Discourses relating to the evidences of revealed religion : delivered in the church of the Universalists at Philadelphia, 1796, and published at the request of many of the hearers

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DISCOURSES

RELATING TO

The Evidences of Revealed Religion^

DELIVERED IN THE

CHURCH OF THE UNIVERSALISTS,

AT PHILADELPHIA, 1796.

AND

PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OF MANY OF THE
HEARERS.

BY JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, ll.d.f.r.s.

&c. &c.

Be ready always to give an anfwer to every man that
afketh you a reafon of the hope that is in you.

I Pet. iii. 15

PHILADELPHIA,

PRINTED BY JOHN THOMPSON,

MDCCXCVL

THE DEDICATION.

ro JOHN AD AM 3,

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA.

DEAR SIR,

T HE happinejs I have had of your
acquaintance and corr^fpondence ever fmce your
embajfy to England, our common friend/hip for Dr.
Price, the ardent friend of liberty and of America,
your fieady attachment to the caufe of chriflianity,
the favourable attention you gave to the follow-
ing Difcourfes, when they were delivered, and the
wifh you expreffed that they might be publijhed, in^
duce me to take the liberty to dedicate them to you,

Statefmen who have thefirmnefs of mind to pro-
fefs themfelves Chriftians, and who have ajufifenfe
of the importance of chriflianity, are not numerous ;
and thofe of them who adopt a rational chriftianity,
the evidences and do&rines of which will bear to be %
fubmitted to the tefl of reafon, in this age, in which, ^
zvhile many are carried away by the prevailing tide of
infidelity, others oppofe it by an enthufiafm which
dif claims the aid of reafon, are Jlill fewer; and are
therefore entitled to the greater efleem of thofe wbo
entertain the fame fenti7ne7its.

3 2 JVe

f

iv THE DEDICATION.

We Jhall, no doubt, ourjelvcs be ranked with
enthufiqfts by thofe unbelievers (and by far the
greater part of them are of this clafs) who have be-
come fo zvithout any jujl knowledge of the fubjeB,
or invejligation of the evidence of revelation. But
the contempt of fuch perfons, whatever rank they
7nay hold in the political or the learned world, is
itfelf contemptible. Every ferious inquirer after
truth, will refpeB other ferious inquirers, though
their opinions fhould differ ever fo much. But the
cenfures of men, whether well or ill- informed, will
appear of little moment to thofe who look to the deci-
fion of the impartial judge of all. And, mind-
ful of his folemn warning, we mufi not be alhamed
of him, or ^ his caufe, in any circumflances , how-
ever unfavourable, left he fhould be ajhamed of us at
a time when his favour will be of infinitely greater
moment to us than any thing elfe.

Tou and I, Sir, are advancing to a period cf
life in which thefe views naturally open 7nore and
pi more upon us, TVe find this world receding, and
^^ another fa/l approaching, and we feel the import-
W ance of having fomething to look to when the prefent
fcene cf things fhall be clofed. And whatever we
value for our f elves, it behoves us to recommmend to
ethers. Tou will, therefore, rejoice if an exhibition
of the evidences of revealed religion, fuch as is con-
tained

THE DEDICATION. y

tained in thefe Dijcourjes, JJoould produce any ef-
fect.

It is happy that, in this country, religion has jio
^connection with civil power, a circumfiance which
gives the caufe of truth all the advantage that its beft
friends can defire. But religion is of as much ufe
to Statefmen as to any individuals zvhafever. Chrif
iian principles will heft enable men to devote their
time, their talents, their lives, a7id what is often a
greater facnfice flill, their charadlers, to the public
good ; and in public life this will often be, in a great
meafure, neceffary.

Let a man attain to eminence, of any kind, and
by whatever means, even the moft honourable^ he
will be expofed to envy and jealoufy, and ofcourfe
he mujl expect to meet with calumny and abufe. If
was the lot of our Saviour himfelf and it is a part
of the wife order of providence that it Jhould always
be fo. For, befides that it is of the greateft import-
ance to the community, that every perfon in a public
ftation, fhould have the ftrongeft motive for the
greateft circumjpeclion, unmixed praife is what no
human mind can bear without injury. An undue elation,
which would foon be found to be as hurtful to himfelf
as mipleafant to others, would be the neceffary con^

fe que nee

vi THE DEDICATION.

fequeme of it. And what principles can enable a
man to conjult the real good of his fellow citizens ,
without being diverted from his generous purpofe by
a regard to their opinion coficerning him, like thofe
of the Chriftian, who can be fatisfied with the ap-
probation of his own mind (which of courfe draws
after it that of his Maker) and who, though not infen-
Jlble to due praife, can defpife calumny, and fteadily
overlooking every thing that is intermediate, pa-
tiently wait for the day of final retribution ? As
thefe principles enabled the apoftles to rejoice in
tribulation^ and perfecution of every kind, fo the
virtuous ftatefman will not complain of that abufe
which operates fo favourably both with refpect to his
own mind, and the interefts of his country. They
are Chriftian prificiples that beft enable a man to
hear this neceffary and excellent difcipline, and form
the truly difmterefted and magnanimous patriot.

I cannot conclude this addrefs without expr effing
the fat isf action I feel in the government which has
afforded me an afylum from the perfecution which
obliged me to leave Efigland, perfuaded that, its
prificiples being fundamentally good, inftead of
tending, like the old governments of Europe, to
greater abufe, it will tend to continual melioration.
Stdl, however, my utmoft wtfJj is to live asaftran-

ger

THE DEDICATION. vH

ger among you, with liberty to attend without in-
terruption to my favourite purfuits ; wijlnng well to
my native country, as I do to all the world, and
hoping that its interefts, and thofe of this country,
will be infeparable, and confequently that peace
between them will be perpetual.

I am, with the greateft efteem.

Dear Sir,

PHILADELPHIA,

^^y, 1796. Tours fmcerely,

J. PRIESTLEY.

THE PREFACE,

JL HE Difcourfes contained in this volume
may be coniidered as fupplemental to thofe
which I delivered in England relating to the
fame fubje61:, juft before I left that country, and
which have been re-printed in this. Being
requefted to preach in this city, I thought I
could not make choice of any fubjedts more
unexceptionable, or more ufeful, than of fuch
as relate to the evidences of revealed religmi, in
an age abounding with unbelievers, many of
whom have become fo merely for want of
better information. Being unwilling to go over
the fame ground that I had been upon before,
I have made thefe difcourfes interfere as little
as poffible with the former. Some of the fame
obfervations will, no doubt, be found in both ;
but they are not many, and of fuch parti-
cular importance, that they cannot be too
much impreffed on the minds of chriftians.

As

X THE PREFACE.

As I had no intention of publilhing thefe
difcoiirfes, at leaft at this time, I did not note
the authorities I have made ufc of in them, as
there could not have been any propriety, or ufe,
in reciting them from the pulpit ; and being at
a diftance from my library, I cannot add them
now. But they are fuch as, I am confident, no
perfon at all acquainted with the fubje6ls will
call in queilion. They were by no means
originally colle6led by myfelf. The far greater
part of them have been frequently quoted, and
their accuracy never difputed. I had little to
do befides colle61ing, arranging, and applying
theiij, in a manner fomewhat more adapted to
my prefent purpofe. The greater part of them
will be found in Lei and' s Neceffity of Revelation^
Young's JDlfcoiirJes on Revelation the Cure of
fuperflition, and the Letters of fome Jews to
Foliaire, all which works I would recommend
to the attentive perufal of my readers. The
dodrinesof the heathen philofophers were almoft
all copied verbatim from Brucker's Hi/lory of
Fbilofopby abridged by Dr. Enfield, a truly
valuable, accurate, and well digefted work. The
account of the Grecian oracles, and various of
their fu perditions, will be found in Potter's
Antiquities of Greece, a common, but molt excel-
lent work.

The

TH PREFACE. xi

The Second Part of Mr. Faine's Age of
Reafon being publiflied in this city during the
delivery of thefc Difcourfes, I thought proper to
animadvert upon fuch parts of it as appeared
to me moft deferving of notice. I had once
thought of replying to this part of the work
more at large, as I did to the firft part ; but I
afterwards thought that afTertions fo extravagant
and ill founded as Mr. Paine's generally are, may
be fafely left to have their full effed:, as it can
only be upon the minds of perfons fo extreme-
ly ignorant and prejudiced, that no refutation
would be attended to by them, fo that it would
only be throwing pearls before fwine.

So great is Mr. Paine 's ignorance with refpe<5l
to fubjc(?LS of this nature, that he maintains,
P^ge 2>S> that the book of Job has '' all the
^* circumftantial evidences of being an original
" book of the Gentiles/' principally becaufe he
finds in it the mention of Orion, Ardlurus, and
the Pleiades, which are Greek words ; when
thefe terms occur only in tranilations, thcfe in the
original being quite different. Surely he had
accefs to fome unbelievers, who could have
informed him better.

Without deigning to reply to any thing that
had been advanced againft the firft part of
his work, Mr. Paine in this proceeds with an
air of infolent triumph, as if all the advocates

for

jiii THE PREFACE

ot revelation lay proftrate at his feet, whereas
they are looking down upon him, and feel no
emotions but thofe of pity for himfelf, and his
deluded followers, the blind led by the blind.

There are, however, unbelievers more
ignorant than Mr- Paine. M. Volney, Laquinio,
and others in France, fay that there never was
iuch a perfon as Jefus Chrift, and therefore,
though they may have heard that there are fuch
books as thofe of the New Teftament, I conclude
that they cannot have read them. Surely fuch
ignorance as this does not mark the Age of
lieajon,

I have more than once obferved that the
dilbelief of revelation makes the belief of the
being of God of no pra6tical ufe, and that it
has, in France, led to fpeculative atheifm. In
a tra6l publifhed at Paris in 1793, in titled A
Letter to a Senjlble Woman, is the following
paragraph, p- 25.

*' Theifm is an opinion refpe6lable for the
*^ genius, and the virtues, of men who have
^' embraced it" (referring, in a note to Socrates
and RoufTeau) " no lefs than for the advantage
*' which this firft ftep towards reafon, on
** abandoning the prejudices of infancy, has
" been of to mankind. But, after all, it is
*' but a- firft ftep, and no perfons would flop
*' there, if they would frankly give way to the

" impulfe

1^HE PREFACE. xiii

'^ impulfe they have received. No perfon remains
'' in this intermediate fyftem but through want
^' of refle6tion, timidity, paffion, or obftinacy.
'« Time, experience^ and an impartial examina-
'' tion of our ideas, will undeceive us. Voltaire,
'' who Was long the apoftle of theifm, profeffed
'^ to doubt towards the clofe of his life, and
'' repented that he had been too confident.
'^ Many others have experienced the fame."

If, then, any perfon be in a ftate of mind
in which he is fhocked at the idea of abfolute
atheifm^ let him paufe before he abandon revela-
tion, and give way to what this writer calls the
Jirfl impulfe. But on no account let any obftruc-
tion be laid in the way of free enquiry. With
the apoftle (i ThelT. v. 2.) let us prove all things,
and holdfajt only that which fhall appear to be
good.

I might have given a curious counterpart to
the hypothefes of the antient philofophers in
thofe of the mod diftinguifhed of the modern
unbelievers. • For many of their opinions con-
cerning the origin of the univerfe, its fubfequent
revolutions, and other fubjefts conne6fed with
religion and morals, are not lefs wild, incoherent,
and abfurd; as every theory muft be that excludes
the belief of a God, and a fuperintending pro-
vidence. This undertaking, however, has been
executed with equal truth and ability in a French

work

xiv THE PREFACE.

work, entitlcd,Zf5 Helviemes, ou Lettres PrGvin-
dales Fhilojophiques, in five volumes, 12 mo.
1784. They are called Provincial Letters in
imitation of thofe of that title by the famous
Pafcal, in which he expofed the abfurditics of
the principles of the Jefuits, a work of genuine
humour, to which this is, in many refpc6ls, not
inferior. It is therefore adapted to afford equal
entertainment and inftrucfion.

From this excellent work it will be evident
that the rejection of revealed religion will be at-
tended with all that diffolutenefs of morals for
which the antient heathens were remarkable,
there being no vice for which fome of the moft
eminent of modern philofophical unbelievers
have not been advocates ; and therefore that, in
an advanced fiate of fociety, human reafon has
never proved a fufficient barrier againft vice. It
will alfo be evident that a propenlity to the
imreftrained indulgence of all the paffions has
been the principal caufe of the prevaling difpoli-
tion to throw off the falutary reftraints of reli-
gion.

Not only are the great Chriftian virtues of
humility, the forgivenefs of injuries, and the
loving of enemies, excluded from the clafs of
virtues, and a fpirit of pride and revenge en-
couraged ; not only is all virtue reduced to mere
felf-lovc, the great end of human life reprefented

to

THE PREFACE. xv

to be the purfuit of pleafure in the loweft fenfe
of the word, and filicide recommended when
this obje6l is no longer attainable ; but the very
barrier between men and brutes has been thrown
down by many eminent unbelievers.

All the antient legiflators even among the
heathens, confidered the laws of marriage as the
firft ftep towards civilization,and the conjugal and
parental relations as, what no doubt they are,
the chief fource of the fweets of focial life. But
many modern unbelievers openly plead not only
for an unbounded liberty of divorce, but a com-
munity of women, and make very light of the
vices mod contrary to nature. What is this but re-
ducing men even lower than the ftate of brutes .?
And what can we expe6t from the natural opera-
tion of thefe principles, but the prevalence of
thofe vices, which the apoftle in his fecond epif-
tle to Timothy enumerates as a fymptom of the
approach of the lajl times, which are elfewhere
defcribed as exceedingly calamitous, 2 Tim. iii.
I. This know, that in the lajt days perilous times
Jhall come. For men JJoall be lovers of their own
felves, &c. The apoftle Peter alfo fays, 2 Pet.
iii. 3. Knowing this that there Jhall come in the lajt
days /coffers, walking after their own lufts, and
faying. Where is the promife of his coming, &c,
Refle6ling on thefc things, we may well fay
with the evangeliftsj after they had related our

Saviour's

xvi THE PREFACE

Saviour's predi6lions concerning the deftrudlion
of Jeriifalem, and the various ligns of its
approach. Let him that readeth, underftand.
Math. xxiv. 15. Mark xiii. 14.

Unbelievers often complain of the difference
of opinion among Chriftians, but their own
opinions, even on the fubje6l of chriftianity are
as various. The celebrated Mr. D'Alembert, in
his Letters to the late king of Prujfia (CEuvres
Pofthumes, torn. 14. p. 105.) fays, " It appears
'' evident to me, as it does to your majefty, that
'' chriftianity in its origin was nothing but pure
'' deifm, that Jefus €hrift, the author of it,
'^ was only a kind of philofopher, the enemy of
*' fuperftition, of perfecution, and of priefts j
'* who preached benevolence and juftice, and
'^ reduced the whole law to the love of our
'' neighbour, and the worfhip of God in fpirit
" and in truth, and that afterwards, St. Paul,
*' then the fathers of the churchy and laftly the
*' councils, unhappily fupported by the fovereigns,
' * changed this religion . I therefore think it would
" be doing great fervice to mankind to reduce
" chriftianity to its primitive ftate, confining it
" to preaching to the people the do6lrine of a
" God rewarding virtue, and puniHiing vice,
" who abhors fuperftition, detefts intolerancef
'' and who requires of men no other worfhip
'^ than that of loving and affifting one another."

The

THE PREFACE. xvli

The fcheme of reducing chriftianity to its
primitive ftate, is, no doubt, excellent, and this
writer's idea of that flate is not far from the
truth. But his aflertion that Jefus Chrift
taught pure deijm, is altogether unfounded.
If there be any truth in his hiftory, he taught
the do6lrine of a refurrecfion, and iupported it
by miracles*, and Paul wasfar from making any ad-
dition to the dodrine of his mafter. He had too
many enemies among chriftians to have had that
in his power. How chriftianity was corrupted
afterwards is well known, and I have fliewn the
prog re fs of it in my Hiftory of the Corruptions of
Chriftianity.

Since the writing of this Preface, I have been
favoured with a fight of the third volume of
' Afiatic Antiquities,* a work which promifes to
throw great light on the mythology, and early
hiftory, of fevcral antient nations ; and one paf-
fage in it, containing a quotation from an antient
Hindoo writer, perhaps nearly as old as Mofes,
is fo curious in itfelf, and fuch a confirmation of
one part of his hiftory, that I am perfuaded my
readers will be pleafed with the communication
of it. The work is in titled Fad ma-pur an, and
the tranfiation of it is by Sir William Jones.
Though the narrative is in fubftance the fame
with that of Mdfes, they differ in fo many cir-
cumftances, that it is evident the writers did
not copy from one another. -

b 'To

xvili THE PREFACE,

f' To Satyavarman, that fovereign of the
*^ whole earth, were born three fons, the eldeft
*( Sherma, then Charma*, and thirdly Jyapeti
^' by name. They were all men of good morals,
*' excellent in virtue, and virtuous deeds, Ikilled
*' in the ufe of weapons, to ftrike with, or to be
^* thrown, brave men, eager for vi6lory in bat-
^f tie. But Satyavarman being continually de-
(^ lighted with devout meditation, and feeing his
♦' fons fit for dominion, laid upon them the bur^
f^ den of government,

^f Whilfi: he remained honouring and fatisfy-
f f ing the gods, and prieils, and kine ; one day,
«' by the a(5t of deiliny, the king, having drank
«' mead, became fenfelefs, and lay afleep naked.
*' Then was he feen by Charma, and by him
'' were his two brothers called. To whom he
^' faid, *' What now has befallen. In what
*' ftate is this our fire ? By thofe two was he
^^ hidden with clothes, and called tp his fenfes
*' again and again.

f Having recovered his intclledt, and perfe6l-
*f ly knowing what had palTed, he curfed Char^
*' ma, faying. Thou (lialt be the fervant of
*' fervants. And fince thou waft a laughter in
'< their prefence, from laughter (halt thou acquire
?' a name. Then he gave to Sharma the wicje

*^ domain

* Colonel Wilford obferves, that in the vulgar diale(5l$
Charma is ufually pronour,ped Cha?n^ and Sharma^ Sham»

THE PREFACE. xix

^' domain on the fouth of the fnowy mountain.
'' And to Jyapeti he gave all on the north of the
'^ fnowy mountain ; but he, by the power of
*' religious contemplation, attained fuprcme
" blifs/'

Sir William Jones had before advanced a con-
je61ure that the jifghans might be of Hebrew ex-
traction, and part of the ten tribes that were
carried into captivity by the AiTyrians. In his
' Anniverfary difcourfe/ prefixed to this volume,
' he fays, p. 6. " There is folid ground for be-
* lieving that the Afghans aredefcended from the
*' Jews, becaufe they fometimes in confidence
^^ avow that unpopular origin, which in general
'' they feduloufly conceal, and which other muf-
** felmen perpetually aflerc ; becaufe Hazard,
'^ which appears to be the jijereth of Eidras, is
'' one of their territories, and principally be-
^' caufe their language is evidently a diale6l of
(' the fcriptural Chaldaic/'

Laftly, after reciting the unfavourable cha-
racter given of the Jews by their enemies, and
acceding to it, for which I am far from feeing
fufficient reafon, he fays, p. i^, *' They had
^' the peculiar merit, among all the races of men
** under heaven, of preferving a rational and
'^ pure fyftem of devotion, in the midft of a wild
^^ polytheifm, inhuman or obfcene rites, and a
*' dark labyrinth of errors, produced by igno-
'^ ranee, and fupported by inierefted fraud.
*^ Theological inquries/' he adds, '^ are no part

*' of

XX T H E P R E F A C E-.

'' of ,my prefent fubjea, but I cannot refrain
" from adding, that thecoUtdion of tracts which
*' from their excellence, we call the fcriptures,
'^ contain, independently of a divine origin,
" more true fublimity, more exquifite beauty,
" purer morality, more important hiflory, and
" finer llrains both of poetry and eloquence,
*' than could be colle6led within the fame com-
*' pafs from all other books that were ever com-
*^ pofed in any age, or in any idiom. The two
'* parts of which the icr.iptures confift, are con-
*' ne(?tcd by a chain of compofitions" (meaning
the prophetical books) ** which bear no refem-
*' blance in form or ftyle to any that can be
'' produced from the Rores of Grecian, Indian^
*' Perfian, or even Arabian, learning. The
" antiquity of thefe compofitions no man doubts,
" and the unftrained application of them to
'^ events long fubfequent to their publication, is
*' a folid ground of belief, that tiiey were genuine
" productions, and confequently infpired."

When I compare the decided opinion of fuch
a man as Sir Willjarn Jones, in which all men
of learning will concur, with the confident af-
fertions of Mr. Paine, who fays that the books of
fcripture are but modern compofitions, 1 think
of a man either really blind, or willfully fhut-
ting his eyes, and declaring that there is nothing
to be f ceil.

CONTENTS.

DISCOURSE. FACE.

I. The Importance of Religion - 1

II. Of the fuperior Value of Revealed Religion 27

III. A View of Heathen Worfhip - « 5S

IV. The fame continued . - - 86

V. The excellence of the Mofaic Infiitutions 114*

VI. The fame^ continued - . / 145

VII. The Principles of the Heathen Philo- ,

fophy compared with thofe of Re-

velation - - - 176

VIII. The fame continued - - 201

XI. The evidence of the Mofaic afid Chrif

tian Religions - - 237

X. The fame continued - - - 269

XI. The Proof of Revealed Religion from

Prophecy - . 313

XII. Internal EvideJtce of Jefus being no

Impojior - - 35^

XIII. The moral Influe^ice of Chrif tian

Principles - - - 395

ERRATA.

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OF THE

EVIDENCES OF REVEALED RELIGION.

DISCOURSE I.

The Importance of Religion.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wifdom ; but
fools hate knowledge and inftru£lion.

Proverbs, i. 7.

13 Y the/J^r of God we may very well
underftand religion in general, and there
can be no doubt but that by religion Solo-
mon meant fuch principles of it as he held
to be the beft founded, or the revelation
by Mofes. And as I propofe, in a feries of
difcourfes, to give a view of the evidences
of revealed religion, I Ihall in this fliow
that the fubjeft is of importance, that the
knowledge we receive by means of it is of

B real

s EVIDENCES OF

real value, tending to exalt the charafter,
and add to the happmefs of man. Indeed
if this be not the ufe of religion, it would
not be worth our while to make any en-
quiry into its evidences; becaufe on that
fuppofition, true or falfe, it would be an
ufelefs and infignificant thing. The quef-
tion is the more deferving of an attentive
confideration, as many, I imagine, moft,
unbelievers, maintain that religion is not
merely an ufelefs, but a hurtful thing, de-
bafing the mind of man, and adding to the
miferies of his exiftence, fo that it is ren-
dering him an effential fervice to free his
mind from it.

Now, what is it that the friends of
religion, fay is fo beneficial, and its adver-
fanes fo mifchievous, to man? The prin-
ciples of religion are acknovv^ledged to
confift in the belief of the being, the per-
fedions, and providence of God here, and
of a future flate of retribution hereafter.
The man who beheves thefe things is faid
to have religion, and the man who dif-
bclieves them, who thinks that there is no

God,

REVEALED RELIGION. 3

God, no providence, or no future ftate,
whatever he be in other refpefts, whether
he be virtuous or vicious, cannot be faid to
have any religion, properly fo called. Let
us, then, confider the nature of thefe
principles, and what eirefl: they nmjl have
on thofe who ferioufly beUeve them. That
principles, or opinions, of fome kind or
other, have real influence on the general
charader, and on the conduft and happi-
nefs of human life, cannot be denied. Man
is a thinking being. All his adions proceed
from fome thought or defign, and his ac-
tions and conduft are certainly of impor-
tance, ifTuing in a better or worfe ftate of
his circumftances. If the maxims he ad:s
upon, and the objects of his purfuit, be juft,
and if his meafures be well laid, he im-
proves his condition; whereas if his max-
ims of conduft be falfe and fallacious, if
the objefts of his purfuit be unworthy of
him, or his conduft be ill directed, he mufl
expect to fuffer in confequence.

It alfo cannot be denied that what is

called virtue y or the right government of

B 2 the

4 EVIDENCES OF

the paflions, adds to the dignity of man,
and to the happinefs both of individuals
and of fociety ; and reUgion certainly comes
in aid of virtue. The man who follows
the dictates of paffion, and prefent inclina-
tion, without reflecting on the tendency
and iflue of his conduft, is fure to involve
himfelf in difficulties. The unreftrained
indulgence of the natural appetites, both
fhortens life, by introducing difeafes and
premature death, and makes a fhort life
miferable; whereas moderation and difcre-
tion is the fource of the trueft and moft
lafling enjoyment. Manhood conduced
by mere paffion and inclination, without
foreught of confequences, is only a pro-
tracted childhood ; and what father is there
who thinks it wife to indulge a child in all
its varying humours. It would foon de-
ftroy itfelf. And equally deflruftive and
ruinous w ould be the condu£l of a majtvjho
fhoulcl make no more ufe of his reafon,
but prefer his prefent gratification to fu-
ture good, which is the general defcription
of vice.

Could

REVEALED RELIGION. 5

Could the moft intemperate of men
have a clear forefight of all the diforders
and wretchednefs that will be the fure, or
very probable, confequence of his conduiS,
with refpeft to his health and life, and alfo
of the poverty and contempt which gene-
rally attends that mode of life, whatever
might be his fondnefs for any fpecies of
fenfual indulgence, he would certainly re-
ftrain himfelf. Alfo, how greedy foever
any perfon might be of riches, could he
forefee all the anxiety, and rifk, attending
a courfe of fraudulent pradlices, and the
little enjoyment men have of dilhonell
gain, he would be content to be lefs rich
and more happy. The ambition of Alex-
ander, of Caefar, or of Charles the
twelfth of Sweden, would have been
reftrained, if they could have feen the
whole progrefs and termination of their
fchemes.

