that never was alive? The objection rests upon the thought that
testimony should be respected only in such cases as seem to us possible,
or in the ordinary course of nature. According to this, no amount of
evidence could establish the fact that water freezes and becomes solid
in a country where such is not the ordinary course of nature. Does a
man's ability in discerning and his truthfulness in reporting depend
upon the skill or ignorance of those who hear? We know facts that seem
to be as much contrary to the course of nature as anything could
possibly be. But, in all candor, I must claim that in appealing to the
settled course of nature, in a case like the one under consideration,
the question is referred not to the laws of evidence or maxims of
reason, but to the prejudices of men and to their mistakes, which are
many. Men form a notion of nature from what they see; so, under
different surroundings, their notions about the course of nature will
differ. The objection falls worthless at the feet of the INFINITE ONE.
There is no greater difficulty in accounting for the fact that the dead
live again than there is in accounting for the fact that they did live.

PUBLIC NOTORIETY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Origen was born in the year one hundred and eighty-five of the Christian
dispensation, and lived sixty-eight years. He gives in his writings five
thousand seven hundred and sixty-five quotations from the New Testament.
Tertullian gives eighteen hundred and two quotations from the New
Testament. Clemens, of Alexandria, labored in the year one hundred and
ninety-four. He gives us three hundred and eighty-four quotations from
the New Testament. Ireneus lived in the year one hundred and
seventy-eight. He gives us seven hundred and sixty-seven quotations from
the New Testament, making a grand total of eight thousand seven hundred
and twenty-three quotations, given by four ancient writers.

If all the copies of the New Testament in the world were destroyed, the
whole, with the exception of eleven verses, could be reproduced from the
writings of men who lived prior to the Nicene Council. Unbelievers quote
from all ancient heathen authors as though they were books of yesterday,
without manifesting the least doubt in reference to their authenticity
or authorship. The evidences necessary to establish genuineness of
authorship are ten-fold greater in the case of the New Testament
Scriptures than in the case of the histories of Al