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ADVERTISEMENT.

THE following Difcourfes^ for fiihjlance^ ^ere delivered in the place where the writer Jlatedly minijlers. What was meant only for a fingle congregation^ is^ by the defire of the he^-r^ ers^ now made public. Whether the Book which chrifiians take for their guide ^ is from heaven or ofmen^ is an inquiry of the highejl importance; and in which not afew^ at the prefent time ^ feel deeply interefled from oppoftte motives. This fhort fumm,ary of the principal arguments infup^ port of revealed religion^ is indebted to the de- fences which have gone before it^ and claims no advance in aftibjed which has employed fo ma- ny abler pens. It is hoped that this compendious view may be ufeful tofome who have not hadac- cefs to the large treaitfes^ which have been pub* lifhed on the truth and infpiration of the Bible.

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DISCOURSE I.

On the Truth of the Scriptures.

2 TIMOTHY iii. \6,

ALLfcripture is given by ift/pirafion of God ^ and is profitable for do6lrine^for reproofs for corredion^ for injiridlion in righteoufnefs.

MINISTERS of the gofpel are under high and peculiar obligations, in every age of the church, to bear public tef- timony in favor of the truth and divine ori- ginal of the religion which they are called to preach. The performance of this duty A 2

mufl Ik wltb uncommon weight uj^ dieir

minds at the prefent time ; when not a few in America, and vafl numbers on the eaftern continent, who were educated in the behef of chriflianity, openly reprobate it, as the offspring of fraud or fuperftition. It is well known that the difciples of infidelity are multiplying daily, and that they are induf- trioufly employed in throwing doubts and fcruples relative to the holy fcriptures, be- fore the minds of thofe who have not, as yet, gone over to their fide^ Whoever has his eyes open to difcern the moral complex- ion of the day, and is friendly to the pref- ent and future welfare of mankind, will feel no fmall concern for the rifmg generation in particular. Their inexperience, and the warmth of their palTions render them liable to become an eafy prey to thofe licentious opinions, which are highly pleafmg to the corrupt tafte of the human heart.

I REQUEST of you, my young friends, as \ve\\ as of perfons of every age, a candid, ferious, and patient hearing, while I adduce fome of the leading evidences in fupport of the truth and infpiration of the Bible, in a more ample manner than I have hitherto done in my pubHc difcourfes. In profecu. ting this defign fome things will be intro*

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dueed, Avhich may not, feparately confi<Jer* cd, be thought very interefting j but I hope it will appear in the final refult, that they are necelTary. parts of the general fubjed on which I am entering.

If the bible be a piece of prieftcraft, or the work of difhoneft politicians, let it be given up, and fmk into contempt : But if it be from heaven, as we have the fulleft evi-r dence to believe, let it be received with all the reverence due to the word of the LORD. Not all the art or fophiflry of men will be able to overthrow a book that was didated by infinite truth : And. the guilt of thofe who make the attempt will be awfully great ; for they will be found even to fight againft God !

Those perfons in chriftian countries who acknowledge the exiftence of one God, but deny all revealed religion, have adopted the name of Dei/is, They are far from being agreed among themfelves, except in the fm- gle point of denying the divine original of the fcriptures. A confiderable number of deifts in the lafl and prefent century, have appeared as writers againft the truth and in- fpiration of the bible. Some of them were men of acutenefs and learning ; fuch as Lord Herbert, the Earl gf Shaftlbury, Lord

8

Bolingbroke, Chubb, Hume, Voltaire, Rof- feau, and others. Our country has not giv- en birth to any deiflical writer of much note. Mr, Thomas Paine, whofe zeal for infidelity is well known, was born and educated in England. On his leaving the United States of America, a few years fmce, he repaired to France, w^here he foon found the leaders of a large and powerful nation, as warmly en- gaged as himfelf for the downfal of the chriflian religion, and the propagation of in- fidehty through the world. Thofe 'perfons who have read Mr. Paine's *' Age of Rea- fon," the firft and fecond parts, have no caufe to doubt that he has fpoken the lan- guage of his heart ; for he has gone fo far as to utter an oath in a formal manner that lie is a deifl. On his darhng theme he has flarted little or nothing new, nor has he hand- led the fubje^lfo ably as feveral who went be- fore him ; but in impudence and ridicule he has few equals. It is much eafier to deal in confident affertionsjor toraife a laugh among the thoughtlefs, than to offer rational con- vidion to the mind.

It cannot be queflioned that many are fond of calling themfelves deifts or infidels, becaufe they have heard that fome great men have done fo heretofore, or are doing fo at

the prefent tiAie ; though they have never read z fyllable that they wrote, and are wholly ignorant of the arguments which they employ in fupport of their caufe. Con- verfions to infidelity are eafily made among thofe who are void of principle, or are galled by fcripture reproofs, or are determined to indulge their lufts. Hence it need not ap- pear ftrange, that in a feafon of general li- centioufnefs, many openly renounce the pure reHgion that came from above.

A LOOSE way of thinking on moral and religious fubjecls has a flrong tendency to blind the mind, and harden the heart. In the hiftory of the New Tc (lament frequent mention is made of the Sadaucees^ a fe6l who denied a future flate, the refurredion of the body, and the exiflence of angel or fpirit. They were among the moll bitter enemies of Chrifl and his apoflles. I find no fatisfa6lory proof of the converfion of one of them to chriflianity. When any have deliberately become unbelievers in the truth and divinity of the fcriptures,they have feldom been reclaimed. In moft inftances they have proceeded from bad to worfe, un- til according to human appearance, they have cut themfelves off from hope. God, who hath the hearts of all men in his hand.

1(5

is able to arreft infidels of the highefl: clafs ill their courfe, and fubdue them by his grace ; but we need flronger evidence than has yet appeared, to be fanguine in our ex- pectations that any of them will be recover- ed from the error of their way. There is room to hope that fuch as are infidels through inattention may be excited to careful inqui- ry, and efcape from the fnare in which they have begun to be entangled ; and that thofe whofe faith is wavering may be fettled in the belief that the bible is true and from God. Thofe who have an anxious defire to be fat- isfied on fo important a fubje£t, will liflen with avidity to every attempt to difcover the grounds on which the fcriptures may be defended, againft thofe who condemn theiu as fraught with cunningly devifed fables.

Pious chriftians are fully fatisfied that the religion which they have embraced is of divine original ; but the holy exercifes of their hearts are not to be held up before infidels for their convidion. The latter will fay, (and they will declare*a fa6l not to be doubted) that they know nothing a- bout the feelings of chriflian piety. Hence it may be expecled that they will confider all who profefs fuch feelings as enthufiafts, and unworthy of notice. Recourfe mufl be

I

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had te argument ; both to eflabllfli the re* ligion in difpute, and to remove objedions. The faithful witnefles, though it has been their lot to prophefy a long time clothed in fackcloth, will not withhold their teflimony in favor of the oracles of God. Being not afhamed of their hope they will labor to produce fuch reafons for its fupport, as may filence, if they do not convince, gainfayers. The glory of God, and the felicity of his holy intelligent kingdom, are diredly pro- moted by the exhibition of truth, however it may " torment them that dwell on the earth." The friendsof revelation feel them- felves bound to ftand up in its defence : The effeds of their exertions they leave with God.

The words of the Apoflle Paul in the text, addrefled to Timothy, a young minif- ter, may lead us to attend to the argumewts by which the fcriptures are demonili ated to be true and from God. It is added in the verfe next following, That the man of God viaybe perfeB^ thoroughly furnijhed unto all pod works : The meaning ofwliich is, that Timothy by attending to the evidences and defign of all fcripture, would be completely furniihed, as a chriftian and a minifler, for the olfcharge of every duty to which he ihould be called.

12

When the apoftle declares that allfcnp* lure is given by infpiration of God, he has par- ticular reference to the writings of the Old Teftamentb Thefe were the fcriptures which Timothy had known from a child, as is mentioned in* the verfe preceding the text. At the time when Paul wrote this e* piftle the whole of the new teftament had not been committed to writing : But fucli. is the connexion between its feveral books, r.nd of the whole with the Jewifli fcriptures, that the two teflaments muft fland or fall together. Whatever diftind proofs are given of the truth and infpiration of the new teftament, and however convincing thefe maybe to a total ftr anger to the old teftament, it is well known to every one who has read the bible with attention, that the four evangelifts, the ads of the apoftles, and the epiftles, abound with quotations from, and allufions to, the writings of Mofes and the prophets, on the aflumption that they were di6lated by the Holy Ghoft. Hence, it has always been admitted both by chrif- tians and deifts,>.that the two teftaments are fo interwoven that they muft be jointly ef- tablifhed, or given up, as the word of the Lord.

The- infpiration of all fcripture is not on- ly declared in the text, but its ufe is pointed

»3

out : // is profitable for doElrine^for reproofs for corredion^ for inJiru6lion in righteoufnefs* It is profitable for do&rine^ as it dire&s us what to believe— -/^r reproof as it apprifes us of fin and warns us againfl it— ^r corredion^ as it recals us from wandering— andyc>r /«- ftrndion in righteoufnefs ^ as it inculcates all the duties of piety and virtue, with the pf o- per motives to obferve them.

In difcourfmg from the text, at this time, it is propofed,

I. To confider the truth of the fcriptures of the Old and New Teflament.

II. Explain in what fenfe the phrafe, Infpiration ofGod^ is to be underflood when applied to all fcripture.

III. Bring arguments to prove that all fcripture is given by infpiration of God.

Under each head it is defigned to notice feveral objedions, as we pafs along in the \ difcourfes,

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' ' I. Let us confider the truth of the fcriph. tures of the Old and New Teltament.

Every one will eafily difcern the propri- ety of confidering the truth of the fcriptures, B

or the authenticity of thefe writings, m the, firft place : fince if they could be fhown to be a forgery, their infpiration mufl be given up ; for God will not bear witnefs in fup* port of a fallhood. Befides, we mufl be fa-i tisfied that the fcriptures are true, or contain, an authentic narration of fadts, before we can be warranted to produce arguments from their hiflory to eflablifh their infpir- ation.

In the part of the fubje£t before us, we are to confider the apparent candor and in- tegrity of the men who are faid to have pen- ned the Bible ; the circumflances attending the fads they narrate ; the correfponding ftate of the world ; and the harmony of the feveral writers of the fcriptures, though liv- ing in places and periods remote from each other. To thefe may be -added, the tefti- mony of profane writers, or thofe who have no claim to infpiration.

When we undertake to examine the truth of the Pentateuch^ or the five firfl books of the Bible, faid to be written by Mofes^ we have not the advantage of appeal- ing to any cotemporary writer. That there was fuch a man as Moles, a leader in Ifrael, has, I think, never been called in queflion by any deift j and may therefore be taken

'5

for granted. He died about fourteen bun. dred and fifty years before the birth of Chrift. There is no profane writer, whofe works have come down to us, that hved until more than five hundred years after that period, or about the time that Jehofhaphat reigned in Judah. Herodotus of Greece, is the oldefl: hiftorian, whofe writings have efcaped the ruins of time. He did not flouridi till more than a thoufand years after the death of Mofes. That father of profane hiftory did Q.ot live until after the return of the chil- dren of Ifrael from Babylon. There are no writings now extant fo ancient as the five books of Mofes, unlefs the book of Job be an exception. This is conceded by many of the learned among the deifts.

Heathen poets and hiflorians have re- corded events which reach as far back as the creation. Though they have written in a fabulous drain ; it is evident that they allude to fa£ts which were originally taken from the hiflory of Mofes. Thofe writers fpeak of the happy (late of man when he was firfl created ; they reprefent that he was placed •in a delightful garden, and enjoyed all the bleffmgs of what they call the golden age. We alfo find in thofe authors an account of the iron age, or the unhappy ftate of man

le

after he had loft his primeval innocence. Strabo, the Greek geographer, who lived in an early period of the chriftian era, informs that Alexander the Great, who died a little more than three hundred years before Chrift, fent a perfon to enquire into .the manners and doctrine of the Bramins, or the Hindoo priefts in India. The meffenger found one of that order named Calanus, who taught him, " That in the origin of nature plenty reigned through all the world. Milk, and wine, and honey, and oil flowed from foun- tains : but men having abufed this felicity, God deprived them of it, and condemned them to labor for the fuflenance of their lives.'* Similar reprefentations of man's primitive innocence and happinefs, of his fall, ^nd the bitter fruits of it, have been found in the writings of many of the orien- tal nations, and in thofe of the Grecian phi. lofophers, who borrowed their theology from the eaft. Thefe accounts were evidently handed down by tradition from fome of the firft chapters in Genefis.

HisTORYand tradition agree withthefcrip- tures in afcribing to mankind the fame pa- rents,or in deriving themfrom one pair. The differences in colour have created objedions in fome minds againft the Mofaic account of

^7

the propagation of the human race. This difficulty is, no doubt, the greateft that phi^ lofqphy can urge. It is certain that chmate has fome influence upon the colour of the ikin. It is a general fadt that the nations who live within the torrid zone are of a darker complexion than the inhabitants of the northern temperate zone. The whites grow darker in the courfe of a few genera- tions by removing into hot climates. It is well known that the Jews, from their at- tachment to their religion, do not blend with other nations. Experience has determined that thofe of them who inhabit near the e- quator for an age or two, are of a darker hue than their brethren who inhabit celder regions for an equal length of time. It will not follow from the influence of cli- mate that men will be exactly of the fame complexion who have, during any given pe- riod, refided within the fame parrallels of latitude; for the flate of the atmofphere may be materially affeded by high moun- tains in fome places, the foil, and other cau- fes. The Africans on the flave coaff , which Hes within the torrid zone, are not equally black. Thofe who are born and brought up near barren fands, are blacker than thofe who have been found in fertile places. The heat of the fun U much more intenfe on the B 2

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former foil than on the latter. The manner of living has alfo an effedt on the complex- ion. Tribes who dwell in dirty, fraoky cabins, or huts, are clad with the undreiTed (kins of beads, and feed on filthy food, are more fwarthy than thofe nations who dwell in convenient houfes, and pradife cleanli- nefs in their lodging, apparel, and diet. Hence, we may probably conclude why the American Indians have a darker Ikin than the defcendants from the Englifh in the fame temperate climate ; and why the Tartars, and others, that live at the diftance of a few degrees from the north pole, are more taw- ny than the civilized nations that lie further to the fouth.

Whether a fatisfadory folution of the difficulty to which we have been attending has been hit upon or not, there are fo many particulars in which the different nations agree, as to faflen the charge of abfurdity on thofe who deny them to be of one race, from the differences in the colour of their ikin. Befide likenefs of figure and organs, it has been found that men who are dilTimi* lar in complexion are alike in the pafTions and appetites both of body and mind j and that by long cohabitation and fimilar culture the differences between them are not greater

19

than among thofe who afe confefledly of one flock. The fimilarity between the difi ferent nations and tribes of men, is much greater than can be difcerned between any two fpecies of animals that fall under our notice. By fadls which have been long ac- cumulating, from the reports of thofe who have moft extenfively traverfed this globe whether by fea or land, the evidence tha1> mankind are all of one race has become decifive.

All nations, that have any records re- maining, agree in tracing back the original refidence of their anceflors at or near that part of Afia where fcripture hiftory places them before their difperfion. We can find no account of the origin of nations which will bear examination but that recorded in Gen. X. which concludes with the following words, Thefe are the families of the fons of Noah^ after their generations^ in their nations : and by thefe were the natio?is divided in the earth after the flood.

The antiquity which the Chinefe give to their empire, and to the creation, has long been exploded by the learned, as fabulous. The authentic annals of nations, and the ftate of the arts and fciences, belt agree with * the Mofaic chronology.

ac

The memory of the flood, which hap»i pened in the days of Noah, is preferved in the writings and traditions of all the oriental nations. Marks of the deluge are plainly difcernible in many places. The produc- tions of the ocean have been difcovered in the center of continents, at a great diflance from the fea ; lodged in high mountains, *nd in mines and quarries that lie deep in the bowels of the earth. The face of the globe we inhabit appears to have been rent and torn by fome violent convulfion. The more the furface and the interior parts of the earth have been explored, the higher is the evidence that it was once overflown by the waters of the deluge.

The difcoveries of circumnavigators, have removed the difliculties of admitting that the earth was peopled in all parts from the plain in the land of Shinar, a little to the weft of the Euphrates; on the banks of which river the terreftrial paradife ftood. The art of navigation was imperfedly underftood in the days of Mofes, and long after. It never rofe to high perfedion until the pdlar vir- tue of the loadftone was known. By dif- covering that the magnet would point the needle in the mariner's compafs to ihc north ^nd fouth poles, with fmall variations, the

SI

>w2Ly was prepared to venture far from the fight of land, and to go on diftant voyages. This difcovery was not made till more than thirteen hundred years after Chrift. Pre- vioufly to that period veflels might be caught by florms, or the trade winds, and have been driven to remote iflands, or to this continent. As the mariners had not the means of returning they mud have remain- ed in the places to which they were wafted. Shut out as they were from commerce, and being few in number, they would revert to the rude flate in which they have been found. The peopling of this weftern con- tinent, the rnoft difficult to account for of any part of the globe, might have been ef- fected not only by the caufes jufl named, but by emigrations acrofs the narrow flrait that divides Afia and America. It is now known that the north eaft part of the for- mer, and the north weft of the latter are di- vided by a water paiTage of but a few miles in width : and that even favages are furnifh- «d with craft fufficient for tranfportation.

■ The boaft which fome infidels have made of being able to overthrow the bible, by- improvements in the natural and civil hif- tory of the world, and in philofophy, is wholly without foundation. Modern dif-

13

coveries lend their aid in eftablifhing, rather than in overthrowing, the Mofaic hiftory ; that part of fcripture hiftory which lies at the remoteft diftance from us.

The extraordinary fadls narrated in the pentateuch, confidered in all their circum- flances, are fuited to confirm its truth. In this place may be mentioned the plagues in- flidled upon the Egyptians, the drying up of the v/ater of the red fea to open a paifage through its channel for the Iiraelites, their forty years journey in the wildernefs, the manna rained down from heaven to furnifh them with bread, the quails brought round their camp to afford them meat, and the wa- ter that gufhed out of the rock to quench their thirfl. Thefe and limilar wonders were wrought to eflablifli the belief — ^That Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, was the one only living and true God, in oppofition to the polytheifm, or idolatry, which reign- ed among all other nations at that time. Had the ilory of Mofes been falfe, the ene- mies of the Ifraelites would have united in detecting the impofture ; and they could not have failed offuccefs. The known at^ tachment of idolaters to their religion, would not have fuffered them to be idle fpedators of events of fuch importance. The fads af-

23

ferted were of a public nature, and there* fore mufl have been overthrown had they been falfe. Befides, a public appeal was made, every year, to fome of the mod re- markable of them, by the feaft of the paiT- over, and the feaft of tabernacles : The former was defigned as a ftanding memorial of the falvation of the Ifraehtes on the night in which the firft born of the Egyptians were (lain ; the latter was inftituted to preferve the memory of the Ifraelites dwelling in tents in their journey through the wildernefs. Had Mofes been an impoftor he would not have appointed annual feafts to keep events in remembrance, which he knew never had an exiftence. His acknowledged fagacity muft have taught him, that on every return of thofe occafions, inquiry would have been awakened, which foon would have proved fatal to his fcheme, had it been built on fraud. His conduft had no appearance like to that of impoftors ; who always attempt to hide their defigns from the public eye, and to avoid fcrutiny as far as poiTible.

Admitting human nature to have been the fame in the days of Mofes as now, would it be poflible for a man to frame fuch a ftory as he delivers and obtain general belief, if the whole were a fiftion ? would he prefume

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iky, that he went into a powerful kingdom ' led out thence more than two millions of people — ^that thefeawas opened to make a paflage for them on their departure — that their enemies in the purfuit of them were drowned in the fame channel through which they pafTed on dry ground — that the redee- med nation w^ere afterwards led forty years in a wildernefs, where they were miraculouf- ly fupported from Heaven — and that in their defencelefs flate they were protected from, their enemies, who came upon them in great numbers with arms in their hands — I fay, would he have uttered fuch a ftory, in cafe he knew the whole to be a lie, with any ex- pectation of being believed? Mofes could not have indulged any hope of extenfive or lafting credence, if his whole marvellous ac- count were falfe, unlefs he had been a fool or a madman. The ability he difcovered has cleared him from the imputation of ei- ther of thefe characters from the enemies of revelation.

Groundless (lories, it is true, have pre- vailed for a time, but they have always been found to lofe even their temporary credit, when neither fraud nor violence have pre- vented or filenced inquiry. Fond as man- idnd are of the marvellous, they will in a

25

thort time correal their credulity in particu. lar inftances, if they are laid under no ife- flraint in examination ; efpecially when fads fo notorious as the above are appealed to as proof. Granting, as we muft, that the over- throw of one delufion will not cure the hu- man mind of a liabiUty to be deceived again, yet nothing is more true than that the multi-- tude will not hold to any one fable lopg, when the public evidence which it claims for its fupport is difcovered to be falfe. Let one now rife up in this country, or in any other, with the profelled defign of inculcating a new creed, and appeal to fads in proof as public as were thofe recorded in the Mofaic wri- tings, he would not be believed long, if the facts which he affirmed were not real ; pro- vided neither flratagem nor force were em- ployed to bhnd the eyes of the multitude, or to keep up the credit of the new religion, That the hiitory of Mofes has been generally believed, and that for a long time, by moft who have been acquainted with it, is not de- nied by its enemies. We would afk thefe lail:, on what principle this faith can be ac- counted for, if the narration on which it rells be a forgery ? If Mofes were either artful or tyrannical enough to keep the Ifraelites in the dark, he could not have enchaiaedthe minds C

26

of the furrounding nations. The Egyptians in particular, who were at that time the moil acquainted with fcienceof any nation on the globe, would have exerted themfelves to deted the impoflure, had there been the ieafl profpet^ of fuccefs.

