rney around
the world unarmed and unattended, for every man would be a friend and
brother. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will
towards men," would reign from pole to pole. The whole earth would be at
rest and be quiet: it would break forth into singing. That such a
glorious result would certainly come from simple obedience to the
precepts of the Bible is undeniable. And can any man persuade himself
that this perfect code of morals comes not from heaven, but from sinful
man?

4. We have, once more, the wonderful _harmony between the different
parts of the Bible_, written as it was in different and distant ages,
and by men who differed widely from each other in natural character and
education, and lived in very different states of society. In outward
form and institutions the manifestation of God has indeed undergone
great changes; for it has existed successively under the patriarchal,
the Mosaic, and the Christian dispensations. But if we look beneath the
surface to the substance of religion in these different dispensations,
we shall find it always the same. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
the God of Moses, Samuel, and David, is also the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ. While he changes from time to time the outward ordinances of his
people, he remains himself "the same yesterday and to-day and for ever."
Under the Old Testament, not less than under the New, he is "the Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty."
Exod. 34:6, 7, etc. Under the New Testament, not less than under the
Old, he is to all the despisers of his grace "a consuming fire," Heb.
12:29; and his Son Jesus Christ, whom he sent to save the world, will be
revealed hereafter "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know
not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1
Thess. 1:7, 8. If the New Testament insists on the obedience of the
heart, and not of the outward letter alone, the Old Testament teaches
the same doctrine: "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to
hearken than the fat of rams." 1 Sam. 15:22. "Thou desirest not
sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Psa. 51:16, 17. "I will praise the