Well I have been away for a while but wanted to let everyone know I am still here. I am not able to record right now because of computer problems that I am working on. I hope to have a recording in a month or 2 and post it here for you all. untill then, may your squirrells never get chased by raccoons.

Wow I cant believe that it has been so long since I posted on here. So much has happened. From loosing our pastor at Church then almost getting one to still hunting for that right person to be the right man for our Church. Then on another note my Father had hurt his back, found out that he had a bulging disk and a cracked vertebra & having to have surgery on his back. Then the contract at work had expired and the union is trying to get us a new one. All kinds of stuff MAN will my life get to slow down…. Now I am faced with the challenge of subbing for a Sunday School teacher @ Church before I can lead the class I want to lead for the new life journey courses we do at the Church. I don’t see a problem with it…I know I can do it. The Boys are in school now doing great. Bonnie is well Bonnie, nothing new about her. I have a friend from Church, his name is Cooper, I Love this man to death. We became friends 3 years ago. He is away @ College now and I hope and pray he does well. We went to Church tonight and it was a blast. I helped with the Wednesday Night back to Church blast. It was so much fun. I got to see lots of people I know and Love. I got to see two people that mean so much to me. Brad & Faith McFadden, Brad walked up and gave me a hug he new I had been going through a rough patch at home and it made me feel so much better, then Faith gave me one that made me feel a little better then the BEST one was from their daughter Helen, she is such a sweetheart every time she sees me she gives me a hug and it just makes my day. Well I guess I have rambled on enough for the night… I will try and update more as time permits… I have decided to start recording again I have to get everything set back up before I can but will let you all know when I do. Until then my friends…… in Him.

Well this past saturday I took my wife of 14 years on a date. Now this was not any normal date but a doubble date. We went on a date with one of my dearest friends Brad McFadden and his wonderful wife Faith. We decided to go and try out a steak house in Winnsboro, Tx. None of us had been there before and we decided to go and try it out. Now little did Brad and Faith know that this was Bonnie’s and my anniversary dinner. The ride over there was great. We had stimulating conversation with the occasional laugh and before I knew it we were there. As we walked into the establishment I could tell this was a interesting place. We got seated at our table decided what we wanted to eat and relaxed and talked before we got our food. The food was real good and had been enjoying the good company and never knew it had started to rain. I don’t mean rain I mean RAIN. We made it back to Brad and Faith’s car and went home. I enjoyed our trip so much I want to do it again.

I will be doing some recording real soon and I hope you enjoy it. Hope to talk to you all real soon.

In Him, Big John

Well I hope you enjoyed the posts I would like to give credit to the man that wrote the information I shared with you.

Complete System of Christian Theology
A Concise, Comprehensive, and Systematic View of the Evidences, Doctrines, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity
by
Samuel Wakefield, D.D.
—Christian Theology

There is more in his book. If you liked it go get it and read it.

More later from me and get ready for my live podcast. I will post when it is coming but be ready it coming real soon

In meeting the objections which are urged against the Bible, it will be our purpose to expose them, in as few words as possible, to the sunlight of truth. The mere cavils of infidel writers may be hastily dismissed, but the most plausible objections shall be considered more at large.
1. It is objected that reason is a sufficient guide in religion, that revelation is therefore unnecessary, and that it reflects upon the wisdom of the Creator, as if he had not at first duly fitted man for the end of his being, and consequently found it expedient afterward to supply the defect.
This specious infidelity, called “deism,” or “the religion of nature,” made its appearance in France and Italy about the middle of the sixteenth century, and was first advocated in England early in the seventeenth century by Lord Herbert of Cherbury. He lays down five primary articles of religion which, he says, are all discoverable by our natural faculties, and contain everything that is necessary to be believed. They are, that there is a supreme God, that he is chiefly to be worshiped, that piety and virtue are the principal parts of his worship, that repentance expiates offense, and that there is a state of future rewards and punishments.
The history of infidelity from this time is, however, a striking comment upon the words of St. Paul, that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived;” for in the progress of this deadly error every one of Lord Herbert’s five articles has been called in question or given up. Hobbes regarded our duty to God as a chimera, the civil magistrate being supreme in all things. Shaftesbury denied the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. Hume attempted to overthrow the argument for the existence of God from the frame of the universe, by denying the relation between cause and effect. By some the worship of God has been rejected as unreasonable because he needs not our praises, and is not to be turned from his purposes by our prayers.
And as to future rewards and punishments, philosophy has discovered, since the days of Lord Herbert, that the human soul, being a mere result of organization, dies with the body. The great principle of the English proto-infidel, “the sufficiency of our own natural faculties to form a religion for ourselves,” is, however, the foundation of all these theories; and this being conceded, the instances just given are a sufficient refutation of the objection. Nothing, therefore, can be more absurd than to wrangle about the sufficiency of reason when it has proved itself to be insufficient in every trial. The fact is a stubborn one, and no speculation can set it aside.
Nor does this fact imply a reflection upon the wisdom of the Creator. With us there is no difficulty in accounting for it. We believe that reason, when first conferred, was fully adequate to all the purposes which it was intended to serve; but that it has since been impaired and perverted by sin, which has both darkened the understanding and corrupted the heart. It is, therefore, subject to be led astray by the imagination and the passions, to adopt false principles, and to draw erroneous conclusions.
2. It is alleged, as an objection to the Divine authority of the prophetic Scriptures, that some of the prophecies have failed. The following are the principal instances referred to:
(1.) It has been said that a false promise was made to Abraham when he was told that his descendants should possess the territory which lies between the Euphrates and the river of Egypt. But this objection is evidently made in ignorance of the Scriptures; for the fact is that David conquered that territory, and that the dominions of Solomon were thus actually extended.
(2.) Voltaire objects that the prophets made promises to the Jews of the most unbounded riches, dominion, and influence; but they have lost their possessions instead of obtaining either property or power, and therefore the prophecies are false. But the case is here unfairly stated, for the prophets never made such exaggerated promises. They predicted many spiritual blessings, to be bestowed in the times of Messiah, under figures drawn from worldly opulence and power, which no attentive reader can mistake. They also promised many civil advantages, but conditionally, on the obedience of the nation; and they spoke in high terms of the state of the Jews upon their final restoration, for which objectors must wait before they can determine the predictions to be false.