I. Now religion, both extends the
forefight of man, and puts him under the
direction of a being whofe forefight is
greater than that of any man. When a

man

^ EVIDENCES OF

man lofes his natural parent, and guide,
religioa fapplies him with another, fupe-
rior m all refpefts to the former. By re-
ligion he puts himfelf under the direction
of the Supreme Being, his true parent
and beft friend, on whofe wifdom he may
always rely, and in whofe guidance he is
fure to find happinefs. Any rule of life
and condudl drawn up by men like our-
felves may be erroneous, being founded
on imperfeft views of things. The beft
parent may err in the management of
his favourite child, whofe welfare he has
moft at heart. But the great Being who
made man can never err. The obfervance
of his precepts muft lead to happinefs; and
the full perfuafion of this, which religion
cannot fail to give us, puts an end to all
doubt and uncertainty about what we
ought to do, fuperfeding our own judg-
ment, and filencing all the evafions of
paiFion and prejudice. And this alone is
a circumftance of unfpeakable advantage.
A perfon bent upon any particular
gratification, however criminal, will make

a thoufand

REVEALED RELIGION. y

a thoufand apologies for the innocence,
and perhaps the public utility^ of it, which
his own reafon, bialTed, of courfe, by in-
clination, might never be able to fee the
fallacy of; which however the authority
of an acknowledged maPcer will filence at
once. What has not the ingenuity of liber-
tines pleaded in favour not only of forni-
cation, but even of adultery; and by what
{pecious names have thofe grofs offences
againft the order, the decency, and peace
of fociety been not only covered from ig-
nominy, but even recommended, as indi-
cations of a man's fpirit, as a fource of
real pleafure to fome, and only an imagi-^
nary injury to others? How many perfons
have adually made their boaft of a<5lions
of other kinds for which they deferved to
be banilhed from all civilized fociety ? How
has murder itfelf, in the form of a duel,
and in fome countries in that of private
affafTmation, been m.ore than juftified,
from falfe notions of honour, the fuppofed
dignity of revenge, and the meannefs of
fubmitting to infults and wrongs?

8 EVIDENCES OF

We fee that men who have no belief
in rehgion, aftually commit thefe crimes,
and indeed any other, without remorfe.
But this can never be the cafe where there
is a principle of religion, where it is really
believed that the authority of the Supreme
Being has interpofed, and exprefsly, as by
a voice from heaven, abfolutely forbidden
the praftices above mentioned, how inge-
nioufly foever apologized for; faying to
man. Thou J]:alt not commit murder ^ thou floalt
not cwmnit adultery^ thou [halt not Jleal^

2. Many perfons, influenced by regard
to their reputation, w ill refrain with fuf-
ficient care from fuch aftions as they know
would difnonour them in the opinion of
their fellow creatures; but without a fenfe
of religion they would feel httle or no re-
morfe in committing any crime with refpeft
to which they had no fufpicion of being
detefted and expofed. Religion is a
guard againft even fecret vices. The be-
lief that nothing is concealed from the
eye of God, that he fees *vhat man cannot

fee.

REVEALED RELIGION. g

fee, difcerning even the thoughts and in-
clinations of the heart, will make a man
as careful not to offend in private as in
pubUc. When the eye of man is not upon
him, he well knows there is an eye that
always fees him, and that though he might
efcape the cenfure of man, he has no
means of efc aping the righteous judgment
of God.

Not only pubhc cenfure, but other
punifhments, often fail to be infhaed on
the guilty in this world. A man, there-
fore, who has no belief in another, may
be tempted to rifk a great deal with a
reafonable profpeft of impunity. For of
the many crimes that are committed in
human fociety, only a few are actually
punifhed. But this avails nothing to a
believer in religion, and a future flate.
He knows that there is a day coming in
which God will judge the world in right-
eoufnefs, and that no vice, though unde-
tefted, and unpunifhed, here, will efcape
animadverfion and punifhment hereafter.

C Many

10 EVIDENCES OF

Many offenders efcape punilhment in
this world by means of their power, as
well as their addrefs. The rich and the
great have, in too many cafes, little to fear
from the moft flagrant violations of juftice
with refped to the poor, who are without
money and without friends ; and the kings
and tyrants of the earth, to gratify their
revenge, their luft of power, or mere
caprice, ravage whole nations, and intro-
duce an incalculable mafs of mifery among
their fellow-creatures, without the moft
diftant apprehenfions of fuffering in their
own perfons in confequence of it. But all
this ends with the prefent fcene. In the
future the greateft monarchs will appear
on a footing with the meaneft of rational
beings. No wealth or power will be of
any avail then, and the knowledge of
this may well be fuppofed to reftrain men
from thofe violences and oppreffions of
which they now are the authors. Thus
is religion a powerful auxiliary of virtue,
and thereby contributes to the good order
and peace of fociety, as* well as to the

regulation

REVEALED RELIGION. tt

regulation of the private paffions, and
the happinefs of individuals.

3. Religion is of no lefs ufe with re-
fpeft to the troubles of life, than the du-
ties of it. That, with a great prepond-
erance of happinefs (which fufficiently
proves the goodnefs of God) there is a
confiderable mixture of mifery in the
world, is what no perfon who is at all ac-
quainted with it, will deny. We need
not adopt the melancholy defpairing lan-
guage of Job, and fay, Man that is born of
a woman is of few days and fidl of troithky
or that he is horn to trouble as the fparks fly
upwards; for this gives an idea of a pre-
ponderance of mifery, as the proper and
intended lot of man. But certainly there
is in the 'world ficknefs as well as health,
pain as Vv^ell as pleafure, and on many ac- •
counts grief as well as joy. Induftry is
not always fuccefsful, marriages are not
always happy, children are not always
a bleffing to their parents, and other
connedlions in life, which are generally
fources of pleafure, are not always fo.

There

tz EVIDENCES OF

There are alfo many evils againft which no
human prudence can guard us, as famine
from inclement feafons, and peftilential
diforders, which we are as yet unable to
inveftigate, or prevent. All countries are
more or lefs fubjeft to hurricanes, tem-
pefts, and earthquakes; and the happieft
and longeft life muft terminate in death.
It is in vain to fay, witli the Stoics, that
what we fufFer by thefe means are no
evils, or that we do not feel them.

But when nature abandons us to grief
and defpair, religion fteps in to our confo-
lation, affuring us, that nothing can befal
us, or others, without the will and ap-
pointment of God, our heavenly Father,
and that whatever he wills is always
wifeft and beft, whether, at the time, we
can fee it to be fo or not. As the Pfalmift
fays, though clouds and darknefs are round about
him, righteoufnefs and judgment are the habi-
tation of his throne. Religion afTures us
that, if by means of the evils of life,
God chaflifes us, it is with the aifeftion
of a parent, arid always for our good.

We

REVEALED RELIGION. 13

We can then fay, with the apoftle, that
all things will be made to ivork together for
good to them that love Gody that, m this
cafe, life or death, things profperoiis, or things
adverfe, are equally otirs, and will termi-
nate in our advantage. With this per-
fuafion we may bear all the evils of hfe,
numerous and heavy as they fometimes
are, not only with patience and refigna-
tion, but even with fatisfadion and plea-
fure, rejoici?tg, as the apoftles did, in all
kinds of tribulation,

4. But religion is found to be of the
greateft value at the clofe of life, opening
to us a better profpeft than that on which
we then fhut our eyes. Without religion
all that the greateft philofopher can pre-
tend to is that he has had enough of life,
and that he obeys the call of nature without
relu<Slance. But even this, if he has really
enjoyed life, is more than he can fay with
truth. If he has enjoyed life, it muft be
fweet to him, and confequently he cannot
but wiih to prolong or refume it. A good

man

14 EVIDENCES OF

man may, in one fenfe, have had enough
of Hfe, and, from the fatigues and unifor-
mity of it, be as it were weary of it; but
it is only fuch wearinefs as is felt at the
clofe of an a6live w^ell fpent day, when we
willi for reft, but with the hope of rifing
with renewed vigour and aftivity, ^nd
witli the profpe6l of greater enjoyment,
in the morning. That morning to a
chriftian is the refurreftion to a new and
better life. Of this nature gives us no
hope; but religion the greateft certainty.

According to the principles of reli-
gion, this world is only the infancy of our
being. This life is only a fchool, in which
we are training up for a better and im-
mortal life, and all the events and difci-
pline of it arc calculated to prepare us
for entering with advantage upon it; fo
that a good m*an, with the faith and hope
of a chriftian, can bid adieu to this world
not only with tranquility, but with fatif-
favSlion and triumph; fmging the triumph-
ant fong, 0 death ivhcrc is thy Jiing, 0 grave
'where is thy vidory.

When

REVEALED RELIGION. 15

When chriftians lofe their friends and
relations by death, they do not grieve as
the heathen who have no hope; but com-
mit them with confidence to the hands of
their merciful creator, whofe views in cal-
ling them into being were not confined to
this prefent life. He believes that this his
reparation from his virtuous friends is but
for a time, and a fhort time, and he has
no doubt of meeting them again, and in
more favourable circumftances for enjoying
their fociety than ever. There the affec-
tionate parent will meet his beloved child-
ren, and children their parents, not worn
down by affiidion, difeafe, or hard la-
bour, incapable of enjoyment, which is
often the cafe in this world, but with all
their faculties in full vigour, and fuperior
to what ever they where before; every
thino- valuable and amiable in them im-
proved, and their imperfeiSlions done
away; fo that their fociety, which we
fnall never lofe again, will be more de-
fir able than ever. Compared with this
folid ground of confolation under the trou-
bles

i6 EVIDENCES OF

bles of life, and the fears of death, what
has mere reafon or philofophy to offer ?

5. And it is a particular recommen-
dation of religion, that both its teachings
and confolations require no acutenefs of
intelledl. They are level to the under-
ftandings of all men. As to the precepts
of religion, they are thus fummed up by
the prophet. What doth the Lord thy God
require of thee, but to do jujlice, to love fnercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God. In this
fliort compafs are comprized all the great
duties of religion, and furely nothing can
be more intelligible.

As to the confolations of religion, they
are addrefTed to the common feelings and
principles of human nature, fuch as men
aft upon every day. It is the expeftation
of diftant good as a balance to prefent
evil. Religion does not require men to
give up their eafe, their fortunes, or their
lives, for nothing; but for a fufficient re-
compence. Thou Jhalt be recom-penced faid
our Saviour, at the refurredion of the jujl^
All that is requifite is a ftretch of thought,

and

REVEALED RELIGION. 17

and a comprehenfion of mind, which fhall
eaable men to contemplate a thing cer-
tainly future, as if it was prefent : and by
this means give it its proper value in
comparifon with things prefent, which, in
confequence of being fo, are poffefTed of an
undue advantage over them. But what
things that are future lofe in this refpeft,
is balanced by their real magnitude, and
importance. The things that are feen^ fays
the apoftle (2Cor. iv. 18) are temporal^ hut
the things that are imfeen are eternal. It is,
therefore, the more eafy, by a firm faith,
and a fteady contemplation, to give them
their juft degree of eftimation, and to
feel and aft properly with refpeft to them;
as thoufands and millions have actually
done, who have cheerfully abandoned
every thing in life, and life itfelf, when the
retaining of them was incompatible with
their great profpeds beyond the grave.

6. It is by habituating the mind to
contemplate great and diflant objects, that
religion enlarges and ennobles the minds of
men, advancing them farther beyond the

D .ftate

1 3 F,V1DENCES OF

Hate of children, who are only alFecled
by things munediately prefent to theniy
and from the great bulk of mankmd, who
do mdeed look before them, but not far.
They can fow and plant one year in hope
of a return in the next, and they can
expend their money in the purchafe of
goods with a view to fell them to advan-
tage in a future and diftant market. Alfo,
when they labour under any diforder, they
can take difgufting medicines in the hope
of a cure. But this is far fhort of look-
ing to a w^orld beyond the grave, laying
up treafure in heaven, making friends of
the mammon of unrighteoufnefs here, in
order to be received into everlafting ha-
bitations hereafter. This is done by the
help of rehgion, which by this means
makes a man a luperior kind of being to
what he was before.

If great thoughts, as Lord Bacon fays,
Diake great minds, how much fuperior muft
be that man who is habitually employed in
the contemplation of God, of a providence,
and a future ftate, who fees the hand

of

REVEALED RELIGION. 19

of God in every thing, and receives all the
difpenfations of providence with a con-
tented and thankful heart, whofe faith is
not ihaken by all the diftrefs and calamity
of which he is a witnefs, and all that him-
feif, his friends, his country, or the world,
may fufter, and who when he comes to
die can Icok back with fatisfaftion, and
forward with hope and joy, to the man
who is either wholly ignorant of thefe
great principles, or an unbeliever in them,
whofe views are bounded by v/hat he fees
in this life, and v/ho can only fay, Let vs
cat and drink for to-morrow we die. To fuch
perfons life is indeed of little value. And
it is no wonder that, under any particu-
lar preflure of trouble or difapp ointment,
they throw it up, and put an end to thxsir
lives in defpair,

7. Though I have reprefented the
religious mxan as afting on plain and intel-
ligible principles, and as overlooking prc-
fent evils for the fake of future good, it
by no means follows that he will be an
^nterefted character, and never love virtue

for

i>o EVIDENCES OF

for its own fake. It is by a rational felf
intereft that the moft difinterefted charafters
are formed. This admits of an eafy iliuf-
tration from what we know concerning
the love of money. The greateft mifer
does not begin with the love of money as
an ultimate objed, or for its own fake, but
only for the fake of the advantages it can
procure him. And yet we fee that it is poffi-
ble, in a courfe of time, for men to come
to love money, and to employ all their
powers, and all their time, in the acquifi-
tion of it, without giving the leaft atten-
tion to the ufe of it, and indeed without
ever making any proper ufe of it at all;
their ideas never going beyond the mere
accumulation of it. Let any thing be
purfued, though as a means, and in a
courfe of time, it will come to be an end.
In like manner, let a man from any
principle, habituate himfelf to refpeiS the
authority of God, to do good to others,
and praftife virtue in general, though at
firft with no other view than to his re-
ward in a future ftate, and in time he will

live

REVEALED RELIGION 21

live virtuoufly, without giving any atten-
tion to his ultimate intereft in it ; and in
this progrefs he will neceffarily become as
difintereftedly virtuous as it is poffible, in
the nature of things, for a man to be. He
may begin with the mere fear of God, or
a dread of his difpleafure, but at length he
will be actuated by the pureft love, and an
entire devotednefs to his will, as fuch. He
may begin with doing kind offices to others
from any motive fufficient to produce the
external aftion, but at length he will come
with the apoftle, to love with a pure heart
fervently, taking the greateft pleafure in
doing kind offices, without any idea, or
exped:ation, of a return. He may at firft
abftain from fenfual indulgence from a
perfuafion of what he may ultimately fuf-
fer in confequence of it, but in time he
will have greater fatisfaftion in modera-
tion than he ever had in excefs, and he
will readily and cheerfully do whatever
he apprehends to be right, without a/king
why. The diftates of confcience will be

with him a fupreme rule of adion.

This

22 EVIDENCES OF

This is that truly great and fublime
charader to which religion, and rehgion
alone, can raife a man. Without the
principles of rehgion, v/ithout the fear of
God, which Solomon juflly calls the begin-
ning ofwifdom, he wants the firft neceflary
ftep in this progrefs. There muft be a
belief in the being and providence of God,
and in a life of retribution to come, to
give a man that comprehenfive view of
things, which alone can lead him to over-
look temporary gratifications, and give him
that due command of his paiTions which
is elTential to rational life. He muft firft
look beyond the things that are feen, and
temporal, to things unfeen and eternal, or
he might never fee fufficient reafon for the
practice of thofe virtues which do not
bring an unmediate recompence. He
would never refpefl: the authority of God,
unlefs he had a belief in his being and
providence. All his works would be
done to be {ccn of men ; and if the
only reward of virtue was in another
world, which he believed to have no

exiftence,

REVEALED RELIGION. 23

cxiftence, he would have no fufficient rca-
fon to exercife it at all.

But having this faith, the foundation of
right condu6l, the fuperftruclure is eafily
raifed upon it. PoffeiTed of this firft princi-
ple, a feed is fow^n, v/hich cannot fail in
time to produce the noble and full grown
plant, the excellent character above de-
fcribed. If the mind be thoroughly im-
prefTed with the fear of God, the two
great principles, v/hich comprife the whole
of the moral law, the love of God, and
of our neighbour, will in due time appear,
and produce all ibe fruits of righteoufnefsy
without the lead view to any reward
whatever ; and on this account will be in-
titled to, and will afFuredly find, the
greatefl. This is to be moil truly god-
like, and the neceffary confequence of be-
ing like -God, of being perfe^ (or approach-
ing as near to it as may be) as Godisperfed,
which our Saviour requires and encourages
us to be, muft be accompanied with a de-
gree of happinefs approaching the divine.

Such

24 EVIDENCES OF

Such being the obvious ufe and fubftan-
tial value of reUgion, vi^ith refpeft to the
conduft of Ufe, the troubles we are ex-
pofed to in it, and at the hour of death,
and to form the moft exalted of human
charafters, it certainly behoves us to exa-
mine the evidence of it, and to do this
not fuperficially, but with the greateft at-
tention, as a queftion in the decifion of
which we are ail moft deeply interefted.
I may add that a virtuous and good man
cannot but wifh that the principles of reli-
gion may appear to be well founded, be-
caufe it is his inter eft that they Ihould be
fo ; and if there be this bias on our minds
in this enquiry, it is a reafonable and ho-
nourable bias, fuch as no perfon need be
afhamed to avow.

At the fame time, the greater is the
objeft propofed to us, the more fcrupu-
lous we lliall naturally be in our enquiries
concerning it. When the apoftles were
firft informed of the refurreftion of their
beloved mafter, it is faid by the hiftorian,

that

REVEALED RELIGION. 3,;

that they did not believe through joy ; and it
was not without the moft irrefiilible evi-
dence, that of their y^;//^j-, that they were
at length fatisfied with refped: to it. Let
us afl; the fame part, and not receive a
pleafmg tale merely becaufe it is pleafmg
to us, but ftritftly examine the evidence of
it ; and this is what I propofe to lay be-
fore you, with the greateft plainnefs,
without concealing any difficulties that
appear to me to be worthy of much
notice. Chrift and the apojftles always
appealed to the underftanding of their
hearers, and it can only be a fpurious kind
of religion that difclaims the ufe of reafon^
that faculty by which alone we are capable
of religion, and by which alone we are
able to diftinguifh true rehgion from falfe,
and that which is genuine, from the foreign
and heterogeneous matter that has been
added to it.

DISCOURSE IL

Of the Jitperior Value of Revealed Religion,

He hath fliewed thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do juflly, to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God.

MiCAH, vi. 8.

Proposing to deliver a ferles of
Dlfcourfes on the evidences of revealed
religion, I have begun with fliew^lng the
real value of religion in general, confiftlng
m a belief of the being and providence of
God, and of a future ftate of retribution.
Taking it, therefore, for granted, that
this faith is of real value to men, both as
mdividuals and as members of fociety, I
fhall now endeavour to ftiew that the plan
of communicating this knowledge by occa-
fional interpofxtions of the Supreme Be-
ing

sS THE EVIDENCES OF

ing is, in feveral refpefts, preferable to
that which unbehevers boaft of as fuperior
to it, viz. the gradual acquifition of it by
the mere ufe of reafon.

But I would previoufly obferve that,
provided the great end be gained, viz. the
improvement of the human character by
the attainment of fuch knowledge, and
the forming of fuch habits, as will qua-
lify men to be moft happy in themfelves,
and difpofe them to communicate the moft
happinefs to others (which is the great ob-
jeft with God, the common parent of us
all) the means are of no farther value.
That fcheme, or fyftem, whatever it be,
which beft promotes this great end, is, for
that reafon the beft; and if the two
fchemes be equally adapted to gain the
fame end, they are exadly of equal va-
lue.

Religion itfelf is only a means, or in-
ftrument, to make men virtuous, and
thereby happy, in fuch a manner as ra-
tional beings are alone capable of be-
ing made happy: and the different kinds,

forms,.

REVEALED RELIGION. 29

forms, rites, or exercifes, of religion are
of no value but as they tend to make men
religious, infpiring them with the fear of
God, and a difpofition confcientioufly to
obferve whatever he is fuppofed to re-
quire of them. Tills great truth, which
we ought ever to bear in mind, is clearly
exprefled in my text, JVhat doth the Lord
veqidrc of thee, ha to do jnftly, to love mercy ^
and to walk humbly with thy God, i. e. to en-
tertain juft fentiments, and obferve a right
conduft, with refped; to God and man;
and every thing that God has Jheived us,
whether by the light of nature, or by oc-
cafional interpofitions, has no other objed
than this. He hath fnevjed thee, 0 man^
what is good, what tends to make him vir-
tuous and happy.

Let no perfon, therefore, value him-
felf on his religion as fuch, be the princi-
ples of it ever fo true, his knowlegde of
it ever fo exaft, and his faith in it ever fo
firm. He is thereby only pofTeffed of a
means to a certain end, and if that end
be not attained, he is fo far from being a

gamer

30 THE EVIDENCES OF

gainer by being poflefled of the means that
he is highly culpable for having fuch an
inftrument, and making no proper ufe of
it. For better, as the apoftle fays, (2. Pet.
ii. 21.) would it be never to have known the
way of rlghteoufnefs than, after having known
ity to depart from it, i. e. by living a vi-
cious life. Alfo, according to our Sa-
viour's moft folemn declarations, whatever
may have been a man's relation to him-
felf, even though he may have worked
miracles in his name, if he be a worker
of iniquity he will at the laft day difclaim
all knowledge of him, and order him to
depart from him.

As the improvement of the human
character in virtuous principles and habits
is the end of all religion, we muft judge
of the preferablenefs of natural, or revealed
religion by their fuperior tendency to ef-
feft this great end. But, indeed, fo little
of religion properly fo called have men ever
derived from the light of nature, and fo
little are thpfe who rejeft revelation really
influenced by any religious principle, that

the

REVEALED RELIGION. 31

the true ftate of the queftion, in fad, is
whether it be better for man to have the
reUgion that is taught in the fcriptures,
or none at all. They who rejeft revela-
tion may not abfolutely, and in words
rejedl the belief of a God, and of a
providence (though we fee in the example
of the French philofophers, and many
others, that this is generally the cafe) they
are not influenced by that belief. Nor
can we wonder at this, when they cer-
tainly have not, in faft, any expectation
of a future ftate, v/hich, as I Ihall fhew,
was never taught to any ufeful purpofe but
by revelation.

Religion implies the belief of the be-
ing and providence of God, and fuch a
refpeft for the will of God, as will effec-
tually controul a man's natural inclinations
and direft his conduft, reftraining him
from irregularities to which he is naturally
prone, and exciting him to aftions to
which he is naturally averfe. But as men
in general are governed either by ftrong
natural appetites, or a view to their in-

tereft.

32 THE EVIDENCES OF

tereft, it cannot be expefted that virtue
alonCy without any hope of future reward
or punifhment, can have fuch charms for
them, that they will abandon their plea-
fure, their eafe, or their advantage, for
the pure love of it. Suppofing that men
might arrive at a knowledge of the will of
God with refpeft to their condud; in life,
they would not feel any fufhcient obligation
to conform to it, without the great fanc-
tion of future rewards and punifhments.
Mere authority, as that of a parent, or of
a magiftrate, is little or nothing without
the power of rev/arding and punifhing.
Nothing, therefore, but a firm belief in a
future fta.te of retribution, can be expefted
to reftrain men from giving into thofe in-
dulgences to which they have a ftrong
propenfity.

I . With refpe£i to every article of reli-
gion, the light of nature is far from being
fufficiently clear and diftinft, fo as to be
inferred with certainty by the moft intelli-
gent of men. With refped: to what is moft-
eflential to human happinefs, the wifefl of

men

REVEALED RELIGON. 33

men do not appear to have been, in fad,
fuperior to the bulk, having in a variety
of refpefts, laid down the moft erroneous
rules for the conduft of men. Plain as
the moft important maxims of morality-
are, there is not one of them, but what
the moft enhghtened not only of the an-
cient philofophers, but of modern unbe-
lievers, have controverted. What we call
confcience, and which we might expeft to
be a better guide in this refpeft, than even
reafoUy is by no means the fame uniform
principle in all men. It is formed by va-
rious aflbciations of ideas, depending on
the circumftances of our education, fo that
things which abfolutely Ihock fome perfons,
are not felt as at all improper by others.
There is, therefore, fomething wanted
fuperior to the diftates of reafon, or natu-
ral confcience, and this can only be revealed
religion, or the authority of our maker,
which muft be obeyed without reafon-
ingv Man will, no doubt, difpute even
about the will of God, when it is moft
clearly revealed, as they do concerning

the

34 THE EVIDENCES OF

the moll: exprefs laws that are ever made
by men, but if this be done with refped
to the articulate voice of God, it will be
done to a much greater extent, and with
much more plaufibiUty, to the inarticulate
voice of nature, which every perfon will
interpret as he is previoufly inclined.