No man or body of men from the earli- eft ages to the prefent day, have taken it upon them to point out the time or the place ■when and where the Mofaic religion was fabricated, if it be a forgery. Why has not this bufmefs been undertaken ? It has not been omitted through a want of abili- ties for invefligation in fome infidels. Nor have the adverfaries of the Bible withheld their efforts in the prefent inftance, through ■want of hatred of Mofes ; for no man has been more reproached and vilified by them than he. It can eafily be told when, where, and by whom, the Mahometan impoflure was framed. Why, I again afk, has no one unde^aken to unravel the plot of Mofes, if his fch'eme be the offspring of fraud ? The ' true anfwer is, that no man of thought and reflection has ever felt himfelf equal to the tafk. The fads of w^hich his hiflory is com- pofed are too glaring to be denied.

The Ifraelites cannot, with the leafl co- lour of truth, be confidered as confpiring

27 y

-with Mofes to eftablifli a falfe or a ground- lefs ftory. For though their charaSer, af- ter they were brought under the Sinai co- venant, was not fo corrupt as th^t of oth^r nations, it was yet far from being fauhlefs. They are reprefented as a murmuring and perverfe people, and very prone to idola- try. Within a fhort time after the law had been dehvered to them from the mouth of Jehovah, with folemn and awful majefty, they, with Aaron at their head, formed a molten calf, and v/orfhipped it, faying, " Thefe be thy gods, O Ifrael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.'* While they were in the wildernefs they manifefled a ftrong inclination to return to the country where they had been in bondage, and contemplated choofing a lead- er to condud them back into that land of idols. Yet perverfe as that nation was, and reluctant as they were to the worfhip of the Lord, they have borne witnefs to the truth of the hiftory given of them by Mofes, and fubfequent Old Teflament writers. That people bear teftimony to the fame fads at the prefent time. Individuals and collective bo- dies of men wifh to have their names handed down to pofterity with honor. They fhud- der at the thought of a difgraceful memory. If we admit that the Ifraelites would lend their aid to a forgery to render themfelves

28

the objefts of reproach to their fucceffprs, we muil fuppofe that a trait exiiled in their characters, which diftinguifhed them cflfen- tially from all the refl of mankind that have lived from the creation to this day.

The writings of Mofes carry all the marks of impartiality. He not only mentions the faults of the nation, but his own faults ; and proceeds to tell the particular offence which prevented him from paffing over Jordan, and leading the tribes into the land of promife. Do thefe things carry the marks of a difhon- efl mind ? Do they not extort from every candid perfon a confeflion of the integrity of Mofes ?

An obje6lion has been brought forward againfl the truth and authenticity of the Pentateuch, from the pafTage recorded in Numbers xii. 3. Now the man Mofes was 'Dery meek^ above all the men which were upon the face - of the earth. Upon thefe words Paine remarks, in^ his ufual flyle and fpirit,^ " If Mofes faid this of himfelf, he w^as a vain '' and arrogant coxcomb, and unworthy of " credit ; and if he did not fay it,, the books *' are without authority."

To this objedion it may be replied,

I ft. That from the account given of Mofes, it appears that he was a- man of re-

V

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markable meeknefs. He bore the infults of the people at large, and of His brother Aaron and fifler Miriam, with a compofure rarely to be met with even among perfons of real piety. There are certainly occafions in which a man may appeal to the inoffenlive- nefs and purity of his own character. The reproachful and cruel treatment which Mofes received juftifies a vindication of him- felf. The credibility of other hiltorians of far lefs worth than he, has not been called in queftion from the things they have fpoken in favor of themfelves, when driven to make a defence againll the tongue of Hander.

2nd. The text in Numb. xii. is inferted by way of parenihefis, and might have been added by fome fubfequent writer of the Bible. The account given af the death and burial of Mofes, in the lad chapter of Deu- teronomy, muff have been added by fome other perfon. Samuel did not write any part of the fecond book which bears his name. It is not fuppofed that he wrot^ the whole of the firft. In the xxvth chapter of the firflbook mention is made of his death. If this event be not an anticipation, but is in- troduced in the order or the time in which it happened, the evidence is decifive that he aid not write any more of thofe books than the Ca

3°

twenty four chapters preceding. This does nothing towards deftroying or weakening the truth and authenticy of thofe books, unlefs it were fomewhere affirmed in the Bible, that they both and throughout were penned by Samuel. This is no where faid. While the canon of fcripture was unfinifiied, the fucceeding writers might add to the parts which preceded. The manner of removing the difficulty urged from Numb. xii. 3, will be eafily underftood by a comparifon. Let us fuppofe that in fome future diflant period, in a new edition of Dodtor Ramfay's Hiftory of the American Revolution, it lliould be added in a parenthefis, or in a note, that Dr. Ram- fay was a man of fcience, and of an eftimable charadler, v;ould this deftroy or even weaken the credibility of his hiftory ? The application is eafy to the cafe of Mofes. Someother per- fon inferted the eulogy upon him : which in no way affefts the truth of what the deceafed wrote, unlefs it bean additional confirmation*

I CONCLUDE this difcourfe with obferving that the truth of the Moiaic hiftory is fuppo- fed in all the other writings both of the Old Teftament and the New. The evidence we hope to produce in favor of their truth and authenticity, will corroborate the arguments that have been brought in fupport of the truth ol the five firft books of the Bible.

X:^<><><X>=::>=:;><>C<><>c;x:::<:><X;:-=:::5<X?<:::<.><^::;>::;>:>:;>^

DISCOURSE II.

On the Truth of the Scriptures.

2 TIMOTHY iii. 1 6.

All fcrlpture is given by infpiratlon of God^ and is profitable for dodrine^for reproof for corredion^ for infiruction in righteoufnefs.

HAVING in my firft difcourfe, from the words jufl read, attended to the evidence in fupport of the truth of the Mo- faic writings, I now proceed to confider the truth of the other fcriptures.

That the Ifraelites once inhabited the land of Canaan is as well known, and as u- niverfally believed by all forts of men, as any part of ancient hiftory. Infidels have never denied this, nor that the Ifraelites were put into polfefTion of that country by con- quering its former inhabitants. On that conqueit they have railed oae of their xuoft

32

f-^rmidable obje£bions againfl: the infpiration of the Bible. This objediion I fhall confider in another place. Tho' in confiftency with themfelves, they have rejeded the account of the miracles which attended the cdnqueft, they have admitted the narration in general which is contained in the book of Jofhua, as true.

After the death of Jofhua followed the rule of the Judges ; which was fucceeded by kingly government. Towards the de- cline of the kingdom of Judah the hiflory of other nations becomes more authentic^ and corroborates fcripture hiflory. After the Babylonian captivity the hiflory oPthe Jews is more and more connected with that of the AfTyrians, the Perfians, the Grecians, and other nations. The return of the Jews from Babylon happened about five hundred and thirty-fix years before Chrifl. The ac- €ount given of it by Ezra and Nehemiah, whofe books the deifts allow to be genuine, confirms the truth of the predictions of Jer- emiah and other prophets to whom were difclofed the captivity and return of the Jews, before either of thofe events took place. Befides, the writings of Ezra and Nehemiah refer to all the hiftorical books which relate to the children of Ifrael^, from

53

the time of Abraham to the days in which they lived. Thus we fee that the Old Tef- tament hiftory is eflabliihed beyond all rea* fonable doubt.

In whatever light infidels are difpofed to confider the Jewifh prophets who lived be- fore the Babylonian captivity, in the time of it, or afterwards, they cannot deny that fuch perfons exifted, without executing a tafk which they have never attempted, and that is the overthrow of the whole hiflory of the Old Teftament. The prophecies and the hiftorical books are fo interwoven that they muft fland or fall together.

The difficulties which arife from the dates and numbers in the Old Teflament, are not many ; and the few miftakes -in thefe parti- culars arc eafily accounted for. It would be flrange if the tranfcribers of the bible, a book much oftener copied than any other in the world, had in no inftance erred. The Jews, as well as all the other ancient nations, made ufe of letters to exprefs numbers. The fi- gures in arithmetic, with which we are fo fa- miliarly acquainted, are not to be found in the writings of antiquity. They were firfl introduced into Europe from Arabia, about a thoufand years after Chrifl. Several of the letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are very

34

much alike in fhape. A tranfcribcr might eafily miflake one letter for another, where the fimilarity between them is very great. An error of this kind might make a numer- ical calculation very wide from the truth. The Hebrew letter which fignifies 4, differs very little in its fhape from the one which figniiies 200 ; and the one whkh flands for 8, from the one which flands for 400. The errors in copies of the fcriptures that are of the numerical kind, do nothing to- wards dellroying the truth of thefe wri- tings. It has never been contended that the tranfcribers or printers of the Bible, were un- der immediate unerring fupernatural influ- ence. Chronological errors, efpecially in things of fmall confequence, have never been confidered as fubverfive of profane hiftory. There is no juft caufe why any thing fhould operate as a valid objection againfl the truth of the fcriptures, which is conceded to have no weight in fetting afide the truth of any other writing. It may be fairly concluded from the perfections of God, that he will pre- ferve the elTentials of any book that has a juft claim to infpiration. What need we more ?

Without dwelling any longer upon the truth of the Old Teftament, I fliall only ob- ferve, that when it was <:lofed by the proph-

35

et Malachi, about four hundred years before Chrift, the Jewilh church received as au- thentic the fame books which we have now in our Bible ; and admitted no other as ca« nonical.

As we come down to the New Teflament, we fall within a more luminous period than that of .Mofes and the prophets.

We are witneiTes of the exiftence of the chriflian religion. However much this may have been, or is now, defpifed, no writer has undertaken to overthrow the belief that a perfon called Jesus Christ, made his ap- pearance inPaledine near i8oo years ago, and that he has had followers in the world, from the time of his entrance on his public miniftry down to the prefent day. The Ro- man Empire had reached its zenith, and hu- man fcience had rifen to a higher pitch than in any former period when Jefus was born. There are now in many hands the writings of poets, orators, and hiflorians, who flour- iflied a little before and a httle after his birth. Thefe authors are held in high repute by thofe who have a talle for the fine arts ; and the reading of them continues to form a part of a univerfity education. Evidence can be col- le61:ed from fome of thofe eminent perform- ances, in fupport of the truth of the chriflian fcriptures.

36

A QtJESTsoN may arlfe in this place, ift fome minds, which demands an anlwer, and that is, why the teftimony of pagans is ap- pealed to in defence of the gofpel ? To this it may be anfvvered, that their teftimony, is tjie teftimony of avowed enemies ; which according to common fenfe, and the appro- ved rules of judging, has no fmall weight. The Heathens cannot be fufpeded of attempt- ing to build up a caufe which they have ever fought to deftroy ; or of aiding in the eftab- lifhment of the fa£ts on which it refts, unlefs compelled to it by the force of evidence. Let it alfo be remembered here, that the fuf- frages of pagan writers are not colle£led to prove that the fcriptures are given by divine infpiration,but for the fmgie purpofe of con- firming their truth.

That the religion of Jefus Chrift did ex- iil in as early a period as his followers con- tend, may be fairly gathered from the wri- tings of Tacitus, the Roman hiftorian, which were pubHfhed about feventy years after Chrift's death. Speaking of the fire which happened at Rome about thirty years after the crucifixion, and of the fufpicions that the Emperor Nero enkindled it, he proceeds as follows : " But neither thefe exertions, " nor his largefles to the people, nor his

37

*< offerings to the gods, did away the infa- *' mous imputation under which Nero lay, ** of having ordered the city to be fet on ** fire. To put an end therefore to this *' report, he laid the guilt, and inflided the *' mod cruel punifhments upon a fet of peo- ** pie, who were held in abhorrence for *' their crimes, and called by the vulgar, *' Chrijiians. The founder of that name *' was Chrift, who fuffered death in the ^* reign of Tiberius, under his procurator *^ Pontius Pilate. This pernicious fuperfti- ^' tion, thus checked for a while, broke out *' again ; and fpread, not only over Judea, *' where the evil originated, but through " Rome alfo, whither every thing bad upon ** earth finds its way, and is pradlifed. Some " who confefTed their fed: were firft feized, " and afterwards by their information a vaft '' multitude were apprehended, who were " convided, not fo much of the crime of " burning Rome, as of hatred to mankind, *' Their fufferings at their exea^|>n were " aggravated by infult and moatery, for *' fome were difguifed in the fkins of wild *^ beads, and worried to death by dogs— *' fome were crucified — and others were *' wrapped in pitched Ihirts, and fet on fire ** when the day clofed,that they might ferve D

38

((

iC

C<

«

as lights to illuminate the night. Nerd lent his own gardens for thefe executions ; " and exhibited at the fame time a mock ** circenfian entertainment, being a fpeda- *' tor of the whole in the drefs of a chari- oteer, fometimes mingling with the crowd on foot, and fometimes viewing the fpec- tacles from his car. This condud made the fufferers pitied ; and tho' they were criminals, and deferved the fevereft pun- ifhment, yet they were confidered as fac- rificed, not fo much out of a regard to the public good, as to gratify the cruelty " of one man."*

That Tacitus was a bitter enemy to the chriflian religion no one can doubt who has attended to the foregoing paflage. It will follow of courfe that this learned pagan ad- verfary, would have rejoiced at an opportu- nity to have proved it to be a fable, had it been pofTible. His tellimony in fupport of fome of the principal fads on which it refts, could have been extorted by nothing but ir- refiflible evidence. We obferve that he tef- tifies that there was fuch a perfon as Chrift, that he fuffered death in the reign of Tibe- rius, and under the particular government

* Paley^s view of the Evideaccs of Chriitianity, Boftoi Edition, pages 33. 34.

39

of Pilate. He alfo confirms the account given in the New Teflament of the tempo- rary check of the prevalence of the gofpel, of the fpread of it afterwards in Judea, the original or fir ft fpot where it was propaga- ted, and of its extending its influence to Rome ; where a chriftian church was gath- ered in the fame age in which Chrift w^as crucified.

To the teftimony of Tacitus might be added that of feveral other pagan writers. I fhall only add that of Pliny the younger, the Roman Governor of Bythynia and Pon- tus, places remote from the capital. His famous letter to Trajan the Emperor, was written about the fame time with the palfage adduced from Tacitus j but relates to the affairs of his own time. He fpcaks of the chriftian religion, as a religion well known, and as having made very extenfive progrefs in the places under his isnmediate govern- ment. Speaking of the chriftians, he fays, ^' There are many of every age, and of both *' fexes — nor has the contagion of this fu- ** perftition feized cities only, but fmall^r *' towns alfo, and the open country.*'*

Pliny in the fame letter mentions the worfhip of the chriftians, and gives explicit ♦ Paley's view, p. 36.

40

teftimony to the purity of their morals. He UTites, " That having examined the chrif- " tians, fetting afide the fuperftition of their " way, he could find no fault ; and that *^ this was the fum of their error, that they ** were wont to meet on a fixed day, before ** light, and fmg a hymn to Chrift as God, *' and to bind themfelves by a folemn oath " or facrament, not to any wicked purpofe ; '' but not to (teal, nor rob, nor commit a- ** dultery, nor break their faith, nor detain ** the pledge.'*

It is natural to inquire what teftimony has been given to the appearing of Jefus Chrifl, and the progrefs of his religion, by the Jewifh nation, from which he defcended as a man. According to the Evangelifla Chrifl's perfonal miniftry v/as almoft wholly confined to that people, and by their influ- ence he was condemned to die. It is cer- tain that the Jews ever fince the coming of Jefus of Nazareth into the world, have ad- mitted that he was born in the days of Herod the great — that he entered upon his public miniftry in Judea — that he did many won- derful things — that he gained a number of dlfciples — ^that by the inftigation of their rulers he was put to death — that according to the report of his followers he was reftored

41

to life on the third day after his crucifixion —and that his religion had an early and extenfive fpread. The body of the Jewifh nation did not reaeive him as the Meffiah ; for they expected, and flill expert, a tempo- ral prince under that charader. They be- lieved, in the days in which Jefus appeared, that if he were the promifed Shiloh^he would have brought them out from under the Ro- man yoke, and have raifed their nation to the fummit of earthly glory. The Saviour whom chriftians acknowledge, declared, both by words and actions, that his king- dom is not of this world ; and condemned in a pointed manner, the reigning corrup- tions in the faith and pra6:ice of the Jews. They rejected this illuflrious meffenger of the Lord of hods, they charged him with calling out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils, and purfued him with implacable malice and rancour until they had brought him to the crofs. We are not therefore to expect honorable mention of Jefus Chrifl or of his rehgion by them. Some indeed of the modern Jews acknowledge that the chrii^ tian Meffiah inculcated many good moral precepts, and juftly reproach many of his profefTed followers with a total want of his fpirit J but they confider him (till as an im- D 2

4*

poftor. On the whole, we can collect as much evidence from the Jewifli nation in fa- vor of the early exiftence of the chriflian re- ligion, as could under all circumflances be cxpeded ; allowing it to be true.

When we recur to the whole feries of chriflian writers, from the beginning of the chriflian inflitution down to the prefent time^ we find that they all proceed upon the gen- eral account, which is contained in our fcriptures, and upon no other. The ordi- nances of Baptifm and the Lord's Supper, and the Sabbath, have been kept up in the chriflian church from the time of the Apof- tles to the day in which we live. The few exceptions found among fmall and tempo- rary fe6ls of chriflians, do not affed the general argument, or the ufage of the church at large, Th« foregoing rites confidered in this connexion, afford no fmali proof of the faOs which they recognize ; fuch as the death and the refurredion of Jefus Chrifl, as fet forth in the hiflory of the New Tefla- ment. We juflly confider the declaration of the Independence of the United States of America, as a great and memorable event. Should the day on which it was declared, be marked with peculiar public tokens of refpeft from generation to generation, will

43

»ot evidence be fairly colleded hundreds of years hence, by thofe who fhall then live, that the political birth of our republic hap- pened on the 4th of July 1776 ? The appli- cation to the fubje£l which this fuppofition is defigned to illuflrate, is too plain to be mifunderflood.

In further confirmation of the truth and authenticity of the books of the New Tefta- ment, we find the four gofpels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the ABis of the Apoflles, are quoted, or plainly alluded to, by a fuccefiion of chriftian wri- ters, beginning with thofe who lived in the fame age with the Apoflles, and continuing through all the fubfequent periods to the prefent time. By the works of thofe wri- ters it appears that the flory of the birth, life, miniftry, death and refurredion of Chrifl, and the effects that foon followed, was the fame from the frrfl: as now. Quo- tations from the early ages of the chriflian church, have been made from the Epiflles as well as from the hiflorical books of the New Teftament. Whoever receives the hiflorical books as authentic and genuine, cannot juflly doubt concerning the Epiflles j for the latter proceed on the fuppofition of the truth of the former ; as muft appear to

44

every one \7ho attentively reads the New Teftament. Its hiflorical books are quoted, or plainly alluded to, by Barnabas, Clement of Rome, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp, as we find by their writings that have come down to us. Thofe fathers, as is generally admitted, were cotemporary with the Apof- tles, and were the hearers and companions of fome one or more of the twelve. In the fecond century from the birth of Chrift, we colle6l teflimony of the kind now under confideration from the writings of Juflin Martyr, Irenoeus, Theopbilus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertuilian. In the third century, quotations from, and references to, the New Teftament, are numerous in the chriflian writers of that period : among whom are to be enumerated Origen, Dio- nyfms, and Cyprian. As wc advance far into the fourth century, we find the books written by chriilians to be as full of fcripcure pafTages, as the printed fcrmons of modern divines ; it is therefore unnecefT^ry to name any more chriflian v/riters under this head. If we be fatisfied by the teftimonies in fup- port of the truth and autheniicity of the New Teflament, that can be adduced from the firfl three centuries, v/e fnall find nothing to perplex our belief in the ages that have fol- lowed.

45

■ The force of the teftimony •which has been brought, is greatly ftrengthened by the agreement: of the feveral writers with each other, in their references to the books of the New Teflament. They alfo refer to thofe books as clothed with divine authority, and confider the fcriptures as the only wri- tings which are given by infpiration of God, If it fhould be faid that the writers of the fecond century were kept from contradiding themfelves, or others, in quoting from the New Teflament, by attending to the quota- tions made by the writers of the firft centu- ry, and that the writers of the third century obferved the fame precaution it may be ob- ferved. ift. That fuch an agreement in a forgery, if the gofpel be falfe, among fuch numbers, in places fo remote from each other, and for three hundred years, is with- out a parallel in the annals of mankind ; and fmce no miraculous evidence is appealed to for the proof of fuch an unprecedented fadl, the objection has no weight. 2d. The chrif- tian writers of the firft century lived in coun- tries remote from each other. Clement flourifhed at Rome, Ignatius at Antioch, and Poly carp at Smyrna.

