cient author mentioned the remains of this vessel as covered with pitch, which the natives used as a charm against disease, stating that a man once landed there when the world was covered with water-why a village at the foot of mount Ararat, should always have borne a name which signifies the city of the descent, or of a thousand incidents of this nature, he seemed never to have enquired. He knew nothing of historic fragments of this kind; but that bones had been found deep under a rock, and that therefore the Bible was not to be obeyed, he seemed to conclude readily, and to remain confident.

That men love darkness rather than light, will be exhibited in another form, and by a different process, in the following chapters.

CHAPTER VI.

SCOFFERS SHALL COME.

"Knowing this, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, saying, where is the promise of his coming?" 2 Pet. 3:3-5, In the preceding chapters, some objections often urged against Revelation, have been noticed. They are certainly characterized by imbecility. It is more than probable that the youthful reader is ready to exclaim,-"These are not my objections: my difficulties are of another kind; and remain unanswered in all the productions I have ever read in favour of Christianity." And they are likely to remain unanswered, unless some author should be able to write a book as extensive as all the volumes contained in a well-filled library. There

are many faces belonging to the inhabitants of earth, now alive, but no two of them are just the same. So it is with the unending difficulties and objections in the minds of those who lean towards error, rather than the light of the sacred volume. We might remind any one reader, that we do not know what his particular objections are, therefore cannot answer, unless we could take up the millions of cavils on the surface of the ocean of darkness. If your difficulties could be known, they would resemble such as have been noticed and met by many authors. Some additional examples will be given, as we attempt fairly to hold up to view the general principle, or the cause of unbelief, viz-wilful ignorance. But before we proceed, it will be necessary to guard by preliminaries against mistake.

Many are ready to suppose, that the wilfully ignorant have no desire for knowledge. This is a misunderstanding, against which we should be well guarded. The boy at college, who has passed off his weeks of study in idleness and frivolous amusement, as the day of public examination approaches, has a very strong desire to know as much as his classmates. He is still censured as wil fully ignorant. The careless, loitering, and work-hating apprentice may have a desire for knowledge and skill in the business of his employer; yet his deficiencies are punished as wilful ignorance. Many unbelievers desire knowledge on the great subject, but they never undergo the labour of research. We suppose that of all the scoffers who were to come in the last days, and who were to be wilfully ignorant, there is scarcely one but would be willing to receive historic knowledge at least, provi. ded an angel could just grasp it in his hand, and throw it into his brain, without any exertion on his part. But the

toil of research he never encounters. He may snatch at some plausible objection to truth, as he hears it repeated; but to impartial investigation he is an utter stranger. As for those who think they have investigated very laboriously, but who have not investigated at all, we will notice them in considering another part of this subject. The millions of scoffers who have come, and who now live, are ignorant of Bible facts and Bible language. The profound and the unlettered; the wealthy and the indigent; the talented and the stupid, are ignorant of Bible facts and Bible language! To some, this may sound strange, but it is not hard to prove. The matter may be easily tested. The scoffers live now; and you may approach and converse with them. During a ten year's search, you are not likely to find one exception to the general statement. There was one who tried this for eighteen years, to see if he could meet with any one who cast away the Bible, and who was at the same time acquainted with its contents, and with the ancient literature connected with the Bible. He found some who at first declared themselves acquainted with the subject, but really were not. After asking them, in an affectionate manner, a few questions, they generally confessed that their knowledge did not extend far. But this fact can be seen more clearly whilst looking at examples of wilful ignorance.

CHAPTER VII.

SCOFFERS ARE UNACQUAINTED WITH THE FACTS GF THE BIBLE.

Examples.-Those who have "come scoffing" in the present age, are utterly unacquainted with Bible facts and Bible language. We first notice Bible facts. In exhibiting such cases, we are like the man who stands by an immense magazine of wheat. He may take a handful and hold it out to view; but he cannot exhibit each grain in the mass to the eye of any purchaser. It would be a task endless and painful.

ITEM I.-In the second and third chapters of Revelation may be found the letters written by St. John, at the direction of Jesus Christ, to seven Churches, situated in that part of the world which we call Asia Minor. To each Church was sent a different message, a different threatening, or a different promise. These prophetic declarations were long in fulfilling, but have all come to pass. It is common with the totally uninformed in chronology to say, when prophecy is named, "Perhaps this was written after the event came to pass." For the sake of such, it is here remarked, that the event about to be noticed, occurred more than nine centuries after the book of Revelation was much written against by haters of the Gospel, and defended by lovers of the truth. Inasmuch as a book is written before its contents are greatly controverted, even the most unlettered will be able to understand dates in this case; and will be satisfied, after nine hundred years of discussion, that the book was in existence. For the

sake of those who may fear Christian partiality, when we come to speak of the fulfilment of these seven mes. sages, we will quote mostly from infidel authority. They will scarcely suspect an undue favour toward the sacred volume, in those who have hated its name, written against its authority, and mocked at its doctrines. To the Church of Ephesus, the Redeemer ordered John to write: "Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candlestick out of its place, except thou repent."

The author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, (Gibbon,) one of the most accomplished, unrelenting haters of the Bible, that ever spent half a lifetime in writing against it, says: "In the loss of Ephesus, the Christians deplored the fall of the first Angel, and the extinction of the first Candle-stick of the Revelation." He tells us this was accomplished by the Ottomans, A. D. 1312. In Ephesus, at the present day, there are none who even bear the Christian name; so completely is the Candle-stick removed.

To the Angel of the Church, in Philadelphia, John was commanded to write: "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." It was, indeed, an hour of trial to all the Churches, when the Mahometan, with his naked sword, gave the member choice to receive the Koran for his Bible, and Mahomet for his Prophet, or to see his sons and daughters go into servi. tude, his dwelling blaze, and to suffer his blood to stain his own hearth. From this temptation, it was especially improbable that Philadelphia would be saved. This