and of the destiny of the soul and body after death. These two series of facts are so connected, that, if the historical statement be true, the spiritual statements must be true also; whereas, if the historical statements could be proved to be false, the spiritual statements are abandoned by the writers themselves of Scripture. See especially the unequivocal admission of the Apostle Paul, that if Christ did not rise from the dead, faith is vain, preaching is vain, and Christianity itself is untenable. (1 Cor. xv.) For a fuller elucidation of this construction of the Bible, the author must refer his readers to his "Letters on the Divine Origin and Authority of the Holy Scriptures."

This method of influencing the minds of men by statements of fact, is in perfect accordance with the nature of the mind, which is universally affected and moved by what it believes to be true. The occupying of the intellect by facts necessarily influences the emotions and the will in accordance with the nature of the facts believed.

The spiritual facts, the communication and confirmation of which is the great end of the whole compilation, are of a nature deeply to affect all men; and cannot but arouse, and interest, and beneficially affect all who are made acquainted with them, and who really understand and believe them. Their object is to bring men to the acknowledgment and worship of the one living and true God, Creator of heaven and earth, to the obedience of his law, and consequently to a just and kind and charitable deportment towards one another.

The historical facts are fitted to arrest the attention, to fill the soul with wonder, sometimes with perplexity, more frequently with admiration, and to be a vehicle for conveying the spiritual facts which it is the end of Scripture to inculcate. The various characters delineated -and delineated with great truth and power-and the circumstances in which they are placed, are full of

interest, and are fitted to call forth every emotion of which the soul is capable, and to awaken all its sympathies. Especially the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, so fully and vividly presented to us in the four narratives of his acts, which form the principal part of the history of the New Testament, is the noblest and most effective object for strongly and beneficially influencing the whole man, enlightening his understanding, directing aright his affections and his conduct, that has ever been offered to the contemplation of our race.

The spiritual facts, to which the historical facts stand related merely as evidence, and as the medium of conveyance, are of infinitely higher, even overwhelming interest. The being, the attributes, the constant presence of the Deity, his law, his hatred of sin, his love of holiness, the rewards and penalties by which his law is sustained, our own spiritual nature, our immortality, our violation of the law and exposure to its denunciations, the cause and the certainty of death, the glory and honour and immortality, or the indescribable ruin and horror, into which we enter at death, the mission of the Son of God to save us, the mode and terms of salvation, and the critical and urgent importance of our present state, as the portal to eternity-these, and similar facts, are manifestly calculated to arrest the attention, and to awaken every faculty of the souls of those who believe them, into most vigorous exercise. Then, these statements of fact are communicated in forms the best fitted for drawing attention to them, and persuading men to receive them. They are not conveyed in the form of logical systems of doctrine, like our common systems of theology; but they are presented, sometimes in the form of most affecting narratives, related with the most charming simplicity, sometimes in impassioned addresses, in warnings of danger, remonstrances, denunciations, encouragements in depression, consolations under affliction; sometimes in the con

fidential communications of private friendship,-letters," conversations, in which the words breathe tenderness and affection: sometimes they are set forth, arrayed in the charms of fervid, most ornate, and yet most unaffected poetry; and sometimes they occur in earnest and fervent prayer, in which the whole soul of the writer is manifestly poured forth into the bosom of his Father and his God.

Finally, the Scripture directs that these facts be communicated to others by those who believe them, as they may have opportunity, that the whole code of religion embodied in them may have the advantage of the living voice of men who are under its influence, who have experienced its solemnising, elevating, purifying, comforting effects, with all the natural expressions of awe and reverence, of alarm for those who are in danger, sorrow for those who are ruining themselves, and joy over those who are walking in safety, which the various parts of it are fitted to awaken.

It is impossible to conceive of any means more perfectly adapted to operate powerfully and beneficially on the human mind than those which are provided in the Holy Scriptures.

Of those two implements which we possess of influencing the minds of others, the most powerful beyond comparison is the communication of thought,using our bodily organs simply as means of conveying our thoughts. Yet that implement, which consists of inflicting pain, or communicating pleasure for the purpose of constraining or bribing the will, independently of the convincing of the understanding, being the most rapid in its effects, and appearing to superficial observers to be the most decisive, is almost universally resorted to by those who have power to wield it. It is necessary that children, before their minds are open to receive information, or to understand reasoning, should