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THE 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 

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 SSIVBRSI 
 
OR, THE 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 ' Walk about Zion, and go round about her : tell the towers thereof." 
 Ps. xlviii. 12. 
 
 [tTKITBESITr] 
 "%J 
 
 NET 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF 
 
 EVANGELICAL KNOWLEDGE. 
 11 BIBLE HOUSE, ASTOR PLACE. 
 
 185G. 
 
T4 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by the 
 
 AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THIS little volume will be found to be what 
 its title indicates, an illustration of the evi- 
 dences of Christianity. The author anticipates 
 the objection, which may appear to some to be 
 valid, that it is too full of illustrations that 
 the subject is lowered by the abundance of 
 stories. He would suggest to such an objector 
 to keep in mind the class of readers for whom 
 it was especially prepared the youth ; and if 
 he is still skeptical on this point, let him take 
 a volume on the same subject, logically, and if 
 he please eloquently written, with the illustra- 
 tive stories omitted, and place it in the hands 
 of any youth of ordinary intelligence, and let 
 
 him notice the amount of interest it excites. la 
 i* 6 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 most cases, it will be opened, its leaves turned 
 over, and then it will be laid aside. Of what 
 avail are books in the hands of young persons, 
 however good and well written, if they have not 
 attractions, to them, sufficient to secure their 
 attentive perusal ? 
 
 That this is such a book, the author will not 
 pretend to say ; but he has endeavored to keep 
 constantly in view, in writing it, two points: 
 first, to present the arguments clearly and forci- 
 bly ; and secondly, to clothe them in an attrac- 
 tive form, so that they will be read and re- 
 membered. 
 
 The language is such as occurred under the 
 Stimulus of writing, without any effort or desire 
 to use children's words. If the outlines are 
 drawn within a young person's capacity, the 
 verbal detail will generally be readily under- 
 stood. 
 
 An adept in the voluminous subject of Chris- 
 tian evidences will find the following but a 
 sketch of the mass of materials they contain ; 
 hp may discover that which is a strong point 
 
PREFACE. T 
 
 to him, omitted and matter of less force, in his 
 estimation, introduced. It must be remem- 
 bered by such, that different minds are differ- 
 ently affected by the same argument. The 
 elaborate argument of Butler, and the more 
 elegantly expressed argument of Dr. Hopkins 
 on the same point, may be the almost exclusive 
 grounds of faith in the Scriptures to some 
 philosophical and cultivated intellects ; but it 
 would be difficult to popularize it, or make it 
 appreciated by an immature mind, in whatever 
 form presented. As in the illustrations, so in 
 the selection of topics, we have kept before us 
 the class for whom we write. For this reason, 
 in part, the evidence from experience has been 
 fully detailed, though it must be conceded 
 that this is, of itself, one of the strongest 
 grounds of faith in the divinity of the Bible. 
 
 We remark here, as we have done in the 
 concluding chapter, that this work is not in- 
 tended fully to instruct the Christian student 
 on the subject discussed, but only to open the 
 way to excite a relish for its more full inves- 
 
8 
 
 PBEFACE. 
 
 tigation, as well as to prepare the inexperienced, 
 in some measure, against the insidious ap- 
 proaches of unbelief, which are sure to find 
 access to the unregenerated heart. 
 
 With these few prefatory remarks, the book 
 is commended to the candid perusal of the 
 reader. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 TOWER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION I. Children believe the Bible The Object of this 
 
 Book. 
 
 A Traveller's Questions Another Question A little Doubt- 
 er Application Page 15 
 
 SECTION II. The Nature of Evidence illustrated. 
 Gold Mines Doubt stated A real Incident A Fact to 
 be remembered A Voyage to China Reasons for be- 
 lieving the Voyage possible Belief not compelled 18 
 
 SECTION III. Suggestions. 
 
 First Suggestion Second Suggestion Bible, or Nothing 
 Third Suggestion Washington's Farewell Address 
 The Orphan Boy An interesting Manuscript The 
 wicked Son's view of such a paper Application Right 
 State of Heart necessary - 21 
 
 TOWER II. 
 
 EVIDENCE PROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 SECTION I. Testimony Illustrated. 
 The French Revolution of 1848 Three important Questions 
 The Illustration continued The Questions re-stated 
 Another Item Illustration Illustration continued 
 
 Application , 26 
 
 9 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION II. Have we the very Statements of the Writers of 
 the New Testament f 
 
 First Question applied Proof from Italian Authors 
 French Authors Authors of Africa, Syria and Asia 
 Minor Wonderful Preservation of the New Testament- 
 Specimens of Variations New Testament frequently 
 copied 33 
 
 SECTION III. Were the Writers of the New Testament honest * 
 An Objection answered The Writers' Prejudices Their 
 Sufferings Their Candour Their Representations of 
 Themselves The Conclusion , 39 
 
 SECTION IV. Were these Writers in a situation to know 
 
 certainly what they stated ? 
 Some of the Things they witnessed 42 
 
 SECTION V. The Testimony of the Writers of the New 
 
 Testament confirmed. 
 
 A Case supposed A Jewish and Egyptian Custom 
 Fourth of July Application The Lord's Supper 
 Baptism Church and Ministry 43 
 
 SECTION VI. Writers of the Old Testament. 
 New Testament confirms their Testimony 46 
 
 TOWER III. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 SECTION I. General Illustrations of the Subject of Miracle*. 
 A great and wonderful Fact The Magnetic Telegraph 
 The Factory Nature of these Works Subject to Laws- 
 Story of General Washington Illustrations applied 
 Dr. Franklin and his Kite Fulton and Steam Defini- 
 tions of Miracle Works which would be Miracles A 
 Fact inferred An important Question The Purpose of 
 
CONTENTS. 11 
 
 Miracles A Mormon Impostor Three important Points 
 stated 48 
 
 SECTION II. The Miracles of Moses. 
 Water turned into Blood The three Rules applied Dark- 
 ness over all Egypt A fearful Description The First- 
 born of the Egyptians slain A supposed Case The 
 Passage of the Red Sea Important Points Wash- 
 ington crossing the Delaware The Fall of Manna The 
 starving Irish Application 57 
 
 SECTION III. The Miracles of Christ. 
 The Advent of Christ His Pretensions The Character 
 of his mighty Works Their benevolent Character 
 Jairus' Daughter Her Sickness A Ray of Hope Jai- 
 rus visits the Saviour His Daughter's Death The 
 Cure The two Blind Men Their Condition Jesus 
 passes by They desire to be healed The Cure wrought 
 The Blind Apple Vender Facts to be remembered 
 A weak Objection 63 
 
 SECTION IV. The Resurrection of Christ. 
 Its Importance Certainty of his Death Certainty of his 
 Resurrection Jew's Account of it Publicity of the 
 Disciples' Testimony An important Point 72 
 
 SECTION V. Miracles of the Early Christians. 
 Gift of Tongues General Remarks Conclusion of Sub- 
 ject of Miracles 77 
 
 TOWER IV. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 SECTION I. What is Prophecy ? 
 
 Anecdote of Dr. Lyman Beecher Suppositions concern- 
 ing the Anecdote Supposed Case Some Particulars 
 given These examined The Application SO 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION II. Prophecies concerning Christ. 
 Christ expected The Reasons Prophecies given The 
 time of his Coming foretold His Birth-place Tribe 
 Family Character Miracles Death foretold 85 
 
 SECTION II. Prophecies concerning Babylon. 
 Bunker Hill Monument A high Tower A beautiful 
 Prospect The Streets, Garden, Bridge The two Pa- 
 laces The Suspended Garden Great Lake Babylon's 
 Pride Important Questions Cyrus, the Persian Gene- 
 ral The City taken Further Prophecies The Speci- 
 fications Application... 88 
 
 SECTION IV. Prophecies concerning the Seven Churches of 
 
 " The Revelation of John." 
 
 Four Cities named Ephesus Its present State Church 
 of Philadelphia The Prophecy -Its Fulfilment Church 
 of Laodicea The Prophecy concerning it Fulfil- 
 ment Smyrna Illustration of these Prophecies New 
 York Baltimore Philadelphia Albany An Objec- 
 tion answered Application Other Prophecies 95 
 
 TOWER V. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 SECTION I. The JKemarkable Character of the Doctrines 
 
 it teaches. 
 
 The World without the Bible Man's Original State His 
 Fall Christ Sacrifices Character of Christ Human- 
 ityDivinityHoly Ghost Repentance and Faith 
 Their Simplicity and Power The General Resurrec- 
 tion Future Judgment 104 
 
 SECTION II. The Purity of its Morality. 
 The Morality of the Heathen Bolingbroke's Confession 
 A Standard of Morality The skeptical Lawyer His 
 surprise at the Moral Law 109 
 
CONTENTS. 13 
 
 SECTION III. Simplicity and Sublimity of its Style. 
 Fisher Ames's Opinion Sir William Jones's Opinion Ex- 
 amples of Simplicity Description of the Crucifixion 
 Sublimity Dr. Franklin His ingenious Device The 
 Example of Sublimity quoted The Result 115 
 
 SECTION IV. The Harmony of all its Teachings. 
 The different Writers of the Bible Same Doctrines 
 Same Conditions and Sanctions Inference 121 
 
 SECTION V. The Character it exhibits of Christ. 
 A supposed Case A benevolent Man The Supposition 
 changed The impure Water Application Christ's 
 Love Seen in doing Good In his Words Christ's 
 Authority Examples His Authority in rebuking 
 Sins Instance of Authority His Godhead and Hu- 
 manity Rousseau's Confession Christ's Character A 
 wonderful Theme Never exhausted , 125 
 
 TOWER VI. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 SECTION I. The Experiments. 
 
 The Ocean Steam-ship Missionary Physician Sick Chief 
 The Cure The Pool The Leper The Application... 137 
 
 SECTION H. Testimony from Experience. 
 The young Student His Reflections The Resolution 
 The Result The Change The Cause The Family 
 Group Their former State Case of Phebe Bartlett^- 
 Her earnest Seeking and deep Conviction The happy 
 Change 140 
 
 SECTION III. -Testimony from Experience among the Heathen. 
 
 The Bible for the Degraded The State of the Heathen 
 The Heathen and the Bible Greenlanders Many Wit- 
 nesses Remarks 146 
 
 2 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECTION TV. Scripture 'feat of Experience. 
 A supposed Case The Drunkard's Remedy The Expe- 
 rience Meeting The old Inebriate's Case The Bible 
 Test Examples abundant The Shipwrecked Sailors 
 Their cruel Treatment The Missionary Labours and 
 FruitH-Another Shipwreck The Contrast The Sand- 
 wich Islands Abundant Fruit 149 
 
 SECTION V. Dying Testimony. 
 
 Another Test Important Inquiries Dying Fancies- 
 Fancy of the Dying Sensualist Fancy of the Dying 
 Christian The important Item Dr. Cooper Dr. Leech- 
 man The Happy Death John Randolph A Solemn 
 Scene Dr. Payson A Letter from the Top of Beulah... 155 
 
 TOWER VII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 SECTION I. Summary of the Arguments. 
 The Review of the Journey Kind of Evidence The 
 Witnesses Their Character, &c. Miracles Character 
 of the Miracles Prophecy reviewed Its astonishing 
 Character The Bible's own Testimony Simplicity and 
 Sublimity Other Particulars Character of Christ 
 Evidence from Experience An earnest Wish 165 
 
 SECTION II. Important Inferences from the Argument 
 
 presented. 
 
 The Bible courts Inquiry Character of the Objections 
 Bible should be studied The Naval Officer's Instruc- 
 tionsA Parting Word 173 
 
U1U7SRSITT 
 
 
 THE 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY 
 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 TOWER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 SECTION I. Children believe fhe BibleThe Object of 
 this Book. 
 
 A TRAVELLER started from a city of New Eng- 
 land, to go to New Orleans by land. He was a 
 devoted friend of Sunday-schools, and had, for 
 many years, been trying to promote their usefulness. 
 Before leaving home he stepped into a Sunday- 
 school of many hundred scholars. He walked 
 silently down the middle of the room, passing from 
 class to class of happy children. Taking up a Bi- 
 ble he asked some little boys, "Whose book is 
 this?" " The book of God," was the prompt reply. 
 He repeated the question to several classes. The 
 answer was always the same in substance. 
 
 When he reached New York, standing before a 
 large company of youth, he again asked, " From 
 
 15 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 whom did men receive the Bible ?" " From God." 
 Is it all true then ?" " Yes." 
 
 Going from New York, he visited many large 
 cities, and then passing over the mountains into 
 the little retired towns of the " Far West/' where 
 a few boys and girls were assembled in an humble 
 place of worship, he asked again, " Whose book is 
 it that you study on the Sabbath ?" And the an- 
 swer was still the same. The traveller noted in his 
 memorandum-book all these replies. 
 
 But why did he ask so plain a question, so easily 
 answered ? And of what interest were the children's 
 replies ? They impressed upon his mind a great 
 truth, viz. the children of our Sunday-schools be- 
 lieve the Bible. 
 
 But now suppose he had asked them this ques- 
 tion, "WHY do you believe that the Bible is God's 
 book? Your geography is not, in the same sense, 
 God's book ; neither is your arithmetic, nor your 
 grammar, nor your reading-book, God's book." 
 Perhaps many would have said, " Because my pa- 
 rents and teachers have told us so." And they 
 would have had no reason to be ashamed of that 
 answer. It is right for children to believe a great 
 many important truths, because older and wiser 
 persons than themselves say they are truths, though 
 they are not yet able to understand why they are 
 believed to be truths. Let me illustrate this. 
 
 Two children are at play on the side of a grassy 
 
A LITTLE DOUBTER. 17 
 
 hill. The sun seems to be exactly over the hill- 
 top, upon which it seemed about to rest. The chil- 
 dren watch its progress, because they know that 
 when it is hidden behind the hill, their parents will 
 expect them to come home. As its bright rays 
 were gilding the tops of the tall trees, and their 
 shadows stretched far along the plain, the youngest 
 boy exclaimed, 
 
 " There ! the sun has moved from away up 
 there," pointing nearly over his head, "and has 
 gone behind the hill since we have been at play." 
 
 "No !" replied his brother, with the air of one 
 deeply learned "father told us the other night, 
 that the sun does not move, but the earth moves 
 and the sun stands still." 
 
 " But," said the little doubter, " did not we see 
 it move ?" 
 
 " Well," answered his brother thoughtfully, 
 t( father says it does not move, and I heard our 
 school-teacher explaining it to some of the large 
 scholars the other day, and I believe it, though I 
 do not understand how it can be, exactly." 
 
 And by and by, this little boy will be per- 
 mitted to study some simple explanation of the 
 known truth, that it is the earth which moves and not 
 the sun. This will strengthen his belief, and in due 
 time, if he have opportunities for learning, he may 
 be able to prove to others, beyond all reasonable 
 doubt, that it is really so. 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Now I suppose all the children who read this 
 book believe the Bible to be written by good men, 
 who were taught what to write by God himself j 
 and the most of them believe this because they have 
 been told so, just as they believe the earth turns 
 round every day ; because they are told so. 
 
 SECTION II. The Nature of Evidence illustrated. 
 
 QUITE recently the newspapers have published 
 accounts of gold being discovered in California, one 
 of our newly-acquired States. It is said that some 
 American officers and soldiers have been there, and 
 hunters have visited the same places, and have dug 
 up some of the precious metal. The report has 
 been believed and acted upon. Many young men 
 and some old men have left their homes, taken the 
 little money which they have saved from the earnings 
 of many years of hard toil, and spent it all to enable 
 them to get into these reported gold regions. Ves- 
 sels are constantly fitted out from some of our large 
 cities to carry on business with them. 
 
 Now let us examine the reasons upon which 
 these men act. The newspapers contain accounts 
 of visits of various persons to these places, and of 
 their finding gold. But the newspaper editors are 
 often deceived, and print many such things which 
 are not true. May not this be untrue ? And if 
 officers and soldiers have found what they call gold. 
 
A REAL INCIDENT. 19 
 
 may they not be mistaken ? A few years ago the fol- 
 lowing circumstance actually happened. A vessel 
 went on to the coast of California to trade with the 
 natives in the common articles of commerce. Soon 
 after they arrived, they found a yellow, shining min- 
 eral which they called gold. The sailors thought it 
 'was gold, and the captain thought it was gold, and they 
 neglected their regular business, and filled their vessel 
 with gold dust, as they supposed, and returned 
 home, anticipating future riches and ease. But no 
 sooner did some of their friends see it than they 
 pronounced it to be a useless, yellow mineral, and 
 known to be so by persons skilled in metals. 
 Such it really was. Now may not these California 
 gold mines be of the same character ? But even 
 if there is gold there, how natural that the account 
 should be exaggerated, and only a small part of it 
 be true ! There may be only a very little, gold, and 
 worth no person's time and expense to obtain it. 
 
 All these objections are natural, and may be 
 true, yet men are acting upon the reasons given, 
 namely the evidence or proof contained in news- 
 paper statements. I wish this to be remembered as 
 a matter of fact. 
 
 A traveller wishes to go to China. He knows 
 that it is a very great distance from the port in 
 America from which he sails. The wide ocean is to 
 be traversed. The dark night will close upon him 
 while surrounded with one vast expanse of water. 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Even at mid-day and in the clearest sunshine, 
 there is no path. The tempest will come down 
 upon the ocean with terrible fury, and the strong 
 currents will drive against the ship, in directions 
 opposite to that in which their way lies. Will the 
 captain be able to keep his course amidst the dark- 
 ness of the night when there is nothing but wa- 
 ter, from the bosom of which the sun seems to rise, 
 and into which it appears to phmge at evening? 
 Will he assuredly sail towards the distant port? 
 Will he be able to manage his frail and trembling 
 ship when the storm suddenly spends its strength 
 upon it? Will he not mistake one of the many 
 countries and ports of the long voyage for that one 
 for which he is destined ? 
 
 Few travellers, perhaps, stop to make any of 
 these inquiries. Those who do would be satisfied 
 with reasons something like the following : The 
 captain by certain scientific calculations can tell 
 both by night and day, in storms and in fair weather, 
 his exact course. Experience has taught a safe and 
 comparatively easy management of the vessel, in 
 the hour of the greatest peril. And the most satis- 
 factory proof of all is that thousands of ships make 
 the contemplated voyage in safety. All this would 
 be said in proof of its possibility, and in answer to 
 the objections proposed. But, after all, any man 
 might be unwilling to exercise a practical faith in 
 the practicableness of a voyage. There is no such 
 
BELIEF NOT COMPELLED. 21 
 
 proof as to remove every possibility of doubt. None 
 are compelled to believe. 
 
 Of the same nature are the evidences that the 
 Bible is God's word. They are much stronger 
 and they are more abundant than those upon which 
 men act in common life. Men risk their worldly 
 all to seek gold upon less evidence of success. 
 They expose their lives upon the ocean with less 
 proof of safety. But the Bible does not compel 
 our belief. It affords many and strong evi- 
 dences of its divine origin, and leaves men to re- 
 ceive them as they do the evidence of common 
 things. 
 
 SECTION III. Suggestions. 
 
 WHILE you study these pages, you will do well to 
 remember what the Bible claims to be, namely 
 "The booJc of God." Go out in a pleasant evening 
 and look at the bright, clear sky. Behold the stars 
 which shine with so much brilliancy, and the moon 
 which moves so silently among the clouds, shedding 
 her soft beams over the streams and the forest, and 
 . then think of him who made all these. Remember 
 that the Bible claims that same God as its author. 
 Think of the many mercies which crown your life, 
 the food that loads your tables, the house that shel- 
 ters you from the storm, the friends that so 
 abundantly provide for you, and then think of tne 
 "Father of lights," from whom come all these 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 good gifts, and recollect that he is declared to be 
 the author of the Bible. If you believe that God 
 gives you food and raiment, home and friends, 
 that the stars shine for your instruction, and the 
 moon gives her light for your good, that every 
 day of your life shows that you are the object of 
 his care, then it will be reasonable for you to be- 
 lieve that this same good God would tell you in 
 some plain way what he wishes you to do to please 
 him, and for what purpose he had made you, and 
 what was to become of you hereafter. You will do 
 well then to remember this second great truth, that 
 the Bible is the only book which has any good 
 claim to be from God. You would not go to the 
 pretended prophet Mohammed, and take his book, 
 the Koran, which enforces its claims by the sword, 
 and promises to gratify the worst passions of men 
 as the reward of faith. And with less reason, if 
 possible, would you go to the Mormon prophet, 
 whose degraded life is a fair reflection of the cha- 
 racter of his pretended revelation from God. 
 
 If the Bible claims to be " God's book/' and if 
 we must believe that God has not told his children 
 upon earth what is his will and their duty, unless 
 he has told them so in this book, then I think you 
 will agree with me that we ought carefully and 
 seriously to consider the evidence that the Bible is 
 the word of God. When Washington was about to 
 retire from the presidency of the United States, and 
 
THE ORPHAN BOY. 23 
 
 return to private life, he wrote an affectionate ad- 
 dress to the people of this country. He gave them 
 such advice as his long experience and deep interest 
 in his country's welfare suggested. That address 
 is greatly respected by every true American ; and 
 indeed every letter and every word which professes 
 to come from him is examined with great respect 
 and care. 
 
 Suppose any one of my readers is left an orphan, 
 when but a child. He grows up with but little 
 knowledge of his parents, except the remarks which 
 are occasionally dropped, that they were very devoted 
 Christians. When about to engage in the active 
 duties of life, young, and, of course, inexperienced, 
 with a feeling of loneliness, and a despondency of 
 spirits, being ready to say, " Nobody cares for me, 
 there is no friend to advise, or sympathize with me :" 
 suppose a manuscript should be given to him, pro- 
 fessing to be written by his own father, just before 
 his death. He opens it and examines the hand- 
 writing, and compares it with the record of the 
 children's names, wrote by his father's hand in the 
 old family Bible. He inquires where it came from, 
 and investigates carefully all the evidence that it 
 really is from his father. He reads it. It calls him 
 by name. It points out, with a father's affectionate 
 solicitude, the path of honour and success in life. It 
 warns him of dangers which he never before thought 
 of. It is full of sympathy. It not only contains 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the best earthly advice upon which he can rely, but 
 it is the only exhibition of his departed parent's 
 character and wishes concerning his son, that has 
 ever come to his knowledge. With what interest 
 and respect does he examine the hand-writing, and 
 study its history since it was written, and reflect 
 upon its claims as a genuine manuscript, and that it 
 is really what it is said to be, " A father's dying 
 and only advice to his son." The document itself 
 would seem at once to him to be so excellent, that 
 his feelings would be on the side of its being true. 
 He would desire it to be so. But if, in the course 
 of time, this son should become very profane, idle, 
 and in every respect unworthy of such an excellent 
 father; and if, upon a more careful perusal of this 
 manuscript, it should warn him against the conse- 
 quences of the course he was pursuing, uttering the 
 most pointed reproof, and holding up a very dif- 
 ferent course of conduct as the only one that can be 
 safely or honourably pursued, he would then perhaps 
 feel differently in reference to the evidence which 
 showed it to be from his parent's hand. He would 
 wish to disprove it he would gladly have the manu- 
 script destroyed. 
 
 Without the Bible, my young friend, we are like 
 such an orphan. We have no certain adviser with 
 regard to another world ; our way is dark, and the 
 future full of gloomy forebodings. Dangers beset us 
 on every side, and perplexities meet us at every turn. 
 
APPLICATION. 25 
 
 Why were we created ? What must we do ? What 
 will become of us ? are questions we never could 
 answer, except by the light of the Bible. But this 
 book professes to solve all doubt. If you have the 
 right state of heart, you will examine it with a desire 
 to receive all the evidence of its truth. It will seem 
 so desirable to have your Father who is in heaven 
 by your sida, as it were, to counsel you, that your 
 heart will leap with joy, as, step by step, the evi- 
 dences of its truth unfold to your apprehension. 
 But if you so live that it reproves you if you are 
 the dissipated and prodigal son if all your affec- 
 tions are upon earth, I have every reason to fear 
 that you will not consider the evidence I am about 
 to offer in a candid spirit. 
 
 Seek to love that which is good. Be a child in- 
 deed, that you may learn. Remember you are a 
 worm, and God is the holy and just one who in- 
 habiteth eternity whose ways are past finding out. 
 Try to say from the heart, "Oh, may the Bible 
 stand forth to me, in all the fulness of its claims, 
 as his revelation may my head and my heart be 
 disposed to receive it in the love of it." 
 
26 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 TOWER II. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 SECTION I. Testimony illustrated. 
 
 THE year 1848 was remarkable for a great re- 
 volution in France. It commenced with the over- 
 throw of the government of Louis Philippe, and 
 the establishment of a government by the people. 
 In June, there was an unsuccessful attempt to 
 put down the new rulers, and many thousands of 
 the citizens and soldiers were killed. In Decem- 
 ber, a republic was established and a president 
 chosen. Now suppose a person had arrived in the 
 United States at the time of the commencement 
 of the revolution, and had . declared that Louis 
 Philippe, the king of France, notwithstanding 
 he had trained and well-paid soldiers around his 
 palace and parading through every street, and 
 though the walls of Paris had just been fortified 
 at enormous expense, and the city was supplied 
 with well-stored magazines, had been driven from 
 his throne and been compelled to fly with his 
 family from the country, destitute of the ordinary 
 means of subsistence, and that all this was ac- 
 
THEEE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. 27 
 
 complished in the face of these soldiers and all 
 these defences, by an unarmed people, without the 
 shedding of a drop of blood ! The inquiry would 
 first be, What is the character of the man who brings 
 such astonishing, and, in many respects, improbable 
 news ? Is he an honest man, or is he a mere hire- 
 ling of some newspaper, who is paid for any exciting 
 intelligence he may bring, and who may either have 
 formed this story without any foundation, or greatly 
 exaggerated it ? 
 
 Having decided these questions, it would next 
 be asked, Is this the testimony of an eye-witness, 
 or did the man receive it from common report, by 
 which it may have grown from a few slight cir- 
 cumstances into its present form? And, perhaps 
 the man, if he were honest, would come forward 
 and say, "I did not exactly witness ttese trans- 
 actions; but being in the country near Paris, 
 the people flocked out in great numbers, and from 
 many contradictory stories, I gathered what I have 
 reported, and which I believe to be true." Or he 
 might say, that, standing on an eminence not far 
 from the city, he saw a great commotion in its 
 streets. The soldiers were gathering about the 
 palace, and parading in haste to the principal points 
 of defence. The citizens also thronged the resi- 
 dence of the king, and appeared to enter within the 
 doors. Suddenly when he expected to hear the roar 
 of musketry and the thunder of cannon, the soldiers 
 
28 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 and people seemed mingled in a friendly mass, and 
 personages resembling the royal family were seen 
 escaping as fugitives from the city. 
 
