The Bible and modern thought

Preface

The present volume was written last spring, in compliance with a request from the Committee of the Tract Society, in order to supply some antidote, in a popular form, to that dangerous school of thought, which denies the miracles of the Bible, explains away its prophecies, and sets aside its Divine authority. Yarious circumstances have occasioned some unexpected delay in its publication. Though suggested by the appearance of the Essays and Reviews, which have gained so wide a notoriety, it is not, of course, a direct and formal reply to them. It is designed for the use of thoughtful Christians, or serious inquirers, who may have been perplexed by modern speculations, and not for scholars and learned divines. My aim has been to treat the subject of the Christian evidences and the authority of the Bible in a simple, clear, and solid style of argument, logically connected and continuous ; and to deal with recent objections only so far as they lie directly in the way, and, like the lions in the allegory, block up the road of the Christian pilgrim to the palace of heavenly truth. At the same time, the fourth chapter, on the Reasonableness of Miracles ; the eighth, on the Prophecies of the Old Testament ; the twelfth and thirteenth, on the Interpretation of Scripture, and on its iv PREFACE.

Alleged Discrepancies ; the fourteenth, and fifteenth, on Modern Science ; and the sixteenth, on the Bible and Natural Conscience, contain a full discussion of the principles advanced in the Third, the Second, the Seventh, the Fifth, and the First Essays. But my desire has been not so much to detect and expose error as to unfold the truth, and guide the minds of sincere inquirers into a well-grounded faith in the truth, wisdom, harmony, and Divine authority of the Gospel, and of the written word of God. May it please the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, to use it, however humble in itself, for a help to the faith of the people of Christ in these latter days.

Kehhall Redonj,

The appendix of the present edition contains five notes on topics connected with the main subject. The first, on the Evidential School of Theology, examines the statements of the Sixth Essay. The second endeavours to throw some fight on the controversy occasioned by the Bampton Lectures on the Limits of Eeligious Thought. The third selects four topics, from Baron Bunsen's work on Egypt, by which to test the amount of authority due to its negative criticisms. The fourth offers some remarks on the Human Aspect of Scripture, as essential to a just view of inspiration ; and the last enters at some length into the question of Geology, in connection with the Essays in the " Replies " and the " Aids to Faith."

Kehhall, July 25, 1862.

Contents

Introduction, pp. 1-7.

Infidelity defined, 1 ; its changing forms, 2 ; covert infidelity, 3 ; its praise of the Bible, 4, 5 ; need of spiritual discernment, 6 ; questions to be answered, 6, 7.

Chap. I. — The Nature of Divine Revelation, pp. 8-21

Truths implied — (1) the Being of God, 8, 9 ; (2) reality of creation, 9 ; (3) Divine Nature capable of being revealed, 10, 11 ; (4) man capable of Divine knowledge, 12 ; (5) the fallen condition of man, 13, 14: theory of the " Absolute Beligion," 15, 16 ; doctrine of the Fall, the key to supernatural revelation, 17, 18.

Chap. II. — Man's Need op Divine Eevelation, pp. 22-28

Objection of the Theist, 22 ; the need proved by facts, 23, 24 ; due to man's corruption, 25 ; no disparagement of natural religion, 24 ; kinds of inspiration distinguished, 26, 27 ; a true revelation no burden, but a blessing, 27, 28.

Chap. III. — The Supernatural Claims op Christianity, pp. 29-50

The main question — is Christianity human or Divine ? 29 ; first appeal to the Bible itself, 29, 30 ; midway position untenable in the presence of its claims, 30, 31 ; St. Matthew's Gospel, 32-34 ; St. Mark and St. Luke, 35 ; St. John's Gospel, 36-38 ; Book of Acts, 39-41 ; Apostolic Epistles, 42-49. Conclusion, a supernatural claim of the essence of Christianity, 50.

Chap. IV. — The Reasonableness op Miracles, pp. 51-85. (Examination of Third Essay.)

Appeal to miracles by Moses, 51 ; our Lord himself and the apostles, 51, 52; recent objections, 52, 53. I. Charges against. Christian advocates, 53 ; reply, 54 ; an inquirer not a judge, 56 ; reasoning consistent with moral guilt of unbehef, 57 ; historical and moral evidence rightly mingled, 58-60 ; belief not a simple act of will, 61 ; right order of vi CONTENTS.

honest inquiry, 62 ; moral preparation needed, 63. II. Objections to miracles stated, 63-65 ; Scripture view of their origin, 65 ; imply a false view of induction, 66, 67 ; false view of the constancy of natural law, 68, 69 ; false definition of miracles, 70 ; contradictions of the sceptical argument, 71. III. Objections to miracles as evidence, 72, 73 ; definition of miracles, 74-76 ; their main use, 77 ; relation of external and internal evidence, 79-81 ; result of the inquiry, 82-85.

