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66 TAKE HEED WHAT YE HEAR."

shewing, authoritative statements, made on the part of God, to man, by the agency of His own Spirit, in order to enlighten our darkness, to instruct our ignorance, and to lead us back to the God from whom by wilful transgression we have been alienated; and borne out in the authority to which they lay claim, by the Divine wonders which they record.

Fourthly. The truth of Scripture being an inspired revelation, is made out from the existence of fulfilled prophecy in them. It is one of the convictions of common sense that no man, and probably no finite being, can actually know contingent events before they take place. He may conjecture, he may give a shrewd guess, from certain circumstances which he sees, but that is all; and that all is, in the way of accurate and certain knowledge—nothing. We are ready to admit that the knowledge of the future is the prerogative of God: if, therefore, we find anywhere a distinct statement of future events, which are seen afterwards to have come to pass, we have a conclusive, irresistible proof that there the omniscience of God has manifested itself. For instance, in this way the Saviour connected Himself, in the most extraordinary manner, to a contingency by which every one of His Apostles could judge of the truth of His mission;-" Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice." In the same way He committed Himself to the declaration of His resurrection on the third day. If either of these events did not occur, His disciples were warranted to doubt the truth of His mission; if they did occur, they confirmed the fact that the omniscient God was with Him. Thus is the argument from prophecy brought into narrow bounds. It is the same

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thing when it applies to a wider space of time; only that to our weak minds, distance of time seems to make the proof greater, because it makes Omniscience apparently more incomprehensibly great and beyond our powers. If we find the Scriptures prophecying the slavery of the descendants of Ham; the subjection of Esau to Jacob; the wandering character of Ishmael, and the Arab his posterity; the coming of Shiloh from Judah at a particular time; the dealings of God with His people Israel, as recorded in Deuteronomy xxviii ; the destruction of Babylon, of Tyre; the decay of the Jewish worship, and the establishment of another system, and the wandering, separation, and degraded state of the Jewish nation;

if we find in the New Testament a specific declaration of the destruction of Jerusalem, and of the rise of the Roman apostacy in the Christian Church, and can look to the actual and verbatim fulfilment of these events, -we have unanswerable proof that these writings are in some way or other the dictates of Him who knoweth all things. It teaches that God has thus pledged Himself to those Scriptures as truth, and that in every instance in which He overrules events, to bring about a literal and manifest fulfilment of scriptural statements, He bears a testimony to the Divine origin of the record, which it is awfully criminal to disregard. The mass of fulfilled prophecy is very large, and worthy of most serious consideration.

Another line of argument in favour of the inspiration of Scripture is found in the miracles by which the ministrations of the prophets and apostles were sustained. The ordinary course of nature is accurately known. If then, in the support of any religious

system, the declarations of its teaching are accompanied by events, performed in public and in broad daylight, which run counter to ordinary experience, and those events are brought forward as proofs of that truth,—if the lame walk, the dumb speak, and the dead are raised,—there is ample reason for believing that system to have a Divine origin. This was the conviction of Nicodemus: "We know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." And such must always be the conviction of common sense in such cases. Satisfy us that a miracle has taken place, that the powers of nature in God's world have been suspended, contradicted, or amplified, in support of certain teaching, and we are prepared to bow to that teaching which the miracle confirms. Now, of the Gospel miracles there cannot be a shadow of question. The Gospel histories were written and in circulation during the very period of miracles, and the statements received with general consent,-neither Jew nor Gentile writer of that day contradicted them. On the miracles of Christ therefore we rest the truth of His mission; on the miracles of the apostles, the faithfulness of their own report; and on the truth of Christ, the author of these miracles,-we rest all the truth of those extraordinary events recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures; to which Scriptures, and to which histories, He repeatedly referred with approbation.

