while science advances, and art matures, and human destinies move on, no contribution will be brought to this volume of truth. It was perfect before; will be perfect while time endures; and, beyond its perfect revelation of truth, there is nothing but the wisdom of God. Mankind will never possess any other repository of heaven-revealed truth, nor any other day-star of their hopes charmed with living power for the salvation of the race.

There is but one perfect charter of liberty for the nations of earth; but one infallible guide for ecclesiastical councils and the consciences of men. Enlightened communities owe their culture and elevation to that source; self-governments trace to it their principles of liberty; and Christian men find there an unfailing fountain of happiness. The principles of this book alone will put an end to the contests of governments; abolish wars; convert oppressors into benefactors; establish just laws; cure the ills of society, and implant heaven-born hopes in human bosoms. The history of humanity, past, present, and to come, will justify these claims. But was there ever an Ecumenical Council whose decrees were not tainted by the original vice of doubtful ethical principles, and were not full of the seeds of evil? While their professed aims have been the establishment and propagation of religious truth, false principles and equally false history have, oftentimes, furnished their chief staple.

When the consequences of a false judgment in matters pertaining to man's eternal well-being are so tremendous, too much cannot be done to secure the true foundation of his religious belief. It was well remarked by a British statesman, that "we, as fallible creatures, have no right, from any bare speculation of our own, to administer pains and penalties to our fellow-creatures, whether on social or religious grounds. We have the right to enforce the laws of the land by such pains and penalties, because it is expressly given by Him who has declared that the civil rulers are to bear the sword for the punishment of evil-doers and for the encouragement of them that do well. And so, in things spiritual, had it pleased God to give to the Church or to the State this power, to be permanently exercised over their members or mankind at large, we should have the right to use it; but it does not appear to have

been so received, and, consequently, it should not be exercised." There is on the face of the earth no prelate, parliament, or council to whose decrees men are bound to submit their private judgment in matters of religious faith. Nor can the reason of man, in his fallen state, of itself find out the will of God.

If, then, on points of faith, we may not trust to our own unaided speculations, nor depend upon the assumed infallibility of prelates, synods, or councils, where is the sure foundation to which we may go, and on which we may safely rest? Certainly not to spirits hot with contention, heady with argument, uncomposed by solemn thought, or ruffled by the concourse of temporal interests, but to the sure word of the living God. Here is sufficiency, not alone for the intellect, but for the heart. The natural powers of man are to be mistrusted, but not the voice of Him whom the sun and stars obey in their courses. We have no doubt whence this word has come, nor wherefore it was sent. It has descended from the throne of heaven; and what an awful weight is there "in the least iota that hath dropped from the lips of God!" All through the space of four thousand years mute nature gave its solemn testimonies to the authenticity of this word. The mountain quakes while its Author speaks; and while holy men pen its inspired truths, the sun stops in his circuit, the sea rolls backward from its bed, the fire forgets to consume, human spirits soar into the third heaven, and dramas are enacted in prophetic vision, which after ages have realized. The universal Church has given its witness to this authenticity. The constant relish and affections of the regenerated heart utters the same testimony. This alone is entitled to the name of THE TRUTH. It sets open the gates of salvation, and, for lost man, points the way to everlasting life.

At the Council of Rimini a creed was subscribed, when, according to Jerome, the world was surprised to find itself Arian. Ninety Bishops assembled at Antioch under pretense of dedicating a cathedral. History says, "they composed an ambiguous creed, faintly tinged with the colors of semi-Arianism." It is charged that at the great Council of Milan, "honors, gifts, and immunities were offered and accepted as the price of an episcopal vote." The fathers of the Council of Trent were divided on the nature of election. The Pontiffs,

infallible as they claimed to be, shrunk from decisions on the question, and often varied in the decisions they, at times, reluctantly pronounced. Monks and prelates have displayed sanctity and splendor; have agreed that the chair of St. Peter "should be raised the first of the Latin line;" but the councils they have frequented were not oracles of truth. Theological champions have debated on opposite sides for months, while the principal questions agitated were, the kind of bread to be used in the communion, the nature of purgatory, the supremacy of the Pope, the single or double procession of the Holy Ghost, the venial sins of the faithful, and the scruples of unimportant words and syllables. Opinions on points which were not viewed as important by the primitive Church were made the test of a genuine attachment to Christianity, and decisions were tinctured with the passions and prejudices of those engaged in controversy, and not with the pure love of divine truth.