If when men are hurried on by paffion,
or fwayed by inter eft, they will tranfgrefs
fuch pofitive and acknowledged commands,
as thou /halt not commit adultery^ thou floalt not
Jleal^ (6^^. as we fee that, in faft, they do,
it will not, however, be without reluc-
tance, and remorfe; and therefore tranf-
greffions will be lefs frequent, and lefs fla-
grant, and repentance and amendment may
be more reafonably expelled to follow.
But where no fuch pofitive command is
acknowledged to exift, and the voice of
nature alone is to be confulted about the
proper conduft of life, moft men will mif-
take their own inclination for the voice
of nature, and confequently fm without
relua:ance or remorfe. Of this it would
be eafy to give inftances in the cleareft of

all

REVEALED RELIGION. 3 .

ail cafes, but this wouid talce up too mucli
of our time, and fometliing of tliis was
mentioned in my laft difcourfe.

2. Still lefs would men, by the mere
light of nature, have ever attained to any
fatisfatflory conclufion with refpeft to the
ultimate defign of the author of nature in
the formation of man. I mean the pro-
longation of his exiftence beyond the
grave. On this mod inter efling of all
queftions nature is altogether fdent. Judg-
ing from appearances, as the brutes die,
fo does man; and all his faculties and
powers die with him. That at death any
things efcapes, unaffefted by this cataftro-
phe, is a mere arbitrary fuppofition, unfup-
ported by any appearance, or probability
of any kind.

That the belief which the ancient
Greeks and Romans had of a future life,
imperfeft, and of little value, as it was,
was originally derived from revelation,
but exceedingly corrupted by tradition,
is pretty evident from this circumftance,
that when they began to fpeculate on the

fubjeft,

36 THE EVIDENCES OF

fubjed, and examine the reafons they could
produce for it, all ferious belief in the doc-
trine foon vaniflied. With the Platonifts,
who made the moft of this doftrine, it
was only a curious fpeculation, of no real
ufe in the conduct of life, fuch as it is
with Jews and Chriftians. Indeed, the
reafons which the Platonifts gave for this
do6lrine, and which Plato puts into the
mouth of Socrates, are fuch as could not
pofTibly have any weight with thinking
men. That on which he lays the greateft
ftrefs, is the doftrine of pre-exiftence,
that the fouls of men were originally with-
out bodies, and afterwards confined in
them as in a prifon, and that death is the
breaking of this prifon. But where is the
evidence of men having pre-exifted ? This
do(5lrine of pre-exiftence we find moft ful-
ly eftablifhed in Egypt and the Eaft,
whence Plato and other Greeks derived it.
With modern unbelievers it certainly has
no weight.

It is well known that the firft philofo-
phers among the Greeks did not pretend

to

REVEALED RELIGION. 37

to difcover any thing by their own rea-
foning. They only taught what they had
learned of others, who had received the
tenets that .had been tranfmitted to them
from early times, and that what they
taught was delivered to their pupils on
their fole authority, as what was not to
be contradifted. This was the eftablilhed
cuftom of the Pythagorean fchool. Rea~
foning came into their fchools after^vards,
and with it the wildeft theories on all fub-
jefts, as I ftiall fhew in its proper place,
and a total fcepticifm with refped to the
doftrine of a future ftate of retribution,
as a motive to virtue.

Suppofing that it were poflible by the
mere light of nature to arrive at the be-
lief of a future ftate, yet judging from
prefent appearances, it could not be the
future ftate announced in the Scriptures,
a ftate in which virtue will find an ample
recompence, and vice its juft punilhment,
but only fuch a life as this, and in all other
refpecfts refembling the prefent ; which is
the belief of the North American Indians,

and

38 THE EVIDENCES OF

and moft other barbarous nations. If be-
caufe we diflike any thing in the prefent
fyftem, ^v^e entertain an idea that the in-
convenience complained of will be remov-
ed ^i a future (late, where is the evidence
that, under the fame powers, or principles,
of nature, whatever they are, things will
be ordered in a better manner? Is it pof-
fible to infer from what we fee (and we
have nothing elfe hy which to guide our
conjectures) that thofe evils which the
author of nature has thought proper, for
w^hatever reafon, to introduce, or to per-
mit, here, will not be continued there
alfo? If we fay that it is not agreeable to
juftice that good and bad men fnould be
treated as they are here, w^here is the evi-
dence, from any prefent appearances, that
the author of nature interided that they
iliould ever be treated otherwife l Left to
the light of nature, we could only reafon
from what we know, and this would lead
us to expeft that, if there be any life after
death, it will be fimilar to the prefent.
It is only from the exprefs affurance of the

author

REVEALED RELIGION. 3^

author of nature, communicated by reve-
lation, that we beheve the future ftate
will be better than the prefent, that in it
the righteous will be fully rewarded, and
the wicked puniflied. It is evident, there-
fore, that when we abandon revelation,
we give up all religion properly fo called,
all that can have any falutary influence en
the hearts and lives of men.

3. With relpecl to 7}7en, there is cer-
tainly a great advantage m precepts and
commands, promifes and threatenings be-
ing delivered in vjords, proceeding as from
a real perfon, it being by this means that
inftruftions are delivered with the greatefl
diftinftnefs. It may indeed, be faid, and
with truth, that nature fpeaks to men,
and that nature teaches, and nature threat-
ens, but befides that the information is
more indiftinftly com.municated, it is in a
manner lefc apt to make an impreffion,
and command refpecl. It is, therefore,
of great advantage that the attention
of men be direfted to fomething beyond
mere nature, viz. to the author and lord

of

40 THE EVIDENCES OF

of nature, and that he be confidered not
as an allegorical perfonage, but a real in-
telligent Being, capable of communicating
his will in words, and fuch figns as men
are daily accuftomed to, and apt to be
imprclTed by.

Befides, all men feel an unavoidable pro-
penfity to addrefs themfelves to the Being
on whom they depend ; and without fome
mode of intercourfe with him, they would
foon lofe fight of him, as a child would of
his father, if he never faw him, and had
no accefs to him. Without an idea of
God different from what we could colled:
from the contemplation of nature, there
would be no fuch thing as prayer. Indeed,
unbelievers in revelation ridicule the idea
of prayer as unnatural and abfurd, though
all nations, without exception, have had
recourfe to it; which is a clear proof that
it is natrual, as every thing that is univer-
fal muft be.

Authority is beft fupported by a mix-
ture of affection, but there cannot be any
thing of this except towards a being re-

fembling

REVEALED RELIGION. 41

fembling other beings which have been
the objed; of an afFedion, and which have
engaged our confidence. And in revela-
tion, but by no means in nature, the Su-
preme Being appears to us in the famihar
char after of a parent, a perfon with
whom we can have communication, who
may be conceived to be always prefent
with us, who encourages us to addrefs
ourfelves to him, who always hears us,
and fometimes anfwers us. By this means
God eafily becomes the objeft of real af-
feftion, and attachment. Here we find
a folid foundation for love and fear^ which
are the chief motives for men's aftions.
With believers in revelation, this fome-
times degenerates into an abfurd enthufi-
afm, hy which the Divine Being becomes
the objeft of a fond and improper afFeftion.
We may fay that it is beneath the Su-
preme Being, and unworthy of him, to
have this familiar intercourfe with men ;
but it is of great importance to our virtue
and happinefs ; and to a being of perfeft
benevolence, and who knows, the frame

that

G

4> THE EVIDENCES OF

that he has given us, nothing will appear
beneath him that is fo well adapted to an-
fwer his benevolent purpofe refpetTting us.
Nor, indeed, would the mofl abfolute
prince, if he really wifhed to appear as
the father and friend of his people, think
any thing beneath him that tended to pro-
mote the happinefs of his fubjecls.

It is faid by modern unbelievers, that
the expeftaion of fuch a being as the great
author of nature condefcending to aft this
humble part is unreafonable, and that
miracles of all kinds, the only evidence
of it, are neceffarily incredible. I anfwer
that the affertion betrays a great unac-
quaintednefs with human nature, and the
hiftory of man. For it has been the be-
lief of all nations, and all ages, that the
higheft beings of whom they had any
idea have acted this very part. Socrates
himfelf exprefled an earneft wifli for a
divine inftruftor. This expedation and
belief is, therefore, by no means unnatu-
ral, and there muft be fomething in human
nature that leads to it.

If

REVEALED RELIGION. 43

-'If we look to the laft, and therefore
what we may fuppofe to be the moft im-
proved ftate of heathen philofophy, that
of the later Platonifts, or EclevSlics, to
which the emperor JuUan (whofe fuperior
good fenfe is fo much the boaft of modern
unbeUevers) attached himfeif, we fhall
find them in this very refpeft the moft
fuperftitious, the moft enthufiaftic, and the
moft credulous of men. Far from fup-
pofing that men had no intercourfe with
the fupreme being, they expelled to unite
themfelves to him by contemplation, and
corporeal mortification. ** The piety of
" Proclus, one of the moft celebrated of
^* them, is highly extolled by his biogra-
*^ pher. He fpent whole days and nights
'^ in repeating prayers and hymns, that
'^ he might prepare himfeif for an imme-
*^ diate intercourfe with the gods. He
*' obferved with great folemnity the new
*' moons, and all public feftivals, and on
*^ thefe occafions imagined that he con-
*' verfed with fuperior beings, and was
* ' able by his facrifices, prayers, and h} mns,

to

44 THE EVIDENCES OF

*' to expel difeafes, to command rain,
<^ to flop earthquakes, and to perform
** other fmiilar miracles." Whether,
therefore, we look to the vulgar, or the
philofophers among the ancients, v^e fhall
find the idea of divine communications and
of miracles, to have been natural to man.
Thefe philofophers did not deny the mira-
cles of Chrift, but maintained that he
wrought them by the fame magical or
theurgic powers, as they were termed,
which they themfelves poflefled. See En-
field's Hiftory of Philofophy, Vol. i.
p. 83, 92.

4. They who give fo decided a prefer-
ence to the light of nature, the appear-
ances of which are uniform, to that of
revelation, which fuppofes an occafional
departure from the ufual courfe of nature,
betray their ignorance of the nature of
man, by whom all uniform appearances, are
apt to be difregarded, but who never fail
to be flruck by what is unufuaL Does
not every human being fee the regular ri-
fing and fetting of the fun, the periodical

returns

REVEALED RELIGION. 45

returns of fummer and winter, feed time
andharveft, but how few ever think of the
wifdom or benevolence of thefe appoint-
ments? They content themfelves with ob-
ferving effeffs, and directing their condu6l by
them, without ever refledling on the ccmfe.
But wherever any thing ^/;/^//z/^/ happens,
when comets are feen, or ecUpfes of the
fun or moon take place, their attention is
forcibly arrefted ; and after reflefting on
the caufe of the extraordinary appear-
ances, they may be induced to give fome
attention to thofe that are conftant. I
ihall illuftrate this by a cafe w^hich I have
put on a former occafion.

Let a perfon unacquainted with clocks,
watches, and other machines, be intro-
duced into a room containing many of
them, all in regular motion. He fees no
maker of thefe machines, and knows no-
thing of their internal ftrufture ; and as he
fees them all to move with perfeft regu-
larity, he may fay, on the principles of
the atheiftical fyftem, that they are auto-
mata, or felf-moving machines; and fo

long

46 THE EVIDENCES OF

long as all thefe machines continue in re-
gular motion, and he knows nothing of
the making of them, or the winding of
them up, this theory may appear plau-
fible.

But let us fuppofe that, coming into
this room again and again, and, always
attending to the machines, he fhall find
one of them much out of order, and
that at length its motion Ihall intirely
ceafe ; but that after continuing in this

Hftate fome time, he fhall again find it in
perfect order, mo\ing as regularly as
ever. Will he not then conclude that fome
perfon, whom he has not feen, but pro-
bably the maker of the machines, had
been in the room in his abfence ? The ref-
toration of motion to the difordered ma-
chine \vould imprefs his mind with the
idea of a maker of them in a much more

•forcible manner than his obferving the re-
gular conflruciion, and uniform motion of
them. It muft convince him of the exift-
ence of fome perfon capable of regulatings
and therefore probably of making thefe

machines.

REVEALED RELIGION. 47

machines, whether he fhould ever fee this
perfon or not.

Thus do miracles prove the exiftence
of a God in a fhorter and more fatisfafto-
ry manner than the obfervation of the
uninterrupted courfe of nature. If there
be a Being v/ho can controid the courfe of
nature, there muft be one who originally
ejlabliped it, in whatever difficulty we may
ftill be left with refpe£l to his nature, and
the manner of his exiftence.

Why men iliould be ftruck with un-
ufual appearances it is not my bufinefs to
explain, though it v/ould not be difficult
to do it, the facl of their being Jo is fuffici-
ent to my purpofe. And therefore a per-
fon acquainted with human nature, and
this property of it, would not negled: to
avaU himfelf of it when he wiihed to en-
gage the attention of men, for the purpofe
of their inftrud:ion and improvement.
Why then fhould we think it uimatural,
or improper, in the divine Being, who, as
the maker of men, beft knows what they
are, and in what way to apply to them?

Let

48 THE EVIDENCES OF

Let no one then fay that occafional in-
terpofitions, or imraculous appearances, are
an unnatural, or improper mode of in-
ftrudling mankind, when it is in a manner
neceffary to draw their attention to a fu-
perior being, as a foundation for their
intercourfe with him.

4. No lefs are they miftaken who
imagine that the evidences of revealed
religion have more of difficulty in them
than thofe of natural religion, by which
we mean the arguments from nature for
the being, perfeftions, and providence of
God. On the contrary, far greater diffi-
culties occur with( refpeft to thefe, than
with refpeft to the others, and all that
can be faid is, that great difficulties muft
give way to greater. Far am I from
fuppofing that the evidence for the being of
a God, is not demonftrative, fince marks
of defign, with which the world abounds,
neceffarily imply a defigning or intelligent
caufe. But notwithftanding this, we can
never fully fatisfy ourfelves with refpe6l
to the objeftion of the atheift, that if the

univerfe

REVEALED RELIGION. 49

univerfe require a caufe, this caufe muft
require another; and if the author of na-
ture, or the being we call God, exift
without a caufe, fo may the univerfe it-
felf.

All that we can fay in anfwer to this,
is that, whatever difficulty we may labour
under with refped: to this fubjeft, which
will always be above our comprehenfion,
the a6lual exiftence of a vifible \vorld,
and of marks of defign in it, cannot be de-
nied, and therefore, whether we be able to
proceed any farther or not, we muji ac-
knowledge a defigning caufe. Otherwife
we might fay that a houfe had no archi-
teft, or a child no father. If the eye of
a man require no defigning caufe, neither
would a telefcope, which is an inftrument
of a fimilar nature, evidently adapted to
anfwer a fimilar purpofe. And at this
fuppofition every mind would revolt.

More and greater difficulties occur
when we proceed to the confideration of
the unity, the omni]5refence, the conflant
agency, and what is of more confequence

H ftill,

^o THE EVIDENCES OF

ftill, the benevolence of the Supreme Being,
on the principles of the Hght of nature.
So forcibly were the minds of men in the
early ages, imprefled with a view of the
evils which abound in the world, and fo
inconfiftent did they conceive them to be
with the defigns of a benevolent author,
that they fuppofed there was an original
principle of evily independant of that of
good. And they who fuppofed there
was a multiplicity of deities (to which
they were led by the extent and va-
riety they obferved in the works of na-
ture) imagined fome of them to be of a
benevolent, and others of a malevolent
difpofition. That the author of nature is
one, that he is fimply, invariably, and in-
finitely good, and that all the evils we
fee and experience, are calculated to pro-
mote good, are great and fublime truths,
which we derive from revelation only,
though, on a ftrifl: examination, they ap-
pear not to be inconfiftent with the ap-
pearances in nature.

On

REVEALED RELIGIO^r. 51

On the other hand, the evidences of
revelation are level to every capacity.
That it is the author of nature who inter-
pofes muft be evident from every interup-
tion of the ufual courfe of it. For no other
than he who eftabliilied the laws of nature
can controul them ; and though there may
be fome difficulty in diftinguilliing fome
preternatural appearances from fuch as are
merely unufual, this cannot be the cafe with
refpe£l to numberlefs others. If it was a fad
that the Ifraelites walked tlirough the Red
Sea, and the river Jordan, if all the firft-
born of the Egyptians, and the firft-born
only, of man and beaft, died in one night,
and that announced before-hand; if an
articulate voice was aftually heard to pro-
nounce the ten commandments from mount
Sinai, fo as to be heard by a million of
people, there could be no doubt of a di-
vine interpofition in any of the cafes.
And the fame may be faid of numberlefs
other fadls in the fcripture hiftory. If the
fa^s be afcertained, there can be no doubt
concerning their caiifc.

Now,

^2 THE EVIDENCES OF

Now, all fads may be afcertained by
fufficient teftimony, or that of a compe-
tent number of credible witneffes, i. e. of
perfons who were in circmnftances not to
be impofed upon themfelves, and who had
no apparent motive to impofe upon others.
This is fully equal to the evidence of a
man's own fenfes. Nay, there are many
perfons who would diftruft their own eyes
and ears rather than thofe of other per-
fons, who they thought were better judges
than themfelves.

Though fingle perfons may be im-
pofed upon in a variety of ways, or may
take it into their heads, for reafons which
it is not in the power of any man to in-
veftigate, to impofe upon others, this can
never be faid to be the cafe with refped:
to thoufands who believe, or atteft, things
evidently contrary to their intereft, and
previous inclinations. That great num-
bers of perfons, and others in fucceffion to
them, all of whom had fufficient oppor-
tunity to inveftigate any particular faft,
Avhich required no other evidence than

that

KEVEALED RELIGION. 53

that of the fenfes, and who were intereft-
ed m the mveftigation, their fortunes or
their lives depending upon it, fhould per-
fifh in their atteflatlon of it, w^ould be a
greater miracle, more contrary to what
we know of human nature, than any fad
contained in the fcripture hiftory.

As to the evidence of a future ftate,
, what are all the arguments derived from
the light of nature compared to that
which is furnifhed by the gofpel, which is
therefore juftly faid (2 Tim. i. 10.) to bring
life and immortality to light? There we fee
a perfon eommiflioned by God, teaching
the doftrine with the greateft plainnefs
and emphafis, enforcing it by miracles,
among which was the raifing of feveral
perfons from a ftate of death to life,
and, what w^as infinitely more, fubinitting
to die himfelf in the moft public and
indifputable manner, and rifing to life
again at a fixed time. Had mankind in
general been aiked what evidence would
fatisfy theni, they could not have demand-
ed more.

Whatever

54 THE EVIDENCES OF

Whether therefore, we confider the
precepts of reUgion, i. e. the rules of a
virtuous aud happy Ufe, the authority re-
quifite to enforce the obfervance of them,
the motives by v^hich they are enforced,
or the evidence of their truth, revealed
religion has unlpeakably the advantage of
natural; and therefore fo far is the fcheme
of revelation from being improbable a
priori^ that it muft appear fuch as a wife and
good Being, who was acquainted with hu-
man nature, and wifhed to engage the atten-
tion of men, and imprefs their minds with
fentiments of reverence of himfelf, and re-
Iped: for fuch laws as were calculated to
promote their greateft happinefs, would
adopt in preference to any other; being
the beft adapted to gain his end. It was
of the greateft importance to mankind to
be made acquainted with thofe moral prin-
ciples and rules of conduft on which their
happinefs depended, and which they would
never have difcovered of themfelves, to.
have their attention drawn to them, in the

moft

REVEALED RELIGION. 55

moft forcible manner, and to have the
moft fatisfaftory evidence of their truth ;
and this is what v^e find in revelation, and
in revelation only. It is therefore as the
apoftle juftly calls it (iCor. i. 24) the wifdom
and the power of God, though objefted
to, and ridiculed, by light and fuperficial
men.

DISCOURSE III.

A View of Heathen Worfhip*

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven againfl all
ungodlinefs and unrighteoufnefs of men, who hold the
truth in unrighteoufnefs. Becaufe that which may be
known pi God is manifeft in them, for God hath fhewed
it unto them. For the invifible things of him, from the
creation of the world, are clearly feen, being underftood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
godhead, fo that they are without excufe. Becaufe that
when they kiiew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagina-
tions, and their foolifli heart was darkened. Profefling
themfelves to be wife, they became fools, and changed the
glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like
to corruptible man, and to birds and fourfooted beafts,
and creeping things. M^herefore alfo God gave them up
to uncleannefs, through the lufts of their own hearts, to
diflionour their own bodies between themfelves, who
changed the truth of God into a lie, and worfhipped and
ferved the creature more than the Creator, who is bleffed for
ever. For this caufe God gave them up to vile affedlions.

Romans, i. i8 — 26.

In order to give you a jufi: idea of
the real value of revelation, it is neceflary
that I lay before you the ftate of things
with refped to religion in the heathen

world,

REVEALED RELIGION. ^y

world, efpecially in the early ages of
mankind, about the time of Mofes; that
when I come to give you a view of his
inftitutions, the difference may be the
more ftriking. Very few, I am perfuaded,
of the modern unbelievers have a juft
knowledge of this fubjeft. If they had,
it would, I hope, be impoffible for them
to treat the religion of the Hebrews with
f6 much contempt. Not only the extreme
ignorance, but the great depravity, of
mankind in a ft ate of heathenifm, would
hot be credible at this day, if there did
not exift a fuperfluity of the moft authen-
tic documents of it, fo that the fafts can-
not be denied without the extreme of
effrontery. This, however, we find in Vol-
taire, who fays that ^' the religion of the
*' heathens confifted in nothing but mora-
*^ lity^ and feftivals; morality" which he
fays ^* is common to all men, and fejlivals
** which were no more than times of re-
** joicing, and could not be of prejudice to
*< mankind." The particulars which I Hi all
be obliged to mention, and which could not

J be

? . THE EVIDENCES OF

be unknown to this writer, though they are
to many others, will fliew how fliamefuUy
the truth is difguifed in this reprefentation.
The religion of the heathens had nothing
to do with morality, and their public fefti-
vals were almoft without exception, fcenes
of the greateft riot and debauchery. Be-
lieving their gods to be cruel or fenfual,
there is 110 vite how deteftable and unna-
tural foever, that did not find a place in
the nioft folemn ads of their worlliip.

It is not neceflary for me to give any
accovmt of the manner in which mankind
fell into this deplorable ftate of depravity
it being fufficient to fliew that fuch ivas
their ftate, and that it was evident, from
the experience of ages, in which men
made the moft of their powers of reafon,
that they were not able to relieve them-
felves. TVhy the Supreme Being permitted
the rife and progrefs of this Ipecies of
.evil, may be as infer utable to us, as the
permiflion of any other evilj natural or
moral, aone of which it muft be acknow-
ledged, could have taken place without

his

REVEALED RELIGION. 5^

his knowledge and permiffion, and all of
which, and this among the reft, we have
reafon to beheve w^ill lead to good, and
hereafter appear to have done fo. In
the mean time it is well worth our while
to contemplate the magnitude of the evil,
and the goodnefs of God in the cure of it,
in what, no doubt, was the proper time,
and in the moft proper "and effecftual man-
ner.

That the great principles of religion,
concerning the being and providence of
•God, and a future ftate of exiftence,
were communicated by God to the firft
parents of mankind, is probable from fe-
veral circumftances. Obfcure traces of
this knowledge are found in all antient
nations, and the farther we go back into
antiquity, the purer we find their reUgion
to be. But in procefs of time it became
more and more corrupted, till, inftead of
coming in aid of virtue, it was itfelf, a
great fource of the corruption of morals,
as the progrefs is well defcribed in my

text.

The

6o THE EVIDENCES OF

The world ever bore fufHcient marks
of its being the produftion of an omnipo-
tent and good Being, a lover of virtue,
and a hater of vice ; but men, contempla-
ting, as we may fuppofe, the immenfe
variety, and feeming contrariety, of the
works of creation, could not believe that
the whole was under the direction of
one being: And being left to their own
imaginations, and judging of other intel-
ligent beings by what they obferved in
themfelves, and others, they concluded
that there muft be a multiplicity of beings
concerned in the government of the world,
and the dirediion of human affairs, fome
well, and others ill difpofed towards them.
For it required more knowledge and com-
prehenfion of mind than they had attained,
to perceive that all the evils with which
the world abounds were calculated to pro-
mote good. They thought they faw in
them the effefts of malice, and ill will, at
leaft of caprice, and their condud: natu-
rally correfponded to their ideas.

The

REVEALED RELIGION. 6t

The mind of man is never fatisfied
without looking for the caufes of events,
efpecially thofe that take place only occa-
fionally, and to appearance, irregularly,
and ftill more if they be favourable or un-
favourable to themfelves, becaufe they hope
by this means to be able to avoid the one,
and fecure the other. And not being able
to difcover the true caufes, they muft, of
courfe, acquiefce in vv^hat they imagine to
be the true caufes. It appears from all
hiftory that, in the moft early ages, man-
kind in general afcribed every thing that
affefted rhem to the influences of the hea-
venly bodies, the fun, moon, ftars, and
planets, and to an intelligent principle
which they fuppofed to refide in them. For
heat and cold, ftorms and rain, often com-
ing unexpe6ledly, they naturally enough
imagined that they did not come without
defign, and that, if thefe heavenly agents
had been fo difpofed, their influences would
have been always favourable. To thefe
objefts therefore, they, of courfe, dired-
ed all their regards, and their worfliip.

Ihey

«« THE EVIDENCES OF "

They alfo came to fuppofe that there
was an intelligent principle in the earth,
and in the feveral parts of it, as the air,
the fea, the rivers, mountains, forefts, &c.
fo that they foon became poffefled of a
great multiplicity of objefts of worlliip,
whofe favour they thought it of import-
ance to gain, and whofe difpleafure they
wilhed to deprecate.