The identity or famenefs of the chriflian fJiOry, in every age fmce it was firft promuJU

4<S-

gated, may be fairly concluded from "the early collection of the books of the New Teflament into a diflindi: volume, and the uf'e that was made of them. They were publicly read and expounded in the religious aflemblies of the chriflians who lived in the early ages. Commentaries were written up- on them ; and they were tranflated into dif- ferent languages. Attempts were alfo made in the infancy of the chriftian church, to re- concile with each other the different accounts of the four evangeliils, as recorded in the copy which we have in our hands.

The ufe that was made of the New Tefla- ment, in the controverfies that arofe early in the chriftian church,tendsto the confirmation of the fubjed we are now confidering. The feveral parties appealed to the fame writings for proof of their refpective opinions. Mofl even of the heretics acknowledged the whole of the New Teftament ; and the few who did not, received the greater part of it as true, and of divine original. It is eafy to fee that the different opinionifts who had a refped for the fame fcriptures, to which they had equal accefs, would ferve as a check upon each other, againft attempting any al- teration of thofe writings, had they been fo difpofed. We argue v/ith certainty in this

47

fcafe, becaufe we build upon the known feel- ings of human nature. To render the mat- ter plain, let us come down to controverfies among chriftians with which we are ac- quainted. Should the Prefbyterians attempt an alteration of thofe texts which the Epif- copalians employ in fupport of their caufe, the latter would not fail to deted: and ex- pofe the fraud. The fame remark may be made with refpect to the vigilance of the Prefbyterians, in cafe the Epifcopalians were guilty of the like fraudulent conduct. Were the Pedobaptifts, or thofe who hold to in- fant Baptifm, to add to, or diminifh from, the words in the Bible, on which the con- troverfyj^etween them and the Baptifts turn, the latter would hold up the defigned de- ception to the world. Were the Baptifts to alter the difputed paflages, the Pedobaptifts would expofe the forgery, or erafement. What ever evils have flown from the divif- ions in the chriftian church, we difcern that good has come out of them in this one re- fped at leaft — ^The prefervation of the facred volume from being corrupted.

In this connexion we may fee, that a fat- isfadlory anfwer can be given to the follov/- ing inquiry, which we fometimes hear, " How fliall illiterate people know that the

45

*• prefent copies of the Bible, in the original ** tongues in which they were written, or •' in the tranflation which they have are juft? *' As they have no knowledge of thofe an- •' cient languages, how do they know but *' that they are deceived about the text ?'* To this it may be replied — ^that perfons who are unacquainted with the languages in which the fcriptures were firll written, have no juft caufe to fear that any material errors have crept into the Hebrew or Greek copies, or into their tranflations ; becaufe learned men of various denominations, and who are, fome of them, very wide apart in fentiment, appeal to the fame fcriptures in their original tongues ; and conftantly ferve as fpjes upon each other againft any alteration of moment, either in the tranfcribing or tranllating of them. The prefent tranflation of the Bible into our language, is acknowledged by learn- ed men of different denominations, to be done v^dth great judgment and impartiality. The few who have v/ifhed to raife an outcry againfl it, have not been highly refpeded by chriftians in general, for their attachment to revealed religion. The prefent tranflation was iiniflied almoft two hundred years ago.

It is indeed true that a knowledge of the languages in which the fcriptures were firft

. 49

written, will be helpful in underftanding them; becaufe the tranflators were not wholly clear from miftakes ; and more ef- pecially becaufe there are idioms in every language, or peculiar forms of fpeech, that cannot be completely exprefled in any other. But the Bible is fo tranflated, that no one will be led into any material error by the prefent verfion.

Returning from digrefTion, I proceed to obferve that the fame hiflorical books of the New Teflament, which we have in our hands, were early attacked by the adverfa- ries of our religion ; as by Celfus, in the fecond century, Porphyry, in the third, and Julian the apollate, in the fourth. Thefe learned pagans do not hint at any other hiftories as received among chriftians, con- cerning the life, miniftry, death, and refur- redion, of Jefus Chrift, and the propagation of his religion, but thofe contained in the four Evangelifts, and in the Acls of the A- poftles. Their violent enmity to the chrif- tian religion, would have led them to deftroy or weaken the authenticity of the books which its friends received, had it been in their power. As they never attempted this, but built their objedlions on the fame books E

5^

which are contained in our copies, the evi- dence is conclufive that the hiftorical records to which chriftians appealed then, were the jtoie which we now have.

To the foregoing arguments may be ad- ded— that many formal catalogues of au- thentic fcriptures were publifhed within four hundred years from the birth of Chrifl, by his followers, which contain all the books both of the Old and New Teflament, that are received by chriftians, as canonical at the prefent time.

It is well known to all who have gone far into the inquiry concerning the truth and authenticity of the New Teftament, that many fpurious or apocryphal writings ap- peared in fome of the early ages of chriftian- ity, under the names of the Evangelifts, A- poftles, and other perfons. Such fictions may be accounted for, from the fondnefs of the human mind to enlarge on a marvellous ftory that had begun to engage general at- tention in many places, and from lucrative motives. We have certain proof that thofe forgeries were never received by the chrif- tian church as canonical. They did not ap- pear in the firft century from the birth of Chrift ; in which all the hiftorical books of the New Teftament were univerfally known

51

and received by chrillians. Primitive chrif- tians never appear to have had any doubt concerning the truth and genuinenefs of the four EvangeUfls, and the Ads of the Apof- tles, which contain the principal facts on which the gofpel reds. Of the apocryphal writings few have been preferved entire to the prefent time. From thefe, as well a$ from the fragments of the reft to be collect- ed from other writers, thofe fpurious pro- ductions, the moft of them, are difcovered to be full of trifling, filly ftories and contra- dictions, and to be compofed in a very dif- ferent ftyle from the books which chriftians receive. It is however apparent from all thofe forgeries, that they allude to the fame general hiftory of Chrift and his Apoftleg which is contained in the New Teftament. None of the apocryphal writings were ever admitted into the fame volume with the ca- nonical books, nor into the catalogues of authentic fcripture that have been publifhed. They were not noticed by the adverfaries of the chriftian religion in its infancy, nor were they appealed to, as an authority, by any of the ancient chriftian writers, in their con- troverfies with each other.*

* The reader who wiflies to go into a full examinatloii of the truth and authenticity of the New Teftament, is re- ferred to the authorities which have principally guided the

52

The differences in the accounts given by the Evangelifts concerning the life, miniflry, death and refurredlion of Jefus Chrift create no objedion to the truth of their hiftory. Some circumftances are mentioned by one EvangeHft which are omitted by another ; but on examination it is found that they are all confident with the general flory, and with each other. Differences in hiftory are not neceffarily confidered as contradictions. Two or more writers on the American Rev- olution, may mention different faCts, and yet their narrations may be harm.onious. The genealogies of Chrift given by Matthew and Luke are different ; but they are reconciled with truth, by confidering that Matthew gives the genealogy of Chrift in the line of Jofeph his reputed father, and Luke traces it in the line of Mary his real mother. The differences in the accounts given by the E* vangelifts of the Refurredion of Chrift, are reconcileable with each other.

The evidence of the truth of the hiftori- ans of the New Teftament is greater, than if they all had mentioned the fame fads and

writer of thefe difcourfes, on thatfubjefl, viz. Jones's new and full method of fettling the canonical authority of the Kew Teftament, and Paiey's view of the Evidences of Chriftianity. The authoT regrets that he has not had ac- ctii to Lardner's Credibilitv of the gofpel hiil:ory.>

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no other. In that cafe it might have been objecled with more appearance of plaufibil- ity, that they wrote in concert with a defign to make out one ftory, to impofe on man- kind. When a number of witnefles teftify to a complicated fad, before a court of juf- tice, precifely in the fame words and with the fame circumflances, a fufpicion more eafily arifes in the minds of the Judges, of collufion and fraud in the perfons who give teilimony, than when they employ different words, and bring up different circumflances that are reconcileable with the general fa6t, and with each other, and cafl light upon the whole affair.

If any will be fo abfurd as to difcredit the Evangelifls becaufe they narrate events that happened long ago, they muff, to be con- fiftent reje6l all ancient hiftory. They muft difbelieve that there ever were fuch men as Cyrus, Alexander the great, or Julius Cefar ; for if their exiflence be admitted, credit muft be given to fome of the records of ancient times. We all admit many things to be true of which we have not been eye-witnelf- es, on human teflimony. If the witneffes be credible, we do not withhold our affent to what they teflify, becaufe the fa^ts they af- firm happened at a time, or iix a place, re- E 2

54

mote from us. If we will allow nothing to be true that has not been immediately ad- dreffed to our fenfes, our knowledge will be confined within very narrow bounds in- deed.— ^We of this audience, on that fuppo- fition, ought not to believe that there are fuch places as London, Paris, or Amfter- dam ; for we have not beheld them with our own eyes.

Infidels, in fome of their objeclions a- gainfl the Bible, have fallen into modes of reafoning relative to fa6ls, v/hich they would be afhamed to adopt when applied to any other fubjedl. Hence, we have grounds to fufpe£l that they are governed by a wifli to prove the fcriptures to be falfe, rather than by the candor which they profefs to take for their guide. They urge the fuper nat- ural events narrated in facred hiftory as a fufficient bar againft admitting its truth. Mr. Hume, a deift of great fubtilty, has la- bored to prove that experience is the only guide, to be relied on, in reafoning concern- ing matters of fact. If he mean by experi- ence, what falls under each man's particular obfervation,he mull go all the abfurd lengths of difcrediting the exiftence of every thing which is not known either by the immedi- ate teflimony of the external fenfes, or the

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immediate perceptions of the mind. If Mr. Hume aded upon his own fcheme in the {en[e in which it is now taken, he certainly did not believe in any part of ancient hiflo- ry, except in things daily occurring ; fuch as the rifmg and fetting of the fun, the eb- bing and flowing of the tide, the change of the feafons, &c. Nor did he exped that the readers of his hiflory of England, would give credit to a large part of it, unlefs gov- erned by the credulity which he explodes. If by experience be meant the ufual courfe of events, it will follow that no report which relates to an uncommon event ought to be believed. On this hypothefis, we have no fufEcient grounds to beHeve that King Charles I. of England, was beheaded in the year 1649, ^^ ^^^^ Louis XVI. of France loft his life on the fcaffold in 1793. It has not been ufual for kings to lofe their Hves by the hand of the executioner, after the for- malities of a law trial ; and as we were not prefent when either of thofe monarchs is laid to have had his head ftruck off, we are juftified in rejeding the report as a fable. Such abfurd confequences as thefe will fol- low from the principles laid down by the moft fubtle deifts, for the purpofe of deflroy- ing the credibiHty of miracles. If the ex- iftence of thefe is inadmiffible, the Bible

ii

muft be renounced as given by divine infpi- ration

The portion of underftanding which is fo equally diflributed among mankind, is fully competent to decide on the evidence deri- ved from facts which take place before their eyes. None of the intricacies of abflradt reafoning are needed in fuch cafes. This remark agrees with the known fenfe of all judicial bodies on the earth. To the fame common fenfe I appeal, whether the Apof- tles and other witnefTes of the fads recorded in the hiflory of the New Teflament, were not competent judges of the truth of what they affert ? If they were, their teflimony is to be received as vaUd ; unlefs it can be fet afide from fomething that appears in their characters, or in the circumflances which at- tend their narration. No juft objection can arife from either of thefe quarters, when we candidly attend to the cafe. The truth of the fcriptures is fully eftabUflied by admit- ting, as all men do when not bewildered by fophiflry or prejudice, that credible human tellimony is the fole criterion of the truth of fa6ts otherwife unknown. By this plain and approved ftandard, we are willing that the truth of the fcriptures iliould be tried — We lieed not fear the refuit.

S7

The candor and impartiality of the writers of the New Teflament, are too manifeft to be denied. They narrate their own faults, without endeavoring to palliate them. This exonerates them from the charge of attempt- ing to impofe a forgery on the world. To this they had no inducement. The religion they pubHlhed condemns falfehood in the ftrongefl terms, and dooms liars and deceiv- ers, in particular, to eternal mifery. But had they been fo hardened, as to have been in no fear from the judgment to come, they had no temporal inducement to fupport their zeal for the propagation of the gofpel : for by becoming the open advocates of it, they had to renounce the pleafures, the riches, and the honors, of the world, and expofed themfelves to meet death in its moft dreadful forms. But after all, had they been difpo- fed to deceive mankind with a falfe flory, it would have been wholly impracticable under the exifling circumflances. They publifhed their hillory on the fcene of action — they appealed to public facts — and they made the appeal while the fads were recent. Their enemies, who had both knowledge and pow- er, would have unveiled the plot, had their fcheme been built on a lie. The rulers of the Jewifh nation were, as a body, wholly oppofed to chriftianity, and would have

—

crufhed it in the birth had their malice been able to have accomplifhed its wifhes. Had the religion of Jefus been a fraud, it would foon, like other frauds that are detefted by thofe in power, have periflied from the earth. We are not to confine the fcene to Judea, where chriftianity was firfl difplayed, it was carried into the lefler Afia, into Greece and Rome and other places, v/ithin a few years after the death of its founder. The malice, the learning, and the prejudices of Heathens as well as Jews were exerted againfl it. Its propagation was not in dark and obfcure places, but in the mofl noted places then in the world. It was too in the day when the famous Roman Empire had brought not only Judea, but all countries of much re- nown, to bow to her arms, and to pour their riches into her treafury. At the fame time that (he extended her fceptre over the world, Ihe reigned miflrefs of the arts. " At the *' time when Chrift appeared, the Roman *' Empire had reached the very meridian ** of its glory. It was the illuftrious peri- *' od, when power and policy receiving aid ^' from learning and fcience, and embelifh- *' ment from the orators and the poets, " gave law to the world, directed its tafte, *' and even controled its opinions. It was *' the age when inquiry v/as awake and a(Sive

I

«

<(

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** on every fubje6t that was fuppofed to be ** of curious or ufeful invefligation, wheth- *' er in the natural or in the intelledual world. It was, in fhort, fuch an age as impofture mufl have found in every refped; the lead aufpicious to its defigns ; efpecially fuch an impofture as chriftian- ** ity, if it had deferved the name."*

The firft planting of the gofpel in the world, and its prevalence for fo long a time, under all the attending circumftances, if it were a forgery, would be a greater miracle, than any it claims for its fupport ; and would be without a parallel in the hiftory of mankind.

* White's Sermons, containing a view of Chriilianity md Mahometanifm, in their Hiftory, their Eyidence, and tHeirEffe(^s, p. ijj, i34»

DISCOURSE IIL

The fenfe in which all Scripture is given by Infpiration of God explained ; and the evidence of its divine original from the nature of the reHgion which it contains confidered.

2 TIMOTHY iii. 1 6.

Allfcnpiure is give?! by infpiration cfGod^ and is profitable for dodrine^ for reproofs for cor* re^iien^for iiiftrudion in righteoufnefs.

IN the tv/o former difcourfes from the text, we have attended to the truth of the fcriptures of the Old and New Tefla- ment. I now proceed,

II. To explain ia what fenfe the phrafe Infpiration ofOod^ is to be underftood when applied to allfcripture.

6z

By injpirat'wn is to be under flood, either an immediate communication of fadls or dodrines from God, to the minds of the men who were employed in delivering the Bible to mankind, or in directing them what to write, or in fecuring them from er- ror. They had facts and dodrines commu- nicated to them immediately from God, in fome inftances, as much as if it were now communicated to us what is tranfadling, this moment, at the diflance of thoufands of miles from us. Whenever they wrote any part of fcripture they were direded from on High what to record, and at the fame time they were fecured from error in what they wrote to guide the faith and the pradice of mankind. That part of fcripture •which does not fall under infpiration in the firft fenfe that has been given, falls under it in the two lafl fenfes ; and hence it may be faid with jflricl propriety, that all fcripture is given by infpiration of God^ and forms an in- falUble rule of faith and practice.

The meaning of infpiration firfl given, vAW be eafily underflood by a few examples. To Noah was immediately revealed that a deluge would come upon the earth — To A- braham, that his feed fhould be afilided by a people in whofe land they fliould be a

03

iT:ranger, four hundred years— To Mofes, the deliverance of the Ifraelites from their Egyptian bondage by his hand — ^To Samuel, the overthrow of Saul, and the eftablifh- ment of David on the throne of lirael — To Jeremiah, the feventy years captivity of the kingdom of Judah — ^I'o Paul, the Anti- chriftian apoflacy — And to John, the dura- tion of the reign of the man of fm, and the principal events relative to the church to the end of the world. Infpiration, in this high fenfe, is not only employed in revealing facts but dodrines ; fuch as the mode of the di- vine exiflence, the character and offices of Jefus Chrift, the immortality of the foul, the future judgment, and the refurredion of the dead. Under this head may alfo be ranked pofitive precepts, or inftitutions ; whether binding on the Jewifh or the chrif- tian church.

Those who acknowledge the exiflence of God, will not deny the poffibility of hig communicating truth to the human mind in this extraordinary manner ; whether by vifions, by an audible voice, or in any other way. No perfon demands credit from oth- ers, as having fuch immediate intercourfe with the Deity, unlefs he evidence his illu- mination by means as extraordinary as the

I

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•way in which he received his knowledge. Hence, we may fee the importance of mira- cles to confirm the divine original of the Bi- ble ; as will hereafter be confidered. We may be under as real obligation to receive as divine what is revealed immediately to others, astho' it were revealed in the fame way to us. The evidence that God hath commiflioned others to fpeak in his name may be fo conclufive, as to leave us without excufe in unbelief. Whether the Mofl High fpeak to us without, or through, the inflru- mentality of creatures, his voice is the fame, and his authority is equally binding. His right to be obeyed is not founded on the manner of communicating his will, but in his nature, and in our relation to him* Whenever we have certain proof fet before us, that the righteous Lord of heaven and earth commands our faith or obedience, we are forbidden to withhold our homage a fm- gle moment.

In defining infpiration it was obferved, in the fecond place, that the men who penned the fcriptures were direded by God what to write. I need make no exception here for fuch inflances as that of Baruch, and others, employed by the infpired men as fcribes j becaufe thefc lafl were the mere

organs of the men who took them into their fervice, and pronounced the words which they wrote. If the Prophets, EvangeHfts, or Apoflles, were, in any inflance left to their own difcretion what to record in the fcriptures, thefe writings could not, with any propriety, be confidered throughout as giv- en by infpiration of God ; as Paul declares in the text. Befides, if the infpired men were, in any inftance, left to their own dif- cretion what to infert in the Bible, we might mutilate it to fuch a degree, as to render it a very unmeaning book. This has actually been done by fome nominal chriflians. They have profelfed to believe in the fa^ls and dodrines immediately revealed from heav- en ; but have confidered the fubfequent building upon them in the fcriptures, as the opinions of fallible men. By treating the facred volume in this manner, they have brought it down to fpeak a language which gives very little offence to open infidels. The approach of the former clafs of perfons to the latter is fo near, as to render the dif- ference fcarcely difcernible ; and paves the way for their complete union.

In perfect confiftency with what has been faid, if is admitted, that the Prophets, the F 2

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Evangeliils, and the Apoflles, might have a knowledge of many things inferred in the canon, by their own obfervation, and the accounts given them by other men. The revelations made to the patriarchs, and the fads handed down from one generation to another, probably were the fources through which Mofes was furnifhed with matter for the book of Genefis. At the fame time he was directed by omnifcience what to record. This fuperintending influence of the Holy Ghoft, gave the fame authority to what he wrote, as tho' it had been immediately com- municated to his mind.

The third fenfe in which infpiration is taken, and that is, fecuring the facred pen- men from error in what they wrote, is as neceflary, as the former ones, to give to the fcriptures the divine authority which they claim, in every thing that relates to our re- ligious faith and pradice. Whatever doc- trines or laws may be fuppofed to have been given by the Moft High, we can have no fatisfadory evidence of their divine original, if the men who are faid to have recorded them, were not fecured from error in com- mitting them to writing.

It may be obferved here, that the infalli- bility of the fcriptures is confined to the re*

—

Ugious inpLruclion which they contain. As they were revealed as much for the benefit of the unlearned as the learned, they are not employed in teaching human fcience, or in correding errors relative to it. Matters of this kind are but incidentally mentioned, and always for moral purpofes. It is whol- ly foreign to their defign to decide on the difputes in natural philofophy or aftronomy. They leave thefe, and fimilar things, as they find them. They, for inflance, fpeakof the rifmg and the fetting of the fun, in a flile which is familiar to all mankind, and in the fame manner which is ufed, even by tfaofe who have gone farthefl in the fludy of the kingdom of nature, at the prefent day.

It is not contended that the perfons who were infpired to write the Bible, were free fromfm or error, confidered ^smen; fof their faults and miflakes ftand on thefacred pages. Even a meek Mofes offended, du- ring the abode of the Ifraelites at Kadefh, when he faid to them, " mufl zae fetch you water out of this rock ?'' David, who wrote moft of the Pfalms, committed an atrocious crime in the matter of Uriah. Peter deni- ed his Lord and Mafler, and at the fame time horribly tranfgreffed the third com- mandment. The other inipired men faid

6^

and did enough to convince all who have read their hillory, that they were men of like pafTions with others. But, as they were under the immediate 07- fupcrint ending i?i^ fiucnce of infpiration^ they uttered nothing but what is true ; either as matter of fad, or dodrine, or warning, or promife, or threatning, or is, in fome way, related to the defign of the author of the fcriptures, in giving them to the human race. The fa- cred peuKien declared facts when they told their own fms. The evangelifls are to be credited, when they inform of the difputes among the Apoflles, who fhould be the greateil in the Meffiah's kingdom, and of their ignorance of its nature. It is as really the defign of the Holy Spirit to have the fms, the follies, and the ignorance, of pious men, expofed, whether infpired or not, as to have dodrines and precepts recorded. It will appear, by a httle reflexion, that thofc blemifhes may be improved to enforce the reproof and the corredion named in the text. When we fee a Mofes, a David, and a Peter, offend, is not the warning of the Apoftle highly enforced, Let him that tbinkeih hejiandeth take heedkji he fall ?

