apparently of little importance, strike onward into coming times, and spread their influence over ages and generations of men. If so, the objection, lying as much against the ordinary course of events as against the statement of revelation, is of force against neither; since it is the actual mode in which the world is governed.

Fas, trepidat. Quod adest, memento
Componere æquus."

HOR. CARM. lib. iii. ode xxix.

WE propose, in this article, that the following topics shall guide us in our remarks:-Theology, in its reference to the unknown; to the tendencies of this age; to the methods of reasoning employed in its defence; and to its permanent foundations in the nature and the wants of man. These topics may not appear, at first, to be very intimately connected. At the close of the article, we trust that they may appear to be more so than they seem to be at the commencement.

Much of theology pertains to the unknown; and to that nearly all the difficulties in the science belong. The same is true, however, of every other science, and every other subject of inquiry. Most of the science of astronomy, using that phrase as denoting what it would properly embrace, belongs to the unknown. We have determined the size of the earth, the distances of the planets, the laws of their motion, the magnitude of the sun, the course of a few of the comets, the parallax of one or more of the fixed stars; we have given names to some of the celestial bodies, mapped out the heavens, and determined the form of some of the nebula; but who pretends to know any thing about those worlds? Thus, too, in the world

beneath us, we demonstrate the existence of forty millions of siliceous shells of Galionellæ in a cubic inch of Bilin polishing slate ;* but who pretends to know when their inhabitants lived, or what were the habits and the laws of their being? So, too, we have uncovered the world before the Mosaic period; but who knows how long it existed, or what were the habits of the beings that dwelt upon it, or why they were made? The geologist tells us of their shapes and forms; but what more?

We are everywhere amid the unknown, and the mind is always asking questions about the unknown, and always embarrassed in regard to it. Man has always felt the difficulty in natural theology; and it comes up in a new form, and with undiminished power, in revealed theology-for perhaps no one ever studied the Bible as a professed revelation from God, who had not such questions cross his mind as the following:-Why is there so much in this book that is obscure and unintelligible? Why is not more information given on great and important questions about which the human mind has always been perplexed? Why is no more light thrown on the subject of moral government; on the question why sin and misery were allowed. to enter the system; on the nature of the happiness of heaven; on the reasons why the wicked are to suffer forever? Why are so many things left in total darkness in a professed revelation, and others with only such a feeble glimmering of light as almost to make us wish that there had been none?

And these questions produce increased perplexity and embarassment when such thoughts as the following occur, as very likely they will, in connection with them :-(1.) All this knowledge must be with Him, and it would have been apparently easy to remove all our perplexity by a simple explanation-almost by a single "stroke of the pen." (2.) Such

Humboldt's Cosmos, i. 150.

an explanation seems to have been demanded in order to clear up his own character and dealings. There are many dark things about his government; many things that give occasion to hard thoughts, to murmurings, to aspersions on his character which his friends cannot meet, and to difficulties which they cannot solve; and, instead of removing these, he has so left the matter as to perplex the good, and to give occasion for the unanswered reproaches of the wicked, where an explanation might have removed the whole difficulty. (3.) Such an explanation seemed to be demanded as an act of benevolence. We may suppose, in one view, that, since he sees all things clearly, and knows how his character and government will be ultimately esteemed, he might be willing, for a time, that they should rest under a cloud. But we cannot help asking why, under the influence of benevolence, he did not make such explanation as to remove perplexity and distress from the human mind? Man, by nature, is in darkness. He is embarrassed and troubled with his condition and prospects. He struggles in vain to obtain relief by the unassisted efforts of his own mind. A revelation is proposed. But on the most important and perplexing of his difficulties; the things in respect to which his mind is in the deepest darkness; it seems only to tantalize him, leaving him as much in the dark as he was before. And (4.) All this difficulty is increased when he reflects how much of this book that comes to him as a revelation, is occupied with histories which have lost much of their interest; with names and genealogical tables now of little or no value; with laws pertaining to rites and ceremonies long since obsolete; and with narratives often of apparently little dignity and of slight importance. The thought will cross the mind, Why were not those portions of the book occupied with statements which would have been of permanent value to mankind? Why, instead of these, did not God cause to be inserted there important explanations about his own character, the mode

of his existence, and the principles of his government; about the condition of the heavenly world, and the state of the lost? Why did he not tell us for what reason sin and misery were allowed to come into the system, and why the wicked must be punished forever? Disappointed, troubled, and half-feeling that he is trifled with, many an inquirer after truth is tempted to throw the book aside, and never to open it again with the hope of finding an answer to the questions that most deeply agitate his soul.

These are bold questions which man asks. They may be improper; they seem to be irreverent: but improper or irreverent, he asks them, and is impatient, and perhaps indignant, that they are not answered.

Yet they are not answered. So far as we can judge from the manner in which revelation was actually given, assuming that the Bible is a revelation from God, it was clearly his design to leave many subjects, and among them some of those on which the human mind is most inquisitive, and most perplexed, perfectly in the dark. It was intended that not a ray of light should be cast on them; that nothing should be imparted which would constitute a basis of even a plausible conjecture. It was clearly the purpose of God, to fix, so far as this world is concerned, an outer limit to human knowledge, without even a hint to gratify curiosity.

There is a limit to the human faculties; a point beyond. which man cannot go in answering the various questions which may occur to his mind. That point may not yet have been reached on any one subject; but clearly there is such a point, and beyond that all is dark. Occasionally, a bright genius appears upon the earth, who is endowed with almost superhuman powers, who seems to secure, almost by intuition, all that man had before discovered, who starts on his own glorious career where others have left off, and who is prepared at once to penetrate the deep profound which mortals never before