Moreover, Voltaire should have known that the reverses of the Jews of which he speaks were clearly predicted, and that his very objection acknowledges the truth of prophecy. The promises of the prophets have not been falsified, while their threatenings have been signally fulfilled.
(3.) Paine asserts that the prophecy of Isaiah to Ahaz was not verified by the event. The history of this prophecy, as delivered in the seventh chapter of Isaiah, is this: Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah king of Israel, made war upon Ahaz king of Judah, with the declared purpose of making an entire revolution in the government of Judah, of destroying the royal house of David, and of placing another family on the throne. Their purpose is thus expressed: “Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal.” Now what did Isaiah say to Ahaz? Did he say, The kings shall not vex thee? shall not conquer thee? shall not succeed against thee? No: but he said, “It (the purpose of the two Icings) shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.” Did it stand? did it come to pass? Was there any revolution effected? Was the house of David dethroned and destroyed? Was Tabeal ever made king of Judah? No. The prophecy was therefore perfectly accomplished.
(4.) The same writer attempts to fix a charge of false vaticination upon Jeremiah. He refers to a prediction which the prophet delivered to King Zedekiah, and which is recorded in the thirty-fourth chapter of his prophecies, in these Words: “Thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. Thou shalt not die by the sword; but thou shalt die in peace. And with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odors for thee.”

Mr. Paine alleges that this prediction was not fulfilled; but that the very reverse was the case, according to the eleventh verse of the fifty-second chapter. It is there stated that the king of Babylon “put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.” He asks, therefore, “What can we say of these prophets but that they are impostors and liars?” This, however, can be said in truth, that the prophecy was fulfilled in all its parts. Zedekiah beheld the eyes of the king of Babylon when he was brought before him at Riblah. The king spoke with Zedekiah mouth to mouth when he gave judgment upon him, or, as the margin has it, “spake judgments with him.” He was carried to Babylon. He did not die by the sword, nor did he fall in battle. He died in peace, for he neither expired upon the rack nor on the scaffold; he was neither strangled nor poisoned; he died upon his bed, though that bed was in a prison. It cannot be shown from the history that the prediction in regard to the funeral burnings was fulfilled, nor can it be proved that it was not; but as every other part was accomplished, the fair conclusion is that this was also.
(5.) Mr. Paine quotes also a passage from the twenty-ninth chapter of Ezekiel, where, speaking of Egypt, the prophet said: “No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.” This, he says, “never came to pass, and consequently is false.”
Now, as the history of Egypt at that remote period is very imperfectly known, it is at least hasty to conclude, even if we had no evidence in support of the prophecy, that it never was accomplished. But that the predicted invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar did come to pass we have the testimony of Megasthenes and Berosus, two heathen historians, who lived about three hundred years before Christ. This invasion was as devastating in its character as was that of Judea; and we know that the greater part of the inhabitants of that country were destroyed or led captive, and that the land, though not absolutely left without inhabitants, generally remained uncultivated for seventy years. In such circumstances, from the total cessation of all former intercourse between the different parts of the kingdom, it might without exaggeration be said that the foot of man and of beast did not “pass through it,” their going from one part to another on business or for worship at Jerusalem being wholly suspended. And as we have no reason to suppose that Nebuchadnezzar was more merciful to Egypt than to Judea, the same expressions might be used, in a popular sense, in regard to that country.
It is admitted that no period can be pointed out, from the time of Ezekiel to the present, in which there was no foot of man or of beast to be seen in all Egypt for forty years. The language is evidently hyper bolical, and we are not to expect a literal accomplishment of a hyperbolical expression. We only claim for the prediction that it denotes a great desolation; importing that the trade of Egypt, which was carried on by caravans—by the foot of man and of beast—should be suspended for forty years. No one, however, can prove that the prophecy was not so fully accomplished that the expression might be used without violent hyperbole.
3. It is objected that the Bible has a demoralizing influence upon society, and therefore cannot be divinely inspired. In proof of this various facts and circumstances are urged, the strongest of which we will consider.
(1.) It records the failings and vices of some of its leading characters. The fact is not denied; but the objectors suppress what is equally true, that these vices are never mentioned with approbation; that the characters stained with them are not, in those respects, held up for our imitation; and that such things are recorded for our admonition. They dwell upon the crimes of David, and sneer at his being called “a man after God’s own heart.” But they seem not to know that this character was ascribed to David long before he committed those crimes; that, even if this were not so, the language had respect to his qualifications as a king, and not to his moral character, and that those very crimes were tremendously visited by the displeasure of the Almighty. This objection to the Bible has therefore no force in the direction intended, but it furnishes a strong argument in favor of the honesty and sincerity of the sacred writers. Had they been cunning impostors no such acknowledgments of crimes and frailties would have been made.
But what has been the effect of infidelity upon the morals of its advocates? Blount committed suicide because he was prevented from an incestuous marriage; Tyndal was notoriously infamous; Hobbes changed his principles with his interests; Morgan continued to profess Christianity while he wrote against it; the moral character of Voltaire was mean and detestable; Bolingbroke was a rake and a flagitious politician; Collins and Shaftesbury qualified themselves for civil office by receiving the Lord’s Supper, while they were endeavoring to prove the religion of Christ to be an imposture; Hume was revengeful, disgustingly vain, and an advocate of adultery and self-murder; Paine was the slave of low and degrading habits; and Rousseau was an abandoned sensualist, and guilty of the basest actions. Was it ever found that a truly virtuous and humble man was an infidel? Does infidelity abound among the devout, the pure, the modest, and the dispassionate inquirers after truth? Or, are not rather its advocates profane and dissipated, smatterers in knowledge, false pretenders to philosophy and self-conceited speculatists, who, from their imaginary eminence, look down with contempt upon the opinions and pursuits of the multitude.
(2.) The extermination of the Canaanites by the Jews, according to the Divine command, is urged as an act of the greatest cruelty and injustice. But this objection cannot be urged upon the mere ground that it is contrary to Divine justice or mercy to cut off a people indiscriminately, for this has been done by earthquakes and pestilences. What is here ascribed to the God of the Bible, does not therefore contradict the character of the God of nature.
