spired writers; but this circumstance only strengthens our argument, because the Bible is the original fountain, from which they are derived. It is a text book for moral and religious teaching, which knows no rival, and to the use and application of which there appears to be no limit.

We cannot calculate the amount of good which has been effected since the Christian era, by the ministry of the gospel and by the works of religious authors. Yet no preachers of the gospel, no writers on religion, have ever added any improvement to Christianity as it was first revealed. Whatsoever, in the preaching or writings of modern Christians, has any tendency to convert, purify, and save the souls of men, never fails to be found in its original form, in the Bible. How can we account for this unquestionable fact, except by the inspiration of the sacred writers?

The divine origin of Scripture becomes yet more evident, when we reflect upon its larger masses. The Psalms of David, for example, were composed a thousand years before the Christian era; yet even now, after the lapse of so many ages, they are daily food to multitudes, and are found applicable to Christian experience, the deepest and the most various. Does not this fact afford a palpable proof that they were given by inspiration?

When we meditate on the simplicity, har

Gospels, and on the information which they contain respecting the life, character, doctrine, death, and resurrection of Christ, our minds are filled with light; and we cannot refuse to allow that these unrivalled memorials were given to us of God.

I conceive that no man can truly imbibe the meaning of Paul, Peter, and John, in the doctrinal parts of their epistles, without arriving at a strong conviction, that doctrines so distinct and various, yet so exactly balanced; so novel and extraordinary, yet so satisfactory to the judgment, and so influential on the heart, must have flowed from the source of all knowledge and wisdom. Nor would any candid mind be likely to form a different opinion respecting the rich and full morality, which is to be found in the preceptive parts of those epistles, and in that most practical of treatises, the epistle of James.

As a last example we may mention the Revelation; for although that remarkable book abounds in difficulties, a fair consideration of its contents will convince us, that nothing but the pen of inspiration could have drawn such a picture of the then future destinies of the church, of the fearful struggle which she must still maintain against the powers of darkness, and of her complete victory and endless glory.

Thus, it appears, that both the smaller and larger divisions of the Bible bear evident marks of that divine wisdom from which they originated; but our convictions on the sub

ject cannot fail to be greatly strengthened when we observe the harmony of sentiment and doctrine which pervades the mighty whole. The Bible consists of numerous distinct works, -historical, prophetical, and didactic,-composed at a variety of dates, by very many individuals independent of each other, who differed in character, circumstance, and condition; and yet these writings all point in one direction, and combine in developing one system of truth. It seems impossible to account for this general result, except by the fact, that their authors all wrote under the influence of the same Spirit:

"Whence these agreeing truths? or how or why Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie?"

The harmony of Scripture is the more remarkable, because this system of truth was unfolded by degrees. While the successive revelations recorded in Scripture admirably coincide, they manifest a gradual progress towards perfect light. The moral principles which were revealed to our first parents, and of which there are many traces in the history of the patriarchs, were confirmed and reduced to a code, in the days of Moses; and the law of expiation by sacrifice, of which from the very date of the fall, mankind had possessed some clear notions, was, at the same period, defined and detailed. Yet, the light bestowed on Moses and his followers, with regard to morals, was preparatory to a still more ex

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the Father in all his original honour and dignity. There is still another point of coincidence which is worthy of notice. On that day of figurative atonement, the Israelites were commanded by a statute for ever" to afflict their souls. And by a decree, alike perpetual, repentance is the indispensable accompaniment of reconciliation with God, through faith in the blood of Jesus.

It cannot be believed that these and many similar resemblances between the law and the gospel are the result of chance. Still less can we imagine, either that the Jews practised these ceremonies and ascribed them to their forefathers in order to recommend the gospel, or that the Apostles invented the gospel as a key to the ritual of the law. Significant as that ritual is seen to be under the light of the Christian revelation, there is nothing in it which could have led to the discovery, much less to the invention, of those mysterious and elevated doctrines, the incarnation and atonement of Christ. The plain fact is, that these ancient rites were "shadows of good things to come." The shadow and its substance were each made known in its season, and the correspondence between the two, affords an incontrovertible evidence that God was the Author of them both.

The general correctness of the history of God's ancient people is confirmed by a variety of collateral proofs, supplied by the

chronicles of other nations; nor will it be doubted by the reflecting reader of Scripture, who marks the natural and circumstantial character of the whole narration and the accordance of its several parts. Taking it for granted then, that this history is what it professes to be, a narrative of facts, we may observe one feature in it, which distinguishes it from every other history in the world, and plainly denotes its divine origin. In many of its particulars it is capable of a typical or spiritual application, and through this medium, is fraught with instruction of the most important and enduring nature. This remark applies with peculiar force to the lives and characters of certain individuals.

In Melchizedek, the "king of righteousness" and "of peace," and priest of the Most High, to whom Abraham gave tithes of all his spoil; in the virtuous Joseph who was persecuted and sold, and who, through great affliction arrived at greater glory, so that both his friends and his enemies bent the knee before him; in Moses, the meekest of men, the lawgiver and leader of Israel, the mediator between God and his people; in Joshua, who drove out their enemies from before them, and introduced them to the quiet possession of the land of promise; in David, the man after God's

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own heart," that deep yet patient sufferer, that exalted king, that unconquered captain of the armies of Israel; in Solomon, the king's son," whose peaceable government extended on every side, and whose wis