(what no one doubts) that Demosthenes spoke the speeches which have come down to us in his name, or that Julius Cæsar wrote and did what Roman history reports him to have written and done. A Secondary Witness consists in the authority which the Church (which has the assurance of the presence and of the guidance of the Holy Spirit) has given to those and to the rest of the sacred writings by placing them in the Canon of Holy Scripture, and pronouncing them to be inspired as a Revelation from God. A Tertiary Witness consists in the testimony which these writings derive from our own hearts and consciences when we receive them in the attitude and temper of mind which God has told us He requires in order to their right reception. And to this may be added the consequent testimony of the lives and deaths of Christians in all ages, and the moral improvement of the world under the influence of Christianity. In the following Discourses no attempt is made. to deal fully or directly with either of those two last named kinds of Witness, but references to both will be found throughout the series; and especially to the former in Sermons 1 and 17, and to the latter in Sermons 4 and 13. I hope no excuse is needed for adding to the volume the Charge which I delivered in our Diocesan Synod of last year. It appeared in the Scottish Guardian' for October 9; but suggestions have been made to me from several quarters, public and private, that it might be useful to endeavour to extend its circulation more widely, especially in England, out of regard to the great and increasing interest and importance of the subject with which it deals. Accordingly it is now reprinted, and without alteration, except that I have inserted a few sentences in fuller explanation of my meaning upon one point; and in the notes have added references to the Foundations of the Bible' by Canon Girdlestone, and also to two publications which have appeared since the Charge was delivered, viz. the valuable Seven Addresses of Bishop Ellicott, entitled 'Christus Comprobator,' and the Five Lectures of Professor Kirkpatrick, entitled the 'Divine Library of the Old Testament,' mainly on the other side, but written in a reverent and candid spirit which cannot fail to command attention and respect. I shall be glad and thankful if, at a time of much disquietude and unsettlement upon questions of religion, the contents of this volume may be found helpful to promote steadfastness and stability in the truth of the Gospel especially among those for whose souls, as far as in me lieth, I have been set to watch. Of my long Stewardship, and Superintendence over them, the time is now close at hand when I must be called to give an account. When that solemn Day comes, my Brethren, to me, and to you, may God have mercy on us both for Jesus Christ's sake! To borrow the words of the daily morning prayer of good Bishop Andrewes :— 'A Christian close, without sin, without shame, and, should it please Thee, without pain, and a good answer at the dreadful and fearful JudgmentSeat of Jesus Christ our Lord, Vouchsafe, O Lord.' |