Having got the idea of different fu-
perior intelhgences, whether fubordinate
to the fupreme Being or not, they foon
loft fight of the fupreme Being himfelf,
and gave their whole attention to thofe in-
ferior beings, whom they fuppofed to be
the immediate authors of the good and
evil that befel them. This was on the
fame natural principle that tenants look
to the fteward, with whom they tranfaft
all their bufmefs, and not to the proprietor
of the land, with whom they have nothing
to do.

We have this farther evidence from
faft, that this praftice was natural.
When Chriftians got the idea of Jefus

Chrift,

. REVEALED RELIGION. 63

Chrift, of faints and angels being proper
obje&s of worfliip, they generally fell into
the habit of looking no higher, neglefting
the worlhip of God; and had it not been
for the prayers addreffed to him in the
fcriptures and in the antient liturgies, he
would, I doubt not, have been as much
overlooked and forgotten, as if no fuch
being had exifted.

But on v^hatever principle tjiis took
place, the fatS cannot be denied, and the
number of gods kept increafing, inftead
of diminifliing by time and reflecftion.
Orpheus reckoned only as many gods as
there were days in the year, but in the
time of Hefiod, the Greeks had no lefs
than thirty thoufand divinities. The Ro*
mans in the time of Varro had three hun-
dred Jupiter s, that is the fame God was wor-
fliipped under fo many different titles, un-
der which he was fuppofed to polTefs diife-
rent powers, and fome have reckoned ho
lefs than two hundred and eighty thoufand

gods.

The

64 THE EVIDENCES OF

The Egyptians, from whom the Greeks
originally received their rehgion, imagined
that particular animals were the favourites
of particular deities, and communicated
their powers to them. At leaft, they con-
fidered their fever al qualities as fymbols of
divine power, and at length paid a proper
worfhip to them. Plutarch exprefsly fays,
that *' the greater part of the Egyptians
** worfliipped the animals themfelves,'*
which he faid '* led fome to the moft ex-
** travagant fuperftition, and precipitated
** others into atheifm." Cotta, in Cicero,
fays that ^' though there have been many
^* inftances of temples plundered, and the
*' images of the gods carried away, by
*' the Romans, it had never been heard
" that a crocodile, an ibis, or a cat, had
*' been ill treated by the Egyptians," fo
far did they carry their fuperftitious re-
fpeil for them.

Another fource of the multiplication
of deities was an idea that particular fupe-
rior beings prefided over particular cir-

cumflances

REVEALED RELIGION. 6^5

cumftances relating to men, and their af-
fairs, fo tliat they had gods correfponding
to many abftra^a ideas. Thus the Romans
had temples and altars dedicated to the
fever, and ill fortune, and the . Athenians
to contumely and hnpudence. At length, after
deifying all the parts of nature, and many
of the qualities and properties of things,
they deified particular men, and worlhip-
ped them after their death. Nay the Ro-
mans, in the time of the emperors, car-
ried their adulation fo far as to pay divine
honours to fome of them, and thofe the
very worft of them, while they were alive.
The heayenly bodies being fometimes
invifible, the heathens had recourfe to fome
fymbols of their power, or fome vifible
objeft, to which they imagined their powers
were in fome way or other attached, and
to which they could always have recourfe.
Thefe were at firft pillars, or only large
ftones, confecrated in certain pofitions of
thofe heavenly bodies, which they wanted
to reprefent. Refining upon this, they
afterwards made ufe of the forms of men

and
K

66 THE EVIDENCES OF

and animals for that purpofe. The forms
of fome of their deities being altogether
unknown, they made ufe of fuch figures
as they conceived to be proper fymbols of
their powers. The idols of the Egyptians
had the heads of particular animals, as
that of a dog, on the body, or part of the
body of a man. At Rome the god Janus
had two faces, and the idols of Indoftan
have a great number of arms, &c. Hence
Varro, fpeaking of thefe images fays, that
'^ if they had life, and any perfon fhould
'* meet them unexpeftedly, they would
^' pafs for monfters." He alfo cenfures
the cruel and lafcivious rites that were in-
troduced into the worihip of feveral of
their gods, efpecially of Cybele ; yet he
fays that *^ a wife man will obferve all
*^ thefe things, not as acceptable to the
'^ gods, but as commanded by the laws,^'
and fpeaking of the '^ ignoble rabble" as
he calls them '' of the gods," which, he
fays, <« the fuperftition of ages has heaped
** together," he adds, '' we fo adore
*^ them, as to remember that this wor-
ihip

REVEALED RELIGION 67

" fhip is rather matter of cuftom, than
*^ founded on nature and truth." So far
were the heathen philofophers, who were
fenfible of the abfurdity and pernicious ten-
dency of this worfhip, from being difpof-
ed to reform it. It was a maxim with
them, as with the generahty of modern
unbehevers, to think with the wife, and
aft with the vulgar. But had Chrift and
his apoftles adled on this princple, we
fhould now have been worihipping Thor
and Woden, and imbruing their altars
with human blood.

The moft horrid of all the rites of the
heathen religion was that of ku?nan j acrifices ,
which, however, were univerfalin ancient
times, and efpecially among the Canaanites,
and in the countries that bordered upon
Paleftine, as, indeed, the hiftory of the Car-
thaginians, who were defcended from the
Tyrians, abundantly proves.

We fhall not much wonder at the in-
troduftion of this rite, fhocking as it is to
humanity, when we confider the deftruc-
tion of life, and other evils occafionally

produced

68 THE EVIDENCES OF

produced by natural caufes, as by heat,
drought, hghtning, earthquakes, &c.
Thefe the heathens, of courfe, afcribed
to the agency of their gods. They would,
therefore, imagme that they were fome-^
times very angry, and that great facrifices
were neceflary to appeafe them. Appre-
henfive, then, of greater evils, they wil-
lingly fubjedled themfelves to thofe that
were lefs.

In general, the heathens thought the
facrifice of flaves and captives would fa-
tisfy the blood thirfty appetites of their
gods ; but on particular occafions, fearful
that this would not be deemed fufRcient,
they facrificed the children of the mod
diftinguifhed perfons in the ftate, as thofe
of their kings themfelves. The Cartha-
ginians, after fome great difafter in war,
facrificed at one time three hundred young
men of the firft families in their common-
wealth. In this the Ifraelites, during their
apoftacy from their own religion, imitated
their heathen neighbours as we read, Pfalm
cvi. 37. They facrificed their fons and their

daughters

REVEALED RELIGION 69

daughters to demons^ and Jhed innocent bloody
even the blood of their fons and daughters,
ivhom they facrificed to the idols of Canaan. Jer.
vii. 3 1 . T^hey built the high places of Tophet
which is in the valley of the f on of Hinnomy to
burn their fons and their daughters in the fire.
They built alfo the high places of Baaly to burn
their fons with fire for burnt offerings unto
Baal. This place was called tophet y from
a Hebrew word which fignifies a drmn, or
fiftrum, inftruments which made a loud
noife, which the priefts made ufe of to
drown the cries of the vid:ims, as it was
the cuftom to burn them alive.

By Baal was meant the fun, the prin-
cipal objed of worfhip in all antient nations;
and as the heat of the fun is fometimes
very deftruftive, it is no wonder that they
fuppofed him to. be aftuated by the paflion
of anger. Lord Herbert obferves that
viftims of lefs dignity were deemed fufii-
cient for the inferior deities, but that to
their higheft god, the fun, human facri-
fices, as the moft valuable, were to be
offered.

Human

70 THE EVIDENCES OF

Human facrifices appear to have been
univerfal in antient times. They were in
ufe among the Egyptians till the reign of
Amafis. They were never fo common
among the Greeks or Roinans ; yet with
them they were in ufe on extraordinary
occafions. Porphyry fays that the Greeks
were wont to facrifice men whfen they went
to war. Clemens Alexandrinus fays that
both Ereftheus king of Athens, and Marius
the Roman general, facrificed their own
daughters. Plutarch, in his life of The-
miftocles, relates that three beautiful Per-
fian women, richly habited and adorned,
were, by the advice of the prophet Eu-
phrantides, offered as facrifices to Bacchus
Omeftes, as a vow for viftory at the com-
mencement of the Perfian war; and though
Themiftocles was Ihocked at the inhuma-
nity of it, the people with one voice,
invoking Bacchus, and bringing the vicSims
to the altar, compelled him to perform the
facrifice.

The fame hiflorian fays that the Ro-
mans, in the beginning of a war with the

Gauls,

. REVEALED RELIGION. 71

Gauls, and in obedience to an oracle in
the Sybilline books, buried alive a Gaulifli
man and a Gaulifh woman, and alfo a
Greek man and a Greek woman, in the ox
market by way of facrifice. Livy fays that
they repeated this facrifice at the begin-
ning of the fecond Punic war.

Human facrifices were oifered at Rome,
fays Porphyry, till the reign of Adrian,
who ordered them to be abolifhed in moft
places. This writer, who lived in the time
of Diocletian, mentions it as a thing well
known, that in the city^ of Rome itfelf a
man was wont to be facrificed at the feaft
of Jupiter Latiaris. Laftantius, who wrote
a little after this, fays that the fame was
praftifed in his time. Human facrifices
were fo numerous among the Gauls and
Britons, that the Romans forbad the pub-
lic exercife of their religion. According
to Caefar (De Bello Gallico, lib. 6. § 15)
they fometimes made images of an im-
menfe fize, conftrufted of wicker work,
which they filled with men, and then

burned them alive.

In

72 THE EVIDENCES OF

In later times we find human facrifices
as numerous among the Mexicans and
Peruvians, who, of all tlie inhabitants of
America, had arrived at the greateft
degree of civilization, as in any of the
antient nations. 'The moft authentic re-
cord fays that the Mexicans facrificed
annually twenty thoufand men, and at
the dedication of their great temple, not
lefs than fixty or feventy thoufand. If
any perfon will only read with attention
the hiftory of this country by Clavigero,
he will be convinced that fuch was the
rooted attachment of that people to their
religion in general, and this horrid rite
in particular, that nothing but fuch a con-
queft of them as that by the Spaniards,
would ever have put an end to that cuftom.
His account of the ftate of facfts will abun-
dantly juftify the conduA of divine provi-
dence in the utter extirmination of the
inhabitants of Canaan. It was for the
good of mankind that fuch nations fhould
be extirpated from the face of the earth.

If

REVEALED RELIGION. ;3

If any perfons will fay that the author
of nature could not give a commiffion,
which they think to have been fo cruel and
unjuft, let them fay whether the author
of nature does not continually do things
which they themfelves muft fay are more
cruel and unjuft; as the promifcuous de-
ftrudlion of perfons of all ages and cha-
rafters by peftilence and famine, by
hurricanes and earthquakes, as alfo by
difeafes and death, which are univerfal.
Did not the author of nature clearly fore-
fee thefe calamities, and therefore intend
that they fhould take place ? And where
is the difference^ in a moral view, between
doing any thing by laws of his appointment,
or by a fpecial commiffion. The thing to
be objected to is the ultimate event, not
the means by which it was effected. In
faft they who make this objeftion, and
others of a fimilar nature, firft form to
themfelves an idea of the author of
nature from their own imagination, and
not from the obfervation of his works,
which is the only method of forming a juft

L idea

74 THE EVIDENCES OF

idea of any charadler^ and then pronounce
that fuch and fuch things as they wifh
to have been othefwife are incompatible
with his character. Befides, the firmeft
believer in the divine benevolence (and
juftice, ftriftly confidered, is only a modi-
fication and branch of benevolence) will
fay that any kind or degree of evil that
may, direftly or indireftlyj be produftive
of a greater good, is compatible with it^
and of this ultimate tendency of things
God himfelf, and not man, is the judge.
This conduft, however, is not to be imitated
by man, on account of the imperfeftion of
our knowledge. We muft not do evil that
good may coine^ though this is conftantly done
by the Divine being, becaufe we cannot
tell whether the evil will be productive of
good, whereas, he always knows the end
from the very beginning, and therefore
cannot be miftaken with refpeil to the
final refult.

Befides the horrid cuftom of human
facrifices, which were thought to b^ tie-
ceflary to appeafe the wrath of fome of

the

REVEALED RELIGION.

the heathen deities, they had other rites,
which, though they did not terminate in
death, were extremely painful. Thepriefts
of Baal, as we read, i Kings xviii. 28.
cut and Jlajhed themfehes with knives and
lancets till the blood gujhed outy when they
were defirous of getting a favourable
anfwer from him. The fame, according
to Herodotus was praftifed in the worfhip
of Ifis, an Egyptian deity, and of Bellona
among the Romans. Alfo in the feftivals
of Cybele, called the mother of the gods, the
priefts, who were caftrated, made hideous
noifes and howlings, and cut themfelves
till the blood gufhed out. The worlhip
of this goddefs, was introduced from the
Eaft to Rome. At afeftival in Sparta, boys
were whipped with fo much feverity, on
an altar of Diana (the prieftefs attending
to fee that it was done in a proper man-
ner) that they often died in confequence
of it. When this was the cafe, and the
boys had borne the torture with fufficient
fortitude, they had the honour of a public
funeral, as having died in the fervice of

L 2 ^heir

76 THE EVIDENCES OF

their country. This cuftom was inftituted
by Lycurgus, the great Spartan lawgiver,
in exchange for the facrifice of a man
every year at the fame altar, the oracle
having only declared that the altar of that
goddefs muft be fprinkled with human
blood. There was alfoan altar of Bacchus
in Arcadia, on which many young women
were beaten with rods till they died.

The rites of heathen religions now or
lately exifting, are as cruel as thofe of any
of the antients. In Indoftan it is frequent,
and deemed particularly meritorious, for
widows to be burned alive with the bodies
of their hufbands, and their Faquirs volun-
tarily undergo fuch tortures as it is pain-
ful to read of. They will often con-
tinue fo long in the moft conflrained pof-
tures, that their limbs are incapable of
any motion ; fo that they remain fo until
they die, their wants fupplied, and their
prayers requefted, by great numbers of
perfons. Sometimes, having ftrong iron
hooks, thruft through the fkin of their
backs, they get themfelves to be drawn

up,

REVEALED RELIGION. 77

up, and whirled round in the air, with
the greateft violence, by means of a ma-
chine conftrud:ed for the purpofe. The
Mexicans, accuftomed to the bloody facri-
fice of their prifoners, ** failed not," fays
Clavigero, '^ to fhed abundance of their
** own blood. It makes one ftiudder to
* ^ read of the aufterities which on fome
^* occafions they excercifed on themfelves,
** either as an atonement for their fins, or
*^ a preparation for their more folemn
" feftivals. They mangled their flefh as
^' if they had been infenfible to pain, and
^' let out their blood in the greateft pro-
*^ fufion. This was pradlifed every day
** by fome of their priefts. They pierced
*^ themfelves with the fharpfpines of aloes,
^^ and thruft them through feveral parts
^' of their bodies, making the holes larger
^' on every repetition of the operation.
*' They had alfo fevere watchings and
*^ faftings in their religious rites.''

At the faft of the Tlafcalans, which
lafted one hundred and fixty days '' the
^' chief prieft, attended by about two

^^ hundred

yS THE EVIDENCES OF

' hundred perfons afcended a high moun-
^ tain, and when they defcended, they had

* a number of Uttle knives, and a great
' quantity of fmall rods dehvered to them.

* The firft day they bored holes through

* their tongues, through which they drew

* the rods, and notwithftanding the ex-

* eeffive pain, and lofs of blood occafioned

* by it, they were obliged to fmg aloud

* hymns to their gods. This cruel opera-

* tion was repeated every twenty days.
< When eighty days of this faft of the

* priefts was elapfed, a general faft of

* the people, from which the heads of

* the republic were not exempted, began,

* and was continued an equally long

* time.'

Inconfiftent as it may feem to have
been with this aufterity, other rites of the
antient heathen religions, and thofe which
occurred the moft frequently, encouraged,
and indeed required, the extreme of fen-
fual indulgence ; and fometimes that of
the moft unnatural kind. It is not eafy
to fay by what particular train of thinking

they

REVEALED RELIGION. ' ^

they were led to conclude that fuch pracr-
tices as thefe could be pleafmg to the gods,
but fome of thofe deities that were to be
appealed by human facrifices were fuppofed
to be no lefs pleafed to fee their worfliip-
pers indulge themfelves in whatever could
gratify their appetites; and their groves,
and the temples themfelves, were fcenes
of open proftitution.

It is well known that, in general, the
heathens afcribedto their gods thepaflions
and adions of men, and too many of the
joriental princes, and thofe the moft cele-
brated for their warlike and other exploits,
gave into the extreme of both cruelty and
iuft. It is poffible, however, that the in-
decent fymbols of their worlhip, which
might be originally defigned to reprefent
what is, no doubt, the moft remarkable
circumftance in the conftitution of nature,
viz. its reprodiiBive -power ^ or that of gene-
rat/.on, might lead to thofe afts of lewd-
nefs with which the heathen worihip
a^oounded. And incredible as it may ap-
jjear to us, figures which cannot be

named

8o THE EVIENCES OF

named with decency, were expofed and
carried about in thefe facred proceflions,
hymns were fung to them, and religious
worlhip paid to them. This was done by
the Egyptains, and moft other antient na-
tions, efpecially the Greeks, who borrow-
ed the cuftom from them*.

To recite the particulars of the inde-
cencies of the heathen worlhip would be
difgufting, and the account could hardly
be given in language proper for a public
affembly, but as fomething of this kind is
become neceflary, in order to give a jufl
idea of the ftate of faBs which have been
ftrongly difguifed by unbelievers, and to
fhew the great fuperiority of revealed
religion to that which almoft all mankind
naturally fell into, I muft, be excufed
if, for the fake of thofe who may have

* Lucian, a heathen writer, fays that, in the portico of
the temple at Hierapolis, which flood on a hill, there was
a tower three hundred cubits high, built in that indecent
form, to the top of which a man afcended twice a year, whv'^re
he continued feven days, that he might with more advantage
converfe with the gods above. In the worihip of the people
of Indoflan, figures even more fliocking to modefly than
thofe of the antient weftern nations are now made ufe of.

been

REVEALED RELIGION. 8i

been mifled by fach writers as Voltaire
and others, (who have fmoothed over the
enormities of the heathen worfhip) recite
as many particulars as may be neceflary to
give you an idea of the general charafter
of the fyftem, which they reprefent as
perfectly innocent, and not at all unfavour-
able to purity of morals, their feftivals, as
Voltaire fays, being only feafons of rejoic-j
ing, which could not be prejudical to
mankind. This would be true if their
fedlivals had been nothing more than fea-
fons of rejoicing. But judge for yourfelves,
whether they were not fomething more.

That lewdnefs was a part of the an-
tient heathen worfhip, is evident from the
account that Mofes gives of that of Baal
Peor, to which the Ifraelites were inticed
by the Moabites and Midianites. For du-
ring that feftival, Phinehas aflerted the
honour of his religion by killing a man
and a women in the very aft of fornica-
tion; which, from the narrative, appears to
have been committed without any conceal-
ment. For we read, Numb. xxv. 6. Aid

Behold

^^ THE EVIDENCES OF

heboid me of the children of Ifrael came and
hoiight uiuo his brethren a Midianitijh uooman^
in the fight of Mofes, and in the fight of all
the congregation of the children of Ifrael y who
were weeping before the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation ; and when Phinehas the f on
.- of Eleazar the fon of Aaron the friefifaiv ity
he arofe up frop among the congregation y and
took a javelin, in Us hand, and he went after
the man of Ifrael into the t^nt^ and thruft both
of them through, the man of Ifrael and the
woman y through her belly. Now the name of
the Ifraelite who was /lain was Zimri the fon
of Salu, a prince of the chief hoiife among
the Simconites, aud the name of the Midianitif
ivoman who was flain was Cozbi the daughter of
T^ury who was head over a people^ and of a
chief hoife in Midi an.

This worfhip of Baal-Peor, if we may
credit feveral antient writers, confifted in
fuch obfcene praftices, Or poftures at leaft,
as are not fit to be mentioned ; fo that it is
not eafy to fay whether they were more
ridiculous, or impure. Hofea fays of this
worfhip, ch. xi. lo. l^hey went unto Baal

Peory

REVEALED RELIGION 8)

Peor, and feparated themfelves unto their Jhame ;
and their abominations were according as they
lovedy or, as the Bifliop of Waterfof d ren*
ders it, and became abominable as the objeiis
of their love, or worftiip.

The farther we go back into antiquity
or fo much nearer to the time of Mofes,
the more undifguifed were thefe fhameful
praftices. It appears from Herodotus,
the oldeft Greek hiftorian, that the temples
of the heathen gods had been univerfally
places of proftitution. For he fays the
Egyptians were the firft who forbad it in
their temples. He fays that all other na-
tions, except the Greeks (who borrowed
much of their religion from the Egyp-
tians) fcrupled not to perform thofe ac-
tions in the temples. Nor did the Greeks
wholly abftain from them. For when
Antiochus Epiphanes converted the temple
at Jerufalem, into a temple of Jupiter
Olympius, we read, 2 Mac. vi. 4. The tem-
ple was filled with riot and revelling by the
Gentiles y who dallied v/ith harlots, and had 10 do
^nvith women, within the circuit of the holy places.

Julius

84 THE EVIDENCES OF

Julius Firmicus fays that, after the
feafon of mourning, with which the princi-
pal feflival of the oriental nations com-
menced, the reft of the time was fpent
with every expreflion of mirth and jollity,
to which they added the moft abominable
debauchery, adultery, and inceft. Thefe
were conftantly praftifed in their groves
and temples. *

Surely, then, we may fay, with the
apoftie in my text, that, as a puniihment
for men's apoftacy from his worfhip, God
gave up the heathen world to vile affedions ;
and that there was infinite wifdom and
goodnefs in the Jewifh and Chriftian dif-
penfations, in which we are taught a mode
of worfhip worthy of a pure and holy
God, a religion the great objeft of which
is the pureft morality, and in which all
the abominations of the heathen worfhip
are treated with juft abhorrence. For
our unfpeakable happinefs in being favour-

* *ln what temple,' fays Juvenal, a Roman heathen poet,
' are not women debauched ?, Qw non pro/iat femina templeo.

Sat. ix. 24.

ed

REVEALED RELIGION. 8^

ed with thefe revelations, we cannot be
too thankful. But I muft defer the far-
ther confideration of thefe, and other en-
ormities of the heathen worfhip, with
which the generality of chriftians are little
acquainted, but which you muft be fen-
fible, it is highly ufeful for them to know,
though difgufting to contemplate, to an-
other difcourfe, with which I (hall con-
clude this part of my fubjed:.

DISCOURSE IV-

A View of Heathen Worjhip.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven againft all
ungodllnefs and unrighteoufnefs of men, who hold the
truth in unrighteoufnefs. Becaufe that which may be
known of God is manifeft in them, for God hath fhewed
it unto them. For the invifible things of him, from the
creation of the world, are clearly feen, being underftood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and -
godhead, fo that they are without excufe. Becaufe that
when they knew God, they glorified him not as God,
neither were thankful, but became vain in their imagina-
tions, and their foolifh heart was darkened. Profefling
themfelves to be wife, they became fools, and changed the
glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like
to corruptible man, and to birds and fourfooted beafts,
and creeping things. Wherefore alfo God gave them up
to uncleannefs, through the lufts of their own hearts, to
diflionour their own bodies between themfelves, who
changed the truth of God into a lie, and worftiipped and
ferved the creature more than the Creator, who is blefled for
ever. For this caufe God gave them up to vile affeftions.

Romans, i. i8 — 26.

The moft plaufible objeftions made
to the fyftem of revelation, and thofe by
which perfons who have no knowledge of
antiquity are moft liable to be impreffed,

are

REVEALED RELIGION. 5^

are thofe which relate to the Jewifh
religion, and the books of the Old Tefla-
ment, with which the generality of Chrif-
tians are too little acquainted. Voltaire,
and other unbelievers, are more particu-
larly fond of reprefenting the inftitutions
of Mofes as unreafonably intolerant, with
refpeft to the heathens who, they fay, only
differed from the Hebrews in religious
opinions. It therefore behoves thofe who
undertake the defence of revealed religion
to ftiew, what it is very eafy to do, that
antient heathenifm was by no means a
mere fyftem of fpeculative opinions, and
innocent praftices; but that, befides being
abfurd in the extreme, it really promoted
the moft deftruftive and the moft execra-
ble vices, and that the religion of the
Hebrews was free from every tendency
of the kind, and infinitely fuperior to it
in every other refpedl.

In my laft difcourfe I gave you an idea
of fome of the enormities of the heathen
religion, fuch as, though well known to
the learned, are not fo to the generality of

Chriftians,

88 THE EVIDENCES OF

Chriftians, and yet without this knowledge
it is impoffible that they can have a juft
idea of the value of their own religion, or
a right underftanding of the fcriptures,
efpecially thofe of the Old Teftament, in
which there are perpetual allufions to the
principles and rites of the heathen worlhip.
I particularly mentioned the multiplicity
of the heathen deities, the vile chara6lers
of many of them, the horrid rite of human
facrilices, the painful aufterities to which
their religion fubjefted them, and the
open proftitution which was encouraged
by it,' and praftifed in their very temples ;
and in fupport of my reprefentations, I re-
cited a variety of fadls, from the authority
of the fcriptures, and other antient writ-
ings. Had I contented myfelf with ex-
claiming in general terms only againft the
religion of the heathens, faying of it, as
Voltaire does of the religion of the Jews,
that it was an execrable fiiperjlition^ without
reciting any of the circumftances which
fhew it to have been fuch, all that you
could have inferred would have been, that

I was

REVEALED RELIGION. , 89

was defirous of imprelfing your minds
with an abhorrence of that rehgion, but
then you would have had no knowledge of
the reafons why it deferved that abhor-
rence, and therefore might have paid no
regard to my unfupported reprefentation.
My laft difcourfe concluded with
obferving that a mofl prominent feature
in the religion of the antient heathens,
was the encouragement it gave to
lewdnefs, and this continued with increafe,
when, in the progrefs of civihzation, the
cruel rite of human facrifices, and their
painful aufterities, became lefs frequent.
For this reafon the apoftle Paul, in the
chapter which contains my text, and in
other parts of his epiftles, particularly
dwells upon it.

