359 
revealed before him to his fathers. Words, and even sen- 
tences, may be collected that express generally-acknowledged 
verities, such as could not be abandoned by the general con- 
science of mankind, but our present question relates to funda- 
mental truths of Divine Revelation, especially the existence of 
One Only God, which we have heard attributed to a Chaldean 
sect. On this truth depends all that is distinctive in Christian 
doctrine as compared with the various religions of the world. 
There is an indestructible unity in the moral teaching of 
the Bible, which would be fatally impaired by the introduction 
of any extraneous element, whether the product of a foreign 
system, or the adaptation of an originally foreign institution. 
That there is one mind prevailing in the Bible must be 
acknowledged by every careful student ; and is, in fact, pre- 
supposed by those disputants who appeal to the Sacred text 
for the confirmation, even of mutually destructive proposi- 
tions. There is evidence of one ruling mind in the consist- 
ency of laws laid down in successive ages for the government 
of human society, as also in the consent of counsel given for 
the right application of these laws. The rules of conduct, 
both towards God and men, first delivered to Adam, then to 
the Patriarchs, and then embodied in that imperishable monu- 
ment of Divine wisdom and justice, the Decalogue, attes-t the 
same unity of origin, and may be distinguished in each par- 
ticular from the false worship and licentious customs of the 
peoples who, at the time of the Exode, retained the oldest 
traditions and mythologies ; namely, the Egyptians, Assyrians, 
and Canaanites. W e recognize the same unchanging prin- 
ciple and purpose in the constant application of the primitive 
laws — laws of the God who says : “I the Lord change not.” 
We have again the evidence of History that the ever-advanc- 
ing standard of Morality, raised and maintained, as by one 
persistent purpose, is apparent in the Mosaic Institutions, as 
to Peace and War; Servitude, as distinct from Slavery, the 
protection of Life and Property; the provisions of the Law of 
Moses having opened the way for the eventual establishment 
of the kingdom of Righteousness and Peace so clearly pre- 
dicted by the Prophets. The original Institution of Marriage 
at the creation, “as it was at the beginning,” an institution 
which men had abused in licentiousness and in hardness of 
heart, was restored at last by the Author of Christianity Him- 
self, for the sanctification of domestic life, and the renovation 
of the world; so fulfilling the original intention. The active 
presence of one sovereign mind is further shown by the 
gradual wasting a-way of polytheism in the world ; not by its 
