Such is a slight sketch of the doctrines of Christianity, as held by the Church at the period when this work was written.
That the faith of those times is the faith of the purest Churches in our own days, that the creed of one century is the creed of many ages, in itself, affords very convincing testimony to our religion.
The sameness of the faith, proves in the first place, the integrity of the Scriptures from which it is drawn. It proves also, that it is, by one and the same Divine Spirit, that all true Christians, in all successive periods, are taught and influenced.—It proves that Christians, instead of yielding themselves like the heathens, disciples to every succeeding philosopher, and “calling many men master,” have called only one their “teacher,” their “guide,” their “master,” which is God. It proves the superiority of Christianity to time and place; that it is a religion suited to all men, in all ages, and in all circumstances, and that it therefore bears the impress of a religion sent from God, and designed to be the faith of the universe. It enables us lastly, to consider our Creed, not as the conception of a solitary enthusiast, not a cunningly devised fable, or the scheme of an ambitious innovator; but to cast ourselves back, as it were, upon the faith of nations, and lay hold confidently of that Tree of Life which was planted by Christ, and whose fruit has been gathered by the hand, and whose root has been fed by the blood of saints in all ages.
HAVING thus noticed, in succession, the several topics which are chiefly insisted on in the Work before us; and having endeavoured to deduce from each, the distinct evidence in favour of Christianity, which it seemed to afford, it remains only to sum up the general testimony thus borne to our religion.
Let the evidence be first considered, which arises from the concessions and objections of Celsus. In the first place then he proves the existence of the Scriptures in his own times, he relates some facts extracted from them, and he corroborates many others, which would otherwise stand upon their unsupported authority; and thus he authenticates both the religion, and the Bible.
In the next place, as Celsus is usually considered the most subtle and malignant of the assailants of Christianity, the weakness of his assault discovers the difficulty of the attack, or, in other words, the strength of the religion.