group we will subjoin, as a specimen of the Gothic, the translation of the Lord's Prayer into that language by Ulphilas. Matthew,

vi: 9--13.

9. Atta unsar thu in himinam, veihnái namô thein.

10. Kvimái thiudinassus theins. Vairthái vilja theins, svê ïn himina jah ana airthái.

11. Hláif unsarana thana sinteinan gif uns himma daga.

12. Jah aflêt uns, thatei skulans sijáima, svasvê jah veis aflêtam thaim skulam unsaráim.

13. Jah ni briggáis uns ïn fráistubnjái, ak láusai uns af thamma ubilin; untê theina ist thiudangardi jah mahts jah vulthus ïn áivins. Amen.

GRAMMATICAL REMARKS.

Atta signifies father. Striking analogies to it are found in the Basque Aita, Tartar Atai, Magyar Atya, in the Mississippi Indian Ota, in the Canadian Indian Addathy, and in the Greenland Atatak.

Unsar, our. The position of the pronoun and adjective after the substantive is an imitation of the Greek, and not idiomatic German.

Thu in himinam, thou in heaven. The omission of the verb is also an imitation of the Greek. Himinam is the dative plural from himins. Veihnái, kvimái, and vairthai are in the third person of the present subjunctive, from the verbs veihan, to sanctify, kviman, to come, and vairthan, to be done, (German werden, ent-stehen, erscheinen, geschehen, kommen.)

The n in veihnai is inserted for the sake of euphony.

Namo thein, thy name. The pronoun is placed last, in imita

tion of the Greek.

Thiudinassus theins, thy kingdom. The pronoun placed last, as before, according to the Greek idiom. Thiudinassus is from thiuda, people, whence comes Deutsch, the term by which the Germans designate themselves.

Vilja theins, thy will. German, wille; English, will. Svê corresponds to the German wie, as jah, equivalent to the Greek kai. Ana, on, in, or upon. Airthai is the dative singular of airtha, earth; German erde; Anglo-Saxon, eard, eord; Swedish, iord; Greek spa. The same forms are found in the Shemitic

languages: e. g. Hebrew, erets; Chaldaic, arta; Syriac, arto. Hlaif unsarana, our bread, the accusative singular of hlaifs, bread, and unsar, our. Anglo-Saxon, hläf, hlaf, laf: Old Frisian, läf; Slavonic, chleb; English, loaf.

Thana Sinteinan, the always-existing, or ever-continuing. Thana is the accusative singular of the article thai, the. Sinteinan is from sinteino, always. The construction of the whole of the fourth petition is modeled after the Greek idiom.

It is unnecessary to extend our analysis. The specimens that have been given are sufficient to show the leading characteristics of the Gothic. With that accomplished, we will conclude the present article.

C. E.

ART. VII.

Nature and Revelation-in relation to the Origin of our Conception of a God.

We propose to discuss in this Article, a question upon which the sentiments of thinkers are by no means in unison. As the position which we shall maintain, is one at variance with that held by many wise and good men, we wish to present our thoughts with becoming deference and modesty. Should we at any time be betrayed into expressions savouring of over confidence, we hope that such expressions will be attributed to the glow of argument, and the earnestness of conviction; not to any disposition to disparage the ability of those whose opinions are diverse from our own, or to underrate the strength of the arguments with which they attempt to sustain those opinions.

The question which is to occupy our thoughts, relates to the powers of the human mind, in the state in which man now is, as a fallen and depraved being, to form a system of religious belief, without any aid from a supernatural source. The pertinency of such a discussion at the present time, is apparent from the fact that there are men of talent, learning and influence, who professing to be religious men, utterly deny the fact-some of them even the possibility-of any supernatural revelation. These men influence the course of thought by books written with much ability,

exhibiting the polish imparted by high scholarship, and a certain unction of religion, marvellous to find in works of such principles and tendency. Nay, more; they control the teachings of one of our Foreign Quarterlies, exhibiting in its various departments a very high order of ability and culture; standing, in these particulars, second perhaps to no similar periodical in the English language.

The assumption upon which these men proceed, an assumption lying at the basis of the Deism of the eighteenth, and the Rationalism of the nineteenth century, is, that man, by the study of his own mental and moral constitution, and a contemplation of the works of nature, could, without any supernatural assistance, deduce therefrom the fundamental truths of religion and morals. And still further, they hold, that in point of fact, this is the way in which men first obtained a knowledge of these fundamental truths. There is a certain diversity of sentiment amongst those who agree on the main points of this system as to the extent to which men may go, in this process. Some admit articles into the creed, as evidently taught by the constitution and course of nature, which others exclude, as having no sufficient ground of belief; a fact in itself, in our judgment, fatal to the whole theory. But all, without exception, who espouse this system at all, claim that the existence of God is one of the truths taught by nature.

