they profess to foreshew, and consequently dictated by him, unto whom alone are all things known from the beginning of the creation. The precepts therefore must proceed from the same author, who wrought the miracles, and gave the predictions.

It would be long to go through the several books of the bible, and prove the genuineness and inspiration of each. This however may be done; for it has been done: and it is fit, that those of you, who have leisure, should examine it for yourselves. In the mean time, if the books of the new testament be as old as they profess to be, and have been generally received by christians, as the authentic record of their religion, and if the books of the old testament be also as old as they pretend to be, and have been uniformly received by the Jews, as the authentic record of their religion, both which positions are undeniable, you have in this single consideration an adequate and satisfactory proof, that the whole bible came from God.

Moreover, that the testimony of God pervades the bible, and that the humblest of its

authors writes with the authority, because he writes under the inspiration of the supreme creator and governor himself, may be made plain by the declarations of one of the number, declarations so positive and so unambiguous, that the writer must be either a convicted impostor, or a delegate of the almighty. Saint Paul, speaking of the whole collection of writings, which constituted the old testament, says- All scripture is given by inspiration ' of God,'-; and, to shew further, that such inspiration is not confined to the old testament, that remarkable convert, whose language concerning his own personal character is- I am

the least of the apostles, that am not worthy 'to be called an apostle'-, yet claims for himself, when writing to the churches, the same plenary inspiration, which he ascribes to the whole of scripture; for he saysThe things, that I write unto you, are the ' commandments of the Lord.'

Declarations to the same effect might be cited from various parts of scripture, as particularly, where the apostle, Peter, declares in plain terms, that holy men of God spake,

as they were moved by the holy ghost, and where he expressly classes the epistles of saint Paul to the churches with the other scriptures.

But the entire force of the argument, which would shew, that the whole contents of the bible, both the miracles it records, the prophecies it contains, and the precepts it conveys, are from God, has not yet been put forth. It has been contended, that the divinity of the miracles and of the prophecies necessarily involves the divine origin and authority of the precepts, which are intermingled with them. It may now be shewn, that many of the miracles and many of the prophecies were actually dependent upon the precepts, the performance of the miracles being caused by a violation of the precepts, and the fulfilment of the prophecies made in direct terms contingent upon the observance or infringement of them. Thus all the preternatural plagues of Egypt were inflicted, because Pharaoh refused to obey the declared will of the lord. Thus too, when Korah and his company had rebelled against a divine appointment, the miracle, by which they were punished, was

thus introduced.

assembled people,)

'If' (said Moses to the

the lord make a new

thing, and the earth open her mouth, and 'swallow them up, with all, that appertain unto

them, and they go down alive into the pit, ' then ye shall understand, that these men have provoked the lord'— : and it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder, that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men, that appertained unto Korah. The same observation may be repeated concerning the descending fire, which consumed the sacrifice of Elijah; and, to pass to the new testament, when Elymas was struck with sudden blindness, the cause of that signal judgment is expressly declared to be, because he would not cease to pervert the right ways of the lord. Again, with respect to the prophecies of scripture, prophecies, which extend over the world's history, and require the whole compass of time for their accomplishment, they are yet made in their very language contingent on the observance or neglect of the divine commands.

Take, for example, the whole twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, where a long catalogue of blessings upon the people of Israel, to be fulfilled in all succeeding ages, is introduced with these words- All these blessings 'shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou 'shalt hearken unto the voice of the lord, thy 'God', and afterwards a long and tremendous list of curses upon the same people is introduced with these words, It shall come to

pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice ' of the lord, thy God, to observe to do all his 'commandments and his statutes, which I 'command thee this day, that all these curses 'shall come upon thee, and overtake thee'so, that through the whole of the subsequent history of Israel the fulfilment of the prophecy was to wait upon the fulfilment of the command, and to shape its course according to that model, assuming one form, if the command was obeyed, and another, if it was neglected! And, my christian friends, I cannot refrain from here observing to you, that it has done so. The prophecy has been fulfilled in both its branches; and in both it has corresponded to