On this fubjeft I fhall only mention
one more circumftance, which is feveral
times mentioned, or alluded to, in the
fcriptures. It is that a confiderable
-revenue arofe to many of the heathen
temples, as is now the cafe in Indoftan,
from the proftitution that was encouraged
M in

90 THE EVIDENCES OF

in them, or in places provided for that
abominable purpofe adjoining to them.
The Divine Being, alluding to this prac-
tice of the heathens, fays, by Mofes, Deut.

xxiii. 1 8. Thou pah not bring the hire of a
harlot into the houfe of the Lord thy God. There
pall he no harlot of the daughters of Ifrael^ nor
a Sodomite of the fons of IfraeL For, in-
credible as it may appear to us, who have
had the happinefs of being educated in the
principles of the pureft of all religions,
even unnatural pollution was allowed, and
encouraged, in the religion of the antient
heathens. For this we have the clear evi-
dence of the fcriptures, as well as of many
antient writers. Concerning the pious king
Jofiah, we read, 2 Kings, xxiii. 7. that
he brake down the houfes of the Sodomites that
ivere by the houfe of the Lordy where the wo-
men wove hangings for the grove y or rather
for ylferothy or, Aflarte, a famous Syrian
goddefs'^'.

In

* Herodotus informs us that at Babylon, a city the moft
devoted to the worfliip oi idols of all the nations of antiquity
eveiy woman was obliged once in her life to proftitute her-

felf

REVEALED RELIGION. 91

111 the time of Conftantine, and no
doubt from times of the moft remote an-
tiquity, the Egyptians had religious rites
in which fodomy was pradlifed, and they
imagined that the rife of the Nile depend-
ed on the obfervance of them. Thefe this
Chriftian emperor ordered to be difconti-
nued ; and whereas the fuperftitious hea-
thens

felf to fome ftranger in the temple of Venus. Becaufe the
moft wealthy difdained to expofe themfelves in public,
among the reft, they went in covered chariots to the gates
of the temple, with a numerous train of fervants attending
at a diftance But the far greater part went into the temple
itfelf, and fat down covered with garlands. The galleries in
which they fat were in a ftraight line, and open on every
fide, that all ftrangers might have free paftage to chufe fuch
as they liked beft. The beautiful women, he fays, were
foon difmilfed ; but the deformed were fometimes obliged to
wait three or four days before they could fatisfy the law.
The perfon who made choice of any of them made her
a prefent, which was facred to the deity, and could not be
refufed, though ever fo fmall.

The fame hiftorian fays that the women of Cvprus had a
cuftom not unlike this of the Babylonians. There was the
like in the temple of Venus at Sicca in Africa, at Corinth,
and at Comana in Cappadocia. In the temple of Venus at
Aphaca, on mount Libanus, there was a kind of academy
of lewdnefs, open to all debauched perfons, where the moft
beaftly crimes were committed in the temple, as a privileged
place, exempt from all law and government. The ludi
jF/o;Wdi at Rome were celebrated by a company of proftitutcs,
M z who

92 THE EVIDENCES OF

thens had imagined that the confequence of
this fuppreflion would be that the river
would not rife as ufual, the Chriftians faid
it arofe higher than before.

Sodomy, fays Julius Firmicus, who
wrote in the time of the fons of Conftan-
tine, was then pradlifed in the temple of
Juno, He adds that they were fo far from
being afhamed of it, that they gloried in
it. And it appears from various writers,
that the gains of this abominable kind of
proftitution were a fource of revenue to
the heathen temples, as well as thofe of
the women who belonged to them. And
yet of this religion Voltaire fays that *^ it

who fan up and down naked, ufing the moft lafcivious pof-
tures. The temple of Venus at Corinth maintained above
a thoufand proftitutes, facred to her fervice, and what they got
was given to the goddels. The lame is the cafe at this day
with refpe<fl to many of the temples in Indoftan. Tavernier
fays there is a Pagod near Cambaye, where women profti-
tute themfelves, and Marco Polo lays that the like cuftom
prevailed at Camul ; and that when it was forbidden by the
Mahometan prince Mongou Khan, and the order had been
obeyed three years, the people fent deputies to get it repealed,
as they faid that their fields had not been fo fruitful as they
liad been before.

i^ could

REVEALED RELIGION. ^j

*' could not be of and prejudice to man-
'' kind."*

Befides the rites which were performed
in public, and at which all perfons were
permitted, and often required, to be pre-
fent, there were in the antient heathen
religions, rites of a private nature, to which
none were admitted but under an oath
of fecrecy, the violation of which was
deemed to be the greateft a6l of impiety.
Some have fuppofed that the defign of
thefe myjierks, as thofe rites were called,

* How the rites of the goddefs Cybele operated as an in-
centive to lewdnefs may be feen in Juvenal, Sat. vi. 313. &c.

That thefe practices thus fandioned by religion, had a
fatal influence on the public opinion and the public morals,
is evident from the writings of the heathens, efpecially thofe
of the poets, which abound with the moft difgufting obfceni-
ties. One of the moft admired eclogues of Virgil, who is
efteemed the chafteft of the Roman poets, celebrates the love
of a man to a boy, and the only remaining, and much ad-
mired poem, of the Greek poetefs Sappho, defcribes that of a
woman to a woman, which is an abundant confirmation of
what to us appears moft incredible in the apoftle Paul's repre-
fentation of the depravity of the Gentile world. And with
the dilbelief of revelation v;e find in fa«5l, that the juft abhor-
rence which all the Chriftian world entertain for thefe un-
natural vices difappears; a proof of which might be given in
fome well authenticated anecdotes of the late king of Pruflia,.
but not to be related in this place.

was

94 THE EVIDENCES OF

was to fhew the abfurdity of the popular
worfhip ; but this is in the higheft degree
improbable. Indeed, nothing which fhould
have been fufpefted to have that tendency-
would have been borne with, and they
who made the greateft account of thefe
myfteries where the moft devoted to the
popular fuperftitions. The moft probable
opinion is, that whatever was the original
intention of thefe private myfteries, they
became a fcene of fuch exhibitions and
praftices, as were worfe than any that
were tranfadled in public.

Socrates, the moft moral of all the
heathen philofophers, and the leaft attached
to the vulgar fuperftition, would never be
initiated into thefe myfteries. In the time
of Cicero the very term myfteries was al-
moft fynonymous to abominations y and we
may well fuppofe what the nature of
them muft have been when it is known
that they were celebrated in the night;
in honour of Bacchus, Venus, or Cupid,
and that indecent images were carried in
proceffion in them, fo that they could not

fail

REVEALED RELIGION. 55

fail to countenance that impurity, and dif-
folutenefs of manners, which was fo general
m tlie Pagan world. To thefe myftehes
it is moft probable that Paul refers, when
he fays, Ephef. v. 12. It is a Jhame even to
[peak of thofe things with are done by them in
fecret. Clemens Alexandrinus called thefe
myfteries, '* the myfteries of atheiftical
men," adding, ** I may rightly call them
** atheifts, who are deftitute of theknow-
*^ ledge of him who is truly God, and who
*^ moft impudently worfliip a boy torn in
*^ pieces by the Titans, women lamenting,
*^ and the parts which modefty forbids
*^ to name." A Roman conful difcover-
ed . that ^^ the Bacchanalian myfteries
** confifted of fuch things as the moft un-
'*' bounded proftitution could exhibit in
^^ private and no diurnal aflemblies, that no
*' perfon could be initiated into them
** without renouncing his modefty, while
*' the priefts who prefided over them pre-
'^ fcribed in public, to thofe who were to
** be admitted to them, a ten days
'' abftinence." Conftantine, who forbrd

the

g6. - THE EVIDENCES OF

the pradife of fodomy in the rehgious
rites of the Egyptians, forbad all fecret
rites of initiation in all the Roman empire.
But there is no occafion to pry into the
fecret myfteries of the heathen religion
for fcenes fufficiently fhocking to decency.
Public games and plays, in which the fla-
gitious adlions of the heathen gods were
reprefented, were always confidered as afts
of religion, and celebrated in their honour,
though fome of the wifer of the antients
were afhamed of thefe exhibitions. Cicero,
fpeaking of the adulteries of Jupiter, his
ravilhing the boy Ganymede, and carry-
ing him oif to be his cup-bearer, fays
*^ Homer feigned thefe things, and afcrib-
*' ed human aftions and qualities to the
*' gods. I had rather that he had raifed
*^ man to the imitation of what is divine."
It. is not, however, true that Homer in-
vented thofe ftories. He only introduced
into his poems what was generally believed
in his time. ^^ The fame gods," fays
Auftin, " that were ridiculed on the thea-
** tre, were adored in the temples." And

what

REVEALED RELIGION ^7

what is particularly remarkable, is that
worfe things were afcribed to gods of the
greateft dignity, as Jupiter, than to any
of an inferior rank. Such was the rehgion
which Voltaire reprefents as perfedly in-
nocent, with refpeft to its moral ten-
dency.

Some of the rites of the antient hea-
then religions, which were not remarkable
for their cruelty or lewdnefs, confifted of
fuch inftances of favage ferocity and ex-
travagance, as are not eafily accounted for.
But whatever was the caufe that led to
fuch rites, the faBs that 1 fliall mention
are unqueftionable, and perhaps fuch per-
fons as Voltaire would not have been fhock-
ed, but only amufed, with them.

When the fun entered Aries, at the
time of the vernal equinox, the Egyptians
celebrated a feftival in honour of the fun,
when perfons of both fexes counterfeited
madnefs, ran about the ftreets, and alfo
up hills, and through deferts, pulling in
pieces, the carcafes of the animals they
facrificed, breaking their bones, and eat-
ing

98 THE EVIDENCES OF

ing the flefli raw with the blood running
out of their mouths, and committing every
fort of extravagance. From Egypt this
rite paffed into Greece. At Chios, and
alfo at Tenedos, they facrificed a man,
whom they tore in pieces in this manner.
Plutarch, fpeaking of thefe things, fays
^ Thefe feftivals and direful facrifices,

* which are celebrated with eating raw

* flelh, torn with men's nails, as others

* in which men faft, and beat their breads,
^ were not, I think, performed on the
' account of any of the gods; but rather

* to mollify and appeafe the fury of fome

* evil demon. For it is not probable that
' there ever was a god, who required
^ men to be facrificed to him, as ha^

* been antiently done, or received fuch
^ facrifices with approbation.' But Plu-
tarch, from his own better reafon thought
too favourably of the religion of his an-
ceftors.

In the Omophagia, which was a feftival
of the Greeks in honour of Bacchus, the
priefts tore with their teeth, and devoured,

the

REVEALED RELIGION. ^^

the entrails of the goats which they facri-
fice, raw and reeking, in imitation of
their god. And the Lupercalia, one of
the moft antient of the Roman feftivals,
in honour of the god Pan, was celebrated
by the priefts running about the ftreets,
naked, all but the middle, and ftriking
all they met, and efpecially women, with
thongs made of the ikins of the goats,
which they facrificed. And the women,
thinking there was great virtue in thofe
lalhings, rather threw themfelves in their
way than avoided them.

What a ftriking contraft with refpecl
to all the things I have enumerated do we
fee between the religious rites of the hea-
thens, and thofe prefcribed to the Hebrews,
in none of which is there any thing that
favours of cruelty, immorality, or inde-
cency ; and yet Voltaire is ever loading
the religion of the Jews with every term
of reproach, and apologizing for that of
the heathens.

The proper parent of all fuperftition,
and falfe rehgion, is, as I have obferved

imorancc

loo THE EVIDENCES OF

ignorance of nature , and the true caufes of
events ; and men being naturally anxious
about the good or evil that may befal them,
not knowing, their true caufes, but afcrib-
ing every thing to fome caufe or other,
v^ere led, from circumftances v^hich it is im-
poflible at this diftance of time to trace, to
fix upon caufes entirely foreign to the pur-
pofe. But though their opinions, and fome
of the praftices derived from them, cannot
nov^ be mentioned without exciting a fmile
of contempt, they were ferious things in
times of antiquity , and to have laughed at
them then would have coft a man dear.

When the fun, and his emblem fire,
were the principal objects of worfhip, it
w^as imagined that no child would live or
thrive, that was not made to pafs through
the fire, and therefore the drawing them
over lighted ftraw, or any kind of flame
that w^ould not materially injure them,
was deemed a neceflary rite of religion.
This we find pradifed by the Ifraelites, in
imitation of their neighbours, during their
defection from their own religioa. Thus

we

REVEALED RELIGION. lot

we read concerning ManafTeh Chr. xxxiii.
10. that he caufed his children to pafs through
the fire^ in the valley of the f on ofUinnom, as alfo
that he obferved times, ufedinchantments, and dealt
with a familiar fpir it , and wizards, all which
praftices were of heathen origin, and de-
ferve to be particularly noticed.

The obferving times, or diftinguifhing
days into the lucky and unlucky, when
they cannot have any real influence on
the bufinefs tranfa6led in them, was a very
antient heathen fuperftition, and even
continues to this day, though one of the
remains of heathenifm, in moft Chriflian
countries.

Lucian, a heathen philofopher, fpeak-
ing of unlucky days, fays *' on them neither
*^ do the magiftrates meet to confult about
^* public affairs, neither are law fuits de-
*' cided in the hall, nor facrificcs offered,
*' nor in fine any fort of bufinefs under-
^' taken, in which a man would wifli
*' himfelf fortunate." He fays that Ly-
curgus the great Lacedemonian lawgiver
made it it a fundamental inftitution of go-
vernment

102 THE EVIDENCES OF

vernmeiit, never to enter upon any warlike
expedition, but when the moon was at the
full ; being of opinion that all things were
under the influence of the moon, and that
neither would their forces abroad aft
with fufficient vigour and fuccefs, nor
would their affairs at home be fo well
condufted, in the increafe, as in the de-
creafe, of that planet. The emperor
Auguflus was fo much a flave to this
fuperftition, that he never went abroad on
the day after the nundiiu, on which the
public markets were held, nor did he begin
any ferious undertaking on the nones of any
month. Ambrofe fays that the firft con-
verts from heathenifm were much addifted
to thefe obfervances.

What is called witchcrafty which is
another of the fuperftitious praftices to
which Manaffeh was addifted, was very
common among the heathens. It con-
fided in the invocation of demons, in order
to produce by incantation, charms, medi-
cated compofitions of herbs, &c. the moft
furprifing effefts. This art Maimonides

fays

REVEALED RELIGION. 103

fays was much pradifed by the Zabii, and
the Chaldeans : and it was very common
among the Egyptians, and Cannanites.

None of thefe magical operations could
be performed without a regard to the
ftars. For they held that every plant
had its governing ftar. With the hea-
thens, therefore, thefe magical practices
were a£ls of religion. By this means
they believed that the demons were fub-
je6l to them. In the antient heathen
religions the moft extraordinary effeds,
efpecially of the mifchevious kind, were
afcribed to charms, and talifmans, but it
was fuppofed that they might be counter-
adted by more potent charms, though
alike infignificant. A fuperllitious perfon,
fays Theophraftus, if he fees a weafcl crofs
his path, goes no farther, till fome other
perfon goes before hiip, or till he has
thrown three ftones acrofs the way. Many
of thefe things, though abfurd in the
extreme, made fo deep an impreifion on
the minds of the heathens, that it was
with great difficulty that they were brought

to

104 THE EVIDENCES OF

to difregard them when they embraced
Chriftianity.

It might be hiiagined that thefe idle
notions and cuftoms were pecuUar to the
vulgar among the heathens, but they were
regularly praftifed by the graveft ma-
giftrates of the wifeft flates in antiquity.
For in fafl; when thofe ftates were con-
flituted, the legiflators themfelves were
not, in thefe relpefts, more knowing than
the reft of the people. When any great
public calamity was to be averted at Rome,
the fir ft magiftrate went in folemn pro-
ceffion, and drove a nail of brafs into the
temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. This was
deemed to be the moft effedual method
of appeafing the anger of the gods.

The greateft ftrefs was laid by the an-^
tients on folemn imprexations^ as we fee in the
cafe of Balak, king of Moab, who at a
great expence, fent for the prophet Balaam
to curfe Ifrael. For the curfes of prophets
and priefts, were thought to be the moft
efficacious. Hence it was cuftomary for
men condemned for any notorious crime

to

REVEALED RELIGION. 105

to be publicly curfed by the priefts. It
was alfo often done from particular en-
jnity and faftion. Thus when Craflus the
Roman triumvir undertook his famous ex^
pedition agaiaft the Parthians, hi$ opponent
Ateius Capito, the tribune, running to the
gate of the city through which he pafied,
placed there vefTels full of burning coals,
on which he offered odours and oblations
and then he pronounced the moft direful
curfes againft him as he w^nt along.

Prying into futurity was always a great
objedl in the religion of the heathens; and
from their ignorance of nature, they ima-
gined that the gods, who were the rulers
of the fates of men, gave indications of
future events by various figns, which it
was the bufinefs of the priefts to ftudy.
This was the art of divination.

Divination was moft commonly made
by facrifices, and efpecially by the obfer-
vation of the entrails, and more particu-
larly the livers, of the viftims. This
among the Romans was a fcicnce of itfelf,
and a diftind order of priefts, called Ha-

N rufpicef

.io6 THE EVIDENCES OF

nifpiceSy were appointed to the ftudy and
practice of it. Another folemn divination
was by the obfervation of the flight of birds,
and this was the bufinefs of another order
of priefts, called Augurs ; and unlefs their
reports were favourable, no public bufinefs
could be tranfafted. A peculiarly folemn
rite of this kind called taking the aiifpices,
was by obferving the manner in which
a coop of poultry, which was kept for the
purpofe, eat their food. If they did it
heartily, the omen was thought to be fa-
fourable, if otherwife, unfavourable; and
fo much were the minds of the Roman
foldiers imprelTed by this circumftance, that
no prudent general would riik an engage-
ment with the enemy, till the augurs made
a favourable report.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
did not undertake his expedition againft
Jerufalem without firft confulting the gods,
according to the rites of divination prac-
tifed in his time, though we know but
little of them at prefent. Thus we read,
Ez, xxi. 21. The king of Babylon flood at the

parting

REVEALED RELIGION. 107

parting of the way, at the head of the two
waySy to ufe divination. He made his arrozvs
bright y he confulted with images , he looked in
the liver. At his right hand was the divination
for Jerufalem, to appoint captains, to open the
mouth in the /laughter, to lift up the voice with
flouting, to appoint battering rams againft ihs
gates, to caft a mount, and to build a fort.

It "were endlefs to enumerate all the
various modes of divination praftifed by
the antient heathens, as by lots, by ominous
words and things, &c. with allufions to
which the Greek and Roman writers
abound, fo that they are well known to
every fchool-boy. But one of the moft
extraordinary and direful of thefe modes
of divination, that by having recourfe to
the dead, I muft briefly mention. This
was the ferious art of necromancy, to which
Manafleh was faid to have been addided ;
and to this king Saul had recourfe in his
diftrefles. Thus alfo UlyfTes is reprefented
by Homer as facrificing a black fheep in a
ditch, and after pouring libations, inviting
the ghoft of Tirefias and others to drink of

N 2 the

io8 • TH:e evidences OF

the blood, in order to their anfwering the
queftions that would be put to them.

Similar to this was the having to do with

familiar fpirits, and wizards, with which

Manafleh is likewife charged ; for the an-

fwers received by this means are repre-

fented as feeming to come from under the

ground, the place of the dead ; as we read

If. viii. 19. Seek unto them that have f ami-

Uar fpirits, and unto wizards y that peep and

that mutter y and If. xxix. 4. Thou Jhalt be

brought down, and fball fpeak out of the ground y

and thy fpeech fall whijper out of the duji.

Sometimes the perfons who pretended to

this art feemed to Ipeak out of their own

Jbellies. Of this kind Maimonides fays is

•the oracle of Pytho. '^ He is one," he

fays, *' who after a kind of fumigation,

*' flourifhes a myrtle rod in his hand, and

'^ pronounces certain fet words of in-

*' chantment. Then he feems to confultone

** who is talking with him, and anfwers

*' his queftions, as it were from under the

** ground, with fo low a voice, that he

'^cannot

REVEALED RELIGION. 109

** cannot diflindlly hear it, but muft col-
<^ led: the meaning by his imagination."

Thus have I endeavoured to give you
a general idea of the nature of the hea-
then religion, as it was praftifcd in the
earlieft ages, and indeed as it continued,
with little or no improvement, till the
promulgation of chriftianity. It was not,
you fee, a merely contemptible fuperftition,
founded on the groffeft ignorance of the
laws of nature, but fuch as in the higheft
degree muft have debafed the minds, and
have corrupted the morals, of men. How
juftly is the ftate of the heathen world de-
fcribed by the apoftle Paul in my text,
and other facred writers ; and how remote
from truth, and the appearance of truth,
is the account that Voltaire, and other
unbelievers, out of a defire to difcredit
revelation, have given of it. Surely then
the reftifying thefe fundamental errors,
into which all the world had fallen, with
refpeft to religion, and the putting an end
to praftices fo debafmg to the human
charafter, and fo deftruvSlive of human

happinefs.

I TO REVEALED RELIGION.

happinefs, was an objeft not unworthy of
the great parent and friend of mankind.

That there was rio profpetSl of men, by
any ufe they could make of their own
reafon, recovering from this deplorable
ignorance and corruption, was evident
by the experience of three thoufand years,
in which, though many parts of the world
became enlightened in other refpefts, they
grew, if polfible, more confirmed in their
attachment to their religions received from
their anceftors ; continuing to believe,
notwithftanding the ftrongeft appearances
to the contrary, tliat the profperity of
their feveral ftates, and even the fertility
of the ground, depended upon the obferv-
ance of their particular rites. And there-
fore as foon as the heathen magiftrates
faw the rapid fpread of chriftianity, and
the danger to which their antient religions
were expofed in confequence of it, they
employed all their power to fupprefs
it, perfecuting the profeflbrs of the new
religion in every form, though happi-
ly in vain. Truth, fupported by clear

evidence,

REVEALED RELIGION. m

evidence, could not be overcome by
power.

That nothing lefs than repeated inter-
pofitions of the deity could have preferved
any part of the human race from this Ihock-
ing idolatry, fo deftruftive of virtue and
of happinefs, is particularly evident from
the hiftory of all the nations defcended
from Abraham, whofe founders were, no
doubt, infl:ru6led by him in the knowledge
and worlhip of the one true God, and who
notwithftanding this, all became idolaters.
This was the cafe with the Arabs, defcended
from Ilhmael, and other fons of that great
patriarch, though in the time of Job, who
was probably prior to Mofes, fome of them
were not fo. This was alfo the cafe with
the Edomites, though defcended from
Ifaac, and of the Moabites and Ammonites,
defcended from Lot, the friend and com-
panion of Abraham. There muft, there-
fore, have been fome thing exceedingly
fafcinating and plaufible in the fyftems of
heathen worihip, though to us, who have
been enlightened by revelation, nothing

appears more abfurd and ihocking.

But

112, THE EVIDENCES OF

But when the world by its own wifdom knew
not God, it pleafed God, as the apoftle fays,
I Cor. i. 21, by the foolijhnefs of preaching, i. e.
by the gofpel (which at its firft publication
was ridiculed ajs foolifh by thofe who were
reputed wife) to efFeft a reformation. And
to this day there has not been any refor-
mation of the moft abfurd of the heathen
religions, but by means of the gofpel.
All that Mahometanifm has done in this
refpeft was by means of the principles
derived from the Jewilh and Chriftian
religions, the truth of which it fuppofes.
Thus was verified the declaration of our
Saviour, Johnxiv. 6. No man cometh to the
father (or attains to the knowledge and
worfhip of the one true God) but by me ; a
moft extraordinary prediction, but abun-
dantly verified by fafts.

Can we then be too thankful to God
for the promulgation of the gofpel which
has not only brougbt life and immortality to
light, by the clear revelation of a future
ftate ; but has freed mankind from the
grofleft ignorance, and fuperftitious addift-
ednefs to innumerable praftices of the moft

hor-

REVEALED RELIGION. 113

rid and abominable nature ; fuch as furnilhed
incentives and opportunity for every vice,
the moft debafing of the cliarafters of men,
and the caufe of infinite mifchiefs to them,
both as individuals, and as members of
fociety. The gofpel, whatever elfe may
be faid of it, has been, if there be any
truth in hiftory, the only, but it has been
an eifeiSual, remedy of thefe great evils ;
while all the evils that have been charo-ed
upon ity are clearly owing to a departure
from its genuine principles, as they are
now to be feen in the New Teftament,
the rife and progrefs of them being invef-
tigated with the greateft eafe and certainty.
And as the reformation advances they are
now every where abated, and may there-
fore be expeded foon to difappear, when
the gofpel will again appear in its purity,
the greateft of bleffings to all the human
race.

DISCOURSE V.

The excellence of the Mofaic injlittitions.

Behold I have taught you ftatutes and judgments, even as
the Lord my God commanded me, that ye fliould do fo in
the land whither ye go to poflefs it. Keep therefore and
do them. For this is your wifdom and underllanding, in
the fight of the nations which fliall hear all thefe ftatutes,
and fay, Surely this great nation is a wife and underftand-
ing people. For what nation is there fo great, who hath
God fo near unto them as the Lord your God is, in all
things that ye call upon him for; and what nation is there
fo great that hath ftatutes and judgments fo righteous, as
all this law which I fet before you this day.

