cannot therefore but deem that course of education, however excellent in other respects, to be defective in itself, which sends forth any individual into the active scenes of life, unfurnished with that preparatory and essential information upon sacred subjects, which may empower him to think, and to reason upon the religion he has embraced, with satisfaction to others, and with ease to himself. For my own part, then, though I cannot pretend to fulfil the request which has been made to me by some, of laying down "a regular course of Divinity for those undergraduates who do not intend to enter the Church," yet do I feel it unavoidably to fall within the sphere of my appointed duties, to endeavour to lay before them such an impartial and connected view of the evidences of the Gospel, as may serve to distinguish the relative value of each particular branch, and point out the respective share which the miracles and the prophecies, the life and the doctrines of our Saviour, possess, in contributing to the final result. To depth or novelty I prefer

• The internal discipline of particular Colleges supplies this defect in the Cambridge system of education, but in the Public Examination for degrees, the religious knowledge thus acquired is not brought to the test, and receives neither commendation nor reward.

A few days before I commenced these Lectures I received a letter containing this request, and stating that several had felt the want of such a course.

no strong or exclusive claim. It would be strange indeed, and much to be lamented, as well as wondered at, if the uninterrupted efforts of eighteen hundred years, had left much to be gathered in the field of evidence. A few ripe

and fruitful ears may have been forgotten in haste or overlooked by carelessness, but the riches of the harvest must long ago have been gathered by the first and most assiduous reapers; nor can we expect to employ ourselves in any other or more useful labour than that of sifting the produce and ascertaining its aggregate amount. Still more idle would it be, to study to be difficult, in the hope of being counted as profound. Difficulty is in itself no essential mark of excellence, and the wise providence of God has so ordained it, that the most valuable truths are usually the most simple and easy to be understood.

The words of my text contain the most essential part of our Saviour's answer to the inquiry of John the Baptist, whether he was or was not the Messiah. "When John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" a circumstance which must, I think, be generally known and remembered. It is attended, however, with one peculiar difficulty. The question, at first sight,

appears to have been altogether unnecessary, John having already and frequently acknowledged Jesus as that Prophet which was to come into the world. When the Priests and Levites were sent from Jerusalem to question John as to his real character and pretensions, and to learn whether he himself was not that great Deliverer of whom a general expectation was at that time entertained in the East," he denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christe." He owned that he was not that Light, but was sent only to bear witness of the Light, and prepare the way of the Lord. In consequence of this confession, when our Saviour afterwards came to fulfil all righteousness and be baptized of him in Jordan, he, at first, hesitated, from a sense of his own great unworthiness, to perform so honourable an office to one so much his superior. His scruples were, however, at length over-ruled. He saw the Spirit of God descending in a bodily shape, and resting on the head of Jesus. He heard a voice from Heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased;" and then in the fulness of conviction, he freely and openly declared to every one, upon whom his testimony could have any influence, that this Jesus of Nazareth, whom he had baptized, was indeed the Lamb of God and

• John i. 20.

the Saviour of the world. After such a public and unequivocal declaration of his sentiments, and after having heard of all the many and mighty miracles which our Saviour performed, and which were rumoured throughout all Judea, it does undoubtedly appear singular that he should yet think it necessary to send two of his disciples to inquire, whether he was that Prophet which was to come, or they were to look for another. Upon this point we should have supposed him to have been already thoroughly satisfied.

For the resolution of this difficulty it has usually been maintained, that the inquiry did not originate in any doubts which the Baptist himself entertained, but was merely instituted for the satisfaction of his unbelieving followers, who might, perhaps, have so great a respect for their immediate Master, as to be unwilling to acknowledge the superior power and dignity of any other prophet. It is certainly possible that this might have been the reason of the inquiry; but there are yet several weighty objections to this statement of the case, which induce me to prefer a different opinion. When the disciples of John first came to our Saviour, they immediately announced both by whom and for what purpose they had been sent. "John Baptist," said they, "hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he

that should come, or do we look for another?" In answer to this demand our Saviour first

many of his most healed the sick, sight to the blind,

repeated in their presence astonishing miracles', and cleansed the lepers, restored raised the dead, and then dismissed them with this command, "Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see." The message had been sent by John, and to him the answer is not only generally, as in the natural course of things, but more peculiarly and specially directed. Now this is a form of expression which, I think, our Saviour would scarce have used, had he not been assured that the satisfaction of the Baptist himself was principally intended. For Jesus knew what was in man, and needed not that any one should tell him the object of their requests. He perceived men's thoughts long before, and generally directed his answers to the thoughts, rather than to the words, of those by whom he was questioned. Such also then we might naturally expect would have been his conduct upon the present occasion; and had he been aware that the inquiry was prompted rather by the doubts of the disciples than of their Master, it is highly probable that he would have changed his language and said, "Ye have seen my miracles and

f Luke vii. 21.