But was it consistent with the character of God to employ human agents in this work of destruction? Who can prove that it was not? Surely no one; and yet here lies the whole stress of the objection. The Jews were not rendered more cruel by their being so commissioned, for we find them much more merciful in their institutions than other ancient nations. Nor can this instance be pleaded in favor of exterminating wars; for there was in the case a special commission for a special purpose, and by that it was limited.
Moreover, the sins of the Canaanites were of so gross a nature that it was necessary to mark them with signal punishments for the benefit of surrounding nations. And the employing of the Israelites as instruments, under a special and publicly proclaimed commission, connected the punishment more visibly with the offense than if it had been inflicted by the array of warring elements; while the Israelites themselves would be more deeply impressed with the guilt of idolatry, and its ever accompanying polluted and sanguinary rites.
(3.) That law in the twenty-first chapter of Deuteronomy, which authorizes parents to bring a rebellious and intemperate son before the elders of the city that, if guilty, he might be stoned to death, has been called inhuman and brutal. In point of fact, however, it was a merciful regulation. In almost all ancient nations parents had the power of taking away the life of their children. This was a branch of the old patriarchal authority which did not all at once merge into the kingly governments which were afterward established. There is reason, therefore, to believe that it was possessed by the heads of families among the Israelites, and that this was the first attempt to control it, by requiring the crimes alleged against their children to be proved before regular magistrates, that the effects of unbridled passions might be prevented.
(4.) The intentional offering of Isaac by Abraham has also had its share of censure. The answer is: 1. That Abraham had no doubt of the Divine command in the case, and of the right of God to take away the life which he had given. 2. That he proceeded to execute the command of God in faith, as St. Paul has stated, that God would raise his Son from the dead. Had this transaction been so stated as to encourage human sacrifices it might be fairly objected to, but here are sufficient guards: an indubitable Divine command was given, the sacrifice was prevented by the same authority, and the history stands in a book which prohibits human sacrifices.

(5.) Indelicacy and immodesty have been charged upon some parts of the Scriptures. We reply, that in no instance is any statement made in order to incite impurity; and nothing throughout the whole Scriptures is represented as being more offensive to God than the unlawful gratification of the senses. It is also to be noted, that many of the passages objected to are in the laws and prohibitions of both Testaments; and as well might the laws of the land be held up as tending to encourage vices of various kinds because they must, in order to prohibit them, describe them with more or less circumstantiality.
We must also take into the account the simplicity of manners and language in early times. We observe, even among the peasantry of modern states, a language on the subject referred to which is more direct, and what refined society would call gross; but greater real indelicacy does not follow.
These cases have been adduced as specimens of the objections which infidels urge against the Scriptures, and of the ease with which they may be met. For others of a similar kind, and for answers to objections founded upon supposed contradictions between different passages of Scripture, reference must be made to commentators. A little skill, however, in the original languages of the Scriptures, and in the times, occasions, and scope of the sacred books, as also in the antiquities and customs of those countries in which the recorded transactions took place, will always clear the main difficulty.
4. It is objected to the Bible that it contains mysteries and doctrines contrary to reason. It has been a favorite practice with unbelievers to institute a contrast between natural philosophy and revelation, the book of nature and the book of God, and to set the plainness and simplicity of the one against the mysteriousness of the other. The ground of all this is an unwillingness to receive as authorized doctrine what is incomprehensible. They contend that if a revelation has been made there can be no mysteries in it; and that to hold things incomprehensible to be a part of it is a contradiction, and fatal to its claims as a revelation.
The sophism here is easily answered. There are many doctrines and duties in which no mystery at all is involved; and as to incomprehensible subjects, nothing is more certain than that a fact may be clearly revealed, as that God is eternal and omnipresent, and still remain mysterious and incomprehensible. The fact is not revealed in a difficult, obscure, or mysterious manner, the only sense in which the objection could be valid. As a fact, it is clearly revealed that these are attributes of the Divine nature; but notwithstanding this clear and indubitable revelation they are still incomprehensible. It is not revealed how God is eternal and omnipresent, nor is such a revelation pretended; but that He is so. The same remarks will apply to the doctrine of the Trinity, and to many other doctrines of the sacred Scriptures.
But if men hesitate to admit incomprehensible subjects as matters of faith, they cannot be permitted to fly for relief from revelation to philosophy, much less to claim that the latter is superior to the former in the clearness of its manifestations. Here too it will be seen that mystery and truth go inseparably together, and that he who embraces facts embraces at the same time the mystery of their causes. For instance, attraction, gravitation, cohesion, electricity, and magnetism are all admitted facts; but though the experimental and inductive philosophy of modern times has led to many discoveries of the relations, and in some cases of the proximate causes of these phenomena, yet their real causes are all confessedly hidden. And here it may be added, that if we turn our attention to the science of mechanics, or even to that of pure mathematics, we will still meet with much that is incomprehensible.
5. Analogical reasoning has made it probable that the planets of our system, and those of others, may be inhabited by moral beings like ourselves. Hence, infidels have argued the improbability that a Divine Person should have been sent into this world for its instruction and salvation, when, in comparison with the solar system, it is but a point, and that system itself, in comparison with the universe, may be nothing more.
Plausible as this may appear, nothing can have less weight, even if only the philosophy and not the theology of the case be considered. The intention with which man is thus compared with the universe is, to prove his insignificance; and the comparison must be made either between man and the vastness of planetary and stellar matter, or between the number of mankind and the number of supposed planetary inhabitants. If the former, we make corporeal magnitude the standard of real worth. It will therefore follow that a mountain is of more value than a man, in proportion as its magnitude is greater than his; that the smaller the disproportion between the man and the mountain, the less would be the relative insignificance of the former; and that if the smaller object be increased in magnitude, its dignity must be proportionately increased in the true nature of things. The Irish giant, therefore, whose altitude exceeded eight feet, would exceed in relative dignity, by the same proportion, Bacon or Newton, whose height did not attain to six feet. But if this is nonsense, then must that also be nonsense from which these conclusions are legitimately drawn.
