enforced by human laws:-the passions of avarice, pride, hatred, malice, and envy, are productive of a large portion of the miseries of mankind: but these cannot be restrained by human authority, or by the mere rules or reasonings of moral philosophy. Some of the Heathen philosophers and legislators, as Zoroaster, Pythagoras, Solon, Lycurgus, and others, were so convinced of this, that they endeavoured to persuade the people, that the laws they set before them were given by divine revelation. Mankind are conscious that they are responsible to the Divine Being alone for their motives and feelings, and only by His authority will they allow them to be controlled.

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4. If, however, men would submit to the authority of moral philosophers and human legislators, they must then be involved in circumstances of great perplexity from the conflicting opinions entertained, on questions of the greatest importance, by those who as philosophers and legislators have given laws to mankind. Actions which some moral philosophers and legislators have denounced as crimes, have by others been extolled as virtues. In fact, there is scarcely any vicious action which has not been represented, by some of them, as allowable, if not commendable. Lying-theft-adultery-suicidemurder-infanticide and parricide, have been extolled as virtues. These enormities have been perpetrated without exciting disgust, or shame, not only by barbarous nations, but also by those nations who have obtained high renown for their high state of civilization, for their knowledge of natural philosophy, and of the arts and sciences. out referring to any other, we may mention the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, and Hindoos. Man, however, is a creature sustaining relations, not only to his fellow-men, but also to his Creator. His mind seeks to know something about the author of his being-he longs to know, whether the consciousness of guilt he now feels is the forerunner of future misery,-whether there is Mercy in God? When man looks abroad upon the works of God, he sees proofs of infinite wisdom, and almighty power, he also discovers many indications of divine goodness, but there are not wanting indications also of the divine displeasure: storms, plagues, pestilence and disease, in all their varied forms afflict the children of men, and sooner or later all the joys of life are terminated by death. Man asks-is there mercy in God-is there an hereafter-can a sinner be pardoned-shall I be for ever happy or miserable? To all these inquiries reason is dumb,-philosophy is without a voice,-or if a voice is heard, it is in faltering accents, which leave the inquirer unsatisfied, and produce only the conviction, that man needs to be taught truth by a revelation from the Author of his being; and that unless God makes known his will to man, he must remain in a state of miserable ignorance of those things, the knowledge of which is indispensable to the right employment of those powers with which he has been endowed by God his maker. From the preceding observations we conclude-1. That there is no antecedent impossibility preventing God from revealing his will to man. 2. That man is a moral agent, capable of receiving knowledge of the will of God. 3. That man obviously needs a direct revelation from God of his will; and without such a revelation is lost in moral darkness, involved in distressing doubt and perplexity, both as to his duty here, and his con

dition hereafter. We therefore conclude that such a revelation is not impossible; and, admitting the divine goodness, it appears probable, that such a revelation should be given to man.

Supposing a revelation to be given to man by God, He must either make a direct communication to every man, to whom he is pleased to make his will known,—or he must make his will known to one or more persons, and commission him, or them, to make it known to others. From the method usually employed by God in communicating benefits to man, we should be led to expect, that God would employ the latter plan-He usually employs agents and secondary means for the accomplishment of his purposes.

III. We now proceed to enquire, by what means might a revelation given by God be authenticated, so that those to whom it is afterwards communicated, may be positively assured of its divine origin? The answer to this question will embrace several particulars.

First.— The truth and divine authority of a revelation might be evidenced,-By manifest interpositions of divine power producing effects which could only be thus produced, and by these acts of divine energy being exerted at the instance of persons professing to speak in the name of God. For example, suppose, that a person professing to be authorised to reveal the will of God to man, were, in proof of his divine commission, to command the waters of a great river, or arm of the sea, to divide and make a passage, by which he and others should pass over; and the waters were then instantly to separate, and, contrary to the laws of fluid bodies, to stand as walls on either side, until he and his companions were passed over, and then that the waters should immediately flow back into their former channel,—this would be a manifest act of divine power, confirming the divine commission of him at whose instance it was done. This would be what is designated a MIRACLE, and there would be very strong reason to conclude, that God had put forth his power to prove that the person at whose instance the miracle had been wrought, was His servant and declared His will in fact, there would be a certainty that such was the case; no doubt could be entertained.

Secondly.-The truth of a divine revelation would be evidenced, if those by whom the revelation was given, were to foretell or predict future and distant events, which no human wisdom could possibly foresee, and by the subsequent accomplishment of those events. The more distant and improbable those events were at the time of their prediction, and the more distinct and particular the circumstances foretold, the stronger would be the evidence; and if those events were accomplished by the agency of persons who were either ignorant of the predictions, or ignorant of their meaning, then the evidence would receive additional support; and if there were a great number of such predictions relating to events spread over a large proportion of the world, and over a large portion of time; and if every one of these predictions received its accomplishment at the appointed time, the evidence in support of the divine authority of the revelation containing these predictions would be unquestionable.

Thirdly. This evidence might receive additional confirmation. From the credibility, excellency, and harmony of the truth re

vealed. If the Divine Being were to give a revelation to man, it might be expected, that it would be of such truths as are most important for him to know the knowledge of which, by other means, he would not be likely to obtain; the truths therefore would be adapted to the necessities of man's moral nature ;-it might also be expected that a revelation from God would partake of the character of His works, in creation and general government of the world; that there would be simplicity, blended with sublimity; light with darkness; bounteous goodness, as proceeding from a compassionate parent; and the manifestations of a sovereign offended at the disobedience of those who ought to submit to His rule. We also add, that if the revelation professed to have been given by different persons at different, and distant periods of time;-if the historical events referred to, either directly or incidently, were, upon the most rigid investigation, found to correspond with the testimony of all accredited historians;-if the writers recording the revelation gave the strongest possible proofs of their own sincerity; recording their own faults, and the iniquities and humiliation of their countrymen; suffering persecution and death in support of the truth of their testimony;-if these writings had been received, as of divine authority, from the time when they were first delivered; and if these successive revelations harmonised with each other, so that there were nothing discordant in all the variety of statements; that without any formal attempt at unity, perfect unity was produced-unity of doctrine and of spirit-proving that although the writings were given to the world at distant periods of time, one spirit must have indited the whole,-then we say, that all these circumstances would, as accumulative evidence, strengthen the conviction that the revelation is unquestionably of divine authority.

Fourthly.-This evidence would be further confirmed by a supernatural energy accompanying the revelation. If those to whom it became known, and who received it as divine, were, by adopting the means which it directs, brought to possess certain great advantages which it promised to those who obey its directions; if thus they were made partakers of a divine power, changing their hearts, causing them to hate evil, and to love that which is good, making them good members of civil society, and enabling them to die in peace, and in hope of everlasting life; then it might truly be said that such effects could not be produced, except by a divine energy and if that energy were in numberless cases exerted through such a revelation, and if these effects were produced in every case in which it is received and obeyed, then it might be confidently affirmed, that a revelation thus accompanied by divine power, must be of divine authority; and if all the evidences before referred to unite in attesting the truth of a professed revelation, we must either act most irrationally, or conclude that such a revelation is from God, and that it demands the confidence and obedience of all to whom it is made known.

IV. The volume designated "The Bible" professes to be a revelation of divine truth, communicated by God to man; and it requires us to submit to its authority on pain of the displeasure of God its author. The prophets delivered their testimony, saying:

"Thus saith the Lord;" They profess to record what God hath spoken. An Apostle says, "God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son," and further affirms, when referring to the sacred writings," All scripture is given by inspiration of God." The Apostles professed also to write their Epistles to the Churches under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; thus the Bible claims to be a revelation of the will of God to man.

The divine authority of the Old Testament has ever been admitted by that most astonishing people the Jews, who appear to have been most remarkably preserved by Providence, a distinct people amongst all the nations of the earth, although they have been dispersed abroad among all nations for many hundreds of years. The past and present condition of that people furnishes strong testimony to the truth of those Scriptures, the divine authority of which the Jews have always acknowledged.