 This last statement concerning the circumstances 
 under which he saw the transaction would give rise to 
 a third question, namely, whether the distance at 
 which he witnessed these circumstances was such as 
 to make it quite probable that he observed accurately. 
 If he only saw a commotion of the soldiers and 
 people, which he supposed to be a threatened battle, 
 and then a friendly mingling; and if he saw persons 
 who from some not very remarkable characteristics 
 seemed to be the royal family, but might have been 
 some other persons of rank, then the face of the 
 whole affair is changed. He might easily have 
 been mistaken. 
 
 But if he states that, being in Paris, near the 
 palace, he saw the attack of the people in great 
 anger; heard the cause of their discontent pro- 
 claimed about by them; noticed the command to 
 the soldiers to disperse the multitude, and saw 
 them refuse, and finally, with shouts, join the 
 citizens, and following the wishes of the people as 
 they surrounded and secured the palace ; saw them 
 go in, and saw the throne of state tumbled from the 
 window ; and if to all this he adds that he saw the 
 king come out of a private gate, and hastily enter a 
 carriage and drive off; that he had the honour of 
 being in his company frequently; he addressed a 
 
THE QUESTIONS RE-STATED. 29 
 
 few words of condolence to him as he passed, 
 and received his card, the only token of friend- 
 ship which he happened to have : Such a state- 
 ment would have made a different impression. 
 
 We will now state the three points distinctly. The 
 bearer of the news is a person of well-known charac- 
 ter for honesty ; he is not a reckless, hired news- 
 monger. This establishes the first point, " Is he 
 honest?" (2.) We have his own testimony, and not 
 some common rumour which comes at second or 
 third hands. This is the second question, "Is it 
 the very statement made by the author of the re- 
 port ?" (3.) And, lastly, we have it plainly declared 
 that he was not on a distant eminence seeing indis- 
 tinctly the transaction, but was in the street and 
 near the place, where he could see and hear every 
 particular. This is the third point, "Was he in 
 circumstances to know what he stated ?" 
 
 When any important fact is to be proved, we ask 
 these three important questions, which must be 
 answered fully before the point is established. We 
 will place them in order, as follows : 
 
 1. Have we the exact account given by the wit- 
 nesses themselves ? 
 
 2. Were they honest men? 
 
 3. Were they in a situation to know certainly 
 what they stated ? 
 
 But if the events happened a great many years 
 ago, and the eye-witnesses are all dead, we must 
 
 3* 
 
30 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 then resort to their written testimony, proved to be 
 their' s by undoubted evidence. The following case 
 will illustrate the manner in which this is done. 
 
 More than three hundred years have passed away 
 since a very extraordinary man, named Martin Lu- 
 ther, lived in Germany. He was at first a monk 
 in the papal church, and was very much devoted to 
 that corrupt form of Christianity. But he found in 
 its austerities and ceremonies no peace for a mind 
 convinced of its sinfulness in the sight of God. After 
 much inward perplexity, Providence placed in his 
 hands a Bible. He read it, and learned that the 
 way of salvation is by faith in Christ, and not by 
 any works of righteousness which man can do. His 
 sorrow was turned into joy. He began immediate- 
 ly, like Saul of Tarsus, to preach the way of salva- 
 tion by faith alone. He attacked the wicked 
 practices of the papal church. The pope sent his 
 ministers to turn him from his new faith. They 
 met him in a public discussion. They persuaded, 
 flattered, and threatened him. But all did not 
 avail. He continued to write, and preach, and de- 
 bate, until the pope upon his throne trembled. A 
 great reformation in religion, commenced by him 
 and his companions in labour, spread through Ger- 
 many, Switzerland, France and England; and to 
 this day, the world rejoices in its influence. 
 
 A life of Luther has lately been written by the 
 Rev. Dr. Sears, of Boston, Massachusetts, which is, 
 
THE ILLUSTRATION CONTINUED. 31 
 
 or should be in all of our Sunday-schools. My 
 readers have read it, I hope, or they can go to their 
 libraries and get it and read it. Dr. Sears pro- 
 fesses to give an accurate account of the doctrines 
 which Luther taught, of the manner in which his 
 public life was spent; and in many cases he professes 
 to give the very words which he uttered. No one, as I 
 am aware, doubts that he does, in truth, do all this. 
 
 The question which I wish the reader to consider 
 is, how can Dr. Sears, three hundred years after Lu- 
 ther's death, know all these facts ? This question 
 is answered in his history. Among many other 
 books from which he obtained his information, he 
 refers to a certain old "Life of Luther/' written 
 by Luther's personal and intimate friend, Philip 
 Melancthon. This biography was published during 
 the life of many who knew Luther, both friends 
 and enemies, and its statements were not disputed. 
 To get the materials out of which to prepare his 
 history, Dr. Sears went to Germany, and travelled 
 over all parts of the country where Luther is said to 
 have lived and preached, saw the places of most inte- 
 rest connected with the extraordinary incidents of his 
 career, and collected medals that were struck in honour 
 of his life and memory. He also finds many authors 
 quoting from this work of Melancthon, and some 
 of those who lived very nearly at the same period. .1 
 
 We will then suppose that Dr. Sears goes into 
 France while writing his history, and finds histories 
 
32 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 of "The Reformation/' written by Papists and Pro- 
 testants, published at different periods, all quoting, 
 more or less, from this Life of Luther by Me- 
 lanethon. He enters England, searches the old 
 libraries, and finds many English writers, some of 
 these having lived very near Luther's day, quoting 
 this very life of him by his friend Melancthon. 
 He compares the quotations, and finds that, put 
 together, they make nearly the whole life, and that 
 they agree with each other, German, French, and 
 English authors, and agree also with the copy of 
 "Luther's Life by Melancthon," which professes to 
 have been copied, from time to time, from the very 
 one which the author wrote with his own hands. 
 
 Now would it not be very, VERY strange that all 
 these authors, of different ages and different coun- 
 tries, some friends, and some enemies to Luther, in 
 quoting from Melancthon' s Life of Luther, should 
 agree, if it was not the very same biography 
 which Melancthon wrote. But Melancthon saw 
 and knew what he wrote about, and this is the 
 way in which the statements of the eye-witness are 
 obtained, though he may have been dead many hun- 
 dred years. I shall show, in the next section, that in 
 this way, though by much stronger proof, we know 
 what the manner of Christ's life was, what were the 
 doctrines he taught, and the miracles he performed. 
 
 We might take up the second question again, 
 and applying it to this case, ask " Was Melancthon 
 
APPLICATION OF THE ILLUSTRATION. 33 
 
 honest ?" To this Dr. Sears would doubtless answer 
 by pointing to the fact that even his enemies did 
 not call in question his honesty in his lifetime 
 with regard to these statements. Besides he got 
 nothing but reproach for espousing Luther's cause, 
 and lost the favour of the rich, the learned, and the 
 great. He had no reason for dishonesty. 
 
 We might apply the third question, and ask, 
 " Was Melancthon in a situation to know certainly 
 what he stated?" We have already answered this, 
 by saying that he was the companion and confident 
 friend of Luther during nearly his whole life, at least 
 during that part of it concerning which he writes. 
 
 SECTION II. Have we the very Statements of the Authors 
 of the New Testament? 
 
 WE have a brief life of Jesus Christ by four 
 authors, whose names are Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
 and John. Besides these, we have twenty-three 
 other books, teaching the same doctrines which he 
 taught all professing to be written not far from 
 the same time, constituting unitedly what we call 
 the New Testament. These twenty-three books 
 were written by Paul, James, Peter, Jude and 
 John. Is the book which we call the New Testa- 
 ment just what they wrote ? This question can be 
 determined in the affirmative, by the same kind of 
 proof which showed that the old " Life of Luther" 
 was the one written by Melancthon. 
 
34 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 If we go to Rome, in Italy, we shall find in the 
 libraries there, many books, written by different 
 Italian authors of every age, back to Clement of 
 Rome, who had seen the apostles and conversed 
 with them,* all of whom refer to these sacred 
 books, and quote freely from them. If we search 
 the ancient libraries of France, we shall find 
 authors making numerous quotations from the 
 game books up to the celebrated Irenseus, bishop of 
 Lyons, who lived but a short time after the death 
 of the apostle John. If we go to Africa, we find 
 a series of writers bearing the same testimony up 
 to Tertullian, in the second century. A fourth 
 series are found in Syria up to Ignatius, bishop of 
 Antioch, in A. D. 107. A fifth are found in Asia 
 Minor, up to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. 
 
 If I should gather together these many hundreds 
 of books, and find in them quotations from our New 
 Testament, so numerous, that together they made 
 nearly the whole volume, and should find that the 
 quotations agreed with each other, and that they 
 also agreed with copies of this Testament which 
 professed to be handed down from the apostles, I 
 should have a right to say, (C Our Testament con- 
 tains the original writings of its authors/' How 
 could these writers, many of them enemies to the 
 Christian religion, and enemies to each other, 
 
 *Phil.iv.3. 
 
PRESERVATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 35 
 
 living in different countries and ages, and writing 
 in different languages, agree, unless they all quoted 
 from the same books, and those are the same books 
 which we have. These many writings to which I 
 have referred have been found and read by learned 
 men, and we believe the statement of their ex- 
 istence upon the same grounds that we believe the 
 statement that different writers have quoted from 
 the old Life of Luther by Melancthon. 
 
 But if we turn from the quotations, and examine 
 the Life of Christ and his doctrines, that is the 
 New Testament itself, and trace its history, we 
 shall find still more astonishing proof that we have 
 the original testimony which we desire. Less than 
 one hundred years ago, some opposers of the Bible 
 declared that it had been so altered since it was 
 first written, that it was now very different from 
 what it was eighteen hundred years ago. They 
 said that the different copies and the various li- 
 braries of the ancient churches differed in many 
 thousand passages. This led pious and learned 
 men to devote their whole lives to the business of 
 collecting all the manuscripts of the various books 
 of the Scriptures, and comparing them together. 
 After many years of incredible labour, they found, 
 in various parts of the world, nearly five hundred 
 of these manuscripts ; and, instead of many thou- 
 sand differences, they found that they were so 
 much alike that they all taught the same doctrine ; 
 
36 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 that they differed scarcely at all, except in the or- 
 thography and use of words which meant the same 
 thing; and that even these disagreements were few, 
 and confined generally to two or three manuscripts, 
 while the greatest number were just alike. The 
 reader will find the specimen of these differences, 
 which I am about to give, very interesting and re- 
 markable. I will copy from the "Inspiration of 
 the Bible, by Gaussen," every variation in the 
 Epistle to the Komans, that has been found in all 
 the ancient manuscripts of the world. In one 
 column is the received translation, and in the 
 other the variations. 
 
 EPISTLE TO THE KOMANS. 
 
 Received translation. Variations. 
 
 VERSE CHAPTER I. 
 
 16. Of the gospel of Christ. Of the gospel. 
 
 24. Wherefore also. Wherefore. 
 
 29. Of injustice, of impurity, of Of injustice, of wickedness. 
 
 wickedness. 
 31. Without natural affection, Without natural affection, without 
 
 implacable, without mercy. mercy. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 22. To all, and upon all them Tc all them that believe. 
 
 that believe. 
 28- We then conclude. We conclude in fact. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. Abraham our father. Abraham our ancestor. 
 
 19. And not being weak in faith, He looked not, feeble in faith, to 
 he looked not at, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 6. That in which being dead. Being dead to that in which. 
 26. I render thanks to God. Thanks be to God. 
 
SPECIMENS OF VARIATIONS. 37 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 11. By his Spirit On account of his spirit. 
 
 26. To our infirmities. To our infirmity. 
 
 Prays for us, with groaning?, Prays with groanings. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 31. Works of the law. Works. 
 
 82. For they. They. 
 
 S3. Whosoever. Who. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1. For Israel. For them (referring to Israel.) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 2. Against Israel, saying, Lord. Against Israel, Lord. 
 
 6. If it is by grace, then it is If it is by grace, is no more by 
 
 no more of works ; other- works ; otherwise grace is no 
 
 wise grace is no more more grace, 
 grace; but if it be of 
 works, then it is no more 
 grace, otherwise work is 
 no more work. 
 
 30. You yourselves were. You were. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 11. Serving the Lord. Serving the opportunity. 
 
 20. If then thine enemy. If thine enemy. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 9. Thou shalt not steal, thou Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt 
 
 shalt not bear false witness, not covet, 
 thou shalt not covet. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 7. Received you. Received us. 
 
 8. Now I say. For I say. 
 19. Of the Spirit of God. Of the Spirit. 
 
 24. I will go towards you when When I shall depart to go into 
 
 I shall depart to go into Spain, I hope to see you. 
 Spain, and I hope to see you. 
 
 29. With abundance of blessings With abundance of Christ's bene- 
 
 from the gospel of Christ. diction. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 3 Priscilla. Prisca. 
 
 5. Of Achaia. Of Asia. 
 
 6. For us. For you. 
 
 18. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Christ 
 
 4 
 
38 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 Here are all the corrections of the Epistle to the 
 Romans, one of the longest and most important 
 books in the sacred volume, having four hundred and 
 thirty-three verses, and ninety-six Greek words not 
 found in any other part of the New Testament. And 
 no other book has any more corrections than this ! 
 
 " Such is the astonishing preservation of the 
 Greek manuscripts, in which has been transmitted 
 to us the New Testament. After having been 
 copied and re-copied so many times in Asia, Europe, 
 and Africa; in convents, in colleges, in palaces, or 
 in parsonages; and that almost without interruption 
 for fifteen hundred years; after that, during the 
 last three centuries, and especially the last hun- 
 dred and thirty years, so many noble characters, so 
 many ingenious minds, so many learned lives have 
 been consumed in labours till then unrivalled in 
 their extent, and admirable in their sagacity; after 
 all the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, 
 buried in private, or monastic, or public libraries, 
 both Eastern and Western, have been searched; after 
 they have compared with them not only all the 
 ancient versions of the Scriptures, but also all the 
 ancient fathers who have cited them in their innu- 
 merable writings, both in Latin and in Greek ; after 
 so many researches, see, by our specimen, what they 
 have been able to find !" 
 
 Surely we have the original testimony of the 
 writers of the New Testament. 
 
AN OBJECTION ANSWERED. 39 
 
 SECTION III. Were the Writers of the New Testament 
 honest? 
 
 I have said much about the history of " The He- 
 formation" as it is called, and of Martin Luther, its 
 great author under God, in illustration of this sub- 
 ject. I will refer to it further in illustration of 
 this section, because I suppose my readers are 
 acquainted with its history. Let us suppose that 
 a person rises up and says, "I allow that Dr. Sears, 
 has given us the life and doctrines of Luther just 
 as Melancthon and other friends of his wrote them ; 
 but they were dishonest men. They were interested 
 in writing as they did ; they had their own private 
 ends to secure/' In answer, Dr. Sears may say, 
 " How could that be ? Melancthon was educated and 
 lived a papist, strongly attached to the church of 
 Rome up to the time that Luther began to preach 
 his peculiar doctrines and perform his wonderful 
 works. In stating what he did, he went against all 
 the prejudices of his youth and all the strength 
 of his long cherished notions of religion." And 
 he might further say, that this Melancthon was 
 slow, in many cases, to receive Luther* s doctrine, 
 and even at one time came near conceding all that 
 Luther had opposed in the papal church, for the 
 sake of reconciliation with it. Still further, that 
 this Melancthon had every reason, of a selfish kind, 
 to hide the truth rather than publish it. His life was 
 
40 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 every moment endangered by what he did. Many 
 of his friends were tortured in the most cruel way ; 
 some died a lingering death at the hands of their 
 common enemies. From being honoured, his name 
 was everywhere cast out as evil. Besides all this, 
 Melancthon's enemies never charged him with dis- 
 honesty. They believed, living in his own day and 
 having it in their power to disprove every statement 
 Tie made of Luther's life and doctrines, if they were 
 untrue. But even they believed what he stated as 
 facts, though they tried to refer them to wrong 
 motives, or to put an injurious construction upon 
 them. Surely you must say, the charge of disho- 
 nesty is not true. Every candid man does say so, 
 for the world believes the whole history. 
 
 Let us apply this reasoning to the writers of the 
 New Testament. " Were they honest ?" Did they 
 write what they believed to be true ? I answer, the 
 writers were Jews, the very people, of all others, 
 most opposed to Christ, and to all he taught. Their 
 early prejudices and long cherished notions of re- 
 ligion were all against what they wrote. They were 
 slow to believe his claims to be the Messiah, and 
 opposed his doctrines, up to the very time of his 
 death. They were told by Christ himself, that the 
 world would hate them that in it they should have 
 tribulation and that whosoever killed them would 
 think he did God service. This they soon found to 
 be true. They suffered the loss of all things, even 
 
THE WRITERS' PREJUDICES. 41 
 
 of life itself, yet they persisted in their testimony 
 a testimony not concerning a religious faith mainly, 
 but of occurrences of which they declared they had 
 been eye-witnesses. 
 
 Besides, they speak like honest men. If they 
 are telling that their Master walked upon the sea ? 
 that he fed thousands with a few loaves of bread; 
 that he healed the sick or opened the eyes of the 
 blind, raised the dead, they state the facts without 
 a word of comment. When they describe his cruci- 
 fixion, it is with no expressions of reproach upon 
 his enemies nor of sympathy for the sufferer. 
 " And there they crucified him," is at once the 
 language of simple truthfulness, and of touching sim- 
 plicity. There is no effort to prevent misapprehen- 
 sion, indicating a fear of detection. So far from it, 
 there is almost a careless ease manifested, where we 
 should suppose they must know every word would 
 be sifted and weighed. And lastly, they speak of 
 their own faults and hold themselves up to the 
 world, in connection with the history they write, 
 often in the most unfavourable view. Could all this 
 be if they were dishonest men ? 
 
 Similar facts connected with other historical 
 books have been received with unhesitating confi- 
 dence by the world. When the writers of the 
 New Testament put forth claims to honesty upon 
 similar evidence, the world, to be consistent, must 
 not doubt tJieir statements. 
 4* 
 
42 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 SECTION IV . Were these Writers in a Situation to 
 know certainly what they state? 
 
 WE need say but few words under this head. If 
 we have proved, as we think we have, that the gos- 
 pel contains the real testimony of the witnesses, and 
 that they were honest, then we must believe them 
 when they say that they were Christ's companions 
 in his travels, and during his entire ministry ; that 
 they were upon the water with him; that they 
 heard his command to the waves " Be still/' and 
 saw the calm which ensued; that they handled "the 
 few loaves" which he blessed, gave them to the mul- 
 titude, and took up the twelve baskets of fragments; 
 that they knew Lazarus who was sick, saw his weep- 
 ing sisters, and heard the testimony (undenied by 
 opposing Jews) a that he has been dead four days 
 already ;" that they heard his command to the 
 dead to " come forth/' and saw their friend Lazarus 
 start up from the tomb with his grave-clothes on ; in 
 short, no miracle was hidden from them, nothing 
 was done in secret ; they saw him dragged away to 
 Pilate's bar; they witnessed his toilsome journey 
 to Calvary; they beheld him hanging upon the 
 tree ; they saw the darkness, felt the shock of the 
 earthquake, and heard his expiring prayer! In 
 company with watchful enemies, they looked upon 
 his lifeless body. On the third day after his resur- 
 rection some of their company saw him alive, and 
 through the space of forty days after, they all saw 
 
A CASE SUPPOSED. 43 
 
 him frequently and at different places they ate 
 with him handled his body heard him converse ; 
 and finally they stood " gazing up into heaven" 
 while he ascended in a clou-d in the sight of an 
 assembly of more than five hundred persons. 
 
 Surely, they were more than dishonest, they were 
 above expression wicked in heart and life, if they 
 did not see what they declare they saw. And 
 moreover, such assertions if not true, would have 
 been contradicted at the very time they were made. 
 
 SECTION V. The Testimony of the Writers of the New 
 Testament confirmed. 
 
 IF a man should be tried in a court of justice 
 for stealing, and two men of good character should 
 testify that they saw him in the very act, and there 
 should be no conflicting testimony, the jury would 
 be fully satisfied of his guilt. But still, if some 
 pieces of money known to be the same that were 
 stolen were found about his person, this circumstance 
 would be regarded as a strong confirmation of the 
 testimony. 
 
 We have probably all read the history of the 
 battle of Bunker Hill with great interest. We 
 have fancied we could see Charlestown wrapt in 
 devouring flames, and hear the roar of musketry 
 and cannon from the surrounding heights. Who 
 ever doubted the correctness of the history? But 
 if you should go on to that same battle-ground, 
 
44 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 and gaze upon the noble granite monument whose top 
 rises towards the clouds, you would feel that here 
 is an evidence that such a battle was fought, confirm- 
 ing the historical statement. So long as that pile 
 stands, defying the winds and storms, so long will it 
 defy all unbelief of the event it commemorates. 
 
 More than three thousand years ago the sacred 
 historian recorded the fact, that in one night all the 
 first-born, both of man and beasts, of the Egyp- 
 tians were slain, and that the first-born of the 
 Israelites, in the same land, were spared. Now if 
 you should chance to find a company of Israelites at 
 this very day, in sufficient numbers to have stated 
 worship whether they were in Europe, Asia, Africa, 
 or America you would see them, at a certain 
 period of the year, celebrating the " passing over" 
 of the angel of death, when he spared the first-born 
 of their fathers. If you should visit Egypt, as 
 travellers inform us, you would see the Egyptians 
 at the same period of the year, rising up at mid- 
 night, lighting torches and going through their 
 dwellings, howling as if for the dead.* These 
 customs confirm the testimony of the historian. 
 
 * It is a matter of common history that the Egyp- 
 tians were in the habit for thousands of years, even down 
 to modern times, of rising at midnight on a certain day 
 of the year, and lighting candles, going about the house 
 weeping and groaning until midnight. Nelson's Cause and 
 Cure of Infidelity- -New York edition, ch. Ixiii, 1837, p. 292. 
 
FOURTH OF JULY. 45 
 
 The history of the United States declares, that 
 on the 4th of July, 1776, a " Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence" was adopted and publicly announced in 
 the city of Philadelphia. On every successive year 
 since 1776, the 4th of July has been observed in 
 all parts of the United States, by enthusiastic rejoic- 
 ings ; and all this confirms the testimony of history, 
 and will not fail to do so, so long as they are con- 
 tinued. 
 
 The writers of Christ's history say that he was 
 crucified that his body was broken and his blood 
 shed for the sins of the world. They state that 
 on a certain occasion he directed that wine should 
 be drunk and bread eaten by his disciples, in mem- 
 ory of his sufferings and death, to the end of the 
 world. The Christian church, in all ages and 
 countries, to this day have observed this rite or 
 ceremony. It is called " The Lord's Supper/' 
 These same writers also state that he command- 
 ed all his disciples to be baptized "in the name 
 of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost/' In every 
 place where that gospel is known, this solemn 
 sacrament is also observed. Still further, these 
 witnesses affirm that, at the commencement of 
 the preaching of the doctrines of Christ by his dis- 
 ciples, a church was formed and a ministry estab- 
 lished as a part of the gospel system. That church 
 and that ministry are found universally, to this day, 
 in connection with that gospel. These are the 
 
46 EVIDENCE FROM TESTIMONY. 
 
 monuments of the events which they have recorded 
 the confirmation of their testimony. When 
 Christians partake of the bread and wine, they do 
 " show forth the Lord's death ;" in baptism they 
 acknowledge that they believe in Christ for salva- 
 tion. Thus they have done in all ages. It would 
 be as reasonable for Americans to doubt that 
 our independence was declared on the 4th of July, 
 1776 though each return of the day is distinguish- 
 ed by the nation's joy in commemoration of that 
 event as to doubt that Christ was crucified, when 
 they see the memorials of his death in these sacred 
 solemnities of his professed followers. 
 
 SECTION VI. Concerning the Testimony of the Wmters 
 of the Old Testament. 
 
 WE have shown that we have the writings of the 
 authors of the New Testament, unimpaired; that 
 they were honest men, and had ample opportunity 
 to know what they wrote. 
 
 Now, the New Testament writers speak of the 
 Old Testament as God's Book. They quote from 
 almost every part of it, calling it the " holy Scrip- 
 tures," and say it is all given by "inspiration of 
 God," and that "holy men of old spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 As soon as we commence the book of Matthew, 
 we find an account of the ancestors of Christ, pre- 
 served in the Old Testament. The prophets are 
 
THE OLD TESTAMENT. 47 
 
 referred to immediately ; and Christ says, " All 
 things must be fulfilled which are written in the law 
 of Moses, and in the Psalms, and in the Prophets, 
 concerning me," thus recognising the three general 
 divisions of the Old Testament, viz. : 1. The 
 historical books. 2. The poetical writings. 3. 
 The writings of the prophets. 
 
 The manuscripts of the Old Testament have 
 been preserved in the same wonderful manner as 
 those of the New, and their authors afford the same 
 eridence of honesty, and had the same abundant 
 opportunity to know what they testified. There- 
 fore, if we receive the testimony of the writers of 
 one, we D>ust receive that of the others. 
 
48 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 TOWER III. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 SECTION I. General Illustration of the Subject of 
 Miracles. 
 
 MANY great and wonderful things are done by 
 man which are not miracles. I will endeavour to 
 illustrate the difference between such acts and those 
 which are called miraculous. 
 
 When, on November 7, 1848, the three millions 
 of voters in the United States were going to the 
 ballot-box to elect a President or Chief Magistrate, 
 each section of the country was anxious to hear from 
 the other. As the election was on the same day in 
 all parts of the land, every means were, of course, 
 used to convey the news of the result as speedily 
 as possible. Probably these votes were not counted 
 earlier than 3 o'clock, P. M., in any place. At 10 
 o'clock, A. M., the next day, (in about nineteen 
 hours,) the people in the centre of Massachusetts 
 received returns from all the Eastern and Middle 
 States, with the returns from the large CITIES of 
 
THE MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH. 49 
 
 most of the Western and Southern States, sufficient- 
 ly full from each to determine their general charac- 
 ter. When we remember the many thousands of 
 miles that part of this intelligence had to come, the 
 wide extent of country from which it was collected, 
 and the out-of-the-way position of hundreds of the 
 towns and cities, we shall be obliged to acknowledge 
 that it was a great and wonderful circumstance. 
 
 Our readers understand, at once, how this intelli- 
 gence was conveyed. The Magnetic Telegraph 
 wrought the wonder. If we had entered the tele- 
 graph office in Cincinnati at the time, we should 
 have seen a man at work, at a very curious piece of 
 machinery. Tick ! tick ! tick ! and in the twinkling 
 of an eye the news is at Pittsburg. Tick ! tick ! 
 tick! again goes the curious instrument, and the 
 votes are all recorded at Philadelphia. Thus after 
 a few ticks j the printers in Boston are setting up 
 the returns from the most distant city of the West, 
 situated in what but a few years ago was consi- 
 dered an almost inaccessible wilderness. Thus men 
 speed their thoughts through the length and breadth 
 of our vast country, on the wings of the lightning. 
 
