er to Alfred, "replete with
soul--the light of a benighted age"--to Charles V., Emperor of
Germany--to Gustavus Adolphus, the renowned King of Sweden; to Selden,
the learned and laborious lawyer and antiquary--to Bacon, "the bright
morning star of science"--to Usher, the well-known archbishop of
Armagh--to Newton, "the sun whose beams have irradiated the world"--to
Boyle, celebrated for genius and erudition--to Milton, the prince of
poets--to Locke, the man of profound thought--to Jones, one of the
brightest geniuses and most distinguished scholars of the eighteenth
century--and to many other deathless names. And if the evidence of the
truth of the Bible satisfied men of such high intellectual capacity,
ought it not to satisfy us? We do not wish to insinuate that we ought
to believe in the Divinity of the Scriptures merely because they
believed it. But we do mean to say that we ought not rashly to
conclude against that which they received. They are acknowledged
authorities in other cases; then why not in this? If we can place
reliance upon them in their philosophical inquiries, why not in their
religious ones? Surely the infidels of the present day, so far
inferior to the believers of the former days, ought to express
themselves with more modesty upon this important subject, and to
hesitate before they openly profess their opposition to that book of
religion and morals which has received the countenance of such
honorable names as those which have been mentioned.

On the subject of the propagation of Christianity it has been
eloquently said: "In spite of violent and accumulated opposition it
diffused its blessings among the cities of Asia and the islands of
Greece; over the deserts of Arabia and the European continent! From
the hill of Calvary it speedily found its way to imperial Rome,
gathering fresh laurels as it progressed, until it entered the palace
and waved its banner over the proud dwelling of Caesar! With all the
influence of priests and kings against it, and all the terrors of the
gibbet or the flames, it rapidly overspread the extensive Roman empire
and reached Britain, the little isle of the sea. With a power divine
it achieved a triumph over mental and moral obliquity, surpassing all
that the philosophy of Greece or Rome could boast; and still will it
conquer, until the sun in the heavens shall not look down on a single
human being destitute of the knowledge of Jesus Christ." And the Rev.
Robert Hall, whom