From the Evangelical Register. ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. ATHEISM is the grossest absurdity that could ever have entered the minds of rational beings, for both Scripture and reason proclaim in loudest accents that there is a God. But we are aware the testimony of the former is not received by such as are of the Epicurean school, who, by rejecting such evidence, rest their claim to reason upon a very suspicious basis. "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God." The existence of Deity is the foundation of all religion. So self-evident is this maxim, that all nations, the learned and the rude, have by common consent admitted the fact. Through whatever medium, or by what rites and ceremonies soever, they may have offered their adorations, the existence of a great First Cause, appears to have been intuitively impressed on their minds. Devout in the worship of those idols which they thought to be gods, they ran from one God to many; but, alas, a few of the present age, with an ardour that would do honour to a better cause, are running from one God to none at all,-are employing their prostituted talents for the vilest purposes, by endeavouring to erase from the mind the traces of a Divine Being, and to subvert ultimately the duties of morality in the world.

Happily, such boasting Goliahs are not invulnerable, nor is their system impregnable. A pebble from the brook, skilfully hurled by a stripling's hand, has laid, and doubtless will again lay, these giants of Gath in the dust. They, indeed, conclude "they are the men, and that wisdom will die with them;" but it will be our business to show that their philosophy is vain, and that we have " yet to speak on God's behalf." The arguments now to be of fered in proof of the existence of a Deity are but a few selected from many, but they carry importance with them, and, we are bold to aver, are such as cannot be successfully overturned.

Reason must admit the connexion between causes and effects-that the influence of the former must be adequate to the production of the latter. The conjectures of that philosopher were just, who, when shipwrecked off the Island of Rhodes, seeing, as he approached the shore, some diagrams drawn on the sand, exclaimed with rapture, Vestigia hominum video, "I see the foootsteps of men." The language of every nation is formed upon this principle. Every verb supposes an agent and a subject, the person acting and the thing acted upon. To speak, to walk, to work, to strike, are effects proceeding from some cause. as much accustomed to use this mode of reaThe Atheist is soning as his opponents, except in the works of universal creation.

The propriety of such a connexion is so agreeable to the dictates of nature, that children as soon as they begin to speak, inquire what is the cause of this or the other thing, or why such occurrences arise ?-who made such objects? and a variety of other questions, all of which imply causation or efficiency. Every man is morally certain of his own existence, that there was a period when he did not exist, and that his present existence is not Rel. Mag.-No. 5.

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casual, but the effect of some cause adequate to its production. The admirable structure of his body, the noble faculties of his soul, with its immateriality and immortality, the mystericonveying his ideas in forms of speech, and the ous union of flesh and spirit, his capability of important station he holds in the scale of being, nitely wise and intelligent Architect, whom evince him to be the workmanship of an infithe scriptures denominate God. He finds himself placed in the midst of a world adorned venience, and affording magnificent displays with every beauty, furnished with every conhim shines the glorious sun, in the centre of of a benevolent and almighty Maker. Above the planetary system, communicating light to ing in her brightness-the stars like diamonds known and unknown worlds-the moon walkstudding the firmament of Heaven--the earth performing her diurnal revolution from cast to west, producing the vicissitudes of day and night-the various species of herbs, plants, quadrupeds, birds, reptiles and insects-the shrubs and trees-the different generations of ocean with its unceasing undulation and its innumerable progeny-the salubrious air-the stormy wind-the fiery volcano-the destrucvivid lightning, ail proclaiming with the voice tive earthquake-the rolling thunder and the of demonstration, "The hand that made us is great even for a God. And he imagines and divine!"-No, says the sceptic, the work is too impiously asserts that the matter of the world was eternal-that the order, beauty, harmony, and variety, we now behold are the effects of chance.

lowing just and decisive argument of ArchTo show the fallacy of such an idea, the folbishop Tillotson, is adduced. "I appeal to any man of reason, whether any thing can be more unreasonable than obstinately to impute an effect to chance, which carries in the very face of it, all the arguments and characters of a wise design and contrivance. Was ever any considerable work in which there was required derly disposition of those parts, done by chance? a great variety of parts, and a regular and orWill chance fit means to ends, and that in ten thousand instances, and not fail in any one? How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground before they would fall into an exact poem; yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose? And may not a little book be of the world? How long might a man be in as easily made by chance as the great volume sprinkling colours upon canvass with a careless hand, before they would happen to make the exact picture of a man. And is a man easier might twenty thousand blind men who should made by chance than his picture? How long be sent out from several remote parts of England, wander up and down before they would all and file in the exact order of an army? And, meet upon Salisbury plain and fall into rank yet, this is much more easy to be imagined should rendezvous themselves into a world. A than how the innumerable blind parts of matter man that sees Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster, might with as good reason maintain (yea, with much better, considering the vast difference betwixt that little structure 3 K

