254 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



his divinity, divinity associated with humanity, that thus 

 he might be our brother in sympathy, both in joy and sor- 

 row, a union incomprehensible to our finite minds, but 

 not more so than that of our immortal souls with our mortal 

 bodies. The little volume which I now send you com- 

 prises, as you are aware, but a small portion of the copious 

 evidence which supports the divine origin of the Scrip- 

 tures. The Old Testament, marked by the peculiarities of 

 the ages and countries which it commemorates, with occa- 

 sional openings into the future world, holds out in promi- 

 nent relief the interests of the present world ; while the 

 New Testament, in accordance with the prophecies in the 

 Old Testament, brings life and immortality fully to light 

 through the Saviour. Had your course of research been 

 as fully devoted to these subjects as it has been to physical 

 science, I trust you would not have been an unbeliever ; 

 and it is even now not too late to ascertain whether the 

 Bible is really, as you intimate, a cunningly, or even a 

 clumsily, devised fable. Should you, to say no more, view 

 the " Christ of History " as I do, you may have occasion 

 to review the position you have taken, which appears to me 

 full of danger. I must confess that I closed your volume 

 with very painful emotions, and my mind has anxiously 

 balanced between the duty which it seemed to me I owed 

 to my early and constant friend, and my despondency as to 

 my power to produce any salutary effect upon his mind. 

 At last, after much consideration, I have concluded to ad- 

 clivss to you a few remarks, in a spirit of perfect kindness 

 and affectionate interest, but of deep and anxious concern. 



My dear , I cannot desert my Saviour, him 



who spoke as never man spake, while he knew what was 

 in man ; who has paid my debt when I was bankrupt; and 

 who sustained in my stead the penalties of a violated law; 

 I cannot desert him, and repose my confidence in the 

 visions of so-called mediums. You and I are now old men, 

 and the time is not remote it may be very near when 



