arbitrary declaration, but it teaches the doctrine as it is taught by the human soul. The finite and imperfect, ofttimes appear to suggest to the inspired writers the infinite. and the perfect-the fewness of their days and the perishable nature of the whole material earth, bring vividly before their minds, the fact that God's "years are the same throughout all generations," and shall have no end.

The Bible represents corrupt men like Balaam, Saul, Ahab, Jeroboam and Judas, as inwardly approving of goodness and the good, thus its testimony accords with what the mind itself gives of its predilections.

The Bible exemplifies the Divine goodness, by placing all those motives before men which the great variety of human character demands. "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back"--that is, let the highest motive be made to bear upon the individual to be governed, by which he is susceptible of being influenced. It is far better that the fool should feel the rod, than to feel himself ameniable to no government at all. Do not such teachings of the Scriptures perfectly accord with what the mind suggests of the motives requisite for its government?

And so the Bible, in common with the soul, teaches the self-same theory of happiness. The enjoyments of true piety do not consist in "meat or drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

The same doctrine of God's design in all temporal blessings, is most clearly set forth in the Bible. They are merely preliminary to spiritual and eternal blessings. They all look higher than themselves. He has made of one blood all the nations, and fixed the bounds of their

habitations, for the express purpose that they might seek the Lord.

3. True, we find some things in the Bible, which we cannot reconcile with infinite goodness, as we find similar things in nature. This, in fact, is an evidence of the Bible's truth. Could we understand it all; could we reconcile every part of it, it would not correspond with the standard, nature. The human mind, in its revelations of God, often appears to contradict itself, and so does the Bible, but as we study the revelations, from both sources, we shall come nearer and nearer a reconciliation, while the revelations will often serve as a wholesome check to each other, in clearing up apparent contradictions, till, at length, we may come to an inward consciousness, that a system confirmed by two such witnesses, from which so many dif ficulties have already disappeared, is, in its nature, fully reconcilable, and that all we need, is a higher state of consciousness, to enable us to gaze upon the sun-light of God's goodness, and not behold a cloud upon his disk.

LECTURE XV.

THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE EVINCED BY MAN'S PHYSICAL

NATURE.

WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM?-Psalms 8:4.

In our last three lectures, extensive reference has been made to man, with the view of showing that the developement of the idea of God, by the human mind, accords with what is taught of God in the Bible.

It is our object now, to extend this comparison, showing that what man is, and what his mind teaches on a great variety of subjects, finds a complete corroboration in the Sacred Scriptures.

In this lecture, we shall consider man's physical nature. Physically considered, MAN is no mean part of Jehovah's creation. His system contains 208 bones* besides the teeth, 446 muscles, 10,000 nerves, 1,000 ligaments, 4,000 lacteals, 100,000 glands, and the skin contains about 200,000,000 of pores. The heart contracts 4,000 times every hour, during which period there passes through it 250 pounds of blood, so that 25 pounds of blood, supposed

*See Cutter's Anatamy, page 32.

to be the average quantity in the human system, passes through the body fourteen times about every four minutes.* In view of all this, we may well exclaim, in the language of the Psalmist: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

Let us now examine a few of those scriptural declarations which find ample verification in man's physical

nature.

1. We learn from the Bible, that God made man. "Let us make man in our own image, after our own likeness." "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." Now, the simple fact of man's existence, proves the truth of this statement, for, however far back we may extend the chain of natural generation, reason teaches that there must have been a time when the first human pair were created.

2. The Bible teaches that man was made from the dust of the ground. The words from the original, might be rendered thus::- "And the Lord formed man dust from the ground." Thus he still remained dust, after his creation, which idea perfectly accords with the words of Jehovah in his threatening to Adam. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Solomon also says, "All are of the dust,' with which the idea of Paul harmonizes, when he says: "The first man was of the earth (choikos) dusty." In Job, man is spoken of as dwelling "in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust.”

Now, what is the language of nature on this subject? It has been demonstrated by Chemists that the human

Pulpit Cyclopædia page 51.

system possesses not a particle of matter which cannot be found in other earth.

As in the earth around us, there is a union of solids and fluids, and also of the metallic and non-metallic. The metallic substances are Potassium, Sodi'-um, Cal' ci-um, Mag-ne'si-um, A-lu'min-um, Iron, Man' ga-nese, and Cop'per. The non-metallic substances are Ox'y-gen, Hydro-gen, Nitro-gen, Sili-ci-um, Phosphor-us, Sulphur, Chlo'rine, and a few others.*

These are the principal substances which compose the human body.

Now, if, in analyzing the human system, a substance were found which had no likeness in the earth around, it would stand as a contradiction to the Bible account. Man is, however, found to be a fair specimen of the earth around him, and is subject to all those laws that govern common matter, such as gravitation, mechanical force, chemical action, electricity, and light; and both Scripture and reason unite in determining that his happiness greatly depends upon a conformity to these laws.

3. The Bible teaches that man was the completion of Jehovah's work of creation. The first day, God made the light; the second, the firmament; the third, He separated the land and water, and created vegetation; the forth, he made the lights of heaven; the fifth, the fishes and fowls; the sixth, beasts, and, last of all, MAN. The change affected by each day's creation, was pronounced good. Man, towards whose creation all the preceding had tended, was pronounced very good. Though composed of a material

*See Cutter's Anatomy, page 25.