and the huge fabric of the world) that it was
never contrived or built by any means, but that
the stones did by chance grow into those curi-
ous figures into which they seem to have been
cut and graven: and that upon a time' (as
tales usually begin) the materials of that build-
ing, the stone, mortar, timber, iron, lead, and
glass, happily met together, and very fortunate-
ly arranged themselves into that delicate order
in which we see them now so closely compact-
ed, that it must be a very great chance that
What would the world
parts them again.
think of a man that should advance such an
opinion as this, and write a book for it? If
they would do him right, they ought to look upon
him as mad; but yet with a little more reason
than any man can have to say, that the world
was made by chance, or that the first man
grew up out of the earth as plants do now.
For, can any thing be more ridiculous and
against all reason, than to ascribe the production
of man to the first fruitfulness of the earth,
without so much as one instance and experi-
ment in any age or history, to countenance so
monstrous a supposition? The thing is, at
first sight, so gross and palpable, that no dis-
course about it can make it more apparent.
And yet, these shameful beggars of principles,
who give this precarious account of the origi-
nal of things, assume to themselves to be the
men of reason, the great wits of the world,
the only cautious and wary persons that hate
to be imposed upon, that must have con-
vincing evidence for every thing, and can
admit of nothing without a clear demonstration
for it."

In the universe without us, and in the little
world within us, we perceive a great variety
of effects produced by some cause proportion-
ate to the production. This cause is God, or
a Being possessed of intelligence and power
sufficient to contrive and bring them to pass.
“Have ye not understood from the foundation
of the earth, He that thundereth marvellously
with his voice-who gathereth the wind in his
fists,-sendeth lightnings with rain,-look-
eth on the earth and it trembleth,-toucheth the
hills and they smoke,-melteth the mountains
like wax at his presence,-causeth the outgoings
of the morning and evening to rejoice,
and maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the
good, the Lord-the Lord of hosts is his
name."

The argument receives additional weight from the consent of all nations which in every age has been natural and innate, "For when the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Rom. ii. 14, 15. It is sown in us, born with us, and springs up with our growth, "like letters carved on the bark of a young plant, which grows up together with us, and the longer it grows, the letters are more legible."

Were we to trace the globe around, we should find there is not any nation or people, however barbarous or ignorant, who have not some faint traces of a Supreme Being; and, as

they were never blessed with divine revelation,
it must have been the result of the light of na-

ture.

The connexion between causes and effects is clearly perceived and fully acknowledged by them, which gives impulse to all their devotions. So far from the idolatries and superstitions they practise, being prejudicial to the argument, they rather tend to confirm us in the sincerity of their belief of some Supreme Being. Whence sprang such belief? Not from the intercourse they had with other nations, for with respect to many this has been of but recent date. St. Paul will solve the question. "The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." The works of nature are like crystal glasses which give a clear representation of the existence of a Deity, similar to the mirror reported to have represented to the spectator not his own face, but the image of the Deity he worshipped.

It is objected that the notion of a God is a
state manœuvre to reduce subjects to obedi-
ence? Let these pretenders to wisdom tell us,
how it is that the greatest potentates that ever
existed have themselves had the most awful
impressions of the Deity? Let them explain
to us, if they can, the power of conscience that
haunts the wicked-the fears of future judg
ment that torment them, on any other princi-
ple than that of accountability to a sovereign
Judge, just and supreme, such as God is! If
they cannot, let them be honest, manly and
wise, to acknowledge their error, profess their
conviction, and humble themselves under the
mighty hand of God, whose very perfection,
attribute, and work, must be far beyond the
comprehension of finite creatures. Let them
tremble at the thought of lifting up a mortal
arm against the Omnipotent. Wo unto him
that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd
strive with the potsherds of the earth. Bow the
knee to divine grace, O stubborn rebel, while
the golden sceptre of pardon and of peace is
yet extended! Acknowledge the divine supre-
macy; submit to his government, lest justice
ascend the throne and vengeance fling her
bolts of flaming wrath, when an eternal bar
shall then be placed against every application
for mercy.

Admit a God--that mystery supreme!
That cause uncaus'd! All other wonders cease;

Nothing is marvellous for him to do.
Deny him, all is mystery besides;
Millions of mysteries! each darker far,
Than that thy wisdom would, unwisely, shun.

Young.

From the Critica Biblica. OFFENCE OF DAVID IN NUMBERING THE PEOPLE.

