for Christ is against him; he that gathereth not with him scattereth abroad. It is not a few men only that are called to be flames of fire; every heart should burn, every soul glow with love to God.

But, whether men receive it or reject it, Christianity is of God, and will prevail. Its history is engraved on the adamantine walls of the past, and time cannot obliterate it. Its present is sunken deep into the institutions of earth, and upheld by the power of the Omnipotent. It rolls on, with more than the power of a planet, moved and guided by the unseen hand of Jehovah. It shakes off the puny advocates of infidelity as the lion shakes the dew-drop from his

Its children are a procession of all ages and nations, and more than four thousand years long-fall in, then, or you perish! Already this immense multitude raise the jubilant shout, and soon the angels from heaven, and the saints on earth, together will sing, Hallelujah! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!

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CHAPTER XVIII.

GRAND PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF THE BIBLE.

THERE are two ways of looking at every grand subject like the present—the theoretical and the practical. We may inquire, What ought to be, or must be ? and we may inquire, What is? Thus, for instance, if the question is proposed, What are the advantages of a republican form of government? one man might, by patient and long reflection, think out, as he supposed, all the effects that could possibly attend such a system. That would be theory. Another might appeal to facts, actual republics, ancient and modern. That would be practice.

Thus we might examine the great question of the effects of the Bible. The problem theoretically would be, Given, a book presented to‘man by Jehovah, confirmed by miracles, verified by prophecy fulfilled, and being fulfilled, and by perfect adaptation to man, teaching him his immortality, future rewards and punishments, and the way of eternal happiness—what will be, what

must be its effect on man? Let us suppose that the problem was submitted to an angel, who had never seen the earth, nor till then heard of man; what would be his reply? Would he not say, “In spite of the most inveterate depravity which, you say, exists in man, and for which this is a remedy, he must yield to the solicitations of that book ? Self-interest will prompt him to avoid its threatenings and obtain its blessings, and the condescension of God will humble him. The Bible! Why, every man, woman, and child will possess himself of one and prize it next to his soul; they will consult it as their constant guide; every family will esteem it as a sacred treasure; all will live by its directions, and die with its promised comfort, and thank God for that immortalizing fruit of the tree of life !" Alas! alas ! all this is a mistake,

“ The best-concerted schemes of men

Go oft astray;" and so do their theories, and perhaps the theories of angels would fare no better. What ought to be, if right reason prevailed, is very different from what is. We must descend, then, from

. fancy to fact, from the golden clouds of the firmament to the rough and rugged surface of the earth. And yet this theoretical consideration of what the Bible ought to effect, is not without profit. I have not glanced at the subject without object. I wish to intimate that great as has been the good influence of the Holy Scriptures hitherto, it has been but little compared with what it ought to have been, little compared with what it might have been, and, we trust, will yet be.

But let us consider the actual advantages of the word of God as ocularly demonstrated before us.

Observe its effect upon the morality of man.

The line between right and wrong where the Bible is not known is exceedingly movable and uncertain, and the inducements to a high order of morality are weak and ineffective.

After allowing full force to exceptions, which are only of individuals or of small peoples for a short time, certainly it will not be denied that the standard of morality in all heathen nations is far below that of Christianity. Falsehood, theft, and the violation of every law of our moral code are common among the heathen. It is true that crime and violence prevail in nominally Christian nations; but it is almost entirely among that class who either have not received Christian instruction and to whom the

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Bible is as great a stranger as to the Hottentot, or it is among those who voluntarily throw off all restraint of the word of God. It is the inisfortune of nominally Christian nations that they have a vast population of heathen and worse than heathen in their midst; and, therefore, to learn the influence of the Bible, no general national comparison is fair. There is not a Christian nation on the face of the round earth. There have been some states, even large ones, which at certain times have approximated the true character, and the contrast between them and others has been marked.

God has endowed all men with a faculty, the object of which is to discriminate between right and wrong; but without some guide upon which to rely, its decisions are various, and its promptings toward right are feeble; and, what is still more deplorable, but few men will listen even to that. Passion usurps the place of conscience, which becomes dormant and almost dead. Morality requires the promise of future reward and the threatening of future punishment to become commanding and strong.

A survey of heathen nations will amply confirm all I have said. With but a few partial exceptions, gross darkness covers the people,