edness of the heathen nations who have not yet received it, and the superior intelligence, the social and political elevation of those who have enjoyed its benefits, show that mankind greatly need a revelation from God.

2. It is not unreasonable to believe that God would give a revelation of his will to men. For without it, the highest capabilities of the human race could not be attained. The superior intelligence, bodily comfort, social order, and moral elevation of those nations, and communities, where the revelations of the Bible form the basis of their systems of mental culture, and of civil compact, contrasted with those nations which have not received the Bible as a revelation from the almighty Creator of the world, abundantly prove this to be true of man in the present life. And it is obvious that man needs a revelation from God, to enable him to prepare for the life that is to come.

3. It is reasonable to believe that God would cause this revelation to be committed to writing. That he can communicate the instructions which he designs to promulgate among men, to the mind of a man, so that it shall be recorded in "the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth," is as reasonable to believe, as that he first created the human mind, and gave to men the power of conception, of memory, and of expression. As it could not be transmitted from place to place, and from age to age, without being written, we should expect that it would be committed to writing, together with the proofs of its divine origin.

4. As the inspiration of a man to speak or write the infallible words of God is an invisible miracle, the certainty of which can be known only to him who professes to be inspired, the proper proof, before the world, of his inspiration, must be some visible miracle, or miracles; such as healing the sick, raising the dead, or giving sight to the blind, with a word; and in such circumstances as to make it plain that the miracles were special acts of divine power, exerted by God himself, to attest the claim of the message to be received as the testimony of God. The New Testament was written by men who performed miracles, and uttered

prophecies as proofs of their divine commission. They declare that they wrote the scriptures under the same influence as that by which they healed the sick, raised the dead, and foretold future events. They claimed that their works-evidently the direct, special product of divine powshould be received as proofs of the divine infallibility of their words.

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5. The excellence of the scriptures, the great superiority of their moral precepts, the purity and elevation of their doctrines, the perfect harmony of the writers, though they wrote without concert, and in different ages and places, and with great variety of style, their powerful and continually increasing influence to check sin, to promote holiness in men, to purify society, to increase intelligence, sustain justice, benevolence and public spirit, in short, to promote every interest dear to men in the present world, or cheering to their prospects in the world to come, prove that the Scriptures are not the forgeries of men, but are a revelation from God.

6. The four Gospels delineate a perfect, sinless character. Four different writers, each from his own point of view, have severally described Jesus Christ as a man who made no mistake, committed no fault, accomplished all he undertook. No such being had ever appeared on the earth before, no one has appeared since. The four Evangelists have either presented the character of Jesus Christ truly, or they have invented a fictitious one, with the intention to deceive. But it is impossible for imperfect men to invent a perfect character. In every effort to do so, they have left traces of their own imperfection. But the character of Jesus Christ, delineated by the Evangelists, is either a true and real one, or it is a forgery, perpetrated with a base, dishonest intention to deceive! Reason and common sense pronounce this to be impossible. The character of Christ, as there exhibited, is alone a sufficient proof of the truth of the description, unless we can believe so manifest an absurdity, as that dishonest men, with a dishonest intention, would invent, and hold up to the admiration of the world, a sinless and

perfect character. This argument alone, for the divine origin of the four Gospels, is unanswerable.

7. The Lord Jesus Christ testified most fully and clearly to the divine inspiration of the Old Testament. He called it "the word of God." (Mark 7: 13; Luke 4: 4; John 10: 35. He declared it to be infallible, and that in the minutest degree. Matt. 5: 18; Mark 14: 49; John 10: 35. He appeals to it on all occasions, as a perfect, unerring record, given by God. (Matt. 7: 12; 11: 10, 13; Mark 9: 12; 14: 21, 27; Luke 7: 27; 10: 26; 16: 16, 29; 20: 17; 24: 25, 27, 44. He refers to the greater part of the books by name, as written by prophets, and by those to whom they are ascribed, and he quotes their words as the infallible words of God.

8. The fulfillment of the prophecies proves the scriptures to be inspired. Many of them foretold events the most improbable at the time they were written, which have since received an exact, and most wonderful fulfillment. Those which relate to the posterity of Esau, and Jacob, to the condition of the Jews, to Nineveh, to Babylon, to Tyre, to Egypt, to the four great empires of the world, to the time of Christ's appearance, and many others, form a most unexceptionable and convincing proof, through every age, that the prophets wrote the unerring words of the Most High.