Deut. iv. 5 — 8. *

JlIAVING, in the two preceding
difcourfes, given you a view of the reU-
gions of the antient heathen nations, I fhall
nov/, by way of contraft, give you a fimi-
lar view of that of the Hebrews ; and this
it will be the eafier to do, as the original
records of it are extant in the writings of
Mofes, which were compofed at the time
of its inftitution ; fo that there cannot be

any

REVEALED RELIGION. ,15

any difficulty in diftinguifhing the genuine
principles of this religion from the corrup-
tions and abufes of it. No other nation can
give fuch an account of the origin of their
rehgion. For it is not pretended that any
other has writings coeval with their infli-
tutions. All the accounts of them are
traditional, and their traditions are deriv-
ed from the moft remote antiquity ; fo that
much is neceflarily left to conjefture with
refpeft to them.

The fuperior excellence of the fyftem
of Hebrew religion and policy, for they
had the fame fource, and the moft inti-
mate connexion, is ftrongly afferted by
Mofes in my text. On the other hand,
Voltaire, followed by the generality of
unbelievers, fays, that *' the Jews were
*^ an ignorant and barbarous people, who
** have for a long time joined the bafeft
** avarice to the moft deteftable fuperfti-
** tion. They have done much hurt,"
he fays, *^ to themfelves, and to the hu-
*' man race." This writer had, no doubt,
read the books of Mofes, and the other

books

ii6 THE EVIDENCES OF

books of the Old Teftament, for he fre-
quently quotes them ; but many perfons,
without ever reading thefe books them-
felves, take for granted that what he
fays of them is true. But, my brethren,
be perfuaded to make ufe of your own
eyes, and judge for yourfelves. To affift
you in this, I ihall, as briefly as poffible,
lay before you the moft important particu-
lars of which the inftitutions of Mofes
confift, and occafionally compare them
with particulars of a fimilar nature in the
fyftems of the heathens, which were co-
temporary with them.

In order to throw the greater odium
on the Hebrew nation, Voltaire fays,
*' they were ignorant and barbarous, that
*' they were never famous for any art,
** tliey never were natural philofophers,
'' geometricians, or aftronomers.'' Ad-
mitting this to be the cafe, if there be any
wifdom, or fuperior excellence, in their
religious or political inftitutions, it will be
the more probable that they had fome
other fource than any knowledge of their

own.

REVEALED RELIGION^.

II?

own. But I do not defire to take any
advantage of this ycircumftance.

It, is not true that, in antient times,
the Hebrews were much, if at all, infe-
rior to other nations with refped to the
arts. In the art of war, which, even in
the age of Mofes comprized many other
arts, it will hardly be denied that the
Hebrews, if there was nothing miraculous
in their hiftory, muft have excelled. For
to fay nothing of their emancipating them-
felves from the yoke of the Egyptians,
then the moft warlike people in the world,
when they were wholly unprovided for
the conteft, they completely expelled the
inhabitants of Canaan, ten times more
numerous than themfelves, who had horfes
and chariots of iron, and whofe cities are
faid to have been fenced up to heaven ^ when
they only fought on foot. The whole
land of Cannan was of no great extent,
and yet David conquered, and held in
fubjeftion, all the neighbouring nations ;
and it is probable that they continued tri-
butary to the Ifraelites all the reign of

Solomon.

ii8 THE EVIDENCES OF

Solomon. There are few nations in all
antiquity that can boaft of two fuch princes
as David and Solomon with all their faults.

The conftrUiSlion of the tabernacle in
the time of Mofes, and of the temple in
the time of Solomon, Ihows that tliere
were ingenious artifts among them, as
well as in other countries, and the know-
ledge that any people in thefe early ages
had of real fcience, that is, of the laws of
laature, and the application of that know-
ledge to any ufeful purpofe, was very in-
confiderable. Knowledge of this kind
would have prevented that miferable fu-
perftition, in which, as I have Ihewn, the
antient heathen religion confifted.

As to what is properly called literature^
or the art of writing, and compofing books
no antient nation can pretend to vie with
the Hebrews. We have no account of
any books fo old as thofe of Mofes, and
though there is not in them the leaft ap-
pearance of arty or ftudied compofition,
they are written with that engaging fim-
plicity, which has not yet been exceeded

by

REVEALED RELIGION. ,19

by any writings whatever. The pathos
in the addrefs of Mofes to his nation in
the book of Deuteronomy, written juft
before his death, is inimitable. It is not
poffible to read it, if I may judge of the
feehngs of other perfons by my own,
without the ftrongeft emotions. The in-
cidents in the hiftory of Jofeph were not
the invention of Mofes, but they have loft
nothing in going through his hands. There
is not, in all antiquity, fo affefting a nar-
rative.

With refpeft to the knowledge of hu-
man nature and human life, the Proverbs
of Solomon difcover as much of it as the
fayings of the feven wife men of Greece,
in a much later period ; and for fublimity
of fentiment, and energy of expreffion, the
Pfalms of David, and the writings of Ifai-
ah, and other Hebrew prophets, though
in a language but imperfectly known,
and though they have fufFered more than
any writings whatever by frequent copying
are infinitely fuperior to any poetical coin-
pofitions of the Greeks or Ptoinans in any

age;

J20 THE EVIDENCES OF

age ; efpecially if they be read in profe
tranflatioDS, which is all that we can do
with refpeft to the poetry of the Hebrews,
the meafure of which is now loft. Both
are extant. Let them be compared by
the principles of juft criticifm ; but not by
fo prejudiced a perfon as Voltaire.

The Egyptians had the art of writing
but they had no books of which we have
any certain account. The fame was the
cafe with the Chaldeans. And as to thi
Greeks, they were, in a period long after
the time of Mofes, as barbarous and ig-
norant as the North American Indians at
this day. If we many judge of the antient
Hebrews by the Jews, who are defcended
from them, we muft fay that, with refpefl:
to natural ingenuity, or induftry, they are
far from being inferior to the reft of man^
kind. They are perhaps rather fuperior,
not by nature (for in that refpefl: probably
all mankind are nearly equal) but in con*
fequence of the greater exercife of their
faculties, owing in a great meafure to the
treatment thy have met with from other

nations.

REVEALED PvELIGlON. 121

tions, and the manner in which they are
compelled to provide for their maintenance
among them. In Europe at leaft, a very
filly, or a very idle, Jew could hardly
fubfift.

But without any regard to the people^
let us confider their injlitutions ; and in
doing this we muft endeavour to forget,
or overlook, principles that are familiar
to us Chriftians, and which we derived
from the fcriptures, and attend fimply to
the ftate of the world in the time of Mofes,
and the principles and cuftoms which were
then moft prevalent, and which the Ifrael-
ites themfelves had in a great meafure
adopted while they were in Egypt. Ad-
mitting that Mofes, in confequence of
his having been educated at the court of
Pharoah, was acquainted with all the learn-
ing of the Egyptians, he had no opportu-
nity of acquiring morCy or indeed any
knowledge of a different kind ; and he was
not likely to improve his knowledge of
any kind by living afterwards forty years
among the Arabs, where he married, and

o was ,

122 THE EVIDENCES OF

was fettled; having probably given up all
thoughts of ever returning to Egypt, his
life being in danger if he did.

Notwithftanding this, at the age of
eighty, he did return, and though Egypt
was then in a ftate of its greateft power,
and his countrymen in a ftate of the moft
abjeft fervitude, deftitute of arms or
friends, he effetSed their complete eman-
cipation, in a very few months without
the lofs of a fmgle life, while the Egyp-
tians were fo weakened, or overawed, that,
though the Ifraelites continued many years
in their neighboui'hood, and without any
connexion with other nations, their old
mafters never attempted to get them back
again : and yet on account of the fervice
they had derived from them, they had
been moft unwilling to part with them.
This, however, is a circumftance, which,
though highly favourable to the fuppofition
of there being fomething miraculous in
their deliverance, I only mention by the
way, before I recite the particulars of
thofe inftitutions, which, in their ftate of

emancipation

REVEALED RELIGION. ,23

emancipation from their bondage in Egypt,
and before they had got any other fettle-
ment, Mofes deUvered to them.

In confidering thefe inftitutions, let us
pay no regard to what Mofes fays of
their having been deUvered to him by God,
but only what they are in themfelves, that
we may judge, from the circumftances of
the times, whether it be more probable
that they were devifed by himfelf, or that
they were communicated to him in the
manner that he relates. In this view of
the Mofaic inftitutions I fhall not, however,
ftriflily confine myfelf to what may be
drawn from the writings of Mofes, but
take advantage of the farther lights that
are thrown upon them in other books of
the Old Teftament, the authors of which
had 'no other fources of information. They
are all writt,en on the fame principles, and
in the fame fpirit.

I . You have feen the monftrous polythe-
ifm of all the nations of antiquity. In dired
oppofition to this, the firft, and moft fun-
damental, prmciple in the religion of the
o 2 Plebrews,

124 THE EVIDENCES OF

Hebrews, was that of the unity of God.
The firft of the ten commandments, deU-
vered from mount Smai is (Exodus.
XX. 2.) Thou Jlmlt have no other Gods befides
me. This precept is repeated with the
greateft emphafis through all the writings
of Mofes, and thofe of the fubfequent
prophets. Deut. vi. 4. Hear^ 0 Ifrael^ the
Lord our God is one Lord ; and thou Jloalt love
the Lord thy God with all thine hearty with
all thy foul, and with all thy mindy that is,
with an undivided affeftion, there being
no other legitimate objed of worfhip be-
fides him.

That this principle is a juft one, will
not now be queftioned; but, compared
with the principles and pradlices which
then prevailed in the world, it muft be
pronounced to be not only juft, but alfo
great, and fublime ; being entirely remote
from the apprehenfions of the moft enligh-
tened of mankind in that age. That fuch
an immenfe, and infinitely various, ftruc-
ture as that of the world, or rather what
w^as called the univerfe, confifting of all

the

REVEALED RELIGION. i.^

the vifible objefts in nature, the fyftem of
the fun, moon, and ftars, as well as the
earth and fea, Ihould have had any proper
author, and much more only one author,
that one mind fliould perfeftly comprehend,
and dired, the whole, was utterly incom-
prehenfible by mankpd; and therefore they
had recourfe to a multiplicity of fuperior
beings, each prefiding in his feparate pro-
vince; and hence the idea of the different
charafters and difpofitions, of the heathen
gods, and the varieties in their modes of
worfhipping them. It is in vain that we
look for fuch an idea as Mofes gives of the
Deity, even among the learned Greeks,
two thoufand years after his time, when
they had long been poflefled of leifure,
and every other advantage, for fpecula-
tions concerning the origin of the univerfe,
which was indeed the great objeft of their
philofophy.

2. You have feen in what ftrange
forms the heathens reprefented their divini-
ties, and under what fymbols, as the

figures of animals, and others, they wor-

fhipped

126 THE EVIDENCES OF

ftiipped them, a pra^lice that muft have
fuggefted low and degrading ideas of their
gods. And it adually led to the worfhip
of the animals, and the images themfelves,
divine powers being fuppofed to refide in
them. This was univerfal among the na-
tions that bordered on Judea. The Per-
fians, indeed, who worfhipped the fun,
had no images of their god befides fire ;
but all the nations that the Hebrews in
the time of Mofes, were acquainted with,
were properly idolaters, worfhipping their
gods by means of images in various fliapes,
and the Egyptians the animals themfelves.
This fource of corruption and abufe
was effeftually cut off in the inftitutions of
Mofes. The fecond commandment ex-
prefsly fays, Exod. xx. 4. Thou Jhalt not
make to thee any graven image, or the likenefs
of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is
in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters
tinder the earth. Thou fjalt not bow down to
them nor ferve them. Alfo when Mofes, a
fhort time before his death, reminds the
Ifraelites of what they had feen and heard,

and

REVEALED RELIGION. / j^;

and of their obligation to refped; his laws,
he fays, Deut. iv. 14. When the Lord f pake
to you out of the midft of the fire, ye heard the
voice of the vjords, but ye faw no fimilitude,
ofily ye heard a voice. "Take ye therefore good
heed to your fives, for ye faw no manner offimi-
litude on the day that the Lord fpake to you in
Horeb out of the midft of the fire, left ye cor-
rupt yourfelves, and make you a graven ijnage,
the fimilitude of any figure, the likenefs of male
or female y the likenefs of any be aft that is on the
earth, the likenefs of any winged fovA that flics
in the air^ the likenefs of any thing that creepeth
upon the ground, the likefiefs of any fijlo that is
in the waters under the earth; and left thou lift
up thine eyes imto heaven^ and when thou feeft
the fun, and the moon, and the ftars, even all
the hoft of heaven, which the Lord thy God hath
divided unto all nations under the whole heavens^
fl)oidd he drawn to worftoip and ferve them.

The very idea of an intelligent Being,
immenfe and omnipotent, and Vv^ithout any
definite form, never occurred to any of
the heathens. It is in vain that we look
among their philofophers for any thing

fo

138 THE EVIDENCES OF

fo great and fublime. The leaft degree of
attention will convince us of the greatnefs
and fublimity of it, and yet it was fami-
liar to this /g/^or^/^r and barbarous people as Vol-
taire reprefents the Hebrews to have been.

Thefe great and fplendid objefts, the
fources of light and heat, and, as was
fuppofed, of other beneficial influences,
which were the primary objefts of worlhip
to other nations, Mofes always defcribed
as having been created by the one fupreme
God, as well as the earth, which was
another great obje£l of worlhip to the
heathen world. According to the jufl: and
fublime defcription of the writers of the
Old Teftament, all things are fubjed to
the controul of this one great Being,
Dan. iv. 35. He doth whatever he pleafes in
the armies of heaven above, as well as among
the inhabitants of the earth beneath. Heaven
is the throne, and the earth the footftool
of God.

According to the principles of the
wifeft of the heathen nations, matter, if
not the world itfelf, with all the vifible

fyftem

REVEALED RELIGION. 129

lyftem of things was eternal, and the gods
who were the objefts of the popular wor-
Ihip, arofe out of it, and of courfe after
it. For the idea they had received by
tradition of one God having created all
things, was foon loft and forgotten, fo that
he was no objeft of their worfliip at all.

The fupremacy of this one God, as
the author, and lord, of univerfal nature,
is declared in the moft emphatical terms
on a variety of occafions in the Hebrew
fcriptures. On a folemn faft, after the
return from the Babylonifh captivity,
we find an addrefs made to God, in
which they fay, Neh. ix. 5. Blejjed he thy
glorious fiame, which is exalted above all blef-
fing and praife. ThoUy even thoUy art Lord
alone. Thou hajl made the heaven, and the
heaven of heavens, with all their hojis, the
earthy and all things that are therein, the fea,
and all that is therein, and thou prefervefi them
all, and all the hojl of heaven worflnp thee.
Do fuch fentiments as thefe, and fuch lan-
guage as this, befpeak the Hebrews to
have been that ignorant, barbarous, and

fuperftitious.

r30 THE EVIDENCES OF

fuperftitious nation, that Voltaire defcribes
tliem as having always been ?

3. Let us now fee what are faid to
have been the attributes of this one God,
the fole obje£l of worfhip to the Hebrew
nation, according to their own writings.
The objefts of the worlhip of the hea-
then nations, we have feen, were ac-
cording to themfelves, all limited in their
knowledge and powers, and indeed by
one another, one of them being occupied
in this province, and another in that.
But the God of the Hebrews is always
reprefented as omnipotent, omniprefent,
and omnifcient.

According to the fublime language of the
prophet Ifaiah (xl. 12.) It is he who has mea-
fired the waters in the hollovj of his hand^ who
has meted out the heavens with afpan^ and com-
prehended the diijl of the earth in a meafure,
hath weighed the mountains in fcalesy and the
hills in a balance. Who, fays he, has direBed
the fpirit of the Lord, or being his counfellor has
taught him ? With whom took he counfely and
who inJlruBed him, and taught him knowledge,

and

REVEALED RELIGION. 13,

and Jhewed him the way of underfianding ? Be-
hold, the nations are as the drop of a bucket ^
and are cowtted as the fmall dufl of the balance.
Beholdy he taketh tip the ijles as a very little
thing. All nations before him are as nothinor,
and they are counted to him as lefs than nothings
and vanity. To whom then will ye liken Gody
or what likenefs will ye compare unto him ? Have
ye not known ^ have ye not heard ^ has it. not been
told you fro7n the beginning ? It is he that
fitteth upon the circle of the heavens ^ and the
inhabitants of the earth are as grafoppers^ who
flretcheth out the heavens as a curtain y and
fpreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in. Haft
thou not knovMty hafi thou not heard, that the
everlajiing God, the Lord, the creator of the
ends of the earth, fainteth not neither is weary?
There is no fearching of his under ft andi?ig.

What a fublime idea doth Solomon
give of the attributes of God, on occafion
of the dedication of the temple, i Kings
viii. 27. But will Cod indeed dwell on earth ?
Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens,
cannot contain thee. Hozv much Icfs this houfe
which I have built? In the prophet Jere-
miah,

132 THE EVIDENCES OF

miah, the divine Being is reprefented as
faying, Am I a God at hand, and not a God
afcir off? Can any perfon hide himfelf in fecret
places that I cannot find him? faith the Lord.
Do I not fill heaven and earth? fiiith the Lord.
The fecrets of the hearts of men are re-
prefented as known to God. Jer. xvii. 9.
/ the Lord fear ch the heart , I try the reins , even
to give to every man according to his %vaySy and
according to the fruit of his doings.

Where Ihall we find in any of the
Greek or Latin poets fuch an idea of any
of the heathen gods as David gives us of
the God of the Hebrews in the cxxxix.
Pfalm ? 0 Lord thou haft fearched me, and
known me. Thou knovjeft my down fittingy
and my uprifing. Thou underftandeft my thoughts
afar off. Thou compaffeft my path, and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my
ways. For there is not a word in my tongue
hut loy . 0 Lordy thou knoweft it altogether.
Thou haft hefet me behind and before, and haft
laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is
too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot at-
tain unto it. Whither ft?all I go from thy fpirity

or

REVEALED RELIGION 133

or whither Jlmll I flee from thy prefence ? If
I afcend up into heaven ^ thou art there. If I
make my bed in the grave y behold thou art there.
If I take the wings of the mornings or dwell in
the uttermoft parts ofthefea, even there fait thy
hand lead me, and thy right hand fall hold me.
If I fay y furely the darknefs fall cover fne^
even the nightfall be light about me. Tea^ the
darknefs hideth not fro7n thee^ but the night
fineth as the day. The darknefs and the day
are both alike to thee.

The abfurdity of the heathen worfhip,
and the vain pretenfions of the heathen
gods, are finely ridiculed by the Hebrew
prophets. Ifaiah, foretelling the deftruc-
tion of Babylon, a city peculiarly devoted
to the worfhip of idols, fays, chap. xlvi. i.
*' Bel boweth down, Nebo floopeth.
^' Their idols were upon the beafts, and
*^ upon the cattle, your carriages were
*^ heavy laden, they are a burden to the
*^ weary beafl. They floop, they bow
*^ down together, they could not deliver
** the burden, but themfelves are gone
*« into captivity." Jeremiah exprefTes

equal

134 THE EVIDENCES OF

equal contempt of them, when he fays
chap. viii. i. ^' Thus faith the Lord, Learn

* not the ways of the heathen, and be

* not difmayed at the figns of heaven,

* for the heathen are difmayed at them.
< For the cuftoms of the people are vain.

* For one cutteth a tree out of the foreft

* (the work of the hand of the workman,)

* with the ax. They deck it with filver

* and with gold, they fallen it with nails

* and with hammers, that it move not.

* They are upright as the palm-tree, but

* fpeak not. They mull needs be borne,

* becaufe they cannot go. Be not afraid
^ of them, for they cannot do evil, nei-

* ther is it in them to do good. Foraf-

* much as there is none like unto thee, O
^ Lord. Thou art great, and thy name
' is great in might. Who would not fear

* thee, O King of nations, for to thee doth
^ it appertain.

4. Confidering the Ihockingly cruel and
abominable cuftoms of the heathens, we
do not wonder that fuch worlhip as theirs
was moft ftridly forbidden o the Ifrael-

ites.

REVEALED RELIGION. 135

ites. Indeed, to preferve in the world the
knowledge and worfliip of the one true
God, was the great objeft of the inlH-
tutionsof Mofes; and a greater and more
worthy object cannot be conceived. In
the direftions that Mofes gives his coun-
trymen, how they fliouid conduft them-
felves in the land of Canaan, he fays,
Deut. xii. 2. * And ye fhall utterly de-

* ftroy all the places wherein the nations

* that ye fhall poffefs ferved their gods,

* upon high mountains, and upon hills, and

* under green trees. And ye fhall over-
^ throw their altars, and break their pillars,

* and burn their groves with fire. And

* ye fhall hew down the graven images of

< their gods, and deftroy the names of

< them out of their places.' No idolater
was permitted to live in the country of
the Hebrews, which was appropriated to
the worfhip of the one true God ; and
every Jew conforming to the heathen wor-
fliip was to be put to death without mer-
cy. It is to be obferved, however, that
the Ifraelices were not direfted to propa-
gate

136 THE EVIDENCES OF

gate their religion by the fword, and com-
pel other nations to conform to their wor-
fhip. Their conquefts, and the extirpation
of idolatrous worfliip were confined to the
boundary of the land of Canaan, the coun-
try promifed by God to Abraham. Ac-
cordingly when David, who had more
zeal for his religion than any of the kings
of Ifrael, conquered all the neighbouring
nations, he did not compel any of them
to change their religion for his..

5. The characters of the principal of
the heathen gods we have feen to have
been ftained with vices of the groffeft kind,
and the moft abominable rites were prac-
tifed in their groves, and the temples
themfelves, as peculiarly proper for their
worfliip. The reverfe of every thing of
this kind is always reprefented by Mofes,
and the prophets, as the difpofition of
the God of the Hebrews. Nothmg of
impurity, or indecency, was admitted in-
to his worfhip. Nay the great objeft of
the whole fyftem of the Hebrew religion
was to form men to the perfeftiou of mo-
ral

REVEALED RELIGION. 137

ral charafter, and all the rites and cere-
monies of it are conftantly faid to be
wholly infignificant without this. Be ye
holy.y fays Mofes, Lev. xix. 2. for the Lord
your God is holy.

When the Pfalmift difcribes the cha-
rafter of the man who was acceptable to
God, and fit to be admitted to his prefence,
he fays, (Pfalm i.) xv. Lord^ who Jl?all abide
in thy tabernacle^ who Jhall dwell in thy holy
hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh
righteoufnefsy and fpeaketh the truth in his
heart. On the other hand, vice and wick-
ednefs is always reprefented as the great,
and indeed the fole, objecS of his difplea-
fure. There is no peace, fays God, to the
wicked. If. vi. 22.

The infignificance of all merely ritual
obfervances, in which the whole of the
heathen religion confided, compared with
moral virtue, is expreffed in the moft em-
phatical manner by feveral of the facred
writers,^ as If. i. 11. * To what purpofe is
* the multitude of your facrifices to me,
« faith the Lord? I am full of the burnt-
p ^ offerings

138 THE EVIDENCES OF

* offerings of rams, and the fat of fed
Vbeafts, and I delight not in the blood of

* bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

* When ye come to appear before me,

* who hadi required this at your hand, to

* tread my courts. Bring no more vain
' oblations. Incenfe is an abomination unto

* me. The new moons, and fabbaths,

* the calling of affemblies, I cannot away

* with. It is iniquity, even the folemn
^ meeting. Your new moons, and your

* appointed feafts, my foul hateth. They

* are a trouble unto me, I am weary to

* bear them. And when ye Ipread forth

* your hands, I will hide mine eyes from

* you, yea when ye make many prayers

* I will not hear. Your hands are full of

* blood. Wafh ye, make you clean, put

* away the evil of our doings from be-

* fore mine eyes, ceafe to do evil, learn
' to do well, feek judgment, relieve the

* opprefled, judge the fatherlefs, plead for

* the widow. Com.e now and let us rea-

* fon together faith the Lord, though your
' fms be as fcarlet, they fliall be as white

' as

REVEALED RELIGION. 139

' as fnow, though they be red like ciiai-

* fon, they fhall be as wool.'

'Wherewith,' faith Micah, ch. vi, 6.

* fliall I come before the Lord, and bow

* myfelf before the high God. Shall I come
' before him with burut offerings, with
' calves of a year old? will the Lord be
' pleafed with thoufands of rams, or ten

* thoufands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my
' firft born for my tranfgreffion, the fruit of

* my body for the fm of my foul? He hath

* Ihewed thee, O man, what is good, and
^ what doth the Lord require of thee, but

* to do juftly, to love mercy, and to walk

* humbly with thy God.' Paffages equal-
ly excellent, and as purely moral as thefe,
abound in the fcriptures of the Old Tefta-
ment.

