DIRECTORS have been selected for committees from among those men, who have been highly esteemed in our several churches, for their personal piety, sound knowledge, Christian liberality and experience in business. Its public Advocates, also, have been endowed with intelligence and eloquence, called forth as the exigencies of the Society required, to defend it against opponents and objectors, to vindicate its claims on all professing the Christian faith, and to recommend the Bible to all classes in every nation, as the precious word of the living God, the charter of our salvation by Jesus Christ, our only Mediator and Redeemer.

Previously, however, to our survey of the history and triumphs of this great Institution, it seems expedient, for the sake of many, to examine "the Claims of the Bible" to be received as a Revelation from God. Unhappily all, even of those "who profess and call themselves Christians," do not intelligently and cordially believe the testimony of God in the Holy Scriptures. Enemies of the gospel of Christ are numerous even in our favoured land; and these are drawing away the ill-instructed and unstable into fatal errors. For the sake of such, and for the edification of believers, it is deemed desirable to offer a brief summary of the evidence of the truth and divinity of the Bible, as containing the only saving Oracles of the blessed God!

PART I.

The Claims of the Bible.

CHAPTER I.

DIVINE REVELATION NECESSARY AND PROBABLE.

God reveals Himself in His Works-More especially in the Holy Scriptures-Revelation expected by the wisest of the Heathen -Ignorance of the Grecian and Roman Philosophers-Doubts of Cicero and Seneca-Divine Revelation in the Old and New Testaments-Ignorance and Depravity of Men without the Bible The Bible worthy of God.

RELIGION, the worship of the blessed Creator, is the duty of every rational being. This is a principle felt among all people. It is founded on the belief of the existence and perfections of God. And this is the most rational exercise of the intelligent mind of man, by the acknowledgment of the wisest and best of men in every age and nation.

God has graciously revealed himself in all his wonderful works. Every visible part of the material universe exhibits the most indubitable evidences of one omnipotent Creator. In all the mighty mysteries of creation, we perceive the varied proofs

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of the infinite power, the unfathomable wisdom, and the exuberant goodness of the glorious and everpresent Deity.

Beholding the astonishing works of the Almighty Author of nature, reflecting men are confirmed in their belief in his "eternal power and Godhead.” Surveying the illimitable arch of heaven above,the mysterious atmosphere around us,-the fluid ether, the liquid air, which we breathe, the outstretched firmament bespangled with innumerable brilliant stars, and adorned with two magnificent luminaries, the sun and moon, the greater affording its benign influences, as the inexhaustible source of light and heat to all on earth, the latter reflecting the radiance of the solar orb,-and the entire system keeping an undeviating course, in orderly, silent and harmonious motion, imparting manifold blessings to every part of the universe; the beholder is filled with profound astonishment. He feels the force of the psalmist's beautiful language, and is impressed with the sublime sentiments regarding the Divine Architect of the skies -"the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Psalm xix. 1.)

Intelligent men of devout spirit survey with wonder the vast terraqueous globe, which the Creator "hangeth upon nothing," poising it in the liquid air, in an exact relation to other bodies still more magnificent, and performing its revolutions, both diurnal and annual, bearing in its mysterious flight through boundless space, all its lofty mountains, continents and islands, with its flowing seas and

oceans, stored with endless treasures, and occupied by innumerable inhabitants,-all evidently ordained for the benefit of man, their constituted lord. And, while contemplating the mechanism of their own bodily frame, and reflecting on their various mental faculties, the pious are constrained to adore and praise their infinitely glorious though unseen Creator. Enlightened reason prompts them to worship; and, influenced by a spirit of devotion, they give forth their souls in the expressive exclamation of the inspired philosopher, "O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches; so is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts." (Psalm civ. 24, 25.)

men.

Creation is truly a volume of revelation, spread open by the blessed God before all the children of Such it has been acknowledged by many, even among the heathen. Reflecting men have confidently inferred from the visible works of God the excellency of his adorable character, and the glory of his moral perfections. They understand the apostle's argument against the criminal folly of the heathen-" For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." (Rom. i. 20.)

Irreligious men, however, even while possessing the further revelation of God in the Scriptures, practically deny this argument. Some of them may even admit its correctness; but "having their un

derstanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their hearts" (Eph. iv. 18), they will derive no profit by it. "A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this" (Psalm xcii. 6), so as to yield up his powers in the worship and service of God. But every human being, in the sound exercise of his intellectual powers, admits the correctness of the reasoning of both the apostle and the psalmist. All such, therefore, conscious of ignorance and guilt, ardently desire some further discoveries of their Creator, and the knowledge of his gracious will concerning sinners. His favour and his blessing, for the present and for a future life, have been felt by the wisest of the heathen to be most necessary; and the gift to them that has appeared now most to be desired is a revelation from God, plainly declaring our duty to Him, and the way to obtain his grace and mercy to eternal life.

Special Divine Revelation has, in all ages, been looked for by the most famous sages among the heathen, conscious of their lamentable ignorance regarding the future. They have put forth ardent desires to be instructed, especially regarding the state of man after death,-by a teacher sent from God. Contemplating the miserable condition of mortals, many of the wiser among the ancient Romans, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians and others, have uttered their perplexity and grief at their destitution. They have inquired with intense anxiety: "What was the origin of mankind? Whence came