If we consider the dignity of an intelligent being, and put that in the scale against mere matter, we may affirm, without overvaluing human nature, that the soul of one virtuous man is of greater worth and excellence than the sun and his planets, and all the stars in the universe. Let us not then make bulk the standard of value, nor judge of the importance of man from the weight of his body, or from the size or situation of the planet which is now the place of his abode. If, therefore, man possesses another magnitude, which can be brought to another and different scale of computation, a scale which determines him to be of more value than the material universe, then it would not be irrational to suppose that the highest mountains and the widest regions, and the entire system to which they pertain, may be made subservient to his interests.
Such a scale is that by which the intelligent, moral, and immortal nature of man is to be measured, and which the sacred historian calls a formation “after the image and likeness of God;” a scale but little regarded in the science of mere physics. As soon, however, as the mind clearly apprehends this moral scale of magnitude, and perceives that though man’s present existence is bounded by a very short period, yet his moral nature is unlimited in time, and will outlast all the mountains of the globe, it then perceives, at the same moment, the deceitful character of the objection which was urged with so much apparent humility.
If the comparison of man with mere material magnitude will not then support this effort to effect his degradation and to shame him out of his trust in the lovingkindness of his God, so neither will the argument which may be drawn from the supposed number of other intelligent beings. Their number cannot alter his character; for, though there may be myriads of immortal beings besides himself, yet he is still immortal, and still has his immense capacity for pleasure and for pain. Unless, therefore, it could be proved that the care of God for each of his creatures must be diminished as their number is increased, the argument can have no force. But such a supposition would be a base and unworthy reflection upon the supreme Creator himself, as though he could not bestow upon all the beings he has made a care and a love adequate to their circumstances.
That man is governed by the providence of God none but an atheist will deny; but any argument drawn from such premises as the preceding would conclude as forcibly against Providence as it can be made to conclude against redemption. And if, by a stupendous exuberance of animal, vegetable, and mineral productions, and the wonderful distribution of light and heat, God supplies the means of life and comfort to the short-lived inhabitants of this globe, can it be incredible, nay, does not this consideration render it in the highest degree probable that he has also prepared the means of eternal happiness for beings whom he has formed for endless duration?
There is, however, another consideration, which gives a sublime and overwhelming grandeur to the Scripture view of redemption, but of which infidel philosophers appear never to have entertained the least conception. It is the moral connection of this world with the whole universe of intelligent creatures, and the intention of God to convey moral instruction to other beings by the history of his moral government in regard to man. Intimations of this great and impressive view are found in various passages of the New Testament, and it opens a scene of inconceivable moral magnificence, “to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God.”
—Christian Theology

Much of the Collateral Evidence of the Divine authority of the Scriptures has been anticipated in the course of this discussion, and need not again be resumed.
The agreement of the final revelation of the will of God, by the ministry of Christ and his apostles, with former authenticated revelations, has been pointed out; so that the whole constitutes one body of harmonious doctrines, gradually introduced, and at length fully unfolded and confirmed.
The suitableness of the Christian revelation to the state of the world, at the time of its communication, follows from the view we have given of the necessity, not only of a revelation generally, but of such a revelation as God has granted to the world through his Son.
It has also been shown that its historical facts accord with the credible histories and traditions of the same time, that monuments remain to attest its truth in the institutions of the Christian Church, and that adversaries have made concessions in its favor.
These sources of Collateral Evidence having been sufficiently considered, we must confine our further remarks upon this subject to two particulars, but each of very convincing character. The first is, the marvelous diffusion of Christianity in the first three centuries; the second is, its ameliorating influence upon the condition of mankind.
I. Its Marvelous Diffusion in the First Three Centuries
How are we to account for the fact, that the first preachers of the Gospel, though unaided by human power or philosophic wisdom, and even in opposition to both, effected a revolution in the opinions and manners of a great portion of the civilized world to which in the history of nations there is no parallel. In the face of all opposition, and in a short period of time, they induced multitudes in various nations, distinguished both by the peculiarity of their manners and the diversity of their language, to forsake the religious institutions of their ancestors, though sanctified by age, defended by vigorous authority, and associated with the most alluring gratification of the passions, and to embrace the religion of the despised Nazarene. Let us look both at the historical proof of the fact, and the evidence which it affords of the Divine authority of our holy religion.
1. The Historical Proof of the Fact.— We have the testimony of Tacitus, about thirty years after the crucifixion, to the extensive propagation of Christianity even in the apostolic age. Speaking of the Christian religion, he says: “This pernicious superstition, though checked for a while, broke out again, and spread not only over Judea, but reached the city of Rome also. At first they only were apprehended who confessed themselves to belong to that sect; afterward a vast multitude were discovered and cruelly punished.” This testimony is of great value, because it shows in how short a period of time Christianity had passed from the distant province of Judea to Rome, and with what success it was attended in the capital of the world.
We learn from the younger Pliny, who presided over Pontus and Bithynia in the beginning of the second century, that in his province the Gospel could boast of numerous disciples. “The contagion of this superstition,” says he, in his well-known letter to Trajan, “has not only invaded cities, but the smaller towns also, and the whole country.” He tells us, moreover, that until he began to use severities against the Christians the temples of the heathen gods were almost deserted, and that those who sold victims for sacrifice could hardly find purchasers.
These are testimonies of heathens, who could have no interest in magnifying the number of the Christians; but they agree substantially with the testimony of the Christian fathers, as a few quotations will show. About the middle of the second century Justin Martyr writes: “There is not a nation, Greek or Barbarian, or of any other name, even of those who wander in tribes and live in tents, among whom prayers and thanksgivings are not offered to the Father and Creator of the universe in the name of the crucified Jesus.” Near the close of this century Tertullian, in his Apology, appeals thus to the Roman governors: “We were but of yesterday, and we have filled your cities and towns; the camp, the senate, and the forum.” Origen, in the early part of the third century, says: “By the good providence of God the Christian religion has so flourished and increased that it is now preached freely, and without molestation.”
But the great fact in connection with this subject is, that in the year A. D. 300 Christianity became the established religion of the Roman empire, and Paganism was abolished. It follows from this event that the religion which thus became triumphant must have been embraced by a large majority of the one hundred and twenty millions supposed to be contained in that empire; for otherwise no emperor would have attempted to change the religion of so vast a state, nor could such a change have been effected had the attempt been made. Let us then look at this wonderful success of the Christian cause,
2. As a Proof of the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures.— To present the argument in its true light a few remarks will be necessary.
