unequalled numbers and strength as to have rendered the century in which they lived, I will not say the golden, but the brazen age of infidels and scoffers. That inglorious distinction must be admitted as belonging to the century now past; and if, since its close, the war has still been continued by a few who hold a high rank in science, their hostility, as we will hereafter show, has generally been disguised if not timid, aiming to hide itself under some new name, and rather to sap the foundations of Christianity than to destroy the citadel by storm. The hardened forehead of Infidelity, which openly glories in its own shame, is not often found in our day among the refined and the intelligent, but among the low and the vulgar.

And now, in conclusion of this lecture, let us turn and look back; and after this brief review of what the ablest infidels, whether of ancient or modern times, have done, or attempted to do, let us ask what they have accomplished against the Christian faith? Have they impaired its beauty, or rendered its foundation less stable or secure? They have led on their attacks under banners of every form and color. They have chosen their implements of warfare from

every arsenal of learning; from history, from philosophy, from the arts; while the lighter weapons of sarcasm and wit have been used without stint. But let them bring their armour or their arms whence they may, in their prolonged and unsparing hostility; can they tell us of the progress they have made in the accomplishment of their unholy design? Have they even lessened, much less overthrown the credibility of a single page or a single sentence in the whole Bible? They have the map of the civilized world before them; can they draw their finger over it, and show us that by means of their untiring labors the territory held by Christianity has been curtailed in its limits or reduced in its strength?

But if the Bible is untrue, or Christianity a deception, as they would have us believe, let us consider the great advantages which they have in their hands for showing it to be so.

Let us remember that no deception or imposture can possibly stand the test of time. It is as true of falsehood as of murder, that sooner or later it "will out." You cannot by any ingenuity conceal either of them always. Some prying eye of a close ob

server, or some unforeseen occurrence, will bring them to light. Fruitful of such evils as the ingenuity of man has been in all ages, there is no imposture to be named which has lived beyond a few generations, or perhaps, I might say beyond a few years, where general intelligence and freedom of inquiry prevail. The Koran loses its hold on the public mind wherever information spreads among the people; and the superstitions which at various times have aimed to baptise themselves with the name of Christianity, owe their existence to the prevalence of the maxim, that ignorance is the mother of devotion. But the Gospel, revealing the way of life through a crucified Redeemer, has been received in nation after nation, meeting with the freest examination of the wise and well informed; in fact, creating inquiry and intelligence as one of its fruits; and what has been the result? The Book is be

fore us. Thousands of years have passed away since the greater portion of it was written, and it never appeared more unsullied and impregnable than it does this day, as its very foes admit. In its own beautiful language, "No weapon that is formed against it has prospered, and every tongue that

has risen against it in judgment, it has condemned." And while it stands thus strong and unshaken against the assaults of man, Time, even Time himself, that wastes and puts the mark of decay on every thing created by human wisdom and human power, only adds to the stability and grandeur of the Holy Book. Come or go, rise or fall, perish or endure whatever may, the Bible still seems to entrench itself anew with some fresh demonstration of its truth; and not only does it stand unmoved and immovable amid all the changes passing around it, but it claims to itself the high distinction of being alone able to stand among all the forms of faith and worship that men have ever embraced. And well it may. It has seen false divinities beyond number, as Baal, Ashtaroth, Jove, Minerva and Mars covered up in a common grave of oblivion, or remembered only as phantoms of deluded nations; but Jehovah, Jehovah whom it has taught from the beginning as the true God, the only God, is to this day still on his "throne, high and lifted up," "the same yesterday, to-day and for ever." It has seen Sibylline verses which claimed to be divinely inspired, scattered to the winds as

cords of deceit and folly; while not a word or syllable of its own is marred or lost in the current of ages as they roll by. And then, let me add, when it has challenged comparison with these discarded divinities, these scattered records of deceit; it goes on, and in defiance of time to come, as in triumph over time past, it stakes its reputation for truth on the prediction that it will still endure, as the revelation of grace to man, when time himself shall be no longer. There is but one explanation to be given of all this, to be given of this incorruptibility and endurance of the Bible. We have it from the Book itself. "All flesh is as grass," says the Prophet, "and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass." "The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away; but the word of the Lord endureth forever," and it endureth forever, because it is the word of the Lord.

But farther; we may perhaps conceive of some fiction or imposture so carefully framed and guarded at all points by the practised sagacity of its author, that it might be difficult to detect and expose it after the most patient examination. But if so, it should treat of but one subject, it should be