with the princes of Moab. But God's anger was kindled because he went,' insomuch that he sent an angel to oppose him. The infidels here insist, that it is better to reject the whole story, than to believe that the Supreme Being could be angry with Balaam, merely because he obeyed his command."

ANSWER.

This is a right conclusion, for God certainly would not have been angry with Balaam for obeying his command. But Balaam acted in direct opposition to the command of God. It is not said in the original Hebrew, that God was angry with Balaam because he went, but that he disapproved of his conduct, as he was going. He was commanded not to curse Israel, and with this command he left Pethor, but he accepted of the rewards of divination, as he was going, and this was the reason why he was opposed by the messenger.

Objectors should have recollected, that the Egyptians in the days of the Hebrew lawgiver, worshipped idols, and were taught to believe that their priests could perform miracles; witness the magicians who were called before Pharaoh to confront Moses and Aaron, by attempting to perform the same kind of miracles. It should also have been known to these writers, that the Egyptians had no notion of worshipping any gods who did not enable their priests to perform miracles: and therefore if miracles had not been done by the interposition of the hand of God, the Egyptians would not have believed that the God of the Hebrews had exerted his power. But when the time was come for the abolition of representative worship, when the Messiah established his church, and gave his divine precepts; there was then no necessity for miracles. All those states which required them had passed away, and the pure worship of God in spirit and in truth, had rendered it unnecessary for miracles to be done in "latter times."

The attributes of God do not require to be vindicated by Egyptian miracles, or by any miracles, except such miracles as can be brought before the eyes of the DEIST, and which indeed, he will allow to be the greatest of miracles. The greatest of all visible miracles is the creation of the world, A MIRACLE IS A MANIFESTATION OF

SOMETHING ABOVE THE ORDINARY POWER OF NATURETHE CREATION OF THE WORLD IS ABOVE THE ORDINARY POWER OF NATURE-THEREFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD IS A MIRACLE.-There is another miracle which the DEIST must necessarily allow, yet which he cannot understand. He must necessarily admit that the DIVINE BEING, by his infinite wisdom and Almighty power, created the first man: but by what means this first man was brought into formal existence, and how those powers of the mind, the will and the understanding, were planted in the soul, is not for any man to explain.

There is a prophecy, more astonishing than any miracle, which appears to have been forgotten by the DEIST, and which is of so very extraordinary a nature that it will even carry a degree of conviction, so as to prove to him that the hand of God is manifestly visible. In the days of the prophet Isaiah those miracles were allowed to be greatest which comprehended the true and unequivocal developement of future events: it is said, Ch. xii. 22. "Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen-declare us things to come"-23. “Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." This we find was not in the power of those worshippers of nature; thus the prophet concludes, "Behold ye are nothing and your work of nought, an abomination is he that chuseth you.'

The thing to which I refer, is recorded in Luke, Ch. xxi. 24. "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." Here we have a miracle recorded greater than any that was done in Egypt; those were of such a nature, as has induced Deists to say, they might be imitated; but this is a miracle even now before the eyes of the whole world, and will force a conviction of its truth, from the most determined opposer, that the divine speaker had his information from the pure fount of Infinite Wisdom. The Hebrews have fallen by the sword, and have been led away captive into all nations, AND JERUSALEM HAS BEEN TRODDEN DOWN OF THE GENTILES, from the dispersion of the Hebrews. Jerusalem was taken by

the Romans under Vespasian, and destroyed-the country was afterwards subject to the Saracens; it was then taken by Selim the first Emperor of the Turks, who have retained the dominion to this day. The fact confirming the truth of this prophesy, is now before the face of the whole world, and cannot be reasoned away by all the sophistry of infidelity.

But there is another prophesy equally as astonishing as the above, which could not be written after the thing had taken place, because it is fulfilling at this period, so remote from the time when it was given. It may in truth be said, that it will carry a far greater degree of conviction to the heart of every impartial reader, that God only could enable the sacred writer to communicate it, than all the miracles that were done in Egypt, were they to be done at this period. It is of so convincing a nature, that even an attempt to affect an indifference to it, in order to weaken its force, could only be esteemed as a proof of a weakness of understanding, or designing perverse obstinacy.

That part of Scripture to which I now refer the reader, is Leviticus, ch. xxvi. 43, 44. "The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly." Thus the land has been left of them near 1800 years; and the land has been enjoying her sabbaths while she has been lying desolate without them, to the present day. But it was not possible that these things could be written after the circumstances mentioned had taken place, because they were thus recorded in all the Hebrew Bibles in the world before the dispersion of the Jews; and as after that period, the eyes of the whole Jewish nation in every part of the world. were on the original Hebrew Bible; it must be very obvious that nothing of this nature could possibly be done.

The following circumstance is however more astonishing, if possible; it is expressly said-" AND YET for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy

them utterly." Here then we have before us one of the most convincing proofs of the divine communication of future events. The Hebrews have been in the land of their enemies, they have been most cruelly oppressed by Pagan and bigotted princes, put to the sword, plundered of their property, and driven from nation to nation, to seek a resting place. The whole power of empires has been employed to annihilate them as a people, but that power which is greater than all other powers, has confirmed his remarkable words :-" When they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly;" while their ancient oppressors the Babylonians, Grecians, and Romans, are sunk in eternal oblivion, agreeably to the prophet:-" For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee."

Thus do the Old and New Testaments perfectly confirm each other; according to the Old Testament, THE LAND WAS TO LIE DESOLATE WITHOUT THEM, which has been the case ever since the dispersion of that people, and which will be so to the time alluded to in this important pro-, phesy, they were to be dispersed into all nations,-and yet they were to be a distinct, a different people, from all others, both in their religion, and in that peculiar mark, by which infinite wisdom has been pleased to distinguish them. For the prophet was commanded to say to them; "I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee." While it is as clearly declared in the New Testament, that " they shall fall by the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the gentiles, until the times of the gentiles be fulfilled." O thou MOST HIGH, OMNISCIENT, OMNIPRESENT, and OMNIPOTENT God, how incontrovertibly do these things recorded in thy word, prove the truth of thy gracious revelation to man!!!

These incontrovertible facts must produce very unpleasant sensations in the hearts of those, who, like these

objectors, say-" The forms, (that is, personal identity,) are destroyed, but the matter of which those forms are composed, is eternal." Such men, I say, when they read these facts, which the most stubborn deist cannot deny, as being communicated to the sacred writer; some very alarming sensations must naturally shake the hardened confidence of such professors, and in spite of all their boasted vanity, convince them that there is a God, who communicates his will to man; who governs the world by his permissive providence; and who has given a portion of eternal life to every man, which the destruction of the material form can never annihilate.

OBJECTION.

In order to undermine, as much as possible, the foundation of the Bible, these writers bring forward what they call" unanswerable objections against the genuineness and authenticity of the Pentateuch." They undertake to show that the books of the Pentateuch are spurious, and that Moses was not the writer. They observe: "Granting the grammatical right that Moses might speak of himself in the third person, because any man might speak of himself in that manner, it cannot be admitted as a fact in these books, that it is Moses who speaks, without rendering Moses truly ridiculous and absurd. For example, Numb. xii. 3. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were on the face of the earth." If Moses said this of himself, instead of being the meekest of men,' he was most vain and arrogant.

Again, it is said in Deuteronomy, xxxiv. 5, 6. "So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." If the writer meant that he, (God,) buried him, how should he, (the writer,) know it? or why should we, (the readers,) believe him, since we know not who the writer was that tells us so? For certainly Moses could not tell himself where he was buried. This account could not be given by Moses. The writer says: "No man knoweth