Another argument also may be drawn from the wisdom, beauty, and harmony of the system of redemption which the Scriptures set before us; and which in the course of a number of writings of different ages, gradually

developes itself with progressive and increasing clearness from age to age, till at last, in the fulness of time, everything is accurately and minutely explained in the writings of the apostles, whilst at the same time it is found that in all the typical instructions and figurative forms of earlier days, and in all the high-wrought language of prophetic vision ;—in the traditonary collocutions of Job, the pithy sentences of Solomon, or the devotional effusions of David's retired hours,-not one word escapes which is contrary to the genius and spirit of the system; but all is in perfect accordance with the real necessities of man, and in keeping with the few simple but sublime principles on which it proceeds, the rich provision of grace made for him, and the unspeakable dignity of his Divine Redeemer. And whatever may be the feeling of weariness, on hearing at first, casually and carelessly, a few trite statements of the doctrinal system of the Scripture,-most assuredly it is not easy to give the serious attention of the mind to a view of the whole scheme of deliverance for the reconciliation and salvation of sinners, without being struck with the infinite wisdom and benevolence which it displays,-without bowing down before the ineffable grandeur of that plan, which brought down the Eternal Word in the veil of humanity to earth, to reconcile the guilty by His atoning death, and to open for them by His rising from the grave unhurt, the gates of life, of immortality.

And then, lastly, a very powerful argument may be drawn by him who really studies his heart and his Bible, from the admirable suitability of the redemption of the Gospel to the circumstances of man,-the way in

TAKE HEED WHAT YE HEAR.'

which the alienated heart of the fallen and rebellious is won, by a display of the character of God as a God of love; in which his pride is broken by a view of the condescension of Omnipotence; in which the beauty and purity of God's law is shewn in the human perfection of Jesus; in which eternal and unseen bliss are laid open to the mind by the resurrection and ascension of Jesus; and the affections raised from a degrading attachment to the things of time, towards that world in which the Saviour has entered as our Forerunner. And the truth and power of this system is confirmed by its practical utility; for those who really have recourse to it, in sincerity, find that in all the serious struggles between temptation and duty, between resolution and unbelief, the true motive of the Gospel, the love of an incarnate God, is the only effectual means of really repelling the power of evil, of sustaining the fainting spirit, and gilding with a ray of encouragement and consolation the darker hours of life.

In this way we have endeavoured to give a very rapid summary of the reasons why we regard the Scriptures as a revelation from heaven, speaking authoritatively the word of God to guilty, dying man. The mass of proof involved in all these several points is immense and unanswerable. Much wicked ingenuity has been employed against almost every point of a widely extended line of proof, but no impression has ever been made upon it. The assaults of infidels, reiterated and refuted till they have lost their force, are become stale and wearisome. They are left now only in the mouths of the half-learned and the profane; while the evidence for the revelation is gathering strength every day; and

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many who once smiled incredulously at the Scriptures, now wait respectfully before them.

Now if we really are what we ought to be, it is on grounds such as these that we gather together, from Sabbath to Sabbath, for the worship of God in Christ, and to hear christian instruction. It is because on satisfactory grounds we regard the christian records as inspired, and because they require this of us as a duty, and set it before us as a privilege;—we come together to worship that Holy Being whom His own inspired word declares to us; and to hear that word opened and explained by His delegated ministers; with the promise that His blessing shall accompany their ministration, to make it profitable to those who seek sincerely.

And in what an interesting and important situation this places us. We verily believe that the Almighty Maker of all worlds enjoins this upon us; that He has spoken the word of peace and life; and that these words are still spirit and life for the edification and salvation of the souls of men. We come up to the house of God to receive His message by the mouth of His servants. How thankful, then, and how teachable, we ought to be.

It does call peculiarly for our gratitude, that God has been pleased thus to bless us with a dispensation of light and mercy. What a blessing that we have, sent down from heaven, a sacred volume of truth and wisdom, which, as it were, connects the very extremities of this world's history, and brings the succession of events before us with a power, and life, and freshness, that makes us intimately interested in its earliest days, and in the circumstances of its first few wandering inhabitants. What a mercy,

that on every side, to the fairly inquiring mind accumulating evidence presents itself, in favour of the claims of these Scriptures to our attention. We are not left to grope our way through dark and doubtful proofs of a mystic religion, difficult to understand when we get at it. No; the evidence is clear, and comprehensible to even moderate capacities and simple minds; the force of that evidence may be perceived by the uneducated man of common sense. And then the truths which the book contains are plain and direct; applicable to the realities of our condition, and applicable in such a way, as to show us at once, that He who dictated them knew what was in man, and what he needed. The God who paints with minute and inimitable beauty the wildest blossom of the field, or traces out the measureless evolutions of the most distant planet,—that same God adapted the evidence for His revelation to the minds of His intelligent creatures, and wrote that word so as to meet their difficulties and their wants. We never can fully value the mercy by which, in this respect, we are surrounded. We need not look out hopelessly and gloomily for some ray of light, and say, "Who shall ascend into heaven, or who shall descend into the deep, to bring us instruction, and mark out to our cheerless spirits a way of peace?" On the contrary, as it is written, "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." The record of our God is with us it appeals perpetually to our consciences and if we will hearken, and turn to Him, He is nigh

to us, ready and willing to instruct us; and while we are on this side the grave, His Gospel is an offer to us of all the blessed resources of His unfailing love.

