ders of mesmerism, both as to their strangeness, and as to the amount of testimony in their favour."

"But there is another difficulty still, mother Other people, besides good men, have worked miracles sometimes. You know the magi

cians of Egypt did so."

"No; it is generally thought by learned men that there is nothing in the language of the Bible to authorize the belief that they really performed any miracles. They were a class of men whose business it was to counterfeit such wonders, by legerdemain, or sleightof-hand; and to a certain point they could imitate in this way the wonders performed by Moses."

"O mother," said Fanny, "like that juggler we saw last winter, Signor-what's his name? I am sure the things he did appeared like miracles. I could hardly believe the evidence of my own senses. Don't you remember, James, how he-"

"Yes, I remember all about it. But, then, after all, it does not make any difference whether men can really perform miracles without help from God, or whether they only appear to do so; for, if people cannot distin

guish between true and false miracles, they cannot know which are a sign or token from God, and which are not."

"All these objections anticipate what we are coming to by and by," said his mother. "In fact, I ought not to have given you that second question to think about, as it has led us out of the track I wish to follow. The train of thought suggested by our startingpoint would lead us to consider the internal evidences first."

"Internal evidences ? mother?" asked Fanny.

What are they,

"To go back to the illustration we used before," said her mother; "is there any other way in which I might know that a letter came from your father, besides its being accompanied by a ring, or some other outward token?"

"Why, yes, mother; you would know whether it was in his hand-writing or not."

"Yes, and whether it was his style or not," said James,- -"whether it sounded like his other letters, and whether he wrote about our affairs as if he understood them."

"And if the letter revealed any traits of character," added his mother, "I might com

pare them with what I knew of your father's character. Well, now, suppose that the handwriting and style of the letter were your father's exactly; that there was a perfect agreement in the sentiments and opinions and feelings therein expressed, with those of your father; that it showed an intimate knowledge of all our concerns, and that it was, moreover, accompanied by a ring which I knew to be in your father's possession-would not all these evidences together remove every doubt from my mind, and convince me that the letter was what it purported to be?"

"Certainly, you could not doubt after that," said James.

"These are the kinds of evidence we have that the Bible is from God; and all of them together, excepting the ring, constitute what are called the internal evidences. We have seen that a revelation was probable. We next advance a step further, and say, 'Here is a book which professes to be such a revelation.' Let us examine it, and see whether it bears those marks, internally, which we might expect in a revelation from God. And, as a preparation for the next conversation, you may try to find out what some of those marks are."

"How much there will be to talk about!”

exclaimed Fanny.

"Yes," said James; "all I am afraid of is, that there will not be time to talk about them all."

CHAPTER IV.

PLAN OF THE BOOK-DOES THE REVELATION MADE OF GOD IN THE BIBLE HARMONIZE WITH THE REVELATION MADE IN NATURE?

"WHAT a hard subject you gave us mother?" said Fanny, as soon as they were seated, the next Sabbath evening. "There was so much to think of that I did not know where to begin, and never should have come to anything, if James had not helped me."

"How did he help you?"

"Why, he said that the Bible was just the same as a letter from God to us; that is, it professes to be; and we can try it in the same way in which you said you could try a letter from father. But then, after all, most of the things you named about the letter would not apply at all here-hand-writing and style, for instance."

"Hand-writing, certainly not; but why not

style? We might surely expect, in the style and composition of a message from God, some marks of sublimity not found in human productions."

"Yes, to be sure, mother; so we might. But then again, as to the opinions and feelings and character, you know we could not tell-"

"Why, Fanny!" interrupted James, "you forget all that we said the other evening about the character of God being shown in his works. I am sure we can compare the Bible with nature, and see whether they both teach the same things."

"Yes," observed his mother, "that is the first particular named in the plan I have here," unfolding a sheet of paper as she spoke.

"What, mother, have you a written plan for our conversations?" asked Fanny.

"Yes, my dear, but you need not look so alarmed about it; there is nothing difficult in it; or, at least, there is no difficulty which a little explanation will not easily remove."

“I am sure I am very glad there is a plan," said James; "I always like to go on in order."

"Yes, that is so like you!" said Fanny.