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truths which lie above his own perception, those truths which 
have respect to the relations of the created with the Creating 
Mind. This, I say, is an antecedent probability, as our own 
Bishop Butler shows. It is to be expected from a Benevolent 
Ruler, that He should benevolently make some communica- 
tions concerning Himself ; and the expectation is confirmed 
by the analogy of our own dealing, where the superior inva- 
riably conveys directions to the inferior, and the more so 
where the information is such as the inferior, unassisted, 
would be unable to procure. But the bolder sceptic denies 
this. A Revelation, he says, is improbable. In spite of 
analogies, he accepts it as a greater probability that the 
Supreme should not, than that He should, reveal anything to 
man concerning His nature and will, more than might be read 
in His works. Which is the more credulous, he who holds 
that the Benevolent will limit His benevolence, or that He 
will not do so ? he who asserts or he who denies that the 
Supreme One guides the intellect He has made ? he who holds 
or he who spurns the sentiment, “ Deos didici securum agere 
sevum 99 ? 
But our sceptic, possibly, does not go so far as to deny 
the possibility or even the probability of a Revelation. But 
when we come to the question whether a Revelation has 
been made, and, if made, where it is, then “ altum silentium.' J 
There is a book, or set of books, which is believed and has 
been believed by many to be this Revelation. It has been 
considered to be, and in fact' professes to be, a history of the 
dealings of the Deity with mankind, so far as bears upon their 
final destiny, together with certain models or suggestions for 
devotion, axioms relative to things divine, precepts for action, 
and some hints as to the direction of the Divine scheme in 
years yet to come. It is not antecedently improbable, our 
sceptic admits, that such a communication should be made, and 
in fact it is very much what we should expect to have made. 
“ This is what I have done, these are hints as to what I shall 
do ; these are rules for communicating with Me, these are 
laws to regulate your conduct towards Me and one another.^ 
Still, reasonable and probable as all appears, it is rejected. 
This is not the communication which the Creator made. 
Now, supposing the probability of a Revelation granted, let 
us see what is the logical position of the sceptic as contrasted 
with the believer. The latter argues : — These books are much 
what we might have expected a Revelation to be. They 
contain difficulties, and we might, a priori, suppose that the 
will and word of the Creator would not be always easily intelli- 
gible to the created. They are not the definite, dogmatic 