The words and adions of Satan and lyicked men are recorded in the fcriptures j

to lay open their characters, to juflify God in punifliing, and to warn againit traveling in the path of his enemies. It is declared of the devil, " That he was a murderer from the beginning ; and that he is a liar, and the father of it." We find this character exemplified in the hiflory which is given of him. He came with the malicious defign of a murderer, to our mother Eve, and with a lie in his mouth, when hefaid, yejhall not furely die. This firfl lie that was ever told in our world, has often been repeated fince ; and the tempter ftill continues to attempt the ruin of the human race by fraud and ma- lice. Is there a falfe, fubtle, a malicious, and a potent, enemy to mankind, conflantly going about like a roaring Hon, feeking whom he may devour ? And is it not wor- thy of divine wifdom and goodnefs, to ap- prife and warn the human race of his def- trudive defign ? How can this be done, without giving to us fome knowledge of the difpofition of the adverfary, and the evils he has introduced ? It was certainly a high proof of the benevolence and mercy of Chrift, when he faid to Peter, " Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath defired to have you, that he may fift you as wheat ; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail

7^

We have fet before us the character of the wicked generation that lived in Noah's time, in Abraham's, and in fubfequent ages previous to the coming of Chrift, and fmce ; to illuflrate the depravity of the human heart, to proclaim the righteoufnefs of God in taking vengeance, and to difplay the riches of his grace towards the faved. We are moreover warned by fuch reprefenta- tions againfl trufling in man, and are C(mn- felled to put our truft in the living God, Particular examples of wickednefs in perfons of different ranks and ftations, and fome of them under the beil external advantages, or under the mod folemn admonitions, are a- dapted to convince us of the obilinacy of fmners, and that the change which is wrought in the renewed is efieded by the fovereign mercy of God. A hardened Pha- raoh, a blafpheming Rabfhakeh, a proud Nebuchadnezzar, a cruel Herod, and a treacherous Judas, ftand as fo many beacons, to reprove and warn mankind. It is as wor- thy of infinite truth and purity to delineate fuch characters, as thofe of a meek Mofes, a pious Hezekiah, a faithful Daniel, a believ- ing Simeon, and an amiable John. When we behold ourfelves compafled about with fo great a cloud of witnefles, as facred hiflory points cut to us, we have every inducement

7t

to lay afide every weight, and the fin which doth fo eafily befet us, and to run with pa- tience the chriflian race.

If any will go about to vilify the fcrip- tures, becaufe they contain an account of the corruptions of the human race, they betray great ignorance and wickednefs. Such reprefentations as the Bible contains on this lubjc6i:, are fo far from fixing a (lain on the character of Jehovah, that, in the connexion in which they (land, they paint his hatred of fin in the moil glaring co- lours. No perfon of an honed heart, and who is tolerably acquainted with the facred writings, can long remain at a lofs what things are held up in them to be imitated, and what to be avoided. The fcriptures coUcdively may be fliled T/je Word of the LoRD^ as they inform us, what the Lord di- rects us to believe, what to praclife, and vrhat to (hun. Their general defign is the fame ; whether they are delivered in the form of dodrine, precept, or hiftory.

A LARGE proportion of the Bible is hif- torical. This form of writing is well fuited to engage the mind of the reader, as it com- municates inllruclion in a pleafing manner. Of the truth of this every one maybe con- vinced, by refleding on the effeds which he

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perceives from liftening to an Interefling fto- ry. Who can avoid being moved in read- ing the life of Jofeph ; the prefervation of Mofes when expofed on the banks of the river of Egypt, in his infancy j the life of Elijah, and others. The accounts which are given of particular perfons in fcripture, are not defigned to amufe, like a romance ; but to afford moral and religious inflrudlion. The hiflory of the birth, life, death, refur- Te<Elion, and afcenfion, of Jefus Chriil, com- prifes events of greater magnitude, and high- er importance, than any other that have been pubUfhed in this world.

Scripture hiflory confirms the truth of the prophecies, by conducting us to the ful- filment of many of them. It unfolds the happy tendency of piety and virtue, and the mifery that is derived from fm. By the hif- tory of the Jewifh nation, in particular, are exhibited the effe£ls of obedience, and of difobedience, as they refpe£t communities. Peculiar as was the form of government under which that people were placed, im- portant inllrudions are given by the divine condudl: towards them, to all mankind. The rife and fall of heathen empires, narra- ted in the facred writings, proclaim the doc- |:rine of divine providence ; and announce,

1^

that however nations may be lifted up with their conquefls and profperity, they will, fooner or later, have their reckoning day. The Lord will caufe the arrogancy of the proud to ceafe, and will lay low the haugh- tinefs of the terrible.

The long lifts of names which are found in feveral of the fcripture books, are not without ufe. Among the feveral purpofes anfwered by the infertion of thofe cata- logues, the two following are obvious, and important : the one is, to confirm the de- fcent of ail nations from Shem, Ham, and Japheth ; the other is, to evince that Chrift, as concerning the flefh, defcended from A- braham, in the line of Ifaac and Jacob, the tribe of Judah, and the houfe of David, a- greeably to predidion and promife.

Many of the common affairs and occur- rences of life are recorded in the Bible. Were all thefe excluded, we fhould not have evidence, at leaft in its prefent degree, that the facred volume was defigned for the ufe of mankind. It defcribes them not only with refped to their moral ftate, and future deftination, but in their various concerns with the prefent world. Our race, for in- flance, are reprefented in the fcriptures, as- G

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having need of food for fuftenance, and rai- ment for clothing, fo long as they remain on the earth. The neceflity of thefe is not di- minifhed by pofTelTmg the fpirit of piety, or of infpiration. God enjoins in his word a temperate and charitable ufe of worldly goods, but he doth not require that abflrac- tion from them of the living, which can be found only among thofe who are lodged in the grave. All temporal enjoyments, inclu- ding natural life, are to be given up, and literally to be parted with, rather than deny Chrifl. At the fame time it is to be obfer- ved, that the facrifices which are made of earthly blefTings to indulge a capricious fanc- timony,are not the fruits of evangelical love, but the offspring of pride. Religionijfls have appeared under the chriftian name, who have reprefented the perfection of piety as Very much confiding in " neglecting of the body," and in *' abflaining from meats which God hath created to be received with thankfgiving of them who believe and know the truth." The Apoflle Paul in writing for the cloak that he left at Troas, for the books, and the parchments, fhows, that as a man he had the fame wants, and might be benefitted by the fame outward convenien-/ ces, as other men. The infertion of this paflage ia the fcriptures, as well as of other

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incidents of a like kind, does not appear tri- fling, after what has been faid on the pro- priety of introducing in the Bible the com- mon affairs of life. It is as really the mind of the author of that facred book, that fuch things fhould be incidentally inferted, as thofe that were immediately revealed from on high.

There are fome things which the fcrip- tures declare to be lawful, that may not be expedient under certain circumflances. To a cafe of that kind the Apoflle Paul refers in I Cor. vii. 6. But I /peak this by permif" fion^ and not of commandment. Under the head of expediency is alfo to be placed the advice of the Apoflle in the 25th verfe of the fame chapter, AW concerning virgins^ I have no commandment of the Lord ; yet I give 7ny judgment, as one thai hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. Tlje Apoflle is here confidering whether it were eligible for chriflians to marry while fuffering perfecu- tion, as they were when he wrote this epiflle. He gives it as his opinion that it would be better for them to remain in a flate of celib- acy. He leaves it, however, with individu- als to determine for themfelves. As God hath, by a perpetual law, authorized mar- riage between the fexes, without the forbid-

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den degrees of confanguinity, and where nothing with refped to chara6ler forbids, the Apoflle could not be commiiTioned to deliver a prohibitory precept in the prefent inftance. To the Corinthians, who had written to him to inquire whether it were proper that marriages fhould go on as ufual among their members, it was of no lefs im- portance to be informed what was left to in- dividual choice, than to know what was pofi- tively binding on all in other things. The whole church of Chrifl is as really inflrudt- ed by the text under confideration as by any other. Befides, it is foretold in i Tim. iv» that, among the apoflates in the latter times, there fhould rife up thofe who would forbid to marry. This prediction has been verified by the decrees of the church of Rome, and of fome other nominal chriflians. The e- vent has therefore fhown the importance of a fcripture paffage, in which an Apoflle de- clares that God never prohibited marriage in times of perfecution ; but that even in fuch feafons he has left it to the judgment of individual chriflians, whether to enter into the matrimonial bond or not. If the fore- going remarks be jufl, it will follow, that the text in queflion was inferted in the Bi- ble by the fuperint ending influence of the fpirit of infpi ration.

17

When the Apoflle fays in the beginning of the 1 2th verfe, But to the reft fpeak /, not the Lord^ his meaning apparently is, that he was going to deliver fomething to guide the pradice of the church, which had not been before particularly revealed : It is for this reafon he declares, " fpeak /, not the Lord/* That he is fo to be underflood, appears from the words which immediately follow in the 1 2th and 13th verfes compared with the loth and nth verfes. The paflages which fland next in order to the claufe already ci- ted, are. If ajiy brother hath a wife that believ* eth not^ andjhe be pleafed is dwell with him^ let him not pttt her away. And the woman which hath an hiifband that believcth not^ and if he be plcafcd to dwell with her^ let her not leave him. On the converfion of a hufband, or a wife, from heathenifm to chriftianity, a queftion naturally arofe, whether the be- liever was to renounce matrimonial connex- ion with his or her unbelieving correlate, as the Jews who had married idolatrous wives, were commanded to do, in the days of Ezra. The Apoflle forbids divorces on that ground ; and the prohibition that he deliv- ers, appears to be clothed with the fame di- vine authority as the one named in the loth and 1 1 th verfes, which contain the foliow- G 2

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ing words, And unto the married I command ^ yet not /, but the Lord, Let 7iot the wife de^ fart from her hiipand : But, and iffhe depart^ let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her hujhand : and let not the hufbandput away his wife. In this lad quotation, the words " not I, but the Lord,'' refer to what Chrift had before fpoken on the fubjed of divorce, recorded in Matthew v. 32, and xix. 9, Mark x. 11, 12. Luke xvi. 18. With the thoughts kept in mind which have been fug- gelted in anfwer to the difficulties, which have arifen from fome parts of the feventh chapter of the firfl epiftle to the Corinthian church, it will, I apprehend, be eafy to main- tain that the whole chapter cl-aims a place in the infpired volume, as much as any other. If the original penmen of the Bible were, in any inftance, left to their own discretion what to infert, it will be impoflible to defend againfl infidels, that allfcfipture is given by infpiration of God, as is affirmed in the text. The Prophets, the Evangelifts, and the A- poflles, when their matter was immediately revealed from on high, or when it was re- ceived in other ways, were guided by the Holy Ghofl what to write, and were fecured from error in writing. I proceed,

III. To bring arguments to prove that all fcripture is given by infpiration of God,

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The Jirjl argument may be taken front the nature of the religion contained in the Bible. In this, book the Deity is reprefented as afpirit, pofleffed of an eternal, underived, and independent exiftence ; as being every where prefent at one and the fame time ; as being infinite in knowledge, and in power, and in every other attribute that is neceifary to conflitute abfolute greatnefs. Jehovah, the God whom chriftians adore, is not only infinitely great, but infinitely good — He is love. He is the rock, his work is perfect ; for all his ways are judgment : a God of truth, and without iniquity ; jufl and right is he. He is the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fufFering, and abundant in goodnefs and truth. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made ; and all the hofl of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the fea together as an heap ; he layeth up the depth in florehoufes. Let all the earth fear the Lord ; let all the inhabitants of the world {land in awe of him : for he fpake, and it was done, he commanded, and it flood fafl. He made the world, and all things therein. He hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before ap- pointed, and the bounds of their habitation.

«0

In Him all creatures live, and move, and have their being. The counfel of the Lord (landeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. The Lord hath prepa- red his throne in the heavens ; and his king- dom ruleth over all. The Lord is high a- bove all nations, and his glory above the heavens. Promotion cometh neither from the eaft, nor from the weft, nor from the fouth ; but God is the Judge : he putteth down one, and fetteth up another. The Moft High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomfoever he will. He is the blelfed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. He is the one Lawgiver, who is able to fave, and to de- flroy. He hath opened a door of hope to a fmful world through Jefus Chrift. By his fpirit he forms the hearts of fmners to holi- nefs, and prepares them for eternal glory. He is the Judge of all the earth, and will render righteous retribution to all intelligent accountable creatures, forever.* Doth not fuch a God deferve the devout and thankful homage of man's heart ? *' O come, let us worfhip and bow down : let us kneel before

* I John iv. 1 6. Deut. xxxii. 4. Exod. xxxlv. 6. Pfaltn Xxxiii. 6 — 9. Adls xvii. 24, a6. Pililm ciii. 19. cxiii. 4. Ixxv. 6, 7. Dan. iv. 17. i Tina. vi. ly James iv. la, and oiany otlier pUcss.

8i

the Lord our Maker! For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praifed : he is to be feared above all gods."

The moral law, delivered from Mount Si- nai, confifls often precepts ; the four firfl of which point out our duty to God, and the fix lafl our duty to mankind. The fum of the whole is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our foul, and with all our (Irength, and with all our mind ; and our neighbor as ourfel ves. The fpirit of this law was binding on man from the creation, and every one of its precepts will remain obligatory upon him for ever. What can be more reafonable than that an intelligent creature be required to place his fupreme affedions upon that infinite Being, who gave birth to him and all things around him ? And preferves and governs his work- manfliip, and is the fum of perfection and blelTednefs ? The other branch of the mor- al law, which refpefts our neighbor, is built upon truth and equity. The portion of rational moral exiftence in our fellow- creatures is of as much worth as ours, and deferves the fame regard. Befides, it muft follow from our focial nature, and the ne- cefTity of its indulgence for our happinefs, that if we are ftrangers to holy love, we

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cannot enjoy fociety in pcrfeftion, or hare any of its pleafures long continued to us.

A CODE of laws was given to the Jews, befide the ten commandments, refpefting their peculiar government and worfhip, which was defigned to lad only until the time of reformation, or the eftablilhment of the New Teftament worfhip ; when alfo the lamp of divine truth v/as to be carried, as we have feen to the Gentile nations. The peculiar inflitutions given to the Ifrael- ites under the Mofaic economy, were partly, adapted to their uncultivated flate : fuch, for inftance, was that of the cities of refuge, to provide for the fecurity of thofe who might undefignedly take away the life of any perfon. This inftitution, however, with many others, was defigned to teach the necellity of an atonement for fmful man, and of his flying to it as the only way of efcaping from the curfe of God's holy law. Jehovah taught the children of Ifrael, for a long time concerning the advent of the Mefliah, and the nature of his kingdom, by types and fhadows. Particular precepts which may appear to us, under our circura^ ilances, and at our diilance of time from their exiflence, of fmall moment, were of great importance to that people ; as calcu-

fated to keep them diftind: * from other na- tions, and to wean them from idolatrous rites, to which they were ftrongly inclined. We may add, that in all probability, had the Jewifh ritual been as fimple as the Chriflian, the Iiraelites could not have been kept to the obfervance of it in any tolerable degree, with their general charader, with- out a conftant feries of miraculous interpo- fitions : But fuch conflant departures from the laws of nature, would, in time, have ceafed to excite wonder, and the end for which miracles are wrought, would have been defeated.

We may determine from the condudl of infinite wifdom, that it was not proper that divine revelation fhould communicate all the light to mankind in the days of Mofes, •which it has communicated fince. The communication of rruth was gradual, as ap- pears from comparing the two Telliaments together. Light was conftantly increafmg in the Jewifh church, by the rife of new prophets, or the fulfilment of former proph- ecies, until the Sinai covenant was abolifhed. Comparatively dark as the ancient difpenfa- tion was, which continued for more than fifteen hundred years, every devout worfhip- per knew, that to obey was better than fac-

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tifice ; and tha! the fum of duty confifls iH ddingju/ily^and in loving mercy, and in ivalk^ ing humbly with God, The Jews were abun- dantly taught that the Meiliah would be- come incarnate, and dwell among men ; and that by his advent light would break forth in greater brightnefs than in any for- mer period. Hence, the w^oman of Sama- ria, who believed in the Old Teftament, faid, in her conference with Chrift, in John iv, *' I know that MefTias cometh, which is called Chrift : when he is come, he will tell, us all things."

The manner in which God is to be wor- fhipped, as revealed in fcripture, is pure and rational : and contains an admirable difplay of infinite majefty and condefcenfion. The homage required is adapted to fill the foul with holy reverence, and to infpire it with hope ; " For thus faith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whofe name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him alfo that is of a contrite and humble fpirit, to revive the fpirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'^*

How apoftate man may come before the Lord and find acceptance, is a queftion oa

* Ifaiah Irii. 15.

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which the light of nature is wholly filent. It is only in the infpired volume that the doc- trine of the ^/o/z^z/zd'^//, which hath been made by the Son of God, is revealed. The mediato- rial plan was promulgated early after the a- poflacy of our firft parents, even before they were banillied from the garden of Eden for their difobedience. In the fulnefs of time the promifed Saviour appeared in the world, made his foul an offering for fin, rofe from the dead, and afcendcd to fit at the Father's right hand. Through him penitent finners draw near to God, are delivered from the wrath to come, and are made heirs of eter- nal life. Whatever difficulties attend the expiatory fcheine exhibited in the gofpel, we may clearly difcern in it, the infinite purity and reclitude of God*s character and law — his hatred of fin ; and the riches of his grace. Thefe prominent features of the fcripture doclrine of atonement, declare it to be worthy of the wifdom of the divine mind ; and recommend it in the higheft manner to our fallen race. It is only in confequence of the interpofition of Jefus Chrift, that any of mankind have obtained the heavenly happinefs ; whether before or fmce the actual incarnation of the Son of God : " Neither is there falvation in any H

^6

other ; for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we mull be faved."

Revelation brings to light the future exiftence of man, the refurredlion of the body, the future judgment, and the portion ofthejufland the unjufl in the world to come. Thefe are folemn truths ; fuited to deter the wicked, and to encourage the good patiently to continue in well-doing. Noth- ing (lamps value on time — on man's prefent life, like the eternal ftate which is to follow; in which each one is to receive from the righteous judge of the living and the dead, according to the deeds done in the body. The punifhment threatened to the impeni- tent is calculated to difplay the divine holi- nefs and juflice ; is fitted to their character, and to excite dread. The reward promifed to the righteous, correfponds only with the temper of thofe whofe hearts are united with the God of love.

The piety and virtue inculcated in the oracles of truth, breathe a fpirit to which the proud and felfilh hearts of m^ankind are wholly oppofed. Love to God and man is the root of the graces and virtues, which compofe the character that meets the appro- bation of the infinite mind.

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The man whofe piety Is evangelical, makes an unfeigned dedication of himfelfto God ; and the feelings of his heart, fo far as he is fanctified, fully harmonize with the di- vine law and government. He approaches his heavenly Father with filial reverence, and can, without referve, adopt the form of prayer that Chrift taught his difciples ; '^ Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed *' be thy name : Thy kingdom come : Thy '' will be done on earth as it is in heaven. *' Give us this day our daily bread. And *' forgive us our debts as we forgive our " debtors. And lead us not into tempta- ** tion, but deliver us from evil : For thine ** is the kingdom, and the power, and the ** glory, for ever. Amen.'* This prayer, as one obferves, " for a fucceflion of folemn ** thoughts, for fixing the attention upon a *' few great points, for fuitablenefs to every *' condition, for fufficiency, for concifenefs *' without obfcurity, for the weight and real " importance of its petitions, is without an *' equal or a rival." The pious man is humble : He feels his abfolute dependence on God for good of every kind. He mourns for fm, and begs for pardon through Him who died that fmners might live. While he avoids exercifmg himfelf in things that are too high for him, he makes it his ftudy to

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know and do the will of God — to maintain fobriety — and to keep alive a devotional tem- per. Taught that he is not his own, and that he is under the wife, holy and gracious dominion of the fovereign Lord of heaven and earth, he denies himfelf, he endures af- fiiclions with patience, he encounters evils with fortitude, and refigns every enjoyment to Him who guides the faithful through this difciplinary ftate. Not intimidated by the frowns, nor allured by the flatteries of the world, he, by divine aid, holds on his courfc till he finifhes it with joy. He daily recounts in his clofet, in focial prayer, and in medi- tation, the mercies of the fupreme benefac- tor, and is awakened to gratitude and praife. In folitary devotion he ihuns the notice of mortals, fhuts the door on the noife and bu- fmefs of the world, and prays to his father who is in fecret. Modefl and unaffuming he is far removed from the oftentatious pa- rade of the ancient Pharifees ; who profelfed religion to be feen of men, and chofe the corner of the llreet, to attract the public no- tice while they recited their forms of devo- tion. The real difciple of Jefus Chrift does not think highly of his own attainments ; but in honor prefers his fellow-chriftians to himfelf. Knowing that every moral adion begins in the heart, he labors to keep it with

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all diligence, and is incited to watchfulnefs. Being a conftant witnefs of remaining in- ward corruptions, he cenfures himfelf in thoufands of inflances where he flands ac- quitted in the eyes of mankind.