Chap. V. — The Historical Truth of the New Testament, pp. 86-114

Historical character of the Bible, 86, 87 ; assaults on the Gospels and Pentateuch, 88, 89 ; preliminary remarks, 90-94 ; the Book of Acts to the death of Herod, 95-98 ; to St. Paul's voyage, 99-103 ; internal harmony, 104, 105 ; the four Gospels— times, 105-107; places and persons, 109, 110; reconcilable diversity, 111-114.

Chap. VI. — The Historical Truth of the Old Testament, pp. 115-147

I. From the captivity to Christ — Limits in time, 115-117 ; absence of miracle, 118; chronological distinctness, 119, 120; fulness of detail, 121 ; Book of Esther, 123. II. From Solomon to the Captivity. — Chronology, 124, 125 : heathen history, 126, 127 ; Kings and Chronicles, 128 ; prophetic books, 130. III. From the Conquest to Solomon.— General remarks, 132, 133 ; Book of Joshua, 134-140 ; Book of Judges, 140-143; its chronology, 143. IV. The Pentateuch, 145; results of induction, 146, 147.

Chap. VII. — The Miracles of the Bible, pp. 148-162

Circular reasoning of modern sceptics, 148. I. Infrequency of miracles, 149-152. II. Their publicity, 153, 154. III. Their consistent plan, 155-161. IV. Their moral purpose, 161, 162.

Chap. VIII. — The Prophecies of the Old Testament, pp. 163- 198. (Bemarhs on the Second Essay.)

Christianity, an appeal to miracles, 163 ; and to prophecy, 163 ; examples in the Gospels, 164-169; their wide range, 170; recent objections examined, 170-173 ; prophecy, Is. vii.-ix., 173-178 ; later prophecies of Isaiah, 178-187 ; Book of Daniel, its genuineness, 187-197 ; conclusion, 197, 198.

Chap. IX. — Christianity and Written Eevelation, pp. 199-214. Keception of the Bible, a corollary of Christian faith, 199 ; general outline of the argument, 200-203 ; stage of doubt, 204 ; faith in the Gospel, and in the inspiration of the Bible, distinct, though closely united, 205-207 ; inspiration, a positive idea ; 208, 209 ; entrance of written revelation, a great era ; 210 ; its uses and reasons, 211 ; its original perfection inferred, 213.

CONTENTS. vii

Chap. X. — The Inspiration of the Old Testament, pp. 215-235

Solemn introduction of written revelation, 215 ; testimonies of our Lord himself — (1) the temptation, 217 : (2) Galilean ministry, 217 ; (3) Sermon on the Mount, 218 ; (4) charge to the leper ; (5) testimony to the Baptist 221 ; (6) Matt. xii. 3-7, 222 ; (7) teaching in parahles, 223 ; (8) tradition, Matt. xv. 1-9, 223 ; (9) the transfiguration, 223 ; (10) divorce, 224 ; (11) entrance to Jerusalem, 225 ; (12) answers to Sadducees, 226 ; (13) Matt, xxiii. 227 ; (14) the passion, 228 ; (15, 16) St. Luke's Gospel, 230-233 ; later books, 233 ; general conclusion, 234.

Chap. XI. — The Inspiration of the New Testament, pp. 236-257

Evidence less direct, 236. I. Analogy of the Old Testament, 237. II. Special nature of the new dispensation, 238. III. Resemblance in structure of New and Old Testaments, 240. IV. Promises to the apostles, 241. V. Their rank compared with the prophets, 243.

VI. Testimonials in St. Paul's Epistles to their own inspiration, 245.

VII. and to the Gospels and Acts, 248. VIII. Epistles of St. Peter and St. Jude, 251. IX. Writings of St. John, 254. Conclusion, 256.

Chap. XII. — The Interpretation of Scripture, pp. 258-279. (BemarJcs on the Seventh Essay.)

Amount of Biblical literature, 258 ; temptation thus occasioned, 259 ; recoil from the maxim of Vincentius, 260 ; counter maxim of the Seventh Essay delusive, 261 ; Bible to be studied naturally, 262 ; its inspiration not mechanical, 263 ; reverently, as the voice of the Spirit, 265 ; confusion of the negative criticism, 269 ; contrast in two examples, 271 ; value of human helps, 274 ; real certainty of Bible theology, 275.

Chap. XIII. — On Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, pp. 280- 306

Theory of partial inspiration, 281 ; its difficulties, 282 ; divergence not contradiction, 283 ; variety one element of the true definition, Heb. i. 1, 283 ; Scriptures, a condensed record, 284; silence, no proof of ignorance, 285 ; inferences not assertions, 287. I. Discrepancies alleged in the Essays, 289-293. II. Prolegomena to the New Testament, 294-306.

Chap. XIV. — The Bible and Modern Science, pp. 307-335. (Examination of the Fifth Essay.)

Question stated, 307 ; its true limits, 308 ; astronomical objection, 309 ;

based on three errors, 311-314; geological difficulties, 315; optical

'representation, 317-321 ; break in Gen. i. 2, 322-329 ; events of fourth

day, 330 ; the firmament, 331 ; true relation of Genesis and geology, viii CONTENTS.

Chap. XV. — The same continued, pp. 336-350

All the Bible of Divine authority, 336-339 ; contains materials of sciences, not sciences themselves, 340-350.

Chap. XVI. — The Bible and Natural Conscience, pp. 351-372. (Remarlcs on the First Essay.)

Question stated, 351-353 ; direct authority of Scripture, 353 ; conscience not absolute or supreme, 359 ; its true nature, 361 ; no mediator, 362 ; needs to be corrected and purified by the word of God, 363 ; the Gospel, an external authority, 366.

Appendix

Note A. — The Evidential School of Theology, pp. 443-452. Note B. — The Limits of Keligious Thought, pp. 452-456. Note C. — The Bible and Ancient Egypt, pp. 457-475. Note D. — The Human Element in Scripture, pp. 475-485. Note E. — Genesis and Geology, pp. 485-520.

THE BIBLE AND MODEKN THOUGHT.

Introduction

Chkistianity claims to be a Divine revelation, or a message of truth from the living God to the children of men, contained, embodied, and recorded in the Scriptures of the New Testament. It claims, further, to be the sequel and completion of earlier messages from the same Divine Author, contained and recorded, in like manner, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Christian faith, in the widest sense of the term, consists in the admission of this double claim. Infidelity consists in its rejection and denial.

This denial may assume very different forms. It may be coarse, arrogant, and abusive, or polite, modest, and refined in its tone. It may load the Bible with reproach, as a gross imposture ; or admire its poetical beauty, extol its pure morality, and treat it with the reverence of the scholar and the antiquarian, as containing some of the choicest products of human intelligence. While one type of infidelity repels and disgusts by its open blasphemy, another allures and fascinates ingenuous minds by an air of caution and candour, and puts on the garb of philosophical research, moral sensibility, and religious reverence. But these, after all, may be only varieties of the same unbelief. The

B question between the Christian and the infidel does not turn upon the degree of merit or demerit assigned to the Scriptures, viewed as merely human compositions. It depends on the admission or rejection of their Divine authority. Is Christianity a supernatural message from the living and true God, or a mere product of the natural powers of the human mind ? Is the Bible the voice of God, or only the voice of some Hebrew historians, poets, and moralists — the word of God, or the word of man ?

The form of infidelity which prevailed at the close of the last century was daring, open, and blasphemous. It was bred amidst the rottenness of a corrupted church and a dissolute society ; and ascribing to Christianity all the worst abuses of both, it kept no terms with " the wretch" it laboured to destroy. The experience of seventy years has wrought a great change in the tactics of this moral warfare. The hopes of an ungodly and blaspheming philosophy were quenched speedily, under the reign of terror, in a sea of blood. The liberty, equality, and philanthropy, which had trodden the Bible under foot, were replaced, in a few years, by the heaviest yoke of military despotism. At the same time Christian faith received a fresh impulse, and began to win new trophies, by the revival of missionary zeal, the increased circulation of the word of God, and the spread of the gospel, through the self-denying labours of faithful men, in almost every part of the heathen world.

In consequence of these changes, the spirit of unbelief has revealed itself, of late years, in features less repulsive but more insidious. It rejects the Divine authority of the Bible, but is willing to extol its poetical beauty, and to recognise in it a high degree of historical value and antiquarian interest. It acquits the Sacred

INTRODUCTION. 3

Writers of wilful imposture, and even gives them praise for high religious feeling, for deep thought, and lofty imagination, though it refuses to own that they are the messengers of God. Its motto is no longer that of the unbelieving Pharaoh — " Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice ?" It resembles more nearly the " Hail, Master " of the false apostle, or the attempt of the spirit of divination to enter into partnership with the truth, when it cried — " These men are the servants of the Most High God, which shew unto us the way of salvation."

This varied and more subtle form of assault on the authority of the gospel requires increased discernment and watchfulness on the part of all the true disciples of Christ. Open blasphemies are more easily repelled. They revolt us by their gross impiety, put the conscience at once on its guard, and may often produce a powerful reaction in favour of the truth which they assail. But the sapping and mining process of a covert infidelity, which borrows the very phrases of the gospel, to give them a philosophical meaning, and will own almost every kind of excellency in the Scriptures, except the authority of a Divine message, is far more perilous and seductive to thoughtful and serious minds. The chasm which separates faith from unbelief, submission to God from the rejection of his authority, is bridged over by a thin layer of ambiguous phrases, and thickly strewn with flowers of fancy, and a sentimental piety, till it disappears from view ; and those who are thorough unbelievers at heart mistake themselves for the genuine disciples of a pure and enlightened Christianity.

Let us contrast, for example, the ribaldry of Paine and Yoltaire with the following eulogy on the Bible by a modern ringleader in the attempt to replace Christian faith by deism or natural religion. It will be evident at

b 2 once how*total a change has occurred in the weapons of assault ; and what discernment and caution are required in the friends of truth, that they may not be deceived by smooth and complimentary phrases, while the foundations of their faith are silently, but vigorously and daringly assailed.

" This collection of books," Mr. Parker writes, " has taken such hold of the world as no other. The literature of Greece which goes up like incense from that land of temples and heroic deeds, has not half the influence of this book from a nation despised alike in ancient and modern times. It is read in all the ten thousand pulpits of our land. In all the temples of Christendom is its voice lifted up week by week. The sun never sets on its glowing page. It goes equally to the cottage of the plain man and the palace of the king. It is woven into the literature of the scholar, and colours the talk of the street. It enters men's closets, mingles in all the grief and cheerfulness of life. The Bible attends men in sickness, when the fever of the world is on them. The aching head finds a softer pillow, when the Bible lies underneath. The mariner, escaping from shipwreck, seizes it the first of his treasures, and keeps it sacred to God. It blesses us when we are born, gives names to half Christendom, rejoices with us, has sympathy for our mourning, tempers our grief to finer issues. It is the better part of our sermons. It lifts man above himself. Our best of uttered prayers are in its storied speech, wherewith our fathers and the patriarchs prayed. The timid man, about to awake from his dream of life, looks through the glass of Scripture, and his eye grows bright ; he does not fear to stand alone, to tread the way unknown and distant, to take the death angel by the hand, and bid farewell to wife and babes and home. Men rest on this* their dearest hopes. It tells them of

INTRODUCTION. 5

God and of his blessed Son, of earthly duties and heavenly rest. Foolish men find in it the source of Plato's wisdom, of the science of Newton, and the art of Raphael.

" Now for such effects there must be an adequate cause. It is no light thing to hold, with an electric chain, a thousand hearts, though but an hour, beating and bounding with such fiery speed : what is it then, to hold the Christian world, and that for centuries? Are men fed with chaff and husks ? The authors we reckon great, whose articulate breath now sways the nation's mind, will soon pass away, giving place to other great men of a season, who in their turn shall follow them to eminence, and then to oblivion. Some thousand famous writers come up in this century, to be forgotten in the next. But the silver cord of the Bible is not loosed, nor its golden bowl broken, as Time chronicles his tens of centuries passed by. Fire acts as a refiner of metals : the dross is piled in forgotten heaps, but the pure gold is reserved for use, and is current a thousand years hence as well as to-day. It is only real merit that can long pass for such ; tinsel will rust in the storms of life; false weights are soon detected there. It is only a heart can speak to a heart, a mind to a mind, a soul to a soul, wisdom to the wise, and religion to the pious. There must then be in the Bible, mind, heart, and soul, wisdom, and religion : were it otherwise, how could millions find it their lawgiver, friend, and prophet? Some of the greatest of human institutions seem built on the Bible : such things will not stand on chaff, but on mountains of rock. What is the secret cause of this wide and deep influence ? It must be found in the Bible itself, and must be adequate to the effect."1

