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written at that period ; that its theology is that of the earlier 
Scriptures ; that the supposed late language is not really 
such, and that this whole objection arises out of misappre- 
hension, if not ignorance ; that the book contains, put it where 
you will in point of date, undeniable prophecy ; that the sup- 
posed historical inaccuracies are really indications of extreme 
accuracy ; and that many touches are found in it, involving a 
knowledge of national customs and the like, which could have 
been possessed by none but a contemporary. To dispute all 
this requires more credulity than to believe. 
Sceptics are of two schools. There are those who examine 
in order to pull down, and will believe anything, so they can, 
by believing it, and inducing others to believe, undermine the 
general faith in the scheme and the records of Christianity. 
But there are those whose scepsis is really intended to lead to 
truth ; and though it may, according to our notions, fail to 
attain that end, we cannot help respecting those whose object 
is really the same as our own. To them we would say, “ See 
how much you must believe in order not to believe as we do ! 
See what violence you must do to your own minds in order to 
expel from thence, or guide at your own will therein, those 
thoughts of the Infinite which we maintain are directed by a 
celestial rule and a superhuman Guide !” You must have such 
thoughts : if there is a Deity at all, you must think of Him. 
“When the Scripture,” says Lord Bacon, “ tells us. The fool 
hath said in his heart , there is no God , it does not say, he hath 
thought it in his heart ; nemo enim Deos non esse credit, nisi 
cui Deos non esse expedit.” Take care, then, that you do not 
run to the extreme of credulity, by believing in a God of your 
own construction without any testimony to His existence, save 
your own imaginings. Such a belief may lead to outward 
expressions, and inward feelings too, which may be mistaken 
for the comforts of the Christian. Spinoza was termed “ a 
God-intoxicated man,” but the god which inebriated him was 
but the elaboration of his own mind and heart — not a bene- 
volent Being, the object of his adoration, and the source of 
his hopes for the present and for the future. To such a Divine 
Person we must turn, the Author of Nature and the Giver of 
Revelation, Who alone can satisfy the longings of the soaring 
intellect, or fill the void in the mourning heart. To believe in 
Him and His is the truest reason — to disbelieve involves the 
merest credulity or the blindest self-reliance. And so those 
will find who seek in order to learn. There was one who wan- 
dered of old, and was guided, through many a maze of error 
and blind acquiescence in human theories, to the Truth. Au- 
gustin the rhetorician, Augustin the self-indulgent, Augustin 