From the commencement of the Christian era, all who have professed Christianity have acknowleged the divine authority of the writings of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles, contained in the Bible. If the most extraordinary events recorded in the New Testament occurred, they fully demonstrate the truth of both Christianity and the Bible; and Christians at the time those events are said to have occurred chose rather to suffer death than deny that those events took place this we know from the testimony of those who ridiculed and opposed them, as well as from their own testimony; and all succeeding Christians have professed the same faith in the divine authenticity of the Holy Scriptures; and Roman historians bear ample testimony to the sufferings endured by the first Christians in defence of Christianity.

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V. In the preceding observations, we have assumed, that the writings contained in the Bible are of great antiquity, and that they were written by different men at distant periods of time. It is however important that these statements should be proved. Upon an inquiry of so much importance, we ought not to assume any position which cannot be sustained by sufficient proof. In support then of what we have assumed as to the antiquity of the Sacred Writings, and of their having been given to mankind, by different persons, at different ages of the world, we proceed to observe that we have the required evidence. 1.In the great number of ancient copies of the Holy Scriptures, which have been found and collected in different parts of the world; the number and the age of the manuscripts or written copies of the Scriptures prove, that they were generally circulated at the earliest age from which any remains of literature have descended to us.

2.-In many of the writings of antiquity, yet extant, references are made to the Holy Scriptures; the facts contained in them are mentioned, and quotations are made from them: some of those references are found in the writings of those who did not believe the divine authority of the Scriptures. Hence, the antiquity of the Scriptures is established by those who were rejectors of the Scriptures. Tacitus and Suetonius, Roman historians, who lived more than seventeen hundred years since, make mention of Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius

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was punished with death, as a criminal, by the procurator Pontius Pilate; " Celsus, the philosopher, who in the second century wrote. against Christianity, referred to the writings of the Evangelists; and besides those, many other writers of antiquity refer to the Holy Scrip

tures.

3.-There is abundant historical proof, that, from a period long anterior to the commencement of the Christian era, the Jews were possessed of the writings contained in the Old Testament, regarding them with great veneration, and preserving them with the utmost care; esteeming them as the genuine productions of the men whose names they bear; a circumstance utterly unaccountable, if not impossible, unless those writings had been made known, at the times at which, and by the men by whom those writings profess to have been written. If they had not been so made known, they would have been so palpably spurious, that they never could have been received as the Jews received them and there is sufficient evidence to show that at least the books of Moses were translated into the Greek language near 300 years before the date of the birth of Christ. Josephus, the Jewish historian, who lived in the middle of the first century of the Christian era, and other writers of about that time, refer to this translation, and have given quotations from it.

4. The yet higher antiquity of the Old Testament is attested by the language or languages, and the style in which the different books of which it is composed, are written. It is known to all persons who have any acquaintance with the history of language, that all living, or spoken languages, are in a state of constant change; that new words are from time to time adopted, some old words become obsolete, or go out of use, or the significations for which they are used are changed; alterations are made in the orthography, or letters of which words are composed, so that when writings in the same language, but of distant periods, are compared together, a very marked difference appears in the orthography and style for instance, the English language as written and spoken in the fifteenth century, is very dissimilar to that which is now written and spoken. The five books of Moses claim to have been written before any other part of the Scriptures. From those books we learn, that at the time of Moses the people of the Jews were in circumstances which would indicate, that, as a people, they had then possessed little or no opportunity to attend to the embellishment of their style of writing and although Moses was skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians, yet, as the Egyptians despised the Jews, it is not probable, that the Hebrew language was studied in the schools of Egypt; and therefore it is probable Moses would write Hebrew somewhat differently to what it would be written at a more advanced period, when the Jews had, by giving enlarged attention to literature, become a more polished people.

When the Jews became settled in Canaan, and enjoyed the blessings of peace and national prosperity, it is reasonable to suppose that they would direct their attention to the improvement of their literature, and that the books written at that time would be improved in the style of their composition; and if the Jews were ever conquered by a