men? The "Discourse" affords several examples of illustrious philosophers deluded inextricably; and I would suggest, that such a delusion might be rendered more beneficial than many profound researches; for, if humility and penitence are essential to salvation, the wise and mighty should be deeply indebted to whatever can break down the strongholds of selfapplause. It is highly to be desired that the consciousness of their errings were far more efficacious to produce the right sense of lowliness.

My heart sickens with these daring and wicked surmises of evil spirits, in connexion with the perfect Law of God. I am inclined to trust, that you have no intention of applying this supposition to Christianity, but wherefore should you introduce it? Can you expect that good men, now, or in any age to come, should ever regard it without a sentiment of pity for the mind that furnished forth such an invention, — calculated only to disturb the weak? It seems to me a likely thing, that the Creator of men should leave the self-satisfied philosopher to delude himself with inductions about abstract things, in the wilful neglect of habitual piety and virtue, as they are described in the Gospel; but who shall pretend to attach the idea of deception to the Wisdom, the Morality, or the Prophecies of Scripture; and to that oft-repeated truth, that man is weak and sinful? Some I fear

there may yet be, who shall refuse to consider these things and be "wise;"* I pray that their number may decrease.

I know not upon which of your labours you would rather rely for a lasting approbation in the world, but I suppose you have produced nothing of greater importance to mankind than your "Discourse;" I cannot, however, forbear to express my conviction, that, with all the truly good, now and for ever, the argument of possible demoniac deception, applied by you to the sacred characters of the Bible, can be looked upon only with mingled pity and disapprobation.+

If you are a believer, it is more than strange; but if you are altogether indifferent, it is characteristic enough. Yet, should this doubt or objection rise up in the thoughts of any one who desires to live according to the will of his Maker, and in the hope of eternity; or even should it enter into the mind of any one engaged in sin, or determined to cast away the fear of God and the expectation of the life to come, together with the love of all that is holy and good on earth, the unsettled spirit will do well to examine and remember what it is that he is tempted to doubt or deny. And this brings me to resume my rapid survey of the innate Scriptural evidences, the strength of which, even in my feeble hands, seems almost irresistible.

* Hosea, xiv. 9.

Discourse," p. 205–209.

The Bible contains a host of the undisputed doctrines of wisdom that have illuminated many in every age since they have been known; and it contains no doctrine whatever of an opposite character.

The Bible contains innumerable Prophecies, fulfilled, and in constant daily fulfilment.

The Bible contains a wonderful history of the Almighty attributes, doings and intentions, a great part of which is perfectly rational,-strictly consistent with philosophical truth.

The Bible contains the most profound and rational history of human nature that can be found in the world.

The Bible contains a moral law of unexampled perfection.

The Bible contains promises of eternal life, and threats of eternal death.*

The Bible contains a condemnation of every sin, encouragement for every real virtue; wisdom and strength for every weakness, solace for every pain; rest and peace, hope and joy, for every willing soul.

The Bible contains a miraculous story, which, in the judgment of all, it is impossible to believe false, when it is understood; a story, the events of which every one believed who witnessed; and none ventured to deny until long after their occurrence.

* Life, the blessing of eternity;-Death, the wages of sin, destruction from all hope, peace, and light.

I have not the least knowledge of any one exception or objection to all these attributes of Divine Revelation; and such has been the conclusion of all the Christian churches and communities that have ever existed.

Who can fairly contemplate all this, and remain in doubt? Which is the part to which doubt can be affixed? How can any one part be selected, without destroying the whole? Such a selection is absolutely impossible. What is there here referrible to an evil spirit? Is it the morality, or the wisdom; the prophecy, or the promises; the comfort, or the hopes; the avowed infinite perfections of the Creator, or the proclaimed errors of the creatures? Is all this a falsehood?—for its parts are actually inseparable; or, is that spirit wrong that can imagine doubts or difficulties against so much all-acknowledged truth and goodness, simply because there is much in Revelation which he has not learned, or cared to comprehend? This seems a kind of argument cumulative, almost resistless; and when we consider that every one of these several views is rendered in the Bible as clear and unexceptionable as the nature of the case could admit, and that every one is inseparable from the rest, by any artifice short of the destruction of all; the truth, which all must see, appears so pledged for the verity of the parts not yet understood (by the individual enquirer), that it is easy to believe,and

understand the universal assurance of mature Christians, that the increase of their comprehension is as constant as their reading.

A similar argument to the above has been stated by Mr. Wilberforce. And the names of lay philo

• "Anxious, however, in my little measure, to contribute to the support of this great cause, may it be permitted me to state one argument, which impresses my mind with particular force? This is, the great variety of the kinds of evidence which have been adduced in proof of Christianity, and the confirmation thereby afforded of its truth; the proof from Prophecy,-from Miracles,—from the character of Christ, from that of his Apostles,-from the nature of the doctrines of Christianity,—from the nature and excellence of her practical precepts, from the accordance we have lately pointed out between the doctrinal and practical systems of Christianity, whether considered each in itself or in their mutual relation to each other, from other species of internal evidence, afforded in greater abundance in proportion as the Sacred Records have been scrutinised with greater care, from the accounts of contemporary, or nearly contemporary writers, from the impossibility of accounting, on any other supposition than that of the truth of Christianity, for its promulgation and early prevalence: these, and other lines of argument, have all been brought forward, and ably urged by different writers, in proportion as they have struck the minds of different observers more or less forcibly. Now, granting that some obscure and illiterate men, residing in a distant province of the Roman empire, had plotted to impose a forgery upon the world; though some foundation for the imposture might, and indeed must, have been attempted to be laid, it seems, at least to my understanding, morally impossible that so many different species of proofs, and all so strong, should have lent their concurrent aid, and have united their joint force in the establishment of the falsehood. It may assist the reader in estimating the value of this