Lord never chose such men as his witnesses, and that their testimony is no better than deliberate perjury and blasphemy, is too plain to need proof. Though the book of Mormon declares expressly that the eyes of none but three witnesses should behold the plates; yet in direct contradiction to this we find afterwards the testimony of eight witnesses more, who say, 'We bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shown unto us, and we have seen and HEFTED, and know of a surety that the said Smith has got the plates.' | Of these eight witnesses three have renounced Mormonism, and the character of them all is such as to render them un. worthy of credit. Indeed, the book of Mormon contains internal evidence clear and convincing, that the testimony of the witnesses respecting its origin is a base fabrication. If ever a book bore indubitable marks of being a forgery, this undoubtedly does. It is proved to be an imposture by all those rules which judicious critics have laid down for detecting spurious writings, and by which they have proved that the apocryphal works, which in the early ages of christianity were ascribed to Christ and his apostles, are spurious. Like the writings just mentioned, it abounds with contradictions of the Bible; of which the following instance may be regarded as a fair specimen:-'Behold if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but would have remained in the Garden of Eden. And all things, which were created, must have remained in the same state in which they were created, and they must have remained for ever and had no end. And they would have had no children, wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; and doing no good, for they knew no sin. But behold all things have been done by the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are sinful that they might have joy.' Page 65. Here we are told that if our first parents had not fallen they would have had no children; and therefore it was impossible for them to obey the divine command to be fruitful and multiply,' without sinning. And if they had remained in a state of innocence they would have had no joy,

because they knew no misery; and would have done no good because they knew no sin. According to this, then, men must be sinful and miserable, in order to do good and be happy. The angels, therefore, who have always remained in a state of innocence, have never done any good, nor enjoyed any happiness! What a palpable absurdity, and glaring contradiction of the whole Bible. The book or Mormon has been justly characterized by an able writer as a peevish romance.' The greater part of it, except what is taken from the Bible, is insipid and uninteresting in the highest degree. Though it affects an imitation of the style of the Bible, yet it is wholly destitute of the simplicity, sublimity and majesty of the sacred volume. And were it not for its extravagant pretensions, and the Sect to which it has given rise, no one would think it worth reading. And indeed whoever undertakes to read it through will find his patience severely tried, if not exhausted, before he gets to the end. As the author of 'Mormonism pourtrayed' has justly remarked, 'probably in the history of the world there is not to be found an instance of more cool impudence, and deliberate blasphemy than is contained in this book." Nor since the days of the apostles has there ever been a book published claiming to be written by inspiration, but what has borne strong marks of delusion or imposture. The Bible is the only volume extant, that exhibits satisfactory proof of being given by inspiration of God.' Never has my mind been impressed with a deeper conviction of its divine authenticity than when I have compared it with those spurious productions which claim to be inspired. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so far it exceeds them all.

The proofs of inspiration which I have already examined are the only proofs on which reliance can be reasonably placed, and if I have succeeded in showing that these have ceased since the days of the apostles, then it will follow as a necessary consequence that inspiration has ceased since that time. For it is not to be supposed, that God would continue to grant inspiration to men, without continuing to accompany it with its appropriate proofs.

ON my entering on a new sphere of labour I was much struck with the peculiarities of one of the leading friends. He was a man of small stature, exceedingly active, very smart in his costume, and particularly polite and courteous in his manners. He seemed very anxious to oblige, and appeared to pay great deference to his minister; and more, it was evident that he was equally anxious to be thought a person of great importance. His address speedily convinced you that his education had not been over suffi. cient; and his strange ideas and peculiar unfortunately constructed sentences often puzzled you, not only on the ground of bad grammar, but as to the mysteriousness of their signification. His speech, too, was exceedingly rapid, and he might have studied gesticulation under some French teacher. Yet with all this he professed to have been a General Baptist for many years. He was not niggardly of his means, and he was tolerably punctual in his attendance on deaconal duties. It is difficult to say whether the man ever had religion or not. For the divers frailties of his character must have made all his friends to stand in doubt' of him. His leading sin was vanity; he ever wanted to be seen and noticed; he wished to be considered of great importance to the cause; and as the church had been previously distracted with division, he boasted of the wise course he had pursued, and of the great foresight and sagacity he had evinced. His vanity was evident in all he did, and almost in all he said. The graver defects of his character were most felt in the domestic circle: he was always either displaying a ridiculous levity and fondness towards the members of his family, or he was pettish and sulky, or passionate, or given to whims and temper, as hisinherent vanity might suggest. His sensitiveness was extreme, so that it was difficult to admonish, or advise, without wounding and mortifying him extremely. At length a period of trial came to the church, and probably wishing to show how he could play the tyrant over his family, who were much attached to the cause, he left, and united with the secession party. To my own mind it was VOL. 13.-N.S.

