2 Pet. i. 1 9. We have also a more sure word of prophecy, where- unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.
THAT persons ignorant of the grounds on which. Christianity is established should doubt the truth of it, ought not to occasion us any surprise : for it must be confessed, that on a superficial view of the leading- points contained in it, it does appear to surpass the bounds of credibility. That the God of heaven and earth should assume our nature, and be made in the likeness of sinful flesh ; that he should thus humble himself, in order that he might in his own person bear,
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and expiate, the sins of his rebellious creatures ; that, having wrought out in our nature a perfect righteous- ness, lie sliould oifer that righteousness to all who will believe in him, and accept it in their behalf for the justification of their souls before him ; there is in ail this something so wonderful, so glorious, so de- li'ditful, that it does indeed appear like " a cunningly- devised fable ;" and one is tempted to say concerning it, as Job did under a similar impression of the manifold grace of God, " If I had called to God, and he had answered me, (and told me by an audible voice from heaven that Christianity was true,) yet would I not believe that he hearkened to my voice ^" As Peter, when actually liberated from prison, " wist not that it was true, but thought he saw a vision," so, when we have the actual experience of the Gospel salvation incur own souls, it actually seems at times to be" a dream ^" But it is no dream, no cunningly- devised fable ; but a glorious reality. Of this the Apostle was well assured. He had received the most positive evidence of it from his own senses: He had seen his Lord transfigured upon the Holy Mount : and had heard the testimony which the Father had borne to him by an audible voice from heaven; " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased"." But, however satisfactory this evidence was to him, it could not be so convincing to others, because it de- pended solely on the testimony of himself and the other two Apostles who were admitted to that sight, and because the inferences which he drew from what lie had seen and heard would not commend them- selves with the same force to others as they did to liim. But there were other grounds on which all might feel the same assurance as he himself did. There was " a more sure word of prophecy," which every one might examine for himself, and of which every one wiio did examine it was competent to judge. This no man could weigh without being con- vinced by it : he might as well doubt his own ex- istence, • Job, ix. 16. " Ps. cxxvi. 1. Wer. 1(3—18.