done this unto this land? What meaneth the heat of

יי?

his great anger Volney, on viewing the ruins of Palestine and the adjacent countries, exclaims almost in the words of Moses, "Great God! from whence proceed such melancholy revolutions? For what cause is the fortune of these countries so strikingly changed? Why are so many cities destroyed? Why is not that ancient population reproduced and perpetuated ?"

The condition of the Jews furnishes from age to age a standing miracle, to attest the truth of his word; and the facts that have been presented furnish demonstrative proof of the inspiration of Moses; and of course proves that the first five books of the Bible are a revelation from God; and this is a strong presumptive evidence of the truth and inspiration of the whole Scriptures, as they all constitute the parts of a grand system, the foundation of which was laid in the Mosaic history.

I know it has been asserted that we have no evidence that Moses wrote all these books; and that the facts stated in the first chapter of Genesis are contrary to the discoveries of science. In my second chapter, I think I proved sufficiently the authenticity of all the books of the Bible; and I now deny that there is any contradiction between the discoveries of science and the facts stated in the first chapter of Genesis; but on this point I am not called upon to exhibit proof, in opposition to a bare assertion,-it belongs to those who have made the assertion alluded to, to show wherein these contradictions consist. It does not belong to me to prove a negative; but if it did, I

have room in this place only to say that no objections can be valid against the inspiration of a book that contains so many predictions of future events, the evidence of the fulfilment of which is so unanswerable and overwhelming.

PRACTICAL REMARKS.

The facts presented in this chapter furnish an awful warning against apostasy. Moses says it shall be inquired, "Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land? And what meaneth the heat of his great anger ?" And that men shall answer and say, "Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers." They broke their covenant, forsook the Lord, and rejected the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, the promise of their fathers. But they did no more than every member of a Christian church does, who violates his covenant vows, forsakes the service of God and the ordinances of his house, and goes back to the service of sin and Satan. Nay, they did no more than is done by every baptized child of Christian parents, who forsakes the covenant of his fathers, refuses to ratify its vows, and grows up in the persevering rejection of the Saviour. And if God spared not his own chosen people, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when they forsook his covenant, and cast off their vows, but pursued them with such awful judgments from generation to genera❤ tion, do you think that you shall escape, who are guilty of the same sin, under the full blaze of gospel

light? Though you may escape temporal calamities in this life, you surely will not escape in that day, when the "sinners in Zion shall be afraid, and fearfulness shall surprise the hypocrites." If, then, the apostate Jews shall dwell with devouring fire, apostate Christians must sink down still deeper in eternal burnings. It is a fearful thing to trifle with solemn covenant relations,-lightly to cast off or violate sol, emn vows, or to despise or neglect great privileges. We have an awful example of it in the history of the Jews; and yet we are as highly exalted above them in privileges as they were above the heathen. Moreover, it is mentioned as one of the sins which provoked the Lord to cast off his ancient covenant people, that they "rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit." And we have reason to believe that many churches have been forsaken of God, and left to spiritual desolations no less dreadful, by grieving his Holy Spirit. How often has God come nigh to his people, and, as it were, overshadowed them with a cloud of mercy, and they have not been ready to receive it; and by their opposition, their indifference, their negligence, or their love of ease, they have suffered it to pass by, leaving the garden of the Lord without spiritual rain, desolate and dry. They have "rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit;" and unless they repent, and humble themselves before God, they have reason to fear that he will turn to be their enemy, and leave them, as he did his people of old, to utter desolation. About forty years ago the Lord poured out his Spirit with mighty power, in an extensive region of the western country. Sinners bowed themselves, and in great

numbers submitted to God, and received Jesus as their Saviour. But there was one denomination of Christians, a denomination, too, which held an orthodox faith,-who opposed this work. They set apart days of fasting and prayer, to mourn on account of its prevalence. It was the opinion of a venerable father in the ministry, who labored much in this work, that they then grieved the Holy Spirit. Since that period the dews of heavenly grace appear to have ceased to distil upon them. They have been left for forty years to a form of godliness, without the power thereof; and they now have all the marks of a people forsaken of the Lord. And who will say that it was not resisting and vexing the Holy Spirit, which caused the Lord to forsake so many of the churches founded by our Pilgrim fathers in our beloved New England, and leave them to the sweeping desolations of error, which have, in many places, extinguished the last flickering ray of piety among them? Who will say that it was not because his people would not prepare his way, when he came among them? And who will say that it was not because those who sat under the sound of the gospel, would not listen to the voice of entreaty and persuasion, and receive the truth and love the Saviour; and that, therefore, the Lord took from them the blessings which they despised? It becomes us to search our own hearts, and see if we have not rebelled against the motions of the Holy Spirit, calling us to prayer and effort for his glory,whether we have not hindered the revival of his work in time past, and whether we are not now hindering his work. Has he been grieved away from our

hearts heretofore? And will he come again unless we repent, and remove every thing offensive to him, and prepare him a place in our hearts? And shall it be, that when he comes among us, like Noah's dove, he shall find no rest for the sole of his foot, and shall depart from us, vexed and grieved by our rebellion, unbelief, and hardness of heart? And what will be the consequence? We have heard what he did to his an cient people. Terrible, indeed, have been his judgments upon them. But all the earthly calamities which they have endured, are nothing compared with the calamity of being deserted by the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit of God should leave us, when we come to the sanctuary, our hearts will be hard; we shall be left to barren ordinances,-a deathlike stupor and coldness will come over us; there will be no impression of the word; no edification; no progress in holiness; no comfort in divine worship; every interest of Zion will languish; there will be no increase of the church; but there will be grievous declension and apostasy; many will fall and dishonor their profession; no sinners will be converted; there will be no conviction, unless in the shape of remorse and fearful foreboding. Our children, who have been baptized and brought under the covenant, will perhaps be left to ruin in this life; and we may be compelled in bitter anguish, to stand by their bedside, and see them die in their sins, and perish without hope. All our friends and acquaintances, all these souls around us, will be lost. And, finally, we shall be left to utter desolation. All the piety will die out of the church, as it has out of many old churches around us; and the in