fect, fresh and unmatured, and the bearing of discoveries not fully ascertained, that Infidelity is most able to array them in apparent conflict with the Scriptures. While it has not yet mastered the alphabet of Science, it would be a judge of the most difficult questions in syntax and prosody. "A little learning is a dangerous thing;" dangerous to the man himself, for it often makes him vain and self-sufficient, and dangerous also to the truth according as it is sacred and precious. But enlarged learning, learning that goes deep and sees far, and takes patient care to gain a full knowledge before it pronounces judgment, is learning from which the Bible has nothing to fear, and much to gain. There is scarcely a branch of Science to which this observation does not apply; and we have recently seen a remarkable example of it. It must be known to many of us, that, when some of the early Geologists made their investigations in the structure of the earth, they pronounced the Cosmogony of Moses erroneous and unphilosophical. But after they had taken time to review their first opinions, and to carry their inquiries farther and deeper, they found that Moses was right both as

to fact and philosophy, and that they themselves

had been wrong.

Well would it have been for the world if all learned men who, like them, have at first made a false step, had also, like them, the wisdom to see it, and the honesty to own it. But far otherwise is the case. There is a pride of opinion with some, which prevents them from confessing an error even when they see it. There is a vanity, a love of notoriety with others, that delights in discarding what the multitude receive as truth. And with others, if not with them all, there is an appetite, a love for what the Bible forbids on pain of heaven's wrath, which inclines them to devise and to carry out, far as they can, every plea that may promise to impair or destroy the divine authority of His revealed will.

Of course, although there may be times when Infidelity shows a bolder front than at others, yet, while man remains fallen and corrupt, we must expect to meet it in some of its multiplied forms. The war between it and the Bible is a war of extermination. Be it so. We have no fear as to the final result. We not only hope, but we know the

day is coming when error shall be utterly destroyed from the face of the earth by the all-prevailing power of divine truth. But the contest must endure for many years to come before that consummation shall be reached; and as depravity, the prolific root of Infidelity, is a disease which has spread from the highest to the lowest of our race, we must expect to meet the humbling spectacle of men who have distinguished their names in the cause of Science, tarnishing their honors by mingling in the ranks of those who reject the holy Word of God.

Let us then at the outset take a fair view of In

fidelity in this aspect. The Gospel, which declares itself to be "Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God," does not require us to disparage the attainments or the numbers of those who undervalue its claims. It would have us do them full justice. In another discourse we shall endeavor to show that if the question in dispute is to be settled by the authority of names, the argument may be viewed as at an end. We have a majority that removes every doubt. On the one side are luminaries, it is true; but they are "wandering stars," however bright and glaring, yet baleful in their

course; and on the other side, are not only stars, but constellations, pouring forth their healthful and enlightening brilliancy on our sin-darkened world. But we would not in this summary way turn aside from the point before us; and admitting that Science and Letters have at times been arrayed against Christianity, let us see what estimate should be formed of the unnatural hostility. Our limits will confine us to a selection of names, and we will advert chiefly to those whom all admit to be the strongest men and best scholars that Infidelity can claim. We ask then, in the language of Paul, "Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?" Let them be produced. Let us become acquainted with their strength and their attainments, and "the measure of their stature."

We meet with them far back in the annals of time. Their hostility began with the man who began the Bible. "The magicians" of Egypt, who encountered Moses when he appeared as an inspired Prophet, was but another name for the literati of that day. He came, performing miracles, to attest the inspiration of his message; and they endeavoured to discredit this evidence of his mission from

heaven, by imitating and explaining away the miracles which he wrought; just as the philosophers and neologists of later times have endeavored to invalidate the argument drawn from the wonders performed by prophets, by apostles, and by our Lord himself. And as the dawn of Scriptural light in Old Testament times awakened such opposition in Egypt; in after days, when the fuller radiance of the New Testament shone upon the world, it was met with the same hostility in every nation to which it spread. Referring to the resistance which the great leader and prophet of Israel had encountered in his ministry, Paul tells us, "now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But," he adds, "they shall proceed no further; their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was." And in this connection I may remark, that the apostle here states a truth that should never be forgotten in our contests with Infidelity. He alludes to the apparent success with which the magicians of Egypt, for a time, succeeded in imitating and discrediting the miracles of Moses, "with their enchantments" and "lying won