1 Parker's ' Discourse of Religion,' pp. 237-239, 242.

Such a school of infidelity, which assumes the garb, and borrows the phrases of Christianity, requires us to look below the surface, before we can discern its real nature, and guard against the inroads of its subtle delusions. All these praises of the Bible, in the writer just quoted, and others of the same type of thought, are followed by a distinct and deliberate rejection of its Divine authority. " The conclusion," we are told, " is forced upon us that the Bible is a human work, as much as the ' Principia' of Newton or Descartes. Some things are beautiful and true, but others no man in his senses can accept. Here are the works of various writers, thrown capriciously together, and united by no common tie but the lids of the bookbinder — two forms of religion which differ widely, one the religion of fear, and the other of love."

The same spirit evidently pervades other writings, which profess to set Christianity free from the trammels of a traditional orthodoxy, and to bring it into harmony with the discoveries of modern science. It is essential, then, to look beneath the surface of the inquiry, and to examine the foundations themselves. A course of argument, like that of Paley,1 may be triumphant and complete against a direct charge of imposture, dishonesty, and collusion. But the form of temptation which now assails the Church requires some previous questions, more subtle and delicate in their nature, to be examined. What do we mean by a Divine Revelation ? What are the conditions on which its possibility, its probability, or its certainty depend ? What need is there that such a revelation should be given to mankind? How far can miracles, prophecies, or moral excellence, separately or in combination, furnish decisive evidence of its reality ? How may we infer the Divine

1 Note A. The Evidential School of Theology.

INTRODUCTION. 7

authority of the Bible from the statement of the Bible itself, without a vicious circle in our reasoning ? How are we to explain alleged contradictions between the language of Scripture and the results of antiquarian research, and the real or supposed discoveries of modern science ? How can we reconcile the doctrine of Divine inspiration, and the claim of the Bible to a supernatural origin, with the innumerable signs of human authorship, with seeming discrepancies in its historical statements, and the diversity of manner and style in its different writers ? Such questions as these require to be carefully examined, if a bulwark is to be reared against the tidewave of sceptical thought, which threatens, at this moment, to bury the old landmarks of Christian faith.

THE BIBLE AND MODERN THOUGHT.

Chapter I. The Nature Of Divine Revelation

What do we mean by a Divine Eevelation ? What are the conditions on which the possibility of its occurrence depends ? These are among the first questions which must be answered, that our acceptance of Christianity, under the character of a message from God, may be a well grounded and reasonable faith.

The first truth, plainly implied, is the being- of God, as a personal and conscious Intelligence. " He that cometh to God must believe that he is." Atheism, by its very nature, excludes all possibility of revelation. If there be no God, there can be no communication from God to man. A blind, mechanical, unconscious Fate, can never be the source of intelligible messages to intelhgent beings. All faith in divine revelation must imply a previous conviction that " there is a God in heaven who revealeth secrets," an Unseen Lawgiver, who is capable of making known his will to mankind.

That faith in God, however, which must precede our belief in a divine message, may be exceedingly dim, vague, and imperfect. It need not be more than a strong inpression that there is some Unseen Intelligence, higher, greater, and wiser than men. The true character of this Unknown Being may remain concealed in thick darkness, until it is learned from his own messages. Atheism makes the acceptance of a divine revelation a

THE NATUKE OF DIVINE REVELATION. 9

contradiction and an impossibility. A full and adequate knowledge of God, apart from such a revelation, and before it is received, would degrade it into a useless and unmeaning superfluity.

A second truth, equally implied in the fact of revelation, is THE REALITY OF CREATED EXISTENCE. Those

who receive a divine message must be distinct from Him who sends it. It may seem needless, at first sight, to dwell even for a moment on a truth so clear and self-evident. Philosophers, however, both in ancient and modern times, have often stumbled at the very threshold of true science, and have mistaken a denial of the earliest lessons of self-consciousness for superiority to vulgar prejudice, and a proof of their own more profound wisdom. The Maya, or illusion of the Brahman, the absorption of Buddhism, the theories of Spinoza, the sceptical philosophy of Hume, and some later forms of German speculation, agree in denying the distinct reality of created existence. "Whenever the Scriptural idea of creation is replaced by one of emanation or development, such a result seems naturally to follow. Pantheism in all its forms, no less than mere Atheism, excludes revelation and makes it impossible. If the souls of men are only parts of the Infinite Soul of the universe, there may be strange pulsations of life in this complex universe of being ; but revelation, or the conveyance of truth from a Creator to his own creatures, becomes a logical contradiction. We must believe that we are, as well as that God is, before we can believe that God has made to his erring and sinful creatures, a true revelation of his own will.

A Divine Message, like a mediator, is " not of one." It requires evidently two distinct parties, a giver and a receiver. The existence of the rational creature must be real, or there can be no manifestation of the Creator.

This fundamental truth of our consciousness, without which all revelation would be impossible, is confirmed and ratified by the very first utterance of revealed religion, when it tells us that " in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," and that Man himself was formed " in the image of God."

A third truth, also implied in the acceptance of a divine revelation, is the power of God to make known His nature and will to his own creatures. His absolute dominion and infinite greatness do not make it impossible for him to reveal himself to men. The conception would, indeed, be strange, of a Being condemned by his own perfection to an eternal solitude ; able to give life and reason to finite and intelligent creatures ; but unable, because he is infinite, to bridge over the immense chasm which separates him from his own works, or to make known to those creatures his mind and will. On the contrary, one of those perfections which reason plainly requires us to ascribe to him is the capability of revealing himself to all the rational creatures he has made. We may here apply the decisive reasoning of the Psalmist : " He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ; he that formed the eye, shall he not see ? " The argument, when carried a step further, is equally cogent. He that fashioned the tongue, shall he not be able to make his voice heard in clearest accents, and to communicate his mind and will to the children of men ?

It is quite possible, in recoiling from the proud claims of natural reason, while it pretends to form a priori systems of the universe, to fall into error no less dangerous on the opposite side. The finite cannot comprehend the infinite. Hence the inference may be drawn, that the nature of God must remain for ever inaccessible and wholly unknown. But this would be an illusion, contradicted by every analogy in every field of science. In all subjects, from the lowest to the highest, partial, but real knowledge, is the essential condition of a created and finite intelligence. Created existence is a middle term between nonentity and absolute being. The knowledge of rational creatures, in like manner, is a middle term between pure nescience and perfect omniscience. That a real, genuine, though of course an imperfect knowledge of God, is attainable, and ought to be attained, is one of the fundamental doctrines both of natural and revealed religion. It ranks side by side with the doctrine of creation, that is, faith in the reality of our own existence, as the rational and intelligent creatures of God.

In every subject of thought, knowledge may be real without being exhaustive or complete. The landscape may be spread beneath our eye in clear outline, though parts near the horizon are seen dimly, and all that lies beyond that horizon is wholly hidden from our view. The knowledge that two and two are four is within the reach of a child. It is a definite truth, contrasted with a falsehood, in excess and defect, on either side : but to comprehend all the properties and relations of any one number — even two, the simplest of them all — would require omniscience. There is no room for a contrast, in this respect, between the knowledge of God and any other kind of knowledge whatever. The maxim, " we know in part," applies impartially to every field of natural, moral, and theological science. The degrees of our knowledge or ignorance may differ widely. Fallen man knows much of nature, little of himself, and least of his Maker. But even where his knowledge is greatest, far more than he has learned remains still unknown ; and even where his ignorance is deepest, some traces remain, though in broken characters, of " the work of the law written in the heart."1

Such is the third truth, implied in the idea of a revelation, that the will and character, the ways and purposes of God, are capable of being made known to his intelligent creatures. But when we speak of a revelation to mankind, a further doctrine is implied; that Man, in his actual state, has a capacity for

LEARNING AND KNOWING THE TRUTH OF GOD.

If we had no faculty of reason distinguishing us from the brutes, it would be unmeaning to address to us any message that requires the exercise of intelligence. There must be powers and capacities receptive of divine truth, or else revelation would be impossible, and the claim of Christianity to be a message from God to mankind would be convicted of absurdity. It could no longer have any reasonable foundation on which to rest.

This truth, however plain, has been often obscured, and perhaps sometimes even denied, by over-zealous advocates of Christian orthodoxy. The strong statements of Scripture respecting the moral disease and inability of man may be so combined and isolated, as to engender a dull, passive fatalism, and turn into an idle mockery that earnest appeal to the human conscience, which runs throughout the whole course of the word of God. The heart of sinners, we are told, is gross, their ears are heavy, their eyes are blind. They are " dead in trespasses and sins." Such passages, taken alone, might appear to teach a natural incapacity for discerning any moral and religious truth, rather than deep moral aversion from the messages of God. But other statements, equally strong and clear, restore the balance of truth. There is a frequent appeal to the