2 SAM. XXIV.; 1 CHRON. XXI.

FROM several passages in the Old Testament, compared with each other, it appears that this census, or numbering of the people, was a sa

cred action; as the money was to be applied to the service of the temple.* It was not like that in other nations, to know the strength of the government; for God was their king in a peculiar manner, and promised to protect them from all their enemies, and to multiply them as the stars of the sky, while they obeyed his laws.-David's crime, therefore, seems to have lain in converting a sacred action to a civil purpose. He was culpable both in the thing itself, and in the manner of doing it. For whereas by the rule given to Moses, in the passages referred to above, they were to number the males from twenty years old and upwards; David gave orders, that all should be numbered, who were fit for war, though under that age. This must have been highly criminal in David, now in his old age, after so many instances of the Divine favour expressed towards him. And as to the people, their offence seems to have consisted in their compliance with that order He was culpable in giving the order, and they in obeying it. And therefore Joab, who was sensible of this, and unwilling to execute the command, asks David, Why he would be the cause of trespass in Israel? For by that means, he reduced them to the difficulty of disobeying God, or himself, as their prince. It was doubtless their duty to have obeyed God; but we find, as it generally happens in such cases, that the majority, at least, chose to obey the king. However, it appears that Joab was weary of the office, and did not go through it. Probably he might find many of the people uneasy, and averse to submit to the order.

not among them, for the king's word was abominable to Joab. So that it looks as if his orders were to count them with the rest. Indeed, we find them once armed upon an extraordinary occasion, which was to guard the temple at the coronation of Joash, king of Judah. For, at that time, they were ordered to encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand. But that was in the temple, where the rest of the people were not permitted to enter. And besides their religious function, they were sometimes employed in other civil offices. So David, when he was making preparations for building the temple, appointed six thousand of them for officers and judges. Grotius, indeed, observes, with regard to this fact of David, that he declared the people innocent:§ which he seems to have concluded from what David says, 1 Chron. xxi. 17. But it does not appear, from what has been said above, that they were altogether blameless, though not equally criminal with himself. And in such a case, the equity of a national punishment is acknowledged both by Philo and Josephus, in the passages cited from them by Grotius.]

From the Assistant of Education.

ON THE DEVOTIONAL READING OF
THE PROPHETIC SCRIPTURES.

Besides, it was expressly enjoined, that when A VERY large proportion of the whole volume the people were to be numbered from twenty of Scripture is decidedly prophetic. We canyears old and upwards, the Levites should be not peruse any of the pages of this holy book, excepted, as being appointed for the service of without perceiving it is the writing of one to the tabernacle. And as they were not called whom the past and present are the same, toout to war, so they had no share in the land day as yesterday, and to-morrow as to-day. of Canaan allotted to them, when it was Whatever be the immediate subject of the narconquered by the other tribes; who were rative, the principal group, as it might be, of therefore ordered to give them a number of the drawing, all eternity is in the back-ground cities, each tribe out of their portion, which -the eternal past and the eternal future-and was accordingly done. And Josephus assigns our attention is perpetually called to the obthat reason for it, when he says:-"Moses, be-jects that more or less distinctly occupy the cause the tribe of Levi were exempted from war and expeditions, being devoted to the service of God, lest being needy and destitute of the necessaries of life, they should neglect the care of their sacred function; ordered the Hebrews, that when by the will of God they possessed the land of Canaan, they should give to the Levites forty-eight large and handsome cities, with two thousand cubits of land round the walls."** But David seems to have ordered them likewise to be mustered, with a military view; which, perhaps, was an aggravation. For, it is said, that when Joab, by his command, numbered the people, they were eleven hundred thousand men that drew sword. And it is added: But Levi and Benjamin counted he

distance. To us more or less distinctly, not to Him who drew them. We are in the habit of speaking of things future as uncertain and contingent, depending upon something as uncertain as themselves. But this is the language of our weakness, itself the origin of all uncertainty. In reality, there is none. To the eye of omniscience on one side lies the past, with all its connexion of events, and the motives that led to them, and the consequences that resulted from them, as in a map the towns and cities, with the roads and cross-roads that connect them-and on the other side lies the future, consequences still connected with events, and events resulting from intentions, yet all as well defined and certain, and like the map as well, as that which is already lapsed and gone. This appears, if looked for, in every part of the Holy Scripture, and distinguishes it from all

* Chron. xxi. 5, 6.

† 2 Chron. xxxiii. 7.

1 Chron. xxiii. 4.

§ De jure bell, et pac. lib. ii. cap. 21, sec. 17 || Ward's Dissertations.

444
other writings. When the inspired historian
tells his story of the days gone by, the wars
and legislations of other ages, he passes from
them in a moment to those that are to come,
and thence to them back again, as if all were
but one picture to his eye. When the inspired
moralist presents his picture of humanity in its
existent state, he gives with it the issue of all
that he pourtrays, its first original and ultimate
result. And what a stamp of divinity is there
thence upon it. It is only the stupidity of habit
that prevents our perceiving the attributes of
Deity, as it were, present with us while we
read, and being deeply conscious that it is God,
and not man, that speaks to us in its hallowed
pages.

