Litchfield enquirer., 1852-11-04
DM'L WEBSTER.


 WeBsrER ON THE EVIDENCES OF Guns rIANITY.-Mr. Webster seldom introdu- ces political topics Gin conversaL ion( but generally such as are appropriately sci en,itic, literary, or religious. He never seems more at home than when discours- ing upon tbe lofty themes which employ. ed the thoughts of inspired prophets and anointed' kings of old. He quotes the subli ne language of Job, Isaiah and Sol
 omQn. and gives the sense.' too. with an emphasis and beauy seldom exhibited in the sacred desk. He admares the orators of Greece and Rome. but deems them
 "Far beneath the prophets
 Az men devinely taught, and better teaching The solid Tules-"i civil government
 In their majestic. unpqualled style,
 Tran all ih. oraiOry oi Greece and Rome,
 ln them IS plainest' taught, and easiest learnt
 What makes nation happy and keeps it so.'
 A few evenings since. sitting by his own 6reside. after a. day of severe labor in the Supreme Court, Mr. Webster in-
 tlodueed the last Sabbath's sermon, and discou,scd in animated and glowing elo~ quence for an hour on the great truths al !hs gospel: l cannot but regard the
 truths of such man in soIis sense s.s public property. This is my apology for attempting to recall. some of those res
 nalts which were uttered in the privacy of the domestic circle. Said Mir. Webster-'Last Sabbath l. listened to an able and learned discourse the evidences of Christianity. The ar guments were drawn f'om prophecy and history, with internal evidence. They. were stated with. logical accuracy and force ;; but, as it seemed to me. the cler. gyman failed.to draw, the right conclu- sion. He came so near the truth that I was astonished he missed it. In surae mng up his arguments, he said the only alternative presented by these evidences is this Either hii,,ianity is true, or i. is .delusion produced by an excited i'm, agina.ion. Sucn is not the alternative, said: the critic but it is this :: The gospel Is either a true history, or it is a consu, mate fraud ;; it is either a. reality. or an imposition. Christ Was what he profess ed lo4be, or he was ar imposte.. There Is no other alternative-I3is spotless. life, his earnest enforcement of the truth-hs suffering n it's defence, forbids us to SUD- pose that he wa; following an illusion of q heated brain.
 Every act O. his pure and holy life shows that he was the author of truth, the advocate of truth the earnest defend CT cf truth and the accomplishing suf> ferer for truth. Now, considering the purity of his doctrine simplicity of his life, and the sublimity of his death. is il posPible that he would have died, for an illusion? In all his preaching, the Say. for made no popular appeals. His dis cources were all directed to the individu al. Christ and his Apostles sough. to impi ess upon every man the. conviction shat he must stand or fall alone-te must lNe for himself and die for himself and give up his account to the omniscient God as though he were the only depended creature in the universe. The gospel leaves the individual sinner alone with himself and his God. To his own mas ter he stands or falls. He has nothing to hope fsom, the aid and sympathy oi associates, The deluded advocates of new doctrines do not so preach. Christ and his Apostles. had they been deceiv- CTS, would not have so preached.
 II clergymcn in. our day would return to the simplicity of the gospel, ,and preach more to individuals and less 10 the crowd. theie would not be so much com plaint os the decline of true religion. Many ot the ministers ol the present day take their text from S,. Paul, and preach from the newspapers. When they do so. l. prefer to enjny my own thoughts rather than to listen. lwant my pastor to come to me in the spitit of the gospel, saying You are naortak;. your probation is brief your work mus. be done speedily. You are immortaltoo. You are hasiening to the bar of God j; the Judge standeth be. fore the door.'' When 1. am thus ad. monished. ! have no disposition to muse or to'sleep.-These topics. said Mr. Web, ster. have often occupied my thoughts l and if l had time. ! would write upon them myself. ,'..
 The above remarks are but a meager and imperfect abstract. from; memory. of one of the most eloquent se.mons to which l ever listened. .-- Congregational. Journal.