My Christian Friends and Fellow-Citizens: In rising to address you on this occasion, I feel that I owe you an apology. Do you inquire, For what? I answer, For bringing into public discussion the evidences of the Christian religion. Not, indeed, as if either the religion itself, or the evidences of its truth and divine authority, had anything to fear from an examination, however public or however severe. Why, then, do you say, apologize for bringing this subject into public debate? Because, in so doing, we may appear to concede that it is yet an undecided question sub judice; or at least, that its opponents have some good reason for withholding their assent to its truth, and their consent to its requirements. Neither of which we are, at this time, prepared to admit.

      It is true, indeed, that we Christians are commanded by an authority which we deem paramount to every other, to be prepared, at all times, to give a reason for the hope which we entertain; and not only so, but in meekness, and with firmness, to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. If, then, it be our duty, either as teachers of the Christian religion, or as private disciples, to be governed by these precepts, not only we can find an excuse for ourselves, but we hope that you also will find an excuse for us in the present undertaking. Excuse, did I say? Not excuse only, but more than excuse, both authority and encouragement.

      Some Christians, we know, think it enough simply to inveigh against skeptics and skepticism in their weekly harangues; while they are protected by custom and law from the retorts and replies of such as do not believe. This is not enough. If, indeed, all the skeptics in the vicinities of Christian congregations made it a point to attend these weekly discourses, and if their objections and doubts were fairly met, canvassed, and refuted, then this course might suffice. But neither of these is precisely the case. The skeptics do not generally attend the places of worship; and few of the teachers of religion pay adequate [5] attention to this description of character. In some Christian countries, also, too much reliance is placed upon the strong arm of the law; and in this country, perhaps, too much confidence is reposed in the moral force of public opinion.

      Skepticism and infidelity are certainly on the increase in this and other countries. Not, indeed, because of the mildness of our laws, but because of the lives of our professors, and a very general inattention to the evidences of our religion. The sectarian spirit, the rage of rivalry in the various denominations, together with many absurd tenets and opinions propagated, afford more relevant reasons for the prevalence of skepticism than most of our professors are able to offer for their faith.

      Kingcraft and priestcraft, always german cousins at least, have so disfigured, or as they suppose, ornamented Christianity, so completely disguised it, that many having no taste nor inclination for examining the inspired books, have hastily and peremptorily decided that all religion is the offspring of fraud or fiction. The ignorance of the multitude, and the knavery of the few, are the most puissant auxiliaries of those daring and rash spirits who undertake to make it appear that the religious institutions of this country are founded on kingcraft or priestcraft.

      I have sometimes been ready to conclude with Bishop Newton, in his illustrations of the prophecies, that the unhallowed alliance between kings and priests, of church and state, is destined to be finally destroyed by a momentary triumph of infidelity; or, to come nearer to his own language, that before the millennial order of society can be introduced, there will be a very general spread of infidelity. However this may be, for here we would not be dogmatical, we are assured that the progress of skepticism is neither owing to the weakness nor the paucity of the evidences of Christianity; but to a profession of it unauthorized by, and incompatible with, the Christian Scriptures. These confessions we are compelled to make from a sense of justice to our cause; but in conceding so much, we give nothing away but what every Christian would wish to see done away, viz: the abuses of the Christian religion. Nor will we allow that there is even in the abuses of Christianity any argument against its excellency, nor any just reason for the infidelity of any one who has access to the oracles of God.

      When we agreed to meet Mr. Owen in public debate upon the questions to be discussed on this occasion, it was not with any expectation that he was to be convinced of the errors of his system on the subject of religion; nor with any expectation that I was in the least to be [6] shaken in my faith in the sacred writings. It is to be presumed that Mr. Owen feels himself beyond the reach of conviction; and I most sincerely must declare that I have every assurance of the truth and authority of the Christian religion. I know, indeed, that there is no circumstance in which any person can be placed more unfavorable to his conviction, than that which puts him in a public assembly upon the proof of his principles. The mind is then on the alert to find proofs for the system which has been already adopted, and is not disposed to such an investigation as might issue in conviction. Arguments and proofs are rather parried than weighed; and triumph rather than conviction is anxiously sought for. At the same time I own I am, on all subjects, open to conviction, and even desirous to receive larger measures of light; and more than once, even when in debate, I have been convicted of the truth and force of the argument of an opponent. Nor would I say that it is impossible that even my opponent might yet preach the faith which he has all his life labored to destroy. But the public, the wavering, doubting, and unsettled public, who are endangered to be carried off, as an apostle says, by the flood which the dragon has poured out of his mouth, are those for whose benefit this discussion has, on my part, been undertaken. They are not beyond the reach of conviction, correction, and reformation. For the present generation and the succeeding I have been made willing to undertake to show that there is no good reason for rejecting the testimony of the apostles and prophets; but all the reason which rational beings can demand for the sincere belief and cordial reception of the Christian religion.