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evident that by so doing he had done the church the greatest possible favour; but unhappily for himself it was a fearful step in his own downward course of ruin,-his family became unsettled, he began to wander about to various places of worship, and the restraints of office being now broken he speedily deviated from the line of external propriety, and became a religious wreck. One Saturday I had been dining with a friend, when on returning home I found that the ex-deacon had been waiting at the gate to have an interview with me. His object was soon explained: he wanted to borrow a sovereign. He had by negligence, if not by dishonesty, lost a good situation; his family were in want, and he was employing his wits to find out old acquaintances in order to get help by loans or otherwise. To have lent him money would have been absurdity: I offered to give him balf-acrown, but he pleaded for the sovereign as a loan. At length he accepted my proffered small donation. I have not seen him since, but his course has been lower and lower, and the man who once stood forth as a deacon in the church of Christ, by seeking the applause of men, and yielding to his own besetting sin, is now a miserable outcast, and his sing and folly have entailed innumerable evils on the family to whom he should have been an example, a joy, and a blessing. How needful, not only to make a christian profession, but to cultivate humility of spirit and lowliness of mind; to guard against self-sufficiency, and to pray daily that God, in his grace, would hold us up that we may be safe. A man who sows vanity, vanity must of necessity be his recompence. A sober mind, a watchful spirit, and a holy contrite heart, are the only safe guards to reli. gious perseverance, and final happiness.

As no kind of instruction is better adapted to aid us in this work of selfcultivation, than the study of character, the above brief melancholy history shows,

1. That no christian church ought to have chosen such a man to the office of deacon; and nothing but party infatuation ever could have so far erred in his official elevation.

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2. That of all unmanly and unChrist-like exhibitions, vanity is one of the most disgusting. If the truth has not led us to feel our own unworthiness what has it done for us? If grace does not clothe with humility what sign have we that we possees it?

3. That a mere profession or official connection with the church is no guarantee for even moral steadfastness; and that all who think they stand, should with such beacons before them, take heed lest they make shipwreck, at least, of a christian profession.

RELIGION does not repudiate knowledge; by no means. On the contrary, she maintains the importance of all knowledge when made subservient to man's highest interests. The first thing, the one thing needful is to have our nature renewed by the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and then every increase of knowledge in any direction will tend to the glory of God and our own individual happiness. If a tree bears fruit which is poison, the more fruit that it bears, it is only an increased quantity of poison which is produced. If a tree bears good fruit, then every thing which tends to increase its capacity for bearing, tends to give an increase of good fruit. If man in his unregenerated state, and whilst he is the servant of sin, increases his knowledge, he just extends his evil capacity and his evil action. If he has been brought under the influerce of godliness, increasing his knowledge increases both his godliness and the influence of his godliness. His know ledge covers a godly man with fruit large and beautiful. And our Lord says, Herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.'

Look, then, at a godly man who knows God, who believes on Jesus Christ, and who lives under the power of Gospel truth, and see the importance of knowledge to such a man, first, in increasing his usefulness. If he has but little knowledge he has little power; but all the little power which he has, he endeavours to turn to useful account. He tries with it to do good. As his knowledge increases his power increases, and still the spirit of godliness leads him to devote his increased and increasing power to doing good. It is comparatively little that an ignorant

man can do for the good of his kind. The humble peasant, who is a child of God, can indeed train up his children in the knowledge of the truth, and, by a consistent godly life, can recommend pure and undefiled religion to all around him. But the godly man whose knowledge is extensive, possesses a weight which gives him a wider and more commanding influence. His example tells more beneficially than that of a man comparatively ignorant, though equally under the power of the truth, and anxious to be useful. Thoughtless men and godless mockers cannot say of the intelligent well-informed christian, that he is a weak silly man not worth regarding. His attainments command their respect, and give weight to his opinions, his labours and his example. Besides this, a man's knowledge directly furnishes him with the means of doing good. It discovers to him those quarters in which he may be useful, and the means by which good may be done; and it often gives him the power of accomplishing what his understanding approves of as right. Knowledge is both eyes and hands to a good man in doing the will of his Father in heaven, and promoting the real welfare of his fellow men. that whoever wishes to be truly useful, must see that it is of importance that he acquire knowledge.