Christianity breathes a kind, meek, and forgiving fpirit. The heartof him who is under its influence is moved at the cry of diflrefs, and his hand is open, according to his ability, to fupply the wants of the poor, and to alleviate the miferies of the wretched. In almfgiving he does not found a trumpet before him, but, as much as poflible, difpen- fes his benefad:ions in fecret. He does not indulge envy, maUce, or revenge ; but drives to overcome evil with good. He is not un- der the government of thofe palFions which chaftity forbids, but looks with abhorrence upon them ; as unfitting the mind for pure enjoyment, and the inlet of innumerable. e- vils to the human race. In his intercourfe with mankind, he is jufl in his dealings, faith- ful to his engagements, and the fulfilment of the duties of his particular truft. He bears on his mind and heart the words of Chrift, in Matthew vii. 1 2. Therefore all things what- focver yc ivould that menflzoulddo to you^ do ye cvcnfo to them : for this is the law and the H 2

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prophets » The fpirit of chriilian virtue tends to the difFufion of peace and happinefs thro' families, focieties, and the great brotherhood of man. How far do the moft improved in the family of Chrift on the earth, fall fhort of the pattern exhibited by his doclrine and example i But imperfect as his follov^^ers are, the internal beauty of the gofpel remains ; and its influences upon them fpeak in its praife. It is a part of its peculiar glory, to train up men from fmall beginnings of holi- nefs to a Hate of perfect purity and joy.

In a review of the argument in fupport of the infpiration of the Bible from the reli- gion it contains, it is natural to inquire whence came fuch a fcheme of faith and practice ? Where did Mofes and the Ifrael- ites get fuch ideas of Deity as are exhibited in the Old Teflament ? They did not derive them from Egypt ; for that kingdom was overrun with idolatry during their abode in it. They could not acquire their theology from any of the nations that bordered on Egypt, or Canaan, or from any other then on the earth ; for they were all involved in the darknefs of paganifm, and remained in that flate until the days of the Apoflles. Hence, the facred writers who followed Mo- fes could not have been enlightened in the

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knowledge and worfhip of the one living and true God, by any men on the earth. It is well known that the heathens hold to a vaft number of gods. Athens — learned and po- lite Athens, is faid to have acknowledged deities to the number of thirty thoufand. The objeds to which pagans have paid di- vine homage, were, many of them fabricated by art ; and to all their gods have been attri- buted fenfual appetites, and pairions,or affec- tions, unworthy of divinity. They are rep- refented by thofe who adore them, as enga- ged in the amours of the libidinous, and as parties in the quarrels of proud and mali- cious men. Many of the heathen rituals enjoined the offering of human facrifices ; and others encouraged drunkennefs, ob- fcenity, and whoredom. Some of the wifer men among the pagans have confeffed the need of a fupernatural revelation, to teach mankind how to worfhip the Deity aright. Modern infidels have gloried in the wifdom of a heathen Socrates. He was indeed one of the mofl deferving characters that can be found in the annals of pagan antiquity* This renowned philofopher, " meeting Al- *' cibiades, who was going to the temple to '' pray, proves to him that he knew not how " to perform that duty aright, and that " therefore it was not fafc for him to do

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*' it ; but that he fhould wait for a divine " inflrudlor to teach him how to behave " both tovi^ards the gods and men ; and that *' it vi-as neceflary that God fhould fcatter ^' the darknefs which covered his foul, that *' he might be put in a condition to dif- " cern good and evil."* Were Socrates a- gain to appear in the world, with his for- mer belief, he would difown thofe as his dif- ciples, who boaft of his knowledge, as a proof of the fufficiency of human reafon to dired mankind in the duties of piety and be- nevolence. But to return, I further afk, whence came the do6lrine of the atone- ment, of the refurreclion, and of the future ftate of rewards and punifhments, as contain- ed in the fcriptures ? Who communicated the piety and virtue which are defcribed and recommended in thefe writings ? No one who is acquainted wdth the pagan theology, can, with the lead colour of reafon, pretend that the religion of the Bible was copied from the religion of idolaters. Does the fpirit of the book, whofe divine original I am endeavoring to maintain, carry the air of human invention ? Good men would not impofe a forgery on the world for truth.

* Leland's View of dciilical "writers, in s vol. page Xith ot vol. L

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Bad men could not have a fingle motive to prompt them to devife fuch a fcheme of faith and practice : For had they knowledge equal to the taik, they would not have em- ployed it in the eftablifhment of a plan, which expofes and condemns them in its whole defign. The drift of all the facred books from Genefis to the Revelation of John, is diredlly in the face of fraud and ev- ery fpecies of iniquity, both public and pri- vate. Befides, the humble, pious, and dif- interefled, fpirit of the gofpel, has not one charm to the unholy and the felfifh. To admit that fuch charadlers as thefe lad would invent fuch a religion, if competent in point of ability, would be as abfurd as to grant, that a malicious man will dired: ev- ery effort to promote the good of the one he inveterately hates, or that a felfifh man will a6l from difmterefled motives, or that a cov- etous man will make it his whole aim to be liberal.

There is no anfwer to be given to the queftion, whence came the religion contain- ed in the Bible ? that can fatisfy a candid refle^ling mind, but this, it came from God ! And therefore the men who announ- ced it to the world, fpake as they v/qvq moved by the Holy Ghoft.

::^o<:::-=::::=<;::<:x><x:k>::>cx>c<:::0<x><>d<?<><xx><:::<x

DISCOURSE IV.

Objedions raifed againft the commands for borrowing of the Egyptians, and the ex- tirpation of the Canaanites, anfwered ; and the evidence of Miracles confidered.

2 TIMOTHY iii. 1 6.

Allfcripture is given by infpiration ofGod^ and is profitable for dodrine^ for reproof for cor^ redien^for inftru6lion in right coiijhefs.

IN the conclufion of the lail: difcourfe, was introduced an argument in fupport of the infpiration of the Bible, taken from the nature of the religion it contains. Againil its pure and benevolent nature feveral ob- jections have been brought. I fhall, in this place, attend to two, raifed againlt the mo- rality of certain parts of the Old Teflament, which are delivered under the fandlion of a divine precept. The difficulties I have ia

View, are thofe which have been ftarted from the commands which Jehovah gave to the children of Ifrael, to borrow of the Egyp- tians, and to cut off the Canaanites.

The firftof thefeinjun6tions isrecordedin Exodus xi. 2. Speak now in the ears of the people^ and let every man borrow of his neigh- bor^ atid every woman of her neighbor^ jewels offilver^ and jewels of gold. The IfraeUtes pradtifed agreeably to the direction received, on the night in which they left Egypt ; as we learn from Exodus xii. 'TiS^ 3^' " ^^^ ^^^ children of Ifrael did according to the word of Mofes ; and they borrowed of the Egyp- tians jewels of filver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. And the Lord gave the people favor in the fight of the Egyptians, fo that they lent unto them fuch things as they re- quired ; and they fpoiled the Egyptians." It has been faid that this conduct is not re- concileable with truth or juftice, and there- fore God could not authorize it as Mofes declares ; and that by certain confequence it mufl follow, that the book which contains the licence for fuch practice cannot be given by divine infpiration. To remove this ob- jedion it may be obferved,

I ft. That the Egyptians had long held the Ifraehtes in cruel bondage, and, in point

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of juftice, owed them a large compenfation in property, for their fervice ; and to a higher amount than they actually received.

2dly. The Hebrew verb rendered borrow^ In the foregoing paflages, Hterally fignifies to ajk ; and is fo tranflated in general.* Ac- cording to this verfion the difficulty is at once removed. The Ifraelites had certainly an equitable claim on the Egyptians their oppreflbrs ; and on that ground might aik of them precious jewels and raiment.

3dly. The difficulty does not appear in- furmountable, if we allow the word borrow to fland, as in the Bible which we have in our hands. The Ifraelites were not holden, by any engagement of theirs to return the loan, until they fhould reach Mount Sinai, where they were to worfhip Jehovah their deliverer. But previoufly to their arrival at that place, Pharaoh and his hoft purfued them with a hoflile defign. The Lord in- terpofed and cut off the king with his army, by drowning them in the red fea. The If. raelites could be juftified in retaining the jewels and the raiment in their poffeffion, as the property of a public enemy. Under the

* Gen. xxxii. 29. Deut. iv. 32. xxxii. 7. Jofhua iv. 6. fudges xviii. 5. i Sam. xii. 19. Pfalm ii. 8. Haiali ?ii. ix. I

cxifting circumllances, what they firfl: re- ceived in a way of loan, became fpoil, and hence their obligation to return it ceafed.

4thly. Since the earth is the Lord's and the fulnefs thereof, he may transfer his gifts, in an extraordinary, as well as in an ordina- ry, manner, if he pleafe. The plagues in- ilided on the Egyptians in their own coun- try, and their overthrow at the red fea, fer- ved as fo many miraculous atteflations in fupport of the equitable claim of the people whom they had fo long opprefled, upon their goods ; and authorized the redeemed na- tion in holding the jewels and the raiment, which had been put into their hands. None can juftly plead the cafe we have been con- fidering as a precedent to redrefs their wrongs in the fame way, unlefs they can produce miracles in their juftification, as convincing as thofe that were wrought for the deliverance of the Ifraelites from their Egyptian bondage. The Lord brought them forth with a mighty hand, and with an out/lretched arm, and with great terrible- nefs, and with figns, and with wonders. The wrath of Jehovah was awfully difplay- ed in the punifhment of the Egyptians. Ru- in was fpread over the face of their land, mourning for the death of their firlt-born

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was heard from every houfe, and they were fpoiled of their choicefl treafures. The Lord brought forth his people " with filver and gold y and there was not one feeble perfon among their tribes. Egypt was glad when they departed j for the fear of them fell up- on them."

I PROCEED to confider the difficulty ari- fmg from the command which Jehovah gave to the children of Ifrael, to deflroy the in- habitants of Canaan. This objeQion has been accounted the mod fpecious of any that has been brought againft the divine origin- al of the Bible ; and has been much infifted on by deiils. They have confidently af- firmed, that the Ifraelites could have no jufl authority to go into Canaan, cut off its in- habitants by the fword, and take poffeflion of their country ; and that if it be admitted that the Ifraelites had righreoufnefs on their fide, in thus treating a people at peace with them, it will follow that any nation may de- prive another of all that is dear to them as men, without violating the law of benevo- lence. The enemies of divine revelation have alfo dwelt much on the command for the total excifion of the Canaanites, without refped to age or fex, as breathing a fpirit of cruelty, and therefore unworthy of God.

lOO

! have been the more careful in calling up this objedion in its full ftrength, becaufe of the temporary embarraflment it has occa- iioned in fo many minds, when they have begun to inquire into the authority of the fcriptures. To affifl in removing the diffi- culty, let the following things be confidered.

I ft. The chara£ler of the Canaanitcs, whom the childrenof Ifrael were command- ed to deftroy. From the account given of them in facred hiftory, it appears that they were grofs idolaters, and were addided to vices of the moft enormous kind. They confulted with familiar fpirits, and pradifed the arts of forcery and witchcraft. There was not a crime that agreed with their un- bridled hifts, which they did not fandion by their idolatrous rites. Eveji their fons and their daughters they burnt in the f re to their gods. They lived in the open indulgence of fornication, inceft, and the fm of Sodom. They even defiled themfelves with the beafts of the field. Hence Jehovah gave the fol- lowing prohibitory precept to the Ifraelites, *' Defile not yourfelves in any of thefe things ; for in all thefe the nations are de- filed which I caft out before you. And the land is defiled : therefore I do vifit the ini- quity thereof upon it, and the land itfelf

XOI

Tomitteth out her inhabitants.*** I know not whether it be poflible to reprefent a na- tion in a more odious Hght, than by the fig- ure of their land vomitting them out^ as too loathfome to endure on its furface.

2dly. It is evident from the national charader of the Canaanites, that they juflly deferved deflru£lion from the hand of God. His purity and juflice forbid the lading prof- perity of a nation of profligates. The Lord did not fuffer the Canaanites to be deftroy- ed, until they had ripened themfelves for ruin by obflinate wickednefs. Near five hundred years before their conqueft by Jofhua, when God renewed the promife to Abraham, that his feed fhould poflefs their land, he declared that there would be a fuf- penfion of the performance until feveral fu- ture generations were pafled away ; and for the following reafon — The iniquiiy of the Am- orltes is not yet fulL\ The righteous Lord did not fuffer them to be cut off till their fins had long cried aloud for vengeance. Hence, he cautions his people, as in Deut.ix. 4. " Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the Lord thy God hath cafl them out from before thee, faying. For my righteoufnefs

^ Deut. xviii. 12. Lev. xvlii. f Gen. xv. 160 I 2

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the Lord hath brought me In to poflefs this land ; but for the wjckednefs of thefe na- tions the Lord doth drive them out from before thee."

3dly. If the Canaanites juflly deferved dellrudtion from the hand of God, it muft belong to him to appoint the manner of in- fliding it. No one will contend but that the Lord might juflly have v^afted them, both old and young, by ficknefs, or famine, or have funk them by an earthquake ; or have deftroyed them by evils of a fimilar na- ture. None can deny that towns and cities have been overthrown in fuch ways, invol- ving each fex and every age, without dif- crimination. The heart that murmurs at the providence which orders fuch events, a$ being neither confident with rectitude nor goodnefs, is aduated by the fpirit of atheifm.

As the execution of the fentence againfl the wicked lies wholly in the bread of the fupreme Judge, no reafon can be alTigned why He might not employ the arms of the Ifraelites, in cutting off the ancient inhabit- ants of Canaan. Intelligent creatures are as fully under his diredion and control as the materia! world. Befides, when the former are ufed as the indruments in pun- iftiing, the tokens of the divine wrath are

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tonfidered as more explicit and dreadful than when evils come through other chan- nels. When David was directed to choofe out of war, famine, or peftilence, the fcourge to chaftife him for his fm in numbering If- rael, he prayed that he might not fall into the hand of man,

4thly. That the Ifraelites were commit fioned by Jehovah to deflroy the Canaanites, is manifefl: from their hiflory, after their de- parture from Egypt to their pafTmg over Jordan. The divine miraculous interpofi- tions in their behalf, eflablifhes their com* million beyond all reafonable doubt ; when taken in connexion with the promifes God made to Abraham, and other patriarchs who defcended from him, that the land of Ca- naan (hould be given to the poflerity of Ja- cob for an inheritance. From the words of Rahab the harlot, to the two fpies whom Jofliua fent to Jericho, it appears th?.t the inhabitants of Cana^in expecled that the If- raelites would conquer and polTefs their country, from the wonders wrought for their defence in the wildernefs. Jofhua ii. 9 — 1 1. *' And file faid unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint becaufe of

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you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the red fea for you, when ye came out of Egypt ; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other fide Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly deflroyed. And, as foon as we had heard thefe things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, becaufe of you : for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

No objedlion can remain againft the man- ner of deilroying the Canaanites, after can- didly attending to their charadler and defert, the right of the fupreme Judge in appoint- ing the inftrum.ents of his vengeance, and the full proof that is furniflied in fupport of the commiflion given to the Ifraelites, to cut offthofe abandoned nations, and to plant themfelves in their land.

If any fhould inquire why the in (lance we have been confidering, may not be plead in favor of the Spaniards in deftroying the aborigines of Mexico and Peru, under Cor- tez and Pizairo, 1 anfwer, that it does not appear that thofe American Lidians were e-

gually corrupt wi'h the ancient Canaanites ; ut on the fuppofition that they were, the Spaniards never had an immediate grant

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from the fupreme King, of the countries they invaded, nor had they a divine com- miriion to kill or enflave the inhabitants. Thofe avaricious Europeans 'Cpuld not pro- duce miraculous evidence in iupport of their claim, or of the war they carried on to ac- quire the lands and the gold of the natives ; therefore they were guilty of robbery and murder. They could not derive the leaft countenance from the principles that juftify the conquell: of Canaan by Jolhua.

If any fhould pretend to vindicate the ini- quitous traffic in the human fpecies, that has been carried on for three hundred years paft, by the command for the excifion of the Ca- naanites, let them fupport their caufe by miracles as ftriking as thofe that were wrought in favor of the children of Ifrael, in the days of Mofes and Jolhua. Let the men who are exploring the coafls of Africa in queft of ilaves, open a paifage to go on dry ground through wide and deep waters, and arrefl the motions of our planetary fyftem, by flretching out their hands, or lifting up their voice — ^I fay, let them perform thefe or fmiilar miracles in exprefs fupport of their defign, or let them defifl from carry- ing mifery and wretchedncfs to thofe fhores,

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as they would avoid the guilt of man-fteal- ing, and of fhedding innocent blood.

In the deftrudion of the Canaanites, fol- emn warnings were given to the people of Ifrael, and to all other nations to whom the fcriptures are known, againft idola- try and vice. Is it not worthy of the holi- nefs, juflice and goodnefs of God to give fuch warnings to mankind ? Did he not dif- play his moral perfedions by the deluge, and other judgments recorded in fcripture hiflory ? The mind of Abraham mufl have been deeply imprefled with a belief in the holy majefty of Jehovah, when early in the morning in which Sodom and Gomorrah were wTapped in flames, he beheld the fmoke of the country going up, as the fmoke of a furnace. The Lord will make ungodlv na« tions to drink the cup of his wrath. Jere.xxv, 31. "A noifc fliall come even to the ends of the earth : for the Lord hath a contro- verfy with the nations ; he will plead with all flelh ; he will give them that are wicked to the fword, faith the Lord."

Having attempted to obviate the forego- ing objedions, I proceed to introduce ^ifec- end argument in fupport of the infpiration of the Icripturcs, taken from the miracles which they narrate. To thefe, appeals have

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already been made, but their nature and de- fign deferve a more particular confidera- tion ; as well as the principal periods of fa- cred hiflory in which they were wrought.

A MIRACLE is an event contrary to the laws of nature, or the dated courfe of di- vine operation, and is addrefled to the exter- nal fenfes of mankind. A miracle is as per- fedly within the reach of omnipotence, or is wrought with the fame eafe, as any other thing that is brought into exiflence. Should the Almighty now command the fun to rife in the weft inftead of the eaft, the event would be miraculous, becaufe it is contrary to what are denominated the laws of na- ture. If water were to afcend a cataract, it would be a reverfion of its common courfe, and therefore a miracle. The miracles re- corded in the fcriptures, were perceived by thofe who were prefent when they were per- formed, through the medium of their bodily organs. Thus, the appearances and the voice at Mount Sinai, when the law was giv- en, ftruck the fenfes of the Ifraelites. When Chrift walked on the fea of Galilee, his dif- ciples were eye-witneifes. No train of rea- foning is neceflary to convince the fpedlators when a miracle is performed. Its fudden, extraordinary nature arrefts the attention.

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like the fir ft appearance of a blazing comet, or the noife of thunder.

The apparent defign of miracles is to fummon the attention of mankind, to fome doclrine or duty, revealed or enjoined by Je- hovah ; and at the fame time to prove that the perfons who deliver the truths or the Jaws, are commiilioned by him. When God fends melTengers with fuch credentials, their melTage is clothed with his authority, and demands our faith and obedience. Mir- acles, though moft ftriking to thofe who were prefent when they were wrought, may be fo well attefted, as to anfvver the fame general purpofes to others down to the end of the world. They were of high and abfo- lute importance in the eflablifhment of the Jewifh and Chriftian difpenfations. To this general defign may be reduced all the mira- cles recorded in the Old Teflament, and in the New,

We have no reafon to exped the renei of miracles ; becaufe the canon of fcripture has long fmce been clofed. The precife pe- riod in which miracles ceafed, I pretend not to determine : But we have no evidence that they were continued beyond the infan- cy of the chriflian church.

