need not pursue this topic any further, as the evidences of prophecy will receive additional confirmation if we proceed to notice

III. The Fallacious means by which the enemies of Revelation have sought to invalidate the truth of Scripture testimony, in relation to Prophecy and its fulfilment.

The opponents of Revelation have always felt the force of this evidence, and against it they have used their utmost ingenuity. The facts themselves they have not denied; but they have tried to account for them in various ways. The most ingenious arguments to invalidate the testimony of prophecy, which we know of, are those of Rousseau, a French infidel of the last generation. He has thrown the whole power of his brilliant genius into this effort; but he has signally failed.

1. He supposes that the coincidence of prophecy and event may be the result of mere accident;-that is, by a most wonderful chance, or fortuity of circumstances, these things might have so happened! What, I ask, and are we to suppose that events which were announced thousands of years before their accomplishment, and which were dependent upon millions of individuals, and associated with the rise and fall of nations;-that events which entered into the most minute details of the birth, the life, and the character of one individual; — should be actually fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ, and yet all this be the result of mere accident! Why, surely, to believe all this, demands a faith far exceeding anything which Christianity requires of any of her votaries! But we observe, still further, that science, in this respect, has lent her aid to the testimony of Revelation; and Dr. Olinthus Gregory, who was certainly a mathematician of no very mean character, has shown that the probabilities against the truth of this supposition are, eleven hundred and twenty-five millions of millions to one; and he has demonstrated, in the most clear and satisfactory manner, the utter impossibility of anything of this kind occurring by mere accident, or fortuity of circumstances. So that the efforts of the infidel to explain this coincidence, have only contributed to confirm the word of God. But, an attempt has been made to meet the force of this conclusion, by a second explanatory cause. It has been affirmed, that the writers of Revelation must have studied to adapt the events of history to the predictions which are recorded; that is, they arranged, for example, the whole of the incidents and events associated with the character and life of Christ, so as to answer to the predictions which the Prophets had recorded. It is not necessary that we should dwell on the absence of all motive for a line of conduct like this;—there could be none: but we advert, for a moment, to the utter impossibility of their doing it, even if they had been disposed to make the attempt. We are ready to grant, that if the coincidence between the prediction and the event had existed in only one or two points, then it might have been done; but they existed in hundreds of particulars. Moses, for example, speaks of a Prophet like unto himself, whom the Lord God would raise up; and Dr. Porteus has shewn that Moses refers to Christ in thirty-one particulars, and many of these are so blended and interwoven with other subjects, that their bearing could not be seen until the events them

selves had clearly unveiled them. But, let us look for a moment at the case. The statement of the infidel supposes that every event in the life of Christ, from his cradle to his tomb, and from his tomb to his resurrection from the dead, has been so artfully arranged by some individuals, that there is a most perfect agreement between the events and the predictions, that they are all made exactly to coincide with each other. It thus supposes the voluntary concurrence of Jesus of Nazareth in all these things, so as to carry on an imposture, and to cheat the world. It supposes, that he submitted to unparalleled sufferings for this very purpose, and that he thus proclaimed himself, not as, Rousseau says, "the most perfect and wonderful specimen of humanity that the world ever saw," but, as the most marvellous impostor that ever appeared upon the face of our globe. It supposes more than this. It supposes, also, that the influence of these men must have extended to those monarchs who acted in these matters, and to the Roman Governor who condemned the Saviour to death. It supposes that they must have disposed the whole nation of the Jews to have concurred with them, and the Roman soldiers to have lent them their aid. It supposes that the powers of the invisible world must have been leagued with them, and that death itself, in order to countenance their cheat, was willing to deliver up his prey. Nor is this all, prophecy is still fulfilling, and it is still shedding its light upon the character and glory of Christ; and it predicts, for him, future revenues of surpassing glory. Yet all these facts in the history of Christ, I must believe, have, by some unseen, some undefined, some unexplained human agency, been so artfully and marvellously produced, as to agree with all the predictions! I am sure you will not hesitate with me in saying, that reason indignantly protests against such a requirement. To believe this, is to believe in absurdities the most glaring and inconsistent,-it is to believe in both physical and moral impossibilities! Surely, in this instance, infidelity manifests a credulity and superstition a thousand-fold exceeding anything which infidels themselves have attributed to the followers of Jesus Christ, On being driven away from this objection, the same class of men have had recourse to another explanatory cause.