So

Then, again, we would wish to impress on you the importance of knowledge to man in reference to the exaltation and advancement of his nature, When destitute of knowledge, man goes down very near to the condition of the lower animals. The Boshiemen, and some other savage tribes are scarcely above, one almost thinks them below the beaver and the elephant in the scale of intelli

gent beings. And even in our own christain land, in the wynds and lanes of your own city, there are to be found human beings so ignorant and debased and brutal, that one can discover in them scarcely any traces of the excellency of human nature or of its superiority over the nature of the nobler of the lower animals. But as knowledge increases, the distinguishing features of man's nature begin to stand out to observation. He begins to appear a rational, intelligent creature, by every increase in his knowledge increasing the perceptible distance between himself and the brutes which perish. If his sinful nature retains the dominion, and if it be the substratum on which his increasing knowledge is laid, then in increasing his distance from the brute creation by increasing knowledge, he approaches nearer and nearer to a resemblance to a mighty evil spirit. If he be a new creature in Christ Jesus in increasing by knowledge his distance from the lower animals, he approaches nearer to the angels of light. Knowledge constituted a part of the image of God in which man was created; and when a man has been made a child of God by regeneration, an increase of his knowledge is just a renewal on his nature of that divine image which he originally possessed, and which was marred by the fall. God is infinite in knowledge, and the more that a good man adds to his knowledge, he rises in the scale of being, and approaches towards the fountain of perfection. Almost as far as the nature of man is above that of the irrational animals, is the highly culti vated intellect of a godly man above the nature of the entirely uneducated human being, guided solely by sensual passions and appetites. And what is it that will exalt and advance man's nature in a future world? Is not knowledge one of the most important elements of that advancement and exaltation? Will there not be a vast increase of knowledge, when the veil is withdrawn that separates time from eternity? Will not amazing things then be revealed? And will not that accession of knowledge, that pouring in of light into the understanding exalt the nature of man, make him a higher and nobler being than he is now, and carry him on in a progress to which we can see no limit, since it is the infinite God who stands at the

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summit of the series along which man by increasing knowledge is rising?

Then man's happiness evidently arises out of his usefulness, and the exaltation aud advancement of his nature. These furnish him both with the capacity of enjoying happiness, and with materials to feed and exercise that capacity. Man usefully employed, serving with all his energies God and his generation, with a nature exalted and advancing onwards to higher degrees of intelligence and power, is man in his best estate, man glorifying and enjoying God.

So that if man's highest interests are the exaltation and advancement of his to be regarded as including his usefulness, nature, and his true happiness, knowledge is beyond all question exceedingly important when made subservient to these interests.

From all that I have said, my young friends will at once perceive that true christians have every thing to expect, and nothing to fear from the increase of their knowledge. Knowledge will establish their faith, not shake in the slightest degree its foundations. It will exalt their nature; it will induce and enable them to be more useful to their fellowcreatures, both with regard to this world and the next; and thus it will largely contribute to their true happiness. In past ages it has sometimes happened that infidels have supposed, that in the increase of their knowledge, facts have come to light which destroy the credit of the word of God; and bitter was the sneer, and loud the laugh of triumph with which the great discovery was paraded before the world. But a little time and a little more knowledge sufficed to show that it was ignorance, and not knowledge which had discovered these grand objections. And what has happened already will happen again, till all apparent contradictions of revealed truth vanish away before the clear light of real knowledge. Verily from the spread of knowledge religion has nothing to fear, but every thing to hope.

Let my young friends then engage in the pursuit of knowledge vigorously and perseveringly. One parting admonition and but one I give them; Let the fear of the Lord be the beginning of your wisdom. Without that fear, knowledge will make a man a fiend. With that fear, knowledge carries man on to the glorious perfection of his nature.