Benefactor and righteous Judge of men and of angels. Here are unfolded the mysteries of creation, providence, and redemption. Here we are taught the greatness and littleness, the native moral pollution and consequent depths of wretchedness, the happiness and misery of the human race; the duties of parents and of children, of masters and of servants, of magistrates and of subjects, of friends and of enemies, the vanity of this world, and the glory of the next. Here is inculcated morality—calm, pure, and rational;-virtue, sublime, refined and enduring;-devotion, penitential, joyous and elevated, adapted to the new-born feeling and the pilgrim state of travellers to Zion. With this view of the contents of the Bible, it is not to be supposed that the peǹmen of it—many of them having their origin from a people inferior in many respects to several heathen nations, and destitute of their knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences-could be so incomparably their superiors in ideas of morality, religion and God, without divine instruction. This consideration, and the truth that bad men would never have written such a book as the sacred Volume-so contrary to their carnal hearts, and that good men would never have subscribed to a falsehood, are convincing proof of the divine inspiration of the sacred Oracles.

5. It appears, that the sacred Scriptures, including the Old and New Testaments were given by the inspiration of God, from their glorious effects..

The religion of the Bible has illuminated the benighted, instructed the ignorant, counselled the wise and the foolish, raised up the bowed down, solaced the mournful, restrained the bad, encouraged the good, and reclaimed multitudes, from vice and immorality, to virtue and piety. It has persuaded without rhetoric, conquered without arms; and this too, against the strivings of flesh and blood.

Where men once dwelt in barbarity, and paid their unhallowed devotions to material beings, now, by its influence, are found the meek and lowly disciples of Jesus, who offer up acceptable sacrifices to the Lord of glory, from the closet, the domestic altar, and the public sanctuary.

The Christian religion establishes more firmly and permanently, the parental and filial affections. It induces parents not only to embrace their offspring with tenderness, but to teach them faithfully their duty, and thus direct them in the way to Heaven. It leads children, with filial reverence, to look up and catch instruction from parental lips, adore the God who made them, and I'sp his praises. It reforms and meliorates the state of society at large. It mitigates the rigors of government, by teaching tyrants moderation, and rebellious subjects submission. It corrects the morals of men, and makes them good citizens, by converting them to its faith and obedience. It enables them to bear with resignation the afflictions incident to human life; and did it universally prevail, it would at once restore paradise on earth. It will also enable its subjects to meet death with composure and cheerfulness, supported by the hope of eternal glory; and at last it will raise them from an animal and transitory life and earthly society, to a life that is spiritual and eternal, and to the society of angels, and justified spirits made perfect, to membership in the kingdom of God. Are these the effects of the religion of the sacred Scriptures? Then it came down from heaven. And though infidels doubt and scoff, we may say, " An evil tree bringeth not forth good fruit;" if this religion were not of God, such would never be its fruits.

6. It appears that the sacred Scriptures, including the Old and New Testaments, were given by inspiration of God, from the propagation of Christianity. The Old and New Testaments are so intimately connected, and, in a

sense, so dependent, one upon the other, that what proves the one, proves also, directly or indirectly, the other.

The wonderful propagation of Christianity has never been denied. Many friendly, and unfriendly to the religion of Jesus, have testified to its rapid spread. The New Testament informs us, that the first assembly of Christ's disciples, which was at Jerusalem a few days after his ascension, consisted of one hundred and twenty persons. In a short time after, through a signal display of the power of the Holy Ghost, about three thousand were added to the Christian church in a single day. Soon after this, the number of Christians amounted to five thousand, and continued greatly to increase. According to history, churches were established in a short time throughout most of the Roman Empire. In prophetic language, not one of a family nor two of a city were taken and brought to Zion; but the Lord so hastened his work, that "A little one became a thousand, and a small one a strong nation." Justin Martyn, who wrote about one hundred and six years after the ascension of Christ, speaking of the extent to which Christianity had spread, says, "There is not a nation either of Greek or Barbarian, or of any other name, even of those who wander in tribes, and live in tents, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the universe by the name of the crucified Jesus."

Christianity has triumphed-it has triumphed over "all ranks and kinds of men; princes and priests; the Jewish and heathen philosophers; and the populace, with all their associated prejudices, from custom and education, with all their corrupt passions and lusts, with all the external advantages of learning, power, riches, and honor;" and like the stone in Daniel's vision, cut cut of the mountain without hands, it has surprisingly increased, become even now a

great mountain, and is rapidly filling the whole earth. To whom shall the spread of Christianity be ascribed? The apostles were not armed with the sword to affright; they had no gold to bribe, and no eloquence to enchant. Neither were the potentates of the earth their patrons. But against them were combined wit, learning, the sword, and the power of civil government, Besides, in the first three centuries, there were ten successive violent persecutions against the Christians. To whom then shall we ascribe the spread of Christianity? We must ascribe it to Almighty God. The very existence of Christianity, and much more its propagation after so much opposition as it has received, is an evidence, that it was given by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. How plain, therefore,-how various, abundant, and conclusive the evidence in favor of the divinity of the sacred Scriptures!-And all who have been inwardly taught by the Holy Spirit feel that it is so. The Bible must be the word of God.

Two remarks will be subjoined.

First. All people should possess the sacred Scriptures. They are the only rule of faith and practice: they are also the most important instrument in the hand of God in accomplishing the salvation of his people. Hence the Apostle, with holy boldness and triumph, observed, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." Multitudes are now in Heaven, singing the praises of redeeming love, and exulting in the fulness of everlasting joys, whose reconciliation to God was effected by the instrumentality of the sacred Scriptures. But this can be said of no other book. Should we look for salvation in the Koran of the Mohammedan? it would tell us to put our trust in the Arabian Impostor, and receive as a reward a sensual paradise, where the base passions and appetites of

men are gratified. Should we look for the way of eternal life in the Vedas and Shaster of the Bramin? they would tell us to wash in the Ganges and be clean. We wash but our pollution remains..

"The leprosy lies deep within.”

It is in the Bible alone, we learn that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Here "is a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness."-Says Arrowsmith, "Other books may render men learned unto ostentation; but the Bible alone can make men wise unto salvation." That great man, Patrick Henry, left in his will the following testimony in favor of the religion contained in the sacred. Scriptures:-"I have now disposed of all my property to my family; there is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian religion. If they had that, and I had given them nothing, they would be rich, and without it, if I had given them all the world, they would be poor."

Robert, king of Sicily, said, "The holy books are dearer to me than my kingdom, and were I under any necessity of quitting one, it should be my diadem." When on his death-bed, Salmasius, a very learned man, said, "O! I have lost a world of time! If one year more were added to my life, it should be spent in reading David's Psalms and Paul's Epistles." Dr. Harris, an Englishman of distinction, inserted in all his wills, " Item, I bequeath to all my children, and to my children's children, to each of them a Bible, with this inscription, None but Christ.""

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Such is the value of the Bible, and such the estimation in which it is held by the wise and good. How important then, that this sacred book should be in the possession of every son and daughter of Adam.

Secondly. It is a matter of joy and thanksgiving, that