all his works and dispensations is to be his own glory; that is, the manifestation and demonstration of his perfections, as the self-existent, and the creator and the owner of all, in acts and works of power, wisdom, righteousness, and goodness, in forms and on a scale that constitute a proper ground for the love and homage of his creatures, and will be the means of the loftiest happiness to those who love and serve him. And this distinguishes the Scriptures from all other theologies. None of the pagan religions exhibited their gods as acting with a foresight of all that was future, and with aims that embraced all that concerned them, and stretched through unending years. As their deities were

but creatures, their agencies and aims were like those of men, confined in the main to the present, and perpetually varied and turned to new directions by events and causes which they could neither foresee nor evade.

And this is a proof that the Scriptures are a revelation from God. As none but he could act for the infinite ends he is pursuing in the creation and rule of his works, so none but he could make known what those ends are, and show that they are to be the result of his administration. His infinite greatness above creatures appears naturally in this diversity of his ways from their ways, and elevation of his thoughts above their thoughts, as the heavens are high above the earth.

It is manifest that a being of such attributes, giving existence to such a universe, and reigning over it for such ends, would, as a means to those ends, make known to his intelligent creatures his moral character, assert his rights over them, impose on them laws for the guidance of their conduct towards him and one another, and use all other proper measures to lead them to the knowledge, the love, the trust, the obedience, and the blessedness that are suitable. to their nature and pleasing and honorable to him. Such a course is obviously essential to his own perfection, as well as to their well-being. Not to assert his rights, would be to treat them as though they were of no importance to himself, and as though they were no necessary ground of obligation to his creatures; which were infinitely inconsistent with truth. Not to reveal his character to them, would be to treat it as though it were of no interest to them, and debar

them from that needful means of their own moral perfection and the blessedness of loving, adoring, and imitating him. It would, moreover, be infinitely to misrepresent himself; as it would imply either that he has not the moral perfections that form his character, or that his aims and dispositions are different from what they are. And that would be supremely unjust to himself, and malign and injurious to them.

It is intuitively certain, therefore, in this relation, both that he would reveal himself to his moral creatures, and that he would reveal himself in the greatness and majesty of his moral perfections-his holiness, his righteousness, his truth, his love, his hatred of evil, his rights; and that he would assert his title to the homage and love of his creatures, and require of them the affections and actions that are due to him because of his nature and relations, and requisite to their own moral perfection and happiness. Not to do it would be to disown himself, to contradict his own attributes, to refuse the agency that becomes his station and relations, to defeat the ends for which he creates and reigns over his kingdom; and thereby forfeit his title to submission and adoration, and plunge his creatures into misery and sin. It is as certain then, as it is that he exists, that he will reveal himself to his intelligent creatures in his moral perfections, assert his rights, and institute a government over them of sanctitude, justice, truth, benignity, and aversion to evil; that calls them to recognise, love, and adore him in his holiness and rectitude, and to cherish the affections also, and act on the principles towards one another that become their nature and relations, and are requisite to their perfection and happiness.

And judged by this test, also, the Scriptures are indubitably his word. The revelation he makes in the Bible is pre-eminently a revelation of himself as moral governor. The whole aim of the communications that are there recorded, is to make himself known as the self-existent, the almighty, the all-knowing, the all-holy, the Creator, upholder, and owner of all; assert his rights to the homage of men because of his natural and moral perfections, and his relations; and institute and enforce laws prescribing the duties that are due to him from men, and due from them to

one another. He enjoins a homage and service that are suitable to his nature and station on the one side, and to their capacities and relations on the other; and his injunctions extend to all their powers, all their conditions, and all their acts. None of the gifts with which they are endowed, are omitted in his legislation; and no species or degree of excellence of which they are capable is left unrequired. And his laws are enforced by sanctions commensurate in their greatness with the immeasurable interests of his glory and their well-being that are involved in their conduct.

And this is an indubitable proof that they are from God. No being but Jehovah could institute a government so consonant to his perfections, relations, and rights, and suited to the nature of men. It is marked in every line by his omniscience, all-perfect wisdom, infinite righteousness, infinite holiness, infinite goodness, and unchangeableness of rectitude and purpose. None but he could frame a government like his, that extends to all the powers, relations, thoughts, and actions of his creatures, and demands a perfect rectitude from them. None of the religions fabricated by men have any such character. They ascribe to their deities no such moral perfections; they make no such discrimination between good and evil; they take little or no notice of the principles, thoughts, and affections of men. Their gods are but monsters of wickedness; and their religions, instead of prohibiting and restraining, sanction the evil principles and passions of men, and lead them into lower depths of debasement and wickedness.

