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the same time guilty of a detestable fraud, and were imposing upon those who should read their writings the idea that this morality had come from God, when they gathered it we know not where.

You may be ready to say, "Yes, these good men might have a consciousness that they were under divine influence, but how are we to know it? We cannot see them; we cannot enter into their state of mind; and therefore, though they have stated that their writings are the word of God, how shall we attest to our own satisfaction that such was the case?" Now, friends, our text supplies us not only with the high authority of these books, but

printed and circulated among the operative classes of society, and they have been taught to regard it in that light, that the Bible is the most immoral book in the world. And the way in which it is proved is this: they cite the different texts which contain accounts of grossly immoral actions, and then they say, "See what an immoral book the Bible is!" because it records these immoral actions. But the question is, Could the Scriptures have given a faithful portraiture of human nature without having recorded such actions? Do you say that the mirror is impure and false, because it faithfully exhibits the distorted features and the crooked frame of some unhappy cripple who may gaze upon it? The mirror is pure, the glass is true, but the object re

and thus the deformity is not in the glass, but in the subject of which it treats.

2dly. With their inherent sanctity: for the text says, "The words of the Lord are pure words." They possess an in-flected happens to be ugly and deformed; herent worth; and it has justly been said that every word of God is pure-that as metals are made free from the alloy by the action of fire, so the Scriptures are free from all insincerity, all error, all deceit, all defilement. And, my friends, I may appeal to you. Are not all their requirements just ?-are not all their precepts holy are not all their statements reasonable? May we not say that the Scriptures are indeed “holy, just, and good?" And when we remember that, from the last book of Moses to the last book of John, a period of fifteen hundred years rolled on so that from the time that Moses laid down his pen, to the time that John laid down his pen, fifteen hundred years had elapsed that they were written in different countries, under different circumstances, in different languages; and yet, now that the writings are brought together in one book, if you compare spiritual things with spiritual things, studying one book with another, you will find such harmony of sentiment, such a blessed and luminous harmony of doctrine, and of precept, and of promise, as must show you that there is no alloy here of error, no alloy here of insincerity, no alloy here of ungodliness.

But I know, friends, it has been declared by some unblushing infidels, in this city, that the Bible is the most immoral book in the world. It has been

Now let me entreat you to remember that the slander to which I have referred is put down at once by asking the question, In what style are these acts recorded, and for what purpose are they written? Are these unholy transactions that are recorded in this book written in a flowing, ample, descriptive style-in the style of a Scott or a Byron, with finely enriched and glowing terms, to impress the facts upon the imagination, and to make them lay hold of the feelings of the heart? Are they not detailed in plain, short sentences-things called by their right names-and so called and stated that the reader, instead of loving the thing, hates it? Oh! if a man sit down to write a book which is to contain narratives of depravity, and these are to be wrought up till they are made palatable to our corrupt nature, it is one thing; but if a man describe the depravity of human nature to deter men from practising that depravity, it is another; and let any man look at the word of God, and see whether those records are not intended to make such as peruse them, not in love with vice, but with virtue, and not to practise iniquity, but to aspire to holiness. We may appeal to the fact, to prove the purity of the sacred volume-that those who have studied it most, those who are most

familiar with it, the most completely | punishments-the pardon of sin by a under its influence, are the very class of Mediator-the means of grace by which society whom we find most to exemplify our fallen nature may be restored to recall the social and public virtues; and to titude and holiness. These are things such an appeal there can be no contradic-about which natural religion has never tion.

Oh, my friends! our modern infidels are not so candid as those who lived in the eighteenth century. Rousseau could say, "I will confess that the majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with admiration, as the purity of the gospel hath its influence on my heart. Peruse the works of our philosophers, with all their pomp of diction; how mean, how contemptible are they, compared with the Scriptures! Is it possible that a book at once so simple and sublime should be merely the work of man?" Oh, that he had been enabled to answer the inquiry to the saving of his soul!

