The writings of the prophets carry in their face the evidence of divine inspiration. We have only to show that prophecies predicting future events existed, and that the events foretold actually came to pass, to satisfy any rational mind that the infor mation of the prophet must have been from heaven. Such facts as these occur not merely in a few in stances, so as to induce a suspicion of conjecture, and of casual fulfilment. All the great events which have influenced the affairs of men are written beforehand in the records of prophecy; and the his torian Who Gullies afterwards, has only to fill up the great outline which had been previously drawn by the inspired prophet.
The writers of the New Testament Scriptures have no less decided claims to inspiration. Their Master assured them that the Spirit should be given to bring all things to their remembrance, and they did not write till this promise was fulfilled by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. Friends and enemies have received the books of the New Testament as the undoubted writings of the authors whose names they bear; and when we consider the circumstances in which these authors were placed, without education or the usual opportunities of knowledge; and when, notwith standing these disadvantages, we see them inculcat ing doctrines and precepts which leave far behind them all the instructions of human wisdom, it is impossible not to conclude that they wrote under the inspiration of heaven.
The Scriptures being the Nvord of God, must na. turally be regarded as the grand depositories of all religious knowledge: they teach us the doctrines which we are called upon to believe, the duties which we are to practise, and the hopes which we are warranted to entertain: they explain the nature and character of God, but they contain no laboured arguments to prove his existence. It would have been a mockery and misapplication of reason to have adduced metaphysical arguments to prove what was demonstrated to the senses. They who believe the facts of Scripture, which are so many records of the being and power of God, cannot pos sibly doubt his existence; much less could those who were the eye and ear witnesses of those extra ordinary transactions. Did we find a single argu ment in the writings of Moses to prove the exis tence of God, beyond those drawn from the miracles which the Israelites saw, it would justly bring sus picion on the whole record; for what could be the use of reasoning where conviction was applied im mediately to the senses, and palpable demonstra tions daily afforded of the presence and power of God? In these circumstances, the absence of in ductive reasoning is exactly what might have been expected, and strongly confirms the authenticity of the record, and the genuineness of the facts which it contains.
Though we are now placed in different circum stances, yet it cannot be necessary to spend much time in proving the existence of God: we are almost as sure of it as we are of our own; at least we may be as sure of it as we are of the existence of a rational soul in our fellow men. All that we see of man is a corporeal structure and material organs, compos ed of the same elements as external nature. Con sciousness and feeling may give an individual a con viction that there is something in his constitution of a higher order and character. He can reason and plan, and manifest his feelings in a great variety of ways: hence he infers the existence of a principle within him, different from the matter of which his body is composed; and when he sees the same manifestations in the case of others, he concludes that there is the same power of feeling, reasoning, and executing. But the soul, which is the grand agent in all these transactions, he cannot see: he infers its existence only from the effects which it produces. Now, as we cannot possibly mistake the visible universe for the work of man, we are com pelled, from the appearances of design, and the wise adaptation of means to ends, to ascribe it to a being possessed of power, intelligence, and good ness, inconceivably exalted above the faculties and resources of man. Thus, we see God as visibly in his works, as we discover the existence of an intelli gent spirit in man from its various manifestations.
We pass over the various arguments, metaphy sical and inductional, which have been adduced to prove the existence of God, and proceed to consi der the information which the Scriptures have given us respecting his nature, character, and attri butes. They uniformly, and in opposition to all the ancient nations, assert the existence of one God: and this unity of the divine nature is demonstrated by the universality of divine providence, as mani fested in the fate of the different nations whose des tinies are pronounced in Scripture, long before the prediction was verified by the event. This proves that one mind had the knowledge and disposal of the fortunes of the kingdoms of this world. Philo sophy proclaims the same important truth, and shows such a unity of design and harmony of pur pose, reigning throughout all the arrangements of the material world, as proclaim them all to be un der the direction of One superintending mind. The same laws which regulate the motions of the heavenly bodies, operate on the surface of this earth, and show the heavens and the earth to be under one and the same governor.