(1.) We do not affirm that mere success is a decisive proof of the truth and divinity of a religion; for this success may not be owing to the justice of its claims, but to other causes. A religion may spread, not indeed as rapidly as did Christianity, but gradually, through its adaptation to the opinions, prejudices, inclinations, and worldly interests of men. Great effects may be produced in the course of time, by the united influence of artifice and authority, when there is a disposition to yield to them. We can account in this manner for the progress of idolatry in the heathen world, and in the Christian Church during the dark ages. A religion may be rapidly and extensively propagated by force. Of this we have an example in that of Mohammed, which diffused itself in a short time over several countries in the East.
(2.) But to none of these causes can we attribute the success of the Christian Religion during the first three centuries.— We know of one religion which was propagated by the sword; but our Lord, unlike Mohammed in this, as in every other part of his character, made no use of carnal weapons to disseminate his religion, and positively disclaimed them. “My kingdom,” said he, “is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” John 18:36. Hence said the apostle, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal;” but still these weapons were “mighty through God.” 2 Cor. 10:4.
(3.) Nor did its success depend upon any support or protection which it received from the civil authority.— It is a well-authenticated fact, not only that Christianity was unaided by the secular arm, but that it made its way in the face of strong and persevering opposition. Those who professed this despised religion were exposed to the loss of property, of country, of liberty, and of life. They were tortured with every species of cruelty, and accounted the enemies of the human race. The emperors armed the magistrates with authority, and the fury of the populace supplied additional means of destruction. Neither age nor sex was spared; and for centuries a succession of sanguinary persecutions, with only short intervals of repose, marked the progress of the Christian Church. The struggle was prolonged nearly three hundred years, during which the blood of Christian martyrs flowed in torrents in almost every part of the Roman empire. But truth ultimately prevailed, and the religion of the man whom his countrymen rejected was established in every Roman province.
(4.) It was not because Christianity was suited to the opinions, the prejudices, the carnal inclinations, and the worldly interests of men that it so wonderfully prevailed.— The Gospel was “to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness.” Each of these classes found something in it which was irreconcilable with their preconceived opinions. It was a stumbling-block to the Jews, because it proclaimed a suffering Messiah, a spiritual kingdom, and salvation to the Gentiles, as well as to the sons of Abraham. It was foolishness to the Greeks, because, setting aside their learned speculations and splendid superstitions, it called upon them to acknowledge a God unknown to their ancestors, and a Mediator of whom they had never before heard, and to yield an unhesitating assent to doctrines which were new, strange, and inexplicable by the principles of philosophy. It demanded of its votaries the renunciation of all sinful habits and pursuits, the sacrifice of worldly honors and pleasures, and, conditionally, of life itself. It prescribed humility, the mortification of appetite, and a course of circumspect and persevering obedience; and the promised recompense lay in another world, of which they could have no knowledge but by implicitly depending upon the word of its Author.
(5.) But who were the immediate instruments in this marvelous diffusion of Gospel truth?—were they the wise, the learned, and the eloquent? These, according to human policy, would have been regarded as the fittest persons to accomplish the work; but with such our Lord had no connection. He used no means to secure their assistance, nor did he seem to desire it. He selected, for the execution of this great enterprise, those whom every other person would have rejected as being destitute of the necessary qualifications. They were fishermen and tax-gatherers, without learning, reputation, or friends. They were men whose appearance was ungainly, whose manners were unpolished, and who, instead of drawing attention to their doctrines by the arts of oratory, would render it still more revolting by the rudeness of their speech. Yet these are the persons who were chosen to propagate a religion which was unacceptable to all classes of men; but which nevertheless aimed at universal dominion, requiring the priest, the philosopher, and the statesman to bow to its authority and become its lowly disciples.
(6.) Now, as the human means employed in the propagation of the Gospel were manifestly inadequate, we must attribute its success to supernatural agency.— It is a species of miracle which does not strike the eye, but the mind. Something has been done, not. indeed without means, but above them; and it is as truly wonderful as was the flowing of water from the rock when Moses smote it with his rod. A power was exerted beyond that which resided in the means employed: it was the power of God. And if means and instruments were selected apparently incompetent in themselves, it was for the express purpose of making that power manifest, and of furnishing a decisive evidence that Christianity is Divine. This thought is forcibly presented by St. Paul. “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence.” 1 Cor. 1:27-29. The same writer, in speaking directly of the Gospel, says: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2 Cor. 4:7.
We come now to consider,
II. The Ameliorating Influence of Christianity Upon the Condition of Mankind
The actual effects which Christianity produced in the world, and which it is still producing, are strong arguments in support of its Divine authority. In every pagan country where it has prevailed it has abolished idolatry with its sanguinary and polluted rites. It has raised the standard of morality; and by that means, even where its full effects have not been exerted, it has insensibly improved the manners of every Christian state. It abolished infanticide and human sacrifices, which were so prevalent among ancient and modern heathens.
Christianity has borne its testimony against polygamy and divorce; and, by the institution of marriage in an indissoluble bond, has given birth to a felicity and sanctity in the domestic circle which it never before knew. It has exalted the character and condition of woman, and by that means has humanized man. He no longer imposes upon her feeble shoulders the meanest and most servile occupations of life, thus treating her with injustice, cruelty, and ungenerous contempt; but, inspired by the refining and ennobling principles of the Gospel, he feels in his breast a new and important affection, which Christianity alone can create, the love of woman, founded on esteem.
Christianity abolished domestic slavery in ancient Europe, and from its principles the struggle which is now maintained against this great evil draws its energy and promises a triumph as complete. It has given a milder character to war, and taught modern nations to treat their prisoners with humanity, and to restore them by exchange to their respective countries. It has laid the basis of a jurisprudence more just and equal, given civil rites to subjects, and placed restraints on absolute power, and crowned its achievements by its charity. Hospitals, schools, and many other institutions for the benefit of the aged and the poor, are almost exclusively its own creations; and they abound most where its influence is most powerful.