Having thus noticed the high authority and inherent purity of the Scriptures, I would notice,

been able to supply us with satisfactory information. Philosophers may speak of godliness, and speak of what man's duty is; but, as we have often had occasion to observe, they are like individuals who turn their backs on the rising sun, and say, "See what a light our philosophy gives!" whereas all the light spread on the landscape is borrowed from the luminary on which they have turned their backs. But natural religion never was able to teach man, with certainty, that there was a future state of rewards and punishments; natural religion never taught man that he might expect, with certainty, the pardon of sin through a Mediator; na|tural religion never taught man that there were spiritual influences with God by which he could restore to rectitude and holiness our fallen nature. If you feel the stirrings of immortality within youif you be led to ask yourself, What is to become of me when my body dies and spirit departs ?—who can answer that question but he who believes the Bible? When you feel that you are a sinner before God, and ask yourselves, How can your sins be forgiven ?-who can answer that question but he who believes in the Bible? When you feel temptations warring against your characters, and against your interests, and against your souls, and you ask, How can we be delivered from the power of temptation ?—who can answer that question but one who believes in the Bible? And those who read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the truths of the Bible, are those who can

3dly. Their intrinsic worth: for our text says, "The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." The late celebrated Bishop Horsley read the passage thus:-"The words of JEHOVAH are pure words, silver essayed in a crucible of earth, gold purified seven times." Thus the Scriptures are compared to the finest silver and gold; and this opinion of their intrinsic worth has been entertained by some of the most distinguished servants of God. David says concerning the Scriptures, "More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb." And in the one hundred and nineteenth psalm, and seventy-second verse, we find him saying, "The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thou-answer these questions to the joy and sands of gold and silver." rejoicing of your heart.

Now, why do we see the sacred writings spoken of as being as precious even as gold and silver? Because they speak of God in a way most reasonable, and they describe the state of man in harmony with our own experience of its truth. They speak of religion in a way that satisfies man upon the most anxious questions- -a future state of rewards and

Now, I hope I have shown some reasons for asserting the high authority, and the inherent sanctity, and the intrinsie worth, of the sacred Scriptures; and I proceed to notice,

II. THE STRIKING ILLUSTRATIONS OF
SCRUTINY THEY HAVE ENDURED

THE
WHICH OUR TEXT SUPPLIES. "The
words of the Lord are pure words: as

silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified made for their use. Thus two hundred seven times."

and eighty-seven years before our Lord and Saviour came into the world the Old Testament was translated into Greek; and what is called by the learned the Septuagint—that is, the translation made by the seventy, which is a Greek translation-existed between two and three hundred years before our Lord appeared on earth. Now, this book is extant to the present day; it is to be found in all the libraries of the learned throughout Europe; and this historical fact at least shows that the Old Testament existed nearly three hundred years before Jesus Christ came into our world. But, then, in reference to the five books of Moses, there happens to be other proof. The five books of Moses, or what we call the Pentateuch, were translated, or rather existed, in what is called the Samaritan, which is supposed to be the original Hebrew tongue. When Judah and Israel separated, in the reign of Rehoboam, the Israelites went to Samaria, and took with them what they call the Samaritan Pen

Here you perceive that there is a reference to the searching process of a refiner, by which the presence of an alloy of copper, or any other metal, is detected in the gold or silver; and all the copper, or lead, or any other baser metal, is searched out and extracted from the pure ore. And as the precious metals are thus searched by the action of fire, and the art of the refiner, so the word of God has been searched. For allow me to say that though you may hear those who declaim against the Bible say that it is the book of priests and people have been led by priestcraft all their days, and take the Bible because they are told it is a good book-yet I will show you, before I close these remarks, that the word of God has passed under a scrutiny like that of fire, and that it has come forth as gold seven times purified. And this part of the subject will lead me to talk on matters which are not ordinarily introduced into pulpit discussion, but which are interesting and valuable, because they inform | tateuch, while the tribe of Judah kept the the minds of those who are inquiring upon such topics. Now, I will say,

1st. The sacred writings have been the subject of scrutiny and investigation. There have been men in this city who have possessed impudence enough-I do not qualify the term-to stand up before an audience of the inhabitants of London, and assert that the Bible was a book manufactured by priests in the dark ages, and at some time-they know not exactly the name, the date, or the placebut at some period this book was introduced into circulation, and imposed upon the public.