 Go into the mills of one of our large manufac- 
 turing cities. How like a thing of life does the 
 machinery move ! The large and small wheels, the 
 shuttles, the spindles, and even the material which 
 is manufactured, seem to know their place, and to 
 move with the order, precision and understanding 
 
50 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 of living creatures. A few men and young women, 
 or perhaps small boys, stand around watching the 
 operations, as if only prompting or suggesting what 
 equal minds were doing. From the raw cotton we soon 
 see the elegantly baled cloth ; or from the rough- 
 est looking material, the most beautifully wrought 
 carpet, or from dirty rags, the finest writing paper. 
 
 Now let us look at the nature of these wonderful 
 operations. Without attempting to explain them 
 fully, we can state a few of the principles connected 
 with them. God has made a very subtle fluid, 
 called electricity, remarkable for the rapidity of its 
 motion. Man, by his power of mind which his 
 Creator has conferred upon him, has contrived to 
 use this fluid to convey intelligence, by the same wis- 
 dom that led him to use water to turn his wheels, and 
 steam to propel his cars. This fluid is subject to 
 laws or invariable rules, just as water and steam are. 
 When he has ascertained the nature of this agent 
 and the laws which govern it, he applies it to a cer- 
 tain purpose. It becomes a piece of common know- 
 ledge among men, and is made to work on with 
 frequent improvements from age to age. So in 
 the manufactory. Here are contrivances which will 
 doubtless continue to ^be used in the same way, for 
 the same purposes, so long as men have any interest 
 in employing them. 
 
 It is related by Weems, as one of the traditions 
 about George Washington, that when he was a small 
 
STORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 51 
 
 boy, his father adopted a very wise plan to impress 
 upon his mind the great truth that there is a God 
 who made all things. The story may be used, on 
 such authority as we have, for a very different, 
 though, I think, an equally appropriate purpose. 
 George, one day, came running, out of breath, to his 
 father, exclaiming, " Father ! father ! Do come 
 and see what I have found in the garden. You 
 never saw any thing so wonderful ! Do come quick." 
 Taking his father by the arm, he pulled him along 
 into the garden, his eyes all the while sparkling 
 with delight, and showed him, marked out by green 
 plants, just shooting from the ground, the name of 
 " George Washington." " There, father," said he, 
 " did you ever see any thing like it ? My name 
 growing in this bed !" 
 
 Well might he be surprised at so unusual a sight. 
 But any of my readers who can write can go into the 
 garden in the spring, and prepare a piece of ground 
 by breaking the earth up and giving it a fine even 
 surface, and then in the mellow soil mark out a name. 
 We may then drop into the lines which are so marked 
 some flower or vegetable seeds, and, of course, they 
 will come up in the shape of the name. All this 
 happens according to established laws of nature. 
 
 I will now attempt to explain the difference 
 between these wonderful things and miracles. If 
 the man who arranges the telegraphs in this coun- 
 try, instead of using the laws God has fixed, and 
 
52 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 by which electricity is governed, should have stood 
 in the city of Cincinnati, and pointing to a cloud 
 from which the lightning was flashing, have said, 
 " Let that lightning record the votes of this city this 
 moment, in the Boston Post Office;" and if the light- 
 ning had obeyed, so that the result of the Western 
 elections had been known in a few hours throughout 
 New England, that would have been a miracle. Or, 
 if the same person professing to teach some great 
 truth, sent directly from God, had performed this act 
 in the presence of the citizens of Cincinnati, and for 
 the purpose of proving that God sent him to teach 
 that truth, then it would have been a miracle, and of 
 the same character with those recorded in the Bible. 
 If some great machinist should enter . a manu- 
 factory, and, instead of fitting one wheel to another, 
 or placing some band so as to move distant and 
 different sets of wheels, using well-known rules all 
 the way through, and applying the power of water 
 or steam, to set them in motion, should touch the 
 bales of raw cotton and say, "Let these become 
 bales of cloth, ready for the market/' and they 
 should become such, that would be a miracle. He 
 would use no laws by which God has made it pos- 
 sible for man to change raw cotton into cloth, but 
 the result would be contrary to such laws. Nor 
 could another man do the same, though he should 
 have seen the manner in which the machinist 
 stretched out his hand, and heard the very words 
 
FURTHER APPLICATIONS. 53 
 
 and tone which he used, and should stand in the 
 same spot and imitate him perfectly. 
 
 If Washington's father had taken his little son 
 into the garden in the month of January, and, 
 taking his cane, had marked his name on the 
 ground, and said, "Let green plants spring up 
 instantly in the marks which I make" and the 
 name had immediately appeared, to the delight and 
 surprise of his son, that would have been a miracle. 
 He would have used none of the laws which God 
 has established, to govern the springing forth of 
 plants, but he would have acted above or contrary 
 to those laws. 
 
 Dr. Franklin sent up a paper kite among the 
 clouds when they were black and all ready to dis- 
 charge their electric fluid, and drew the lightning 
 down, all according to a law of attraction which 
 God had given it. He did not command it to come ; 
 and any scientific man or boy can at any time do 
 the same. Robert Fulton entered a boat on the 
 Hudson river, and, after great toil and study and 
 expense, applied the power of steam according to law, 
 and propelled the boat against the current. He did 
 not stand and command the boat to sail up the river. 
 
 Men make plants grow in the coldest weather, 
 and cause water to become ice in summer, but it is 
 by God's laws. When then the known laws which 
 God has made in nature are set aside, or suspended, 
 the result is called a miracle. As we have shown, 
 
54 EVIDENCES FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 no matter how great and wonderful an event it is, if 
 it be in accordance with known laws, we cannot call 
 it miraculous. 
 
 If a man pretends to work a miracle, it must be 
 before men that they may see it, and be that kind 
 of an act which they can understand. If a person 
 should stand and order the course of the lightning 
 before all who might assemble to see him, they 
 could judge of the act ; and if all the citizens of 
 Boston read the intelligence of the election, as we 
 just now supposed, in the next half hour, they could 
 judge of that fact. 
 
 If a philosopher should stand with a multitude of 
 persons on the banks of a stream, at an ap- 
 pointed hour, and command the water to leave 
 its channel, and ascend in a column two hundred 
 feet through the air, the people could judge of 
 such an act. They could as easily tell that the 
 water ascended, as they can that it runs in its natu- 
 ral channel. Men are then capable of judging 
 when a miracle is wrought. But if these or like 
 acts are done, they must be by the power of Glod. 
 No created being can do any thing contrary to the 
 laws of nature, as established by Him who made all 
 things. 
 
 But nobody who believes in a God doubts that 
 he can set aside his own laws, or suspend them. 
 It is as easy for him, and as much his right, to roll 
 the sun back in its apparent course, as to make it go 
 
THE PURPOSE OF MIRACLES. 55 
 
 forward to cause plants to grow as well in winter 
 as in summer, or bread to be made of stones as well 
 as of wheat. But will he ever do so ? The witnesses 
 whose testimony is recorded in the Bible say he has 
 done so, and we have proved that we have their 
 uncorrupted testimony, and that they had every 
 motive to speak the truth. Yet we are not called 
 upon to believe that God will violate his own laws 
 without good reasons. He has good reasons for 
 doing all that he does in the ordinary course of na- 
 ture, and very many of these reasons are plain to 
 every thoughtful person. The reason why, in a 
 particular case, he seems not to observe them, may 
 be equally plain. Such is the case with the mira- 
 cles of the Scriptures. Men say they are taught 
 certain things of God about heaven and hell, holi- 
 ness and sin, which are very important, and which 
 men never did, or could find out of themselves. 
 How do we know that Paul, for instance, is taught 
 of God, or is not mistaken, when he says that God 
 has told him to declare that " a man is justified by 
 faith, and not by works ?" We know by the mira- 
 cles he performs, and which he performs on pur- 
 pose to show that God is with him and teaches him. 
 God would not work through him in setting aside or 
 suspending his own laws, if he were a fanatic or a liar. 
 A certain pretended teacher of the community called 
 Mormons, once called on a friend of mine. He 
 tried to convince him that Mormonism is true, and 
 
56 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 that lie had a new revelation from heaven. This 
 friend heard his arguments and doctrines very 
 quietly, and when the impostor closed, calmly said, 
 "If you have a new revelation, you can work a 
 miracle." "Well/' said the other, "I can." 
 " Well, then/' said my friend, " here is an arm 
 which has been withered ever since I was a boy. 
 It has no vitality. It is past all cure. Speak the 
 word and heal this arm, and I will believe your 
 doctrines and espouse your cause." The false 
 teacher hastened away in confusion. But when 
 Christ called upon the people to believe that he 
 was the Messiah foretold by the prophets, he ad- 
 mitted at the same time that the Messiah was to do 
 many great and miraculous works, and he proved 
 his Messiahship by doing them. Thus did the 
 apostles and early Christians who were commis- 
 sioned to make known more fully Christ's doc- 
 trines. We have now illustrated these important 
 facts which I will repeat connectedly. 
 
 1. A miracle is something not in accordance 
 with the laws of nature and consequently can be 
 done only by the immediate agency of God. 
 
 2. To deserve credit, it must be done openly, and 
 be such in its nature as that people may clearly 
 apprehend. 
 
 3. It must be done to confirm some doctrine 
 claimed to be from God, and by the instrumentality 
 of the person claiming to teach that doctrine. 
 

 WATEE TURNED INTO BLOOD. 57 
 
 SECTION II. The Miracles of Moses. 
 
 I SHALL only notice a few of the many extra- 
 ordinary acts of " Moses, the man of God/' The 
 reader can turn to the 7th chapter of Exodus and 
 the chapters which follow, and read the history of 
 all his miracles, to bring afresh to his mind their 
 astonishing character. 
 
 The first to which I shall call attention is " The 
 turning of the waters into blood." Moses was sent 
 by Jehovah to request Pharaoh to let his people go 
 out of Egypt that they might worship him. The 
 first object of Moses, in fulfilling his commission, 
 was to convince Pharaoh and his subjects, as well as 
 the children of Israel, that the Lord only was God. 
 The Lord said when Moses was about to work a 
 miracle, " In this thou shalt know that I am the 
 Lord." Aaron, at the command of Moses, stretched 
 forth his rod and smote the waters that were in the 
 river, and " all the water that was in the river was 
 turned into blood. And all the Egyptians loathed 
 the water, and the fish in it died." 
 
 In this miracle we notice the fact, that it was 
 such a one as all the people could know and appre- 
 ciate. The Nile, the river which was turned into 
 blood, and which became so loathsome, was held in 
 great veneration; its waters were peculiarly ex- 
 cellent, and it was the entire dependence of the 
 people to render their land productive. They 
 
58 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES 
 
 could not, therefore, but know that this miracle was 
 wrought. 
 
 There was a reason for its being done, namely 
 to convince that generation, as well as all coming 
 generations, that Israel's God was the only God, and 
 that he spoke in his word by Moses ; and lastly, it 
 was done by the agency of Moses, who professed to 
 teach the will of God. That the water of a mighty 
 river should be turned into blood by the word of 
 man, is surely not in accordance with any known 
 law which God has made, but contrary to the 
 well-known laws of water. God only could have 
 done this act. It is true, the magicians attempted 
 to imitate it by their tricks, but that it was an un- 
 successful attempt is evident from the fact that 
 they soon ceased to contend with Moses and Aaron. 
 
 Again, Moses commanded Aaron to lift up his 
 rod, and a darkness so thick that it might be felt 
 pervaded the land of Egypt. But there was at the 
 same time light in all the dwellings of the Israel- 
 ites, their neighbours. It could not arise from an 
 eclipse, for it lasted three days, whereas an 
 eclipse which causes darkness lasts in any one 
 place, but a few moments and eclipses are not 
 partial, making the dwellings of some dark, and 
 leaving others light. This was a miracle that all 
 could and must know. It was not done in secret, 
 or before a few credulous persons. The effect was 
 general and awful. No one could impose upon a 
 
FIRST-BORN OF THE EGYPTIANS SLAIN. 59 
 
 nation with such an event as this, and none could 
 write it as history, as Moses has done, unless it 
 actually took place. 
 
 Another miracle was the slaying of the first-born 
 of man and beasts of the Egyptians, while the 
 families of the Israelites escaped unhurt. If it is 
 according to God's law that many shall die where 
 he sends the plague, it is not according to any law 
 that the first-born only shall die. Such a circum- 
 stance besides this was never known. Nor is it 
 according to any law, that those of our own people 
 shall die, and those of another, living among them, 
 shall escape. And this, too, was an event deeply 
 impressed upon the minds of millions of people. It 
 has been kept in continual remembrance by the insti- 
 tution of the Passover among the Jews, and a solemn 
 ceremony among the Egyptians, as already mentioned. 
 
 Suppose the cholera should have killed the 
 first-born in every family in Cincinnati or St. 
 Louis, would not that event have been known 
 throughout our country, and would not history 
 record it as most extraordinary ? And if the 
 day on which it occurred should be observed as a 
 day of fasting in such a city for the next hundred 
 years, would any future age doubt its reality ? 
 
 Or suppose some historian, who has partly com- 
 pleted a history of the United States, should affirm 
 that such an event actually did take place in the year 
 1820 ; and relate all the circumstances, would any 
 
60 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 one believe such a story, or could sucli a statement 
 be handed down to future ages uncontradicted ? 
 Every body would say the cholera never was known 
 in the United States till 1832. It is false. 
 
 When the Israelites had escaped from their op- 
 pressors, and had arrived at the borders of the 
 sea, their enemies, armed and breathing fearful 
 threatenings, pressed upon their rear, while the 
 wilderness and the sea shut them in. But Moses 
 stretched out his rod, and the sea divided, and the 
 people passed through in safety. The Egyptian 
 army followed, and when they had all entered, the 
 waters returned into their accustomed channels, 
 and destroyed them. God, in this case, made use 
 of an east wind to cause the sea to go back. Now 
 it is according to the laws which govern wind and 
 water, that a " strong east wind" should dry up 
 water, but not that it should dry up a sea in one 
 night. Nor is it according to those laws that the 
 wind should cause the sea to "go back," and the 
 water to stand up upon each side as a wall ; neither 
 is it natural for it thus to continue until one people 
 shall pass through its channel " dry-shod/' and 
 close upon the army of another when they were 
 attempting to follow. 
 
 Suppose Washington with his army, being 
 closely pressed by a superior English force, and 
 crossing the Delaware river in the night, had 
 lifted his sword, pointing to the river, and com- 
 
WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE. 61 
 
 rnanded its waters to divide, and they had piled 
 themselves on each side, like a wall of solid stone, 
 until his army had passed through ; and suppose 
 the British had attempted to follow, and been 
 drowned in the midst of the river; and let us 
 imagine still further that a very beautiful song had 
 been composed by some officer or soldier in the 
 American army, and had been sung ever since 
 throughout the country in commemoration of the 
 event, would any one doubt that it actually happened ? 
 The English nation would know whether they had 
 lost an army, and their national pride would have 
 led them to have contradicted the manner of its loss, 
 if possible ; and the whole American army would 
 know whether they crossed the Delaware under the 
 circumstances supposed. No history could, at any 
 time, impose such a transaction upon the world, if 
 it had never happened. Still more remarkable was 
 the crossing of the Red Sea by the Israelites, for 
 here was a whole nation. Millions of people were 
 actors in this scene, and every one would be a wit- 
 ness for or against the record of the event ; and 
 still more impossible would it have been for Moses, 
 or any person, to have fabricated the story. 
 
 The last of the Old Testament miracles which I 
 shall mention, is the fall of the manna in the wil- 
 derness. By it some millions of the children of 
 Israel were fed for forty years. It fell six days in 
 the week ; but on the seventh there was none. If 
 
62 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 during five of the days of the week they gathered 
 more than enough for one day, it bred worms, and 
 was spoiled; but that which was gathered on the 
 sixth day, though double in quantity, kept in a 
 wholesome state two days; and the supply ceased 
 altogether when the people arrived in Canaan, 
 where there was corn. 
 
 Some parts of Ireland, have been, for a few 
 years past, in a great measure destitute of food, 
 and many of them are known to have starved. If 
 the queen of England, their sovereign, had claimed 
 to have been raised up by God to teach them their 
 duty to him more fully than it is now revealed, and 
 if she had called upon God to send them food from 
 heaven every day, in receiving it directly from the 
 sky, as they now do the rain, they would have 
 known God spake by her. And if it had all the 
 peculiarities of the manna, that is, if it came regu- 
 larly every day, except that it came on Saturday for 
 Sunday,none being sent on that day, and ceased when- 
 ever they could obtain other food, it would have been 
 still more astonishing. Would not all the Irish peo- 
 ple have known this was a miracle ? They could not 
 be deceived. The English nation would know it, and 
 the world would be filled with the news of such an 
 event. No man could pretend such a thing was true 
 and make men believe it, unless it really was so. It 
 could and would soon be disproved, if it was fabri- 
 cated. And so of the manna which came from 
 
THE ADVENT OF CHRIST. 63 
 
 heaven for three millions of starving people. They 
 could not be deceived, and Moses could not have 
 written it as truth, if it were not known to be so. 
 
 SECTION III. The Miracles of Christ. 
 
 No being ever appeared in the world, with so 
 imposing a character, or with so high pretensions, as 
 our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The heavenly 
 hosts rejoiced at his birth. A light, from that mo- 
 ment, dawned in the midst of the deepest darkness 
 of our sin-smitten world. Those that waited " for 
 the consolation of Israel/' from the instant that it 
 was said "A Saviour is given/' exclaimed, "Now 
 lettest thou thy servants depart in peace ; for our 
 eyes have seen thy salvation." 
 
 Christ claimed to bring " life and immortality to 
 light" to possess in himself " all the fulness of the 
 Godhead" and to be "equal with the Father." He 
 proclaimed the natural unfitness of man to dwell with 
 Grod; but offered him salvation in his own name, and 
 as a free gift. He declared this salvation possible, 
 because of the shedding of his own blood as a sacri- 
 fice for sin. He promised to be with all his disci- 
 ples everywhere, even unto the end of the world ; and 
 finally, he represented himself as the future judge 
 of the world, and as having the right to admit his 
 faithful people to " sit upon his throne," and to 
 wear crowns of glory for ever and ever. 
 
 Surely no teacher ever made pretensions like these. 
 
64 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 It is therefore right that we should expect some 
 "mighty works" to be done by him. In this we are 
 not disappointed. If his claims are great, his cha- 
 racter (which we shall consider in due time) and his 
 miracles are still greater and more astonishing. 
 
 Since Christ came to take away the sins of the 
 world, and it was proclaimed that peace should at- 
 tend his advent, we should expect all his miracles, 
 while they showed his power, should show his good- 
 ness too. It would not be consistent for him to call 
 fire from heaven to consume his enemies to devas- 
 tate the earth with plagues, nor to show his divinity 
 by blotting out the sun and stars, and shrouding the 
 world in darkness. Nor would it become him to 
 overthrow nations, as a conqueror, and call upon 
 the world to receive his claims, because, by his 
 power, he had put down kings, and discomfited 
 armies. 
 
 His claims and the kind of miracles he wrought 
 are consistent. If he wished to show his disciples his 
 power over the winds and the waves, he at the same 
 time removed the cause of their alarm and anxiety. 
 " Why are ye so fearful ?" Does he wish to show 
 the multitude that temporal as well as spiritual 
 gifts are at his disposal ? He relieves the present dis- 
 tress of seven thousand, and gives them bread to 
 eat in a wilderness, till they are satisfied. When 
 he would prove that death is subject to him, he re- 
 stores to life a young man ; "the only son of his 
 
THEIR BENEVOLENT CHARACTER. 65 
 
 mother, and she a widow." To exhibit his con- 
 trol over the powers of darkness, he relieves the 
 excruciating agony of those who were possessed of 
 devils. And at the same time he sought to connect 
 with these blessings to the bodies and minds of men, 
 growing out of his miracles, the comforting assu- 
 rance that the Son of man had power to forgive 
 sins. 
 
 I will select a few examples, from Christ's many 
 miracles, to illustrate the above remarks. 
 
 When Jesus was at Capernaum,* there came to 
 him a ruler whose name was Jairus. From his 
 office, he was probably a man of much influence, 
 and therefore the miracles wrought in his behalf 
 would be the more known, and become the subject of 
 general conversation. His only daughter was lying 
 at the point of death. The anxious parents had doubt- 
 less watched beside her during the long weary 
 hours of the nights, marking the rapid inroads of 
 disease upon her lately vigorous frame and threaten- 
 ing its speedy dissolution. How could he bear the 
 thought that she must die the comfort of his man- 
 hood, the pride of his advancing years, and the 
 expected prop of his old age ? No expense or 
 pains were spared. The most skilful physicians 
 were called. The frantic father was ready to cast 
 
 * Matt. ix. 18, and the parallel places in Mark and 
 Luke. 
 
 6* 
 
66 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 all his worldly substance at their feet, if they would 
 but save his daughter. 
 
 Suddenly a ray of hope crossed the father's mind. 
 He remembered, in the extremity of his sorrow, the 
 "Prophet of Nazareth," whose fame had filled the 
 land. He remembered the report of his unexampled 
 goodness; he had seen the blind rejoicing in their re- 
 stored sight; the lame, whom his benevolence had fed 
 while sitting at his gate begging, had returned from, a 
 visit to him, walking and leaping and praising Grod. 
 The pride of the ruler is lost in the afflicted and sub- 
 dued parent. He believed in the power of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, and he sets off to urge his immediate pres- 
 ence. He would not trust so important an errand to 
 his servants. He did not hesitate, when he arrived, 
 to pay divine honour to the Saviour, though he knew 
 the Jews would deride him. His heart was deeply 
 smitten while he remembered that his only daughter 
 (C lay dying/' He earnestly entreated the Saviour 
 to come and heal her. 
 
 But while the master turned to perform another 
 benevolent act, the messenger came to announce 
 that the child was really dead ! Why need the 
 Saviour be further troubled ? they thought. The 
 work of death is done. All hope has vanished. 
 But the Saviour would not suffer that parent's 
 heart long to be wrung with anguish. Looking 
 with tenderness upon him, he said, " Fear not." 
 How timely ! How grateful to his sinking spirit ! 
 
JAIRUS'S DAUGHTER. 67 
 
 "Believe only, and she shall be made whole." 
 The parent, accompanied by the Saviour, soon en- 
 tered his now desolate house. There were many 
 persons present, but Jesus put them forth and went 
 in, and took the maid by the hand, and she arose ! 
 
 How extensively must the news of so astonishing 
 <^an event have been circulated through that country! 
 A multitude thronged about the Saviour as he went 
 towards the ruler's house. They knew the errand on 
 which he had come. They heard the messenger say, 
 " Thy daughter is dead." Many of the people 
 entered the house and satisfied themselves she was 
 dead, for when the Saviour said, " She is not 
 dead," (meaning not irrecoverably dead,) thinking he 
 meant she had yet life remaining in her, they de- 
 rided him. It was such a case as they could un- 
 derstand, and when they saw her arise up and eat 
 before them, they were astonished. 
 
 After Jesus had wrought the miracle of the rais- 
 ing of Lazarus from the dead, he journeyed towards 
 Jericho, the city made memorable by the falling of 
 its walls at the sound of the ram's horns of the 
 children of Israel under Joshua. A great multi- 
 tude accompanied him, for the excitement in con- 
 sequence of the resurrection of Lazarus was very 
 great. A.i he drew near unto Jericho, two blind 
 men, who sat by the way-side begging, cried out 
 most earnestly, " Thou Son of David, have mercy on 
 us !" They had without doubt heard of the wonder- 
 
68 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 ful acts of this far-famed prophet. They had long 
 felt the deep affliction of blindness ; but they had 
 considered their case as a hopeless one. " Who ever 
 heard of one that could open the eyes of those who 
 are born blind ?" had been, perhaps, the language 
 of their hearts. They had heard men speak of the 
 glorious sun, and of the beauties of nature ; they 
 pressed the hand of friendship, and had sighed to 
 look upon the countenances of those they loved. 
 
 A rumour had come to them that one Jesus, a pro- 
 phet, " mighty in deed and in word," had opened, by 
 a touch, the sightless eyes of many an humble sup- 
 plicant. They may have long sighed to hear the 
 tones of his voice of mercy. But who cares for the 
 unfortunate ? They were beggars. Who shall carry 
 them where the Saviour labours? The boon is too 
 great to ask. Their tears must fall in silence. 
 
 But they hear the voice of a multitude. They in- 
 quire the reason of the trampling of so many feet, 
 " It is Jesus of Nazareth," is the reply. " Jesus of 
 Nazareth I" The very name sent a thrill of joy 
 through their hearts. As with one voice they cry 
 out, " Son of David, have mercy on us !" There 
 were none to lead them to Christ, but there are 
 many to repulse their importunate application to 
 him. What to the thoughtless multitude who follow 
 Christ through mere curiosity is the blessing of sight, 
 the loss of which they never experienced ? 
 
 "Be still !" say the by-standers. " Clamour not for 
 
THE BLIND SEE. by 
 
 him He will not notice beggars like you ?" Alas ! 
 how little of the character of Christ do the world 
 understand ! He never turned a deaf ear to the voice 
 of earnest supplication. He canie for the very pur- 
 pose of giving sight to the blind, healing the broken- 
 hearted, and preaching the gospel to the poor. 
 
 He commanded them to be brought to him. When 
 the Master calls, there are those who are ready to 
 help. They catch the infection of his benign spirit. 
 " Be of good cheer; rise, he calleth thee." "What 
 wilt thou that I shall do unto thee ?" is the en- 
 couraging question. They are not at a loss for an 
 answer. " Lord, open our eyes." They were intent 
 on the great blessing of sight. This was the only 
 opportunity of receiving it they ever would have. 
 They cannot now be denied. 
 
 He touched their eyes. They saw instantly. What 
 a change ! Hard indeed must have been their hearts 
 if they had felt no disposition to " follow him in the 
 way," praising God. Consider the greatness of this 
 act, the opening the eyes of men lorn blind! Consider 
 how public it was. They sat by the way-side beg- 
 ging. They were well known : and then what a 
 number of witnesses ! in the open street, amidst a 
 crowd of enemies as well as friends. 
 
 We have often seen, in one of our large cities, a 
 blind man sitting at the corner of one of the most 
 crowded streets. Perhaps he has a few apples to 
 sell. There he sits, sad, and almost motionless. 
 
70 EVIDENCE PROM MIRACLES. 
 
 The thoughtless pass him, and notice him not. The 
 multitude throng around, earnestly pursuing their 
 schemes of gain or glory. But his position for 
 many years in that same place has caused him to 
 be extensively known, and they all know that he is 
 blind. If Jesus were on earth to day, and had 
 made professions of his Messiahship, and should visit 
 that city, and amidst the multitude that were eagerly 
 gazing upon him, some watching with malicious in- 
 tentions his every act, he should stop, and while this 
 blind man cried out " Open my eyes," he should 
 touch them and restore his sight, how clear would be 
 the proof of his divine power ! How would the fact 
 become noised abroad, and how easily could the de- 
 ception be detected if there had been any attempt 
 to deceive ! 
 
