upon them."* manner with knives, until the blood gushed out This passage not only corresponds with the above definition of a God, but it proves that Elijah smiled at the absurd notion of his existence. When to avoid a suspicion of his practising any of the deceits which these impostors used, Elijah had ordered trenches to be made round his altar, and water to be plentifully poured into them, to evince that the consuming fire must descend from above; and when the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, the people witnessing the truth of his miracle, and the failure of his antagonists, "fell on their faces, and they said, the Lord he is God; the Lord he is God." At that moment they also denied the existence of Baal. "Babylon is fallen, is fallen," exclaims the prophet Isaiah,†" and all the graven images of her gods he has broken to the ground!" In the following animated and sarcastic passage, the prophet fully declares his opinion of these gods. Bell, boweth down; Nebo stoopeth; their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but * 1 Kings ch. xviii. † 1 Kings ch. xxi. 9. "* Can impo themselves are gone into captivity."* tence be more strongly characterized? "Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes and their priests, and their prophets, saying to a STOCK thou art my father, and to a STONE thou hast brought me forth. But where are the gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the day of trouble." Had any intelligent agent existed, rendering these images the medium of deceit, such expressions could not have been uttered. The prophet Isaiah enquires, in the name of Jehovah, "To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me that we may be like? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a GOD. They bear him upon the shoulder; they carry him, and set him in his place, and he standeth; from his place shall he not remove, yea one shall cry unto him, yet he cannot answer nor save him out of his trouble." To suppose that this great prophet confines the sig * 1 Kings ch. xlvi. v. 1, 2. † Jer. ch. ii. v. 11. 1 nification of such expressions to the mere image, while it was secretly known by him that the dæmon it was intended to represent actually existed, is to suppose that he resembled that dæmon in his fallacies. In perfect consonance with the position that the gods of the heathens had no existence, but in the imaginations of their worshippers, does the God of the Israelites claim the title of the LIVING God. Hence it is that the prophets who speak in his name, so frequently introduce his decrees or admonitions with the solemn asseveration, "As I live, says the Lord." Nor can we justly interpret in any other manner the repeated declarations that he is the only God. The prophets of the Lord are not contending with the Israelites about names but realities. subject in debate, is not by what titles those beings superior to man shall be called who oppose the will of Jehovah, but whether there be any such beings in existence? and the determination is in the negative. For "thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts, I am the first, I am the last, and beside me there is no God. Is there a God beside me? Yea there is no God; I know not any. "They that make a graven image are all of them va The nity."*"Woe unto him that sayeth to the wood awake; to the DUMB STONE, arise, it shall teach! Behold it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But Jehovah is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him."† "Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain; so Jehovah shåll make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field; for the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and told false dreams; they comfort in vain."+ To him is ascribed the exclusive right to send famine, pestilence, and the sword upon the earth, according to the good pleasure of his will. It is not admitted that the gods of the heathens, could inflict the evils at which their votaries were so frequently terrified. "I form the light and I make peace and create evil; I the Lord do all these things." create darkness; I make In a word, the Creator of the Universe claims the sole empire of the universe, without rival or competitor; and he declares that he is jealous of his honour. "I am Jehovah, that is my name, and my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to graven images.|| We shall conclude this article with the follow Isa. ch. xl. † Habak. ch. ii. V. 19, 20. Zach. ch.x.v.1, 2. Isa. ch. xlii. v. 8. ing passage, as it contains a summary and a confirmation of all the principles we have advanced. "Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the custom of the people is vain. For one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but they speak not. They must needs be borne because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good. They are all the work of cunning men; but Jehovah is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Then shall ye say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with |