9. Finally, the scriptures, whose authenticity and truth are sustained by the most triumphant proofs, declare that they are divinely inspired, and should be received as the unmingled, infallible, and perfect words of God. "The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved (borne along) by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1: 27. This refers particularly to the writings of the prophets. They declare the same things of themselves, and of each other. A few instances will be given. Isaiah 1: 2, 10, 18; 2: 1; 3: 16; 6: 1-13; 7: 3-9; 8: 1,5; 43: 1-28; 50: 1; 56: 1

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of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue." 2 Sam. 23: 2. And Peter, "this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake." Acts 1: 16. Peter, also, confirms the inspiration of" all the epistles" of Paul, placing them, in this respect, on a level with " the other scriptures." 2 Peter 3: 15, 16. And by the hand of Paul we have the divine declaration that all the scriptures are "given by inspiration of God." 2 Tim. 3: 16. See, also, Heb. 1: 1,2; Acts 28: 25; 1 Cor. 14: 37; 1 Thess. 2: 13; 4: 8; 1 Pet. 1: 10, 11; Matt. 28: 19, 20; 10: 20; Mark 13: 11; Luke 12: 12; 21: 14, 15; Acts 1: 8.

These passages are but specimens of the testimony which the scriptures uniformly bear to the great truth, that they are from God. By inspiration, therefore, is not meant that all the persons whose words and actions are recorded in the Bible, were inspired when they did and said those things, nor that their conduct was right, because recorded in the scriptures; but that the men who wrote the scriptures, were so instructed, moved, guided, and restrained by the Spirit of God, that they recorded, truly and correctly, those things which ought to be recorded, and nothing more, free from the least error or omission. The inspired writers wrote the very words, and all the words, which God intended they should write in the sacred scriptures, and no others. They ought, therefore, to be received as the perfect, infallible words of God, to be interpreted according to the laws of language; and every truth which they reveal, every doctrine they teach, every positive institution they enjoin, every duty which they inculcate, ought to be implicitly believed and obeyed.

SECT. 2. Of God's Existence and Attributes.

The scriptures teach that there is one God Gen. 1: 1; Ex. 3: 14; Deut. 6: 4; 32: 39; and one only Is. 44: 6, 8; Mark 12: 29; 1 Cor. 8: 4, 6; 1 Tim. 2: 5; who is eternal Deut. 32: 40; 33: 27; Psalms 90: 2;

102: 26, 27; Dan. 12:7; Rom. 1: 20; Rev. 10: 6; the maker and creator of all things, and of all other beings; Gen. 1:-2: 7; Neh. 9: 6; Ps. 33: 6, 9; Heb. 2: 10; 3: 4; Rom. 11: 36; Col. 1: 16 almighty Gen. 18: 14; 17: 1; Matt. 19: 26; Rev. 19: 6; invisible { John 1: 18; Col. 1: 15; 1 Tim. 6: 16; Heb. 11: 27; every. where present { Ps. 139:—Prov. 15: 3; Jer. 23: 24; Eph. 1: 23; perfect in knowledge of every thing, great and small, past and future, visible and invisible Ps. 147: 5; Prov. 15: 11; Acts 15: 18; Matt. 10: 29, 30; 1 John 3:20; Ps. 139: 1-15; infinitely benevolent (Ex. 34: 6; Ps. 145:9; Luke 6: 35; 1 John 4:8-11; holy (Lev. 19: 2; Is. 4:3; wise Rom. 11: 33; Col. 2:3; Is. 40: 28 ; of perfect justice Rom. 2: 5, 6; Psalms 5:4-6; Rev. 15: 3) and veracity; Deut. 32: 14; Num. 23: 19; John 3: 33; 17: 17 gracious and merciful (Ps. 51: 1; 103: 13; John 3: 6; Tit. 3: 4; Eph. 2: 4, 5; immutable in his being and purposes Ps. 102: 24, 27; Mal. 3: 6; James 1: 17; Ps. 33: 11; Acts 2: 23; whose existence is manifest from the works of creation (Rom. 1: 20; Ps. 14: 1 and the workings of the human conscience { Rom. 2: 13-15.

The works of creation, also, are full of clear and undisputable proofs of the existence of God, as well as of most of his attributes, as revealed in the scriptures. But natural theology is little understood, and very little studied, except when it is preceded and illustrated by the theology of revelation.

SECT. 3. Of God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The One only living and true God, infinite in every natural and moral perfection, has revealed himself in the scriptures as the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; the same in essence, equal in every divine perfection.

1. The divinity of Christ. The scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ, through whose agency, and for whom God created all things Eph. 3: 9; Col. 1: 16; Heb. 1: 2;