 Such were the miracles of Christ. The examples 
 we have selected are not, perhaps, the most striking. 
 Where all are so clearly performed by divine power, 
 so astonishing in their character, and so convincing in 
 the proof they afford that they were of God, we had 
 no need to be careful in our selection. Let a few par- 
 ticulars concerning Christ's miracles be remembered. 
 
 1. They were generally performed in the most public 
 manner. The chief priests, in many cases, doubtless, 
 and the bitterest enemies of Christ, witnessed them. 
 
 2. They were very numerous. It became so no- 
 torious that this professed Messiah wrought miracles 
 that the people would naturally be on the watch for 
 
FACTS TO BE MENTIONED, 71 
 
 them. This gave all skeptics an opportunity to attend 
 on his ministry, and see his mighty acts for them- 
 selves. The Jewish Council could send their most 
 sagacious men, and prove whether or not he pos- 
 sessed this power ; a test which they allowed would 
 settle his claims to be sent of God. This they did, 
 they did watch him closely, and this leads us to 
 notice another very important fact. 
 
 3. Neither the Jewish rulers nor any of that 
 generation attempted to deny that Christ raised the 
 dead, healed the sick, fed multitudes with a few 
 loaves, opened the eyes of the blind, and cast out 
 devils. They did indeed say that he cast out devils 
 by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. But this was 
 only their very weak and wicked construction of a 
 very plain matter. Our Lord's answer was sufficient 
 to silence them on this point. The devil could not 
 engage in a warfare against himself; he would not 
 be found demolishing his own work. "If Satan 
 be divided against himself, how can his kingdom 
 stand ?" The weakness of the objection shows how 
 impossible it was to disprove the divine character of 
 his miracles. 
 
 4. They were all of a kind suited to his charac- 
 ter and the design of his holy mission. This point 
 we repeat here, because it should impress our minds. 
 Christ's miracles were like himself and like the 
 gospel he preached, they exhibited the compas- 
 sion of God to fallen man. 
 
72 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 SECTION IV. The Resurrection of Christ. 
 
 The Apostle Paul* says, " If Christ be not risen, 
 then is our preaching vain, and jour faith is also 
 vain." He laid much stress on this great truth, in 
 proof of the divine authority of his own preaching. 
 It is the most important, and the most interesting and 
 convincing of all the miracles of the Scriptures. 
 We will examine the account of it briefly : 
 
 The Saviour, during his public preaching, had 
 said that he should be betrayed, tried, condemned 
 and crucified, but the third day he would rise again. 
 Thus all his enemies and all who doubted his as- 
 sertion were put upon their guard against deception. 
 The Jewish rulers who crucified him remembered 
 this saying, and were virtually challenged to pre- 
 vent or disprove its final accomplishment. The 
 fame of his promised resurrection was as extensive- 
 ly circulated as the report of his wonderful works. 
 How intensely interested then must the whole city 
 have been in the progress of his trial ! 
 
 As the news of his arrest spread, his enemies doubt- 
 less said, "Now we shall see what will become of his 
 promise of living again after the third day." And, 
 among the many who believed on him, there were 
 possibly some who, unlike the twelve, clung to his 
 promise with a steady faith, saying, " He will burst 
 
 * 1 Cor. xv. 14. 
 
CERTAINTY OF HIS DEATH. 73 
 
 the bands of death. He will triumph over the 
 grave. I shall see him in his glory I" 
 
 Under these circumstances, there could be no 
 mistake in the fact that he was really put to death. 
 His enemies, with malignant satisfaction, saw his 
 body scourged and lacerated. Their own hands 
 bound the thorns about his brow. They followed 
 his weary steps to Calvary, and hung him upon the 
 cross. They triumphed in their hearts when they 
 saw his agony, and cried, "He saved others; him- 
 self he cannot save/' They gazed at him, until they 
 knew that he was really dead, for they would first 
 of all be sure that his predicted resurrection should 
 not be a mere resuscitation ; and in addition to the 
 crucifixion, a soldier pierced his side with his spear, 
 making death certain beyond all doubt. But their 
 care stopped not here. They laid him carefully in 
 the tomb. It was his own body; there could be 
 no mistake about this. They closed the door and 
 rolled against it a heavy stone, and placed a seal 
 upon it. If the disciples had broken that seal, the 
 people would have known it. But to make it still 
 more sure, a guard of Roman soldiers was set to 
 watch the tomb. Their life depended upon their 
 vigilance. While the enemies of Jesus thus thought 
 to defeat the Saviour's design, they were preparing 
 the strongest proof of the event which he had pre- 
 dicted. 
 
 It being certain that the Saviour was dead, they 
 
74 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 waited the return of the third day. The tomb was 
 visited, but the body was not there ! Could the 
 disciples have stolen him away ? So say the chief 
 priests, and thereby they acknowledge that the body 
 is really gone. Was the seal broken ? No. Did 
 all the soldiers sleep under such circumstances? 
 Impossible. They were told to say that the disciples 
 came by night and stole the body away while they 
 slept. But how did they know what happened when 
 they were asleep ? 
 
 The disciples were timid, and had little ap- 
 prehension of Christ's true character. They had 
 no clear understanding of his resurrection. But 
 some of them, with the women, coming to the 
 tomb early on the first day of the week, found not 
 the body, but were astonished at seeing Christ him- 
 self. Again and again he appears to them for the 
 space of forty days, going in and out with them, and 
 conversing about the things of his kingdom. They 
 ate with Mm. They handled his body. More 
 than five hundred saw him at one time. This is 
 the disciples' story. This account they published at 
 the very time of the transaction, when his ene- 
 mies, the unbelieving Jews, had the fairest oppor- 
 tunity to disprove it. They published the facts at 
 Jerusalem, yes, in the temple, in the very ears of 
 those who crucified him who watched him at his 
 death, and who saw his body laid safely away in the 
 tomb. They could rise up, if it were possible, and 
 
PUBLICITY OF THE TESTIMONY. 75 
 
 say, " We know your story of his resurrection is 
 not true ; we have seen his body since his dead 
 body since the third day/' Or, upon the first an- 
 nouncement of this, to them, unpleasant truth, they 
 could, (if the disciples testified falsely,) hasten at 
 once to the sepulchre, and produce the body. 
 
 But no. They adopted no such course. To oppose 
 to the disciples' statement, they have only the testi- 
 mony of those who allowed that they were asleep at 
 the time. But even this defence is soon aban- 
 doned, it being too weak to be insisted upon, and the 
 publishers of Christ's resurrection have the field to 
 themselves. From the Roman governor, and the 
 Jewish high priests, down to the lowest reviler of 
 the name of Christ, not one dared to say, " Your story 
 of the resurrection is false." 
 
 The disciples were arrested, scourged, and charged 
 to say no more about the unwelcome truth. Not be- 
 cause they published a lie and deceived the people, 
 but because the rulers were afraid it would stir up the 
 jealousy of the Romans, or excite the rage of the peo- 
 ple, who might charge them with the blood of that 
 just person. From the crowded temple of the Jews, 
 and the thronged city of Jerusalem, to the extreme 
 boundaries of the land of Canaan, " Jesus and the 
 resurrection" was proclaimed. Nor did the disci- 
 ples tarry long among those who accounted them- 
 selves unworthy of eternal life; but among the 
 philosophers of Greece, the orators of Rome, tho 
 
76 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 great and the lowly, the rich and the poor, the bond 
 and the free, of every city and country, the same 
 doctrines were announced. They endured all man- 
 ner of reproach in attesting this fact. They were 
 derided, imprisoned, and many of them were put 
 to death, yet they persevered to the last in their 
 testimony. 
 
 Let the reader recollect that they declared not a 
 religious opinion, such as might or might not be 
 true, but a, fact which they asserted they had seen 
 with their own eyes. 
 
 On this point, an excellent writer says, "It is 
 common for men to die for false opinions. But 
 even in those cases their sufferings are an evidence 
 of their sincerity; and it would be very hard to 
 charge men who die for the doctrine they profess, 
 with insincerity in their profession. Mistaken they 
 may be, but every mistaken man is not a cheat. 
 If we allow the sufferings of the apostles to prove 
 their sincerity, which we cannot well disallow ; and 
 consider that they died for the truth of a matter of 
 fact, which they had seen themselves ; we shall per- 
 ceive how strong the evidence is in the case. In 
 doctrines and matters of opinion, men mistake per- 
 petually ; and it is no reason why I should take up 
 with another man's opinion, that I am persuaded he 
 is sincere in it. But when a man reports to me an 
 uncommon fact, yet such a one as, in its own nature, 
 is plainly an object of sense, if I believe him not, 
 
CLOVEN TONGUES. 77 
 
 it is not because I suspect his eyes, or his sense of 
 feeling, but merely because I suspect his sincerity. 
 For if I were to see the same thing myself, I should 
 believe myself; and therefore my suspicion does not 
 arise from the inability of the human senses to judge 
 in the case, but from a doubt of the sincerity of the 
 reporter. In such cases, therefore, there wants no- 
 thing to be proved but the sincerity of the reporter ; 
 and since voluntary suffering for the truth is, at 
 least, a proof of sincerity, the suffering of the apos- 
 tles for the truth of the resurrection is a full and 
 unexceptionable proof/' 
 
 SECTION V. Miracles of the early Christians. 
 
 I SHALL but allude to the miracles wrought by 
 those who claimed to be commissioned by God to 
 carry out the great work of men's salvation, by 
 publishing in all the world the glad news of the 
 gospel. Some of these Christians wrote a part of 
 the Bible. We receive their words as from Grod. 
 If, then, they really did such works as no man could 
 do, we have the proof that they were inspired, and, 
 as they were the witnesses of the resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ, it serves as an additional evidence that 
 that great miracle was wrought. 
 
 Let us turn to the 2d chapter of the Acts. It 
 was the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem. "There 
 were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out 
 
78 EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES. 
 
 of every nation under heaven/' Their minds had 
 been filled with the fame of Jesus. They had been 
 informed of his death, and had heard the report also 
 that he was risen again. No doubt they were skep- 
 tical, if not full of animosity against the professed 
 Messiah. Now it was noised abroad that the disci- 
 ples of this Jesus were filled with divine power. 
 Public curiosity was immediately excited. People 
 ran together to the place where the disciples were 
 assembled, and were amazed to hear them unlearned 
 men as they were speak each in his own language ; 
 as if a convention of Frenchmen, Austrians, Ita- 
 lians, Spaniards, Japanese, and Sandwich Islanders, 
 should be assembled in New York to attend the 
 May meetings, and half a dozen unlettered American 
 fishermen should come in and address them m the 
 language of their respective countries. Here was a 
 fact of which all could judge. It occurred at Jeru- 
 salem, at the time when that city was filled with 
 people. It was therefore known to thousands. It 
 was wrought by those who now began to preach the 
 gospel. 
 
 Of the same character clearly miraculous and ex- 
 tensively known were all the miracles of the early 
 Christians. They spake, therefore, as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost. 
 
 I have thus briefly laid before the reader the sub- 
 ject of the miracles of the Bible. How astonishing 
 their nature ! How great their variety. How be- 
 
CONCLUSION OF SUBJECT OF MIRACLES. 79 
 
 nevolent their character, and at the same time how 
 convincing is their testimony ! The finger of God 
 is clearly seen in them all. The voice of Jehovah 
 is heard through them calling upon men to listen. 
 The will of God is plainly made known in connec- 
 tion with them, so that they, to whom the Bible 
 comes, may take it as a light to guide them safely 
 to heaven. 
 
80 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 TO WEE IV. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 SECTION I. What is Prophecy? 
 
 NOT a great many years since, the rich and 
 fashionable people of Boston erected a beautiful 
 building in one of the most frequented streets, 
 and dedicated it to theatrical performances. Thi- 
 ther they hoped the young and the gay, the rich and 
 the influential, would resort, and sustain the reputa- 
 tion of such amusements. While pleasure-seekers 
 rejoiced in the enterprise, the pious mourned. They 
 saw in it the means of the ruin of many promising 
 youth. A clergyman was at that time officiating as 
 pastor of a church in that city. With regard to 
 this theatre he remarked, (and the observation be- 
 came generally known,) " I shall yet preach the gos- 
 pel in that building." 
 
 Years rolled on. The pastor removed to a West- 
 ern city, and the theatre continued to be crowded 
 with its votaries. But the gospel was at the same 
 
AN ANECDOTE. 81 
 
 time exerting its silent and powerful influence upon 
 the community. The interest in theatrical amuse- 
 ments began, at length, to wane, and the temples 
 of God were filled with attentive worshippers. The 
 gain of those who owned the theatre was gone, and 
 it was sold to a society of Christians, to be conse- 
 crated to the service of Almighty God. The pastor 
 was visiting his old friends in Boston, at the time 
 the purchase was completed, and he preached the 
 first sermon within its capacious walls. I was fa- 
 voured with the privilege of hearing that sermon. 
 The venerable man of God stood upon the stage, 
 where the actors had been accustomed to perform 
 for the amusement of a thoughtless multitude, with 
 many of the decorations of the theatre remaining in 
 the building, and proclaimed the unsearchable riches 
 of Christ. Before him sat an aged and distinguished 
 friend in the ministry, around him were the pastors 
 of perhaps fifty churches, and, crammed into every 
 part of the house, was a listening audience. 
 
 In commencing his discourse, the pastor pleasant- 
 ly remarked, alluding to the prediction above men- 
 tioned, " I was not quite so sure it would take place, 
 as I am now/' 
 
 My readers will not understand me to present this 
 incident as an example of a prophecy like those the 
 prophets of the Bible uttered. I have introduced it 
 to point out the difference between such a prediction 
 and a Scripture prophecy. 
 
82 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 The pastor formed an opinion concerning the the- 
 atre from the probable course of events. He did not 
 'know that it would take place. 
 
 But suppose he had said, that in 1843, on the 
 5th day of September, a Society of the Baptist de- 
 nomination would purchase the house; that upon the 
 very stage on which plays had been performed for 
 twenty-five years, with all the theatrical decorations 
 about him, he should preach to a crowded house on 
 a certain day ; that an aged minister, whose name he 
 gave, should sit before him with a hearing trumpet 
 at his ear, while many clergymen, as yet but mere 
 boys, all of whom he named, describing their charac- 
 ters and person, should stand around him ; and if all 
 these particulars happened with the exception, per- 
 haps, of the precise date, exactly as he had stated 
 them twenty-five years before, we should exclaim, 
 " Glod must have directly communicated these facts 
 to him. It is a prophecy." 
 
 Here would be a great many little particulars 
 which no one could know would happen at the very 
 time, and under the very circumstances in which they 
 did happen, and yet all were minutely predicted. 
 
 Suppose one of the pilgrim fathers of New Eng- 
 land, on landing upon the rock of Plymouth, 
 amidst the snows of an unusually severe winter, 
 surrounded by an unexplored and boundless forest, 
 through which the red man yet roved with unre- 
 strained freedom, had made the following statement: 
 
A SUPPOSED CASE. 83 
 
 From the ocean upon the east to the ocean 
 upon the west, and from the wonderful lakes and 
 the unequalled cataract of the north to the salt 
 water that washes the southern shore, the white 
 men shall be in numbers as the leaves of the forest. 
 While yet they are but three millions, war shall 
 arise, and they shall fight against their rulers. 
 There shall be a great and a good man raised up, 
 whose name will be called Washington, and he 
 shall lead their armies to victory, after enduring 
 incredible hardships, and surmounting innumerable 
 difficulties. Seven years shall the war rage, and 
 then shall the people be free. Thirteen distinct 
 governments shall be formed, and they shall be 
 called state governments ; and a general govern- 
 ment shall be established, and the people shall 
 choose their own rulers and make their own laws 
 according to a determined constitution, and Washing- 
 ton shall be elected the first president. He shall rule 
 with great wisdom and popularity, and then shall he 
 retire, and a man named Adams shall succeed him 
 in office. The people shall increase greatly in 
 numbers and power, and there shall be great con- 
 vulsions in the old world, and war shall occur be- 
 tween this country and Great Britain, which shall 
 last three years. And while men shall be yet 
 living who conversed with Washington, the num- 
 ber of the states shall increase to thirty, and the 
 people shall be more than twenty millions, 
 
84 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 Now will the reader notice several particulars of 
 this supposed case ? The boundaries of the country 
 are given, and the incidental particulars of " won- 
 derful lakes," and a unequalled cataract," not yet 
 known to him who spoke these words. The dura- 
 tion of the war is given, and the name of the 
 deliverer and first president. Thirteen states are 
 mentioned, and not a greater or less number. The 
 nature of the new government, that it shall be a re- 
 public and not a monarchy, is stated. And lastly, 
 the precise number of the states within a given 
 generation, and the popular estimate of the number 
 of the people, are distinctly announced. Let us sup- 
 pose further, that this statement was published 
 among the writings of this man who professed to 
 teach many truths concerning religion not yet 
 fully understood, and who claimed that he received 
 them directly from God; and that these writings 
 were known by all the Puritans of that generation, 
 and a great many books were written, referring to 
 this statement some of them referring to it as the 
 fancy of a madman. 
 
 Now, no one doubts that God only could enable 
 a man to reveal such facts, and the people of these 
 United States would receive more and more evi- 
 dence of their truth up to this time. And when 
 the people saw that they were true, they could 
 not reasonably doubt that he who uttered them 
 
CHRIST EXPECTED. 85 
 
 was a good man, and that the doctrines he taught 
 were from God. 
 
 If I now present statements from the Bible em- 
 bracing more wonderful particulars, and a greater 
 number than those contained in the above supposed 
 case, every candid reader will allow that God must 
 have revealed them, and that the men by whom they 
 were uttered, were good men, and what they taught 
 must be true. 
 
 SECTION II. Prophecies concerning the Messiah. 
 
 WHEN Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judah, 
 the whole nation of the Jews expected a person to 
 appear among them to become greater than any 
 of their former kings or prophets, and to be to 
 them a mighty ruler and saviour. When, therefore, 
 the wise men from the east announced that they 
 had seen the star of him who was to be king of the 
 Jews, Herod, the ruler under the Romans, was 
 troubled, lest this expected king should excite the 
 Jews, whom he governed, to rebel. All Jerusalem 
 was in a state of excitement. 
 
 Why was this general expectation ? Why had 
 they expected such a man then, rather than a gene- 
 ration sooner or later ? 
 
 It was because Christ, the Messiah, had been 
 foretold. More than one hundred predictions had 
 been written in their religious books, referring to 
 different circumstances concerning him. They were 
 
86 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 written at different periods, but all of them more 
 than four hundred years before that time. All the 
 books containing these predictions had been trans- 
 lated nearly three hundred years before, from He- 
 brew, the Jews' language, into Greek; and had 
 been, of course, known and talked about, by the 
 friends and enemies of the Jews' religion. I will 
 present a few only of these prophecies and in such 
 order that they may be read in connection. 
 
 " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people 
 and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression 
 and to make an end of sins, and make reconcili- 
 ation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting 
 righteousness, and to seal up the vision and pro- 
 phecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know, there- 
 fore, and understand, that frorn^ the going forth of 
 the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem 
 unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, 
 and three-score and two weeks."* 
 
 The reader has only to bear in mind that each 
 day stands for a year in this prophecy, and that 
 seventy weeks are four hundred and ninety proph- 
 etic days or years and that " the going forth of 
 the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem/' 
 refers to the decree of Artaxerxes, contained in Ezra 
 7th chap. 9th verse. 
 
 " But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou b 
 little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of 
 
 * Dan. ix. 24. 
 
PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE MESSIAH. 87 
 
 thee shall lie come forth unto me, that is to be ruler 
 in Israel/'* 
 
 " There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of 
 Jesse (or the son of Jesse, that is David), and a 
 branch shall grow out of his roots ; and the Spirit 
 of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wis- 
 dom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and 
 might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the 
 Lord."f 
 
 "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, 
 and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then 
 shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue 
 of the dumb sing." J 
 
 "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of 
 sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid, as 
 it were, our faces from him ; he was despised and 
 we esteemed him not. 
 
 " He was oppressed, and he was afflicted ; yet he 
 opened not his mouth ; he is brought as a lamb to 
 the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is 
 dumb, so he opened not his mouth." || 
 
 In the above prophecies, there are the following 
 particulars stated concerning the Messiah : 
 
 1. The exact time of his birth four hundred 
 and ninety years from the decree of Artaxerxes. 
 
 2. The place where he was born in Bethlehem 
 Ephratah. 
 
 * Micah v. 2. f Isaiah xi. 1. J Isaiah xxxv. 5. || Isaiah liii. 3. 
 
88 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 3. The tribe from which he should spring from 
 Judah. 
 
 4. The family from the stem of Jesse David's 
 father that is from the family of David. 
 
 5. His character " the spirit of wisdom and un- 
 derstanding rested upon him/' etc. 
 
 6. The miracles that he should perform the 
 lame walk, the deaf hear, and the dumb speak. 
 
 7. The contempt of those to whom he preached. 
 "He was despised and rejected." 
 
 8. A very particular account of his death. " He 
 was led as a lamb to the slaughter/' etc. 
 
 Now, since we know that Christ was born just at 
 the time stated, in the very place, and of the tribe 
 and family mentioned, and that his character and 
 the miracles he wrought, and the death he suffered, 
 are all as they were foretold, we certainly know 
 that God inspired the men who declared these 
 things. And we know too they must be good men, 
 and what they taught must be true. 
 
 SECTION III. Prophecy concerning Babylon. 
 
 SOME of my readers may have ascended to the 
 top of the Bunker hill monument, and from that 
 elevation marked the outlines of the city of Boston, 
 with all its adjacent country. Towards the south is 
 its beautiful harbor spotted with sails, and upon 
 every other side are towns of romantic beauty, 
 while the eye passes rapidly over the principal 
 
BABYLON. oy 
 
 points of interest in the city itself. Will the reader 
 now ascend with me, in imagination, a tower six hun- 
 dred feet high, that is, about three times as high as 
 the Bunker hill monument ? Though this tower 
 has crumbled into dust, we will suppose it yet 
 stands, where it once stood, in Asia, on the bank of 
 the river Euphrates, or not far from where, on the 
 map, you see the waters of the Tigris, quite near 
 those of the Euphrates. What a splendid view ! 
 We are in the centre of the great city of Babylon ! 
 We can distinctly see that wall, three hundred and 
 fifty feet high, and twelve miles long on each side, 
 extending entirely around the city. It looks, in the 
 distance, like the dark outline of a regular ridge of 
 hills, shutting in the city from the surrounding 
 plains. See those towers upon each corner, piercing 
 the very clouds ! And what beautiful and massive 
 gates open through the walls, twenty-five on each 
 side, and all of solid brass ! The streets too, how 
 unlike those of Boston or New York ! They are so 
 wide and straight, running from each gate to the one 
 opposite, making fifty streets, dividing the city into 
 such beautiful squares. The houses are not crowded 
 together as they are in Boston, New York, and 
 Philadelphia, but each square has richly cultivated 
 gardens. 
 
 We may now follow the course of the Euphrates 
 through the very centre of the city, with those 
 high walls upon its banks, and we can see twenty- 
 
90 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 five brazen gates upon each side, leading from the 
 river into the streets. We can scarcely discern, at 
 the foot of the tower, those men, appearing no 
 bigger than ants, ascending from the boats, through 
 the gates, into the city. No doubt all these gates, 
 around the city and along the banks of the river, 
 are shut at night, so that no enemy, either from the 
 plains or from boats, can enter. How secure they 
 must feel ! 
 
 But what a splendid bridge spanning the Eu- 
 phrates directly below ! 
 
 Near us, on this side of the river, are large, 
 elegant, though old looking buildings, enclosed by 
 three separate walls, one within the other; these 
 buildings, says our guide, form the old palace, now 
 forsaken by the royal family for that more ex- 
 pensive and noble one on the opposite side of the 
 river. The new palace, he tells us, is enclosed by a 
 wall eight miles in circumference. But the most 
 remarkable thing about the new palace, is that 
 garden, which seems to be suspended between 
 heaven and earth, which has been raised upon 
 terraces to the height of three hundred and fifty 
 feet, and planted with every thing beautiful. I 
 think its erection must have been a shameful 
 waste of time and labour, and well-fitted to swell 
 the pride of the queen for whom it was made. 
 
 Let us now listen to a description of the sur- 
 rounding country with which we are supplied, and 
 

 THE GREAT LAKE. 91 
 
 learn what lies beyond the walls. First, there is an 
 immense ditch filled with water. This was made 
 by removing the earth of which the bricks were 
 made that are used for the walls. It must add 
 greatly to the difficulty of taking the city, for the 
 people of Babylon and their enemies know nothing 
 of bombs, mortars and cannon, which hurl destruc- 
 tion across ditches and over the highest forts. 
 West of the city we shall find an extensive basin 
 forty miles in circumference and thirty-five feet 
 deep, into which the waters of the Euphrates were 
 turned from above the city, in order to build the 
 wall along its banks more conveniently. There 
 are also two canals, through which, when they fear an 
 inundation, they turn the superfluous waters into 
 the Tigris. 
 
 Such is this mighty city, Babylon, which, com- 
 prehending, as we have stated, a square forty-eight 
 miles around, was at least eight times larger than 
 London and its appendages. These particulars we 
 have in the history written by Herodotus, who 
 visited the city of Babylon. No wonder at her 
 great boasting. She says, "I will be a lady for 
 ever." " I am, and none else besides me. I shall 
 not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss 
 of children."* 
 
 Will this glory ever depart ? Will these mighty 
 
 * Isa. xlvii. 7. 8. 
 
92 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 walls be prostrated, these splendid palaces become 
 the habitation of loathsome reptiles, and these beau- 
 tiful gardens the haunts of wild beasts ? Will this 
 vast area, teeming with busy inhabitants, become so 
 desolate, that even the wild and fearless Arab, who 
 loves to pitch his tent in desert places, will not even 
 tarry here for a night ? And will these plains, whose 
 soil is so deep and rich, and whose produce is so 
 abundant, cease to be feeding-places for the flocks 
 of the shepherd ? We will stand amidst its great- 
 est wealth and grandeur, while Nebuchadnezzar is 
 revelling in his gorgeous palace, and her merchants 
 are receiving the wealth of the world into their 
 coffers, more than one hundred years before the 
 commencement of her downfall, and hear what the 
 voice of the prophets of Grod say concerning her. 
 
 tf Her foundations are fallen, her walls are thrown 
 down/' "The very wall of Babylon shall fall." 
 " The broad wall of Babylon shall be utterly bro- 
 ken." " Though Babylon should mount up to 
 heaven, and though she should fortify the height of 
 her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto 
 her, saith the Lord."* 
 
 Still further, if the reader will turn to the 45th 
 chapter of Isaiah, and to the 51st of Jeremiah, he 
 will find several particulars of its fall there stated. 
 
 The name of the general who should conquer 
 
 * Jer. 1. 15 li. 44, 58, 63. 
 

