the gospels, and strangers to their morality; and, in short, the stamp of truth they bear is so striking and inimitable, that the inventor would be a more wonderful character even than the hero.""

"That settles the question, of course," remarked James. "But how can you account for it, then, mother, that he remained an unbeliever?"

"Only in the same way in which we can account for the unbelief of the Pharisees who themselves witnessed the miracles, and beheld the holy example of our Lord;-they would not believe, because his teachings condemned their wickedness and hypocrisy. Rousseau was a thoroughly bad man; his life was stained with the most odious vices, and of course he hated the light. No amount of evidence would convince such a man."

"It seems very dreadful that there should be such men," said Fanny.

"Yes; it throws light on the meaning of such awful passages as 'treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.' But there is an individual of the human race, exceeding in guilt, perhaps, every other, who gave a still stronger involuntary testimony to the truth of Christ's

claims, though not in words ;-do you know to whom I refer ?"

"I am sure I do not," said Fanny,-" un"unless you

less," she added, after a pause,

mean Judas. But how did he testify to the truth of Christ's claims?"

"Why, by the remorse he exhibited for having betrayed him. If Christ were really an impostor-and Judas had every opportunity to know whether he was or not-he deserved a worse fate than that he suffered. Yet Judas was so overwhelmed with remorse for what he had done, that he could not endure life; his ill-gotten gains became hateful to him; he threw down the thirty pieces of silver in the temple, and departed and went and hanged himself."

"I wonder I never thought of that as being a testimony in favour of Christ before," said Fanny. "It is the strongest kind of testimony too."

now.

"Yes, none could be stronger. But I think we must bring our conversation to a close We have finished the consideration of the internal evidences, and shall begin upon the external next Sabbath. Some of these, as not being adapted to your comprehension at

present, I shall but glance at, or wholly omit. Others I shall dwell upon at some length. The two principal points will be the evidence drawn from miracles, and that from prophecy. The first of these we will consider next Sabbath."

CHAPTER XVI.

EVIDENCE FROM MIRACLES.

"WE have come back, now, to one of the questions you asked us at first, mother," said James, "what credentials or tokens God could give to show that a revelation was from him ?"

"Yes, and I believe we concluded then that the power of working miracles was, so far as men can see, the only credential, not liable to be denied or counterfeited, which he could give."

"But miracles have been denied, have they not?" asked James; "and they have certainly been counterfeited."

“I mean, not liable to be denied by the candid and unprejudiced. Everything may be and will be denied, as we saw yesterday,

by the wilfully blind. As to their being counterfeited, the few miserable attempts at impostures of this sort, made by wicked and designing men, in different ages, are so widely and ludicrously different from many of the stupendous miracles recorded in the Bible, that they form no exception to my remark. What, for instance, could be more unlike the pretended popish miracles, where an image moves its eyes, or sweats blood-instances wrought in secret, in the walls of a church or convent, and where deception would be so easy-what could be more unlike these than the dividing of the Red Sea, for the Israelites to pass through.

"A difference indeed!" said Fanny.

"To return, then you see that miracles are probable, on the supposition that a revelation was to be given, because miracles are the most suitable and natural mode of authenticating such a revelation. Now, the question whether miracles really have been performed, or, rather, whether the miracles recorded in the Bible were performed, is to be settled in the same way that any other question of facts is settled, by an appeal to testimony."

"That always seems to me such a poor kind

of evidence," said James; "I mean, I never felt satisfied with it."

"In that point you are mistaken, my son. I will presently convince you. Do you believe, or not, that there is such a country as England?"

Certainly I believe it," replied James.

"But why, since you have never been there?"

James reflected for a moment. "I believe it because so many others have been there, and have written about it-because I have seen people who have been there, and because I have seen ships which have come from there, and the passengers and cargoes they have brought."

"Very well; that is, you believe it on testimony. Now, do you not believe it as fully as if you had been to England yourself?"

"Yes, mother, I think I do-yes I do, I am sure. It never occurred to me to doubt it. But then, there is so much testimony,-so many thousands of people have been to England, and come back; and what possible motive could all these people have for pretending there was such a country, if there was not ?"