We stand in a region, where, whatever may be the alleged defects, there are undeniably some objects of beauty, and some splendid prospects. It is endeared to us by the memory of our fathers: it is the home of our childhood, where we have dwelt many happy years in peace and security. It is ennobled by deeds of high heroism and immortal renown: its chivalry have been victorious in a thousand tented fields; and its records are rich with poetry, at once tender and triumphant. This land we are called on to abandon, and for what? For sterility, desolation, and forgetfulness! And is this a rational exchange?

Nor need we insist even upon this, since in passing over to infidelity, we necessarily, and ipso facto, involve ourselves in absurdities, so palpable, monstrous, and inevitable, that all other ridiculous things become flat and trite in the comparison. And if, upon investigation, this be rendered manifest,

—as we trust it will in the following pages,then the infidel must admit, that it is neither foolish nor inconsistent of us, tenaciously to retain our faith, our hope, and our obedience: he must admit, that the Bible is not the thing to be contemned and sneered at, which he, in his recklessness of consequences, has described it: he must admit, that his own arguments, and his own conduct, justly render him liable to the scorn of every sober man; and finally, he must admit, that on the most momentous of all subjects, there

is a moral certainty, that he is wrong and we are right.

We should do ourselves less than justice however, were we not to remark the difference, between the absurdities with which we are charged, and those with which we charge our adversaries. We are ridiculed for holding certain doctrines which, be they true or false, are confessedly of the most mysterious character; such for instance, as the scripture doctrines of the Trinity, the Atonement, &c. Now we very readily confess, that on such subjects, there is much which we do not comprehend; but we believe, that as there is no self-contradiction in the doctrines themselves, such a degree of light might be cast upon them, such new discoveries made to the understanding, such new trains of thought suggested to the reasoning powers, that they might cease to be mysterious, at least in their present degree; and that in short, the only reason why they are so even now, is because we are but babes in mental capacity, and as yet have only entered the vestibule of the great temple of truth. May not, therefore, the charge of absurdity be, with equal force, brought against the believer in gravitation, the plurality of worlds, or any leading subject of modern science? These too have

1. See this subject amply discussed in Seed's Sermon on "Improbabilities not sufficient to invalidate moral certainty :" Posthumous Works, p. 25. and in Dr. Gregory's Letters on the Christian Religion. Vol. I. p. 60. et seq.

their mysteries, and if proposed to a clown, would meet with ridicule quite as sincere, if not quite so elegant, as that lavished by the infidel on Christianity and yet the capacity of that clown is infinitely nearer the comprehension of such scientific truths, than the ability of the first of men, to the mode of the divine essence, and the character of the divine government. Here, therefore, analogy teaches us, that the charge of absurdity, brought against Christianity on account of such doctrines, is unfounded and ridiculous. They are neither discovered nor demonstrated by human philosophy:-they are matters of pure revelation; and are therefore to be believed, even if for ever incomprehensible to the most perfect and cultivated of created minds.

The other class of absurdities of which the Bible is accused, consists of apparent discrepancies in scripture history or chronology, peculiarities of the Jewish law, strong figures, temporary arrangements founded upon ancient or oriental manners, &c., &c.; things which would not for one moment embarrass a liberal critic; which can only be insisted on from the most invidious motive; but which, obviously, can by no means affect the general argument.

But the absurdity of infidelity is no question of doubtful disputation; no accident of which it can divest itself. It is too rank and palpable to

admit of any evasion. It meets us at every stage

of our progress.

It affronts us in the grave sub

tilty of the metaphysical unbeliever, and in the bare ribaldry of the newly converted mechanic. There is no garb which scepticism can assume, nor any art to which it can resort, which will conceal its essential irrationality. It can address no class of society, nor touch on any topic of discussion without betraying itself. It may be insidious or insolent, doubtful or dogmatical, scholastic or popular, refined or vulgar, but it can never cease to be absurd. It may solicit our passions or our reason, our vices or our judgment, our solitary imaginations or our social habits, but its nature always remains the same. Behold the scenes which its incantations call up, in the enchanted haunts of philosophy, or on the darkened stage of history. Falsehood, in her party coloured mantle and her painted mask, with superstition, trembling and hoodwinked, pass before our eyes in the broad clear light of heaven, linked with the best forms of science and philosophy, and attended by the fairest virtues by which human nature can be adorned; while around the group is ringing the untrembling music of immortal hope. On the other hand, the pure beauty of truth smiles on uncleanness, treason, and murder; and is accompanied by the loud shrieks of horror, and the low wailing of despair.1-Myriads of men are presented to us, who have no single sense in which they can trust. Their eyes see false prodigies; their ears hear imaginary thunders; their 1. See chap. ii.

1

palates are satisfied by the semblance of food; and visions of running streams dispel their thirst, for many long years, in an arid wilderness. Images of strange reptiles are attended by the fancy of acute pain, and the apparent destruction of thousands, who are yet in perfect health. For these unhappy wretches there is delusion in every element. The sun and moon, the atmosphere and the sea, the lightning and the dust, are all alike pregnant with falsehood; while the cheated. beings themselves appear before us with the most perfect faith in all the dreams which distort their perceptions. In another scene of this strange phantasmagoria we behold the most splendid cities falling into ruin, the most extraordinary revolutions both political and moral effected,— monarchs deposed from their thrones, and crowns and sceptres disposed of, like the baubles of children, by a set of vagabond mountebanks.2Do we seek the most benevolent and heroic of men? Infidelity places before us a race more crafty than serpents, more cruel than tigers, more unfeeling than rocks, more deaf to prudence, shame, and compassion, than the raging sea,banded to accomplish the maddest of schemes, and by a series of enormities to compel a reluctant world to tranquillity, happiness, hope, and virtue.3

To the illustration of these and similar absurdities, the succeeding pages will be devoted.

1. See chap. iii.-2. See chap. iv.-3. See chap. v.

B