3. They have endeavoured to obviate the force of prophecy, by supposing that the predictions themselves were written after the events of which they speak had actually transpired.-This is an opposite position to that in which they stood before. But this involves absurdities not less glaring than those we have already noticed. What motive, I ask, could the Jews have had for such an act? They hated Christ; they put him to death; and, by such means, they have only contributed to their own infamy and disgrace. Nor could his disciples have had any motive in perpetrating such forgeries. They could gain nothing by it but persecution, suffering, and death. we go beyond all this, and we say that the charge involves an utter impossibility. The disciples of Jesus Christ could not corrupt the Jewish records, and incorporate predictions into those records, after the events had transpired. We have already shewn you that prophecy is so interwoven with the whole of the Scriptures, that it links and incorporates facts, events, rites, and doctrines so closely, that they

But

could not be separated; nor could anything be added without imme. diate detection. The whole system of polity adopted by the Jews, and everything in their religion, bore such a relation to the predictions in reference to the Messiah, as to render any attempt of the kind an utter impossibility. Such an attempt would have been immediately frustrated by the indignation of a whole people. Moreover, the general expectation of the Jews, at this time, of a Messiah who had been promised to them, and the all but universal expectation of the world that a great Prince would arise in the East, are manifest contradictions of such a supposition. But let us look at the case a little more closely. If the Apostles did that which has been supposed, then they must have corrupted all existing manuscripts of the Sacred Volume. One manuscript was not sufficient, as that would have led to immediate detection. Now let it be remembered, that these manuscripts were in the hands of their bitterest foes. The high priests and the rulers of the people were possessed of them. Copies of them were probably in the custody of the rulers of the synagogues, wherever the Jews were living, throughout the whole of the civilized world. Besides, part of these records were held as sacred by the Samaritans, who were the most bitter foes of the Jews, and who used these records in their acts of public worship.

Over this wide circle, then, must the influence of these poor men have extended. Without any money to help them, and without any motive to stimulate them, they must have influenced not only the rulers in Jerusalem, but the rulers of the synagogue in all places, both amongst the Jews and the Samaritans, wherever they were found. And then, let me add to this, that about 300 years before the time of the Messiah, these Scriptures were rendered into the Septuagint version; and this version appears to have been well known to the Jews themselves; so that the alterations, you perceive, must have extended to the copies of this version also. Yet none of the early opponents of these men (and they had many and bitter ones indeed) ever charged them with this fraud. It was reserved for later times. It was left for the infidels of the present day to attribute to them a course of conduct which, if true, would certainly have been more marvellous and astounding than anything that we find recorded in the inspired writings. We need not pursue this subject further. I think you will be ready to affirm, with me, on a review of the whole matter, that reason is less staggered in admitting the full evidence of prophecy, than in subscribing to suppositions so monstrous and so ridiculous as these.

In conclusion, permit me to state, that the view we have now given you of this interesting theme, is, after all, of a very imperfect description. There is prophecy in relation to the future, on which we have not presumed to dwell. This is a standing miracle: it is gathering force continually, and it affords more solid ground for confidence and hope than anything which infidelity can present to our notice. Ought not the consideration of this subject teach us to set a high value upon the inspired records? Nothing on earth can be compared to them. They are of greater importance and worth to us than ten thousand thousand worlds; for it is only by our knowledge and enjoyment of

God, as he is revealed to us in his holy Word, that our eternal life can be secured. Let me, then, exhort you to make these pure and unerring records the firm and only ground of your faith; constantly read and study them, and let them be the unalterable rule of your life. Treasure them up in your memory; entwine them around your heart; and seek, by a steady and uniform obedience, to attain to that life of immortality and glory which the Scriptures reveal to us beyond the grave. There, in that world of unmingled light and blessedness, you shall see as you are seen, and know as you are known. The purposes of God shall then be more clearly unveiled to your view; and, through all the coming ages of eternity, you shall drink of that pure stream of intelligence and of holy inspiration which flows fast by the throne of God, in all its freshness, in all its fulness, and in all its infinite perfection. "Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may so read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, by patience and comfort of thy most holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which thou hast given us in Christ. Jesus our Lord." "For this is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Liverpool.