The same effects are still resulting from its influence in every heathen country into which it has been carried. In some of them idolatry has been renounced; infants, and widows, and aged persons, who Would have been immolated to their gods or abandoned by their cruelty, have been preserved, and are now “living to praise its Divine Author, as they do at this day.” In other instances the light is prevailing against the darkness, and those systems of dark and sanguinary superstition which have stood for ages only to pollute and oppress, without any symptom of decay, now betray the shocks which they have sustained by the preaching of the Gospel of Christ and nod to their final fall.
Such are the leading evidences of the truth of the Holy Scriptures, and of the religious system which they unfold, from the first promise made to the first fallen man to its perfected exhibition in the New Testament. The Christian will review these solid and immovable foundations of his faith with unutterable joy. They leave none of his moral interests unprovided for in time, and they set before him a certain and felicitous immortality.
The infidel may be entreated by every compassionate feeling to a more serious consideration of the evidences of this Divine system, and the difficulties and hopelessness of his own; and we would remind him that “if Christianity be true it is tremendously true.” Let him turn to an insulted, but yet merciful Saviour, who even now prays for his enemies as once he prayed for his murderers: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!”
—Christian Theology

The nature and force of the argument from Prophecy have already been stated, and it has been proved that real predictions can be uttered only by inspired men, and that the author of such communications can be no other than the infinite and omniscient God, showing to his servants things to come in order to authenticate their mission, and to fix upon their doctrines the stamp of his own infallible authority.
The only subject of inquiry proper to this chapter is, therefore, the prophetic character of the predictions contained in the Old and the New Testament. In order to place this subject in as clear a light as possible, it will be necessary, 1. To make a few general observations; and, 2. To adduce some examples of Scripture prophecy which prove themselves to be real predictions.
I. General Observations in regard to the Prophecies of the Holy Scriptures
1. The instances to be considered by those who would fully satisfy themselves on this point are numerous. There are prophecies relative to individuals, to cities and states, to the person and offices of Christ, and to the Christian Church. Some of these have been unequivocally fulfilled; and there are others which are now taking place, or which are to be fulfilled hereafter.
2. Men may differ in regard to the fulfillment of some particular prophecies; but there are many others the accomplishment of which has been so evident as to defy rational doubt. Nor can it be shown that any clear prediction of the Holy Scriptures has ever been falsified by the event.
3. The Predictions of Scripture chiefly relate to a grand scheme for the moral recovery of the human race from ignorance, vice, and wretchedness. They speak of the agents to be employed in it, and especially of the Redeemer himself; and of those mighty and awful proceedings of Providence, as to the nations of the earth, by which judgment and mercy are exercised with reference both to the ordinary principles of moral government, and especially to this restoring economy.
Prophecy is of very great extent. It commenced at the fall of man, and reaches to the consummation of all things. For many ages it was delivered darkly to but few persons, and with long intervals from the date of one prophecy to that of another; but at length it became more clear and more frequent. It was uniformly carried on in the line of one people, who were separated from the rest of the world that they might be the repository of the Divine Oracles; and, with some intermission, the spirit of prophecy subsisted among them to the coming of the Messiah. But Christ and his apostles exercised this power in the most conspicuous manner, leaving behind them many predictions, recorded in the New Testament, which profess to respect very distant events, and even to run out to the end of time.
Farther, besides the extent of this prophetic scheme, the dignity of the Person whom it mainly concerns deserves our consideration. He is described in terms which excite the most august and magnificent ideas. He is indeed spoken of as “the seed of the woman,” and as “the Son of man;” yet so as being at the same time of more than mortal extraction. He is represented as the Word and the Wisdom of God; as the eternal Son of the Father; and the “brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.” Such is the transcendent excellence of that Jesus to whom all the prophets bear witness.
But we may add, that the declared purpose for which the Messiah came into the world corresponds to all the rest of the representation. It was not to deliver an oppressed nation from civil tyranny, or to erect a great civil empire. It was another and far sublimer purpose—a purpose, in comparison of which all our policies are poor and little, and all the performances of man as nothing. It was to deliver a world from ruin; to abolish sin and death; to purify and immortalize human nature; and thus, in the most exalted sense, to be the Saviour of men and a blessing to all nations. Such is the scriptural delineation of that economy which we call prophetic.
4. Prophecy in this peculiar sense, and on this ample scale, is found nowhere but in the Holy Scriptures, and to them therefore the advantage of this species of evidence exclusively belongs. It is a growing evidence, gathering strength by length of time, and affording from age to age fresh proofs of its Divine origin. Heathenism never made any clear and well-founded pretensions to it; and Mohammedanism, though it stands as a proof of the truth of Scripture prophecy, is unsupported by a single prediction of its own.
5. The Objection raised to Scripture Prophecy from its supposed obscurity has no solid foundation. There is, it is true, a prophetic language of symbol, or emblem; but it is a language which is definite in its meaning, and as easily understood as that of poetry. This, however, is not always used. The style of prophecy often differs in nothing from that of the Hebrew poets, or sinks into the plainness of historical narrative.
The two great ends of prophecy are, to excite expectation before the event, and to confirm the truth by an unequivocal fulfillment; and it is a sufficient answer to the allegation of the obscurity of prophecy, that it has abundantly accomplished both these objects. It cannot be denied, far instance, that by means of predictions an expectation of the advent of a Divine Restorer was kept up among the Jews; that as these predictions multiplied their expectation became more intense; and that at the time of our Lord’s coming this expectation prevailed, not only among the Israelites, but also among other nations. This purpose then was sufficiently answered, and the objection is met. It is in this way that prophecy serves as a basis for our hope in regard to things yet to come, such as the final triumph of truth and righteousness, the universal establishment of the kingdom of our Lord, and the ultimate rewards of the righteous.
The second end of prophecy is, to confirm the truth by the subsequent event. Here the question of the actual fulfillment of Scripture prophecy is involved, to which we shall immediately advert.
6. From what theologians call the “double sense” of prophecy an objection of another kind has been raised, as though no definite meaning could be assigned to the prophecies of Scripture but that they resembled the ambiguity of the pagan oracles. Nothing, however, can be more unfounded. The equivocations of the heathen oracles arose from their ignorance of future events, and from their endeavors to conceal that ignorance by such indefinite expressions as might be equally applicable to two or more events of a contrary description. But the double sense of Scripture prophecy springs from a foreknowledge of its accomplishment in both senses; whence the prediction is purposely so framed as to include both events, the one being typical of the other.