6. The pubhc feftivals of the heathen
gods were feafons of rioting and lewdnefs,
but thofe of the Ifraelites were fcencs of
innocent rejoicing, joined with afl:s of de-
votion, which are by no means incompati-
ble with it ; and every thing relating to
the fervice of the tabernacle and the tem-

p z pie,

I40 THE EVIDENCES OF

pie, was conduced with the greateft
regard to decency; while the utmoft ab-
horrence is exprefled for the horrid cuftoms
of the heathens. * Thou fhalt not/ fays
Mofes, Deut. xii. 29. * inquire after their

* gods, faying how did thofe nations ferve
^ their gods, even fo will I do likewife.
^ Thou flialt not do fo unto the Lord

* thy God. For every abomination to the

* Lord, that he hateth, have they done

* unto their gods. For even their fons and
^ their daughters have they burned In the

* fire to their gods.' And yet this very
thing, which is here mentioned as the
greateft enormity in the worlhip of the
heathens, viz. human facrifices, Voltaire
fays was praftifed in that of the Jews. Is
it poffible for effrontery to go farther than
this? (except indeed his maintaining that
the Jews were canibals, and fed on human
flefh) while without any evidence, but his
own, and contrary to every reprefentatioa
of the fafts by heathen writers themfelves,
he fpeaks of the heathen feftivals as mere
feafons of perfedly innocent feftivity. But,

juftly

REVEALED RELIGION. ,41

juftly or unjuftly, every thing not Jewifh
muft be harmlefs, and their rehgion muft
be, as he calls it, a detejlahk fuperjlition,

7. While the religion of the Hebrews
was free from every ftain of impurity, it
contained nothing of unneceflary auflerity.
It had no painful rite, except that of cir-
cumcifion, which being performed on chil-
dren of eight days old, who can have no
apprehenfion of the thing before hand, and
whofe wounds foon heal, is a very trifling
inconvenience. The Hebrews had only
one faft, and that of no more than a fingle
day in the year, but three feftivals of fome
continuance.

In the principal of the heathen fefti-
vals there was fir ft a folemn mourning, all
the people performing whatever was cuf-
tomary at funerals, or in feafons of great
calamity. They tore their hair, ihaved
their heads, and mangled their flefh. But
the Ifraelites w^ere exprefsly forbidden to
do any of thofe things, Deut. xiv, i . * Ye
* are the children of the Lord your God,
^ Ye Ihall not cut yourfelves, nor make any

^ baldnefs

14S THE EVIDENCES OF

* baldnefs between your eyes for the dead,

* (that is for idolatrous ufes) for ye are an

* holy people to the Lord your God.'
Thefe directions had no view to private
mournings, for on thofe occafions they al-
ways did thefe very things, but to the
worlhip of God.

It was the cuftom of the heathens to
imprint on their fkin various indelible
marks, being figures and charafters ex-
prefFive of their devotednefs to their gods,
which muft have been a painful operation.
But this was alfo forbidden to the He-
brews, Lev. xix. 27. Te fiall not make
any cuttings in your fiejlo for the dead,
nor print any marks upon yoUy I am the
Lord.

8. If the extreme of aufterity was
with fo much care avoided in the Hebrew
inftitutions, that of fenfual indulgence was
avoided with more. Every incentive to
lewdnefs, which was encouraged, and
openly pra6tifed, in the heathen temples,
was far removed from the worlliip of Je-
hovah. The heathens were fond of wor-

fliipping

REVEALED RELIGION. ,43

fliipping on the tops of mountains, and in
groves, in which every fpecies of abomi-
nation was committed; and for this reafon
both were forbidden in the Hebrew wor-
fhip, Deut. xvi. 21. 'Thou fhalt not plant

* thee a grove near to the altar of the

* Lord thy God, which thou fhalt make
^ unto him.'

In the rites of fome of the heathen
deities men were habited like women, and
women like men. This was more efpeci-
ally the cafe in the worfliip of Venus.
This manner of worfliip was alfo common
among the Syrians, and Africans, and
thence it pafled into Europe, the Phoeni-
cians having brought it to Cyprus. In a
rehgious rite of the Argives, Plutarch fays
the women were clothed like men, and
men like women. But in the laws of
Mofes it is faid, Deut. xxii. 5. The wo-
man Jloall not wear that which appertaineth
unto man, neither JJoaU a man put on a wo-
man^s garment. For all that do Jo are an

abomination to the Lord thy God.

You

144 THE EVIDENCES OF

You have feen that the heathens had
places adjoining to their temples, in which
both men and women proftituted them-
felves in honour of their deities, and to
augment the revenues of the place. With
a view, no doubt, to this abominable
cuftom, the Hebrews were commanded
to avoid thefe praftices. Lev. xix. 9.
Do 720t projlittite thy daughter y to caufe her
to be a whore y teji the land fall into whore-
dom, and the land become full of ivicked-
nefs. Te ftiall keep my fabbaths, and re-
verence my fanBuaryy I am the Lord your
God.

9. A fuperftitious refpefl: for the hea-
then temples and altars made them afylums
for all kinds of criminals, and it was deem-
ed the greateft aft of impiety to take any
perfon from thence, whatever his guilt
had been, and however clear the proof of
it. But this was not the cafe in the reli-
gion of the Hebrews, which Voltaire re-
prefents as the extreme of the moll detef-
table fuperftition. Ex. xxi. 12. He that
fmiteth a man fo that he die, JImll furely

be

\

REVEALED RELIGION. 145

be put to death* If a man lie not in ivait,
but God deliver him into his handy then
will I appoint thee a place whither he Jhall
flee. But if a man come prefumptuoiijly
upon his neighbour y and flay him with guiky
thou foalt take him from mine altar , that be
may die. Where then do we find the pro-
per charafters of fuperftition, and where
are thofe of good policy, and good fenfe.

DISCOUPxSE VI.

The excellence of the Mofaic Injlimtions.

Behold I have taught you ftatutes and judgments, even as
the Lord my God commanded me^ that ye Ihould do fo in
the land whither ye go to pofTefs it. Keep therefore and
do them. For this is your wifdom and under/landing, in
the fight of the nations which ftiall hear all thefe ftatutes,
and fay, Surely this great nation is a wife and underftand-
ing people. For what nation is there fo great, who hath
God fo near unto them as the Lord your God is, in all
things that ye call upon him for; and what nation is there
fo great that hath ftatutes and judgments fo righteous, as
all this law which I fet before you this day.

Deut. iv. 5—8.

1 N my laft Difcourfe I began to give
you a general view of the religious inftitu-
tions of Mofes, correfponding to that
w^hich, in two preceding Difcourfes, I
gave you of the religion of the heatheus,
to which they were oppofed: in order to
enable you to judge whether it was pro-
bable that the former were devifed by

men.

THE EVIDENCES, &c. 147

men, or were of divine origin. You have
feen that, in a variety of important re-
fpefts, the rehgion of the Hebrews, faid
by unbehevers to be a barbarous and fu-
perftitious people, had dodlrines and rites
infinitely fuperior to thofe of the heathens.
I particularly mentioned the great doc-
trine of the Scriptures concerning the
unity of God, in oppofition to the multi-
plicity of heathen deities, his being reprc-
fented as having no definite form, fo as to
be worfhipped under any image, his attri-
butes of creating and governing the world,
his omniprefence, omnifcience, and infinite
wifdom, the perfeftion of his moral cha-
racter, and his making the ftrifteft virtue
the great end of his worihip. 1 mention-
ed the decency of all the religious feftivals
of the Hebrews, as the reverfe of the iicen-
tioufnefs encouraged in thofe of the hea
thens, and at the fame time their freedom
from any unnecefTary or painful aufterity,
and the peculiar abhorrence in which hu-
man facrifices, and other rites of the hea-
then worihip were held by the Hebrews.

I alfo

i4.S THE EVIDENCES OF

I alfo obferved that the Hebrew altars af-
forded no afylum for criminals, which
thofe of the heathens conftantly did.

I o. I now proceed to obferve that, where-
as much of the attention of the heathen
nations was taken up witli the fuperftitious
practice of divinatioUy in a great variety of
forms, with witchcraft and necromancy ;
thefe beng effential parts of their religion,
and more ftudied than any other (fo that
at Rome to defpife the eftablilhed auguries
would have been reckoned the extreme of
profanenefs) the Hebrews of all the an-
tient nations, were entirely exempt from
this wretched fuperftition, the offspring of
the moft extreme ignorance, though they
knew no more of philofophy, or the true
caufes of events, than other people. Eve-
ry branch of this fuperftition was ftridtly
forbidden to the Ifraelites, as well as
things of greater enormity. Lev. xix. 26,
'* Neither Ihall ye ufe enchantments, nor
*' obferve times,' Deut. xviii. 10. ^ There
*^ Ihall not be found among you any one
^' that maketh his fon or his daughter to

pafs

REVEALED RELIGION. 14,

*' pafs through the fire, or that ufeth divi-
** nation, or an obferver of times, or an
*^ enchanter^ or a witch, or a charmer, or
** a confulter with familiar fpirits, or a wi-
** zard, or a necromancer. For all that
*^ do thefe things are an abomination unto
** the Lord, and becaufe of thefe abomi-
^' nations the Lord thy God doth drive them
*' out from before thee. Thou ihalt be
*^ perfeft with the Lord thy God. For
*' thefe nations which thou Ihalt poflefs
** hearkned unto obfervers of times, and
** unto diviners ; but as for thee, the Lord
** thy God hath notfufFered thee fotodo.*
Is this any mark of the deteftable fuperfii-
tion, with which Voltaire charges the
religion of the Jews? On the contrary,
it is fuch good fenfe, as we in vain look
for in the religions of other nations, that
this writer reprefents as in all relpefts their
fuperior.

Confidering the very ftrong hold that
thefe opinions and praftices flill have on
the minds of men (for to this day many
Chriflians, and even many unbelievers in

chriftianity,

150 THE EVIDENCES OF

cliriftianity, have great faith in charms, and
other things of a fimiiar nature, relating
to good or bad fortune, as infignilicant as
the failors whifthng for a v^ind) there is
not a clearer and more unequivocal mark
of fuperior, of divine wifdom, than the
contempt that is fo ftrongly exprefTed for
every thing of this kind in the books of
Mofes, efpecially confidering the times in
which they were written.

1 1 . The heathens had many fuperfti-
tious rules with refpeft tofacrifices. Thus
hogs were facrificed to Ceres, an owl to
Minerva, a hawk to Apollo, a dog to
Hecate, an eagle to Jupiter, a horfe to
the fun, a cock to iEfculapius, a gcofe to
Ins, and a goat to Bacchus. The Zabians
facrificed to the fun feven bats, feven mice,
and feven other reptiles. , The Egyptians
-vvevQ fo far from facrilicing horned cattle,
that they worfliipped them, as alfo the
ram. The Hebrews alone kept to the
natural and rational idea of facrifices,
which was to confine them to things mofl
proper for the food of man, in order to

exprefs

REVEALED RELIGION. i-i

exprefs their gratitude to God, as the
giver of it, and, as it were, to be the
guefts at his table.

That facrifices, though not required of
Chriftians, was a natural mode of worfliip
cannot be denied, becaufe they were uni-
verfal, and are ufed by all heathen nations
to this day. No philofopher, in the nioft
enlightened period of the heathen world,
ever objefted to them.

The heathens were ufed to referve
fome of the flejQi of the animals t]iey facri-
ficed for fuperftitious ufes, as the Chrif-
tians, when fuperflition crept in among
them, did of the confecrated bread in
the eucharift. For the Chriftians derived
all their fuperftitious practices from the
heathens. When the Mahometans facrifice
a ftieep, as they always do on their pilgrim-
age to Mecca, they dry a great part of
the flefli, which by this means may be
kept two years, and make prefents of it
to their friends at their return. This was
probably an ancient idolaltrous cuftom,
which Mahomet kept up. But to prevent

every

15^ THE EVIDENCES OF

every fuperftitious ufe of facrifices, the
Hebrews were direfted to keep nothing of
theirs till the next day ; and no flefh of
the pafchal lamb was to be carried out of
the houfe in which it was eaten* They
were alfo ftriftly forbidden to eat any part
of it raw, Exod. xii. 9. whi^ has been
obferved to have been a fuperftitious and
indecent cuftom with the Egyptians, and
others.

12. Some part of the iirft fruits of
their harvefts were referved by the hea-
thens for magical purpofes. On the con-
trary, the Ifraelites were diredled, when
they prefented their firft fruits, to recount
the goodnefs of God to them in the fol-
lowing pious form. Deut. xxvi. in the
prefence of the prieft. *^ I profefs this
" day unto the Lord thy God, that I am
** come unto the country which the Lord
'* fware unto our fathers for to give us.'*
When the prieft had taken the bafket
out of his hand, and prefented it, he was
to fay farther. ^ A Syrian ready to perifh
* was my father, and he went down into

' Egypt,

REVEALED RELIGION. 153

' Egypt, and fojourned there, with a few,

* and there became a great nation, mighty

* and populous, and the Egyptians evil

* intreated us, and afflifted us, and hiid
^ upon us hard bondage, and when we

* cried unto the Lord God of our fathers,

* the Lord heard our voice, and looked on

* our afHiftion, and our labour, and our

* oppreflion. And the Lord brought us

* forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand,
' and an outftretched arm, and with great
^ terriblenefs, and with figns, and wonders;

* and he hath brought us into this place,
^ and hath given us this land, even a land

* that floweth with milk and honey ; and

* now behold I have brought the firft
' fruits of the land which thou, O Lord,

* haft given me.'

When fome of the antient idolaters had
gathered all their fruits, they took a kid
and boiled it in its mother's milk, and
with magical rites fprinkled with it their
fields, gardens, and orchards, thinking
that by this means they would become
fruitful. This practice was exprefsly for-
(l bidden

154 THE EVIDENCES OF

bidden to the Hebrews, no doubt, as fu-
perflitious and idolatrous. Thott Jloalt
not feethe a kid in its mother'' s milk. (Exod.
xxiii. 19. Deut. xiv. 21.) To this
cuftom it is not improbable that Ifaiah,
alludes, when fpeaking of idolaters, he
fays, (Chap. Ixv. 4.) Who eat fwine^s
ftefpy and broth of abominable things is in
their vejfels. For they might put other
things into the pot along with the flefti
of the kid. And on this account, when
they had diftributed their tythes, they
were direded to fay (Deut. xxvi. 13.)
. I have brought away the hallo'wed things
out of mine hotfe^ and alfo have given
them to the Levite, and unto the flranger^
to the fatherlefsy and to the widowy accord-
ing to all thy commandmmts, which thou
haft commanded me. I have not tranf
grejfed thy com?nandmentSy neither have I
forgotten them. I have not eaten thereof
in my mourning (alluding to the folemn
mourning in the feftival of Ifis) neither have
I taken aivay ought thereof for any tin-

clean

REVEALED RELIGION. 155

dean ufe, nor given ought thereof for the
deady (that is for idolatrous purpofes) hut
I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my
God, and have done according to all that
thou hajl commanded me. Look down from
thy holy habitation, from heaven, and blefs
thy people Ifrael, and the land which thou
haJl given us, as thou f war efi unto our father s^
a land that foweth with milk and honey.
Here certainly is piety and good fenfe,
and nothing of that detejiable fuperjiition,
which Voltaire afcribes to this antient
people.

13. The rules laid down in the books
of Mofes for the diet of the Ifraehtes,
permitting the ufe of feme kinds of food,
and prohibiting others, will, no doubt,
be deemed fuperftition by fome perfons.
But if the particulars be confidered, it will
be found that the Ifraelites were confined
to that food which was the moft wholefome,
and beft fuited to the climate they were
deftined to inhabit. On the contrary,
there was real and mere fuperftition in the
reftridlions that many of the heathens laid
Q. 2 them-

i^ THE EVIDENCES OF

fcjji^mfelves under in this refped:, and in
all antient nations relio-ion was concerned in
the choice of food. Thus the Egyptians
would not eat the flefh of a cow. It was
commonly faid of them, they would as foon
eat that of a man. Their priefts, and
the Pythagoreans^ who followed them in
it, abftained from beans. The priefts in
Syria ate no fifli, the Phoenicians no pigeons,
and the antient Arabians abftained from
eating a variety of things, becaufe they
thought them particularly confecrated to
fome of the heavenly bodies, which were
the objefts of their worfhip, and becaufe
they made ufe of them in their divinations.
Mofes, therefore, or rather God by him, in
order to counteraft and prevent this fuper-
ftition (for it cannot be called any thing
eife, as the things refrained from cannot
be denied to be wholefome food) eftablifli-
ed a diftinftion c" meats on a quite differ-
ent, and perfectly rational, principle.

The article that will perhaps be rnqfj ob-
jected to is the prohibition to esitfwi^cs fle/h;
which we find not to be un wholefome. But

the

REVEALED RELIGION. 157

the Egyptians, Arabians, and all the eaftern
nations, from Ethiopia to India, deteft
fwines flefti, and fo do the Mahometans
univerfaliy. As to blood, I believe it is
generally allowed to be grofs andunwhole-
fome food ; but probably the principal
reafon why it was forbidden to the He-
brews, was the ufe that was made of it
in fome of the facrifices of the heathen
nations, who drank of the blood, by way
of communicating with the infernal deities.
For this reafon too, it might be that, in
the- Hebrew facrifices, the blood was di-
refted to be fprinkled on the altar, or
poured out at the foot of it. The. blood
was alfo confidered as, in a peculiar man-
ner, the feat of animal life ; and by giving
it back, as it were, to God, they ac-
kno^vledged that it came from him.

14. There is, indeed, hardly any Ipecies
of fuperftition that was praftifed by the
antient idolaters that is not either diredly
noticed, or alluded to, and particularly
guarded againft, in the religion of the If-
raelites. The Zabians, it is faid, conftrurt-

ed

i^B THE EVIDENCES OF

ed certain images, according to the con-
ftellations, which they called talijmans^ by
means of which they expelled to perform
the greateft wonders, and efpecially to
foretel future events. Thefe were pro-
bably the teraphim of which mention is
made in the Hebrew fcriptures ; and it is
well known that the ufe of them was
condemned by Mofes ; and the Ifraelites
were directed to other means of becoming
acquainted with fuch future events, as it
was proper for them to be informed of.
But this I fhall make the fubjeft of a fepa-
rate difcourfe.

There are feveral things in the Hebrew
ritual for which we are not at prefent able
to give any fatisfaftory reafon. But this
is probably owing to our not being fuf-
ficiently acquainted with remote antiquity,
and efpecially the worfhip of the moft
antient idolators, which it was the great
objeft of the Mofaic inftitutions to oppofe.
Tor this reafon, and perhaps, in fome
cafes, for no other, the cuftoms of the
Ifraelites were ordered to be the very re-

verfe

REVEALED RELIGION. 159

verfe of thofe of other nations. When
the heathens worftiipped their fuperior
divinities, who wer^ fuppofed to have their
refidence above the clouds, they did it not
only on mountains, and in high places,
but on high altars, thinking that by that
means they had a nearer accefs to the ob-
jects of their w^orfhip. For this reafon the
Hebrews were directed not to build fuch
altars, or to worfhip in fuch places. The
heathens ufed leaven and honey ^ in the cakes
which they offered to their gods, whereas
in thofe of the Ifraelites they were both
forbidden, but they were always to ufe
fait. The heathens bowed towards the
Eaft, as an avH; of homage to the rifing
fun; and therefore their temples were
made to front the Weft, that when they
entered them, which they always did
bowing, it might be towards the Eaft.
For this reafon the tabernacle and temple
of the Ifraelites were made to look to the
Eaft, that on entering them, the worfhip-
pers might bow towards the Weft, turning
their backs on the place of fun-rifing.

The

i6o THE EVIDENCES OF

The antient idolaters held heifers hi
peculiar veneration, and for this reafon
perhaps, it was ordered, (Deut. xxi. 3.)
that if any perfon was found murdered,
and the murderer could not be difcovered,
a heifer which had not been ufed to the
yoke fhould be flain in his place. It was
not facrificed, but its head was to be ftruck
off. The Egyptians held in peculiar abhor-
rence animals that had red hair, which they
fuppofed to have been that of Typhon. In
oppofition, perhaps, to this, the Ifraelites
were" commanded to prepare their water
of purification with the afhes of a red
heifer, without fpot, or perfeftly red.
Numb. xix.

15, Many unbelievers think that where-
ever there are priejis, there muft be prieft-
crafty and of courfe the interefl of the
people facrificed to their emolument ; it
being always, as they think, in the power of
that order of men to impofe upon the reft.
But there were feveral circumftances in the
fituation of the Hebrew^ priefts, which fliew
that they could have had no fuch power.

In

REVEALED RELIGION. i6i

In the firft place, the Hebrew priefts had

no fccrets. Every thing that tliey knew

or that they did, was as well known to the

whole nation as to themfeJves. It was all

detailed in the books of the law, which

were not confined to themfelves, as the

facred books of the Hindoos are to the

Bramins, but direfted to be read in the

hearing of all the people. To thefe books

they always had accefs, and the Levites

were difperfed all over the country, that

they might with the more advantage in-

ftrud the people in them.

So far w^as Mofes from wifliing that

the priefts fhould have any advantage over

the people by their fuperior knowledge,

that his exhortations to all the people to

make themfelves accurately acquainted

with the law are peculiarly emphatical,

(Deut. vi. 6) T^hefe words, which I co?nmand

thee this day, pall be in.thine heart . Aid thou

jloalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and

palt talk of them when thou fitteft in thy

houfe, and when thou walkejl by the way, and

when thou liejl down^ and when thou rifcjl up.

Aid

x62 THE EVIDENCES OF

And thou JJmh^bind them for ci fg^i upon thine
handy arid they floall he as frontlets hetiveen thine
eyes. And thou fmlt -write them upon the pofts
of thy houfe, and on thy gates. Had the If-
raelites obferved this excellent precept,
they could never have revolted, as they
did, from their own religion to that of
the neighbouring nations. It Were to be
Avifhed that Chriftians would obferve thig
Excellent rule, or adopt the fpirit of it.
There would . not then be fo many unbe-
lievers as there now are in Chriftian coun-
tries.

There was indeed, a part of the ta-
bernacle, and of the temple, into which
only the priefts entered, and another into
which the high prieft only entered. But
there was nothing depofited in thofe places,
or done in them but what was perfedly
w^ell known to the w^hole nation, and they
did not, and could not, pretend to derive
any extraordinary powders from their having
accefs to thofe particular places. Whereas
in all the antient heathen religions, there
wxre myfteries or fecretSy wdth which only

the

REVEALED RELIGION. i6j

the initiated were acquainted, and which
were communicated to them under the
moft folemn oath of fecrecy. Which of
thefe inflitutions then, bears moft of the
marks of prieft craft ? .y

In the next place, though the Hebrew
priefts were of a particular family, and
confidered as the moft refped:able order of
perfons in the nation, as being more im-
mediately employed in the fervice of God,
they could have no landed property, and
without this they could never attain any
great degree of civil power ; and in fad
their judges, who were occafionally ap-
pointed to dired the civil power, and the
kings, who held it permanently, were ne-
' ver of the order of priefts, till the time of
the Maccabees, which was a long time
after the Babylonifh captivity, when they
had departed very far from their original
plan of government.

However, the priefts of Ifrael were not
fo far a feparate order of men, but they
were capable of civil offices. They were
alfo married, and fo much mixed with the

reft

1 64 THE EVIDENCES OF

reft of the people, that they could have
no intereft feparate from theirs. Their
, chief dependance was upon the tythes
which they received from the people, who
by this means had them completely in
their power. By' this means, however,
it was wifely provided that it iliould be
their intereft to inftruft the people in the
law, and keep them to the obfervance of
it. But when the priefts and Levites did
their duty in this refped:, and received all
the advantages they could from it, it does
not appear that the tribe of Levi, which
comprehended the family of the priefts,
the defcendants of Aaron, was upon the
whole fo well provided for as any of the
other tribes. The Levites in general muft
have been poor ; for when mention is made
of charity, the cafe of the Levite is gene-
rally recommended together with that of
the ftranger, the fatherlefs, and the wi-
dow. Indeed fome part of the tythes,
as you have feen, were given to all thefe
without diftinftion. Jacob, who foretold
the future condition of all his fons, fpeaks

of

I

REVEALED RELIGION. 16^-

of the Levites as well as the Shiieonites,
as under a kind of curfe. For he fays of
them, Gen. xlix. 7. Curfcd be their anger for
it IV as fierce, and their wrath for it -was cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob, and feparate them
in IJraeL This was a punilhment for their
treachery, and cruelty with refpeft to the
inhabitants of Sichem.

Whatever advantage the Hebrew priefls
were poirelTed of, it muft have depended
upon their keeping the people to the ftrift
obfervance of their religion. But in this
they notorioufly failed (which is an abun-
dant proof that their influence w^as not
great) through the flrong predileftion of
the Ifraelites in favour of the religions of
the neighbouring nations ; and many times,
but more efpeceially during the reign of
Ahab, the priefls of Baal had far more
influence than the priefts or prophets, of
Jehovah. Elijah was then the only pro-
phet who made his appearance, while tlie
priefts of Baal including thofe of the groves,
or rather of Aftaroth or Aftarte, were
eight hundred and fifty (fee i Kings, xviii.

19.)

il56 THE EVIDENCES OF

19.) and there were not more than feven
thoufand perfons in all the country who
were not worfliippers of Baal (i Kings
xix. 18.) At the fame time the inflPUence of
the court, and of the nobles, was in fa-
vour of that foreign religion. As to the
priefts of Jehovah, there is no mention
made of them in any tranfaftions of thofe
times, fo. that they could not have been
at all confpicuous. Whatever, therefore,
of prieftcraft there was at that time in the
country, it mull have been in the hands of
the priefts of Baal, and not of thofe of
Jehovah.