M. BESWICK.

THE LAND OF PALESTINE.

THE Country which was the scene of our divine Lord and Redeemer's personal labours-the spots which he visited and rendered memorable by acts of benevolence, the places where his conformity to the external requirements of the Mosaic law was manifested, and the out-beamings of his divinity exhibited,- must be endeared to the memory of his followers so long as the feelings of sympathy and love shall beat in the hearts of Christians, or the story of his mission to our world be told.

No one, however, can read the accounts of that interesting country, given by respectable and intelligent travellers, without being disgusted at the frauds of priests belonging to the Greek and Roman churches, who pretend to point out, to anxious and credulous visitors, the pretended sites of interesting circumstances which took place in the history of Christ and of his apostles. There is scarcely an event in their history to which an exact locality, however improbable, has not been assigned, and contended for with fierce dogmatism, by the clerical authorities. Thus, for instance, on a traveller's landing in Syria, at the port of Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, his attention is called to a house, the site of which he is told is the identical site of the house inhabited by Simon the tanner, where Peter was lodged,-although it is a modern building, "one of a number of houses of much the same description"-which statement he is required to believe as undoubtingly as he does the Gospels. At Bethlehem, again, the precise spot on which stood the stable where Christ was born is pointed out with

equal confidence. In the holy city, the tomb of Lazarus, the site of Caiaphas' house, to which the Saviour was taken after his capture in the garden of Gethsemane; and on the Mount of Olives, the print of Christ's foot in the rock, and many other places equally uncertain, are pointed out as matters of verity, with the zeal and earnestness which belong to the essential and undoubted truths of the Christian faith. But the opinion entertained of the credulity of their unquestioning followers by these priests appears to have exceeded all ordinary degrees, when they resolved to concentrate so many hallowed spots under the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Here, with unblushing effrontery, they pretend to show the actual stone on which our Saviour's body was washed after his crucifixion, and previous to his interment-the sepulchre in which the body was laid-the place on which the cross actually stood, and where the Lord was crucified-the very spot where the soldiers divided the garments of Christ among them-the tomb of Nicodemus -with the sites of other interesting facts narrated in the New Testament, connected with our blessed Saviour's death. There is, however, one scene exhibited in this church, occurring at the eve of Easter, every year, and connected with the Easter ceremonies, which, for profanity, indecency, and violence, appears to beggar all description. In a short "Journal of a Tour in the Holy Land," edited by Lady Francis Egerton, when referring to this scene, her ladyship remarks: "We are come too late for the Easter ceremonies here. I am glad of it. They present a most disgraceful scene of violence, superstition, fraud, and schism. On Easter-even, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is crowded with Christians of the Greek and Latin churches, fighting for the holy fire, which the Greek priests pretend to cause to issue, as from heaven, from two apertures in the sepulchre ; and the confusion, and squabbling, and screaming, and struggling, who shall first light his taper by this holy fire, is most disgraceful, and disgusting. Turks sit on a divan at the door of the church, smoking and collecting entrance money; others are stationed round the tomb to preserve something like order; and the pasha of the town sits in a sort of gallery above, looking on with the contempt, no doubt, which this scene deserves, on so miserable an exhibition of a corrupt form of Christian faith. Greek hates Latin, and Latin detests Greek. Armenians and Copts are not much more friendly to one another."

There are spots of interesting scenery remaining in Jerusalem, however, with regard to whose precise locality no reasonable doubt can be entertained, and which are well calculated to fill the pious contemplative mind with admiration and delight, mingled with profound veneration. For instance, there is still the pool of Bethesda, where multitudes of sick and impotent were wont to wait for the visit of the angel, to trouble its waters; also the pool of Siloam, where the Saviour directed the blind man to wash, after anointing his eyes with clay; the brook Kedron, hallowed by the visits of Christ; and the road by the Mount of Olives to Bethany, which he so often trod. Above all, there is the garden of Gethsemane, that most interesting of places, made sacred by the deep and heart-rending groans, the tears,

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