of the steps to the Temple of Truth; a step far enough from being the last; and if it should unhappily be made our resting place, instead of one of the stages of our ascent, we shall find it but a comfortless and unsatisfactory position, scarcely out of sight of the dark abyss of atheism, and far below the light and security of that high abode which true religion has prepared for us.

On all accounts, then, it is infinitely desirable that revealed religion should be proved to be true. To resist fair and substantial evidence on its behalf, or to thrust its divine, its unrivalled benedictions from us, is to turn recreant to humanity, and renounce the purest and noblest aspirations of our nature. If what we hear within this temple of revealed truth is the voice of a divine oracle, proceeding from that same wisdom which designed the vast fabric of the visible universe, then we may expect, that there will be discoverable indubitable evidence of harmony with all the other parts of the system; and as, in natural theology, we can perceive a convergence of proof, arising from the physical and moral systems, to one and the same point, namely the identity of the author of both, so we may hope to trace in revelation a still more marked, refined, and complete correspondence with the physical system, with our universal history, and with our entire nature; and thus will be made certain the momentous, the deeply interesting proposition, that the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Founder of the moral system of man's nature, and the Author of the sacred volume, is ONE and THE SAME SUPREME and ETERNAL BEING.

There are chiefly two classes of arguments, or modes of reasoning, by which the sacred Scriptures are proved to be of divine inspiration; they are usually denominated the external and the internal evidences. The arrangement has been objected to, and it may not be strictly and critically exact, but it is sufficiently so for all ordinary purposes. These evidences it is not our intention to discuss, further

than as some portions of them will be necessarily involved in our design.

even after the ad

We propose to take the Bible upon its own pretensions, that we may have the opportunity of comparing it with facts, and thereby of showing, in case the argument shall be found satisfactory, that a strong additional evidence thus arises to its truth, and, consequently, to the identity of its authorship with that of the material system of the universe, and of the mental and moral constitution of man. This is the great proposition, the establishment of which, mission of the direct arguments for the inspiration of holy Scripture, seems essential to the triumph of the christian faith. If the other evidences are necessary to prove the divine authority of the written word, this is necessary to establish its truth practically. For although its veracity. would legitimately follow as a necessary inference, drawn by our reason from the already proved fact of divine inspiration, yet it will be an additional confirmation to our faith, of incalculable value, to perceive how its statements are experimentally and historically verified. In the one method we should infer its truth from its divine origin or inspiration; in the other we shall ascend from its accomplishment and verification to its inspiration, and its divine. authority will then follow as an undeniable inference.

The direct evidences are exceedingly numerous, arising from different and unconnected sources, complicated in their character, and continually augmenting. Virtually, or relatively to us, they may be denominated boundless and inexhaustible, because always progressive, thereby supplying matter to engage the diligent inquiries, and reward the fixed attention, of every successive generation; though to each, from the very first, has been afforded an ample sufficiency to justify its cordial reception of that measure of revelation which it possessed, and to render disbelief inexcusable. It is, however, particularly in the department of corroborative and historical evidence that

our advanced position in science proves a vantage ground for the further confirmation of Scripture. The records of history, the researches of philosophers, the discoveries of antiquarians and travellers, frequently make important additions to the general fund, and clear up points only partially known, or involved previously in doubt and mystery. All these sources are, at the present time, supplying numerous verifications of the Bible, which could not have been anticipated, but which are of great value in the general argument. Little, however, has yet been attempted in the way of collecting these scattered materials, reducing them to an orderly arrangement, or displaying them so as to make them bear conjointly on the evidence of inspiration. The very scantiness of what has been hitherto done in this department, while it may justify the present attempt, will, it is hoped, form some apology for the deficiency and immaturity which will doubtless be but too obvious to able and accomplished judges.

Some reasons for the present undertaking might be derived from the very nature of the argument we propose to pursue. It seems to possess, at least, one special recommendation. A very large proportion of the direct evidences, both internal and external, require much time, close attention, and some learning, duly to feel their force and appreciate their value: but, if I am not deceived, the argument to be adduced from the fulfilment and verification of the Scripture, is one that ordinary minds may more readily feel. Mankind at large display a greater aptness for perceiving a conclusion that depends upon experiment and fact, than one which rests upon abstract reasoning.

I shall now proceed to the first class of revealed truths or facts, which receive corroboration from our own proper knowledge and experience.

They may be denominated

THE NATURAL AND PHYSICAL FACTS RELATING TO THE

CREATION AND THE HUMAN RACE.

Date of the world-Extinct races-Geological epochs-Order of creationTheory of light-Origin of the human race in a single pair-Man's dominion over the mundane creation-The social propensity of mankind-The sentence denounced on the man and woman respectively after the fall.

Many distinct statements, brief indeed, but yet involving comprehensive and general principles, are laid down upon these subjects in the very first pages of revelation. From their remarkable agreement with what appears in the condition of man, and of this terrestrial creation, it seems highly improbable that they should have proceeded from any source but that which fully understood the nature, the laws, and the relations of all things. They appear to imply a knowledge which could not have been acquired by any of those means which men possess. They display an insight into the laws and facts of nature, which it is impossible to ascribe to the individual writer, or the people among whom he had received his education. If the information imparted by Moses upon the subjects about to be examined shall be found to be of so peculiar a character, so accurate, so comprehensive, so anticipative of all that has been brought to light by science and been experienced by ourselves, as to preclude the possibility of attributing it to the ordinary sources of human knowledge, we seem, then, to have no alternative left us, but to accede to his own statement; a statement, be it observed, supported by various other more direct evidences, that he was a prophet sent of God.

So far as general truths and universal principles of nature can be discovered by human effort, we know perfectly well, that great labour, cautious investigation, patient research, and much time are demanded. They require a large induction of particulars, and a great accumu

lation of facts, before they can be securely and confidently asserted. It is a rare case for such principles or truths to be brought to maturity by a single mind. The first, in general, merely suggests them. Others, frequently in a long succession, and after elaborate investigation, verify and prove them in all their bearings. When, therefore, we perceive how slowly great principles and general laws are discovered, even by the most comprehensive and accomplished minds in the present day, it must appear altogether incredible that Moses should have ascertained all the great natural truths, which he records, by his own researches, or have derived them from the wisdom of the Egyptians; for then they must have been common among all educated persons, and must have descended through many other channels besides the writings of Moses.

None, we presume, will attribute to him such vast attainments in human philosophy, as to suppose that his cosmogony was built upon principles which he himself had scientifically wrought out. This were a supposition so unsupported by any facts, and so wholly unsanctioned by analogy, that it would seem to require supernatural endowments, and in the issue, be found to imply scarcely less than the inspiration we claim for him. It would, indeed, involve far greater difficulties than the frank admission of his prophetic character. But the other supposition, which has been a favourite one with some adversaries, that the source of his extraordinary knowledge is to be found among the Egyptians, may be proved quite as untenable, and may be almost as readily disposed of.

There was a time, indeed, when Bailly, Voltaire, and Volney disturbed the faith of Christians, by their crude speculations upon the advanced state of Egyptian and Indian philosophy. They paraded their zodiacs and astronomical calculations, and determined the existence of science in those countries, to be at least ten or twenty thousand years prior to the date of Moses. And then there