possesses to day are biblical; our grandest poems are biblical; our most magnificent music is biblical. Destroy all the paintings which Bible scenes have suggested, and all the poetry which Bible truths have inspired, and all the music which Bible teaching has kindled, and what a loss it would be? Take our standard authors, to what an extent are they indebted to the Bible? How you can trace its influence on their every page! Take your favourite author, Shakespeare for instance, go carefully through his works, and mark how great was his indebtedness to the Bible, every page he wrote speaks of its influence. Think again, how this book has moulded the legislation of the foremost nations in the world, and has given to civilization its noblest institutions. It has been translated into every known language, and gigantic institutions exist for the sole purpose of promoting its circulation. The Bible losing its hold on men! Anything but that, my friend. Though some eighteen centuries have elapsed since its last page was written, what is its position to-day? Adverse criticism has assailed it, criticism the most bitter, criticism as full of venom as it could possibly be; no stone has been left unturned by its enemies to arrest the growth of its influence and bring about its destruction; men have fought it with sword and flame. Logic, wit, and ridicule have turned their shafts against it, but notwithstanding all its influence has continued to grow, its power has continued to increase, and its hold on society is greater than ever. Dislodge it from its position! Why not try to dislodge the mountain from its bed, or the sun from its orbit! The attempt is as likely to succeed in the one case as in the other. Now, let me ask you how is all this to be accounted for? What explanation have you, and those who think like you, to give of this unique phenomenon? How came the Bible to obtain this unique position, notwithstanding the opposition with which it has been met at every turn; and how comes it to pass that it is able to retain this position notwithstanding the attacks which it has continually to meet? The Bible on its trial! why it has been on its trial any number of times these eighteen centuries, and its condemnation has been uttered over and over again amid a chorus of triumphs. Why has it not been executed, will you tell me? There have been ready tongues, but how is it, that from Celsus to Foote, there have been no hands equal to the execution of the sentence, which such a number of tongues have been so ready to utter? These are perfectly legitimate questions, I think, and quite to the point. I should most certainly like to hear what you have to say thereon.

I have said that the various books composing the Bible were written by all sorts of persons, in all sorts of places and at different

times, extending over some sixteen hundred years and yet there is a wonderful unity running through the book. The historical unity is most remarkable, though the independent workmanship of some twenty writers, yet it reads like one continuous narrative. The history is taken up at the Creation and carried on, with but one break, the four hundred years which intervenes between the close of the Old Testament and the commencement of the New,-to the planting of the Gospel in Rome. The Bible in its historical unity stands alone and without a rival; it is wholly unique in the literature of mankind. Surely a higher than human wisdom must have been present with the writers as their counsellor and guide.

Then there is the Doctrinal unity of the book. That is not less remarkable; there is variety, but no contradiction. What I may call the main doctrines, run through the book. A manifest harmony pervades the whole of its teachings concerning Man and God; Sin and Salvation; the duties of the present life and the character of the life to come. Jesus Christ does not contradict Moses. The Apostles and Prophets are in perfect accord. There is, however, a law of progress running through the whole book. Some men have mistaken this law of progress for contradiction. We have growth, development, but no contradiction. Is there any contradiction between midday sunshine and morning dawn? The law of progress, of development, is most manifest, but there is no contradiction. Is there any contradiction between the ripe fruit of autumn and the opening bud of spring? There is growth, development, but no contradiction. Is there any contradiction between the volume of classics and the child's first reading book? I see progress, but no contradiction. And there is no contradiction between the morality of the Pentateuch and the Sermon on the Mount. The God of the Gospels is the same as we have portrayed in the prophets. The revelations of the gospels and the epistles are fuller, clearer, than the revelations of the earlier books, but there is no contradiction; the law of progress may be easily traced, a beautiful harmony characterises the whole. The Bible begins with the Race in its infancy, and leads men on step by step, adapting its teaching to their capacity, and circumstances, and development. The teaching must not lag behind on the one hand, nor on the other hand must it be too far in advance. What would you say to me if I were to put into the hands of my child, first of all, a volume on mathematics? Nay, you say, let the child begin with the numerals, and then lead him on through simple addition, and multiplication, and subtraction. Where is the teacher who gives the child, first of all, the grammar of his mother tongue to learn ? No man is so stupid as to think of doing anything so foolish, the

child begins with the alphabet, and proceeds step by step up to the grammatical construction of the language. It is thus with the Bible, it begins with the human race in the earlier stages, and advances in its teachings as man advances in his capacity to receive the truth. This law of progress explains most of the seeming contradictions which some men have professed to find between the teachings of the earlier and later portions of the Bible.

