A SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVIDENCES FOR THE TRUTH AND DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE Christian Revelation. DESIGNED CHIEFLY FOR THE USE OF TO WHICH IS ADDED, BY BIELBY PORTEUS, D. Q. A NEW EDITION, WITH QUESTIONS FOR THE EXAMINATION CONCORD: PUBLISHED BY HILL AND MOORE. 2-1-32 PREFACE. For readers of a mature age and judgment, there are so many excellent treatises on the Evidences of the Christian Religion already published, that it is perfectly needless to add to their number; but it appeared to me, that there was still wanting something in a shorter, a cheaper, a more methodical and familiar form. This is a time, when it is peculiarly proper to communicate to young people the chief grounds of their faith,and to lay the foundations of a firm belief in the Christian Revelation; leaving it to themselves to add to these primary evidences which reason furnishes in favor of Christianity, those further proofs of its truth, which I trust they will hereafter derive from still higher and better sources; from an intimate acquaintance with the sacred writings, from the illuminating and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit upon their understandings and their hearts; and from the experi mental conviction, which I hope they will hereafter have, of the divine efficacy of the gospel in purifying their affections, in remedying the disorders of their corrupt nature, and in communicating to them |