them by intuition, reasoning, and, in the case of unacquaintance with science, by belief in the affirmation of others. Now, as it regards the acquiring of divine knowledge, its facts and truths must be implicitly admitted on the testimony of God; which testimony may be considered as direct or indirect. The direct testimony of God is exhibited in the case of the prophets and apostles, and the indirect in the case of those who have received that testimony from them either orally, traditionally, or by written documents. Again, there can be no doubt, that divine wisdom provided ample means of conviction for those to whom God revealed himself by direct testimony; and it is as reasonable to suppose, that God would not have left his testimony, when communicated by the original instruments, to rest on their unsupported authority: hence we find all the apostles and prophets, in attestation of their mission, confidently appealing to the accomplishment of prophecies, or the performance of

the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

It may be proper in this place to remind the reader, that all knowledge consists of facts and truths. These may be viewed as having a reference to things human, or things divine. Human knowledge consists of facts and truths which are attainable by experience and reasoning and divine knowledge consists of facts and truths which are unattainable by human investigation, being placed without the sphere of human perception, and which, therefore, in order to be known, must be revealed by God himself. As it regards the facts of human knowledge, we arrive at them by experience and the testimony of others; and as it regards the truths of human knowledge, we come at

them by intuition, reasoning, and, in the case of unacquaintance with science, by belief in the affirmation of others. Now, as it regards the acquiring of divine knowledge, its facts and truths must be implicitly admitted on the testimony of God; which testimony may be considered as direct or indirect. The direct testimony of God is exhibited in the case of the prophets and apostles, and the indirect in the case of those who have received that testimony from them either orally, traditionally, or by written documents. Again, there can be no doubt, that divine wisdom provided ample means of conviction for those to whom God revealed himself by direct testimony; and it is as reasonable to suppose, that God would not have left his testimony, when communicated by the original instruments, to rest on their unsupported authority: hence we find all the apostles and prophets, in attestation of their mission, confidently appealing to the accomplishment of prophecies, or the performance of

miracles. Our duty, then, in reference to the agents employed in the communication of the divine will, is to ascertain the validity of their mission, the sincerity and competency of their evidence, or the genuineness and integrity of their writings. Having satisfied ourselves as to these matters, we must next implicitly rely on their declarations concerning the facts and truths of divine knowledge. And the mode of ascertaining the import of those declarations, it is evident, must be the same as that adopted in the examination of merely human productions; for were the way of finding their meaning mysterious, they would then cease to be considered as a revelation, and the mode of attaining their meaning would justly claim right to that title.

We may further remark, that many of the truths of divine knowledge are founded on facts, some of which are of human, and others of divine origin. Thus the revealed truth that

God is the governor of the world, is founded on a divine fact-the creation of the world by divine power: and the revealed truth that Jesus Christ has made an atonement for the sins of men, is founded on a fact of human knowledge, viz. the fact of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which was effected by human means. We must, therefore, in the examination of Scripture, attentively consider whether that which is divinely testified is a fact or a truth; and if a fact only, it is evident, that we ought not to found on that fact any truth which cannot stand the test of the soundest reasoning. Hence we must always distinguish between a truth that is expressly revealed, and one that is only inferred. Concerning a revealed truth there can be no mistake, provided we have a thorough understanding of the terms in which it is communicated; but concerning an inferred truth, we ought always to exercise the utmost caution, for the particular truth in this case rests not on divine testimony, but on human reason