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Let us attend to fome of the miracles wrought by Mofes. While he was in exile in the land of Midian, where he continued forty years, he led his flock to the back-fide of the defer t, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. To this humble fhep- herd the Angel of the Lord appeared, in a flame of fire, out of the midfl of a buflij and he looked, and,, behold, the bufli burn- ed with fire, and was not confumed. As he turned alide to fee this great fight, Jeho- vah called to him out of the midii of the bufli, and commanded him to go down into Egypt, to deliver the children oflfrael from their cruel bondage, and to condud them unto the good land that he had promifed to give them. Mofes difcovered great reluc- tance, at firfl, in entering on the work afllgn- ed him ; and urged that his nation would not believe him, but would fay, " The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." Je- hovah direded him to call the rod in his hand on the ground. He obeyed j it be- came a ferpent ; and he fled from before it. By the fame authority, he caught it by the tail, and it again became a rod in his hand. He was next commanded to put his hand in- to his bofo.in ; and when he took it out it was leprous as fnow. He was ordered to put K

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his hand into his bofoin again ; and on his plucking it out the fecond time, it was cur- ed, and refumed the fame appearance with his other flefli. Convinced by theJe two figns, as well as by other things, of his duty to undertake in the arduous work of deliver- ing Ifrael from bondage, he with Aaron his brother, went down into Egypt, in obedience to the divine command. It appears from the hiftory recorded in Exodus, that Mofes,' ' after his long exile, had given up the ex- pedation which he had entertained forty years before, of delivering the Ifraelites, and that they were looking out for no fuch thing. This greatly ftrengthens the credibility of the llory. On the refufal of Pharaoh to re- leafe the Ifraelites from bondage, according to the demand which Jehovah direded Mo- fes to make, Aaron call down the rod, which had undergone miraculous changes at Ho- reb, and it became a ferpent, in prefence of the Egyptian monarch and his miniflcrs. Other miracles were afterwards wrought ; in turning the waters of Egypt into blood, in filling the land with frogs, and with fwarms of flies, in the plagues of the hail, and the locufts, in bringing on a thick dark- nels over the land of three days continuance, and to Rame no more, in the death of the firfl born, both of man and bead, through- ;

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out the realm, in one night. Thefe mira- cles, in connexion with thofe afterwards performed at the red fea, at Mount Sinai, and other places, until the chofen people were put in poflefTion of the land of prom- ife, abundantly eflablifh the infpiration of the Old Telfament. Additional proofs of the fame kind v/ere afforded, from the con- quefl of Canaan till the days of the prophet Daniel. When Mofes, a- little before his death, was exhorting the children of Krael to keep the ftatutes and commandments of the Lord, he reminded them of the extraor- dinary manner in which God had redeemed them from Egypt, and revealed his will, as high motives for their obedience. He ap- pealed to the figns and wonders which had been fhown and wrought before their nation, in proof that their Almighty Redeemer was the only true God, and that their rehgion was from him. Deut. iv. 32 — 40. "For " afk now of the days that are paft, which " were before thee, fince the day that God " created man upon the earth ; and alk " from the one fide of heaven unto the oth- " er, whether there hath been any fuch' " thing a? this great thing isy or hath been '' heard like it ? Did ever people hear the '* voice of God fpeaking out of the midfl *' of the fire, as thou hail heard, and live ?

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Or hath God affayed to go and take him a nation from ihe niidf^ of another nation, by tcxiptations, by figns, and by won- ders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a (Iretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes ? Unto thee it was fhewed, that thou mightefl know that the Lord he is God ; there is none elfe befides him* Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might inftrudt thee : and upon earth he fliewed thee his great fire, and thou heardeft his words out of the midfl: of the fire. And becaufe he loved thy fathers, therefore he chofe their feed after them, and brought thee out in his *' fight with his mighty power out of Egypt; *' to drive out nations from before thee, " greater and mightier than thou art, to *^ bring thee in, to give thee their land for '' an inheritance, as it is this day. Know, *' therefore, this day, and confider it in thins " heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven *' above, and upon the earth beneath : there "is none elfe. Thou (halt keep, therefore, " hisflatutes,and his commandments, which " I command^ thee this day, that it may go " well with thee, and with thy children after *^ thee, and that thou mayefl prolong thy

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•* days upon the earth, which the Lord thy ** God giveth thee, forever/'

Whether the magicians, mentioned in Exod. vii. and viii. performed real miracles, is a queflion which has often been brought up in attending to the miracles of Mofes ; and has been differcntiy anfwered by divines of high reputation in the Chriflian Church.

Those who adopt the affirmative fide of the foregoing queflion, admit that the evi- dence is eventually full and decifive in fup- port of the divine miffion of Mofes ; be- caufe that the magicians were early con- founded in their contelt with him, and were brought to confefs that Mofes was furnifhed with divine afTiflance. My limits will not permit me to enter largely into this fubje^t ; I fhall only fugged a few reafons agahiil the hypothefis, that the magicians perfor- med real miracles.

ill. If real miracles are admitted to be wrought on the fide of thole who are enga- ged for the fupport of error and wickednefs, as the fuppofed miracles of the magicians in Egypt were, it will be very difficult to Ihow how miracles do in any cafe confirm the di- Tiae million of any perfon, or the divine au- K 2

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thority of any fcheme of religion. Nicode- mus, in the third chapter of John, appears to have fpoken not only according to the be- lief of the Jews, but agreeably to the diftates of the human mind, when he faid to Chrifl, We know that thou art a teacher come from God ; for no ?nan can do thcfe miracles that thou doejl except God be with him.

2dly. Moses difcovers no marks of dif- couragement from any thing that the' magi- cians are fuppofed to have done, in turning their rods into ferpents, water into blood, or in bringing up frogs upon the land. But confidering his very great diffidence in un- dertaking the arduous work to which he was called while in Midian, would he not have been greatly agitated, and have been ready to defpond, if he had believed that the ma- gicians were pofleiled of a power to do mir- acles ? ■ How would he have relied on the fign of changing his rod into a ferpent, as a proof of his divine commiffion, as the Lord had told him, if the magicians could alfo turn their rods into ferpents ?

3dly. Whatever the magicians did, they never went firll in performing any wonder; but they in their operations ^IwdJ^s followed Moles. It is certainly much eafier to imi- tate than to take the lead, in any thing either

great or rare. Men who compofed an order of fuch antiquity and repute among the heathens, as were the magicians, mufl have acquired a dexterity in their art, which far furpafles any thing that has fallen under our notice.

4thly. It plainly appears to us, even at this diflance of time and place from 'the fcene in Pharaoh's court, that in two of the three inftances in which the magicians imi- tated Mofes, they wrought on a much linal- ler fcale than he did. When Aaron itretch- ed out the rod over the waters of Egypt, the Lord caufed their llreams, rivers, ponds, and all their pools to become blood ; and they remained in that (late feven days. The 1£- gyptians, in that time of diftrefs, opened wells or fprings to procure water to drmk. The magicians could have but a fmall quan- tity of water to operate upon. At the in- flant of time when Mofes did his miracle there was no water for them to change, fo much as in velfels of wood or ilone. They might afterwards by their art caufe the wa- ter taken from a newly opened fpring or well, to aifume the appearance of blood. It is affirmed by fome great naturalnis now living that a imall quantity of water may be made to appear red like blood, by the efiorts

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of art. In the inftance of the frogs the ma- gicians could do very little ; becaul'e Moles Had before caufed them to go up from the waters of Egypt, and to cover the land.

5thly. Pharaoh is confidered as more criminal for not letting the Ifraelites depart from their bondage, on account of the figns and wonders which were fhown by Mpfes and Aaron, even while the magicians imita- ted their miracles. As a proof of this we need only advert to what is faid concerning the Egyptian monarch, that he hardened his hearty or that hh heart was hardened. If the magicians did as real miracles as Mofes, how could Pharaoh's guilt have been increafed in holding the children of Ifrael in flavery, againfl the light refleded upon his under- flanding and confcience by what Mofes did ? "What evidence could Pharaoh coiled from figns, which were performed by thofe who demxanded the releafe of the oppreifed peo- ple, if his wife men who defigned by their wonderful works to countenance him in his conduct, wrought as real miracles as were performed by Mofes and Aaron ? If it fhould be laid that the miracles performed by ihefe lail exceeded thofe wrought by the magi- cians, and therefore Pharaoh was the mere criminal in refufing to let Ifrael go, it may

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be anfwered, that according to this hypoth- efis, therewas divine evidence againll divine evidence ; which is abfurd and contradido- ry. Befides, if Mofes exceeded the magi- cians for the prefcnt, while the conteil be- tween them continued, how could Pharaoh determine before the trial clofed, that the latter would not in a future inftance get the victory over the former ? While there was room to doubt, the Egyptian monarch could not be blamed for waiting the iflue of the contefl ; and confequently his guilt would not have been increafed by the miracles of Mofes, during the performance of counter miracles. There appears to be no way to avoid thefe difficulties, but that of denying that the magicians wrought real miracles.

6thly. Pharaoh never applied to the magicians to take away the plagues while they imitated Mofes ; but in every inftance to the latter. He could not be influenced to this condu6l by his native inclinatien or in- tereft. How can this behaviour of his be accounted for, except on the ground, that he was compelled to believe that Mofes only was endowed with miraculous powers ?

7thly. The magicians are exprefsly faid, in the three inftances in which they imitated Mofes, to have wrought with their inchant^

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menis. The original word rendered tnchanU ments^ in Exodus vii. and viii. is derived from a verb which fignifies to hide^ or conceal^ and the plural noun derived from it, fignifies in- cantations^ or char 7ns ^ oryr/g^/Z^zg- tricks; where- by true appearances are covered, and falfe ones are impofed on the eyes of the fpedla- tors. ' The divine law forbids the ufe of this art ; Levit. xix. 26. "Ye (liall not eat any thing with the blood ; neither jhall ye ufe in- chaniment^ nor obferve times." The fer- vants of Jehovah did not indulge fuch ope- rations. Even Balaam, when he found him- felf compelled to blefs the people of Ifrael, inflead of curfing them according to the wijJies of his heart, " went not as at other times tofeekfor inchantme7itsJ^^ From the ufe of inchantments adopted by the magi- cians in Egypt, it may be fairly concluded that what they did, was performed by the exertion of their art ; and that therefore they wrought no miracle.

8thly. When the magicians failed in their attempt to bring forth hce with their inci antments, they faid unto Pharaoh This is the Jinger of God ; which confeliion implies that vv^hat they had done before was effeded by art. It is to be obferved that the magi-

"* Numb. xxiv. i.

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cians do not fay, " This is the finger of the Lord^ or Jchovab^^ in whofe name Mofes did his miracles ; but that, " This is the fin- ger of God'^ * The word tranflared Got/, in this palfage, is applicable to any Deity ; as we find from the uie of it in the Scriptures. It miay therefore be inferred, that the niagi- cians themfelves acknowledged that there was no fpecial interpofition of Deity in all which they had done.

If the foregoing arguments are well foun- ded, it mud appear unneceflary that the fa- cred hiflorian iliould have faid in a formal manner, that the magicians in Egypt wrought no real miracle ; fmce the fame idea is com- municated by the words which narrate their operations — " They did Jo with their inchant^ nientsJ^

The magicians, and kindred orders of men, might do many (Irange and marvellous things in the days of Mofes, and they may now ; but we fecm not to have any evidence that God hath ever wrought a miracle by their hands. When Baal's prophets in the time of Elijah made an effort to call down fire irom heaven upon their altar, they were not able to accomplifh their wiflies. When the exorcifls, mentioned in Acts- xix. un- dertook to call out evil fpirits by invoking

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the name of Jefus, in connexion with their' art, they were dreadfully confounded : ver. 15, 16. " And the evil fpirit anfwered andf faid, Jefus I know, and Paul I know ; but who are ye ? And the man in whom the evil 1 fpirit was, leaped on them, and overcame') them, and prevailed againfl them, fo that >J they fled out of that houfe naked and wound-' ed." Antichrifl claims the power of work- ing miracles, but thofe he exhibits, are fil- led, in fcripture, lying wonders ; not only becaufe they are defigned to eflablifh herefy, but becaufe the fa£ts to which he appeals are not of the miraculous kind : as will fully appear to any one who perufes the legends -1 of the Romifh church, together with thCj writings of the reformers.

Having attended to the cafe of the magi- cians, which is the moft difficult of th< kind recorded in the Bible, I need not pay| particular attention to that 'which is conH tained in i Samuel xxviii. relative to the] refurrection of the prophet by the witch ol Endor. She is not to be confidered as aj worker of miracles, if fome perfon, und< the cover ofthe night w^as fubftituted by hei to announce to Saul his deftiny. This] would be wholly the effed of art. Nor c: Ihe be ranked among the performers of mir*

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acles, if, as is mod probable, Jehovah inter- pofed and raifed Samuel, to deliver to the wicked king of Ifrael his doom. It is I think, obvious from the hiftory, that while the witch was about to practife the art of divina- tion, the prophet fuddenly appeared. If this be admitted as fad, (lie was in no fenfe employed as an inflrument in producing the miracle.

The laft miraculous event in theoldTef- tament hiftory which I fliall confider, is the one that was performed in the time of the prophet Elijah: Of this we have a particu- lar account in i Kings xviii. That prophet lived in the time when Ahab reigned over Ifrael ; a prince who gave himfelf up with Jezebel his wife, to idolatry and v/ickednefs, above all who had been raifed to the throne before him. A drought of more than three years continuance was fent upon the land, for the wickednefs of the king and his peo- ple ; and was followed by a dreadful famine. The prophet Elijah was commilTioned by Jehovah to denounce to Ahab the withhold- ing of the dew and the rain during that gloomy period. Near its clofe he came out of his retirement by divine command, and went boldly to meet the king, who had been

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feeking to find the place where the prophet was fhelteredjthat he might put him to death. ** And it came to pafs, when Ahab faw Elijah, that Ahab faid unto him, art thou he that troubleth Ifrael ? And he anfwered, I have not troubled Ifrael, but thou and thy father*s houfe, in that ye have forfaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou haft followed Baalim. Now, therefore, fend, and gather to me all Ifrael unto mount Car- mel, and the prophets of Baal four hund- red and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.'* Ahab aflembled the people and the prophets according to defire. *' And Elijah came unto all the people, and faid, how long halt ye between two opinions, if the Lord be God, follow him : but if Baal, then follow him." The people manifeiled by their 11- lence, that they had nothing to fay againft fo reafonable a propofal. " Then faid Eli- jah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the Lord ; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them, therefore, give us two bullocks ; and let them choofe one bullock for themfelves, and - Cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under ; and I will drefs the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your

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gods, and I will call on the nam*e of the Lord ; and the god that anfwereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people an- fwered and faid it is well fpoken." The prieils of Baal took the bullock which they ehofe, and prepared and laid it on their altar. They cried to their god from morning to evening, but there was neither voice, nor any to aniwer, nor any that regarded. Eli- jah proceeded to repair the altar of the Lord before all the people. He made a trench about it, and laid on the wood and the bullock in order. He commanded wa- ter to be poured upon the burnt-facrifice and-the wood : This was done three times. ^' And the water ran about the altar ; and he filled the trench alfo with water. And it came to pafs, at the time of the offering of the evening lacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and faid. Lord God of Abra- ham, Ifaac, and of Ifrael, let it be known this day that thou art God in Ifrael, and that I am thy fervant, and that 1 have done all thefe things at thy vv^ord. Hear me, O Lord, hear me ; that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and tLl^i thou haft turned their heart back again." The people muft have waited with anxious de^^re to fee the iifue — the controvcny dw^■ ^, whether Jehovah or Baal be thetru^ CL

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The fufpenfe was immediately removed after the prayer of Elijah was clofed. *' The fire of the Lord fell, andconfumed the burnt-fac- rifice, and the wood, and the ftones, and the diift, and licked up the water that was in the trench." The people felt the decifion of the controverfy — They could not doubt for a moment. " They fell on their faces, and they faidj the Lord, he is the God ! THE Lord, he is the God !" In this in- ftance we behold in a flriking manner, the proof which miracles afford that Jehovah is the only true God, and that mankind are mider the highefl; obhgations to worfhip and obey him, as required in his word.

I PASS to the confideration of fome of the miracles recorded in the New Teftament.

The number of miracles performed by Jefus Chrifl was much greater than thofe which were done by Mofes, or Elijah, or a- ny who came before him. He went about all the cities and villages in the land of Ifrael, healing every ficknefs and difeafe.* " His fame went throughout all Syria ; and they brought unto him all fick people that were taken with divers difeafes, and torments, and thofe which were poffelTed v/ith devils, and thofe which were lunatic, and thofe that had

♦ Matth. ix.

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the palfy ; and he healed them/'t He cured perfons, and that in an inftant, who were deaf, and blind, and dumb, and lame* They immediately recovered their hearing, their fight, their fpeech, and the ufe of their limbs ; and remained in a (late of recovery. He removed completely at once, "infirmities which had been of many years {landing. This is altogether different from curing by the application of medicine ; which is very flow in its progrefs in overcoming chronic diforders. Chrifl reftored foundnefs to the body, as well as regularity to the mind, by uttering a word. Many fuch miracles as the foregoing were performed in a public manner, and before enemies. He fed four thoufand men, befide v/omen and children, with feven loaves of bread, and a few little fiflics ; and feven baflcets of fragments re- mained. At another time he fed about five thoufand men with five loaves and two fifh- es ; and twelve bafkets of fragments remain- ed. He filenced the tempefl by his voice, and he walked on the waves of the fea. He reftored life to the dead. Three inflances are particularly mentioned, viz. the wid- ow's fon at Nain, Jairus's daughter at Ca- pernaum, and Lazarus at Bethany. Let u« t MuttJi. iv. 24.

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beftow our attention for a moment on thefc inftances.

When Jefus approached the gate of the city of, Nain, with many of his difciples and much people, he met a funeral procelTion. A croud had colleded to mourn with a for- rowful mother, in a ftate of widowhood, whofe only fon had fallen a victim to death m the bloom of youth : the corpfe was now moving to the land of filence. The com- palTion of Jefus was tenderly touched, as he beheld the flowing tears of a folitary widow, mourning for her only fon. " He faid unto her, weep not. And he came and touched the bier ; and they that bare him flood ftill." The attention of the throng muft have been fixed upon this ftranger— Their eyes and their ears were open — ^What doth this traveller de- fign ! The multitude foon heard and faw with amazement — He fpoke with an audible voice. Toting man I I fay unto thee^ Arlfe ! " And he that was dead fat up, and began to fpeak. And he delivered him to his moth- er." The fpedators felt a folemn awe ^ " and they glorified God, faying, that a great prophet is rifen up among us j and, that God hath vifited his people/'*

• Luke Tii.

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Jairus, a ruler of the fynagogue, had one only daugl^er, about twelve years of age, who lay a dying. He came to Jeius, who was then furrounded by a multitude, and fell at his feet, and with all the didrefs and anguifh which a father feels, when his child appears to be in the agonies or death, be- fought him to go to his houfe to (lay the departing fpirit. As the great phyfician did not repair to the place fo foon as requefted, word was foon brought him that the maiden was dead, and that he needed not make the vifit lately requefled. But when Jefus heard it, he told the meflenger, that flie fhould be made whole. He went to the melancholy houfe, and found the family weeping and bewailing their dead friend. " He took her by the hand, and called, faying. Maid ! a- rl/e ! And her fpirit came again, and ihe arofe ftraightway."*

Lazarus of Bethany, was raifed from the dead after he had lain in the grave four days. This miracle was wrought in prefuice of a great number of fpedators. They heard the commanding voice of the S^n ctf God, Lazarus, come forth ! They faw him coming foith from the grave. Some who were prefent believed on Jefus as the prom*

* Liike viii.

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ifed MefTiah ; but others went their ways to the Pharifees, and made them acquainted V/hh the miraculous event. Whereupon the Jewifh council was aiTembled ; the mem- bers of which faid to each other " What do We ? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him' thus alone, all men will believe on him ; and the Romans Ihall come and take away both our place and nation. — ^From that day forth, they took counfel together for to put him to death.'**

The refurreftion of Jefus Chrifl, is a mir- acle, which taken in ail its circumflances, is the moil remarkable of any that was ever VTOUght in our world, and furnifhes the highefl evidence of his divine miflion, and that the gofpel is from God. Jefus fhowed unto his difciples while he was purfuing his public miniftry, that he mud go up to Jeru- falem, be delivered into the hands of men, fuffer many things of the elders, and chief priefls and fcribes, and be killed, and be railed again the third day.f

Had not Jefus Chrifl rifen from the dead, his religion mufl have early perifhed. Its fate would have been the fam.e with that of the French prophets, a fet of tnthufiafls who

* John xi. t Matth. xvi. a i . Mark ix. 3 1 .

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appeared in England about a hundred years ago. Whei} one of their chiefs lay on his death-bed, and was adlually expiring, he told his followers round him that he fhould rife on a certain day and hour; and that if he failed, they mufl conclude that they had been deluded. The day came — a vaft number of people affembled round the grave — as the hour approached, a noted partifan lifted up his voice, and called to his d^ceafed friend — Rife ! Oh rife ! or we are undone ! But the clods continued to cover the dead body, and the delufion was deteded in the eyes of the world. If Chrifl had not rifen, as he predided, his caufe would have funk. Saith the ApoHle Paul in i Cor. xv. If Chriji be not r'lfen^ then is our preaching vain, and your faith is alfo vain.

The death of Jefus v/as not in private a- mong his friends, but in public among his enemies ; by whom he was executed as a malefador. When he was taken down from the crofs, his enemies were fully fatisfied that he was dead. Life could not have re« mained in him after the Roman foldier had thrufl the fpear into his fide. His body was lodged in a fepulchre hev/n out of a rock, a flonewas rolled unto its door. By Pilate's order a feal was put upon the ftone, and a

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guard of foldiers was placed by it. On the third day, Behold^ there was a great earth- quake : for the angel of the Lord defended from heaven^ and came and rolled back thcfione from the door^ and fat upon it. His countenance was like lightening, and his raiment white as fnow» And for fear of him the keepers did fhake, and became as dead men. The angel laid to the women who came unto the fepul- chre, Jefus who was crucified is not here ; for he is rifen, as he f aid* Come^fee the place where the Lord lay*

The women who vifited the fepulchre in the morning after Chrifl arofe, did not ex- pert in their fetting out to find him ahve, for their defign was to anoint the dead body with the fpices they had prepared. None of the difciples of Chrift expelled his refur- reclion. They never could underfland du- ring his life how his dying, and to be fure in fuch ignominy, was reconcileable with his Meffiahfliip. They were flow to believe in the refurredion of Chrifl, after the event had taken place. The force of evidence a- lone gained their faith. The appearances of Chrifi to them were continued at different times and places, when few and many were together, during the courfe of forty days.

* Matth. xxviii.

He was feen of above 500 brethren at once; of whom the greater part remained alive when Paul wrote his firft epiflle to the church of Corinth ; many years after the afcenfion.

The ftory of the watch placed at Chrift's fepulchre, That his difciples came andjlole him away while they Jlept^ is full of abiurdities. They were hired to tell it by a large fum of money given them by the chief prieflis and elders of the Jews. Do men need bribing to lell the truth ? Does not the defign of a bribe always carry in it a wifh to conceal fads ? Befides, as it is well known thatthofe who flept on guard, were if detected, pun- ifhed by the Roman laws with death, the foldiers would not have dared to confefs themfeves afleep when on duty, had not the Jewifh rulers agreed to pacify Pilate on their behalf. Had there been 'the leafl pretext for the ftory the foldiers told, the chief priefts would have been the firft men in Judea to bring the watch to punifliment ; as that would have given credibility to the account which they ftrove to propagate. Every thing relative to the condud of the chief priefls in -this affair, carries fraud in the face of it, and confirms the truth of Chrift's refurredion. Moreover, the tefli- mony given by the watch relative to a faft.

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which, by their own confefTion, took place while they were afleep, is of fuch a nature, as is wholly inadmiflible before acourtofjuf- dee, or by the di£lates of common fenfe. Are men to be credited in affirming a fa6l, which they declare to have happened at a time when they could have no confcioufnefs of it ? Is there an honed man of common underftanding upon the globe, who would venture to decide in any thing of confe- quence on fuch teftimony ?

It has been objedled to the truth of Chrifl's refurrection that he did not fliow himfelf after his death to his judges, and his enemies in general. To obviate this diffi- culty, it may be obferved, that if Chrifl af- ter he left the fepulchre had gone into their prefence, they probably would, from the malice and blindnefs they had difcovered, have confidcred the appearance as an idle dream ; and have remained as obftinatc as they were after the refurredticn of Lazarus. But let us fuppofe that by fuch an appear- ance they had all been gained over to the belief of the fad, and had become Chrift's difciples, would not the enemies of the gof- pel have faid, that fmce all the great men in the nation had received it, the whole was contrived plan, and therefore ought to b< given up as a cunningly deviled fable

i

This objedion would have carried much more plaufibility in it than any that can now be urged. Chriltianity did not rife up un- der the patronage of the powerful and the great. It was left to work its way in the world by its internal evidence, and the gra- cious aids of its founder. Several perfons of learning and note were converted to it in its infancy ; among thefe was Saul of Tarfus ; but they became friends to the gofpel in a way that gives not the lead coun- tenance to the fuggeftion, that it owed its birth to the wifdom of this world. Chrifl crucified was to the Jews a (tumbling block, and to the Greeks fooUfhnefs.

Within a fhort time after Chrifl's ref- urredion, his difciples publicly and boldly proclaimed it in Jerufalem, where he was put to death ; and wrought miracles oh the ground that he was alive. They went forth and preached this doctrine every where, the I^ord working with them, and confirming the word with figns following.

To CONCLUDE, we have decifive evidence from the miracles of Mofes and the Proph- ets, and from thofeof Jelus Chriil, and hit Apoftles, that all fcripturc is given by inipi- ration of God.

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^;<x;^^;::^<:::<x><>::^<■>-::><■■<>::><x><^<x::'<■^<^<.^<x^<><>:;>< ,.

DISCOURSE V.

The evidence from the Prophecies confid- ered ; feveral popular objections anfwer- ed ; and the difcouries concluded with aa improYement.

2 TIMOTHY ill. 1 6.

Allfcrlpture is given by infpiration ofGod^ and is profitable for do6lrine^ for reproofs for cor^ re6lion^for injirudion in righteoujnefs,

IN the two lafl difcourfes, arguments were introduced to prove the divine infpira- tion of the fcriptures, from the nature of the rehgion they contain, and the miracles re- corded in them. I now proceed to a third argument, derived from the fulfilment of their prophecies.

By prophecy is meant, the foretelling df events that are not within the reach of hu- man probability, and of which no knowledge

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can be obtained beforehand but from God* To look into futurity and difcern fuch e- vents, with the time and circumflances of their coming into exiftence, is peculiar to the infinite mind. Ifaiah xlvi. 9, 10. i^^- tneinber the former things of old : for I am God^ md there is none elfe ; I am God^ and there is none like me ; de daring the end from the be" ginning^ and from ancient times the things that are not yet done ^ faying^ My counfel fhalljiandy and I will do all my pleafure.

That the fcriptures abound with proph- ecies, will be denied by none who have read them. The prophecies are fo interwoven with the facred writings, as not to be fepa- rated. If the predictions were not delivered before the events which they hold up as fu- ture, had happened, we mud give up the Bible, and confider it as a forgery. But if the prophets were let into the fecrets of fu- turity, as we have abundant evidence from the fulfilment of thejr predictions, they were immediately enlightened from on high, and the fcriptures are demonflrated to be the word of the Lord. It has been often pro- ved that the prophecies refpeCling the cap- tivity of the Jews in Babylon, the coming of Jefus of Nazareth, the deflrudlion of Je- rufalem by the Romans, and many others.

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were dellverd prior to the events which an* fwer to them. The argument in favor of the divine original of the Bible from prophecy, carries irrefiftible force, when we refleO: on the conduct of providence in fulfilling pre- dictions at the prefent time, which all will grant were written and publilhed many ages ago. To two prophecies of this kind, I no\f call your attention.

'I SHALL begin with the prophecy con- cerning Iflimael, Abraham's fon by Hagar, recorded in Gen. xvi. As that woman was wandering in the wildernefs, " The angel *' of the Lord faid unto her, I will multiply " thy feed exceedingly, that it fliall not be *' numbered for multitude. — ^Behold, thou *' art with child, and fnalt bear a fon, and " flialt call his name Ifhmael ; becaufe the " Lord hath heard thy afRidion. And he **^ will be a wild man ; his hand will be a- " gainft every man, and every man's hand *' againfl him : and he fliall dwell in the *' prefence of all his brethren." This pre- didion principally relates to IfhmaePs pof- te^ity ; but a fmall part of it, befide his birth, could have any accomplilhment in his perfon. A numerous feed defcendea from him, which remain to this day. It is faid of M 2

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his defcendants, in Gen. xxv. i8. That f^Athey dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goefl towards Af- fyria.*' The place here affigned to them h the fame with what was afterwards in fcrip- ture called Arabia, and continues to have the fame name, and to be pollefled by the fame people, to the prefent time. The A- rabians have never been conquered either by the Affyrians, Perfians, Greeks, Romans, Tartars, or any other nation. They have always been a peft to mankind, and have pradifed robberies upon them. Their hand has been againfl every man, and of courfe, every man's hand has been againfl them,, but none have been able to conquer them. They have lived in the midft of all their brethren. In the earlier periods of their hiftory, the defcendants of Abraham by Ke- turah, and the pofterity of Ifaac bordered upon them. To whatever power thefe neigh- bours, or others, rofe, they retained their ' dominion ; and were not driven from any part of their territories. " They have from " firfl to laft maintained their independency, *' and notwithflanding the moft powerful " efforts for their deftrudlion, ftill dwell in " the prefence of all their brethren, and in *^ the prefence of all their enemies."*

* Newton on the Prophecies, in two YQlunjes; 9th £•■•' ^tiQn, p. aj, a6. Vol. i.

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Who but the omnifcient God con Id have forefcen the flate of the defcendants of Ifn- mael ? Is not the fulfilment of the predic- tions concerning them a ftriking proof in fupport of the divine original of the fcrip- tures ?

The prophecies refpeding the (late of the Jews, which have been fulfilled in the latter ages, and are now fulfilling, are too remark- able to be pafled by in filcnce, when attend- ing to the prefent fubjed. The difperfion and the wretchednefs of that people were foretold by Mofes. The curfes which (liould fall upon them for their difobedience, are particularly and largely denounced in Deut. xxviii. I lliall feled a few paffages only ; ver. 37. And thou jlxilt become an a ftonipment^ a -proverb^ and a by-word^ among all nations 'whither the Lord thy GodJIoall lead thee, Ver fes 64, 6^^ 66. And the Lord Jhall fcatfer thee ^mong all people^ from the one end of the earth unto the other ; and there thou fhalt ferve other' godsy which neither thou nor thy fathers have known^ even wood and fione. And among thefe nations fid alt thou find no eafe^ 7ieither floall the fole of thy foot have reft ; but the Lord will give thee there a trembling hearty and failing of eyes ^ andforrow of 7nind : And' thy life Jhall hang in dfiubt before thee ^ and thoujhalt fear daj.

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end nighty andjhalt ha'vc none afurance of thy life, Thefe predidlions were in a degree ful- filled by the captivity of the kingdoms of Ilrael and Judah, by the Aflyrians and Chal- deans ; but have received a fuller accom- plifnment in the deftruclion of Jerufalem by the Romans, and in the prefent dilperfion of the Jews. Thefe laft events were fore- told by Jefus Chrift, in Luke xxi. 24. And they fhall fall by the edge ofthefvord^ andjhall be led away captive into all nations : and fe^ rufalem Jhall be trodden down of the Gentiles^ until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

The Jews were flaughtered in immenfe numbers, when their city was taken by Ti- tus the Roman general. A vail multitude has perilhed fmce, by maffacres and perfe- cutions. The Jews have not been permit- ted to poflefs the land of Canaan or Palef- tine, for more than 1700 years ; and they are fcattered through Afia, and through moft of the countries of Europe and Africa ; they are found on the American continent, and its adjacent ifiands. Their land has paffed from one fet of conquerors to anoth- er, and is nov/ in the hands of the Turks ; and remains in a low and wretched ftate. The Jews fmce their lafl difperfion have, for the moft part, found jio reft \ but the

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Lord has given them a trembling hearty and failing of eyes^ and forroiv cf mind. They have not enjoyed the rights of other citi- zens in the places where they have lived, they have been banifhed from many king- doms ; and in not a few inflances, govern- ment has laid its hand on the property of that unhappy people, in a way of tine and confifcation. They have been detefled by the nations, and have been a by-word sunong them. However criminal the Jews may have been, the benevolent heart is pained by even a fummary recital of their fufferings, and is rejoiced at the milder treatment they have met with of late. We hope that the period is at hand when their calamities will ceafe, by the univerfally opening a door for their enjoyment of freedom, as is done by the fpirit of the civil conftitution of the U- nited States of America ; and above all by their union with the Gentiles throughout the world under the MefTiah.

It is remarkable that the Jews, tho' they have met with fuch hardfhips and cruelties, yet remain a diilin6t people. This is the Lord's doing ; and verifies what was fpoken long ago by the prophets. I fhall only mention in this place a pafTage recorded in Jerem. xxx. ii. addreifed to Ifrael, For I

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mni with thee, faith the Lord, to fcvDe thee i though I make a full end of all nations whither J havefcatteredthee, yet will 1 not make a full end of thee ; hut I will correal thee in meafure^ and will not leave thee altogether unpunijhed. The Jews have not, hke other nations, been fwallowed up and loft in conquefts, by in- termingling with their conquerors, or with thofe among whom they have lived. Tho* they have had the ftrongeft inducements to intermarry, and to blend in all rel'pedts, with the Gentiles, they, as a body, remain as widely feparated from them by blood and religion as ever. However, they have, in fome inftances, externally complied with the idolatrous rites of the Romifn chuich, to avoid the cruelties of the court of inquifi- tion, they have at the fame time adhered to the faith of their anceftors ; and when they have efcaped from the danger of the rack, they have renounced chriftianity in every form, and openly returned to their religion. They remain to this day a ftriking proof that the author of the prophecies refpeding them is divine ; and confequently that the fcriptures are given by infpiration of God,

Would our limits permit, we might point to the fulfilment of many prophecies, which were delivered long before the events '

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they predict were brought into exiftencd Babylon now lies in ruins, " a pofleffioa for the bittern, and pools of water." Tyre, once " a mart of nations," is made " Uke the top of a rock ; a place for the ipread- mg of nets in the midfh of the fea." We behold the man of fm, whofe rife was pre- dicted in the prophecies of the Old and New Teftament, " fitting in the temple of God, /liewing himfelf that he is God j whofe coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and figns, and lying won- ders." And, to name no more, we behold nowful-filling the prophecy recorded in Rev- elation xvii. 1 6. " And the ten horns which thou fawell upon the beaft, thefe fhall hate the whore, and fhall make her defolate, and naked, and fhall eat her fjefh, and burn her with fire." The European kingdom which lead the way in giving temporal do- minion to the beaft revived under the anti- chriflian tyranny, is now feizing on the wealth and deftroying the influence which fhe once gloried in giving to the Roman Pontiff. We are furnifhed with abundant proof, that the pens of the prophets were guided by Him who, from eternity, beholds all the events of time. The nearer we ap- proach to the end of the world, the evidence in fupport of the infpiration of the Bible

M4

from the fulfilment of the prophecies, be- comes more and more clear and convincing. Whatever abufes are made of the increafmg light by the wicked, " the wife fhall under- ftand/'

My defigned brevity on the copious fub- je6t of thefe difcourfes, forbids me to add to the foregoing arguments. I fliall, after no-, ticing a few popular objedions, conclude with a practical improvement.

Some have attempted to countenance their" diflike of the fcriptures, by faying, that the language adopted in fome parts of thofe wri- | tings, particularly in certain paffages in the Old Teflament, puts modelly to the blufh.

Perfons of much information will not be perplexed with this difficulty. It will at once occur to them, that when God fpeaks to any part of the human race, he muft ad- drefs them in a language which they under- fland, or the defign of revelation will be loft. It mufl follow of courfe, that the language of the age and the place when and where the revelation is made, mufl be adopted. The meaning of particular words is con- flantly altering by ufage. The word knave^ \ for inftance, in our language, was hereto- 1 fore underflood to mean a diligent fcrvatii />

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but cuftoni now appropriates it to one who is guilty oi fraud in his dealings with man- kind. Cuftom is as much the ftandard of decency in the clothing of our thoughts, as in the clothing of our bodies. Some of the words and phrafes in our tranflation of the Bible, which may appear indehcate when compared with modern ftyie, did not offend againfl: delicacy two hundred years ago ; and they may not two hundred years hence, or in a much fhorter term. Among a civi- lized people it is as eafy to difcern a rotation in words and phrafes, as in any thing elfe that is equally under human control. It would be very (Irange indeed, if the origi- nal language of the pentateuch, which was committed to writing more than three thou- fand years ago, perfedly fuited the various tafles which have prevailed in flyle, from the days ot Mofes to our time. It is to be remarked that the books which he wrote have paffed through very different Rates of fociety, in the lapfe of fo many ages ; to each of which it is impofTible that they fhouldbe compleatly conformed : Yet the manner in which thofe books were written will abide the teft of found criticifm at the prefent era of high literary improvement. N

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Let us admit, for a moment, that the ■whole phrafeology and manner of writing in the moft ancient parts of the Jewifh fcrip- tures, perfectly correfponded with modern tafte — ^I fay, let us make this fuppofition, in order to learn whether that part of the Bi- ble which is accufed of indelicacy, would be as defenfible as it now is. We may difcern at once the effedt of the fuppofed change. The men who cavil now, would immediately tack about, and exclaim againfl the penta- teuch as a forgery, from its ftyle. Hence, we fee that the antiquity of the ftyle ufed in the Mofaic writings, as well as in other parts of fcripture, is a matter of importance in the controverfy with, infidels. It was as proper that the facred penmen (hould adopt the language and manner of writiag pecu- liar to their own times, as that in alluding to mountrj'ns in their difcourfes to the Jews, they fhould name Horeb^ Carmel^ or Hemion^ rather than the Allegany^ or the Andes, Af- ter what has been faid on the change of the meaning of words and the ftate of fociety, it is evident that no one has any juft caufe to impeach the language of the fcriptures of offences againft modefty.

The difputes about what the religion of the Bible is, among thofe who profefs to

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adopt it, have been urged by fome as an objection againfl its divine original. To this it may be anfwered,

I ft. That the enemies of divine revela- tion are not agreed among themfelves. Some infidels profefs to believe that God is a good being ; others deny that any fuch conclufion can be formed. Some of them confider the foul of man as immortal ; whilft others fuppofe that it dies with the body. If the difputes among chriftians overthrow chriftianity, the difputes among deifts overthrow deifm. The objedion weighs nothing on either fide, and is wholly impertinent.

2dly. A CONSIDERABLE number of the controverfies among chriftians do not re- fped the eftentials of their religion ; but are to be accounted for from the manner in which they are educated, the religious treat- ifes they read, the perfons with whom they aftbciate in the early periods of ferious thoughtfulnefs, and fimilar caufes. Differ- ences of this kind do not prove that the Bi- ble inculcates oppofite principles ; for it is admitted that they do not materially affedl what is neceflary to fit men for everlafting happinefs.

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jdly. It is granted that opinions have . been maintained by fome who profefs to be- lieve in the infpiration of the fcriptures, vhich ftrike at their fundamental truths. But the rife of damnable herefies is fo far from overthrowing the Bible, that it con- firms it ; for that book contains many pre- didlions that fuch errors will appear j ef- pecially in the lafl days.

Violent prejudices have been conceived againft the religion of Jefus Chrifl, from the bad things which have been done under the cloak of it. To remove this Humbling block, let it be obferved,

I ft. That if the bad things which have been done by thofe who call themfelves chrif- tians, go to the fubverfion of thegofpel, deifm muft be overthrown according to the fame plan of reafoning. I prefume that no one who is the moil warmly engaged in fupport of infidelity, will affirm that all deifts have iliown high reverence to the Deity in their behaviour, or that they have all been men of fobriety, juftice, mercy and truth. We have to acknowledge with grief, that many abominable things have been done by per- fons who have called themfelves the difci- ples of Jefus Chrift ; but if we muft give up our religion on account of their conduft.

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the delfts muft give up theirs on account of the impious and debauched morals of fome of their order.

2dly. There is nothing in the nature of revealed religion which tends to the corrup- tion of morals ; but every thing in it tends to make bad men better. The moral law requires holinefs, and forbids every fm. The gofpel breathes the fame fpirit. It prom- ifes pardon and happinefs only to the pen- itent, and encourages with the hope of a crown of righteoufnefs, patient continuance in well doing. The punilhments threaten- ed to the wicked are fuited to alarm them, and to deter from the pradice of iniquity. The religion of Jefus Chriit has adually had the happieft influence on thofe who have cordially embraced it ; as has appear- ed from their lives and deaths.

3dly. Wicked men would not cloak their wickednefs under the garb of the chriflian profefTion, unlefs there were fome- thing in the gofpel which recommends it to the confciences'of mankind. There could be no counterfeit coin, if there were no real coin. Men do not counterfeit iron or lead ; but filver and gold, or fomething that rep- refents the value of thefe precious metals, Thofe perlons who commit iniquity under N a

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the maik of friendfhip to the gofpel, are fo far from proving it to be of no worth, that even they themfelves by implication, teftify in its favor, though it is againfl their lufls.

4thly. We ought not to conclude againfl the worth of the chriflian religion from its abufes, on account of the abfurdities which fuch an inference will draw after it. We muftjto be confident with fuch a conclufion, pronounce all the bleiTmgs of common providence to be evils in themfelves ; for they all have been, and dill are, fhamefully abufed. If we pronounce every thing bad, and to be avoided, which has been employed for a bad purpofe, we mufl confider as evil, food and raiment, the ground on which we tread, the dreams that water it, the produce of the garden and the field, the light which drikes our eyes, and the air we breathe^ We need not wonder that perfons who dif- pute againd the goodnefs of God, from the pains they bring upon themfelves by abufmg it, wifh to take refuge in annihilation, and indulge the forlorn hope that by fuicidethey Ihall haden their return to the womb of nothing.

5thly. It will be acknowledged by every candid obferver, that the religion of the gof- pel promotes focial happinefs in every circle

in which It reigns. It prevents the wretch- edneis which flows from riot and debauche* ry, fupprefles the malignant paflions, and diffuies the calm and pure pleafures of tem- perance, diligence, contentment, and friend- fhip. Whatever perfecutions have been en- dured for righteoufnefs' fake, it is too plaia to be denied, that the practice of chriftianity gives a happinefs to individuals and to col* ledive bodies, to which thofe are (Irangers v/ho treat it with contempt. It has more- over been abundantly demonflrated by able writers, that where it is externally regarded by the inhabitants of a country in general, their morals are not fo loofe as are thofe of nations devoted to pagan idolatry.

It is hoped that the obfervations which have been made, will be thought fufficient to wipe away the reproach which has been caft upon the chriflian religion, from the bad things that have been done by its hypocritical profeflbrs.

Those who rejed the divine authority of the Bible, have endeavored to juflify their unbelief, by pleading, that they cannot be under obligations to conform their faith and pradice to a book, which contains myfteries above the comprehenfxoa of the human mind.

Ir the objedions of this kind are juft, it will follow that we are not bound to believe any thing which we cannot comprehend. But is there a man on the earth, " in his right mind," who will avow this confe- quence ? We are unable to comprehend the works of nature with which we are fur- rounded. We know not how water is con- gealed into the hardnefs of (tone ; nor can we comprehend the growth of even a fmgle blade of grafs. Man is a myjflery to him- felf. He cannot tell why certain kinds of food nourifh his body rather than others ; nor how his limbs are put in motion by the volitions of his foul. If we are not bound to give our affent to any thing which we cannot underlland in all its parts, we mull deny fads which are daily taking place be- fore our eyes, yea more, we muft deny our own exiftence. The objcdlion we are now confidering will go to atheifm ; for no creature can fathom abfolute eterni- ty. If there be a God he never had a be- ginning. When the human mind contem- plates this fubjed it is fwal lowed up and loft. " Canft thou by fearching find out God ? Canft thou find out the Almighty unto perfection ?"

In the fupernatural revelation God hath

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made of his will, he fpeaks like himfelf— a Being infinitely great. Were all the myf- teries which are delivered in the facred vol- ume, perfedlly on a level with our limited minds lately called into exiftence, the gov- ernment of the moral world v/ould be pla- ced in a lower grade than the kingdom of nature, and we ihould not have the fame evidence as we now have that the finger of God is imprinted on the fcriptures. But tho' fome of thedo6lrines of the Bible are fo high that we can know but little concern- ing them in this dark probationary (late, they can be fufEciently apprehended even by babes in underftanding to obtain eternal life. Befides, the truths which are mofl myfterious are fo interwoven with thofe which are plain, that if we rejed the for- mer, we mufl rejedt the latter. The various parts of this remarkable book form one har- monious fyflem of faith and pradice.

The laft objedion that I fhall notice is taken from the fmall extent within which the writings of the Old and New Teflament have been known. Since the fcriptures ex- hibit an exclufive claim of guiding the human race in the way of truth and happinefs, it is contended, that their partial fpread is in- confillent with the charaQcr of Him who is

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the Father of all mankind, and is no ref- peder ofperfons; and that therefore they canHot be given by infpiration of God. To obviate this objedion,letthe following things be confidered,

ift. God in his common providence dif- tributes his gifts, both of body and mind, ve- ry varioufly ; as daily experience teaches. It will not be pretended that men have juft caufc to complain of him, becaufe he be- ftows upon fome a more vigorous animal frame, or a higher degree of intellect, than upon others. No reafon can be alhgned, why the means of mora! and religious im- provement may not be as greatly diverfified, by the fovereign of the univerfe, as other blefhngs are. Befides, the obligation deri- ved from privileges, is proportioned to their nature and degree. Mankind are not pun- ifhed for difregarding truths of which they could have no knowledge ; but for relifting the light that has Ihone before them.

2dly. Since the whole human race have forfeited every favor from the hand of God, by fm, he may juflly exclude them all from happinefs, and confequently may deny them opportunity of becoming acquainted with thofe writings which contain the words of eternal Hfe. Ail the favors enjoyed by

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apoflate creatures, flow from divine fove- Teign mercy ; which excludes every idea of claim on their part. Thofe, therefore, who are left in heathenifh darknefs, experience no injuftice. Their demerit is not lefTened, nor is their ilate rendered any more deplor- able, by reafon of God^s condu£t in giving the fcriptures to others. If any refufe to receive them becaufe they are not known throughout the world, they difcover great ingratitude, and perverfenefs. God has conferred upon us, the inhabitants of the United States of America, a larger portion of freedom than is poflefled by mofl nations. Shall we murmur, and throw away our liber- ties, becaufe providence has not caufed all our fellow-men to enjoy the fame bleflings ? Who hath licenfed a worm of the dud to didate to the fovereign Ruler of heaven and earth ! Or to fay unto him, " What doeft thou i"

3dly. It is owing to the criminal indif- ference of mankind to the fcriptures, that the knowledge of them is confined within fuch narrow limits. Had, for inftance, the feveral families of the fons of Noah, in their difperfions from the plain in the land of Shinar, been friends to the truths which had at that time been Jevealed, they would

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have faithfully preferved them, and made high exertions to tranfmit them to their pof- terity. Had the word of the Lord been fweet unto their tafte, they would have been much more defirous of handing it down to their fucceflbrs, than they were their knowl- edge of the arts. A like pious zeal pafling from one generation to another, would have prevented the ignorance of divine reve- lation which foon prevailed. By the time of Abraham there was a general departure to idolatry. That renowned patriarch fo- journed in many places, after he left Ur of the Chaldees in obedience to the command of God ; for the fetting up his worfhip in a pure form. But the people among whom he refided, in Canaan, in Egypt, and in other countries, did not improve the oppor- tunity of learning from him the truths and laws which he had immediately communi- cated to him from God, or had been tranf- mitted to him through the preceding infpir- ed men. The Egyptians paid no lading at- tention to the mighty works wrought among them by the arm of Jehovah, in the days of Mofes ; nor did they regard the means of inftru6lion in the knowledge of the revealed will of God, to which they might have had accefs. When the Ifraelites were fettled in Canaan, they were placed in the eentral Ipot

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x)f the then known world. On different fides of them lay Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Chaldea, and Aflyria ; out of which nations arofe the firft empires of note among mankind. Un- der thofe monarchies the arts and fciences were firfl cuhivated, and from them have been fpread among the inhabitants of the weftern regions. The land given to the children oflfrael is wafhed on one fide by the Mediterranean fea, and bordered on the once famous cities of Tyre and Sidon ; which extended their commerce to diftant countries. To the nations of the eaft the chofen people were well known, whilft they dwelt in Canaan. By their captivity under the Aflyrians and Chaldeans, the facred books were carried into many parts of Afia ; where they were kept by the difperfed Jews until the day when the MefTiah appeared. In the ages which followed the return of fome of the captives to Jerufalem under Cyrus, and the rebuilding of their city and temple, the Jews became well known to the Greeks and the Romans. The Apoftles in their time carried the gofpel far beyond the bounds of Judea, and preached the word of eternal life among the Gentiles.

If there had been a general love of divine truth among the human race, the fcripture* O

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would have been diileminated far and wide on this inhabited globe. From the inatten- tion to the infpired writings which has ap- peared in the condudi: of mankind, it is man- ifeftthat they have not chofen to retain God in their knowledge. Inftead of charging him with an unjuft partiality, let them con- fefs that fm is the caufe of the extenfive reign of heathen darknefs. It is wholly ow- ing to the mere fovereign mercy of God, that the knowledge of divine revelation has not perifhed from the earth.

Having taken a brief view of fome of the principal arguments in fupport of the truth and infpiration of the Bible, and at- tempted to obviate fever al objedions, I pro- ceed to improve the fubjed.

I. We may refledl on the unreafonablc and dangerous conduct of thofe who are en- deavoring to undermine, and deftroy the influence of revealed reUgion ; by reprefen- ting it as the work of vifionary or interefled men. Many of the deifts have never given themfelves the trouble of examining into the evidences of the truth and infpiration of the fcriptures ; but having picked up here and ' there fomething which they diflike in them, cither by defultory reading, or from pro- mifcuous company, they proceed to afTert

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>yith great confidence, that thofe writings are the work of a mercenary priefthood, or defigning politicians. Such treatment of a book which claims a divine origin, not only announces the badnefs of their hearts who thus haftily reje(5l it, but does no honor to their underftandings. Among the few in- fidels who have gone into elaborate difquifi- tions concerning the authority of the fcrip- tures, methods have been adopted, by men of genius and fcience, to overthrow thofe writings, which carry in them the groflefl abfurdities. If the fame kind of reafoning were employed on any other fubjeci, they themfelves would look upon it with con* tempt. For the fake of evading the evi- dence from miracles, deifls have labored to eftablilh fuch rules, for determining the ex- iflence of fads of which we have not been perfonal witneffes, as would deftroy our faith in all hiftory. They have fallen into errors of the mofl palpable kind, in their attempts to prove that the Bible is at vari- ance with itfelf. As, for inflance, when the different writers of any part of its hiftory, do not fay precifely the fame thing, or one of them mentions fadls omitted by anether, infidels rejed the whole as the contradidory accounts of lying importers. At. the fame time they^ill give full credit to many au-

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thors of civil hiftory, who, in narrating the fame general events, mention different cir- cumftances from each other, and will fpeak of fuch hiftorians with applaufe. Deifts will grant that God may deflroy countries by the peftilence, famine, or earthquakes ; but if he employ men as the inftruments of his wrath, as he did in cutting off the inhab- itants of Canaan, they cry out, cruelty I hor^ n J cruelty ! They overlook the proof of the infpiration of the fcriptures, which is fur- nifhed by miracles of the mod ftriking kind. They fhut their eyes againfl the light that fhines with meridian brightnefs, in the ful- filment of the prophecies. They withhold no exertions, in their power, to heap re- proach upon that pure and benevolent reli- gion, which correfponds with the divine character, opens a door of hope to the guilty, and conduds the humble and the penitent to a world of everlaflingjoy. The open enemies of the gofpel, drive to bring in- to univerfal contempt the only religion that can reconcile mankind to God, and unite them in permanent love to one another. Infidels themfelves are very much indebted, for their fpeculative knowledge of the Deity and moral virtue, to the Bible. By rejec- ting it they difcover theii' ingratitude, and fhort fightednefs.

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What advantages do deifts exped to de- rive from trampling under foot the holy fcriptures ? They have nothing to put in the place of the dodrines which they explode, that can yield them folid enjoyment in their gayefl: feafons. What confolation can theif principles afford, when carried into pradice, in days of trouble, or in the hour of ferious reflection ? Their philofophy cannot allevi- ate their pains ; by afluring them of a future flate, or by pointing out the road which leads to fubftantial interminable happinefs. But do they wifli to rid themfelves of the belief of a future ft ate of rewards and puniftiments? and hope to die like the brutes ? Wonder- ful fagacity 1 What ! do the honor and hap- pinefs of man fland on a level with the hon- or and happinefs of the beafts of the field !

What benefit v/ill fociety derive from the fpread of deiftical principles ? Have they ever when fully imbibed, reformed a fmgle vicious perfon ? Experience demonftrates that in proportion as they prevail among a people, they weaken reverence towards the name of God, and are accompanied with loofe morals. Such are the unhappy effeds which infidelity produces : nor can they be denied on account of the regular live» of a

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few of its friends, who are immerfed in flu- dy, or whofe high official rank impels to pay a decent refped to the general opinion^ Civil laws will be found feeble reflraints on communities, when the reflraints of reveal- ed religion are deftroyed.

Those who make a dired: attack on the facred volume are highly criminal. Noth- ing can juflify them in ading againft the light that is held up before them, in the word and works of God. None are required to believe the fcriptures without fufficient evi- dence to fatisfy the rational mind ; but fince they are abundantly fupported by the fcheme of religion they contain, as well as by ex- ternal teflimonies, none can deny their di- vine original without incurring infinite guilt. The difficulties that have been flarted rela- tive to their hiflory, their faith and morals, may be removed to the fatisfadion of the candid. It is impious in creatures to fug- gefl that a better manifeftation of truth might have been made than is exhibited in them. There is a depth in God's wifdom and knowledge which we cannot fathom- He only knows how to difplay his perfec- tions before finite intelligencies in the befl manner to glorify his holy name, and what are the moll fuitable means to bring finners

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to repentance. A cavilling temper Is never fatisfied. If any will not hear Mofes and the Prophets, Chrift, and the Apoftles, neither would they be perfuaded tho* one rofe fron^ the dead.

What confufion would fill the mind of a deift, ihould one of his converts addrefs him in the moment of remorfe, " You, Sir, *' firll taught me to laugh at religion — then *' to doubt its truth — and then to trample *' it under foot. I followed you next into ** vice — ^I threw off reftraint — I have not '' feared God, nor have I regarded man. *' I tremble to think of my end : For tho* '* I ftill wifh to difbelieve, --my confcience *' whifpers — what if the gofpel I have denied *' Jhould prove true at Iqfl /" How, O ye fons of infidelity ! who boafl of making dif- ciples to your creed, and to every fafhiona- ble vice — how can ye endure to meet the fouls you have deluded and undone, at the bar of God ! They will rife as fwift witnef- fes againfl you before him who will judge the v/orld in righteoufnefs. Be entreated to read the fcriptures with a candid, ferious temper, and impartially examine the argu- ments which eftablifh their truth and iwlpi- ration. God grant that you may no longer

1^4

remain enemies of the Gofpel ; but that It may be rendered efFedual to your falvation.

2. In a review of the fubje^l of thefe dif- courfeSy we are taught the duty of the friends of revealed rehgion, to labor for its defence, and to make it the guide of their lives.

We declare with our lips our belief in the truth and infpiration of the fcriptures of the Old and New Teftament, and that the enjoyment of them is a privilege of inefli- mable worth. We profefs a high venera- tion for thefe writings ; becaufe they con- tain a rich and inexhauftible treafure of di- vine knowledge, and becaufe they point out the only way to efcape everlafling mifery, and to obtain eternal life. We cannot tef- tify our gratitude for having the oracles of God committed unto us, if we do not fearch into their meaning v/ith diligence, and liilen to them with a humble and devout frame of mind. The man of real piety, delights in the law of the Lord, and in it doth he med- itate day and night. He crieth after knowl- edge, and lifteth up his voice for underltan- ding ; he feeketh her as filver, and fearch- ethfor her as for hidden treafures. It is furprifm^ to find in fome perfons of mature age and good abilities, among the profelled

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friends of the Bible, but a fmall acquain- tance with its hiflory or dodrines. Inilead of attending to the word of the Lord their minds are fwallowed up in worldly purfuits, or are diverted from the iludy of it, by books of wit and humour.

MANYof the difficulties which occur in the reading of the fcriptures, will be removed by comparing one paiTage with another, rel- ative to the fame fubjedl in different parts of thofe writings. The dodlrines which they contain that far furpafs our comprehen- fion, cannot be eradicated without giving up the facrcd volume into the hands of its a- vowed enemies, and placing it on the fame ground with the works of a heathen Plato, or Seneca. Thofe who humbly wait on God will be guided into all neceifary truths : *' The meek will he guide in judgment ; and the meek will he teach his way.'* Be- lievers will be kept by the power of God through faith unto falvation.

There is reafon to expe6l from prefent appearances, and from the prophecies, that the church will meet with violent alfaults from infidelity, between the period in which we live, and the time when *' the earth ihall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as tkc waters cover the fea/* Now, when the eu^

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cmy IS coming in like a flood, we are loudly called upon to lift up a flandard againft him. The performance of this duty, requires our attention to the arguments which demon- ftrate the fcriptures to be true, and from God ; and our earned endeavors to main- tain the faith which was once dehvered unto the faints. Chriftian teachers are under a peculiar and folemn charge, to continue in the things which they have learned of Jefus Chrift ; and to labor to imprefs the belief on the minds of others, that all firipture is given by infpiration of God ^ and is frojitahle for doBrine^for reproof for corredion^for injiruc- iion in righteoufnefs. Above all, let every friend of revealed religion imbibe its fpirit, and obey its laws. If we love the word of the Lord, we fhall place a high value on the fabbath, and on all divine inftitutions : And jfhall bear teftimony againft the various cour- fes which difhonor God, and tend to deftroy mankind. Let parents teach their children the do6;rines and duties of chriftianity, and enforce their inftrudions by a holy example.

Doth the gofpel point out immortality to man, let this folemnize our minds, and in- cite us to give diligence to make our calling and election fure. Nothing can counter- balance the lofs of the foul. What are all

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the pleafures, the riches, and the honors of the world, when compared with/* an inher- itance incorruptible, and undeliled, and that fadeth not away !" Let us remember that the grace of God which bringeth falvation, *' teacheth us, that denying ungodlinefs and worldly lufts, we fhould live foberly, right- eoufly, and godly, in this prefent world ; looking for that bleflfed hope, and the glo- rious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jefus Chrift/'

3. I SHALL conclude thefe difcourfes with an addrefs to the rifmg generation.

Dear Youth,

You are coming into a£live life in a day very different, in feveral refpects, from any former period. The late revolution in our country has extended its influence far and wide ; and appears defigned by providence to draw after it a train of confequences, whofe importance rifes to a height that baffles the calculations of the human mind. We are bound to give thanks to God for the rare privilege we enjoy of difcufTmg ev- ery fubjed as publicly as we pleafe, and of exprefTmg our fentiments without reftraint. It is a melancholy thought that when fo wide a door is opened for the fpreading of truth.

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"error and wickednefs prevail. Popery and fuperftition have received a deep wound ; at the fame time infidelity lifts up its head, and open vices make fwift and alarming pro- grefs. The heart of man is the fame now as it ever has been fmce the apoflacy ; but it fhows itfelf in a different form from what it has ufually done among chriftian nations, and calls in principles to juftify its criminal indulgencies with more confidence than had before been feen. Many in our day give out that the age of reafon is come, and that mankind may now determine for themfelves what is virtue and what is vice, without any regard to the fcriptures. They feem to think themfelves at full liberty, in the fight of God, to reject any revelation he may make, without incurrring his difpleafure. If our choice be the only rule of conduft that is binding upon us, we are placed in a lawlefs univerfe, and are not accountable to God.

Pause a moment — and refle<5l on the evil and danger of being led aflray by opinions which flatter the pride of the heart, and are an inlet to every vice. If you regard your own peace and fafety^ you will not liflen to men who fet their mouth againft the heavens, and advocate the caufe of licentioufnefs,

j6^

Look on the effects of infidelity upon thofe Vrho are fcoffitig at the Bible, and are driv- ing to influence others to treat it with • con- tempt. Do they appear to have the fear of God before their eyes ? Can you believe that their real aim is to promote your true happinefs ? A fenfe of propriety, mull ren- tier a fet of low charaders difgufting to you, who belch out their hatred ofreligion in the noify clubs, where ferious thoughtfulnefs is banifhed, and where ardent fpirits animate the bluftering hero of the night. Pity the poor creature who curfes the book which forewarns him of his awful fate, and com- mands him to lead a life of temperance and fobriety. From perfons of a different de- fcription you are in much greater danger of being profelyted to infidelity. You may in your intercourfe with mankind, meet with deifts whofe talents are refpedable, and whofe addrefs is engaging. Thefe will con- fult your feelings, and will not fhock you with a fudden propofal of renouncing the chriftian faith ; but will fugged doubts re- lative to its hiftorical truth, or the fitnefs of its dodrines, or the juftice of its precepts.

It is not to be expeded that thofe who have beea trained up, from their childhood, P

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in the belief of the fcriptures, will renounce them at once, and inftantly tajie a leap into the abyfs of deifm. Perfons who make thii dreadful plunge, ufually advance towards it from fmall beginnings. You will progrcfs towards the gulph which has fwallowed up the avowed enemies of the Bible, if you are in any degree entangled with what goes un- der the name of Moderm Liberality ; which affirms, that it is a matter of perfe(^ indiffer- ence what fentiments any adopt for their re- ligious creed. It is not pretended by chrif- tians, that a mere affeni La revealed doctrines forms a good character ; but they cannot be fo abfurd as to allow that all opinions are alike friendly to virtue. Is it as probable that the man who believes in annihilation at death, will refrain from perjury, as he who believes that he fliall exift in another world, and that there God will call him to an ac- count for his conduct in this ? Have we the fame reafon to look for purity in him who worfhips a flock or a flone, as in him who worfhips Jehovah ? Infidels make high pro- feflions of liberality, as above defined : But if they fpeak their real fentiments, why do they make exertions to deflroy the faith of others in the Bible ? What caufe can they aiTign for their sseal in profelyting, if they e&

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teem It to be peirfeflly indifFerent what creed any one adopts ?

Were the Bible to perifh from among us, there would be no means left, fufficient to prevent paying divine honors to the de- parted fpirits of patriots and heroes, or even to the inanimate creation. The impious, obfcene, and cruel rites of paganifm would be eftabliflied, fhould chriftianity ceafe to enlighten us ; and our religious ftate would be the fame with that of by far the largeft proportion of mankind now on the earth. Human fcience would not be found a fuffi- cient guard to defend ub againfl fuch evils ; for the learned Greeks and Romans were, at leaft, as much given to idolatry, as the favages that roam in thedefert. The hiflory of the whole heathen world from the days of Abraham until now, exhibits the fame melancholy pidure with Greece and Rome. A knowledge uffhe arts and Iciences is very ufeful ; but cannot (land in the place of di- vine revelation.

If any fhould plead that the miferies which have flown from corrupt rituals would be avoided by annihilating every form of re- ligion, they fuppofe a fad: which can never generally happen, fo long as hope and fear remain ia the huraau breaft. JBut if thee

»7*

vent they contemplate could be realized^ each individual would feel himfelf liccnfed * to live according to nature, and afceneof wretchednefs would enfue, efpecially ' ii^ large communities, far furpaiTmg any thing the world has hitherto feen. Neither prop^ crty, nor chaftity, nor life, would be pro- te^led ; and the earth would groan under the horrors of the infernal regions.

Beware, dear youth, of drinking in the poifon of infidelity. Embrace the religion which came from above, and make it the guide of your lives. In this choice you will find light, peace, and joy, and will be fecured from falling into fatal fnares. Jofeph, in the bloom of youth and beauty, was pro* tected in a dangerous moment, by reverenc* ing the laws of Jehovah. He replied to the importunate feducer. How can Ida this great wickednefsy and Jin agairji God ? Impartially review the evidences uf the li uih and infpii^. tationof the Bible. If you read this holy book with diligence and meeknefs, you will be charmed with the pure and benevolent fpirit which it breathes ; and will be fully perfuaded that no being but God can be its author. The miracles recorded in the Ola Teftament andintbeNew, and tb^ fulfil-

merit of the prophecies, give a divine fane* tion to the fcriptures.

Trifle not away the morning of life in vain amulements, or in hearkening to fa- bles. You are not creatures of a day ; but are born for eternity. The prefent momen- tary (late will be followed with confequen- ces of infinite importance. Secure without delay the glorious immortality fet before you in the gofpel. From early life may you know the holy fcriptures, which are able to make you wife unto falvation through faith which is in Chrifl Jefus : To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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