This opinion of man's ability to learn a system of religion from nature, independently of all supernatural interference, would exert a less baleful influence in the world, and be altogether less worthy of our present consideration, were it not for the sanction it has received from Christian Divines, and Philosophers of the highest name. These, in the contests which they have waged with Atheism, have used those arguments which, to men already in possession of an idea of one supreme, infinite, and eternal Spirit, Nature furnishes, in strength and number sufficient to convict the Atheist of inexcusable folly: but in pursuing with ardour the retreating forces of Atheism, they expose the flank of the Christian host to an enemy more dangerous, because more plausible and more numerous than the defeated foe. They are strenuous asserters of a "Natural Theology." And by Natural Theology they do not mean simply a body of truths in harmony with the constitution of

the universe or in support of which strong and cogent, and even conclusive, arguments may be drawn from the course of nature and the structure of the human being. This is all that the argument against the Atheist requires. But they go further, and claim that the truths of Natural Theology are not merely accordant with the teachings of nature, and susceptible of being proved by arguments drawn from that source; but that man could originate, nay that man has, in some instances, for himself, originated a system of religious belief, comprehending the existence of One Supreme, Eternal, Infinite, Spiritual, Being, without any aid, direct or indirect, from a supernatural Revelation; but by a simple contemplation of the works of nature alone. Such being the course of argument pursued by the Christian Philosopher when opposing the onset of the Atheist, he finds that his own arguments are turned, with all the force of an argumentum ad hominem, against himself, when, in opposition to the hosts of Rationalism, he asserts the need of a supernatural Revelation.

We would not detract an iota from the argument drawn from nature, in proof of the existence of God. We freely grant that it is conclusive. But we deny that man destitute of all previous knowledge of a God ever did construct, or ever could have constructed, the argument. To invent arguments by which a truth already known may be proved, is one thing; to discover an unknown truth, a vastly different thing. A school-boy can demonstrate the forty-seventh proposition of Euclid: to discover it, required the genius of a Pythagoras. Men who have already obtained the idea of a God, can perceive proofs of his existence on every side. But suppose that idea obliterated; suppose all knowledge derived from supernatural revelation effaced: Would these proofs have been perceived? Would their significancy have been understood? Would a system of natural religion ever have been constructed? Here we take issue with the old fashioned Deist, the modern Rationalist, and those Christian Philosophers, who, agreeing with the opponents of revelation on this point, maintain the sufficiency of natural reason to discover the fundamental doctrines of religion. We hold that the first knowledge which man obtained of the existence of God, of His attributes, and of his own relation to Him, he obtained by revelation; that man by his degeneracy and in

disposition of heart to the knowledge and service of God, was lapsing into idolatry, when God was pleased to perpetuate the knowledge of Himself, and the method of gaining His favour, by the selection of a single nation, to which He gave by extraordinary Revelation a system of laws and institutions, most peculiar in themselves, and intended to preserve this nation a separate and peculiar nation, as also to be typical of truths intended to be revealed more fully and clearly in future times; that, finally, God having at sundry times and in divers manners spoken unto the fathers by the prophets, did in the last days speak unto men through his Son, by whom life and immortality were brought to light; who is himself "God manifest in the flesh;" of whom and by whom it is declared: "No man knoweth the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him!" Thus we believe the origin of man's knowledge of God was due to a supernatural revelation; the perpetuation of that knowledge to an extraordinary revelation; the completion and perfection of that knowledge to a most wonderful and gracious, and wholly supernatural, revelation. Nevertheless, it is admitted, that in the intervals between these successive manifestations of Himself, and in regions to which the first and second of them did not extend, "God left not Himself without witness;" but that man, both in the works of creation and providence, and in the mental, moral, and physical structure of his own being, had abundant evidence of the existence, power and goodness of God, had he been willing to use the light he had. In other words, the whole course of nature furnished abundant and conclusive confirmation of that original Revelation, made to the first pair, and repeated to the second progenitor of the human race, Noah, that God is, and is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek Him. Whatever then may be the logical order in which science requires natural and supernatural theology to be arrayed historically, and as a matter of fact, revealed religion was first in the order of time.

We bespeak the patient attention of our readers to a discussion of the prominent arguments of those who have embraced the opposite opinion, before setting forth the positive grounds upon which our own is based.

One of the arguments commonly used to prove that man, with