his doctrine and his works, still pointing to his person, and proving his commission with a con- vincing and resistless light. At his birth the witnessing angels appeared in much brightness, and while the Son ofGod lay an infant below, his record was on high; for there appeared a strange new star, and was his witness in heaven. The wise men of the east were his witnesses, when they came from afar, and paid tributes and offer- ings, gold and incense to the God, the king of Israel. Simeon and Anna in the temple, by the spirit of prophecy witnessed to the holy child Jesus. And the doctors with whom he disputed at twelve years old, were his witnesses that there was something in himmore than man. At his baptism the Father and Spirit witnessed to the Son of God ; they told the world that this was He, the Messiah The Father by a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased; and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. His life was a life of wonders, and each of them witnessed to the truth of his
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