So far, then, are these seeming ambiguities of meaning from forming any valid objection to the credibility of Scripture prophecies, that we may urge them as additional proofs that these predictions came from God. For, who but the Being who is infinite in knowledge and in counsel could so construct predictions as to give them a twofold application to events not only distant from one another, but to human foresight, unconnected with each other?
II. Examples of Prophecy which prove themselves to be real Predictions
We now proceed to enumerate a few predictions contained in the Scriptures which most unequivocally show a perfect knowledge of future events, and which, therefore, as certainly prove that they were uttered by men who spoke “as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Let us notice,
1. The Prophecy respecting the Seed of the Woman.— “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15. In vain is it attempted to resolve the whole of the transaction with which this prediction stands connected into allegory, or to show that the language expresses a mere fact of natural history, the enmity between the human race and serpents. In no intelligible sense can the passage be understood but in that fixed upon it by other portions of the sacred volume.
The serpent and the seed of the woman are representatives of two invisible and mighty powers, the one good, the other evil; the one Divine, though incarnate, the other diabolic. Between them enmity is placed, which is to express itself in a long and fearful struggle, in the course of which the seed of the woman shall sustain a temporary wound; but the conflict shall issue in the infliction of a fatal blow upon the power of the serpent.
The scene of this contest is our globe, and generally the visible agents in it are men under their respective leaders. The serpent is endeavoring to render dominant error, vice, and rebellion against the Divine government; while the seed of the woman is advocating truth, virtue, and obedience to God.
Now, that such a contest of principles and powers has existed in the world no one can deny. It commenced with Cain and Abel, and was continued in the wickedness and punishment of the antediluvians, and in the prevalence of idolatry and the judgments of God upon idolatrous nations; and we trace it in the history of the Jews down to the coming of our Lord. We witness the sufferings and death of the incarnate Redeemer, the bruising of his heel; but he died only to revive again, more visibly and powerfully to establish his kingdom and to commence his spiritual conquests. The history of the Christian Church is but the history of this mighty struggle between light and darkness. The contest still continues, but with increasing zeal on the part of Christianity, and with a success which warrants the hope that the time is not far distant when the head of the serpent shall be bruised throughout the entire world, and the idols of modern heathenism be displaced to introduce the worship of the universal Saviour.
Infidels may scoff at a redeemer, and deride the notion of a tempter; but they cannot deny that such a contest as is here foretold has actually taken place and still continues. This contest, so extended, so continued, and so to be terminated, no human foresight could have foretold; and the fact is therefore established that no one could have uttered this first promise made to fallen man but He whose eye looks through the depths of future ages.
2. The Prediction of Jacob in regard to the coming of “Shiloh.”—”The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come.” Gen. 49:10.
The word “Shiloh” signifies the Peacemaker, or he who is to be sent. In either sense it is applicable to the Messiah. Nor is this application an invention of Christians, for it was so understood by the ancient Jews, and the modern ones are unable to resist the evidence drawn from the passage in favor of the claims of our Lord. That the prophecy has received a singular accomplishment in the person of Christ is certain, and it is equally certain that in no other person has it been accomplished in any sense whatever. Judah, as a tribe, remained till after the advent of Christ, which cannot be said of the long-dispersed ten tribes, and scarcely of Benjamin, which was merged into the tribe of Judah.
It has been asked, Where was the supremacy of Judah when Nebuchadnezzar carried the whole nation captive to Babylon, when Alexander subdued Palestine, and when it was a tributary province of the Roman empire? We reply that the prediction does not convey the idea of either independent or supreme power, but that the tribe of Judah should retain its ensigns, its chiefs, and its tribeship until the coming of Shiloh. During the captivity in Babylon this tribe was kept distinct, and had its own internal government and chief. Under the dominion of the Asmonean kings the Jews had their rulers, their elders, and their council; and so under the Romans.
It is, therefore, matter of unquestionable historic fact, that until our Lord came and had accomplished his work on earth the tribe of Judah continued; and that in a short time afterward it was dispersed, and mingled with the common mass of the Jews of all tribes and countries. We see, then, that this prediction implies a prescience of countless contingencies, occurring in the lapse of successive ages, which can only belong to God.
3. Predictions respecting the Jewish Nation.— These predictions, beginning with those of Moses and running through all the Jewish prophets, are too numerous to be adduced; but there are three prominent topics contained in them which demand consideration. These are, the frequent and gross departures of the Jews from the Divine Law, their signal punishments, and their final restoration to their own land. All these have taken place. Even the last was accomplished by the return of the Jews from Babylon, though, in its highest sense, it is still future.
(1.) Their Apostasies.— These were foretold by Moses. “I know,” said he, “that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you.” Deut. 31:29. This prediction proves very clearly that Moses was an inspired prophet. The rebellious race whom he had led into the wilderness had died there, the new generation were much more disposed to obey their leader, and when these words were written appearances were all in favor of the future obedience of that people.
But even if this had not been the case, it would have been the last thought with Moses, as a merely political man, that his favorite institutions should fall into disuse and contempt. Nor is it to be supposed that be would have closed his public life by declaring that he foresaw such an event if even he had feared it. Nothing, therefore, but the spirit of prophecy could have influenced him to make such an announcement.
(2.) Their threatened Punishments.— The Jews were threatened with signal punishments in famines, pestilences, invasions, dispersions, captivities, and subjugations to foreign enemies; and these are represented as being solely the consequences of their vicious departures from God and from his laws.
It may be said that Moses uttered his predictive menaces to deter the people from departing from institutions which he was anxious, for the sake of his own fame, that they should observe. To this we answer, that he could not expect the Israelites to attach any weight to his threats, unless their former rebellions had been punished by such visitations. For forty years his laws had been often disobeyed, and if no infliction of Divine displeasure had followed, what reason had they to credit the menaces of Moses as to the future? But if such inflictions had resulted from their disobedience, everything in regard to these threatenings is rational and consistent.