CYRUS THE PERSIAN GENERAL. 93 
 
 Babylon is given more than a hundred years before 
 he was born. "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, 
 to Cyrus/' The manner in which he should enter 
 the city is also stated. " I will open before him 
 the two leaved gates ; the gates shall not be shut." 
 Cyrus, the Persian general, surrounded the city 
 with an immense army five hundred and forty years 
 * before Christ, and besieged it two years, hoping to 
 force its inhabitants to surrender from starvation. 
 But the Babylonians had provision enough for 
 twenty years, so they laughed at him from the 
 top of their high walls. But during a great feast 
 in the city, while the king and all the people 
 were thinking only of making themselves merry, 
 Cyrus caused the waters of the Euphrates to be 
 turned into the great basin of which we have spoken, 
 which was forty miles square, and then marched 
 his army, in two divisions, from above and below, 
 in the dry bed of the river. The citizens were so 
 given up to pleasure, that they forgot to shut the 
 gates, which led from the river into the city. 
 Through these " two leaved gates" the army entered, 
 and its separate divisions met at the new palace, 
 slew Belshazzar the king, and took the whole city 
 in a few hours. 
 
 A great many particulars will be found in the 
 chapters referred to, concerning the taking of Baby- 
 lon, which we have not room to present. From 
 
94 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 the time Cyrus took it, it ceased to be the metropo- 
 lis of a kingdom, and declined rapidly. 
 
 We will now consider, briefly, Isaiah' s descrip- 
 tion of its present state :* 
 
 e< It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be 
 dwelt in from generation to generation, neither shall 
 the Arabian pitch his tent there, neither shall the 
 shepherds make their fold there; but wild beasts 
 of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall 
 be full of doleful creatures, and owls shall dwell 
 there, satyrs shall dance there, and the wild beasts 
 of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and 
 dragons in their pleasant palaces," &c. 
 
 1. Who could have told that so great a city, in a 
 beautiful place, with so fruitful a soil, would never 
 be inhabited ? Surely none but G-od. The exact 
 place of its location has hitherto been unknown, 
 and the whole region is uninhabited, and many 
 a traveller has sought in vain for some certain trace 
 of those mighty walls. 
 
 2. It need not necessarily be inhabited by fero- 
 cious beasts, for a few poor people may live among 
 its ruins, and keep under the brutal creation. But 
 God said it would be so, arid it is so. 
 
 3. But the Arabians are not afraid of the wild 
 beasts, and they love to rove through the deserts 
 and pitch their tents in the most desolate places. 
 
 * Isa. xiii. 
 
 
THE SPECIFICATIONS NOTICED. 95 
 
 But underneath the rubbish of these immense 
 ruins, are deadly scorpions, serpents, and reptiles, 
 so that none can sleep beneath a tent there in 
 safety. 
 
 4. But time will crumble into dust this rubbish, 
 and destroy these hiding places. Will not the rich 
 soil again bring forth abundant pasturage, and the 
 shepherd make his fold there ? No so the prophet 
 declares, and so it has been, 
 
 5. But it is said that it shall become pools of 
 water. Travellers say that within comparatively a 
 a few years, the Euphrates, becoming singularly 
 obstructed, two-thirds of the site of Babylon is now 
 " pools of water for the bittern/' (a water fowl,) " to 
 cry in." 
 
 Thus hath "the golden city ceased/' and the 
 desolation of her once crowded streets, and the 
 dust of her splendid palaces, been made the evi- 
 dence both of the wrath of God against the pride 
 and oppression of kings, and the truth of Jehovah 
 speaking through the Bible. 
 
 SECTION IV. Prophecies concerning the Seven Churches 
 of Asia. " The Revelation of John." 
 
 IF the reader will turn to the second and third 
 chapters of the Revelation of John, he will find dis- 
 tinct prophecies uttered concerning each of the 
 seven churches there named, which were situated in 
 Asia Minor. The reader will be able to turn to 
 
96 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 some Bible Atlas and find the relative position of 
 this country and these churches. 
 
 We will point out the prophecies, and their ful- 
 filment, which respect four of them because the 
 nature of the declarations concerning these will be 
 more easily understood namely, Ephesus, Phila- 
 delphia, Laodicea, and Smyrna. 
 
 To the church at Ephesus, John was ordered to 
 write : " Remember, therefore, from whence thou 
 art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or 
 else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove 
 thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent." 
 By " candlestick," in this prophetic language, is 
 meant church. The Ephesians are therefore threat- 
 ened with the removal of their church "out of its 
 place" except they should repent. For many cen- 
 turies after this declaration was published to the 
 world, Ephesus remained a flourishing city, so that 
 its church, favoured with the labours of the apostles 
 and early Christians, might hear and consider the 
 warning, and the world know that the denunciations 
 were not written after its decline. " But now a 
 few heaps of stones and some miserable mud cok 
 tages, occasionally tenanted by Turks, without one 
 Christian residing there, are all that remains of 
 ancient Ephesus." It is, as described by different 
 travellers, a desolate, forlorn spot. The epistle to 
 the Ephesians is read throughout the world; but 
 there is none in Ephesus to read it now. They left 
 
CHURCH OP PHILADELPHIA. 97 
 
 their first love, they returned not to their first works. 
 Their "candlestick has been removed out of its 
 place/ ' and not only the Christian church, but the 
 great city of Ephesus is no more. A modern trav- 
 eller says, " Its streets are obscured and overgrown. 
 A herd of goats were driven to it for shelter from 
 the sun at noon ; and a noisy flight of crows from 
 the quarries seemed to insult its silence. We heard 
 the partridge call in the area of the theatre and 
 stadium. The glorious pomp of its heathen wor- 
 ship is no longer remembered; and Christianity, 
 which was here nursed by apostles and fostered by 
 general councils, until it increased to fulness of 
 stature, barely lingers in an existence hardly 
 visible." 
 
 Concerning the church in Philadelphia, Jesus 
 says, as recorded by his servant John, " I know thy 
 works : behold I have set before thee an open door, 
 and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little 
 strength and hast kept my words and hast not de- 
 nied my name. Because thou hast kept the word 
 of my patience, I also will keep thee from the 
 hour of temptation which shall come upon all the 
 world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." 
 
 An American traveller, who has recently visited 
 these cities, writes concerning Philadelphia : 
 
 "The promise of Divine interposition in the 
 hour of temptation, is the distinguishing feature in 
 this letter of Jesus to the Philadelphians ; and won- 
 
98 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 derfully has it been fulfilled for the last eighteen hun- 
 dred years. The candlestick (the church) has never 
 been removed; the angel (the minister) of the 
 church has always been there. The altar of Jesus 
 has been often shaken, both by the imperial pagan 
 power, when Philadelphia supplied eleven martyrs 
 as companions to Polycarp in the flames at Smyrna, 
 and by the arms of the false prophet, when Bajazet 
 and Tamerlane swept over Asia Minor like an inun- 
 dation; yet it has never been overthrown. The 
 crumbling walls of twenty ruined churches, and 
 the swelling domes and towering minarets of a dozen 
 mosques attest the hours of fiery temptation ; yet 
 three thousand Christian Greeks, and a half a dozen 
 churches, still kept in repair and still vocal with 
 praise to Jesus, attest that he has been faithful to 
 his promise, ( I also will keep thee in the hour of 
 temptation which shall come upon all the world, to 
 try them that dwell upon the earth/ " 
 
 To the Laodicean church the Saviour wrote, 
 " Because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor 
 hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." The writer 
 just quoted, says of the city of Laodicea, " It was 
 situated on several hills of volcanic origin, the prin- 
 cipal of which is described by travellers as covered 
 from its summit to its base with ruined arches, bro- 
 ken pillars, and remnants of magnificent buildings. 
 The only living creatures that occupy this melan- 
 choly spot are wolves, jackals and foxes. Beneath 
 
CHURCH OP LAODICEA. 99 
 
 the hills and the plains are the smouldering remains 
 of the ancient volcanoes that so often desolated the 
 district and destroyed the city, and which yet render 
 the air lukewarm. To a country like this, how 
 awfully appropriate is the message of Jesus, to the 
 church at Laodicea. ' I know thy works, that thou 
 art neither cold nor hot. So, then, because thou 
 art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my 
 mouth/ " 
 
 From the eleventh century, when the Turk set 
 his iron foot upon it, it became a scene of war. 
 Finally the withering dominion of the Mohamme- 
 dan settled upon the city, and, lo ! she has disap- 
 peared, and with her the church which Paul planted, 
 and for which he repeatedly expressed deep concern. 
 All that is known of her subsequent history attests 
 that she heeded not the " counsel" of the Saviour, 
 who said to her, "Buy of me gold, that thou mayest 
 be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be 
 clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not 
 appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that 
 thou mayest see. Be zealous, therefore, and repent." 
 And because they heeded not, the doom of excom- 
 munication was pronounced by the Saviour; their 
 separation from the pale of the church, as something 
 nauseous and loathsome, was threatened; and after 
 a lengthened course of vicissitudes and humiliation, 
 they have been blotted from the map of nations and 
 the family of God. The winds sighing over the hill 
 
100 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 of Laodicea, with the melancholy cry of the jackal, 
 are the only sounds which break in upon the soli- 
 tude." 
 
 To the church in Smyrna it was written, "Be- 
 hold, the Devil shall cast some of you into prison, 
 that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation 
 ten days : be thou faithful unto death, and I will 
 give thee a crown of life." In this book, we find a 
 day in the prophetic manner, standing for a year, as 
 in the prophecy of Daniel. The church in Smyrna 
 were to have tribulation ten years. History in- 
 forms us that this church, with the other Asiatic 
 churches, suffered persecution under Diocletian, 
 precisely that length of time. 
 
 Let us look attentively at these prophecies. 
 Of one church it is said, its minister shall be re- 
 moved out of his place of another, that it should 
 be preserved amidst a furnace of trial of a third, 
 that it should be utterly extinguished and of 
 a fourth, that it should suffer ten years' affliction. 
 Here is a different and specific declaration for each 
 church. 
 
 More than one hundred and fifty years ago, there 
 lived in Boston, a well-known divine by the name 
 of Mather. He wrote a great number of books and 
 was esteemed a good and wise man. Now suppose 
 this minister had left among his writings several 
 letters which he had written, one to the citizens of 
 New York, one to the people of Baltimore, another 
 
AN OBJECTION ANSWERED. 101 
 
 to the people of Albany, and still another to the 
 people of Philadelphia, and that these letters had 
 been received and read in those cities, with great 
 interest, coming from so distinguished a man as 
 Increase Mather, at one time president of Harvard 
 University. In the letter to New York, we will 
 suppose he wrote as follows; A devastating plague 
 called the cholera, shall come upon you, and your 
 streets shall be deserted, and your business shall 
 cease." To the Baltimoreans, "Your town shall be 
 attacked by a victorious army, and they shall fight 
 against it, but they shall not conquer ; God shall 
 preserve you." To the Philadelphians, " War shall 
 rise up in your midst, and you shall slay one 
 another, and you shall be consumed by your civil 
 commotions." And in the letter to Albany, "Your 
 beautiful town shall increase and become great, but 
 fire shall consume it, and your splendid temples 
 shall become ashes, and the wind shall blow them 
 away." These letters being found, ever since his 
 day, in the libraries of these several cities, and 
 making a part of their history, and being published 
 also at the time among the works of Mather, and 
 read throughout this country, as well as in Eng- 
 land, there would be no doubt about the time when 
 they were written. Now if we should open the 
 history of each of these cities and read that New 
 York alone, of all of them, had been desolated by 
 the cholera ; that Baltimore alone had been attacked 
 
 9* 
 
102 EVIDENCE FROM PROPHECY. 
 
 by a foreign foe, and successfully defended; that 
 Albany had been consumed by fire, and Philadel- 
 phia destroyed by civil war, (the events all having 
 happened more than one hundred years after 
 Mather's letters were known and read,) would it 
 not establish the fact that he was divinely inspired ? 
 And if any should say " Oh, he only happened to 
 guess right/' we should answer, "It is very singu- 
 lar that he should have guessed that it was Albany 
 and not New York which should be consumed by 
 fire that it was New York and not Baltimore or 
 Philadelphia, which should be visited by the 
 cholera ; very singular that just the right event was 
 guessed and applied to just the right city. It re- 
 quires more faith to believe in this wonderful 
 guessing, than to believe Mather, if he should say, 
 ' Thus saith God concerning these cities/ " We 
 may suppose such cases, but the truth is, no such 
 predictions ever have been made, much less ful- 
 filled except those recorded in the Scriptures, 
 which profess to have been written under the inspi- 
 ration of God. 
 
 Of this character are the letters of the Spirit to 
 the churches in the book of " The Revelation." 
 Their fulfilment is recorded by Yolney, a great op- 
 poser of religion, and it is very strange that this in- 
 fidel and scoffer should, in his description of the 
 condition of Philadelphia, use the very expression 
 which had been used in the Bible. He never de- 
 
OTHER PROPHECIES. 
 
 103 
 
 signed saying any thing to confirm the truth of the 
 Scriptures. He says some of the churches, as well as 
 the world at large, continued to read these letters 
 nine hundred years before their entire accomplish- 
 ment. 
 
 In this chapter on "Prophecy," I have only 
 touched upon the interesting subject. I have said 
 nothing about the Saviour's predictions concerning 
 Jerusalem nor the Old Testament prophecies con- 
 cerning the Jews and the Holy Land, as well as 
 those which refer to other nations and remarkable 
 cities, all of which have been most wonderfully and 
 exactly fulfilled. Surely "Prophecy came not in 
 old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 2 Pet. i.21. 
 
104 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 TOWEB Y. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 SECTION I. The remarkable Character of the Doctrines 
 it teaches. 
 
 WE know God must be a great and holy being 
 The Bible professes to be a revelation from him. 
 We may expect, therefore, that the doctrines it 
 teaches will be like him that they will be con- 
 sistent with his holy attributes. We may expect 
 also, that the doctrines will be such as are not 
 clearly revealed in nature, nor easily determined by 
 reason. Before Christ came, and consequently be- 
 fore God's will was fully made known to man, great 
 and powerful nations had flourished on the earth. 
 The Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, were 
 remarkable for their wisdom and learning. But 
 they never arrived at a clear knowledge of the 
 true God, nor did their philosophers, with all their 
 study and great talents, possess any just notions 
 either of a Supreme Being, or of man's duty to him 
 if he exists, nor any clear ideas of man's duty to 
 
MAN'S ORIGINAL STATE. 105 
 
 his fellow-man, the character of a future state, nor 
 even any satisfactory notion of immortality. " Man 
 by wisdom knew not God." He was like a ship in 
 the middle of the ocean without rudder or compass. 
 He was driven by every wind of passion, ready 
 to be cast upon some fatal rock, or swallowed up in 
 the deep. From such a state of confusion and ig- 
 norance we turn to the Scriptures, and all is order 
 and beauty. It is a compass to guide man over 
 life's boisterous sea to a haven of rest. It brings 
 to his view, at once, God, his present duty, and his 
 future destiny. 
 
 We will take a brief survey of these doctrines. 
 
 It sets forth man's original state the manner in 
 which he came from the hands of Jehovah. (f God 
 made man in his own image." How consistent 
 with the character of a holy God ! How like him ! 
 Himself holy, he creates his creatures holy, and 
 places them in a world, which he has fitted up for 
 their residence, and which he pronounces " good." 
 The moral, intelligent being suited to the Creator, 
 and the creation suited to that intelligent being. 
 
 But man being free to obey or disobey God's 
 command, sinned, and thereby forfeited his favour 
 and became subject to his curse. In his affections 
 he became estranged from God. His heart was 
 now " deceitful above all things, and desperately 
 wicked." 
 
 But a merciful God did not leave him in this lost 
 
106 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 condition, in which he could not have glorified him 
 here, nor have lived with him in the world to come. 
 He had thoughts of mercy concerning him and 
 provided the means of his recovery. In one of the 
 first chapters of the Bible the coining of Christ is 
 foretold. The history of those families from which 
 he was to spring, is preserved. The history of that 
 nation alone is given, to which these families be- 
 longed. A system of sacrifices was established in 
 which the great idea of an atonement was taught 
 and kept constantly before the world. While the 
 blood of lambs and of calves flowed from the Jewish 
 altars, they were impressed with the new and as- 
 tonishing truth that mere penitence could not secure 
 pardon, but that Grod had prepared a sacrifice. 
 When the prophets came they spoke of Christ of 
 his birth, the manner of his life, his miracles, his 
 death and future kingdom. The fundamental doc- 
 trine of the atonement, then, is everywhere taught 
 in the Bible. In connection with the fall of man 
 it is a consoling, a sublime doctrine, worthy of its 
 author; a doctrine man's wisdom could never de- 
 vise. In connection with the atonement is the doc- 
 trine of Christ's nature. He is represented as truly 
 man, "born of a woman made under the law." 
 As such, he is " touched with a feeling of our in- 
 firmities," and " is tempted in all points as we are." 
 He is also represented as God. This is indeed the 
 great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the 
 
REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 107 
 
 flesh. But it bears the impress of Him who is in- 
 finite, whom finite creatures may not pretend to 
 fathom in the depth of his designs, or in the mystery 
 of his nature. 
 
 With the character and atonement of Christ, the 
 Scriptures connect the doctrine of the dispensation 
 of the Holy Ghost. He it is who helps man's in- 
 firmities, enlightens his dark understanding, purifies 
 his heart and fits him for heaven. 
 
 The doctrines of repentance, obedience and faith 
 are also taught, simple and sublime truths exhi- 
 biting the goodness of God. Here the way-faring 
 man, though a fool in worldly wisdom, need not 
 err; and he that runneth may read. The degraded 
 heathen, as the first flashes of truth from the gospel 
 gleam amidst their moral darkness, apprehend and 
 exult in the simplicity and power of these doctrines ; 
 and the most profound scholar in Christendom, 
 when awakened to a true sense of his condition as a 
 sinner and led to flee from the wrath to come, receives 
 these doctrines as a little child, and acknowledges 
 that they are precisely adapted to his case. When 
 the chastening hand of God bows the strong man 
 down with wasting disease, he confesses his help- 
 lessness, and yields to the teachings of the Holy 
 Ghost, and on the verge of the tomb, with a body 
 ready to resolve itself into dust, hopes for salvation 
 only through " faith in Christ/' 
 
 But the Bible does not leave man at his descent 
 
108 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 into the tomb. Here heathen philosophy dropped 
 a tear and turned away in confusion. It reasoned 
 and paused in the midst of its speculations, unsatis- 
 fied. But the gospel brings "life and immortality to 
 light." It perfects what the preceding revelation 
 darkly intimates. The doctrine of a resurrection from 
 the dead infuses new life into the whole being of 
 man. Though a man dies, he shall live again. This 
 state, in which he struggles for a few clays and 
 then disappears, is but the beginning of his ex- 
 istence. 
 
 " The dead which are in their graves shall hear 
 the voice of the Son of man and come forth." " In 
 a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound 
 of the last trump, the dead shall rise." Surely this 
 is a doctrine worthy of God. 
 
 The doctrines of a general judgment and a future 
 state of rewards and punishments are also taught in 
 the Bible. Until their revelation, all seemed confu- 
 sion in the government of God. The wicked were 
 seen to flourish, and the righteous to sit in deep 
 affliction. Virtue was apparently passed by unre- 
 warded, and wrong went unpunished. But when a 
 judgment to come was revealed, the righteous were 
 taught to refer to it their cause, and the wicked, 
 while prospering in his wickedness, to tremble m 
 view of its certain retribution. The righteous were 
 encouraged by the promise of " crowns of glory," 
 and the wicked restrained by a a fearful looking for 
 
PURITY OF ITS MORALITY. 109 
 
 of judgment and fiery indignation that shall devour 
 the adversaries." 
 
 Such are some of the doctrines of revelation. How 
 sublime ! How closely each is connected with the 
 others, making a complete whole ! How perfectly 
 they account for our being here, for the moral con- 
 dition of man ! How admirably suited are they to 
 his present happiness, and how well adapted to 
 prepare him for his eternal existence ! Man, by 
 wisdom, could never have known them. Human 
 authority never could have been sufficient to give 
 them power to command the belief of man in all 
 age and conditions. While contemplating them, we 
 are led to exclaim, with reverence and gratitude, 
 "Grod has indeed spoken to man in the Scriptures 
 of Truth." 
 
 SECTION II. The Purity of its Morality. 
 
 LET us turn over the sacred pages of the Bible, 
 and we shall find vice in all its degrees and forms 
 condemned, and virtue of every shade and class ap- 
 proved and encouraged. The best and most enlight- 
 ened of heathen nations failed greatly in attempting 
 to set up a perfect standard of morals. The utter 
 failure of their efforts is abundantly proved in their 
 exhibitions of the character of their deities. Even 
 Jove, the Supreme, to whom they assigned the care 
 of the universe, was subject to the worst of passions. 
 All the inferior gods were guilty of the most de* 
 10 
 
110 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 graded crimes. Surely the stream could not rise 
 higher than the fountain. The nations could not 
 be more virtuous than the being by whom they sup- 
 posed themselves* governed. Even Lord Boling- 
 broke, a man of giant intellect, of great political 
 influence, but an avowed infidel, declares, " That no 
 religion ever appeared in the world whose natural 
 tendency was so much directed to the peace and hap- 
 piness o mankind as the Christian. The gospel of 
 Christ is one continued lesson of the strictest 
 morality, of justice and of universal charity. Sup- 
 posing Christianity to be a human invention, it is 
 the most amiable and successful invention that ever 
 was imposed on mankind for .their good." 
 
 Not only does the Bible declare what man ought 
 to do, but it furnishes sufficient motives and reasons 
 for doing it. When Mr. Moffat, the celebrated 
 missionary to Africa, first tried to teach the natives 
 that it was wrong to steal each other's cattle, they 
 laughed at him for what they thought was his sim- 
 plicity. They could not see why it was wrong, noi 
 by what authority they ought to feel obliged to re- 
 spect the rights of property. But when they were 
 made acquainted with God, and learned that he had 
 forbidden it, and that the honest were rewarded and 
 the wicked punished, they were afraid and said, 
 " We cannot do as we used to do, because the mis* 
 sionaries have come with the G-od palaver, (the word 
 of God ; ) and say we must not steal." Thus all 
 
THE SKEPTICAL LAWYER. Ill 
 
 men's acts are referred to what God commands, and 
 what he rewards or punishes. 
 
 Men of skeptical minds, who have taken up the 
 Bible to examine its character, have been constrained 
 to acknowledge its perfect moral standard. We 
 are told that in a city in one of the Northern States, 
 lived a lawyer of eminence and talents. He was 
 notoriously profane. He had a coloured boy at whom 
 his neighbours used to hear him swear with awful 
 violence. One day this gentleman met a professor 
 of religion, who was also a lawyer, and said to him, 
 "I wish, sir, to examine into the truth of the 
 Christian religion. What books would you advise 
 me to read on the evidences of Christianity ?" 
 
 The Christian, surprised at the inquiry, replied : 
 "That is a question, sir, which you ought to have 
 settled long ago. You ought not to have put 
 off a subject so important to this late period of 
 life." 
 
 " Is it too late ?" said the inquirer. " I never 
 knew much about it, but I always supposed that 
 Christianity was rejected by the great majority of 
 learned men. I intend, however, now to examine 
 the subject thoroughly myself. I have upon me, as 
 my physicians say, a mortal disease, under which I 
 may live a year and a half or two years, but not 
 probably longer. What books, sir, would you ad- 
 vise me to read ?" 
 
 "The Bible/' said his friend. 
 
112 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 "I believe you don't understand me/' resumed 
 the unbeliever, surprised in his turn : " I wish to 
 investigate the truth of the Bible/' 
 
 " I would advise you, sir/' repeated the Christian, 
 "to read the Bible. And/' he continued, "I will 
 give you my reasons. Most infidels are very igno- 
 rant of the Scriptures. Now to reason on any sub- 
 ject correctly, we must understand what it is which 
 we reason about. In the next place, I consider the 
 internal evidence of the truth of the Scriptures 
 stronger than the external." 
 
 " And where shall I begin ?" inquired the unbe- 
 liever. " With the New Testament ?" 
 
 "No," replied the elder, "at the beginning at 
 Genesis." 
 
 The infidel bought a Bible, went home, and sat 
 down to the serious study of its contents, to try rigid- 
 ly but impartially its truth. 
 
 As he went on in its perusal, he received occa- 
 sional calls from his Christian friend. The infidel 
 freely remarked upon what he had read, and stated 
 his objections. He liked this passage he thought 
 such a text touching and beautiful, but he could not 
 credit a third. 
 
 One evening the friend called, and found the un- 
 believer at his house, walking the room with a de- 
 jected look, his mind apparently absorbed in thought, 
 not noticing that any one had come in. He con- 
 tinued to walk the room. His friend at length spoke : 
 
HIS SURPRISE AT THE MORAL LAW. 113 
 
 "You seem, sir, to be in a brown study. Of 
 what are you thinking ?" 
 
 " I have been reading/' replied the infidel, " the 
 moral law." 
 
 " Well, what do you think of it ?" asked the elder. 
 
 " I will tell you what I used to think," answered 
 the infidel. " I supposed that Moses was the leader 
 of a horde of banditti ; that, having a strong mind, 
 he acquired a great influence over a superstitious 
 people ; and that, on Mount Sinai, he played off 
 some sort of fire works to the amazement of his 
 ignorant followers, who imagined, in their mingled 
 fear and superstition, that the exhibition was su- 
 pernatural." 
 
 " But what do you think now ?" interposed his 
 friend. 
 
 "I have been looking," said the infidel, "into 
 the nature of that law. I have been trying to 
 see whether I can add any thing to it, or take 
 any thing from it, so as to make it better. Sir, 
 I cannot. It is perfect a perfect law. The first 
 commandment," continued he, (( directs us to make 
 the Creator the object of our supreme love and rev- 
 erence. That is right. If he be our Creator, Pre- 
 server and Supreme Benefactor, we ought to treat 
 him, and none other, as such. The second forbids 
 idolatry. That certainly is right. The third forbids 
 profaneness. The fourth fixes a time for religious 
 worship. If there be a God, he ought surely to be 
 10* 
 
114 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 worshipped. It is suitable that there should be an 
 outward homage significant of our inward regard. 
 If Grod be worshipped, it is proper that some time 
 should be set apart for that purpose, when all may 
 worship him harmoniously and without interruption. 
 One day in seven is certainly not too much, and I 
 do not know that it is too little. The fifth defines 
 the peculiar duties arising from the family relations. 
 Injuries to our neighbours are then classified by the 
 moral law. They are divided into offences against 
 life, chastity, property and character. And," said 
 he, (applying a legal idea with legal acuteness,) (C I 
 notice that the greatest offence in each class is ex- 
 pressly forbidden. Thus the greatest injury to life 
 is murder ; to chastity, adultery ; to property, 
 theft; to character, perjury; and the greater of- 
 fence must include the less of the same kind. Mur- 
 der must include every injury to life; adultery 
 every injury to purity; and so of the rest. And 
 the moral code is closed and perfected by a com- 
 mand forbidding every improper desire in regard 
 to our neighbours. I have been thinking/' he 
 proceeded, " where Moses could have found that 
 law ? I have read history. The Egyptians and the 
 adjacent nations were idolaters; so were the Greeks 
 and Romans; and the wisest and best Greeks or 
 Romans never gave a code of morals like this. 
 Where then did Moses get this law? I again ask 
 myself, a law which surpasses the wisdom and phi'. 
 
