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teaching of Him in whom there is no deceit and no possibility 
of mistake, as the Revelation of Him from whom all wisdom 
and all knowledge proceed. 
It does not seem fair, therefore, to assert that the study of 
philosophy, or the increased attention devoted to physical 
science, can be the explanation of the apparent increase of 
infidelity. Take the case of young men who go up to the 
Universities. Suppose the very possible case of their going up 
with a scanty knowledge of the Scriptures. Suppose that they 
are strangers to the coincidences and extraordinary harmonies 
which the various books of the Bible present. While studying 
in their colleges, they hear much of the difficulties which have 
to be reconciled, they hear much of the miraculous interven- 
tions which have to be accounted for, they hear much of the 
doubts with which unbelievers of every age have regarded 
everything that claims to be supernatural. 
If they had any sufficient acquaintance with the other side 
of the question, if they had any adequate knowledge of the 
w r ay in which the Scripture speaks for itself, they would be able 
to balance the difficulties. They would be in a position to 
retain their faith in spite of the skill and of the persistence 
with which apparent inconsistencies are presented to them. 
They would be competent to form some independent judgment 
for themselves. 
But, as it is, infidelity has increased because, generally 
speaking, men are ignorant of the contents of the Scripture. 
As luxury and riches have increased, so also has carelessness 
with respect to religious matters. Parents, by their example, 
encourage their children to neglect the Bible. They do not 
study the Scriptures, and therefore, naturally and necessarily, 
they are ignorant of them. They have no weapons, therefore, 
w herewith to ward off the attacks of infidelity. They are beset 
with doubts, and they yield to them only too readily. They 
are not sorry to be persuaded that those writings, which they 
regard with indifference, if not with aversion, are really not 
worthy of the esteem in which they have so long been held. 
The Scriptures appear to me to prepare us for the increase of 
infidelity, and to assign the explanation of this “ falling away ” 
from the ancient belief, which we already behold. It is to be 
attributed not to the increasing love of science or of philosophy, 
but to the fact that men are more and more haters of God and 
lovers of their own selves. The difficulty is, after all, far more 
moral than intellectual. It is due to the increased carelessness 
which prosperity and peace have gradually engendered. Science, 
if unprejudiced, will feel an interest, a strong and irresistible 
interest, in the teaching of that Book for whihh there is so 
