of nature presents a parched appearance-then are our eyes earnestly directed to the heavens, if so we can descry the signs of its approach.

The rain, like "every good and perfect gift, is from above, and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning." The Word can trace its origin from the same source; and as the evidence of the source of the rain is obvious to our senses, so the evidence of the origin of the Word is no less satisfactory to those who have given it that careful study to which it is so well entitled. It is just as impossible in the nature of things, that the Word could have originated with any creature, more especially with those who are so degraded as we are, as it would be for the rain to come from any other quarter than the clouds, in consistency with those laws by which the material creation is governed. Without adverting to that host of evidence which it adduces in favour of the high origin to which it lays claim, arising from miracles and from prophecy, from its rapid propagation in the face of the most formidable opposition, it has evidence in itself sufficient to satisfy every serious reflecting mind that it has come from God. Its nature and tendency are so opposite to the depraved heart and life of man, that it is manifest it could never have been his production, as this would be to make a cause produce an effect different from and superior to itself. Good men would not have given out their own opinions as the oracles of the living God; and before such a work could have come from bad men, "the Ethiopean must have changed his skin and the leopard his spots." The

same thing may be said of good and bad angels; and, therefore, as the Word could not, in the nature of things, have proceeded from any creature, we are driven to the conclusion that it is the work of the Creator.

This evidence, which is quite sufficient for the honest mind, is not found so effectual for those who are of a sceptical disposition; and, therefore, along with this, which has been called the internal evidence for the truth of the Word, such persons are directed to the external; and from both of these taken together, if the mind is not convinced of the truth of the Scriptures, we may safely affirm, that to it no evidence whatever would have been satisfactory. We may say in the words of Scripture, "If they believe not Moses and the prophets, neither would they have been persuaded though one rose from the dead."

The heart of man may rebel against the purity of those precepts which the Word inculcates, and may endeavour to put away from it those curses which it denounces against all who live ungodly; but the understanding of every man in his sound senses must admit, that the law which it contains is "holy, just, and good," and that it is the bounden duty of the creature to obey the Creator. His conscience, too, will reiterate and corroborate all those threatenings which it contains with regard to a future state of punishment for the ungodly. The evidence for the origin of the Word may not be of that overpowering and irresistible kind that the infidel requires; but it is of the very kind, and much more satisfactory than that upon which he himself acts in the most important concerns of life, without

the least hesitation. "He that believeth has the witness in himself;" so that we may say, in the words of the apostle upon the subject,-" if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." "Thus

as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, is the Word that goeth out of the mouth of God."

2. The Word may be compared to rain, from its adaptation to the end which it is intended to serve. The rain that descends from above, softens and subdues the stubborn clod; it furnishes food for the whole vegetable kingdom, and thus also for the animal kingdom; it mollifies and warms the atmosphere-and as it is the means of dissipating those clouds of cold that intercept the genial rays of the sun, it is no less necessary for the progress and perfection of vegetation than the sun in all his glory. One of the finest objects in nature is the appearance which the earth presents after having been saturated with rain, when warmed and invigorated by the rays of the sun; and accordingly the Messiah is thus represented, "He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by the clear shining after the rain."

The Word of God is no less fitted for all those purposes of enlightening, convincing, converting, and comforting for which it is sent. Of this Word, even under the dark dispensation in which he lived, the Psalmist thus speaks,—“The law of the Lord is perfect, con

verting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether; more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honey comb; moreover by them is thy servant warned, and in the keeping of them there is a great reward." And these are the words of the apostle who lived under the clearer light of the New Testament," The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The Word is admirably suited to the condition of fallen man; it finds him ignorant of what it concerns him chiefly to know, and it leads him to the knowledge of the true God and of Jesus Christ, whom to know savingly is eternal life. It finds him guilty and overpowered with a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, and it says to him, with the authority of its Author, "believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved;" it finds him struggling with an evil heart of unbelief and with the temptations of an evil spirit; and it "lifts up his eyes to the hills whence cometh his aid;" it says, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." It finds him groaning under the ills of life; mourning over his disappointments, and lamenting the death of those who were near

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and dear to him; and it bids him dry up his tears, while it administers strong consolation; it finds him beset with evil upon the right hand and the left-placed in a dark world, where he must walk by faith and not by sight; and it becomes a light to his feet and a lamp to his path, even a light shining in a dark place, till the day dawn and the day star arise in his heart;" it finds him afraid to enter the dark valley of the shadow of death, and it puts into his hand the rod and staff of the Almighty, and cheers his departing spirit by unfolding those bright regions of immortality which lie beyond death and the grave. Its precepts are so plain that he who runs may read; the great truths necessary to salvation are level to any ordinary capacity: the Word is suited to man in every situation as the descendant of Adam, and as involved in all the melancholy consequences of his transgression; it has milk for babes and strong meat for strong men; it has warnings for the thoughtless, reproofs for the ungodly, instructions for the ignorant, comfort for the mourners, immortality for the dying. And well may they be said to be blessed who know its joyful sound;" it contains whatever is absolutely necessary to comfort men in this vale of tears-a revelation of the merciful intentions of God towards our guilty race; and not more refreshing and fructifying is the rain to the parched ground, and to the stunted grass, than is the Word that goeth out of the mouth of the Lord, to bless sinful creatures with present comfort, and to give them good hope through grace.

3. The Word may be likened to the rain, with regard