WHERE DID MOSES GET THIS LAW? 115 
 
 losophy of the most enlightened ages ? He lived 
 at a period comparatively barbarous, but he has 
 given a code of laws in which the learning and sa- 
 gacity of all subsequent time can detect no flaw. 
 Where did he get it? He could not have soared 
 so far above his age as to have devised it himself. 
 I am satisfied where he obtained it. It came down 
 from heaven. I am convinced of the truth of the 
 religion of the Bible/' 
 
 The infidel infidel no longer remained to his 
 death a firm believer in the truth of Christianity. 
 
 The Saviour, in the New Testament, has expand- 
 ed the excellent moral precepts of the Old Testa- 
 ment, and has shown more fully how the moral 
 character can be sustained, namely, by the princi- 
 ple of love in the heart ; love to God and man, 
 which is the fulfilling of the law. The moral power 
 of the Bible is now such, that those who do not re- 
 ceive its regenerating influence upon their hearts 
 are constrained to acknowledge that society is better 
 where it is received and reverenced. The world ex- 
 pects believers in the Bible to be under the health- 
 iest moral restraint, and thus they pay a silent 
 homage to its worth, more forcible than the most 
 laboured defence. 
 
 SECTION III. Simplicity and Sublimity of its Style. 
 
 FISHER AMES, a distinguished American statesman 
 and orator, who died in 1808, was ardently attached 
 
116 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 to the Bible. He lamented its prevailing disuse in 
 schools, and thought that children should be well 
 acquainted with it, both on account of the all-import- 
 ant truths it contains, and because they would thus 
 learn the English language in its purity. He was 
 accustomed to say, " I will hazard the assertion that 
 no man ever did, or ever will become truly eloquent, 
 without being a constant reader of the Bible, and an 
 admirer of the purity and sublimity of its language/' 
 
 Sir William Jones, whose interesting writings on 
 oriental subjects elucidated many obscure points in 
 Scripture history, was a general scholar, and embel- 
 lished and adorned every subject which passed 
 under his elegant pen. On the blank leaf of his 
 Bible, the following finely conceived description was 
 found written : " I have regularly and attentively 
 perused these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion 
 that this volume, independently of its divine origin, 
 contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, 
 more pure morality, more important history, and 
 finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be 
 collected from all other books, in whatever age or 
 language they may have been written/' 
 
 This is high praise truly. Let the reader call to 
 mind some portions of the Bible, which will show 
 the simplicity of its style. Turn to the history of the 
 creation. How plain ! No effort seems to be made 
 by the inspired penman. We see the order in 
 which God created the heavens and the earth then 
 
EXAMPLES OF ITS SIMPLICITY. 117 
 
 comes the brief but impressive account of man's 
 creation, his fall, the peopling of the earth, the in- 
 crease of wickedness, and the appalling scene of a 
 world overflowed with water. What child has not 
 read the story of Joseph again and again ! The 
 mistaken partiality of his father, and the jealousy 
 of his brethren. How artlessly he tells his dreams ! 
 How we tremble for him when he goes to Dothan 
 to seek his brethren ! How cruel it was to separate 
 him from his indulgent parent and send him into 
 slavery ! With what interest we follow him through 
 his vicissitudes until he becomes ruler of Egypt, 
 and exercises the authority of a king ! And then, 
 the touching speech of Judah, how it melts the 
 heart ! To complete the absorbing interest of the 
 whole, the meeting of Joseph and his father is pre- 
 sented in so beautiful a manner that we seem to see 
 the old man weeping upon the neck of his long lost 
 and recovered son, and to hear his trembling ac- 
 cents, as he whispers, " Now let me die, since I have 
 seen thy face, because thou art yet alive/'' 
 
 The history of Samuel, of the unfortunate and 
 erring Saul, of the valiant and eloquent David, and 
 of the rich and prosperous Solomon, are all nar- 
 rated with such artless simplicity that a child reads 
 them over and over again without weariness, while 
 the most wise and learned are equally delighted and 
 instructed. Through the whole book of Kings, 
 and in the sublime writings of the prophets, the 
 
118 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 same straight-forward, smooth, honest-seeming and 
 impressive manner is maintained. 
 
 When we open the New Testament and follow 
 the Saviour from his birth to the cross, and from 
 thence to the grave, and in his ascension to the 
 mediatorial throne, we are obliged to acknowledge, 
 yes, rejecters of the Bible have been constrained 
 to acknowledge, that never was there so much im- 
 portant history so many new and sublime truths 
 presented, with so much unaffected simplicity of 
 manner. It is the artless style of the child intent 
 only on unbosoming his full soul in his parent's ear, 
 combined with the maturity of the power of utter- 
 ance of the ripe scholar. Take, for example, the 
 narrative of the last supper, the report of Christ's 
 last discourse, the subsequent arraignment and con- 
 demnation of Christ, his crucifixion, burial, resur- 
 rection, and ascension. What a group of imposing 
 events ! How distinct are the impressions of the 
 whole scene ! We behold the trembling disciples, 
 trying to avoid danger, yet lingering with deep emo- 
 tion near the place of the solemn catastrophe. The 
 meekness of Jesus is seen in vivid contrast to the 
 malignity of his enemies. We follow the uncom- 
 plaining sufferer to the cross. We see his patience 
 and agony. The graves open, the veil of the temple 
 is rent asunder, the earth quakes, darkness shrouds 
 the land. Jesus prays for his enemies, groans and 
 diee ; and the scene closes ! Could a few paragraphs 
 
DR. FRANKLIN. 119 
 
 embrace, in a clearer manner, and in a more con- 
 vincing style, more incidents of thrilling interest ? 
 Well might Sir William Jones say that its narra- 
 tion is more exquisitely beautiful than that of any 
 other book. 
 
 Examples of sublime composition might be se- 
 lected from almost any part of the Bible. Let the 
 reader re-peruse the song of Moses and the children 
 of Israel when they had escaped so miraculously 
 from Pharaoh* study the eloquent language of the 
 book of Job, the sublime description by David of 
 the descent of Jehovah in the eighteenth Psalm, 
 and the unequalled imagery of the prophets, espe- 
 cially of Isaiah, and judge for himself. 
 
 We are told that when Dr. Franklin was Ameri- 
 can minister to France, the French nation was over- 
 run with infidel sentiments. Every occasion was 
 Seized to cast contempt upon the Bible. Franklin 
 being in a company of gentlemen and ladies of cul- 
 tivated minds but of skeptical sentiments, the op- 
 portunity was improved by some present to ridicule 
 the Scriptures. Some remarked that it was priest- 
 craft, and others that it was a book of superstitious 
 notions, only fit for old women and children ; while 
 they nearly all agreed that it was unfit in its style 
 for people of refined taste. 
 
 On making this last remark they appealed to 
 
 *Ex. xv. 
 
120 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 Franklin, whose literary acquirements were well 
 known. He waived the subject, and proposed that 
 the company meet at an appointed time and place, 
 and that each should read an example of beautiful or 
 sublime composition from some favourite author. The 
 company met. Some read extracts from Homer; 
 some from the infidel author, Yoltaire. Each was 
 enthusiastic in the praise of the selection he had 
 made. When Franklin's turn came he read, "God 
 came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount 
 Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the 
 earth was full of his praise. And his brightness 
 was as the light; he had horns coming out of 
 his hand : and there was the hiding of his power. 
 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals 
 went forth at his feet. He stood and measured the 
 earth ; he beheld and drove asunder the nations j 
 and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the 
 perpetual hills did bow : his ways are everlasting. 
 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction : and the 
 curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was 
 the Lord displeased against the rivers ? was thine 
 anger against the rivers ? was thy wrath against the 
 sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy 
 chariots of salvation? Thy bow was made quite 
 naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even 
 thy word. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. 
 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled ; the 
 overflowing of the water passed by : the deep ut- 
 
THE EXAMPLE THE RESULT. 121 
 
 tered his voice and lifted up his hands on high. 
 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation ; at 
 the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining 
 of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through 
 the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen 
 in anger. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of 
 thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed. "* 
 When Franklin had finished reading, all were loud 
 in their praises of his author, acknowledging him 
 to be more sublime than any whom they had intro- 
 duced. When they had exhausted their commen- 
 dations, he simply remarked, holding up the Bible, 
 "This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Bible, and I 
 have given you a specimen of its style, of which 
 you were pleased to speak lightly. My advice to 
 you is, never to disparage a book with which you 
 are not acquainted/^ 
 
 SECTION IV. The Harmony of all its Teachings. 
 
 THE Bible may well be called, not a single book, 
 but a library. It is made up of many books. 
 There is the book of Genesis. In it is contained, 
 besides the most ancient and thrillingly interesting 
 history, the beginning of the revelation of those 
 doctrines of which we have before spoken. This 
 
 * Hab. iii. 313. 
 
 j- We do not know the authority for the story but we 
 may credit as much of it as we please. 
 11 
 
122 EYIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 and the next four books were written by Moses. 
 Then comes the detailed history of the settlement 
 of the Holy Land, and next the history of the 
 judges and kings of Israel, and through them all is 
 seen an illustration of the same great moral precepts, 
 and the same plan of G-od's redeeming love is gradu- 
 ally unfolded. When the various prophets begin to 
 speak, the revelation is still more clear, the lan- 
 guage more startling, and the unveiling of Jehovah 
 to man sublime, though he still makes " darkness 
 his secret place, and his pavilion round about him 
 dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." In the 
 New Testament, there are yet many different writers, 
 dwelling upon some points of the same great body 
 of doctrines, while they are giving narratives the 
 most important and yet unpretending. Now, let 
 the reader pause for a moment, and think, that these 
 books were written, many of them hundreds of 
 years apart, all of them at different times, by men 
 living in different countries, speaking different lan- 
 guages, of very different education and habits, as is 
 evident from their difference in style of composition, 
 and yet no one writer contradicts what the other has 
 said. There is nothing in a later writer to take 
 back or amend what a former writer states. No 
 clashing not a shadow of disagreement in doc- 
 trine. Does Moses establish a law requiring sacri- 
 fices, thus teaching the doctrine of atonement ? The 
 authors of the history of the Jewish people de- 
 
DOCTRINES THE SAME. 123 
 
 nounce them as incurring the wrath of God because 
 his altars are thrown down. Does the book of 
 Exodus teach that thou shalt have no other God 
 but Jehovah? In the book of Kings we learn, 
 that the sword and the pestilence are sent to devour 
 the people, because their groves and high places are 
 full of the images of false gods. Does almost the 
 first page of the Scriptures declare that "God 
 blessed the seventh day and sanctified it," and are we 
 commanded, a little farther on, to " remember the 
 Sabbath-day and keep it holy ?" If we open to the 
 words of the prophet, far down upon the tide of 
 time, in the midst of other scenes and other genera- 
 tions, we hear him exclaim, "Blessed is the man 
 that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it,"* 
 and adding, " If thou turn away thy foot from the 
 Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my Holy Day; 
 and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the 
 Lord, honourable ; and shalt honour him, not doing 
 thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor 
 speaking thine own words ; then shalt thou delight 
 thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride 
 upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee 
 with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the 
 mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."* If certain 
 blessings are promised on certain conditions in the 
 earliest books, the same conditions are enforced and 
 
 * Isa. Ivi. 52. f Isa - lviii - 13 14 - 
 
124 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 carried out in all the books. If Moses, in his fare- 
 well address to his people, warns them of conduct 
 which will displease God, the latest prophet lifts up 
 his voice with divine authority and declares the 
 coming wrath of God against that very course of 
 conduct. We open the New Testament and read, 
 "Not one jot nor one tittle shall pass from the law 
 until all be fulfilled." All is sanctioned. The 
 shadows contained in the cerentony of the former 
 revelation are lost in the noonday light of revela- 
 tion, but no doctrine is altered. The emphatic de- 
 claration of the new and great Teacher is, " I came 
 not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it." Four differ- 
 ent writers take up the history of Christ's life, and 
 in detailing its multiplied transactions we see the 
 peculiar style of each writer, as he gives in a varied 
 form the scenes that have passed before him; but 
 not a shade of difference in any doctrine taught by 
 either can be detected in their several gospels, 
 though in some incidental matters there is an ap- 
 parent not a real disagreement, rather confirming 
 than weakening the evidence of their genuineness. 
 Thus too in all the epistles are the same truths 
 everywhere unfolded and enforced. In every book, 
 then, of the Bible, we see scattered rays of light; 
 in the whole, they are gathered into a burning focus. 
 Surely all this gives the most satisfactory evidence 
 of the presence of the Divine Mind. " Holy men" 
 of all ages who penned the Sacred Records must 
 
A SUPPOSED CASE. 125 
 
 have spoken "as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost/' 
 
 SECTION V. The Character it exhibits of Christ, the 
 Founder of Christianity. 
 
 IN most of the States of our country there is a 
 Retreat for the Insane. It is but a few months since 
 I was in an institution of this kind at Worcester in 
 Massachusetts. It is eligibly situated, command- 
 ing a view of a wide extent of the most interesting 
 part of the State. The interior arrangement is 
 equally beautiful, and is fitted up with every possi- 
 ble convenience, for the comfort of that unfortunate 
 class of our fellow beings who are deprived of rea- 
 son. The long airy halls, the neatly furnished 
 rooms, the promenade galleries, and the kind and 
 laborious attendance, all show that the greatest 
 wisdom and benevolence have been exerted in estab- 
 lishing this Asylum. Let us suppose that an in- 
 dividual man had conceived the idea of such an 
 institution ; that he had bestowed all his wealth 
 and years of untiring labour upon it; that it was 
 by him alone that the insane of the State found 
 here either the means of the restoration of their 
 reason, or comfort in their afflicting bereavement; 
 that his voice, as he daily visited the rooms of the 
 inmates, sounded like the sweetest music, roused 
 the drooping spirits of the depressed, and calmed 
 the ravings of the maniac. If you knew the cha- 
 11* 
 
126 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 racier of the institution and the relation of this 
 benevolent man to it, you would be prepared to ex- 
 pect that his whole character was of the most 
 exalted excellence. You would look for an exhi- 
 bition in him of goodness and usefulness, in all the 
 relations of life, and (according to his means) 
 towards all the poor and suffering of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 Or, on the other hand, suppose you should first 
 become acquainted with this man before having 
 been in his Retreat for the Insane, and before having 
 known any of the particulars of its character, you 
 should converse with him, see his spirit in his daily 
 walk, confer with his intimate friends concerning 
 him, and, in fact, become well acquainted with his 
 character, what should you think would be the cha- 
 racter of such a Retreat when you were told he had 
 been the founder of it ? You would at once say, so 
 excellent, so wise, and influential a man would esta- 
 blish no other than an institution which would be 
 a blessing to society. It will be like the man, just 
 as you would have said under the other supposition, 
 while looking at the institution, that its founder 
 must be an excellent man. To be told that an un- 
 feeling, selfish, covetous man was the founder of 
 such a retreat, or one having the appearance and 
 reputation of such a man, would lead us to suppose 
 that there was some deception about it, and that 
 self-interest, and not the good of the insane, was 
 
CHRIST'S LOVE. 127 
 
 the object of it. We might expect that when close- 
 ly examined, it would not be found to be beneficial 
 even to those whom it pretended to benefit. We 
 expect consistency between a great, a benevolent 
 and useful institution, and its founder; and in the 
 very nature of the case, it must be so. The stream 
 that winds its sluggish way from the midst of a low, 
 nauseous swamp, will not yield pure water ; nor do 
 we expect that the clear, sweet waters of a spark- 
 ling lake will be replenished from such a source. 
 
 The Christian religion, we have proved, is the 
 concentration of all that is excellent. It offers a 
 retreat for poor deluded, sin-disordered man. It is 
 instituted by Christ, its founder, without cost to 
 those it benefits. He has provided in it every 
 means for their restoration to a right mind. We 
 infer therefore the perfection of his character ; and 
 if we find it to be so, we shall have another evi- 
 dence of the consistency of the Bible, and of its 
 divine origin. Or, if we examine his character, as 
 the authors of the gospels represent it to us, with- 
 out reference to our knowledge of the religion he 
 has founded, we shall infer that so perfect a head 
 must establish a perfect religion. The pure foun- 
 tain, high up in the mountain's side, will send forth 
 sweet waters. 
 
 We will briefly glance at the character of Jesus. 
 But what a theme ! How can we begin to do it 
 justice ! We can only stand wondering, and, point- 
 
128 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 ing to the cross, exclaim, "Behold the Lamb of 
 God that taketh away the sin of the world I" 
 What love was exhibited in his character ! We 
 need not contemplate him, as he leaves for a 
 season the glories of heaven, the worship of 
 angels, and the throne of his father, to sojourn 
 on earth, to become a man of sorrows and ac- 
 quainted with grief. We may fix our admiring 
 gaze upon him at the commencement of his minis- 
 try. Are the poor begging to be taught the way 
 of salvation, that having suffered with the "evil 
 things" of this world, they may be "comforted" in 
 Abraham's bosom ? To them especially does he 
 preach the gospel. He casts his eyes over suffering 
 humanity, and beholding the blind groping in dark- 
 ness, he touches their eyes and they see. But he 
 would bestow a still greater blessing upon them ; 
 he bids them through him receive the light of eter- 
 nal life. He sees the sick he heals them, and bids 
 them receive a cure for their sin-sick souls. While 
 he breaks the control of devils over the bodies of 
 men, he would strike the chains that bind their 
 souls to the service of the prince of devils. When 
 his weeping friends stand around the grave of a 
 loved relative, he weeps in sympathy with their af- 
 fliction ; and when about to call the dead to life, he 
 instructs them in the great truth, that he is the 
 <( resurrection and the life," and that those who be- 
 lieve in him "shall never die." Thus his love 
 
HIS KIND WORDS. 129 
 
 shows itself in his desire to do good to the bodies 
 and the souls of men. 
 
 But not only in his acts do we see the love of 
 the Saviour. It is set forth in his tender language. 
 " The Scriptures contemplate the world, labouring, 
 restless, fevered about the various concerns of the 
 present life ; causing their cup of sorrow to overflow, 
 by holding it with an unsteady hand ; anxiously look- 
 ing onward to the future borrowing the distresses 
 of the morrow to aggravate those of to-day; load- 
 ing themselves with burdens of grief which do not 
 belong to them, and which they are not required to 
 bear ; and, surveying this scene of overtoiled labour, 
 and sleepless anxiety, and wasting solicitude, in 
 which mortals are embroiled, the voice of Jesus, 
 the friend of man, and the tender sympathizer with 
 human woe, is heard, rising in tones of the kindest 
 compassion, above the sighs, and plaints, and groans 
 of the multitude, saying ' Peace, be still ; mourn- 
 er, dry thy tears; ye, who are laden with the self- 
 imposed burdens of worldly care, throw off the 
 heavy load. Ye destitute, who count yourselves out- 
 casts of the world, for whom no one cares, know 
 that you have a Father, and friend in the God of 
 Providence and Grace. Come, learn of me, and I 
 will give you repose. I will remove your anxieties, 
 and lay your hearts to rest on the bosom of that pater- 
 nal Providence, which cares and provides for all it has 
 made; for every thing, from the meanest herb which 
 it feeds with the precious dews ; up to the immortal 
 
130 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 soul on which it pours the immediate influence of 
 the divine Spirit.' "* 
 
 Christ's authority is another striking trait in 
 his character. He spoke not as the scribes and 
 pharisees. He declared his doctrines as one having 
 authority. His words were full of wisdom and power. 
 Head his sermon on the Mount. How mild how 
 benevolent and yet how decided ! "It has been 
 said of old time, an eye for an eye and a tooth for 
 a tooth, but / say unto you, resist not evil." When 
 dwelling upon awful truths, carrying the minds of 
 his audience forward into the eternal world, and 
 arraying the universe before himself, with what 
 authority he speaks of the separation of the 
 righteous and the wicked ; " These shall go away 
 into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into 
 life eternal." When the prophets wrought the 
 miracles, they were careful to connect with them the 
 name and authority of the Grod of Israel. But Jesus 
 stands at the grave of the dead and says, " Come 
 forth." He rebukes the wind, saying, " Peace, be 
 still." To the impure his language is, "/will, be 
 thou clean." He spoke as one who was conscious 
 that " in him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead, 
 bodily." " Surely never man spake like this man." 
 
 But not only in the annunciation of his doctrines 
 did Christ exhibit his authority ; his rebuke of sin, 
 while it is mingled with the love of a Saviour , 
 shows the authority of the Judge of the world." 
 
 * Harris' " Great Teacher." 
 
HIS AUTHORITY IN REBUKING SIN. 131 
 
 "Witness the cleansing of the temple. Intent on 
 gain, the Jews had converted the holy place into 
 a scene of sacrilegious traffic; they had turned 
 the ancient and solemn passover itself into profit ; 
 they bartered deep in the blood of human souls ; 
 they worshipped mammon in his Father's house. 
 But ' suddenly coming to his temple/ he, with the 
 tones of injured and insulted Deity, rained on their 
 consciences such strokes of terrible dismay, that 
 they eagerly sought refuge from his holy indigna- 
 tion in flight, leaving him the Lord and sole posses- 
 sor of the sanctuary. 
 
 " But chiefly let us call to our recollection the un- 
 broken series of pregnant woes which he denounced 
 during his last visit to the temple. Long had he 
 walked, like an incarnate conscience, through their 
 guilty land, and often had they been troubled, and 
 trembled at the rebuke of his sacred presence. 
 Having nearly filled the capacious measure of their 
 iniquity by rejecting him, they were about to make 
 it overflow by his crucifixion. Undeterred by the 
 appalling prospect, he came with unfaltering step 
 to the scene of his sufferings, to finish the work 
 which was given him to do. Finding himself sur- 
 rounded in the temple by a large assemblage of 
 Jewish doctors, scribes, and lawyers, and pharisees, 
 the very elements and essence of the nation's guilt ; 
 he assailed and demolished the enormous fabric of 
 sanctimonious hypocrisy, which their laborious im- 
 
132 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 piety had reared, and, with the fidelity and fearless- 
 ness of the King of martyrs, denounced and de- 
 livered his final protest against the pride and the 
 power which upheld it. They had occasionally 
 heard his fearful comminations before, and trembled 
 for their security, for every word was a weapon; 
 but now, having regularly invested and approached 
 their fortified guilt, he opened on them the dreadful 
 artillery of his divine malediction. An occasional 
 flash had before apprized them that a storm might 
 be near; but now, having collected together all the 
 materials of the tempest into one black and fearful 
 mass, and having awed them to silence, as nature 
 is hushed when awaiting a crisis, he discharged its 
 tremendous contents, in one volleyed and prolonged 
 explosion, on their guilty and unsheltered heads. 
 He arraigned them as though he had already 
 ascended the seat of doom, and laid open all the 
 sepulchral recesses of their iniquity as though he 
 read from the book of God's remembrance. Hypo- 
 crisy was unable to conceal itself in the cloud of 
 incense which it offered. The proud, the covetous, 
 the intolerant, he confounded and covered with the 
 shame of detection and conscious guilt. As they came 
 up for judgment in succession, he fulminated against 
 them the woes and imprecations of his wrath ' the 
 wrath of the Lamb/ in tones anticipating those 
 of their final sentence. ' "Wo unto you, scribes and 
 pharisees, hypocrites ! Ye serpents, ye generation of 
 
INSTANCE OF AUTHORITY. 133 
 
 vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell ?" 
 That solemn scene, remembering the character of 
 the Great Reprover, and the impending judgments 
 of which it was prognostic, may well remind us of 
 the seven apocalyptic thunders uttering their voices ; 
 and often, may we suppose, would the echoes of his 
 denunciations return upon the ears of those who heard 
 them in after years, like the distant but quailing 
 reverberations of the mount that burned."* 
 
 It will not surprise us, that Christ exhibited such 
 love, and also, that he exhibited such authority in 
 his teaching and rebukes, when we consider the 
 mysterious union in his person of the two natures 
 of God and man. It is in this peculiarity of his 
 character that his great fitness for the work of 
 man's redemption is seen. He was truly man, that 
 he might be "a high priest, touched with the feeling 
 of our infirmities" and " tempted in all points as we 
 are, and yet without sin" that men might contem- 
 plate him clothed in a like feeble frame, subjected 
 to hunger and thirst, to labour and weariness, to the 
 scorn and buffeting of a wicked world, might see 
 him in life's sternest conflicts, and from his example 
 be encouraged to endure unto the end. He took 
 upon him our nature that he might suffer the pun- 
 ishment due to sin. But to give efficiency to those 
 sufferings, to clothe his example with authority, to 
 give weight to his teaching, he was God manifest in 
 
 * Harris. 
 12 
 
134 EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 the flesh. How perfect then his character ! How 
 abundant the reasons for the world to conie to him 
 and be saved. We have but glanced at the traits 
 of his character. How must the study of it impress 
 us, that it is perfect that it is worthy of Chris- 
 tianity, and that he is worthy to be its author ! 
 
 Many infidels, after attempting to disparage other 
 evidences that Christianity is of God, when they 
 have contemplated the character of its Founder, 
 have not ventured to breathe aught against him. 
 Some have even acknowledged that a religion with 
 such an author could not be from man. 
 
 Even the celebrated infidel Rousseau, is compel- 
 led to bear testimony to this point, "I will confess 
 to you," he says, "that the majesty of the Scrip- 
 tures strikes me with admiration, as the purity of 
 the Gospel hath its influence on my heart. Peruse 
 the works of philosophers, with all their pomp of 
 diction, how mean how contemptible are they, com- 
 pared with the Scriptures ! Is it possible that a 
 book, at once so simple and sublime, should be 
 merely the work of man ? Is it possible that the 
 sacred personage, whose history it contains, should 
 be himself a mere man ? Do we find that he as- 
 sumed the tone of an enthusiast, or ambitious sect- 
 ary? What sweetness, what purity in his man- 
 ner ! What unaffected gracefulness in his delivery ! 
 What sublimity in his maxims ! What profound 
 wisdom in his discourses ! What presence of mind, 
 
CHRIST'S CHARACTER. 135 
 
 what subtlety, what truth in his replies ! How 
 great the command of his passions ! Where is the 
 man, where the philosopher, who could so live, and 
 so die, without weakness, and without ostentation ? 
 When Plato described his imaginary good man, 
 loaded with all the shame of guilt, yet meriting all 
 the rewards of virtue, he described exactly the cha- 
 racter of Jesus Christ : the resemblance was so 
 striking that all the Fathers perceived it." 
 
