, 1859-01-28

; not charging that society with the doaa-
tions which have been made.
The Thurston county Bible Society is in
debted to this Society the sum of 5000 25
There is also due from other Societies, for
e bibles and testaments, $3.50 81. There is
y in the hands of the President the sum Of
n 500 10.
The committee found it difficult, from
the deranged state of the Treasurer's ac-
D count, to ascertain the true state of affairs.
They, however, have presented the results
as above, to which they have arrived, un-
] der the circumstances, without venturing
to say that it presents the true and com
plete condition of affairs; although they
have, with great care and diligence, exam
ined all the books and papers in their
hands.
The great God who made the universe,
and who has impressed upon it those laws
by which its various bodies revolve around
their centre of gravity in curvlinear orbits,
has also made man, and placed him Oh this
beautiful earth of ours which he has balan-
ced in the heavens. He has endowed him
with necessary faculties, by which he is en-
able to investigate the laws which govern
the material universe. Had man kept his
first estate, those faculties would without
doubt, have been sufficient to have enabled
him to comprehend the true relation which
he bears to his maker; but, perverted as
they have been by the fall, nothing can be
more fulse than the idea that mans reason
alone is sufficient to lead hi9ilto the know
| ledge of the truth with regard TO himself
and his relation to God.
| Where can we find, in the whole race,
more acute and powerful intelects than
those possessed by the ancient Egyptians
and Grccans and what did their boosted
reason tell them were the objects for wor
ship? Leeks, onions, crocodies, or heav-
enly bodies to whom they aScribe in many
instances extremely vicious qualities.
The best system Of morals enjoined by
the best men of whom the pagan world
could boast would not be tolerated, at the
present time, many community where the
gospel has been promulgated even in its
lowest type.
In His loving kindness towards man,
God has not been unmindful of bis moral
nature, but has revealed His will with re-
gard to him in the book we call the bible
The proofs for the authenticity of this book,
it eau with confidence be affirmed, are
greater by far than for any profane history
written to portray those times when the
wil0f God TO man was indited by inspired
penmen.
In the investigation of those truths,
there is fine field for the exercise Of our
reasoning faculties; and, did we require no
better proof to establish them than we re-
qure in the ordinary affairs of life, ven
ture to affirm that no sane man, with that
reason which has been vouchsafed to al
most every one, could gainsay them.
All the cayils of modern in6delty with
regard to the truth Of the bible had been
triumuhaully answered, when that prince
Of sceptcs, David Hume, brought forward
his celebrated aphorism, which was consid
cred by his followers at the time as unan.
swerable. 1t was this: miracles being
violation of the laws of nature, no testi-
mony is sufficient to establish them, unless
it he Of such q kind that its falSehood
would be more miraculous than the facts
which it endeavored to establish" The
Christian revelation (as was justly remark
ed Doctor JOhnson) is not proved by mira
cles alone, but as connected with prophe-
cies, and with the doctrines in confirmation
of which miracles were wrought Mathe-
matical science here steps in aud beautiful
ly solves Humes difficulty. by making
use of the science of probabilities, SO well
explained by the celebrated La Place, the
conditions of Hume can be satisfied, and
his objections fall to the ground. The last
prop has been knocked away from the in
fidelity which denies that God has revealed
Himself to man, leaving without excuse
those who still refuse to admit this great
and momentOus truth.
Let us now compare those countries
where the bible has been freely distributed
with those where obstacles have been
thrown in the way Of its circulation Com-
pare England with Spain, aud the United
States with Mexico. In the time Of
Charles ", Spain was one of the most
powerful nations OF Europe. She rejected
the free use of the bible, and drove from
her borders the blessed reformation OF
1900, by the terrors of an inquisition,
which was an excrescene Oh humanity, and
BlOeS uleuOuOl " OOu. NullOuS are
punished in this world, and, in the proyi-
deuce Of God, Spain has fallen SO low in
the assembly Of nations that none are so
weak as to do her reverence Her vast
possessions in the new world have passed
away from her, and her last colony, the
beautiful Queen of the Antilles, is now
trembling in her grasp. Mexico the child
of Spain in the new world, is fast approach
ing that terrible state in which anarchy
will have-a constant reign. France, too,
by the revocation of the edict of Nantes,
terribly prosecuted those glorious old Hu-
guenots whose rule Of faith was taken from
the bible aud God in his providence pun
ished her by the terrors OF the revolution
of '9S, aud the unstable governments which
have since followed.
The bible is the great regulator Of all