y
the noticeable circumstance that very little information is given in
the Scriptures themselves respecting the authors of the writings, or
the time and place of their composition. This is true, for instance,
of such cardinal books as the four Gospels. Respecting these matters
enough is said to show that human hands have been employed to write the
books of Scripture, while so much has been left unsaid that we must
infer that this kind of information is of little moment by reason of
the _internal_ evidence the Scriptures contain of their divine
authorship. Such evidence, it seems to me, is especially given by the
fact that the Scriptures present a faithful _transcript_ of {6} the
world as it has been and is, in respect to the calamities, wars, and
revolutions that have befallen nations, and those weaknesses and
wickednesses of individuals and peoples, the accounts of which are so
great a stumbling-block to the "unstable and the unlearned." These
very accounts, it is possible, may be intended to tell us, if rightly
inquired into, why these things are so, why there is evil in the world,
and what shall be the end of it. The world has existed, it is
believed, nearly six thousand years, and at this day we see that many
suffer from sorrow and pain, labour and poverty are the lot of a very
large proportion of the populations, calamities by fire and water are
frequent, plague and pestilence still visit the earth, cruelty and
murders are rife, and so far from there being an end of wars, never
before have men fabricated such potent implements for killing each
other. Such facts as these constitute, after all, the difficulties
which beset humanity, and it may be presumed that, with the intent of
accounting for their existence, they are put on record in the word of
God. On the broad principle that the Author of a world like this will
have vouchsafed reasons for its being such as it is, I accept the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the word of God written for
this very purpose, and instead of cavilling, as some do, at
difficulties which probably have no other foundation than their own
ignorance, it will be my {7} endeavour to make use of Scripture for
explaining the perplexities and difficulties which actually surround
the facts of human experience. The discussion of the particular
question I have taken in hand will give occasion for employing the
Scriptures in this manner, and in doing so I shall quote from all part