the unrenewed heart. Because, as all would be evident as the noon-day
sun, there would remain no choice in the matter of embracing the
truth--no means of evincing whether its reception were cordial or
compulsory.

In this respect; there is displayed a matchless skill, as well as a
gracious condescension, in adapting revelation to the actual character
and condition of our race. While sufficient light is afforded to guide
the sincere inquirer, there is an obscurity to perplex and offend the
proud and self-confident. While the truth is accompanied by evidence
abundantly satisfactory to every mind open to conviction, enough of
mystery remains, to form an impassable barrier to those who are inclined
to disbelieve the testimony of God. While to the eye of faith there
appears a glorious system of wisdom and mercy, depraved reason and
prejudice may discover little else than an assemblage of inconsistencies
and absurdities.

It is not without design, then, that the great facts of revelation are
made liable to misrepresentation; that its essential principles are
arrayed against the pride of human wisdom; and that its blessed
institutions are so obnoxious to abuse and opposition. Such a
constitution of things is evidently intended to furnish a decisive
criterion of human character--to exhibit, in striking contrast, the
humble votaries of faith, who reverently bow to the authority of
Scripture; and the adherents of a haughty, self-confident rationality,
who will receive the testimony of God himself, no farther than it
accords with their opinions and prejudices--and thus to elicit a fair
and full manifestation of every man's real disposition and feelings.

Such, uniformly, has been the effect of the Bible, wherever its sacred