have been erected. In like manner God has not left himself without a witness to the sons of men, either in his works or in his word. Things that are not seen, are understood by the things that do appear. The humblest hut exists not without a builder. And the heavens, and the earth, and all that is therein, bear witness to the great Architect of the universe, and show forth his eternal power and Godhead. But, however clearly these may be manifested, so that all are without excuse who glorify him not as God; yet there was many a mystery concerning the nature and dispensations of the Most High, and the state and destiny of man, which the light of reason, struggling through the gloom of ages, tried in vain to penetrate. The world by wisdom knew not God, as it had need to know him. No mortal could unfold the mystery of godliness, nor ever devise, far less impart, the means of deliverance from spiritual darkness, from the conscious guiltiness of sin, or from the fear of death, through which man, by nature, is all his life-time subject unto bondage. Many wise men did desire to see what we see, and to hear what we hear. In Athens, a city then the most renowned on earth for wisdom, an altar was erected To the unknown God,' but every christian has only to take the Bible in his hands to show whom he worships. The question of the immortality of the soul-a truth impressed upon the mind, except when obliterated for a time by a devotedness to sense called forth all the powers of reason to solve it, and yet the wisest of men could only

elicit, from the ruins of human nature, some glimmerings of a better state. But now life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel. And instead of doubting or disputing, as heathens were wont to do, what part, if any, the Almighty took in the control or administration of human affairs, we now not only know that the Most High ruleth over all the kingdoms of the earth,' and that a sparrow falleth not on the ground without the Father,' but in looking back on the history of nations in the ages that are passed, we behold in them the very proofs that the record which revealed their destiny is the word of the living God. Tidings, pertaining to eternity and salvation, such as it never entered into the heart of man to conceive, before Christ appeared among the children of men, are now clearly revealed, and may be heard and read by all. And as the works of the creation testify the power and Godhead of the Creator, so his word itself testifies of its divine author; and there is also many a witness that the scriptures are in truth given by inspiration of God. Their divine origin is proved not merely by the doctrines they reveal, and the precepts they enjoin, concerning which it may be asked of men, why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? but by external evidence infinitely surpassing all that the ingenuity of man could ever have devised, and all that the power of man could ever have exhibited or produced, either to confirm any revelation, or to palm any imposture on the world.

In regard to the evidence which the truth of

B

prophecy imparts, so strong is the proof and so clear may be the perception of it, that he who runneth may read.' The multiplicity and precision of the prophecies contained in scripture is such, that no band of the most subtle deceivers could ever have pretended, or ever did pretend, to any such clear and close inspection of futurity, or if, to uphold any system, they had made the trial, they would only have been forging the readiest means of detecting their own imposition, and would have left it to every succeeding event, which they had attempted to foretell, to mar their purpose, and to mark them out as lying prophets. The declaration of the end from the beginning is as sure an evidence that the word is of God, who knoweth all things, as the creation of the world at the beginning testifies that the work is of God, who can do all things. What was foretold that men could never have revealed? what predicted events have been fulfilled which men could never have foretold? and what certainty is there that the prophecies so long preceded the event?—are questions which all have a right to ask, and which every one may be enabled to answer. These are the plain, broad, and liberal principles upon which every reader is invited to look to the testimony of Jesus, and every gainsayer challenged to examine and canvass it to the uttermost. It asks no easy credit, it fears no trying scrutiny. If, indeed, there be strong truth therein, well may it lead to rational conviction all who will be convinced; and justly may it leave under righteous condemnation at last all who wilfully reject the

counsel of God against themselves, whilst they will not hear and believe what none but the Lord could have spoken. And, reader, will you pray unto the Father of lights, that wherever there is light you may see it-wherever there is truth, that you may know it-that you may be saved from all the delusion of vain imaginations, from all darkness of the understanding, from all perverseness of the will, from all the deceitfulness of the heart-that you be not hardened in unbelief against the word of the living God-that you may know whether the doctrine be of God, and, if it certainly be such, that what is lacking in the degree, or nature, or work of your faith, may be perfected through all the means which infinite wisdom and love have provided for that end, and that you may learn truly to believe, even to the saving of the soul?

The antiquity of scripture is indisputable. In whatever manner the most ungodly man on earth might scoff at the Bible, and vent all his malice against it, he cannot, except he be the most ignorant too, doubt that it has existed for ages. It is assuredly no idle tale of yesterday, like some of the wild dogmas of an atheistic creed, There are proofs of its antiquity to which no other book can lay claim. It has never been without its witnesses and its guardians, though these very witnesses and guardians have sometimes been the greatest perverters of the christian doctrine, or even the bitterest enemies of the christian faith. The Old Testament, in which the prophecies abound, has been preserved, with

the utmost care, by the Jews in every age. It forms the code of their laws, both sacred and civil, and the record of their history during many centuries, as well as of the prophecies, which looked and still look prospectively into futurity. Tacitus, a celebrated Roman historian, who lived in the first century, in referring to prophecies contained in it, speaks of the books of the Jewish priests as at that time ancient. Two thousand and one hundred years have elapsed since they were translated into Greek. They were read in the synagogues every sabbath-day, commentaries on them were written, and ever since the beginning of the christian era, copies of the Old Testament, as well as of the New, have been spread into every region, and have been multiplied without number in various languages.

But to evade all attempt at cavilling, and to set aside all possibility of doubt in the reader's mind, as to the absolute certainty that the predictions preceded the events, many existing facts,that are as capable of proof as any fact whatever, of which men can see the evidence with their eyes,—shall, in the course of the following summary inquiry, be adduced to prove the precise and positive truth, at the present hour, of the most ancient prophecies, of which also there are many that yet remain to be fulfilled.

The wonderful nature of the events which were foretold, which are the most singular and surprising that have ever occurred in the history of the world, renders unnecessary even a single remark to show that they are such as mortal