 Well, then, may the defenders of the Bible glory 
 in the character of Christ, which has compelled 
 even the opposers of religion to use such terms of 
 admiration. Well may we hold up his perfect life, 
 his mysterious, yet wonderful nature, and exclaim, 
 " Here is a theme worthy of an angel's pen yea, 
 of more than an angel's intellect. Here is the 
 grand radiant point, towards which all the infinities 
 converge : infinite wisdom infinite love infinite 
 justice infinite mercy. Depths, heights, length, 
 breadth all passing knowledge \" Innumerable 
 pens have been employed upon the life, character, 
 preaching and mediatorial work of Christ. Hun- 
 dreds of commentaries, more or less critical and 
 extended, have been written upon the four gospels. 
 But have " the seven seals" all been opened ? Is 
 there nothing left to reward the toil of those who 
 may hereafter devote their best power to the study 
 and elucidation of these sacred books ? " Who by 
 searching can find out God, or who can find out the 
 
EVIDENCE FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF. 
 
 fx> perfection ?" The character of Christ is 
 an infinity perfect character. The gospels, in which 
 he is exhibit as the divine object of our faith and 
 love and aajmi> u, and which contain the record 
 of his miracloK i^irines and sufferings, and final 
 triumph, "were gi^i by inspiration of God," and 
 "the treasures of tfr*v>m and knowledge" which 
 they contain, are literal rrexhaustible. After all 
 c( the living water' 7 that QBJ ;*een drawn from these 
 " wells of salvation," there is no diminution of sup- 
 ply. Were a thousand of the most gifted and holy 
 men on earth to " set the Lord Jesus always before 
 them," and spend their whole lives in studying his 
 holy character, they would be so far from exhausting 
 the theme, that other thousands more gifted and more 
 holy might find ample scope for the employment of 
 their powers, down to the end of time. However 
 great and good the last writer, upon the life, cha- 
 racter and teachings of Christ may be, and with all 
 the help which he will be able to command, he must 
 leave the divine portraiture still unfinished. Nor 
 can it be doubted, that the mysteries of redemption, 
 including the divine and mediatorial character, the 
 incarnation and atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, 
 will employ the minds, the hearts and the tongues 
 of the redeemed, through everlasting ages ; and that 
 new developments of the perfections and " glory of 
 God, in the face of Jesus Christ, will be made for 
 ever and ever." 
 
THE OCEAN STEAM-SHIP. 137 
 
 TOWER VI. 
 
 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE'. 
 SECTION I. The Exponents. 
 
 A FEW years ago, a learned man lectured in Lon- 
 don to prove that it was impossible to cross the At- 
 lantic ocean in steam-ships. He showed, no doubt, 
 very clearly, that it was a great distance, that vio- 
 lent storms would arise, and that the sea would over- 
 whelm such a vessel ; and he thought he proved 
 that it would take more coal to make the fires under 
 the boilers for the voyage than the ship could carry. 
 People considered him very wise, and almost all be- 
 lieved what he said. But very soon you might have 
 entered the ship-yard, and have seen the carpenters 
 making a vessel. It was to be a steam-ship, and 
 its owners meant to send it on a voyage across the 
 Atlantic. The learned man lectured, the people 
 came to see the ship and laughed, or shook their 
 heads and said, "It cannot be done/' But the 
 workmen worked on. By and by, the ship was 
 launched, fitted and sent to sea. In about two 
 weeks thousands of the people of Boston gathered 
 12* 
 
138 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 about the wharves, and shouted, " A steam-ship ! A 
 steam-ship from England !" Who doubts now that 
 we can go to London or Liverpool by steam? Ex- 
 perience proves it, and it must be so. 
 
 A good man by the name of Grant, a physician by 
 profession, lived in the state of New York, not many 
 years since. One of our missionary societies sent 
 him to Armenia, a country in Asia, to learn what the 
 moral state of the people was, and to see if mission- 
 aries could be sent there. He travelled extensively 
 among a very rude people called Koords. At one 
 time he was called very suddenly and earnestly to 
 visit one of their chiefs who was very sick. This 
 chief was a very wicked man, and if Dr. Grant had 
 not pleased him, or if the medicine had not 
 produced a good effect, he would, perhaps, have 
 taken his life. But the Doctor went, trusting in 
 God. He found the warrior in great pain, and very 
 sick. He told him, at once, that he must have some 
 powerful medicine, and that it would make him feel, 
 for a little time, very disagreeable. But the sick 
 man was convinced that he must die if he did not 
 get immediate relief; for this reason, he took the 
 remedy. Its effects were indeed very powerful, and 
 for a time his life seemed to be quite uncertain, but 
 God blessed the means, and the chief was restored to 
 health. He had proved the missionary's skill and 
 remedies by experience, and from that time he 
 placed the strongest confidence in him. 
 
THE POOL. 139 
 
 I will present one more illustration, because I 
 wish the evidence of experience to make a deep im- 
 pression, that my readers may better understand 
 that which is to follow. 
 
 There was, at one period, in Jerusalem, a pool of 
 water which had this remarkable quality that at 
 a certain season of the year the water was trou- 
 bled, and whoever then first stepped into it was 
 cured, no matter what was his disease. We will 
 suppose an incident connected with this pool. We 
 will sit down for a moment, by the water, at the 
 proper time, and watch the approach of the sick 
 people. There comes a poor leper. His face looks 
 like one mass of corruption, and if you should re- 
 move those rags which in part cover him, his whole 
 body would exhibit the same sad sight. See how 
 the people run from him, fearing lest they shall 
 catch his dreadful disease ! He pauses for a mo- 
 ment on the brink of the pool. Is he afraid that 
 its waters are no better than other waters, and does 
 he say to himself, " How foolish I am to think that 
 so simple an act can do me any good ?" No, he 
 only hesitates because his trembling limbs refuse 
 for a moment to move. He has no other remedy 
 he is determined to try. He steps in and in a mo- 
 ment all his disease is removed, and he is made 
 perfectly well. His flesh is restored as the flesh of 
 a little child. He has proved the efficacy of the 
 waters, and goes home praising God. Now, will the 
 
140 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 reader attend for a few moments patiently, to the 
 application of all these illustrations ? 
 
 1. The Bible teaches us that we have a dreadful 
 disease the disease of sin. That " the whole 
 head is sick and the whole heart faint" that we 
 are full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores.* 
 All this we feel in ourselves and see in others. The 
 world is full of sin. 
 
 2. The same Bible presents to us a remedy. It 
 tells us how it is provided, and by what means it is 
 to be applied, and describes its effects. 
 
 3. It invites us to prove that what it says is true 
 by experiments. It says, " Whosoever will, let him 
 come unto the waters." " Wash you and make you 
 clean." "Taste and see that the Lord is good." 
 
 4. Many people, whose testimony ought to bo re- 
 ceived, have made the experiment, as we shall show 
 in the next sections. Every person may try the 
 Bible remedy for sin, and prove its efficacy by ex- 
 perience, as the Koordish Chief, and the leper in Je- 
 rusalem, tried the remedies for their diseased bodies. 
 
 SECTION II. Testimony from Experience. 
 IN one of our colleges there were a large number 
 of young men pursuing their studies with the hope 
 of qualifying themselves for usefulness and distinc- 
 tion in life. A considerable number of them were 
 
 * Isa. i. 6. 
 
THE YOUNG STUDENT. 141 
 
 professors of religion, but the larger part, though 
 generally moral, were not religious. By the good- 
 ness of God, an extraordinary interest in religious 
 subjects was awakened among them such as is usu- 
 ally called "a revival." Many of the young men tried 
 the remedy prescribed in the Bible for a wicked na- 
 ture, and proved it to be efficacious. There was 
 one young man who had not often attended religious 
 services, nor had he been under the particular influ- 
 ence of his devout fellow-students; but he knew what 
 instructions the Bible gave to sinners, and what it 
 promised to the obedient. He knew also what 
 course others had taken to become better men, and 
 he had heard them testify concerning the happy 
 effects which had attended their trial. He there- 
 fore went into his room one afternoon, locked the 
 door and gave himself up to serious reflections. His 
 thoughts and reasonings were, in substance, as fol- 
 lows: "I hear many speak of a 'new heart' of 
 having been the subject of a great change. These 
 things I have heard often, but I have no experi- 
 mental knowledge of them. Having read the Bible 
 from my youth, I am persuaded that it teaches 
 plainly the necessity of this change. 
 
 " But if what is taught concerning the renewing of 
 the heart is true, I may know it by the most satis- 
 factory of all proof I may try it for myself. I am 
 resolved to attend the meeting for prayer, and to do 
 so this very evening. I will state to my Christian 
 
142 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 friends just what my feelings are. I will ask their 
 prayers and seek their counsel/' 
 
 These reflections, which I have given as the sub- 
 stance of his thoughts, occupied his mind for several 
 continuous hours, while, no doubt, a great conflict 
 was going on in his feelings. It was not easy to do, 
 what he saw he ought to do. But he went to the 
 meeting, stated his purposes, and the people of God 
 instructed him and prayed for him. He was soon 
 convinced of what he did not see clearly before that 
 he was a great sinner. This led him to pray earnest- 
 ly and to cast himself for salvation on Jesus Christ. 
 
 At a subsequent period of his college course, if 
 you had entered a retired room in the college build- 
 ings, where a few of Christ's professed followers 
 were assembled for religious exercises, this young 
 man might have been seen participating in those 
 exercises, showing, by his spirit and conduct as well 
 as testifying with his lips, that he has a hope through 
 grace of " an inheritance with the saints in light," and 
 an assurance that he has passed from death unto life. 
 
 Years have rolled on since those delightful as- 
 semblings, but the change then professed has be- 
 come more and more manifest. 
 
 Now let the reader accompany me to a beautiful 
 and retired farm not far from the great metropolis 
 of New England. As we enter that venerable look- 
 ing house, which bears the marks of more than a 
 hundred years' duration, we see, sitting around the 
 
THE FAMILY GROUP. 143 
 
 family table, three aged, interesting persons. That 
 man reading the Word of God, whose white locks 
 and trembling voice at once arrest our attention, is 
 eighty-five years of age his partner, who sits lis- 
 tening so attentively, is eighty-three, and her sister, 
 who bends under greater infirmities than either, is 
 eighty-four making, in their united ages, more than 
 two hundred and fifty years. The voice of prayer 
 ascends from the head of the household, morning 
 and at night, as they kneel around the family altar. 
 Tears of gratitude often steal down this venerable 
 disciple's face, as the tremulous tones of his once 
 deep and melodious voice give praises to the God of 
 infinite grace, for the comforts of his declining years. 
 If we had entered within these walls but a few years 
 ago, after about three score and ten years had passed 
 over this man's head, we should have perceived the 
 same family circle, with nearly the same appearance 
 of age and infirmity. But no family altar had then 
 been erected. Seldom was the Bible perused. Life's 
 sands were nearly run out, the grave was seen al- 
 ready opened to receive its victim, but to him it was 
 repulsive and cheerless. He did not like to think 
 of dying, and eternity stood forth just before him, 
 full of darkness and gloom. The Sabbath's cheerful 
 bells awoke no pleasing thoughts, for they spoke of 
 neglected privileges and unimproved admonitions. 
 But what a change has come over that old man ! 
 Punctual at the hour, he may be seen at the house 
 
144 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 of God, nearly every Sabbath of the year, and often 
 amid winter's cold and summer's heat, though he 
 comes from a distance of three miles. The language 
 of his heart seems to be, " My soul longeth, yea, 
 even fainteth for the courts of the Lord ; my heart 
 and my flesh crieth out for the living God." If you 
 speak of dying, he says, "I shall soon be at rest" 
 if of eternity, he answers, "I expect to spend it IB 
 heaven." 
 
 What has wrought this amazing change ? A few 
 years since, he directed his steps to a church where 
 the people of God were seeking his blessing, and his 
 ministers were explaining the truth of the Bible. He 
 saw himself a sinner. He tried the remedy, there 
 revealed, for sin, and the result we have seen. 
 
 Having given the experience of a young, intelli- 
 gent man, and that of an old man, I will add but 
 one more. It is an account of the conversion of a 
 very young girl, written by the celebrated Jonathan 
 Edwards, a great and good man, who preached in 
 New England about one hundred years ago. The 
 child's name was Phebe Bartlett. Her brother, 
 about eleven years old, was converted, and conversed 
 with her; by which means, under the Spirit of 
 God, she was led to feel that she was a sinner. After 
 this she began to retire into a secret place to pray, 
 till at last she became so much in earnest, that she 
 visited the place of prayer five or six times a day. 
 She spoke to her mother of her own accord, of her 
 
PHEBE BARTLETT. 145 
 
 want of success in trying to obtain salvation. " On 
 Thursday, (says Dr. Edwards,) the last of July, 
 (1735,) the child being in the closet where it used to 
 retire, its mother heard it speaking aloud, which was 
 unusual, and never had been observed before ; and her 
 voice seemed to be as one exceedingly importunate 
 and engaged ; but her mother could distinctly hear 
 only these words, (spoken in her childish manner, but 
 which seemed to be spoken with extraordinary ear- 
 nestness and out of distress of soul,) " Pray, Messed 
 Lord, give me salvation ! I pray , beg, pardon all my 
 sins !" When the child had done prayer, she came out 
 of the closet and came and sat down by her mother, 
 and cried out aloud. Her mother, very earnestly 
 several times, asked her what the matter was, be- 
 fore she would make any answer; but she continued 
 crying and writhing her body to and fro, like one 
 in anguish of spirit. Her mother then asked her 
 whether she was afraid God would not give her 
 salvation. She answered, " Yes, I am afraid I shall 
 go to hell." Her mother then endeavoured to quiet 
 her, and told her she must pray every day and she 
 hoped God would give her salvation. But she con- 
 tinued thus earnestly crying for some time, till, at 
 length, she suddenly ceased crying and began to 
 smile, and presently said, with a smiling countenance, 
 * ( Mother, the kingdom of heaven is come to me !" 
 The little girl continued to be happy in the en- 
 joyment of the presence of God, and in many ways 
 
 13 
 
146 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 stowed that there was a real change wrought in her 
 heart. She lived to be seventy years old, and 
 throughout her life adorned a Christian profession. 
 Her memoir is one of the publications of the Ameri- 
 can Sunday-school Union. 
 
 Will the reader impress the particulars of these 
 cases on the mind, while I present the memorials 
 of those whose education and circumstances were 
 very different ; but, as we shall see, the experience is 
 the same? 
 
 SECTION III. Testimony from Experience among tlie 
 Heathen. 
 
 The Bible professes to bring good tidings to all 
 men. There is not a dark corner of the earth to 
 which its light may not be carried. There are none 
 of the human family so degraded that it cannot ex- 
 alt them. There are none so ignorant and vile that 
 it cannot enlighten and purify them. I am going 
 to show, by some facts carefully copied from mis- 
 sionary narratives, that all I have said is true. But 
 first let me remind the reader that the heathen, at 
 the time these facts took place, were as miserable and 
 wicked as we can imagine men to be. I will state 
 a few facts concerning heathen people generally, 
 that what follows may be more fully understood. 
 
 Whole nations of them are murderers. In some 
 countries the parents often cast their children into 
 the streets and rivers to die. The children, in their 
 
THE STATE OF THE HEATHEN. 147 
 
 turn, carry their parents into the woods, when they 
 are old and helpless, to starve, or be devoured by 
 wild beasts. 
 
 They are idolaters. They worship almost every 
 thing upon which they can place their thoughts 
 the heavenly bodies, the creeping things of the 
 earth, the works of their own hands and the spirit 
 of their own imaginations. The Great God they 
 do not like to retain in their thoughts. 
 
 They lie so constantly that they scarcely think it is 
 wrong. Missionaries say that this is the case with 
 all classes of heathens, in every place where they 
 have been. Children lie to their parents, kings lie 
 to their people and all the people lie to each other. 
 
 The heathen, as nations, are thieves. Parents do 
 not teach their children that this is wrong, but 
 laugh at their cunning when they steal so as not to 
 be detected. Kings do not trust their people and 
 the people do not trust each other. 
 
 The hearts of the heathen are full of all manner of 
 wicked feelings. They do not live happily together as 
 families or as communities. They hate each other, 
 they hurt and often kill each other, and sometimes 
 eat the bodies of those they have slain. Love does 
 not dwell in them, and they are almost strangers 
 to kindness. 
 
 Now if these wicked nations hear the gospel 
 if they listen to what the Bible commands them to 
 do and obey it ; and they are made good and happy 
 
148 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 by it, will it not still further show that the Bible 
 must be from God ? 
 
 We might go to Greenland, that cold country, 
 where the people are covered with furs and live on 
 seals and fish, whose huts are dark and dreary, but 
 whose minds were much more dark and gloomy be- 
 fore they received the Bible, and there we should 
 find some whom a belief of the doctrines of the 
 Bible has made good. If we should go among the 
 millions of India, there would be many witnesses 
 of its power to save from sin. If we should inquire 
 among the wandering tribes of Africa, hundreds 
 with happy hearts and joyful countenances would 
 answer, " We know we have passed from death 
 unto life, since the missionary brought to us the 
 Good Book." And if we should visit the wild sons 
 of our own western wilderness, they would tell us, 
 " Since the Great Spirit sent his white children with 
 much talk about Jesus, we have another heart/' 
 From all these different nations, thousands of wit- 
 nesses are raised up every year. We may select 
 examples from any narrative of missionary labour 
 upon which we chance to lay our hands. 
 
 1. Will my readers notice, in the first place, that 
 in all these cases in both sections, there is a sense 
 of sinfulness begotten by the truth of the Bible ? It 
 does not manifest itself in the same way; it is not 
 equally pungent in all, but it leads to the same re- 
 sults in all a desire for a new heart. 
 
REMARKS. 149 
 
 2. Again, the same means were used by each 
 prayer, application to Christian instructors, reading 
 of the Bible and faith in Christ. 
 
 3. The same joyful state of mind is attained by 
 each disciple. 
 
 4. All these, the preparation, the means and the 
 result, are precisely what the Bible describes, and 
 they all occur under the influence of its sacred truth. 
 
 SECTION IV. Scripture Test of Experience. 
 
 IF a man has been very sick, and has taken a 
 certain medicine prescribed, and says it has made 
 him well, if I know him to be a man of truth, I 
 ought to believe him. And if a great many are 
 sick, and a large number of the most intelligent of 
 them try a certain remedy, and they all agree that 
 its effects are beneficial, they ought to be believed. 
 But if, in addition to what they say about their cure, 
 they get up immediately from sick beds, after taking 
 the medicine, become strong, their pale and languid 
 looks giving way to the rosy hue of health, and if 
 they are moreover enabled to perform their accus- 
 tomed labour; and if this effect follows in every 
 case when the medicine is taken according to the 
 directions given, then there is a proof of its excel- 
 lence from its effects, and these effects are tests by 
 which we may know a cure has been wrought. 
 
 Not many years ago, a physician prepared a com* 
 pound which, as he supposed, would cure people of 
 
150 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 the love of intoxicating drink. It was put up in 
 bottles, and sold for a great price. People bought 
 it for their friends who were disposed to intempe- 
 rance. When it was taken, it made the poor ine- 
 briate exceedingly sick, so that, for the time, he 
 loathed the very smell and sight of strong drink, and 
 thought then he never should touch it again. But 
 after a short time, his appetite for it returned, and 
 he was found to be the same poor slave to his cup as 
 before. The remedy could not bear the only true 
 test, viz. its power to cure. Now, if all these per- 
 sons who took the medicine became sober citizens 
 afterwards, provided for their families, went about 
 their accustomed business with a cheerful counte- 
 nance and happy heart, no reasonable person would 
 doubt its efficacy. Those reformed by it might feel- 
 ingly relate how sad had been their state, what glad 
 news it was to their ears that a remedy had been 
 found, and they might describe in glowing language, 
 the happy change which had been wrought. And 
 yet perhaps, some would be disposed to deride them 
 and say, " This is all delusion you are excited- 
 you have still the same appetites, and will, if cir- 
 cumstances are favourable, be guilty of the same 
 brutal sin." But an honest by-stander would say, 
 " You do not judge candidly. I have known some 
 of these men for many years. You see that old 
 man with snow-white locks, and trembling limbs. 
 Did you see the tear which rolled down his face 
 
 
THE OLD INEBRIATE'S CASE. 151 
 
 when he spoke of what he was before he took the 
 remedy, and what he has been since ? I have known 
 him for these many years. He killed his poor wife 
 by unkind treatment. He wasted a valuable estate 
 left him by his parents, and his family became de- 
 pendent upon charity. The old man, who is natu- 
 rally good-natured, used to have seasons of penitence 
 and often resolved to retorm. But when the hour 
 of temptation came, he fell, and after many such 
 efforts he became discouraged and used to say, 
 weeping, as the cup of his ruin went to his lips, i I 
 must drink I must, even if it kills me/ His 
 friends heard of the remedy, and procured it for him. 
 The old man seized it and exclaimed, i It is my only 
 chance, I can but try it ; all else has failed/ He 
 drank it. It is ten long years since, and during all 
 that time he has been what you see him now a 
 sober and happy man. He has collected his scat- 
 tered family, and by the new life his altered cha- 
 racter has infused into them, they obtain a com- 
 fortable living/' In this supposed narrative the test 
 is presented. The remedy proves efficient. It has 
 made a sober man out of an inebriate. 
 
 Now the Bible has not only demanded that the 
 testimony of those who try its remedy for sin should 
 be believed, but it says, "By their fruits ye shall 
 know them." " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
 peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 
 meekness, temperance/ ' Surely men may judge 
 
152 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 whether (t long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, etc." 
 follow an application of this remedy. But if I 
 should see a person or many persons who profess to 
 have used the gospel remedy, but whom the test 
 condemns, what should I say ? Certainly, they have 
 not followed the directions. 
 
 If the conditions of salvation from sin which the 
 Eible prescribes are not complied with, as they 
 certainly are not by many who profess to be the 
 disciples of Christ, of course they do not produce the 
 " fruits of the Spirit," " and are none of Christ's/' 
 But I could show, by a great many authentic nar- 
 ratives of the life and conduct of persons brought 
 under gospel influences and made obedient to the 
 truth as it is in Christ, that their lives, after their 
 conversion, have been marked by the fruits of the 
 Spirit, such as "long-suffering, gentleness, good- 
 ness," while before, they were full of the works of 
 the flesh, " hatred, variance, strife, envyings, etc." 
 There is scarcely a village in our wide-spread, happy 
 country, where there is not an example. All can 
 see that men are made holy if they obey the Bible. 
 But in heathen lands, where the Bible is not known, 
 and no such fruit is found, so soon as the mission- 
 aries appear proclaiming Christ and him crucified, 
 a change occurs, like the fading of night before 
 the morning sun darkness flees away as soon as the 
 true light shines. 
 
 A noble English ship was once sailing along 
 
THE SHIPWRECKED SAILORS. 153 
 
 the coast of Africa. For many days they 
 trimmed their sails to a fair breeze, and sped 
 swiftly on towards their desired haven. But the 
 tempest arose. The sea rolled, and night shut in 
 upon them amidst vivid flashes of lightning, and 
 loud and long continued peals of thunder. When 
 the morning dawned, they were running with fear- 
 ful rapidity upon a rocky coast. No human power 
 could save the ship. It was dashed to pieces, and 
 about eighty, out of a company of one hundred, were 
 cast alive upon the inhospitable coast. The Kafirs 
 were then (as were all the African tribes) a fierce 
 and bloody people. They seized and stripped the 
 sufferers of everything, and beat them cruelly and 
 left them to prolong, as they could, their miserable 
 existence. Some of them they afterwards killed, 
 some they enslaved, and a few, having suffered in- 
 credible hardships, arrived among the white settlers 
 at the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 Time passed on, and not many years after, the 
 missionaries, with much suffering, toil and loss of 
 life, established a mission among those same Kafirs. 
 Near that very spot, where the sailors and passengers 
 were robbed and beaten, stood a house of worship. 
 Thither on the holy Sabbath flocked a multitude of 
 natives neatly apparelled and orderly in behaviour. 
 The beacon fires had ceased to blaze from the tops 
 of their hills, to decoy ships upon the fatal shore, 
 that they might plunder them. The bloody sacri- 
 
154 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 fices of human victims had given way to the sacri- 
 fices of a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Another 
 gallant ship was seen from the highlands, struggling 
 with the winds and waves which were urging her 
 into the fatal breakers. Her suffering crew and 
 passengers and valuable cargo were thrown upon 
 the shore. The sailors knew not where they were, 
 but stood trembling, expecting to be plundered and 
 then beaten and led into captivity, or perhaps speared 
 upon the spot. But the natives approached them 
 kindly. " We cannot kill them," they said. " The 
 missionaries have come, who preach, every Sabbath, 
 ' Thou shalt not kill/ We cannot take these goods, 
 for they say, ' Thou shalt not steal/ We will carry 
 these men to the missionaries " and the poor sailors 
 were soon housed and fed beneath a friendly roof ! 
 They afforded the Bible test that they had been made 
 better. " By their fruits ye shall know them/' 
 
 About thirty years ago the Sandwich Islands 
 were visited by the missionaries. They were then 
 peopled by nations of idolaters. Their kings were 
 oppressive and blood-thirsty, often commanding the 
 head of a subject to be cut off, to gratify a momen- 
 tary passion. The most bloody wars were con- 
 stantly carried on among themselves, and the great- 
 est cruelties perpetrated. Ships dare not land their 
 crews for water, provisions or trade, except they 
 were well armed. And if the whale-ship in dis- 
 tress after cruising many a weary month, and 
 
THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 155 
 
 braving the storms until her sails were torn and her 
 crew fainting from constant toil dared venture 
 near their shore, instead of water and provisions 
 and rest, they would find robbery and murder. 
 But the Bible has been there. Their idols are 
 burned. The king now rules in the fear of God, and 
 the people obey because they love their rulers. 
 The house of God stands within sight of the dis- 
 tressed sailor, a beacon to assure him that he is wel- 
 come to a friendly shore and a Christian home. 
 The Sabbath bells are heard, and a happy company 
 go up to the courts of the Lord's house to worship. 
 The largest Christian church of any Christian or 
 heathen land is there, having over five thousand 
 members. What has wrought this marvellous 
 change ? The Bible ! They have taken it, have 
 learned to read its sacred pages, and it has made 
 them a civilized and happy, because a good people. 
 Is there any other book which does not derive its 
 doctrine from the Bible, which produces such effects 
 wherever it is received ? Even its enemies do not 
 pretend there is. Now let it be remembered that 
 the Bible declares that the great object of its teach- 
 ings is to produce just such effects. This then is 
 God 's Book. 
 
 SECTION V. Dying Testimony. 
 
