the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them." Verse 28. "And Samson

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called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein so the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.” Thus, as Samson, when his eyes were put out, made sport for his enemies, who gave praise to their god, so the church, who, after having been made to grind in the prison-house of persecution, under the bloody and cruel tyranny of a set of anti-christian popes, became the sport of her persecutors, who exultingly imagined, that, because they had taken from her the written word of the old and new testaments, and so put out her eyes, they had gained a complete triumph over her the church of Christ at that time did begin to show signs of returning strength; for, like as Samson made use of the lad to guide him to the pillars that supported the house of their idol, and began to terribly shake them, so did the church, in the person of Luther, at the time of the Reformation, (when her enemies fancied themselves most secure,) by faith lay hold on the pillars of the church of Rome-the "scarlet whore, the mother of harlots, drunk with the blood of the

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saints" and shook them to the very foundation; and still they are shaking, and I hope soon her destruction will be complete, as likewise that of every anti-christian doctrine in existence. Even so, amen, is the hearty prayer of the author.

THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECIES.

In entering upon the evidence of prophecies, I shall be very brief, inasmuch as there is a small and cheap work, entitled "Keith on Prophecy," published by the Religious Tract Society, in which all the leading prophecies of the sacred scriptures, with their literal fulfilment, are delineated in such a lucid manner, that it is impossible for the most obstinate opponents of scripture, if they be honest, to controvert the evidences of the truth of the scriptures, which the author deduceth therefrom. Therefore I will only observe, that the birth, life, death, resurrection, and kingdom of Christ the Saviour of the world, the promised seed announced by the voice of God to our first parents, as likewise the opposition his kingdom should meet with from the seed of the serpent, the powers of darkness, forms the theme of all the prophecies, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last verse of Revelations. And, so exactly were all the peculiar circumstances of his birth, the kind of life he would live, the cruel treatment he would receive at the hands of his countrymen, the death they would put him to, and the most singular coincidences connected therewith, foretold by the prophecies of the old testament, that it is impossible for any honest enquirer after truth to be mistaken as to their meaning.

But the infidel will answer, Ah, it was easy

enough for a book to be so compiled by a set of cunning impostors, as to make the prophecies of the old testament and the history of Christ harmonize together. To which I answer, that the very men who were the immediate instruments of causing the circumstances of the death of Christ to perfectly coincide with the prophecies concerning the same, were of all men the most unlikely for the purpose, inasmuch as they were his bitterest enemies, and whose posterity, although still retaining all the prophecies concerning him, as the infallible word of God, yet remain his implacable foes. Therefore, the prophecies concerning Christ, and their exact accomplishment, could not possibly have been brought about by the cunning craft of man, seeing that many of those prophecies were delivered hundreds of years prior to his advent, which the Jews themselves, although his enemies, are forced to acknowledge. For Moses, one thousand four hundred and fifty-one years before his birth, prophecied of him thus, Deut. xviii. 15, “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken," &c. And, again, Isaiah, ix. 6, nine hundred and forty years prior to his birth, prophecied of him thus, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end," &c. And Zechariah, xi. 12, five hundred and eighty-seven years before the event, prophecied concerning the price for

which he was to be betrayed, in these words, "So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them!" &c.

But I might go on, multiplying my texts to a vast extent upon the subject, for the Bible is full of them, as may be seen in the valuable book I have before referred to. But it matters not what evidence may be produced in favour of the scriptures to such persons, whose heads are right, whilst their hearts are wrong; some of whom are fool-hardy enough to deny that ever such a person as Jesus Christ existed, notwithstanding it is a fact better attested and supported by corroborative evidence than any other historical fact that was ever recorded. And, although the Jews are the bitterest enemies of Christ, yet have I never met with one of that nation that would attempt to deny it. But the honest enquirer after truth, who sincerely wishes to be set right, may soon be convinced; because the more he studies his character, the more he sees of the holiness and loveliness of it; and the more he is made to know of the corruption of his own heart, the more he sees the need of such a Saviour; and the deeper he searches for evidence that such a Saviour existed, and died for lost sinners, the more clear does the fact stand forth. He reads, Gen. xlix. 10, where the good old patriarch Jacob, in delivering a prophetical blessing to his son Judah, says, (alluding to the period of the coming of the Saviour into the world,) "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gather

ing of the people be." He next refers to the historical account of the birth of Christ, and finds that it occurred at the very time when the Jews were without a king of their own, and ruled by Roman authority. And when he finds that his life, death, and resurrection, with every circumstance connected therewith, were in perfect harmony with all the prophecies cencerning him, he is perfectly satisfied upon that point; therefore is induced next to examine the doctrines he taught, and the holy and lovely example he set; and, to his admiration and astonishment, he finds that his whole life was spent in doing good; that the example he set and the precepts he taught, were in opposition to the villainy and hypocrisy of the age in which he performed his mission; that he went about doing good, healing all diseases, casting out devils, &c. by the mighty power of Godthereby proving that he was equal with God; and, by the visible manifestation of the love of God, that he was the friend of sinners, and the Saviour of the world-the mighty God, and yet the lowly Man-God and Man in one person; who, according to human wisdom, took the most unlikely method of establishing his kingdom; because, contrary to the wisdom of the world, instead of choosing the wisest and craftiest of men to accomplish his purpose, he chose twelve poor fishermen, and took them to be witnesses of all his miraculous works of love, and sent them forth to preach his gospel.

Thus is the honest enquirer after truth led on, step by step, until convinced that the word of God is no cunningly devised fable. He reads in that blessed book, that "the testimony of Jesus is