having found my own faith so firmly established by the sure conviction that "Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," I may be the rather excused for pressing the argument to be derived from this unerring source on the minds of all such as falter in their faith, and are unable therefore to approach the throne of grace with a confidence and "hope that maketh not ashamed."+ And seeing that there is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved but that of Christ-and consequently, no knowledge of equal importance with that which leads us to him-how can we dwell with too great earnestness on evidence which tends so remarkably to establish the truth of those scriptures where alone that knowledge is to be found?

CHAPTER VIII.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED, FROM THE WRITINGS OF MR. SAMUEL DREW AND DEAN PEARCE.

THE philosophical and fashionable clamour of the present day is a great deal in favour of a notion, that natural religion ought to be upheld not only as proclaiming aloud the Being and Glory of God, but as the very hand-maid of our faith. But is not this a notion which may be carried much too far? Since with whatever truth it may be said, that natural and revealed religion do not, neither can they, contradict each other; it has ever been found that the religion of nature, however sublimed by metaphysics, is capable of casting but a very glimmering light upon our prospects beyond the tomb.* The closer we keep to the Bible in

"Without the assistance of the Book of Revelation, we shall vainly attempt to read the Book of Nature. In the latter, it is true, we observe the strong characters of a Deity; we discover some scattered hints of connexion between that Deity and ourselves; and we meet with a few intimations of a future state. But, in the former, we are introduced to our Creator and Preserver, the Universal Parent; 'Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant;' to Life and Immortality! Conscious of our ignorance, infirmities, and sins, we look up to the God of Nature with doubt, anxiety, and terror; but we approach the

our spiritual aspirations, the nearer we get to their blissful realization.

No book probably ever met with more deserved admiration than Paley's Natural Theology. It seems to be looked upon as nearly a perfect work; the seal and crown of his useful and extensive, and, for the most part, judicious labours. His method of treating the subject is far better adapted to the understandings of mankind in general, than that of metaphysicians, who attempt to deduce from mere abstract reasoning, the Being and Attributes of a God. These may have their use and at least be said to have succeeded so far may as to make it difficult, perhaps impossible, to set aside their deductions, yet how delightful is it to quit the subtle line of argument which they are obliged to adopt, and to turn to the simple, clear, and authoritative enunciations of the Bible.

This never struck me more forcibly, than it did in my perusal of the elaborate, learned, and highly creditable Essays of the late Mr. Samuel Drew, "On the Being, Attributes, and Providence of the Deity." In his preface he asserts, with equal modesty and truth,

God of Revelation with gratitude and humble confidence. Well, therefore, might our Redeemer enjoin us to search the Scriptures, for those,' says he, are they which testify of me.'"-Polwhele's Memoirs of Whitaker.

that "The necessary existence of God lies at the foundation of all religion, both natural and revealed, and that, if this truth fail us, the pillared firmament is rottenness, and earth's base built on stubble." And whether, with this indisputable truism before him, his acute metaphysical researches were required to meet the various cavillers of the world, is not so much to my present purpose, as is the evidence which his treatise affords in favour of that superior and irresistible light which invests the sacred Scriptures.

"The modes of argumentation," he tells us, "which he has adopted to bring as nearly to a demonstration as possible, the evidence in favour of the divine existence, are of three kinds; these are, arguments à priori, -mixed arguments, and arguments derived simply from existing phænomena."*

It is my intention to deal, and that briefly, with the former only, for a reason which will appear in the sequel. Chapter IV., of the arguments à priori, begins with the enunciation of the following proposition:

* His reasons for proceeding thus are fully expressed in his motto on the title-page

66 6

Though several arguments offered as conclusive, on this subject, should be found inconclusive, yet the failure of such cannot be reasonably thought to affect the validity or force of others, founded on quite different principles. It is not dangerous, and may be very useful, to consider this subject in different lights, and to propose arguments of

"Eternal existence being possible, an Eternal Being must be possible; and, if an Eternal Being be possible, He must really exist," which the author proceeds to expound in fourteen sections, the heads of which are these:

"Sect.I. General outline of the argument stated. II. Illustration of the arguments.

III. Eternity cannot, on any account whatever, be possible, without being real.

IV. What is meant by a Being, in the essence of whose nature actual existence is included?

V. The existence of that Being, in the essence of whose nature actual existence is included, is possible.

VI. A Being, in the existence of whose nature actual existence is included, or in whom actual existence and the possibility of it

must co-exist, cannot be possible, without being real.

VII. To apply the possibility of existence, without the reality of it, to the first cause, or to one in whose essence actual existence is included, will lead to Atheism.

various kinds. We should, therefore, be cautious not to conceive a prejudice against an argument on this subject, because it aims at demonstration.'"-Bishop of Ossery's Introduction to an Essay on the Existence, &c. of God.