circumstance in itself a proof of its divine origin,' its truth is supported by evidences so various, weighty, and conclusive, as are more than sufficient when fairly examined to satisfy any reasonable mind. And so far from its inspiration being questionable, it must be considered one of the best attested truths we are acquainted with. Indeed, with the exception of our own entity or personal existence, there is scarcely any fact more strongly or indisputably demonstrated than the divine authorship of the Scriptures. And were it possible to shew that all the vast array of evidences that have sufficed for ages to convince the greatest minds, and which appeal with such irresistible force to our reason and judgment are delusive, we must henceforth regard the testimony of our senses and the deductions of reason as deceptive, and look upon what we now consider self-evident realities and simple truths, as false and unreal, and believe, agreeably to the absurd speculations of the Vedas, that all is Maya or illusion!

To be a Deist or unbeliever after examining the Scripture evidences requires the most extreme credulity. For what credulity or superstition can exceed that which persuades men, (if indeed they are really persuaded in their minds), on the ground of some one difficulty or disagreement, fancied or real, something that they do not, and will not take pains to comprehend or reconcile, that this won

"Credo quia incredibile est," remarks the author of the "Religio Medici," quoting, I believe, St. Augustine: implying, I suppose, that the declaration of truths which man's uninspired reason had never attained to, must command belief in them as a revelation from God. And Dr. Cumming observes "If the Bible did not contain many things which transcend the grasp of my mind, I should say it was a very strong presumption that the Bible was not from God."

2 Dr. Nelson, in his work on Infidelity, shews from his experience that scarcely a single unbeliever is proof against an honest, sincere investigation of the evidences of Christianity.

derful record, the sacred Scripture, preserved from the earliest ages so marvellously—which not only claims to be the word of the living God to man, but proves it by disclosing to us the inconceivable and never-imagined attributes of the Most High,-which presents to our contemplation sublimer philosophy than ever entered into the heart of any human philosopher to conceive, and a moral code of unequalled purity and perfection, and completely adapted to the nature of man,-which alone explains the origin of evil, and of man's imperfect enigmatical condition,-which exhibits so perfect and surprising an agreement and harmony in all its parts, though written by such diverse writers, under such different circumstances, and at such remote intervals from each other; and such perfect unity of design as is inexplicable, save by the fact that One was its author, even God:-What credulity, I say, can equal that which believes this unequalled volume, which bears on it the divine impress so evidently, is a mere human invention of different authors, writing at distant periods through thousands of years!

The Deist must believe that the various series of prophecies relating to the Jews, Ishmaelites, Edom, Moab, Nineveh, Babylon, Egypt, Tyre, the Seven Churches of Asia, etc., so indisputably, literally, and remarkably fulfilled,' were fortunate guesses, strangely falling out correctly in every instance, and in every tittle of each prediction, however improbable of fulfilment! He must believe that the numberless promises and prophecies of Messiah running through the Scripture for thousands of years, and which were all so accurately and marvellously fulfilled in every the minutest circumstance foretold, and notwithstanding their apparently contradictory nature, in Jesus of Nazareth, were a series of unmeaning rhapsodies, inexplicably tallying exactly, in all the hundreds of circumstances

1 See Keith's Evidence of Prophecy.