On the Devotional Reading of the Prophetic Scriptures.

In treating of the Prophetic Scriptures, therefore, we are not alluding exclusively, or in particular, to those books we call the Prophets. In them, much that was once prophetic is now historical; and that which was warning or promise to those to whom it was addressed, stands now as a narrative, preserved for our example. Such were the prophecies of Daniel that immediately concerned Nebuchadnezzarthe promises of Jeremiah for the first restoration of Jerusalem, and the chastisement of her enemies and all those messages of heaven, delivered by the prophets, or men of God as they were called, when they left the deserts in which they habitually dwelt, to make known in the camp or at the court the will of the Almighty. Of such scriptures as these we have already spoken, as included in the narrative parts of the Bible. Beautiful assurances are they, that what is still prophetic is no more uncertain, than that which at the time it was spoken, seemed no less so-now explained, and verified, and made, in our language, sure-in fact, no surer than it was at first.

But, exclusively of the prophets, so by distinction called, every part of the Bible contains prophetic scripture. The Apocalypse almost wholly-the Psalms to a very great extentthe books of Moses by detached passages in almost every part-and the Gospels and Epistles occasionally and briefly. To all such portions of scripture, bearing reference to the world's futurity, the observations we may make on the subject will apply.

If our previous remarks are just, it will immediately appear how wrong is the notion assumed by some, that the prophetic parts of the Bible are in themselves vague, figurative, uncertain, and obscure, calculated not to enlighten, but mislead-meaning of course something, but of nothing intelligible-consequently rather dangerous than desirable for our perusal. The world has seen, nevertheless, a great portion of the prophecies fulfilled; and these have proved neither vague, nor figurative, nor obscure but so clear, on the contrary, and so literal, we consider the Jew without excuse who could not recognise in Jesus his foretold Messiah, and in the armies that compassed Jerusalem the predicted avengers of iniquity. Yet whatever difference is between the past and future prophecy, is in us, and not in it. Where, otherwise, shall we fix the moment at which that which was literal became figurative, vague, and indefinite? Have we never sailed upon the waters, and looking behind us,

seen the waves bright and glittering in the sunshine, and before us, and seen them veiled in the deep grey of evening? Did we think the sunshine terminated exactly where we stood? It seemed so-but when we had gone farther it seemed so still-and still the same as we proceeded onward.

Such is our position in the course of divine revelation. As it passes, it becomes clear and simple to the plainest understanding-that which is to come is only obscure, because our vision receives not the light that is upon it. And by the manner of its past fulfilment we may best judge of the manner of fulfilment to be expected for what remains. Has it ever occurred to us to suppose the Jew was misemployed who studied the prophecy of his country's doom, and read from day to day the mysterious prognostics of his predicted king-that such study would mislead him, and be to him rather dangerous than desirable? The falseness of such a supposition is instantly apparent. And yet there is no difference in the case. The Jew of ancient days could have no more to do with what has since elapsed, than we with what is still future, and no brighter lamp to study it by. He stood in the same position, with respect to the first coming of the Messiah, as we with respect to his returning; and might with exactly the same plea have put his book aside, and treated the prophetic pages as vague, figurative, and unimportant. It is probable, that the greater number did so; and having forgotten or remained ignorant of their contents, failed to recognise in Jesus when he came, the characters of their predicted king. Some few we know did otherwise; and by the study of prophetic scripture, had prepared themselves to know and welcome Messiah when he appeared.

But while we repel the idea that there is any part of the Bible which is not written for our learning, which is no concern of ours, and may with impunity be put aside, we are not going to recommend what is commonly called the study of prophecy as a part of our devotional reading. There are other times: at these I recommend no study but of our own personal interest in the text before us, and of that text as affecting our personal religion. It is well for us, at other times, to hear what those have to say, and read what those have written, who have given themselves to this study—to com pare their words with the words of scripture, and, however new and startling they may seem, with humbleness and teachableness of spirit to ask of heaven to be enlightened on a subject in which we are most deeply interested. Though, if any will present to us the darkness of their interpretation, as a safer light to walk by than the clear day of revelation already manifest and verified, and entertain us with erudite constructions and prophetic lore, in preference to the plain words of faith and holiness, I believe we had better not take them for our guides. And if deep research, and critical conjecture, and curious inquiry upon these matters will intrude itself upon our seasons of devotion, I believe we had better bid them away, and find a fitter season to give them entertainment.

By these suggestions we do not exclude the prophetic parts of the Bible from our daily ex