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PREFACE.
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T the present day there is not much openly avowed infidelity in Christian lands. But there are reasons for believing that there exists a vast amount of it in a latent form, and no inconsiderable portion even in the churches themselves.
And since it prevails among some of the most thoughtful and honest people, the questions, What is the cause of it? and How is it to be effectually remedied? deserve the serious consideration of every friend of mankind, and especially of every teacher of the Christian religion.
The chief cause undoubtedly is, the mistaken idea in regard to the Sacred Scripture and the method by which its true meaning is to be elicited, which has become so prevalent throughout the bounds of Christendom. This idea is, that the written Word has but one meaning, and that, the meaning conveyed to the natural under-