The Bible is thus discriminated in the most striking manner from the works of men. It bears the stamp most conspicuously of a divine original. It can no more be

accounted for, except as a revelation from God, than the material universe can, except as the work of his creative fiat. The nature of the one is as demonstrative that he is its author as the nature of the other is.

It is manifest that a being of such perfections, creating such an empire, and instituting over it such a government, will exercise such a providence over his moral creatures as to put them to a decisive trial of their allegiance, and mani

fest his judgment of their conduct.

He will not content

himself with simply promulgating his will, and leave his creatures to obey or not, as they please, without responsibility for their acts. He will require them to recognise and respect his rights. He will enforce his will, and will verify his promises and his threatenings. If they obey, he will crown them with the blessings which he pledged as the reward of obedience; and if they rebel, he will signify his displeasure by inflicting the penalty he threatened as the punishment of sin. Not to take that course would be to treat his rights as without the truth and sanctity which his assertion of them implies; and his laws as without the authority which he ascribes to them in enacting them and enforcing them with penalties; and to render his government ineffective, and but a shadow. But that would be to contradict his perfections, defeat the ends of his government, and plunge his moral creatures into sin. No administration is so irreconcilable with his rectitude and wisdom and so impossible to him, as one that treats holiness as of little significance and favors and fosters sin. It is as certain, therefore, as it is that he is holy, wise, righteous, benevolent, and unchangeable in his perfections, that he will enforce his laws. He will place his creatures under a necessity of showing decisively their dispositions towards him, and he will manifest in his providence his approval of their obedience, and disapprobation of their rebellion.

And tried by this criterion, it is manifest again that the Scriptures are the Word of God. For they everywhere exhibit it as the law of his government that his moral creatures universally should be put to a decisive trial of their allegiance, and represent his providence over them after their trial as adjusted to the relations they have assumed to him, and the good or evil character they display; so that they and the universe may know what the sentiments are with which he regards them, and see the harmony of his procedure with his perfections, his rights, and his word. Thus, when our first parents revolted, he withdrew from them his Spirit, excluded them from his favor, and pronounced on them a sentence to physical evils, and at length to death; and thereafter shaped his whole providence over them conformably to their character and condition as offenders. And

this is a feature of his administration over the race through all subsequent ages of the greatest conspicuity and significance. And it is a direct and resistless proof that the Scriptures are from him. The whole of his providential administration over the race, since their fall, proceeds on the fact that the covenant with the first pair that is revealed in the Bible was instituted by him, and that they violated that covenant, and drew on their posterity the evils in which they are now involved. And in like manner, all the remedial measures instituted to restore the race from revolt, and embodied in the Bible, proceed on the fact that he is the author of that covenant with Adam and Eve, and of the judicial and disciplinary providence that has been founded on it. They are all indubitably the work of the same being; and he cannot be denied to be the author of the laws contained in the Bible, without denying that he is the author of the providence which is founded on the fact that man has violated those laws. If he is not the author of the laws, how can he be the author of the providence in which penal evils are inflicted on every individual of the race for the violation of those laws, and the identical evils which they threaten as the penalty of their violation? To suppose that those evils are not penalties of his law, is to suppose that they are gratuitous. But to suppose them to be gratuitous is to suppose them to be immeasurably unrighteous and malevolent. For what more stupendous injustice can be conceived than that the whole human family should be doomed to death as the penalty of revolt from his sway, if no such revolt has taken place; if no law has been enacted by him by which death is made the penalty of transgression? Such a procedure is impossible. It is as certain, therefore, that he is the author of the laws of the Bible, as it is that he is the author of the providence by which the penalty they threaten is inflicted on their violators. The proof that he is the revealer of the Bible is as direct, as vast, and as absolute as it is that he is the author of providence. It reaches every individual of the race, for every individual sooner or later meets the penalty of death; and it reaches and presses him in a thousand other shapes through every hour of his life. Every want, every pang, every sorrow, every fear, every disquiet with which he is smitten is the