I will now ask you to examine the teachings of the Bible concerning God. In the literature of the heathen world, Polytheism prevailed; it had its gods many and lords many, gods infinitely worse, many of them, than their worshippers. But you turn to the Bible and there you are met with the sublime truth of One God, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord, thy God, is one God." No multiplicity of Gods, no vague Nature God of ancient, and may I not also add, of modern philosophy. Instead of a "Divine Ether" pervading all space, as some of our philosophers put it, the Bible presents to us a Being to Whom we can look for help, in Whom we can confide, and Whom we can love. A Being who looks out on human suffering with a compassionate heart, who is ready to forgive the penitent transgressor, and whose lovingkindness is over all His works. Now, ask yourself the question, whence did the Israelitish people get their ideas of God? ideas so pure, so elevating, so infinitely beyond anything which the most advanced nations of the world could conceive. One writer, I remember, has called attention to David and Homer. They were contemporaries. Examine the writings of Homer: the gods of which he speaks are no other than idealized men, having all our imperfections, and subject to all our passions and weaknesses; many of them are the veriest monsters, from whom you turn with the shrinking of disgust. Turn now to the Bible and read the 139th Psalm, what a description of God you have there! Where did David get his ideas of God, ideas so grand, so profound, so elevating, so transcendently beyond anything that Homer conceived? Here is a people shut in, we may say, from surrounding nations, having but little commerce, no arts or sciences, no schools of philosophy, and but little literature; here is a people immeasurably in advance of all mankind, both then and since, on this greatest, this profoundest of all questions! The explanation which they themselves give of the matter is that their ideas of God were derived from God Himself, and such an explanation meets all the requirements of the case, does it not? I can conceive no other explanation that will.

In the same way you may examine the teachings of the Bible concerning man, his duty and destiny. Where, outside of the Bible, will you find anything to compare with such teachings?

Take the Morality of the Bible, you need not go outside of the ten commandments. Will you find anything to equal that code in the literature of Egypt, or of China, or of Greece, or of India? If you can, let us have it. We speak of the civilization of the nineteenth century, take from it, my friend, all which we owe to the Bible and what will there be left? Is there any other book which has wielded such an influence; which has wrought such moral transformations; which has borne such fruit? And what is the explanation of it all? Sceptics talk of Myths and Fables. Is there any sane man who can bring himself to believe that a collection of myths and fables is able, not only to hold its own against all opposition, but to maintain its ground in the face of the most searching criticism of which the intellect of the past eighteen centuries has been capable, and make its way to the unrivalled position which the Bible occupies to-day? If you can bring yourself to believe this, my friend, all I can say is, I do not envy you your intelligence. A "collection of myths and fables!" Then it comes to this, that myths and fables are the great regenerators of society ! That myths and fables possess an elevating influence to be found nowhere else! That myths and fables have done infinitely more for the world than all the arts, and sciences, and philosophy, and literature, that man has ever known! That myths and fables are of infinitely more worth than all the truth which the world possesses. And if any man outside of Bedlam can bring himself to believe this, we may well pity him; let him not say another word about the Miracles of the Bible, they are poor and paltry indeed by the side of this miracle, on which he looks with so much complacency. Talk about Balaam's ass speaking! Its utterance was wisdom itself when placed by the side of the deliverances of certain moderns. And as to the whale swallowing Jonah, why, if it is said that Jonah swallowed the whale it would hardly seem incredible, when one sees the TREMENDOUS WHALES which sceptics of to-day so easily swallow. No, no, my friend, let not the man who can bring himself to believe that the Bible is a collection of myths and fables, say another word about the miracles which the book records, the greatest of its miracles are not worth naming by the side of the miracle which the book itself, in its history, and position, and influence, presents to-day.

I should like to ask of those who seek the destruction of the Bible, what they have to put in its place? It has raised men to the highest virtue, it has comforted them in sorrow, it has sustained them in affliction, it has made them peaceful and joyous in death. Why then do you wish to destroy it, what good will its destruction do you? As for me, and countless multitudes besides, you leave

us without any comfort in trouble, or consolation in death; why, therefore, do you seek its destruction? What advantage will it be, either to the individual or the race, if the Bible is overthrown? But what hope is there that the enemies of the Bible will succeed in their endeavours? If after a repetition of such efforts, extending over some seventeen centuries, they have made no more headway towards the accomplishment of their object, they may well look on the task which they have set themselves as a hopeless one. No, they will never succeed in their designs against the book, for it is "THE WORD OF GOD, WHICH LIVETH AND ABIDETH FOR EVER."

But you say, what about the difficulties which stand in the way of receiving it as "The Word of God?" I am not going to deny that there are difficulties. After allowing for the difficulties arising from the nature of the subject, from ignorance and error; I say, after allowing for these, there are difficulties which still remain. But, my friend, is it only in the Bible that we meet with difficulties? Are there no difficulties in Nature? Has science no difficulties, no questions which it has hitherto failed to answer? Are there no difficulties in Providence? And the Word of God is no exception. On this question let me say that many of the difficulties which perplexed men some fifty years ago have been already removed. You never hear of them now; they have vanished with the increase of light which has come to men from one quarter and another, teaching us, I think, this lesson, that instead of coming to hasty conclusions in the presence of difficulties, our wiser course is to earnestly seek, and patiently wait for more light. Further, most of the difficulties at which men stumble to day are scientific, but we should remember that the Bible does not profess to be a treatise on Astronomy, or Geology, or Chemistry; its allusions to these subjects are incidental and secondary. And further, the Bible was written not for the men of this generation merely, but for men of every age, from the time when its earliest messages were given. When, therefore, it is said that all Bible allusions to scientific subjects, should be in scientific language, etc., we ask should they be in the scientific language of to-day, or of three hundred years ago, or of three thousand years ago? And let me further ask, has Science nothing more to learn? Are its conclusions final? Has it never found it necessary to modify its opinions, and even to reverse its conclusions? On the one hand, let scientific men be modest, and on the other let theologians desist from their silly ravings against science. Then again, most of the difficulties are to be found in the earlier portions of the book, this is as we might expect, and the law of progression to which I have called your attention, accounts for many of them, and is their explanation. When we come to the gospels and stand in the presence of Christ;

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