But a much more prolific source of injury to the character of the Bible than that just mentioned is the injudicious and impertinent labors of many who volunteer in its defence.  “Oh, save me from my friends!” might the Prophets and Apostles, each and all, too often exclaim of their supporters.—­It is said that all men are insane upon some point:  so are classes and communities.  The popular monomania which at present prevails among a class of persons whose zeal surpasses their prudence and knowledge is a foolish fear and trembling lest the tendencies of science should result in the overthrow of the Bible.  They seem, somehow, to be fully persuaded that the inspired word of God has no inherent power to stand alone,—­that it has fallen among thieves and robbers,—­is being pelted with fossil coprolites, suffocated with fire-mist and primitive gases, or beaten over the head with the shank-bones of Silurian monsters, and is bawling aloud for assistance.  Therefore, not stopping to dress, they dash out into the public notice without hat or coat, in such unclothed intellectual condition as they happen to be in,—­in their shirt, or stark naked often,—­and rush frantically to its aid.

The most melancholy case of this intellectual delirium tremens that probably ever came under the notice of any reader is found in a professed apology for the Scriptures, recently published, under the pompous and bombastic title of “COSMOGONY, OR THE MYSTERIES OF CREATION.”—­A volume of such puerile trash, such rubbish, twaddle, balderdash, and crazy drivelling[A] as this, was never before vomited from the press of any land, and beside it the “REVELATIONS” of Andrew Jackson Davis, the “Poughkeepsie Seer,” rises to the lofty grandeur of the “Novum Organon,”—­a sight that makes one who really respects the Bible hang his head for shame.

[Footnote A:  As the reader may never have seen this unique volume, and will be amused by a specimen of its grammar, rhetoric, wisdom, and learning, let him take a morceau or two from the commencement of a chapter entitled, “Naturalists.—­Their Classification of Man and Beasts.”—­“We look upon the animal in no different light from that of a vegetable, a plant, or a rock-crystal, which forms under the Creative hand, performs its part for the use of man, dissolves and reproduces by its parts another comfort for him.  The animal bears no resemblance to man, not even in his brain.”—­“One tree may bear apples, and another acorns, but they are not to be compared, the one as bearing a relation to the other, because they have each a body and limbs.  They are distinct trees, and one will always produce apples and the other acorns, as long as they produce anything.” (Indeed!)—­“The usual classification of animals, is that of Vertebrata, Articulata, Mollusca, and Radiata.  This is not only offensive to man,—­but is impiety towards God.”  (Why?)—­“We are told by these naturalists that man belongs to the