But turn from the impenetrable darkness of human systems to the clear light of revealed truth. Mark its adaptation to the situation of man in all ages--its fitness to increase the comforts and to alleviate the trials of life; to prepare him for death and for a blessed immortality! No intellect is so lofty as to be able to soar above its great themes; and no healthful mind is so low as to be unable to reach its highest wisdom. Here are the most ancient records in the world, yet the best adapted to the present time. Here is the most learned book in the world, yet the book which the simplest mind may comprehend. It is replete with wisdom above that of the sciences, yet is adapted to man's intelligent and spiritual nature. Its scenes traverse the ages past and the eternity to come, yet it pours unclouded day on the present hour of gracious visitation. No wisdom of man was ever able to invent this book. are elements of philosophy, jurisprudence, and theology, above all that human intellect could produce. Here are history and chronology from the dawn of creation to the end of time. Here narrative, allegory, and poesy lend their fascinations to the page. Here breathe the inspiration of prophecy and the rapture of holy song. Here resound the rifts of angel anthems and the voices of the company of heaven. Here is disclosed the secret of that mighty faith which dwelt with patriarchs and

Here

prophets, apostles and martyrs; and here are words of reconciliation to lost man which were brought from heaveu by the ever blessed Son of God.

The student of the Bible is an historian of six thousand years. Never lived such a citizen of the world, nor such a contemporary with all generations. When the morning stars sang together, and when all the youthful progeny of creation at the great christening received their names, he appears on the scene. He listens to the preaching of Noah to the antediluvians. He beholds "the waters which prevailed exceedingly upon the earth," when only one family are saved. He traverses the plain in the land of Shinar when the whole earth is of one language and one speech. He visits Armenia, the cradle of the human race, when, by right of primogeniture, it is allotted to Japhet. He explores Ethiopia with the children of Hạm, and tarries with his son, Mizraim, in Egypt, while they found that Arabic nation which has continued in the same country to the present day. He is at Shinar and Babel with the sons of Shem. He hears the Lord call Abram and bless him with a promise of Christ. He is on Moriah while Isaac inquires of his father, "Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" He watches with Jacob during that night when a ladder is set upon the earth with its top reaching to heaven, on which the angels of God ascend and descend. He is an Egyptian under Pharaoh, sees Joseph sold to Potiphar the captain of the guard, and is a spectator at the scene when Joseph makes himself known to his brethren. He journeys with Israel and his descendants from Canaan to the land of Goshen. He is at the death-couch of Isaac as he utters the memorable prophecy, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." He is at the Nile when Moses is taken from his ark of bulrushes. He witnesses the ten plagues desolate the whole of the Egyptian territories save only the land of Goshen. He is at the institution of the first passover, when the angel of the Lord executes judgment against all the gods of Egypt," passing over the doorposts of the Israelites sprinkled with blood, and when Pharaoh rises up in the night and bids Moses and Aaron go forth with the children of Israel from among his people. He sees that monarch and his hosts madly pursue the army of Moses to the borders of the

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Red Sea, and hears the command of Israel's illustrious leader, "Fear ye not! stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." He witnesses the passage of dry land made in the sea, and the children of Israel go through it unharmed. He beholds the return of the waters as they overwhelm "the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh." He sings, with the delivered people, on the shore of safety, the triumphal "song of Moses," indicted by the wisdom of God, and which shall be again sung by all the redeemed, with the harps of God, when they shall stand by "the sea of glass mingled with fire." He visits the encampments of the Israelites during their forty years' journey in the wilderness; he perceives them led by a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. He beholds the miracles wrought in their behalf, and the astonishing manifestation of Jehovah on Mount Sinai as an epitome of his law is delivered to Moses on the tables of stone. He hears Moses teach the congregation of Israel his inimitable ode. He is with him on the top of Pisgah while he looks upon the promised land "to the utmost sea." He sees the Church established in the land of Canaan, which is the subject of promise in the Pentateuch. He observes the chief events of the Hebrew republic from the time of Moses and Joshua to the reign of Saul, the first king. He is present at the anointing of David, the son of Jesse, and a witness of the achievements and renown of the psalmist king. His wonder is excited by the reign of Solomon-the building and dedication of the temple, the erection of the king's palace, his great wisdom, the magnificence of his court, and his shameful apostasy from the God of his fathers.

A scholar thus informed by the experience of ages is no common man; yet a higher interest attaches to his character while he engages in the devotional strains of the Psalmist's lyrics; as he catches the inspiration of the prophetic words; as he worships at Bethlehem with the wise men and the shepherds; as he weeps before the cross on Calvary; and as he looks steadfastly toward heaven, whither his ascended Lord has gone, and believes the words of the "men in white apparel," "this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven."