on that point. He was a just man, and did his duty, so far as he knew it; and Peter was therefore sent to give him the instruction he needed about Christ. And Peter expressly declares that he had learned from this instance that, 'in whatsoever nation, he that feareth God and doeth righteousness is accepted of him.""

"At any rate," said James, "we have found reasons enough why a revelation was needed." "And if it was needed, then it was probable," observed his mother.

"Yes," said Fanny, "it seems very plain to

me now."

"The other question is still left," said her mother, "and we will reserve it for next Sabbath evening."

CHAPTER III.

WHAT SIGN COULD GOD GIVE TO AUTHENTICATE A MESSAGE FROM HIMSELF?-EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL EVIDENCES.

"MOTHER," said Fanny, at their next meeting, "I do not see why any one should wish to deny that the Bible came from God."

"I do, plain enough," said James. "I am sure I have hardly been able to keep from wishing so myself, sometimes."

"Why, James! What do you mean?" "Why, when Mr. A

preaches such ser

mons as he did this morning, for instance, and makes it so plain that nobody can go to Heaven who does not repent, and when I feel that I cannot repent, then I begin to think, 'What if the Bible should not be true, after all?' and if it were not wicked, I should wish that it were not.”

"O, James!" said Fanny; and after this she was silent. His mother was silent too, pained, though not surprised, at this evidence of the state of her son's heart, and lifting up her soul in prayer to God that He would renew and sanctify him. After a time she said, "James has expressed the feelings of every unrenewed heart, when it is made to feel that the law of God breathes nothing but condemnation and wrath against the sinner. And you can see, in this way, how men become infidels. They begin by wishing the Bible were not true; and then they try to find arguments to prove that it is not so. You can easily see

that if a wicked man were to make a Bible

for himself, it would be a very different one from the Scriptures."

"I suppose," said Fanny, "it would let him do just what he liked."

“Yes, that has always been the character of pretended revelations; and if they have forbidden some indulgences, they have allowed others to make up for it, as Mahomet did."

"Then, after all, mother," said Fanny, "it seems to me that this very thing is a proof that the Bible is from God. For if it had been invented by men, they would have made such a one as they liked."

"Very true, my dear; I am glad you have made that reflection. And now, what have you to say about the question I gave you?"

66 Why, mother, we could not think of anything; or, at least, we thought of a great many things, but they would not any of them do."

"Explain yourself more clearly, my dear." "I mean we could not think of anything that God could give to men which would prove to them that the Bible was his Word. Because, whatever he gave them, the men that lived afterwards, you know, might have denied that he did give it."

alone could give. But put out of your head the notion of a thing, in the first place, and consider what power God could have given to the writers of the Bible, which no other men had, and which, therefore, would prove that their message was from him."

"What power? O, now I see! you mean the power of working miracles."

"Yes, that was a credential or token from God-just as if your father, being absent, and wishing to send a message to me by a stranger, should give him a ring, or miniature, to show to me, which I knew to be in your father's possession."

"Yes, that would be an excellent plan," said Fanny.

"And, so far as we can see," added her mother, "it is the only credential God could have given that would have been sufficient."

"The miracles might be a token to the people who saw them," said James; "but how could they be to the rest of the world who have lived since?"

"Why," said Fanny, "those who saw them might write accounts of them, as they have done."

"Yes, but seeing a miracle is one thing,

and reading an account of it is another. For my part, I should not believe any account of a miracle that should be published in these days; I should want to see it with my own eyes. And you know what papa said, when Mr. B- told him about the boy who was magnetized, and who did such wonderful things: he said he should want the testimony of his own senses before he could believe there was not some trick or mistake about it."

It is very true," said his mother, "that more evidence is required to convince us of things in themselves improbable, or contrary to the common course of nature, than of those which are in accordance with our own experience. But there is an amount of evidence which would convince us that any event, however improbable in itself, really happened; and convince us as fully as the evidence of our senses would have done. Besides, the probability of a revelation being admitted, miracles are not improbable; since they furnish the only token God could have given of the credibility of a revelation. And we shall soon see that there is a wide difference between the miracles of the Bible and the won