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,-" In the beginning God created the heavens and —are in their way very admirable, and give us wo hy to be spoken over that great sentence with which t tural revelation opens.

assumes the existence of God; for it is he who in the b ng creates. It assumes his eternity; for he is before a s; and as nothing comes from nothing, he himself mu always been. It implies his omnipotence; for he creat universe of things. It implies his absolute freedom; for as a new course of action. It implies his infinite wisdom kosmos, an order of matter and mind, can only come fro ing of absolute intelligence. It implies his essential good ; for the Sole, Eternal, Almighty, All-wise and All-suff Being has no reason, no motive, and no capacity fo It presumes him to be beyond all limit of time an e; as he is before all time and place.

his simple sentence denies atheism; for it assumes the be of God. It denies polytheism, and, among its variou s, the doctrine of two eternal principles, the one good and other evil; for it confesses the one Eternal Creator. It de materialism; for it asserts the creation of matter. It depantheism; for it assumes the existence of God before all gs and apart from them. It denies fatalism; for it involves Freedom of the Eternal Being.

nis verse forms an integral part of the narrative; and not a heading as some have imagined. This is abundantly evifrom the following reasons. 1. It has the form of a narranot of a superscription. 2. The conjunctive particle cons the second verse with it; which could not be if it were a ing. 3. The very next sentence speaks of the earth as al

ready in existence, and therefore its creation must be recorded in the first verse. 4. In the first verse the heavens take precedence of the earth; but in the following verses all things, even the sun, moon, and stars seem to be but appendages to the earth. Thus, if it were a heading, it would not correspond with the narrative. 5. If the first verse belong to the narrative, order pervades the whole recital; whereas, if it be a heading, the most hopeless confusion enters.

In commenting upon that great event in the life of Abraham, when he was called to offer up his son, and recorded in the twenty-second chapter of Genesis, he exhibits his insight, and shows us his ability to generalize facts and deduce broad principles from individual experiences. Thus he crowds meaning into brief statements :

With the nineteenth verse of this chapter may be said to close the main revelation of the third Bible given to mankind, to which the remainder of this book is only a needful appendix. It includes the two former Bibles or revelations,-that of Adam and that of Noah; and it adds the special revelation of Abraham. The two former applied directly to the whole race; the latter directly to Abraham and his seed as the medium of an ultimate blessing to the whole race. The former revealed the mercy of God offered to all, which was the truth immediately necessary to be known; the latter reveals more definitely the seed through whom the blessings of mercy are to be conveyed to all, and delineates the leading stage in the spiritual life of a man of God. In the person of Abraham is unfolded that spiritual process by which the soul is drawn to God. He hears the call of God and comes to the decisive act of trusting in the revealed God of mercy and truth; on the ground of which act he is accounted as righteous. He then rises to the successive acts of walking with God, covenanting with him, communing and interceding with him, and at length withholding nothing that he has or holds dear from him. In all this we discern certain primary and essential characteristics of the man who is saved through acceptance of the mercy of God proclaimed to him in a primeval gospel. Faith in God (ch. xv.), repentance towards him (ch. xvi.) and fellowship with him (ch. xviii.), are the three great turning-points of the soul's returning life. They are built upon the effectual call of God (ch. xii.) and culminate in unreserved resignation to him (ch. xxii.). With wonderful facility has the sacred record descended in this pattern of

blicly come out from the world. The great body of nd has become gradually more and more estranged from e and living God. Four hundred and thirty years ago, A m has been called to separate himself from his father's d land in preparation for this sad event. And now,

V

e process of human ungodliness is come to a head, a tion sprung from him stands forth as a witness for Go -ht in the midst of darkness, and a salt that is yet to pres e earth. This little people is itself the type and germ o ming stages of the kingdom of God on earth. Cradled rsecution, it yet escapes to the wilderness, and is fed v anna from the sky and water from the rock, by the omnipo ord of God. Its conscience is awakened by the promulga the moral law, and then led from the despair of guilt to Imness of peace with God through the symbolic propitiat the tabernacle. In the infancy of its mind it is wisely a ndly trained by the use of appropriate symbols to grasp anscendent thoughts of mercy and truth, of righteousness a ace, of atonement, of redemption and regeneration. ots of bitterness again and again burst through the soil a oot up into a baneful luxuriance. Nevertheless, the planti the Lord has taken root, and has been growing and gatheri rength again after many storms, and amidst many thor rough all the course of time. If Genesis tells of that fi sobedience that brought death into the world of mankin xodus speaks with cheering hope of that suffering but survi gobedience that brings eternal life to the returning peniten hese two books, then, contain the pith and marrow of the a ent gospel; Leviticus and Numbers being subsidiary, an euteronomy a recapitulation.

Not by any means are the entire utterances of the work

this marked character, but these specimens of thought and style suggest a mind of strong grasp in its thought and of unusual power in its ability to make itself felt as a stimulant upon the spirit of a reader. One may be certain that such a mind will never appear feeble or utter itself in mere commonplace. The two volumes are most valuable, timely and significant additions to our exegetical literature, and every studious pastor will find himself not a little enriched who obtains and uses them freely, both for the purpose of elucidating the meaning of single texts and of extended and frequent perusal. They will aid in answering many questions raised by the critical intellect but they will do still more in quickening the heart into that sacred sympathy with the early Scriptures which makes faith at once vigorous and vital.

ART. VI. THE PERVERSIONS OF THE GOSPEL A PROOF OF ITS DIVINITY.

A young infidel was scoffing at Christianity, in the presence of Dr. Mason, because of the misconduct of its professors. Said the Dr. to him, "D'd you ever know an uproar to be made because an infidel went astray from the paths of morality?" Upon his admission that he had not, Dr. Mason replied, "Then don't you see that by expecting the professors of Christianity to be holy, you admit it to be a holy religion, and thus pay it the highest compliment in your power?" By this retort the mouth of the opposer was shut.

Skeptics and opposers of the gospel of Christ, have ever been disposed to judge of its claims by the lives of its professors, and as they have had no difficulty in finding a vast amount of hypoc

doubtedly to all those who have fought Christianity ge or small arena, both might be justly attributed. H fessed that he never read the New Testament with car ntion, and the ignorance of the sacred writings exhibited taire and Paine and other infidels is well known. The dishonesty, or at least the extreme unfairness of ctice of judging Christianity by the perversions of it in e systems and false lives of its pretended friends is most ent. If we had no written word of ultimate authority, ying the principles of the system in infallible statement, a e compelled to trust tradition for our knowledge, and to lo hose who call and have called themselves Christians for uaintance with Christianity, then it might be acknowledg ir procedure to form opinions of it, wholly by what appea the lives and systems of those professing it. But Christian es not so come to us. It comes offering certain sacred wr s claiming to be inspired of God, and to contain his will a truth made known to man. Doctrines are taught, and pr ts given, which are to be received of men and wrought in ir lives, ere they can be acknowledged Christians. Thos o do thus receive the truth and the influences of the gospe ome, it is taught, new men, and are henceforth actuated b tives and governed by principles holy and right. Suprem e to God and equal love to man form the basis of the law o ristianity. This we find by the study of the divine word is newness and purity of life, the gospel claims as its fruits all the sincere inquirer reject the claim of the gospel to b