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amidst innumerable other, operations of Nature. The Bible, therefore, is that which alone removes the mystery.

EVERLASTING. Some have supposed that because this word is sometimes applied to " Hills," to "Covenant," to "Priesthood," to "Possession," &c., therefore it signifies only limited duration. Gen. xvii. 7, 8. But a very little examination of the subject, will expose the erroneousness of this view. In the Hebrew language, adjectives have no superlative degree; and various means are therefore used to express it, viz. by articles, by substances, to themselves, &c. thus, "holy of holies,” i. e. the most holy place-"vanity of vanities," i. e. most vain -"servant of servants,” (Gen. ix. 25,) i. e. the most abject servant "God of gods," i. e. the Supreme God, (Deut. x. 17.)-"The head of my joy," i. e. my highest joy, (Ps. cxxxvii. 6.)

Now the word "everlasting" has two distinct meanings, (see Webster's American Dictionary,) viz., 1st. uninterrupted, i. e. without intermission: and 2d. eternal, without end. Thus, the Jews were promised, (conditionally,) everlasting, i. e. uninterrupted possession of Canaan; but they kept not the commandments of God, they walked not in his ways, therefore their possession was interrupted. The Hills are called everlasting; that is, continual, or existing without interruption.

Fevers are divided by medical men, into intermittent, remittent and continued—that is, without intermission, i. e. everlasting-whenever, therefore, the word everlasting is applied to material corruptible matter, it signifies only uninterrupted; but when applied to spiritual objects, then it means without end.--The things which are seen are temporal: the things which are not seen are eternal. I give you an uninterrupted possesion of a house; that

possession may be strictly called an everlasting possession, or an everlasting house, although I rented it to you only for your life, or even for a year. See Language.

EVIDENCE. According to the unanimous opinion of the legal judges of Europe and America, the very best criterion of the truth of human testimony is, "substantial truth under circumstantial variety." This is critically the very evidence the New Testament presents: and such a mass of evidence does the Bible altogether possess, that all the infidels of the world may be challenged to produce one single record, with the one-tenth part of the evidence, that ever yet turned out to be fallacious. Evidence, internal. All records, books, documents, &c., written no matter when, where, or by whom, furnish, within themselves, evidence, more or less, of certain facts. This is called internal evidence, in contradistinction to what is called external evidence, which consists of collateral and corroborative testimony.

We do not require to know when, where, or by whom, a book was written, to discover an answer to the following questions, viz: 1. Is it printed or written? 2. On paper or on parchment ? 3. Whether it treats of medicine, politics, theology, or chemistry, &c.? Lastly, whether the author, (no matter who, when, or where, he wrote,) was master of the subject on which he wrote? These questions and many others, the very nature of the book itself will answer. Then apply this to the sacred writers. Infidels have always pronounced Moses, and the Apostles, to be stupid, illiterate, blockheads! We admit, for the sake of argument, this verdict. Pray then, how came Moses to give such a philosophical account of the creation, &c. that, the more we advance in philosophical knowledge, the more do we find his account to be correct?

Whence obtained he this knowledge? From his brains? Infidels say he had little or none! From his learning? Infidels say he was illiterate! From his bright intellect? Infidels say he was a stupid blockhead! From whence then did he obtain that information, which we now, nearly four thousand years afterwards, are only just discovering, after the deepest researches, and the indefatigable industry, of thousands of the most talented men! The only possible alternative is, to attribute his information to HIM, whose servant he was, even to HIM, who made all things! The very same may be said of the writers of the New Testament; how came those illiterate fishermen of Galilee, to lay down a system of moral philosophy, in direct opposition to that commended by the wise men of this world, even by men in the present day; yet which, if acted upon universally, would produce the greatest possible good to mankind at large? And again, how came they to condemn that principle (recommended by the wise men of this world) which, if universal, would be most destructive to mankind, by converting the human family into a race of beings, worse than the worst of savages ! Whence obtained these men that true wisdom? From their brains? Infidels say they had none ! From their learning? Infidels say they had none! From their talents? Infidels say they were stupid blockheads! From whence then, but from HIM who knew what is in man: what is the heart of man; what is really best for man; even from their Divine Lord and Master, Jesus Christ? Their having been divinely inspired is therefore an inevitable conclusion. See Testimony.

EVIL sometimes signifies punishment; in which sense, and in which only, God is said to create it. Isaiah, xlv. 7.

Evil is also used synonymously with the word sin, in which sense God never creates it. For, "God cannot be tempted with evil, (sin,) neither tempteth (causeth to sin) he any man." James, i. 13.

EVIL-Sin. There is a most striking similarity between the account given in the Bible, of the introduction of sin into the world, and many of the heathen traditions, and ceremonies; with just such a mixture of superstitition and folly, as would be expected from barbarous, ignorant, and idolatrous people. For instance, the introduction of sin into the world, by the disobedience of Eve, is plainly alluded to by the well known heathen legend of Pandora; who, being led by a fatal curiosity to open a casket that had been given to her by Jupiter, out of it flew all the evil into the world, and she became the original cause of all the miserable occurrences that befall mankind. Hope alone-the hope in a promised and long remembered DELIVERER-remaining at the bottom of the casket.

Again, the early corruption and depravation of man's nature, in consequence of the transgression of our first parents, was a subject of great complaint among the ancient heathen moralists, philosophers, and poets; and corresponds exactly with what we term original sin and human depravity. Thus Pythagoras termed it the fatal companion, the noxious strife that lurks within us, and which was born along with us;—Sopater called it the sin that is born with mankind—Plato, natural wickedness-Aristotle, the natural repugnancy of man's temper to reason; and all the Greek and Roman philosophers, especially the Stoics and Platonists, complain of the depraved and degenerate condition of mankind, of their propensity to every thing that is evil, and of their aversion from every thing that is good. Thus Cicero

lamented, that men are brought into life by nature as a step-mother, with a naked, frail, and infirm body, and with a soul prone to divers lusts. Seneca, one of the Roman Philosophers, observes, we are born in such a condition, that we are not subject to fewer disorders of the mind than of the body—that the seeds of all the vices are in all men, though they do not break out in every one-and that to confess them is the beginning of our cure. Hierocles called this universal moral taint, the domestic evil of mankind. Propertius used to say, every body has a vice to which he is inclined by nature. Horace declared that, no man is born free from vices— that mankind rush into wickedness and always desire that which is forbidden. That youth has the softness of wax to receive vicious impressions, and the hardness of rock to resist virtuous admonitions. And Juvenal has furnished a striking corroboration to the statement of St. Paul concerning the carnal mind. Finally, the ancient Celtic Druids, and the Brahmins in Hindostan ex-. pressly taught the depravity of human nature. Whence derived these men this general opinion respecting human nature, but from God's revealed will to mankind? For the introduction of sin into the world, and the punishment thereof, consistent with the attributes of the Creator, see Sin.

EXPERIENCE. Infidels are very proud of appealing to experience, and saying, "this or that thing is contrary to experience, therefore we will not believe it." The absurdity of this argument can be easily exposed, thus: If you ask them to whose experience they allude, they will say, "the uniform experience of mankind in all ages of the world!" Then, if you ask them how do they know the uniform experience of mankind at all ages

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