overwhelm them; yet they murmured and rebelled, and bowed down and worshipped idols, and left the God of their salvation. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

But it may be asked, "Is there evidence that the Bible is God's book?" I cannot enter upon this now, nor is it necessary that I should. There is no evidence-there can be no evidence more conclusive in the whole range of moral and intellectual science, than that which demonstrates that the Bible is the book of God. The excellence, the beauty, the spotlessness of its morality, the sublimity, the supernatural grandeur of its truths-truths which the highest and most gifted of ancient philosophers never dreamed of, the self-sacrificing lives of its preachers, its apostles and evangelists, the martyrdoms they joyfully met, the toils and perils which they gloriously encountered, are all evidences of its inspiration. We can prove to demonstration, that the men who wrote the Gospels copied from a living original. The other day I saw a cast of the countenance of Shakspeare; and it was a matter of dispute whether it was really taken from the original, as persons now take casts with plaster of Paris. A difference was observed in the sides of the face. A little muscle was noticed, which exhibited itself about one eye, which was wanting in the other; and from this, and certain other characteristic features, the conclusion is irresistible, that the cast was literally taken from the face of the great dramatic poet. Now, if you read the Gospels as I studied Shakspeare's face, you will come to the conclusion, that the evangelists copied from a living original; that they did not transcribe from a copy, but that they had the original before them, which they transferred with all the perfection and none of the peculiarities of the daguerreotype, or the calotype, upon

the glorious page of the word of God. Need I remind you of the other evidences that this book is true-of the miracles that sealed it, of which we have infinite evidence? Need I add, that from the day when the patriarch slept, till the present moment, each prophecy, as it came to be fulfilled, has been like something rising from the dead, testifying to man that God inspired the one and watched over the performance and completion of the other? These are all voices from below, and voices from above; analogies from nature, intimations from conscience, conclusions from reason, and inferences from facts to this great proposition, (and would to God that the Holy Spirit would make it a living conviction in every heart,) "Thy word, O God, is truth!"

I must draw one or two inferences before I close. If the Bible is sufficient to lead us to the knowledge of everlasting life, it is impious to ask for any additional evidence. If the sun is sufficient to illuminate us by mid-day, it is absurd to ask for a hand-lamp to guide us through the fields. If you have access to the fountain, you need not care much about a "canonized cup" to draw with. If we have God's great word vouched to be sufficient—a fortiori sufficient, because it has the evangelists and apostles, added to Moses and the prophets, then we need nothing more; we must ask for nothing more, we must look for nothing more. If on this evidence the Bible be sufficient to lead us to a knowledge of everlasting life, let us not forget our solemn responsibility in possessing it. Every man may thus carry in his pocket the witness that may condemn him, or the "savour of life unto life," by which he may be saved. If men would only read the Bible, if they would only study it honestly and impartially, they would find it impossible to escape the conclusion that this book is the inspiration of God. It needs no great extent of ex

ternal, or internal, or experimental evidence; it only needs an honest reading. The greatest skeptics, I have ascertained, have admitted that they only read snatches and scraps of the Bible, that they never read it for any other purpose than to find out flaws in it, just as Zoilus read Homer of old, not to admire his beauties, but to detect defects. Those who read the Bible to find flaws in it, and therefore to reject it, will find their discoveries to be stings. and lashes, tormenting their souls when time shall be no more. Let us recollect that the Bible is the last revelation that we shall receive in this dispensation. So much so, that if I were to see descend into the midst of the sanctuary literally and truly an angel from heaven, filling the whole place with his splendour, and every soul with a sense of his glory—if that angel were to preach to me that justification by the righteousness of Christ alone, is what the Puseyites call a Satanic, Lutheran doctrine, and that we are justified only by our own merits, admitted into heaven only through the efficacy of our own blood, I would not trouble to canvass that angel's credentials. I would have nothing to do with him. I would bid him be off. I would say, let him be anathema. Say what you like, consistent with the Bible, and I will listen to you; but if you say any thing against it, and say to me that you are commissioned so to declare, I can have nothing to do with you. "For," says the apostle Paul, if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which ye have received, let him be anathema." And what "we" was this? The recent convert from Damascus. He supposes the possibility, and admits the hypothesis, that an apostle might preach another gospel. If Paul, or some one in Paul's name, professing to have authority, were to preach to me another gospel than that which I have received, I would say, let him be anathema. The apostle

says "any other" gospel, which is not "another;" there are two distinct words used. It is (étepov) a succeeding gospel-not merely something contradictory, but something additional to the gospel. Such would not be (allo) another gospel, but a totally different gospel. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son from heaven." I have heard Christ's voice, and I will hear no other. I have seen his glory; I dare not suffer any other to supersede it. I have his word; I cannot add to it, lest its curses be added to me; I dare not subtract from it, lest my portion in the book of life be taken from me.

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LECTURE VI.

THE VINEYARD LABOURERS.

For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vìneyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto them, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.-MATT. xx. 1–16.

ONE of the most frequent symbols under which the kingdom of heaven, that is, the dispensation of the gospel, is represented in Scripture, is that of a vineyard. We can scarcely open a single book without finding allusion to it. Thus, in Isaiah v. 1, 2, “Now will I sing to my wellbeloved, a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill;