t a summary of the various evidences which exist to show that it is
a real one; nor is it our design to reply at length to the objections
which have been made to invalidate it. There are however some obvious
facts which meet us on the threshold of the inquiry, and which can be
estimated at their just value by any candid inquirer, to which we would
direct attention.

We find for instance that the Bible contains a purer system of morality,
and conveys a clearer insight into the unity and nature of God, than is
to be found in any other book; and that, although it is the composition
of men, many of them ignorant and unlearned, who have lived at different
times, and occupied very dissimilar positions in life, there is,
nevertheless, a wonderful similarity in the main outlines of religious
truth, as delivered by all the writers. We know, however, still further,
that the morality and precepts of the Bible, although confessedly of a
pure and holy character, are, nevertheless, not of such a kind as to fall
in with the wishes and passions of mankind. To believe that morality
must extend to thoughts as well as actions, and that an all-seeing God
notices, and will one day call all men to a strict account, is not a
matter which, if we may judge from what we see around us, is agreeable to
the feelings of most men. Nor, if we look to the great remedy proposed
for the sin of man, such, we mean, as it is supposed to be, by the great
majority of professing Christians, namely, the atoning sacrifice made by
the Son of God, do we find here again a matter which either the reason or
the feelings of men generally are ready to lead them to adopt. We see
too, that in all ages unbelief has, more or less, existed, and objections
have been, from time to time, brought forward which appeared likely to
have considerable power in undermining the existing belief in the Bible.
Persecution also has exercised its influence, and, it might frequently
have been supposed, according to human calculations, that it would have
availed to destroy all credence in it. And yet, notwithstanding all
these circumstances, to which we have referred, it is an incontrovertible
fact that a professed belief in the Bible, as a revelation from God,
exists most widely. It is, we may add, not a little worthy of being
remarked that the nomenclature of the Bible has obtained such a strong
hold on the public mind, in our own day, that many who deny inspiration
in any distinctiv