 We have given what we believe to be a good test 
 of the genuineness of the experience professed by 
 
156 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 Christians. Another important proof of its reality 
 is the testimony given in a dying hour. When 
 men know that they are about to leave this world 
 for a mysterious and eternal existence, the real 
 state of their heart is very likely to be developed. 
 Ambition, love of applause, worldly pleasure and 
 wealth, sink into insignificance, while the soul's 
 interests are seen in something like their true light. 
 Now what is the testimony which comes from such 
 an hour? Is it in favour or against the truths 
 taught in the Bible ? Is the consolation it promises 
 realized ? Do believers in its doctrines fall asleep in 
 Jesus ? Do they feel assured, in so solemn a crisis, 
 that to be absent from the body is to be present 
 with the Lord? Does the conviction which they 
 have cherished in health, that they have a spiritual 
 life in God, and that he is in an especial manner their 
 Father, increase or diminish, at the moment when 
 the veil is withdrawn and the light of eternity 
 flashes upon their vision ? And how do those who 
 have no such experience feel then ? Is there any 
 difference of hope or fear between the two classes, 
 and is the difference almost uniform among men of 
 different outward circumstances and varieties of edu- 
 cation and position in society ? On which side are 
 hope and comfort ? 
 
 Some would disparage the testimony of a dying 
 hour because the mind is then weak and often 
 times disordered. But there is, also ; not unfre- 
 
DYING FANCIES. 157 
 
 quently, a quickening of mental perception; and a 
 grasp of thought unequalled in health. What utte- 
 rance do these quickened energies give ? 
 
 Allow for a moment that the testimony of the 
 dying is fancy, how is it that the pleasant and con- 
 soling imaginings are so uniformly the experience of 
 the righteous, or of those who professed to have re- 
 ceived and obeyed the Bible of God's truth ? 
 
 "My attention was awakened very much," says 
 one, " by observing the dying fancies of the servants 
 of this world, differing with such characteristic sin- 
 gularity from the fancies of the departing Christian. 
 It is no uncommon thing for those who die to be- 
 lieve they see, or hear, or feel, that which appears 
 only fancy to by-standers. Their friends believe 
 that it is the overturning of their intellect. I am 
 not about to enter into the discussion of the ques- 
 tion whether it is, or is not, always fancy. Some 
 attribute it to more than fancy ; but inasmuch as, in 
 many instances, the mind is deranged whilst its 
 habitation is falling into ruins around it, and inas- 
 much as it is the common belief that it is only 
 imagination of which I am writing, we will look at 
 it under the name of fancy. 
 
 " The fanciful views of the dying servants of sin 
 and the devoted friends of Christ, were strangely 
 different as far as my observation extended. One 
 who had been an entire sensualist and a mocker at 
 religion, whilst dying, appeared in his senses in all 
 u 
 
158 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 but one thing. ' Take that black man from the 
 room/ said he. He was answered that there was no 
 black man there. He replied, ' There he is, standing 
 near the window. His presence is very irksome to 
 me. Take him out/ After a time, again and again 
 his call was, 'Will no one remove him? Surely 
 some one will take him away/ I was mentioning to 
 another physician, my surprise that he should have 
 been so much distressed, even if there had been 
 many blacks in the room, for he had been waited on 
 by them day and night for many years; also, that the 
 mind had not been diseased in some other respects : 
 when he told me the names of two others, (his 
 patients,) men of similar lives, who were tormented 
 with the same fancy, and in the same way, whilst 
 dying. 
 
 " A young female, who called the Man of Calvary 
 her greatest friend, was, when dying, in her senses 
 in all but one particular. l Mother/ she would 
 say, pointing in a certain direction, ( Do you see 
 those beautiful creatures?' Her mother would 
 answer ( No, there is no one there, my dear/ She 
 would reply, 'Well that is strange. I never saw 
 such countenances and such attire. My eyes never 
 rested on any thing so lovely/ 'Oh/ says one, 'this 
 is all imagination, and the notions of a mind collaps- 
 ing; wherefore tell of it V My answer is, I am not 
 about to dispute or deny that it is fancy ; but the 
 fancies differ in features and in texture. Some, in 
 
THE IMPORTANT ITEM. 159 
 
 their derangement, call out, ( Catch me, I am sink- 
 ing : hold me, I am falling/ Others say, ' Do 
 you hear that music ? 0, were ever notes so celes- 
 tial !' This kind of notes and these classes of fan- 
 cies, belong to different classes of individuals, and 
 who they were was the item which attracted my 
 wonder. Such things are noticed by few and re- 
 membered by almost none ; but I am inclined to 
 believe that, if notes were kept of such cases, 
 volumes of interest might.be formed."* 
 
 The important truth suggested in the above quo- 
 tation is confirmed by the observation of every can- 
 did man. Volumes of well authenticated biogra- 
 phies add weight to the testimony. I will present 
 a few instances setting this convicting truth in a 
 etill clearer light : 
 
 Dr. Cooper, an Englishman, once a judge in Penn- 
 sylvania, and afterwards, for a time, president of a 
 College in one of the Southern states, was a man of 
 distinguished talents. He wrote against the Chris- 
 tian Sabbath, and against the ministry, and reasoned 
 much against the Bible. His death, compared with 
 the death of some unbelievers, was triumphant; 
 and yet let the reader observe the whole of the con- 
 solation he claims in view of death. He says, in a 
 letter to Judge Her tell, just before his death, " My 
 
 * Cause and Cure of Infidelity New York edition, en. x. 
 p. 267. 
 
160 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 shortness of breath is more distressing; my legs 
 swell painfully by bed-time. I walk with some 
 difficulty from one room to the opposite. It is pos- 
 sible I may live over this spring. I greatly dis- 
 approve of all kinds of clerical religion, as I do of 
 the whole clerical body everywhere. Of a future 
 state I have no evidence. Knowing, therefore, no- 
 thing about it, I shall die believing nothing, hoping 
 nothing , fearing nothing, caring nothing" Thus, by 
 his own confession, there was no hope in his death. 
 Let us visit now another chamber of v sickness and 
 expected death. It is that of Dr. Leechman, prin- 
 cipal of the College of Glasgow. He lived a life of 
 unostentatious piety, doing good, and greatly be- 
 loved. One of the professors brought to his bed- 
 side a young Oxford student, who had been com- 
 mitted by his father, a nobleman, to the care of 
 Dr. Leechman, for the early part of his education. 
 " He took the young scholar by the hand," (says a 
 friend,) "and, with a venerable placid aspect, an ani- 
 mated eye, a distinct though feeble articulation, 
 said, ( You see what a situation I am in, I have 
 not many days to live ; and I am glad you have an 
 opportunity of witnessing the tranquillity of my last 
 moments. But it is not tranquillity and composure 
 alone, it is joy and triumph, it is complete exulta- 
 tion / his features kindled, his voice rose as he 
 spoke. ' And whence/ continued he, ( does this ex- 
 ultation spring ? from that Book] pointing to a 
 
RANDOLPH OF ROANOKE. 161 
 
 Bible which lay on a little tahle by his bed-side, 
 'from that Book, too much neglected indeed, but 
 which contains invaluable treasure ! Treasures of joy 
 and rejoicing; for it makes us certain that this mor- 
 tal shall put on immortality. Come, Lord Jesus, 
 come quickly ! Thanks be unto God who giveth 
 me the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ/ n 
 
 Here is the dying experience of a rejecter of the 
 Bible, contrasted with that of one who claims, al- 
 most with his expiring breath, that his hopes and 
 joys are derived from its teaching. Can any candid 
 man refuse such testimony ? But we will present 
 one more contrast. 
 
 The celebrated John Randolph was a m&n of dis- 
 tinguished talents, but devoted most of his life to 
 the pursuit of the world. He says, near his 
 last moments, " I have looked to the Lord Jesus, 
 and hope I have obtained pardon." I do not wish 
 to deny that it is possible he did obtain mercy, for 
 God is of " great mercy/' but the following quo- 
 tation will show his own views of the life he had 
 lived its nature in the estimation of a dying states- 
 man. The account is by his physician. 
 
 " For a short time he lay perfectly quiet, his eyes 
 were closed and I concluded he was disposed to 
 sleep. He suddenly roused from this state, with 
 the words, ( Remorse !' ' Remorse !' It was twice 
 repeated ; at the last time at the top of his voice, 
 evidently with great agitation, he cried out 'Let 
 
 14* 
 
162 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 me see the word P No reply was made : having 
 learned enough of the character of my patient to 
 ascertain, that, when I did not know exactly what to 
 say, it was best to say nothing. He then exclaimed, 
 * Get a dictionary Let me see the word V I cast 
 my eyes around me and told him I believed that 
 there was none in the room. ( Write it down 
 then Let me see the word !' I picked up one of 
 his cards from the table, ' Randolph of Roanoke/ 
 and inquired whether I should write upon that. 
 ( Yes, nothing more proper/ Then with my pencil 
 I wrote " remorse/' He took the card in his hands, 
 in a hurried manner, and fastened his eyes upon it 
 with great intensity. ' Write it on the back P he 
 exclaimed. I did so and handed it to him again. 
 He was exceedingly agitated at this period he re- 
 peated ' Remorse !' You have no idea what it 
 is you can form no idea of it whatever it has 
 contributed to bring me to my present situation/ 
 He then said, ( Now let John (his negro servant) 
 take your pencil and draw a line underneath the 
 word/ which was accordingly done. I inquired 
 what was to be done with the card. He replied, 
 ' Put it in your pocket and take care of it ; when I 
 am dead look at it/ ;; 
 
 Let the reader compare with the above the fol- 
 lowing letter written by Dr. Pay son just before his 
 death. Dr. Payson was an earnest and successful 
 minister of the gospel, and died at Portland, Maine. 
 
LETTER FROM THE TOP OP BEULAH. 163 
 
 ft Were I to adopt the figurative language of Bun- 
 yan, I might date this letter from the top of Beulah, 
 of which I have been for some weeks a happy in- 
 habitant. The celestial city is full in my view. Its 
 glories beam upon me, its odours are wafted to me, 
 its sounds strike upon my ears, and its spirit is 
 breathed into my heart. Nothing separates me from 
 it but the river of death, which now appears but as 
 an insignificant rill that may be crossed at a single 
 step, whenever God shall give permission. The Sun 
 of righteousness has been drawing nearer and nearer, 
 appearing larger and brighter as he approached, and 
 now he fills the whole hemisphere ; pouring forth 
 a flood of glory in which I seem to float like an in- 
 sect in the beams of the sun; exulting, yet almost 
 trembling, while I gaze on this excessive brightness, 
 and wondering, with unutterable wonder, why God 
 should deign thus to shine upon a sinful worm. A 
 single heart, and a single tongue, seem altogether 
 inadequate to my wants ; I want a whole heart for 
 every separate emotion, and a whole tongue to ex- 
 press that emotion." 
 
 Having thus given suflicient examples, we ask the 
 reader to notice who they are whose dying hours 
 differ so widely to whom belongs consolation and 
 triumph, and to whom " remorse" and " the black- 
 ness of darkness ?" 
 
 We might add examples of a deeply interesting 
 
164 EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE. 
 
 and convincing character from the testimony of con- 
 verted heathen, in contrast with those who die with- 
 out a knowledge of the Bible. But let the above 
 close our chapter on the Evidence from Experience.* 
 
 * "The Anchor," published by the American Sunday 
 School Union, will supply very striking illustrations of 
 the truth here taught. 
 
 . 
 
 ll- 
 
THE REVIEW OF THE JOURNEY. 165 
 
 TOWER VII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 SECTION I. Summary of the Arguments. 
 
 WE hope we have led our readers along a pleasant 
 and profitable path. If the way has not been at all 
 times pleasing, it must have been because we, who 
 have undertaken the office of guide, have not been 
 skilful in pointing out the goodly prospects. If the 
 journey has not been full of instruction, our dili- 
 gence in gathering the materials which have so 
 abundantly surrounded us, has been small. Our 
 confidence in the subject, however, is so great, that 
 we cannot doubt that there have been unfolded to 
 the mind of the youthful reader, as we have ad- 
 vanced with our illustrations, many truths of in- 
 terest and lasting profit. Now, like a traveller, 
 who, in a pleasant journey, has taken notes by the 
 way, we will sit down and recall the scenes of pro- 
 minent interest re-impress our minds with the ad- . 
 ventures which have been the most thrilling, and so 
 arrange the mass of information that we have ob- 
 tained, that, at any time, it may be at our command. 
 We have endeavoured to erect way-marks as we ad- 
 
166 CONCLUSION. 
 
 
 vaneed, and these will help our review. We will 
 Burvey accurately the citadels of strength, and the 
 high towers of defence, of our holy religion ; so that 
 if, hereafter, we are called suddenly to defend it, we 
 shall know wherein its chief power lies. And if 
 there be less novelty in passing over the ground 
 again, there may be more clearness. 
 
 We reminded the reader when we set out, that he 
 would hear no audible voice from heaven, saying, 
 " The Bible is God's word" that no angel would 
 be sent to smite him and arouse him from his stu- 
 pidity, and communicate the fact that the Scriptures 
 are God's revelation. But he was apprised that, as, 
 in all the important affairs of life, reasons were 
 spread out to be examined and acted upon by think- 
 ing beings, so it is with regard to the evidences that 
 prove the truth of the Bible. We have redeemed 
 our promise to give many and strong reasons of its 
 truth ; stronger than those which support the claims 
 of truthfulness made by other books ; stronger than 
 those which command faith in worldly matters ; but 
 to the determination of a free, accountable mind, 
 the whole is left. More is not needed, and he that 
 does not sin against his own convictions will not ask 
 for more. 
 
 We have called upon the original witnesses to the 
 divinity of the Bible. We have examined their 
 character. We have diligently inquired into their 
 opportunity of knowing what they have pretended 
 
MIRACLES. 167 
 
 to witness. We have also examined the important 
 question whether, through the lapse of many hun- 
 dred years, their testimony has come down to us un- 
 impaired ; and we have been delighted and surprised 
 that, amidst the convulsions of nations, the over- 
 throw of kingdoms, the darkness of many ages of 
 profound ignorance, the persecutions of enemies, and 
 the fears of friends, the word has remained unim- 
 paired. 
 
 We have found the witnesses honest; their op- 
 portunity for knowing, complete ; and their testi- 
 mony is as though we heard it from their own lips. 
 But all this did not prove that what they spoke was 
 true, because they were fallible men. We then ex- 
 amined the miracles which they wrought and which 
 those wrought whose words they quoted, and this 
 proves that God spake through them ; and though 
 but men, they could not be mistaken. These mi- 
 racles we have found every way satisfactory. They 
 were so abundant, that their real character appeared 
 under almost every variety of circumstances. The 
 sea and the river were rolled back in their course, 
 the sun arrested in the heavens, bread was sent from 
 heaven, the blind were made to see, the lame to walk, 
 the sick were healed, and the dead were raised to 
 life ! All this was done under such circumstances, 
 and before so many people, that there could not have 
 been any deception; so that even the enemies of 
 the truth did not at the time call them in question. 
 
168 CONCLUSION. 
 
 We have been deeply impressed with the fact that 
 all these wonders were in perfect consistency with 
 the character of the truth revealed. The Bible 
 speaks of God's love to man, the miracles are the ex- 
 ercise of it in him; it teaches man benevolence 
 towards his fellow man, so do the miracles. Christ 
 taught that faith in his name was to save the soul ; 
 and he brought into connection with his miracles 
 this same grace, when he said ; " Only believe, and 
 thou shalt be made whole." We have seen that 
 the power of working miracles was continued in the 
 church so long as there was any thing to be added 
 to God's revelation, and until a full confirmation was 
 given to the faith of believers, and that then, an 
 humble confidence in the truth thus confirmed, was 
 reasonably demanded. Truly astonishing is the 
 weight of such evidence ! 
 
 The next step was to examine another sort of mi- 
 racles "The prophecies of Scripture/' Having 
 seen their rise at the very commencement of revela- 
 tion, like sparkling rills far up the mountain-side, 
 we have followed their course, widening and deep- 
 ening, until they have swept in mighty currents 
 down the tide of time, and poured a flood of light 
 on God's truth. Their starting point has been dis- 
 tinctly given, so that no doubt has been left, that 
 they were written before their fulfillment. Their 
 details are such that they could not have been the 
 guess-work of shrewd minds. They were uttered 
 
PROPHECY REVIEWED 169 
 
 by those who professed to be sent of God to instruct 
 mankind ; and lastly, their fulfilment has filled us 
 with admiration and wonder. Have the prophets 
 spoken to mighty and prosperous cities, and de- 
 scribed, in glowing colours, their future desolation, 
 the manner in which it should be brought about, and 
 the perfect destruction which should be wrought ? We 
 have, with the intelligent and candid traveller, walked 
 over the ruined site, and viewed, with wonder and 
 awe, its consummation. Have they made an excep- 
 tion of one city among many which they were de- 
 nouncing ? That city alone, we have seen standing 
 unmoved, for ages, amidst revolutions, fiery perse- 
 cutions and the innovations by which time accom- 
 plished the overthrow of its less fortunate rivals. 
 Do these holy men, being moved by the Holy Ghost, 
 speak of the Messiah ? We have dwelt upon their mi- 
 nute descriptions of his birth, life, character, mira- 
 cles, mock-trial and death, until we seemed to have 
 forgotten that we were listening to one who was 
 speaking hundreds of years before our Saviour's 
 advent, but heard it as from an eye-witness, as it 
 has since taken place. Thus by prophecy we have 
 been convinced that God has spoken through the 
 Scriptures to his creatures, pointing out the way to 
 holiness and heaven. 
 
 We have next turned to the Bible itself, having 
 had begotten within us a solemn reverence for its 
 teachings and a deep conviction that God has spoken 
 
 15 
 
170 CONCLUSION. 
 
 it. We have turned over its pages, and found a 
 delightful confirmation of all the evidences which 
 have wrought such conviction of their truth. The 
 impress of Jehovah has appeared in every line. 
 We have first looked at his works in nature, and 
 have seen their simplicity and grandeur. So have 
 we found it in his word. So simple, that the way- 
 faring man, though a fool, need not err therein ; so 
 sublime, that the mind of a Newton is lost in won- 
 der while contemplating it. Dwelling upon the fact 
 that a large number of writers composed it, living in 
 different countries, and in ages thousands of years 
 apart, of different habits and education, yet all de- 
 claring the same truths, and never, in a single in- 
 stance, really contradicting each other carrying out 
 one great system of holy doctrines, until they are 
 fully revealed, and supplied with all the necessary 
 instrumentalities to extend them over the earth, 
 we have felt that this word could not be from man. 
 After having turned from these topics, we have been 
 filled with wonder and gratitude in dwelling upon 
 the perfect character of Christ, so mild yet decided; 
 go authoritative and yet so lamb-like, a man to re- 
 present our nature, and Grod to fulfil the demands of 
 the law, as man to expire upon the cross, as G-od 
 to rise from the grave, and sit at the right hand of 
 the Father to intercede for a guilty world ! Again 
 we have been fully satisfied that our religion is from 
 God, having such a founder. 
 
HEATHEN TESTIMONY. 171 
 
 The Evidences of Christianity, we have found, 
 strengthen as we advance. To the Temple of 
 Truth, which they erect, they add pillar to pillar. 
 Like the sun ascending through a cloudless sky, 
 they pour ray after ray of light, until the meridian 
 splendour enters every hidden recess. 
 
 The last source of evidence we examined, is of 
 itself sufficient to establish the divinity of the Bible. 
 To this test, whosoever will, may come, and know 
 that its doctrine is of God. We have been re- 
 minded that many thousands in our own happy 
 country, of every class and condition, the learned 
 and the unlearned, the distinguished and obscure, 
 the bond and the free, are making the experiment, 
 and adding testimony to testimony, that " With the 
 heart man believeth unto righteousness." The poor 
 heathen idolater, too, suffering in the deepest moral 
 darkness, weighed down by his own impurity, has 
 been called as a witness. His answer has been, "I 
 saw the fountain opened, and one beckoning to me 
 to wash and be clean. I could not hesitate, for what 
 had I to lose ? I ventured, and now I am cleansed 
 from my sin/' Lest delusion or fanaticism should be 
 mistaken for a change of nature, we have been 
 called upon to examine a test by which the gold can 
 be distinguished from the dross. We have cast our 
 eye along the pathway trod by the messengers bear- 
 ing the gospel of Christ, and have found it strewed 
 with the richest trophies of divine grace. The very 
 
172 CONCLUSION. 
 
 
 air has been filled with the perfumes, and with the 
 melody of the sweetest music. The very waves that 
 dash upon the islands where the gospel has been 
 planted, seem to have lost some of their sullen hoarse- 
 ness, now that they wash a shore comparatively un- 
 polluted with the crimes of heathenism. In contem- 
 plating the proof furnished by experience, we have 
 left, for a moment, the busy scenes of life and enter- 
 prise, and set ourselves down beside the couch of the 
 dying. We have watched the lamp of life, as it has 
 gone slowly out. We have seen men die without ex- 
 periencing the transforming power of the Bible 
 truth. Their gloomy forebodings of the future, and 
 bitter regrets for the past, have startled us. Some- 
 times their frantic cries of despair have made us 
 shudder. Their greatest boasting has been, that 
 "they know nothing, and hope nothing." They 
 have died as the beasts die. Turning from such heart- 
 rending experience, from the chambers shrouded 
 in sack-cloth, we have stepped into the chamber 
 where " the good man meets his fate." Here is one 
 by whom the Bible has been believed and obeyed. 
 What serenity do we see ! What holy joy, what 
 inspiring hopes ! We have been constrained to 
 say, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let 
 my last end be like his !" 
 
 Such is a brief outline of the arguments we have 
 presented. May the unbroken chain they form 
 
THE BIBLE COURTS INQUIRY. 173 
 
 bind us with sweet constraint to God's immutable 
 word. 
 
 SECTION II. Important Inferences from the Argument 
 Presented. 
 
 We infer from ivhat we have learned that the 
 Bible invites a thorough examination of its claims 
 to be the word of God. If we should walk around 
 a walled city and should examine here and there the 
 preparation for defence, and should find it impreg- 
 nable, we should infer that the whole was well made. 
 A tower in this place, and a well mounted battery in 
 that, seem to say to an enemy, "You will find no 
 access." If we examine seven out of ten gates, 
 and find them of brass, massive and well secured, 
 we may infer that the other three would only con- 
 firm the impression that the city is well protected 
 against invasion. In the arguments we have pre- 
 sented to the youthful reader, we have only glanced 
 at a part of the Christian evidences. We have 
 taken them about Zion, and, as we rapidly hurried 
 on lest they should be wearied, we have pointed to 
 its bulwarks, and bid them mark the beauty of its 
 situation. And now they have that general view 
 of her excellent glory of the strength of her 
 position, they may well conclude that, with a more 
 experienced guide, with more leisure, with more 
 maturity of mind, after a few years shall have given 
 
 15* 
 
174 CONCLUSION. 
 
 them the vigour of manhood, they may take a more 
 exact survey, and receive a deeper conviction, that 
 "Beautiful for situation is mount Zion, the joy of 
 the whole earth/' 
 
 The reader must not infer that no objections can 
 or will be made against Christianity. They may 
 go forth and view the sun as it scatters its light 
 over the earth. They may study its blessed influ- 
 ence in the flowers that cover the fields, and in the 
 rich harvest which the husbandman hastens to 
 gather. They may think of the awful void that 
 would be made in creation, if it were blotted out. 
 Yet there are objections which a determined fault- 
 finder could make against the sun. If, to his closed 
 eyes, creation was still dark, you would not allow 
 him to make the bright luminary of day respon- 
 sible. If its rays sometimes fell upon his unshel- 
 tered head, or blinded his misdirected sight, or if 
 its warmth brought forth no fruit beneath his un- 
 skilful culture, you would not for a moment infer, 
 with its abundant blessings everywhere scattered 
 about you, that the sun was not made by God and 
 appointed as a blessing to man. If one should in- 
 sist that he saw spots in the sun, and to him they 
 were so great, so inconsistent with what it should 
 be, that he could not believe the sun itself was any 
 thing but a blot upon nature, or a mere creation 
 of chance to impose upon man's credulity, you 
 would recur immediately to what you know of its 
 
THE BIBLE SHOULD BE STUDIED. 175 
 
 real nature, and pity his weakness. Thus it is with 
 Christianity. You need not be told what ob- 
 jections man's ingenuity or perverseness may bring 
 against it. You have gazed at this centre of moral 
 light and purity, you have examined its claims, 
 you have considered its character, you have seen 
 its fruits : This knowledge, with God's blessing, 
 will arm you against all cavils. Knowing the Bible 
 is true from evidence as clear as that which shows 
 the sun to be a blessing to the world, all objections 
 must be false. Here you stand. Here you may 
 stand, unscathed by the fiery darts of the devil, and 
 unmoved by the ever changing, contradictory charges 
 of perverse and wicked men. You may exclaim 
 with the poet : 
 
 " Should all the forms that men devise, 
 
 Assault my faith with treacherous art, 
 I'd call them vanity and lies, 
 And bind the gospel to my heart." 
 
 If the Bible be God's word, we ought to study it 
 with diligence. 
 
 When one of our naval ships is ordered to cruise 
 in a distant ocean, to be gone perhaps for years, a 
 package is sometimes put into the hands of the com- 
 manding officer, sealed, with orders not to open it 
 until they arrive at the appointed scene of service. 
 How diligently would such an officer study these in- 
 structions, which are to govern all his movements 
 
176 CONCLUSION. 
 
 in an important cruise for many toilsome years * 
 Suppose that officer should toss that package among 
 his papers, or carelessly lay it away in a drawer, 
 and, being by this neglect ignorant of his duty, 
 should sail from port to port, seeking his own grati- 
 fication, would not the government hold him account- 
 able for his ignorance ? 
 
 We are voyagers to another world ; we have a 
 boisterous sea to navigate, with quicksands and rocks 
 on every hand. Darkness will often surround us, 
 and furious storms assail us. The Bible is our book 
 of instructions for this dangerous voyage, but thank 
 God ! it is not a sealed book. Its pages are spread 
 out for our perusal ; it informs us not only of our 
 present danger, and our every-day duty, but it tells 
 us whither we are going, and the preparation we 
 need for the service which awaits us, which is to be 
 eternal. Ought we not to be found, each day, pon- 
 dering over its sacred pages not carelessly, but with 
 prayerful attention; pausing while we read, and 
 silently studying the weighty meaning ? 
 
 But we must part. It is my earnest hope that 
 you have, springing up within you, a deeper reve- 
 rence than ever for Grod's word. You are soon to 
 assume the responsibilities of life. You will be 
 tried by many temptations and perhaps by much 
 adversity. But, in all the changes and chances of 
 life, you will find the Bible a lamp to your feet and 
 a light to your path. A firm belief in its doctrines 
 
A PARTING WORD. 
 
 177 
 
 and a sincere obedience to its precepts will prove 
 the one overflowing source of true peace; and my 
 prayer is, that, when your earthly course is finished, 
 and your mortal frame is about to be dissolved, you 
 may press the Bible to your breast, looking to God 
 in holy triumph, saying, " THY WORD is MY SUP- 
 PORT." 
 
 UBI7BRSITT 
 
I 
 
U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 
 
 57193 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 

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