The Way of Life

It is one of the clearest principles of divine revelation, that holiness is the fruit of truth; and it is one of the plainest inferences from that principle, that the exhibition of the truth is the best means of promoting holiness

, Christians regard the word of God as the only

: infallible teacher of those truths which relate 4o the salvation of men. But are the Scriptures really a revelation from God? If they

-■ are, what doctrines do they teach? And what mfluence should those doctrines exert on our

=i heart and life?

3 The publishing committee of the American

:2 Sunday-school Union have long felt the want of a book which should give a p.ain answer to these questions, and be suitable to place in the hands of intelligent and educated young persons, either to arouse their attention, or to guide their steps in the way of life.

The following work has been prepared at the request of the committee, with the hope that it may in some measure answer the purpose just stated. In a Christian country it might seem unnecessary to raise the question whether the Scriptures are the word of God? But those who have had much intercourse with young men, know that even among those who have been religiously educated, there is more or less skepticism upon this pomt; and where there is no absolute skepticism, there is often an impression that the evidence of the divine origin of the Bible is not so decisive as it might, or even should be. Hence it is that the want of faith is seldom felt to be a great sin. It was therefore deemed important that the question, Why we are bound to believe the Bible to be the word of God? should be distinctly, though briefly, answered.

The still more comprehensive question, What do the Scriptures teach? is of course here considered only in reference to those great practical doctrines which are essential to evangelical religion, viz.: the doctrines of sin, justification, faith, repentance, and holy living.

With regard to the influence which these doctrines should exert upon the heart and life, or, in other words, with regard to religious experience, reference might be made to the numerous records of the exercises of the people of God, or to what we see daily in his church As, however, the Scriptures themselves not only teach us what the truth is, but also how it operates upon an enlightened conscience and believing heart, our safest appeal is to them. It is there that we can best learn how we ought to feel and act in view of what the Bible teaches us of sin, of justification, faith, and repentance; since genuine religious experience is simply the accordance of our views and feelings with the truth of God.

If this little book should be instrumeniai, by the simple exhibition of the truth, of pomting out the way of life to those who are anxious to know what they must believe and what they must experience in order to be saved, it will answer the design of it- pr<jpa ia*ioj3 and publication.

Section I. The Internal evidence of the divine origin of the Scriptures.

It often happens that those who hear the gospel, doubt whether it is really the word of God. Having been taught from infancy to regard it as a divine revelation, and knowing no sufficient reason for rejecting it, they yield a general assent to its claims. There are times, however, when they would gladly be more fully assured that the Bible is not a cunningly devised fable. They think if that point was absolutely certain, they would at once submit to all the gospel requires.

Such doubts do not arise from any deficiency in the evidence of the divine authority of the Scriptures, nor would they be removed by any increase of that evidence. They have their origin in the state of the heart. The most important of all the evidences of Christianity, can never be properly appreciated unless the heart be right in the sight of God. The same exhibition of truth which produces unwavering conviction in one mind, leaves another in a state of doubt or unbelief. And the same mind often passes rapidly, though rationally, from a state of scepticism to that of faith, without any change in the mere external evidence presented to it.

No amount of mere external evidence can produce genuine faith. The Israelites, who had seen a long succession of wonders in the land of Egypt; who had passed through the divided waters of the Red Sea; who were daily receiving by miracle food from heaven; who had trembled at the manifestations of the divine majesty on Mount Sinai; within sight of that mountain, made a golden calf their God. The men, who saw the miracles of Christ performed almost daily in their presence, cried out, Crucify him, crucify him. Hence our Saviour said, that those who hear not Moses and the prophets would not be persuaded though one rose from the dead. We may confidently conclude, therefore, that those who now believe not the gospel, would not be peisuaded had they seen all the miracles which Christ performed.

It is important that the attention of the doubting should be directed to the fact that their want of faith is to be attributed to their own moral state, and not to any deficiency in the evidence of the truth. If our gospel be hid, says the apostle, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, should shine unto them.

There is nothing in the doctrine here stated, out of analogy with our daily experience. No truth can be properly apprehended unless there is a harmony between it and the mind to which it is presented. Even abstract or speculative truths are not seen to be true, unless the understanding be duly cultivated to apprehend them. With regard to objects of taste, unless there is a power to perceive the correspondence between them and the standard of beauty, there can be no appreciation of their excellence. And still moie obviously in regard to moral and religious truth, there must be a state of mind suited to their apprehension. If our moral sense were entirely destroyed by sin, we rould have no perception of moral distinctions; if ‘t is vitiated, what is true in itself and true in the view of the pure in heart, will not be true to ns

A. man, who has no adequate sense of the evil of sin, cannot believe in the justice of God. If you awaken his conscience, he is convinced at once, without the intervention of any process of proof.

No one can fail to remark that the Bible demands immediate and implicit faith from all who read it It may lie neglected in the study of the philosopher, or in the chest of the outcast sailor; or it may be given by a missionary yet ignorant of the language of the heathen to whom he ministers. The moment, however, it is opened, in these or any other circumstances, it utters the same calm voice, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. If this demand was confined to the educated, we might suppose it to rest on evidence which the educated only are able to appreciate; or if it was made of those only to whom, the scriptures are presented by regularly commissioned ministers, we might suppose it rested on their authority; but it is not thus confined. It is inseparable from the word itself. It is as imperative when the Bible is read by a child to a company of pagans, as when it is proclaimed in a cathedral. But if this demand of faith goes with the word wherever it goes, it must rest upon evidence contained in the word itself. The demand of faith cannot be more extensive, than the exhibition of evidence. Unless, therefore, we restrict the obligation and the benefits of faith to the se who are capable of appreciating the external evidence of the Bible, we must admit that it contains its own evidence.

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