But are there not many amongst us who have never seriously examined the question, as to whether God has spoken to us by a revelation, or not? Have all who read this done what duty, circumstances, and the privileges of their situation warrant, to examine this point for themselves? We fear not. Generally, those who do not enter upon such questions divide into two great classes. There are those who are indifferent to the point altogether; and there are those who feel something of the power of religion on their hearts, and consequently think that it must be dry and needless work to read, in order to substantiate the conviction of the inspiration of that word, whose living efficacy they feel in the very depths of the soul. But to these last we say, -It may not be always so with you. A time of darkness, and trial, and temptation may come; and then, if the suggestions of unbelief should assail an ill-informed mind, what could you answer? 'If the foundation be taken away, what can the righteous do?" If, in such a moment, you cannot substantiate to yourself the truth of the inspiration of Scripture, you leave yourself defenceless and comfortless, at a time when you most need support and consolation.

Then to those who are really indifferent to the question whether the Bible is the word of God or not,whether God has spoken to man by revelation or not,-to those who are sufficiently indifferent as to leave this question unsettled, we say,- Why attend the service of God at all? Can

SEA-SIDE REFLECTIONS.

you act so absurdly as to associate yourselves with the forms of a religion the origin of which you do not believe to be Divine? Do you really act upon a principle which would make you a Mohammedan in Turkey, and an idolator in India? Do you merely go, without thought and without inquiry, along with the crowd? This is surely wrong, whatever is right. It is indeed incumbent on you, as a matter of common prudence, to examine the evidences for the christian reli

gion, and to determine for yourself whether there is in the world any Divinely authorized religion at all; for rest assured that if there is, it may

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be found; it is borne out with such evidence, as to make it plain and convincing to him who seriously inquires, and so as to throw an awful responsibility on him who does not. If God has spoken, and has put salvation from sin and death within the reach of the simple and conscientious inquirer, and if he, from indolence, or the love of business or of pleasure, or any other cause whatever, neglect it, -he must regard himself as the author of all the evils, which a righteous and offended Judge may see fit to visit upon him in another world. Φωνη τεθνηκοτος.

SEA-SIDE REFLECTIONS,

ADAPTED, FOR THE MOST PART, FROM VARIOUS DIVINES AND POETS. "Isaac went out to meditate."-GEN. xxiv. 63.

ETERNITY.

How striking an image of endless duration is the sea! As we gaze on the boundless expanse, the imagination stretches into the incomputible future, and "embraces the column of eternity." Before the creation of the first dependent being, Jehovah had existed from all eternity, alone; feeling no want and no dreariness. And as "He that inhabiteth eternity" had no beginning, so the joys of those who are 66 complete in Christ" will have no end. The Christian, endowed with a blessed immortality, shall hymn the Redeemer's praise for ever. The time will arrive when there shall be "no more sea" on earth, but in the new Jerusalem there shall flow unceasingly a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal."

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THE CONTRAST.

The sea-shore presents some striking images, both of the character of God and of that of man. With a heart hard as the rocks that line the shore; with a life as unfruitful as the sand; to whom can the burthened sinner turn but to Him whose promise to subdue and soften that heart, and energize that life, stands firm as the solid and unshaken rock,-whose inercies are countless as the particles of sand? The heart, by nature, is deep and deceitful as the ocean, and restless as the tides; but, looking beyond himself, the sinner may find in God an immeasurable sea of love, an overflowing tide of grace.

EJACULATORY PRAYER.

In difficult havens, so choked up with sand that ships drawing many feet of water cannot approach, lighter vessels may freely and with safety gain an entrance. Thus, when we are "time-bound, place-bound, or personbound," so that we cannot compose ourselves to make a long, solemn prayer, a fit occasion is presented for

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