Now, it is very providential for the Christian cause that there is abundant evidence to put this down. In the first place, it is known by profane history that there was such a man as Alexander the Great, who built the city of Alexandria in Egypt, and who was anxious to encourage the learning of the known world. He was anxious that the Jews who dwelt in Alexandria, as well as the Greeks, and who spoke the Greek language, should have a translation of the Old Testament

book also. By their going into Babylon the character was altered; but the Samaritans kept their Pentateuch in its original state. Thus you perceive that there have been two distinct copies of the Pentateuch; and as the Samaritans on the one hand, and the Jews on the other, were very bitter the one against the other, and the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, it was like two angry clients, each of whom was keeping the counterpart of a bond, the one not allowing the other to have any thing to do with it; and, when both these documents come into court, they are found to agree with a harmony which proves their value and truth. When we come to compare the Pentateuch of the Samaritans with the five books of Moses which the Jews possess, the variations are unimportant; and the one thus confirms the other in the most interesting way. And there happened to live such a man as Josephus, who was a very learned Jew. This Josephus was acquainted with the Roman emperor Titus Vespasian, and wrote, for the use of the Romans, a history of his

God has been tried, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, so far as the Old Testament is concerned, and nothing faulty has been found in it.

own country in Greek. In this work | were so unimportant as scarcely to affect there is a catalogue of the books which the sense. This shows that the word of the Jews regarded to be sacred books; and there we have the list of those books that are found in the Old Testament. The list was circulated in this book within eighty years of the Lord's death, and circulated, as far as manuscripts could be circulated, throughout the Roman empire. Hence the Old Testament evidently is not a book of yesterday. The Jews have been scattered all over the world during the last eighteen hundred years; and you have only to step to the neighbouring synagogue, and ask the chief rabbi how long the parchments and documents they have have existed, and he will laugh to scorn the foolish quibblings of those who desire to invalidate the antiquity of the Old Testament. These facts condemn them.

After the Christian religion was established, the Old Testament became the property of the Christians as well as the Jews. Now you know that the Christians and the Jews did not agree, and consequently there was a mutual jealousy between them-just as I have shown you existed between the Jews and the Samaritans. In consequence of this jealousy the Christian doctors looked sharply after the Jewish rabbies, that they did not alter the text; and the Jewish rabbies looked sharply after the Christian doctors, that they did not alter the text; because, if the Jewish rabbies had altered the prophecies respecting Christ, the Christians would have said, "You are corrupting God's word, to show that the Messiah has not come;" and if, on the other hand, the Christian doctors had been meddling with the text, to make it appear that the advent of Christ had taken place, the Jews would have said, "You have altered the text-it is not so in our books." Thus you see that, by the mutual jealousies of Jews and Christians, the Old Testament Scriptures have been preserved to the present time in an uncorrupted state; so that, when efforts were made, a few years ago, to get a new edition of the Hebrew Scriptures, eleven hundred and fifty Jewish manuscripts were compared, and the variations

Then let us look at the New Testament. How do I know that the books of the New Testament have existed from the time they profess? Why it happens, as I have said, very providentially, that there are writings called the writings of the Christian fathers, writings both in Greek and Latin, which exist to the present day, and which were composed by pastors and bishops of churches at a very early period, in which they quote the New Testament, both the gospels and epistles; so that those who have read and consulted the Greek and Latin fathers have declared that the whole body of the gospels and epistles might be gathered from them, if the New Testament were to be destroyed. Now it is most important to think that there is so much of the Scriptures mixed up with the writings of those great men who wrote in the second, third, and fourth centuries-that there is to be found imbodied in their writings, as insects in amber, preserved from age to age, the substance of the New Testament. This might be said in reference to more recently published works. If all the puritan and nonconformist works that were ever written were collated, I have no doubt that you might gather out of them a large portion of the New Testament. As they interwove a large part of the New Testament, so these fathers did the same; and thus we see that the writings must have existed at that time, or else they could not have been quoted. Then there are things which are called ancient versions, that is, translations of the New Testament made at a very early period. There was the Syriac translation, made in the second century; then the Coptic, supposed to be made in the third or fourth century; then there is the Armenian, which is supposed to have been made about the same time. Now these are so many proofs that the word of God has been preserved as a genuine document; and, when you

think of that fact, you have a clear proof not inconsistent with our theories of the that it is not a forgery. And, my dear friends, I cannot resist the feeling which at this moment comes over me, to remind you that in this very place there preached, for many years, that man who, under God, was made the instrument of settling this question, by his most laborious researches I mean the venerable Dr. Lardner, whose writings contain a storehouse of evidence in favour of the credibility and genuineness of the Christian Scriptures.

But there is another order of scrutiny through which the sacred Scriptures have passed; and that is,

earth. There are, indeed, many physical considerations which render it probable that the motions of the earth may have been slower during the time of its formation, than after it was formed, and, consequently, that the day, or period between morning and evening, may have been indefinitely longer than it is at present. If such a hypothesis is at all admissible, it will go far in supporting the opinion which has long been maintained on this subject, by many of the ablest and most learned Scripture critics. The deluge, one of the grandest natural events described in the Bible, is equally confirmed, with regard to its extent and the period of its occurrence, by a careful study of the various phenomena observed on and near the earth's surface. The age of the human race, also a most important inquiry, is satisfactorily determined by an appeal to natural appearances; and the pretended great antiquity of some nations, so much insisted on by certain philosophers, is thereby shown to be entirely unfounded." These are the opinions of a distinguished naturalist, occupying a professor's chair in Edinburgh, and editing one of the works of one of the most distinguished naturalists in Europe, who is recently dead. Here is the scrutiny of God's word-a scrutiny of science, and science doing homage to the testimony of revelation.

2dly. Antiquarian and scientific research. The Bible, as you know, contains much that relates to the creation of the world, and the changes which have passed upon our globe; and there are multitudes of individuals who have affected to be very profound on these matters, and have supposed that they have found, by the discoveries of science, that the books of Moses were only old wives' fables, and deserved no credit. I am anxious, therefore, to quote to you the words of an eminent scientific gentleman-I mean Professor Jameson, of Edinburgh. He is not a clergyman, but a layman. He undertook the editing of an edition of Cuvier's Theory of the Earth; and he makes these remarks in the preface, on the subject of the scriptural account of the creation:"Although the Mosaic And so we may say, not only in referaccount of the creation of the world is an ence to scientific pursuits, such as geoloinspired writing, and consequently rests gy, but in respect to geography, and the on evidence independent of human ob- customs of the East. The Bible deservation and experience, still it is inte- scribes many of the usages and customs resting, and in many respects important, which have existed among the people to know that it coincides with the various where the book was written. Now, our phenomena observable in the mineral countrymen, and other Europeans, have kingdom. The structure of the earth, visited those countries, they have exand the mode of distribution of extrane-plored those regions; and we have some ous fossils or petrifactions, are so many of the most respectable testimonies-the direct evidences of the truth of the Scrip- testimonies of laymen, and some of them ture account of the formation of the earth; not believers in revelation-who have and they might be used as proofs of its declared that they found the Bible, espeauthor having been inspired, because the cially the New Testament, the best guide mineralogical facts discovered by modern to Palestine; and that, by the statements naturalists were unknown to the sacred therein contained, they found better dihistorian. Even the periods of time, the rections than they derived from any other six days of the Mosaic description, are source. And so we may speak in referVOL. I.-26

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