      You must not think, my friends, that Christianity has come down to our times without a struggle; nay, indeed, it took the nation at first by the irresistible force of its evidence. It was opposed by consolidated ranks of well-disciplined foes. Learned, cunning, bold, and powerful were its enemies. But experience taught them it was not only foolish, but hurtful to kick against the goads.

      Never was there such a moral phenomenon exhibited upon this earth as the first establishment and progress of Christianity. The instruments by which it was established, the opposition with which it was met, and the success which attended its career, were all of the most extraordinary character. The era of Christianity itself presents a very sublime spectacle: the whole world reposing in security under the protecting wings of the most august of all the Cæsars; peace, universal peace, with her healthful arms encircling all the nations composing the great empire which was itself the consummation of all the empires of the ancient world. Polytheism, with her myriads of temples and [7] her myriads of myriads of priests, triumphantly seated in the affections of a superstitious people, and swaying a magic scepter from the Tiber to the ends of the earth. Legislators, magistrates, philosophers, orators, and poets, all combined to plead her cause, and to protect her from insult and injury. Rivers of sacrificial blood crimsoned all the rites of pagan worship; and clouds of incense arose from every city, town, and hamlet, in honor of the gods of Roman superstition. Just in this singular and unrivaled crisis, when the Jew's religion, though corrupted by tradition and distracted by faction, was venerated for its antiquity, and admired for its divinity; when idolatry was at its zenith in the pagan world, the Star of Bethlehem appears. The marvelous scene opens in a stable. What a fearful odds! What a strange contrast! Idolatry on the throne, and the founder of a new religion and a new empire lying in a manger!

      Unattended in his birth, and unseconded in his outset, he begins his career. Prodigies of extraordinary sublimity announce that the desire of all nations is born. But the love of empire and the jealousy of a rival stimulate the bloody Herod to unsheath his sword. Many innocents were slaughtered, but Heaven shielded the new-born king of the world. For the present we pass over this wonderful history. After thirty years of obscurity we find him surrounded with what the wise, the wealthy, and the proud would call a contemptible group; telling them that one of them, an uncouth and untutored fisherman, too, had discovered a truth which would new-modify the whole world. In the midst of them he uttered the most incredible oracle ever heard. I am about, says he, to found a new empire on the acknowledgment of a single truth, a truth, too, which one of you has discovered, and all the powers and malice of worlds seen and unseen shall never prevail against it. This is our helmet, breastplate, and shield, in this controversy. What a scene presents itself here? A pusillanimous, wavering, ignorant, and timid dozen of individuals, without a penny apiece, assured that to them it pleased the Ruler of the Universe to give the empire of the world; that to each of them would be given a throne from which would be promulgated laws never to be repealed while the sun and moon endure.

      Such were the army of the faith. They begin their career. Under the jealous and invidious eyes of a haughty sanhedrin at home, and under the strict cognizance of a Roman emperor abroad, with a watchful procurator stationed over them. They commenced their operations. One while charged with idolatry; at another with treason. Reviled and persecuted until their chief is rewarded with a cross, and themselves with threats and imprisonment. A throne in a future world [8] animated them, and a crown of glory after martyrdom stimulated them. On they march from conquest to conquest, till not only a multitude of the Jewish priests and people, but Cæsar's household in imperial Rome, became obedient to the faith. Such was the commencement.

      The land of Judea is smitten with the sword of the Spirit. Jerusalem falls, and Samaria is taken. The coasts of Asia, maritime cities, islands, and provinces, vow allegiance to a crucified King. Mighty Rome is roused, and shaken, and affrighted. Sacrifices are unbought, altars moulder, and temples decay. Her pontiffs, her senate, and her emperor stand aghast. Persecution, the adjunct of a weak and wicked cause, unsheathes her sword and kindles her fires. A Nero and a Caligula prepare the fagots and illuminate Rome with burning Christians. But the scheme soon defeats itself: for anon 'tis found that the blood and the ashes of martyrs are the seed of the church. So the battle is fought till every town of note from the Tiber to the Thames, from the Euphrates to the Ganges, bows to the cross. On the one side superstition and the sword, the mitred hand and the sceptered arm combine; on the other, almighty truth alone pushes on the combat. Under these fearful odds the truth triumphs, and shall the advocates of such a cause fear the contest now?

      Yes, my fellow-citizens, not a king nor a priest smiled upon our faith until it won the day. It offered no lure to the ambitious; no reward to the avaricious. It offered no alliance with the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, nor the pride of life. It disdained such auxiliaries. It aimed not so low. It called for self-denial, humility, patience, and courage, on the part of all its advocates; and promised spiritual joys as an earnest of eternal bliss. By the excellency of its doctrine, the purity of its morals, the rationality of its arguments, the demonstration of the Holy Spirit, and the good example of its subjects, it triumphed on the ruins of Judaism and idolatry. The Christian volunteers found the yoke of Christ was easy and his burden light. Peace of mind, a heaven-born equanimity, a good conscience, a pure heart, universal love, a triumphant joy, and a glorious hope of immortal bliss, were its reward in hand. An incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance in the presence of God, with the society of angels, principalities and powers, of the loftiest intelligence and most comprehensive knowledge, brighter than the sun, in the glories of light and love eternal, are its rewards in future.

      But now, let us ask, what boon, what honor, what reward have our opponents to offer for its renunciation? Yes, this is the question which the sequel must develop. To what would they convert us! What heaven have they to propose! What immortality to reveal! What [9] sublime views of creation and a creator! What authentic record of the past! What prophetic hope of the future! What account of our origin! What high ultimatum of our destiny! What terrors have they to offer to stem the torrent of corruption! What balm and consolation to the sons and daughters of anguish! To these and a thousand kindred questions, they must, and they will answer, none; none at all. They promise to him that disbelieveth the Founder of the Christian religion; to him that neglects and disdains the salvation of the gospel; to him who tramples under foot the blood of the New Institution, and insults the Spirit of favor; to him who traduces Moses, Daniel, and Job; to him who vilifies Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and John; to him who devotes his soul to the lusts of the flesh; who disdains heaven; who defies his appetites; who degrades himself to a mere animal, and eulogizes philosophy; to this man they promise eternal sleep, and everlasting death. This is the faith, the hope, and joy, for which they labor with so much zeal, and care, and pain.

      Divesting man of all that renders life a blessing and death supportable, denuding him of the dignity and honor which have even been the admiration of the wise and good, and reducing him wholly to the earth, is by our opponents the true philosophy, the just science, the valuable knowledge. In their estimation a colony of bees co-operating in the building of store-houses and cells, and afterward stowing them full of the necessaries of animal life, humming from flower to flower, while the sun shines; and in its absence, sucking the juices which they have collected, is the grand model of what man would be, and what he would do, were he under the benign influence of just knowledge and sound philosophy.

      To accomplish this high and glorious end of our being is the supreme wish of my benevolent opponent. In the prosecution of which he labors to show us that matter--solid, liquid, gaseous matter--is the height and--depth, the length and breadth of all that deserves the name of just knowledge. As for souls, and their appurtenances, they are mere nonentities, creatures of mere fancy, having neither figure, extension, nor gravity; old wives' fables, and ought to be all embarked in company with ghosts and witches, and colonized on the point of a needle on some lofty peak in the regions of imagination.

      When by a philosophic exorcism he has cast out these indescribable spirits which haunt the cells of our crania, and emptied our heads of all their intellectual contents, we are then to make the body, and especially the abdominal viscera, the all-engrossing topic of life and death, and the capital item in our last will and testament. [10]

      Now let us glance at the method of argument by which this point is to be proved.

      1. Man is to be detached from any relation to a Supreme or superior being. All debts of gratitude or obligation of any sort to an unseen or intangible agent are to be canceled by a single act of oblivion; and when he is taught to annihilate the Creator, he is next to be taught that he is himself neither Creator nor creature, but a sort of self-existent particle of a self-existent whole.

      2. Lest he should be too uplifted in his own imagination, he is to be taught that he is no more than a two-legged animal, as circumscribed by sense as a mole or lobster.

      3. That having but five senses, it is necessary that these should be analyzed in order that he may be convinced that nothing can be known of which they are not the informers. Thus man, when perfectly reduced to a mere sentient being, is prepared to become a sensualist.

      4. To complete the process of degradation, man is to be taught that he has no faculty, or power of learning or knowing anything but by his senses, or that he can receive no certain information from the testimony of his ancestors.

      5. That all the information which is traditional or handed down, is false and incredible.

      6. As to morality, it is just a due regard to utility. Bees are moral as well as men; and he is the most moral bee which creates the most honey and consumes the least of it.

      We do not say that these are verbatim, or in propria forma, the identical positions of my opponent--they belong, perhaps, more justly to some of the fraternity, for you will remember that he confines himself to the following four grand points:

      1. That all the religions in the world have been founded on the ignorance of mankind.

      2. They are directly opposed to the never-changing laws of our nature.

      3. That they have been and are the real source of vice, disunion, and misery of every description.

      4. That they are now the only real bar to the formation of a society of virtue, of intelligence, of charity in its most extended sense, and of sincerity and kindness among the whole human family. We shall be somewhat disappointed, however, if in the development they do not engross the preceding positions.

      Were I at liberty to choose a method co-extensive with the whole range of skepticism, it would be such as the following:

      1. I would propose to present some philosophic arguments demonstrative of the truth of revealed religion. [11]

      2. I would attempt to illustrate and press upon my opponent the nature and weight of the historic evidence.

      3. I would then endeavor to show, from the Christian religion itself, its certain divine origin.

      4. And in the last place, I would undertake to prove, from the actual condition of the world, and the prophetic annunciations, the absolute certainty that this religion came from the Creator of the world.

      Under these very general heads or chapters, I would not fear to introduce such a number and variety of distinct arguments and evidences, as I should think ought to silence the captious, convert the honest inquirer, and confirm the weak and wavering disciple. But in a discussion such as the present, it would be almost, if not altogether impossible, to pursue such a method; and as it devolves upon my opponent to lead the way, and upon me to follow, I can only promise that I will endeavor in the most methodical way, to bring forward the arguments which are couched in this arrangement; of which indeed, a very inadequate idea can be communicated in any schedule.

      The preceding synopsis is more general than necessary; but it is adapted to the vague and diversified attacks upon the Christian fortress by the skeptics of the present school. In the natural order of things we would confine ourselves to the following method:

      1. State as a postulatum the following unquestionable fact:

      That there is now in the world a book called the Old and New Testaments, purporting to contain a Revelation from the Creator of the universe. Then inquire--

      2. By what agency or means this work came into existence. In the analysis of this question we would

      1. Demonstrate that the religion contained in this book is predicated of certain matters of fact.

      2. That our senses, and testimony or history are the only means by which we can arrive at certain information in any question of fact.

      3. That there are certain infallible criteria by which some historic matters of fact may be proved true or false.

      4. We would then specify these criteria, and

      5. Show that we have all these criteria in deciding this question. This proved, and all that Christians contend for must be conceded. We say that were we to be governed by the natural order, we would confine all our debate to this one question as detailed in these five items. All these indeed will come in course under 2d and 4th items in the synopsis proposed. But we cannot refrain from expressing our opinion, that all the rest is superfluous labor bestowed upon us, by the obliquity of the skeptical scheme. And moreover we must add our [12] conviction that, supposing we should fail in affording satisfactory data on the other topics, it is impossible to fail in the point upon which the strength and stress of the argument must rest.

      In this candid and unreserved way, my fellow-citizens, we have laid before you our views and prospects in the opening of this discussion, which may give you some idea of what may be expected from this meeting. Your patience and indulgence may have to be solicited and displayed, and should we be compelled to roam at large over vast and trackless fields of speculation, and oftentimes to return by the same track, you will have the goodness to grant us all that indulgence which the nature of the case demands.

      But we cannot sit down without admonishing you to bear constantly in mind the inconceivable and ineffable importance attached to the investigation. It is not the ordinary affairs of this life, the fleeting and transitory concerns of to-day or to-morrow; it is not whether we shall live all freemen, or die all slaves; it is not the momentary affairs of empire, or the evanescent charms of dominion-- nay, indeed, all these are but the toys of childhood, the sportive excursions of youthful fancy, contrasted with the question, What is man? Whence came he? Whither does he go? Is he a mortal or an immortal being? Is he doomed to spring up like the grass, bloom like a flower, drop his seed into the earth, and die forever? Is there no object of future hope? No God--no heaven--no exalted society to be known or enjoyed? Are all the great and illustrious men and women who have lived before we were born, wasted and gone forever? After a few short days are fled, when the enjoyments and toils of life are over; when our relish for social enjoyment, and our desires for returning to the fountain of life are most acute, must we hang our heads and close our eyes in the desolating and appalling prospect of never opening them again, of never tasting the sweets for which a state of discipline and trial has so well fitted us? These are the awful and sublime merits of the question at issue. It is not what we shall eat, nor what we shall drink, unless we shall be proved to be mere animals; but it is, shall we live or die forever? It is as beautifully expressed by a Christian poet--

[COD 5-13]