The infidel may choose which of these positions he pleases. If he thinks that Moses aimed to deter the people from departing from his institutions by empty threats, he ascribes an incredible absurdity to a man of unquestionable wisdom and policy; but if his predictive threatenings were enforced by former marked and acknowledged interpositions of Divine Providence, he was God’s inspired prophet. Who but an inspired man could foresee that no famine, no blight, no invasion would befall the Jews, except in obvious punishment for their offenses? What was there in the common course of things to prevent them, though observant of their laws, from falling under the dominion of more powerful nations but the special protection of God? And what but this could guard them from the plagues and famines to which their neighbors were liable?
If we turn to matters of fact as recorded in the sacred history, we will find that every instance of singular calamity is consequent on a previous departure from the laws of Moses; the one following the other with almost as much regularity and certainty as natural effects follow their causes. In this the predictions of Moses and the Prophets are strikingly fulfilled, and a more than human foresight is proved.
Let us look farther into the detail of these threatened punishments of the Jews. Besides the ordinary inflictions of failing harvests and severe diseases in their own country, they were, according to the predictions of Moses, (Deut. 28) to be scattered “among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other.” And where is the trading nation in Asia, Africa, Europe, or America in which they are not? Who could foresee this but God; especially when their singular preservation as a distinct people, a solitary instance in the history of nations, is implied?
This remarkable chapter, written more than three thousand years ago, contains other predictions equally striking, and as evidently accomplished. The siege of Jerusalem by the Romans is pointed out with that particularity which demonstrates, in the most unequivocal manner, the prescience of Him to whom all events are known with absolute certainty. That the Romans are intended in verse 49, by the nation brought from “the end of the earth” distinguished by their well-known ensign, “the eagle” and by their fierce and cruel disposition, is exceedingly probable. And it is remarkable, that the account of Moses in regard to the horrors of the siege of which he speaks is exactly paralleled by those well-known passages in Josephus, in which he describes the. siege of Jerusalem by the Roman army.
(3.) Their final Restoration.— Moses and other prophets agree, that after all the captivities and dispersions of the Jews they shall again be restored to their own land. This was in one instance accomplished, as we have seen, in their restoration by Cyrus and his successors, after which they became a considerable state. Jeremiah had fixed the captivity so unequivocally to seventy years, that the Jews in Babylon, when the time drew near, began to prepare for their return. But there was nothing in the circumstances of the Babylonian empire, when the prediction was uttered, to warrant the hope of such a deliverance. No one therefore but He who determines the affairs of the world by his power and wisdom could foretell that event.
A future restoration, however, awaits this people, and will be to the world a glorious demonstration of the truth of prophecy. This being future, we cannot argue upon; but three things are certain: the Jews themselves expect it; they are preserved by the providence of God as a distinct people for their country; and their country, which in fact is possessed by no one, is preserved for them.
4. Prophecies respecting the Messiah—the great end and object of the prophetic dispensation. Divines have selected more than one hundred predictions, generally of very clear and explicit meaning, and each referring to some different circumstance connected with the appearing, the person, or the history of Jesus Christ. How are all these to be disposed of, if the inspiration of the Scriptures which contain them be denied?
These predictions are in books written many ages before the birth of our Saviour; and that no interpolations have taken place to accommodate them to him is evident, for the same predictions are found in copies which are in the hands of the Jews, and which have descended to them from before the Christian era. On the other hand, the history of Jesus answers to these predictions, and exhibits their exact accomplishment.

The Messiah was to be of the seed of David; born in Bethlehem; born of a virgin; an incarnation of deity, God with us; and an eminent but unsuccessful teacher. He was to open the eyes of the blind, heal the diseased, and raise the dead. He was to be despised and rejected of his own countrymen, arraigned on false charges, denied justice, and condemned to a violent death. He was to rise from the dead, ascend to the right hand of God, and being there invested with power and authority, he was to punish his enemies, and to establish his own spiritual kingdom, which shall never end.
We need not enter into more minute predictions, for the argument is irresistible when founded on these alone. If we deny that the prophets were divinely inspired, how shall we account for the fact that these circumstances, strange as they are, have all met in one person, and in one only of all the millions of men, and that person Jesus of Nazareth? We may assert that no man, or number of men, could have made such conjectures. It is therefore impossible to evade the evidence in favor of the prophetic character of these predictions, which their fulfillment affords, unless it could be shown that Jesus and his disciples, by some kind of concert, made the events of his life and death to correspond with the prophecies in order to substantiate his claim to the Messiahship.
No infidel has ever been so absurd as to hazard this opinion except Lord Bolingbroke. He asserts that Jesus Christ brought on his own death, by a series of willful and preconcerted measures, merely to give his disciples the triumph of an appeal to ancient prophecies! But this hypothesis does not reach the case. He ought to have shown that our Lord preconcerted his descent from David, his being born of a virgin, and in the town of Bethlehem; and that he contrived not only his death, but his resurrection and ascension also, and the spread of his religion in opposition to human opinion and human power, in order to give his disciples the triumph of an appeal to the Prophecies! Thus men do violence to their own understanding by denying the truth.
That wonderful series of particular prophecies respecting our Lord, contained in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, will illustrate the foregoing observations, and may properly close this chapter.
The style of this portion of Scripture is that of narrative; it is also entire in itself, and unmixed with any other subject; and it evidently refers to one single person. So the ancient Jews understood it, and applied it to the Messiah; and though modern Jews, in order to evade its force in the argument with Christians, allege that it describes the sufferings of their nation, and not of an individual, the objection is refuted by the terms of the passage.
The Jewish people could not be the sufferer, because he was to bear their griefs, to carry their sorrows, and to be wounded for their transgressions; so that the person of the sufferer is clearly distinguished from the Jewish nation. Moreover, his death and burial are spoken of, which in no sense can be applied to the Jews. To some individual it must be applied; to no one but our Lord can it be applied; and applied to him, the prophecy assumes the appearance of real history.
Let the infidel meditate thoroughly and soberly upon these predictions. Their priority to the events admits of no question, and their fulfillment is obvious to every competent inquirer. Here, then, are facts, and we must account for these facts on rational and adequate principles. Is human foresight equal to the task? Is conjecture? Is chance? Is political contrivance? If none of these can account for the facts, neither can any other principle that may be devised by the sagacity of man. As, therefore, every effect must have a cause, true philosophy, as well as true religion, will ascribe them to the inspiration of the Almighty.
—Christian Theology