16. In all antient ftates, religion and
political inftitutions had a very near con-
nexion. With the Hebrews, there was a
peculiar reafon for its being fo. They
were a nation feparated from all others,
for the fole purpofe of preferving in the
world the knowledge and worlhip of the
one true God, in a time of univerfal de-
feftion from it, and they were made to
depend upon the providence of God, more
iimnediately than other nations, God, ac-
cording

REVEALED l^ELIGION. i6y

cording to their original conftitution, being
their proper King, or fupreme civil ma-
giftrate. He was their God, and they were
his people in a peculiar fenfe. In his ad-
drefs to them, when they had left Egypt,
he fays, Exod. xix. 4. 2^e have feen vjhat I
did to the Egyptians ^ and how I heir e y oil oh
eaglets wings y and brotdght you unto myfelf.
Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed^
and keep my covenant ^ then ye fall be a peculiar
treafire unto me* For all the earth is mine.
And ye (hall be to me a kingdom of priefs, and
a holy nation. He alfo fays, Exod. xxv. 8.
het them make me a fmBnary, that I may
dwell among them. Agreeably to this, when,
in imitation of the neighbouring nations,
they wilhed to have a king, it was confi-
dered as a rejeftion of the government of
God, to which they had been fubje6l, and
therefore God fays to Samuel on the occa-
fion, I Sam. viii. 7. 7hey have not rejeded
thee, hut they have rejeded me, that I fioidd
not reign over them. Under the immediate
government of God, that of the Hebrews
was an equal republic, while all the neigh-

bourinc;

i68 THE EVIDENCES OF

bouring nations were governed by kings,
and in the mofl arbitrary manner. What
could have led Mofes to think of fuch an
excellent mode of government as this? He
could not have feen, or heard, of any
thing refembling it. For at that time no
fuch thing exifted in any part of the world.

The religion and civil government of
the Hebrews having this intimate connec-
tion, I fhall mention fome particulars of
the latter, that we may fee whether it w^as
fo very barbarous and abfurd a fyftem as
Voltaire and other unbelievers reprefent it
to have been, and w^hether the civil inlli-
tutions of other antient nations bear greater
marks of wafdom and liberality. But on
this fubjecl I mean to be very breef.

The great objeft of the inftitutions of
feveral of the antient nations was offcnfive
vjar, and conqueji. That of the Hebrews
was fimply agriculturr.y which is certainly
the moft natural and rational objeft, lead-
ing to the happieft ftate of human fociety.
Foreign commerce was not encouraged,
oa account of the danger that was to be

apprehended

REVEALED RELIGION. 169

apprehended with refpedl to their religion,
from an intercourfe with foreign and
idolatrous nations. And as a purely agri-
cultural, and not a commercial nation,
they were forbidden to take any intereft
for money lent to one another.

In order to attach them to the lands of
their inheritance, the Hebrews had in their
laws an excellent provifion unknown in
any other, viz. their reverting to the family
of the original proprietors at the year of
Jubilee, which was every half century, at
which time alfo any contract which a He-
brew might make to bind himfelf to fervi-
tude was diflblved. By this means it was
not in the power of the mod improvident
fpendthrift intirely to ruin his family. He
could only mortgage his pofleffion for a
limited time, nor could there be any in-
ftance of a permanently exceffive landed
property. What an excellent inftitution
was this for preferving a reafonable equality
among this people, the only fecurity for
liberty, and alfo for creating an at-
tachment to the foil, and of courfe the

R love

ijo ^ THE EVIDENCES OF

love of their country, in which all hiftory
fhews that no nation ever exceeded, or
equalled, the Jews.

Beyond the boundary of the land of
Ganaan, which was promifed by God to
their anceftors, and of which they got
pofleflion not by any power of their own,
but by the immediate hand of God, they
were not to attempt any conqueft. All
their wars were to be defenfive, and when
they took arms to repel an invafion, they
were ordered in the firft place to propofe
terms of peace. In cafe of fuccefs in war,
and when, in confequence of it, they
marched into the country of the enemy,
they were required to do no unneceflary
injury to it ; and efpecially not to cut
down the fruit trees, and to fpare all who
did not bear arms.

Every Ifraelite of an age capable of
bearing arms was, as in all antient nations,
obliged to join the army^ but at the head
of it a proclamation was diredied to be
made, excufmg every perfon who had
either lately married a wife, built a houfe,

or

REVEALED RELIGION. 171

or planted a vineyard, which would natu-
rally make him more attached to life.
Even if any man felt himfelf on any other
account fearful and faint hearted, he might
return home. It is in vain that we look
for maxims of fuch moderation, and good
fenfe, in any other antient nation.

The great ftrength of any country con-
fifts in its population, and fuch were the
principles of the Ifraelites, that with them
beyond all other nations, celibacy was
deemed to be a misfortune, barrennefs a
reproach, and a multitude of children the
greateft bleffing. But in heathen nations
many perfons devoted themfelves to a An-
gle life as an aft of religion ; as the Veftal
Virgins among the Romans. They were
heathen principles and pradlices that led to
the fyftem of monks and nuns among
Chriftians.

The Hebrew inftitutions allowed of
fervitude, but enjoined more humanity to
flaves than thofe of any other nation. If
a mafter, in beating his flave, flruck out
an eye, or even a tooth, he was obliged
R 2 to

■17^ THE EVIDENCES OF

to fet him free. Exodo xxi. i6. If aflave
committed a capital offence, the judge,
and not his mafter, was to pronounce the
fentence. If the mafter wilfully murdered
his {lave, he was to fuffer death. The
Ifraelites were not permitted to ufe the
captive women, who were of courfe flaves,
at their pleafure. The law is fo exprefs
on this fubjeft, that I Ihall recite it. Deut.
xxi. lo. When thou goefi forth to war againft
thine enemies^ and the Lord thy God hath de-
livered them into thine hands y and thou haft
taken them captive^ andfeeft among the captives
a beautifid woman, and hajl a defire unto her,
that thou woiddji have her to thy wife^ thou
/halt then bring her home to thy houfe, and Jhe
jhall Jloave her head, and pare her nails, (as it
is in our tranflation ; but the meaning is
that file fhould make them beautiful by-
colouring them, which is at this time done
in the Eaft, and confidered as a great ar-
ticle of beauty) and JJoe JJoall put the raiment
of her captivity from off her, and fall remain in
thine houfe, and bewail her father and her mother
a full month; and after that thou fall go in

unto

REVEALED RELIGION. 1 73

unto hevy and/he Jhall be thy -wife. And itfiall
be if thou have no delight in her^ then thou Jloalt
let her go whither Jhe will, but thou Jhalt not
fell her at all for money ^ thou Jhalt not make
merchandife of her^ becaife thou hajl hufnbled
her. We Ihall find no law approaching to
the humanity of this among the Greeks or
Romans, a thoufand years after this time,
and ftill lefs among nations of greater an-
tiquity. How Httle will the treatment
of flaves by Europeans bear to be compar-
ed with this ?

Voltaire charges the Jews with a vio-
lent hatred of all other nations; but let
us attend to their original laws and inftitu-
tions on this fubjeft, Deut. xxii. 8. If a
fir anger fojourn with you in your land, ye foall
not vex him, but the fir anger foall dwell with
you. He /hall be unto you as one born among
youy and thou fait love him as thyfelf For
ye were f rangers in the land of Egygt, I am
the Lord your God, The Lordloveth the ftr anger.
Exod. xxii. 22. Many antient nations made
great difficulties about the naturalization
of foreigners; but among the Hebrews

any

174 THE EVIDENCES OF

any perfon, being circumcifed, and con-
forming to the laws of the land, became
one of themfelves in all refpefts. Only,
for particular reafons, perfons of certain
nations could not be completely naturaUzed
till after the expiration of a certain number
of generations.

In all antient nations, and many mo-
dern ones, torture was made ufe of both
in the punifhment of crimes, and for pro-
curing evidence. But no ufe whatever was
made of it among the Hebrews. Punifh-
ment by fcourging was limited to forty
ftripes, murder and fome other atrocious
crimes were punifhed with death, but exe-
cutions were performed by ftoning or hang-
ing, and the body buried before fun-fet.
Where, then, are thofe " cruel and tor-
*' turous executions, and that imrelenting
** vindiftivenefs" which Mr. Paine fays
contribute to make him confider the Bible
as *< the word of a demon rather than the
*' word of God,'^ and which makes him
*^ deteft it,'' as he fays ^* he detefts every
^*^thing that is cruel." They have no

exiftence

REVEALED RELIGION. 175

exiftence whatever, but in his own ima-
gination. How eafy is it to caiuminate
what a man does not underftand, and what
he is ftrongly predifpofed to diflike and mif-
reprefent. In cafes of mere manflaughter,
a city of refuge was provided, in which the
innocent author of the death of another,
was fafe from the purfuit of the relations
of the deceafed. Theft was puniihed by
reditu tion, by fine, or flavery, but not
with death.

Such, my brethren, is the general out-
line, and fome of the principal features,
of that fyftem of religion, and civil policy,
which Voltaire treats as moft execrable ;
but judge for yourfelves with whatjuftice.
On the contrary, I have no doubt but
that, if all the circumftances of the He-
brew nation, and of other antient and
neighbouring nations, could be known,
we fhould be fatisfied that it was, in all
relpedls, the beft fyftem poffible, as much
fuperior to any of thofe of human inven-
tion, as the works of nature are fuperior
to thofe of art.

DISCOURSE

DISCOURSE VII.

The Principles of the Heathen Philofophy
compared -with thofe of Revelation.

The world by wifdom knew not God.

I Cor. i. 2:

IN my two laft difcourfes I fhewed
you how greatly fuperior were the religious
inflitutions of Mofes, though fo much de-
cried by modern unbelievers, to thofe of
the heathens, the fhocking enormities, and
grofs abominations of which, are fo much
difguifed and fmoothed over by them. But
becaufe it will be faid that what I then
exliibited was only the fyftem oi fiiperjiition
adopted by the vulgar, and that the more
intelligent perfons among the heathens
(though for political reafons, they did not
choofe to oppofe, and even countenanced
it) held a more rational fyftem, I ihall

now

THE EVIDENCES, »c. lyy

now fhow you what that more rational fyf-
tem was.

For this purpofe I fhall lay before you
and in as intelligible a manner as I can, (for
I will not undertake to make the two dif-
courfes which, it will be necefTary for me
to give on this fubjed;, perfectly intelligible
to allj what it was that the philofphers
among the antients really thought concern-
ing the fyfrem of nature, and the govern-
ment of the world, and alfo concerning
the nature of man, and his future deftina-
tion, with iome of their ideas concerning
the principles of morals, that you may
compare them with thofe that are advanced
in the fcriptures. And if it appear that
thefe are more confonant to reafon, it will
afford a confiderable prefumption that they
were of divine origin. For how can it
be fuppofed that the authors of the books
of fcripture, who had no advantage of
literature, and whom unbelievers treat
with the greateft contempt, for their ig-
norance and barbarity, fhould have adopted
a more rational fyftem on thefe great fub-

jefts

17S THE EVIDENCES OF

jefts than thofe who have been the mofl
celebrated for their wifdom in the mofl
poliflied and civilized nations in the v^orld.
It will be very eafy to make this compari-
fon, as there is fufficient evidence what
the tenets of the antient philofophers were,
many of their own writings being now
extant, as well as the fcriptures of the
Old and New Teftament.

I. It was a fundamental maxim with
all the philofophers of antiquity, that crea-
tion from nothing was abfolutely impofTible;
and many of thofe who admitted a princi-
ple of intelligence in the univerfe, main-
tained that matter in fome confufed chaotic
mafs was another principle, coeternal with
it, and independent of it, and therefore
could only be modified, but not deftroyed
by it. Mofes on the contrary, afferts a
proper creation of every thing that exifts,
antecedent to the chaotic fiat e which he de-
fcribes. Gen. i. i. In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth , and the eafth
ims without form and voidy and darknefs was
upon the fate of the deep. And fince the

pro-pertiiiT

REVEALED RELIGION. 179

properties of bodies are all that we know
of them, the appointment and changing
of thefe, which the philofophers admitted
to be within the province of the intelligent
principle, implies a power of proper crea-
tion^ and proper deftrnBion. For if we
take away all the properties of any thing,
nothing will be left. The fyftem of Mofes
therefore, is more rational than theirs.
This, however, continued to be the doc-
trine of the Greek philofophers to the
lateft period of their hiftory. Plato held
that matter exifted coeternally with God.
Alfo, according to Zeno, the founder of
the ftoical philofopliy, *' there exifted from
" all eternity a dark and confufed chaos,
" in which were contained the principles
'* of all future beings.^'

2. Another fet of philofophers, and
perhaps of greater antiquity than the
other, equally maintaining that creation
from nothing was impoflible, maintained
that every thing, was originally emitted
from the fubftance of the felf-exiftent and
Supreme Being. And not only did they

fuppofe

i8o THE EVIDENCES OF

fuppofe that intelligent beings of all orders
proceeded from him, by this mode of
emanation, as rays of light from the fun ;
but that other fubftances of an inferior
nature proceeding in the fame manner
from theniy at laft matter itfelf, the moil:
remote from the divine effence, came
into exiftence, and therefore that this fub-
ftance, of which they fpeak with the great-
eft contempt, had its origin from the di-
vine effence. This was the fyftem of the
Oriental philofophy, which is ftill found in
Indoftan, and other parts of the Eaft, and
from them was derived the doftrine of the
Gnojlics, by which Chriftianity was cor-
rupted in the time of the apoftles. 1 need
not fay how far this notion of the deriva-
tion of every thing from the fubftance of
the divine Being, deviates from reafon.
There is certainly nothing fo wild and ab-
furd as this in the writings of Mofes, who
always fuppofes God to have created all
things, but not by the projeftion of them
from his own effence.

The

REVEALED RELIGION. iBt

The fame clafs of philofophers who
held that every thing had been produced
from the fubftance of the Supreme Being,
alfo fuppofed that, after a certain period,
they would be abforbed into it again ; and
as originally nothing had exifted befides this
felf-exiftent being, he would again exift
alone; but that after another period, other
beings w^ould be again produced from him,
and that thefe fucceffive revolutions would
go on forever. This ever has been, and
ftill is, the eftablifhed doftrine in the Eaft,
and it was adopted by fome of the Grecian
philofophers, efpecially the Stoics, who
faidthat ''the world, including the whole
*' compafs of nature, both God and mat-
'' ter, had fubfifted from all eternity, and
*' would for ever fubfift ; but that the
*^ prefent regular frame of nature had a
^'beginning, and would have an end,
*' from the alternate prevalence of moijliire
*' and drynefs ; that when the former pre-
*' vails, all things are deftroyed by an ///-
<' undation, and when the latter prevails,
*' by a conflagration ; that, however, from

'' both

j8a THE EVIDENCES OF

*^ both of thefe cataftrophes every thing
*^ will again emerge, by the energy of
^^ an efficient principle, when all the forms
*^ of regular nature will be renewed, but
*^ to be again diflblved, and again renewed,
*Mn an endlefs fucceffion.'*

This fcheme excludes all idea of melio-
ration. For according to it, every thing
has been, and in all future revolutions
ever will be, juft what it now is. Accord-
ingly Seneca fays, that *' many perfons
*' would rejeft this reftoration of being,
*' v/ere it not this reftoration will be ac-
" companied with a total oblivion of paft
'* events." How far lefs rational, as well
as lefs pleafmg, is this fyftem, than that of
the fcriptures, which fuppofes a conftant
tendency to a better ftate of things, every
rational being retaining his feparate con-
fcioufnefs, always diftinft from the fu-
preme Being, but making nearer ap-
proaches to him in perfeftion and happi-
nefs to all eternity. As to any proof, or
evidence, of the truth of this philofophical
fyftem, of every thing having been produced

by

REVEALED RELIGION. 183

byway of emanation from the divine eflence,
and being abforbcd into it again, it is only
this; that there cannot be two eternal
principles, and therefore every thing that
exifts, muft have been derived, imme-
diately or mediately, from one, and this
one muft have been the fpiritual and intelli-
gent principle. But will any modern phi-
lofopher admit the validity of fuch an argu-
ment as this, aud adopt the conclufion I It
is univerfally rejefted with contempt.

As to the ejjencey or fubjlance, of the
Supreme Being, from which they fay that
all things were derived, it is a qeftion of
no moment, fmce all that we have to do
with are his attributes, as thofe of power,
wifdom, and benevolence, in whatever
it be that they maybefaid to refide. But
according to our apprehenfions, ^ there
is fomething degrading in the ider. of
his being of the fame nature with all
other beings, as he muft be, if every thing
was produced hy mere protrufion from
his fubftance. Zeno, however, fuppofed
that both i^ the aftive and paffive princi-
ples

i84 THE EVIDENCES OF

" pies in nature/' that is, both God, and
matter y '^ were alike corporeal, only that
•' the former was a pure ether, or fire,
** occupying the external lurface of the
*^ heavens, that is, a more attenuated kind
*' matter." And Epicurus, conceiving
the human form to be the moft perfeft,
faid that, ** though the gods were of an
*^ ethereal fubftance, they were fliaped
'* like men."

3. Both the clafles of philofophers,
whofe opinions I have now defcribed,
admitted a principle of intelligence in the
univerfe, and a real diflinftion between
God and matter. But in later times this
was by many denied, and fome philofo-
phers even proceeded fo far as not to
admit the exiftence of any fuch being as
Gody in any fenfe of the word. Sancho-
niatho, explaining the philofophical fyftem
of the Phoenicians, fays, that *' the uni-
" verfe arofe from the neceffary energy
'' of an eternal principle, acSive but with-
'' out intelligence, upon the eternal paffive
** chaotic mafs." This is fuppofed to

have

REVEALED RELIGION. 185

have been advanced in oppofition to tlie
principles of Mofes ; but certainly thefe
will not fufFer any thing by the compar-
rifon. If there be no marks of intelligence ,
that is, of defigny in the univerfe, where
Ihall we find them ? not furely in the works
of men. How much more juft and noble
are the fentiments and language of the
Pfalmift, Pfalm civ. 24. 0 hord how mam-
fold are thy works ^ in uuifdom hajl thou made
them all.

Ariftotle did not in words deny the
being of a God, but he fuppofed the univerfe
to have exifted from all eternity, indepen-
dent of any wifdom or contrivance, of his.
He only confidered him as the * main fpring

* of the whole machine, and therefore

* properly a part of it, employed, in fome

* inexplicable manner, in communicating

* motion to it/ Strato of Lampfacus, a
difciple of Ariftotle, held that * the world

* was neither formed hy the agency of the
^ deity, diftinft from matter, nor by any
' intelligent animating principle, but that

* it arofe from a force iimate in matter,

5 originally

iS6 THE EVIDENCES OF

* originally excited by accident, and fince

* continuing to aft according to the pecu-

* liar qualities of natural bodies. He neither

* denied nor aflerted the exiftence of a di-
5 vine nature, but, in excluding all idea
^ of a deity from the formation of the

* world, he indireftly excluded him from

* his fyftem.'

Thefe atheiftical doftrines were not
cor fined to a fingle philofopher, or his
difciples, many of them, and thofe of the
greateft eminence, entertained the fame,
or fimilar, fentiments. Democritus held
that * the firft principles of all things were

* atoms and a vacuum^ in which, by a natural

* neceffity, or fate, they perpetually move,

* and that from their combinations arife

* all the forms of things.' Pythagoras, alfo
had held that * motion is the effeft of a
^ power effential to matter.' Protagoras in
one of his books, faid concerning the gods,
^ I am vmable to determine whether they

* have any exiftence, or not. For the
^ weaknefs of the human underftanding, and

* the ihortnefs of human life, with many

* other

REVEALED RELIGION 187

* Other caufes, prevent us from attaining

* this knowledge.* But Diagoras openly
denied the exiftence of a deity. Heraclitus

* made ufe of the term God^ but not to

* denote a diftinft being of a pecuUar na-

* ture, but merely a natural force in that

* primary fire, from which he fuppofed all

* things to have proceeded, and by means

* of which he fuppofed that its particles

* had been in eternal motion, and at length

* to have united, to form the prefent
' fyftem of nature. To this force, con-

* fidered as diftinft from matter on which

* it afts, he applied the term god.'

Epicurus admitted a deity into his fyf-
tem, but it was chiefly to avoid popular
odium. For he maintained that ** the
^^ univerfe always exifted, and will always
*^ continue to exift; for that there is no-
** thing by which it can be changed. There
*^ is nothing, he faid, in nature, nor can
^* there be conceived to be any thing,
M befides hody and jpace; that the atoms,
** from which all things were corapofed,
*^ are not only all the materials of which

s 2 bodes

VS8 THE EVIDENCES Of

^^ bodies are made, but that the energy ^ or
" principle of motion, which eflentially be-
^* longs to them, is the fole agent in the
^^ operations of nature."

As the Oriental philofophers fuppofed
that all things would be refolved into th^
divine effence, from which they originally
iprung, Epicurus fuppofed that they would
be refolved into their original atoms.
'^ The world," he faid, ^' is prefervedby
" the fame mechanical caufes by which it
** was framed, and from the fame caufes
** it will at laft be diffolved. The inceffant
^* motion of the atoms which produced
** the world is continually operating to-
^* wards its diffolution. For nothing is
** folid and indiffoluble befides atoms;
*^ whence it may be concluded, that the
*^ time will come when nothing will re-
*^ main but the original atoms, and infinite
'' fpace."

Epicurus abfolutely denied all ivijdom
in the conftru6lion of the univerfe, even
in the moft obvious inftances. ^' The

^' parts of animals, " he faid ^^ were not

*' originally

REVEALED RELIGION, ig^

'' originally framed for the ufes to which
" they are now applied; but having been
'* accidentally produced, they were after-
'' wards accidentally employed. The eye,
'^ for example, was not made for feeing,
^^ nor the ear for hearing ; but the foul
** being formed within the body, at the
" fame time with the organs, and con-
** nefted with them, could not avoid mak-
** ing ufe of them, in their refpedive
'' funaions.'^

Can we attend to thefe things, and
not be ftruck with the truth of the apof-
tle's obfervation in my text, the world by
wifdom knew not God. It was not even able
to retain that knowledge of God which
had been originally communicated to man.
And how juftly is their cafe defcribed by
the fame apoftle, in another paflage, where
he fays, Rom. i. .21. They became vain
in their imaginations^ and their foolijh heart
was darkened. But are not their minds
equally, or more, darkened, who can pre-
fer the abfurd conceits of thefe philofo-
phers, to the rational doctrines of revela-
tion?

196 THE EVIDENCES OF

tion ? We fhall, however, fee more of the
wandermgs of the human hnagination
when left to itfelf, in what I have farther
to obferve.

4. The exiftence of evil always creat-
ed the greateft difficulty to thofe who
fpeculated concerning the origin and con-
ftruftion of the univerfe, and the caufes
of events. Indeed, fo difficult is the quef-
tion, that nothing but revelation could
have folved it. In the fcriptures we learn
that evily as well as good, is the appoint-
ment of the fame great Being, but always
for the moft benevolent purpofes. Shall
Tve receive good at the hand of God, fays Job,
chap. ii. 10. and Jloall we not receive evil?
ch. i. 2 1 . The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away^ Blejjed he the name of the Lord.
In Ifaiah, xlv. 6. 7, I am the Lord, and there
is none elfe. I form the light, and create dark-
nefs ; I make peace, and create evil ; I the
Lord do all thefe thi?igs. All thefe evils, in
the adminiftration of this greateft and beft
of Beings, are fubfervient to good, as the
Pfalmift fays, Pf. xcvii. i • 7he Lord reigneth

lit

REVEALED RELIGION. 191

let the earth rejoieey let the multitude of the ifller
be glad thereof. Clouds and darknefs are round
about hifUy righteoufnefs and judgment are the
habitation of his throne. But through thefe
clouds and this darknefs, the heathens, by
the help of their greateft wifdom could not
fee. Some of the antients, as the Perfians,
thought that there were t-wo independent -prin-
ciples in nature, one the author of good,
and the other of evil. The good prin-
ciple they called Oromazes, and the evil
Arimanius, The Egyptians alfo worfhip-
ped an evil principle under the name of
Typhon.

The Greek philofophers in general con-
fidered matter as the caufe of all evil. In
their ancient cofmogonies it is afcribed to
chaos. Plato held that ' there is in matter

* a neceflary but blind and refraftory force

* from w^hich arifes a propenfity to diforder
f and deformity,' which he faid, * was the

* caufe of all the imperfedion which is

* found in the works of God ,' fo that he
appears to have thought that matter, from
its nature, refills the will of the fupreme

artificer,

U9Z THE EVIDENCES OF

artificer, fo that, on this account, he cannot
perfedly execute his defigns, Plato was
alfo influenced by the argument from con-
traries. ^ It cannot be,* he faid, * that evil

* fhould be deflroyed ; for there muft al-

* ways be fomething contrary to good/

The Stoics faid that * evil was the ne-
< ceffary confequence of eternal necejfity,
' tO' which the great whole, comprehending
' both God and matter, was fubjeft.*
When Chryfippus was aiked whether dif-
eafes were to be afcribed to divine provi-
dence, he replied, that * it was not the in-

* tention of nature that thefe things fliould

* happen, nor were they conformable to

* the will of the author of nature, and the

* parent of all good ; but that, in framing

* the world, fome inconvenience had ad-
' hered by neceffary confequence to his wife

* and ufeful plan.'

How different is this from the fublime
doftrine of the fcriptures on this fubjeft,
as when we read, Pfalm cxxxv. 23^
/ know that the Lord is great y and that our Lord
is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleafeth

that

REVEALED RELIGION. r^

that did he in heaven and in earthy in the jeas^
and all deep places.

5. It is in vain that we look for the
rational and fublime dodtrine of an univerfal
providence among the philofophers of anti-
quity. But according to the fcriptures,
there is no event, great or fmall, but what
comes to pafs according to the will of
God. Dan. ii. 20. BleJJed be the name of
God for ever and ever ; for ivifdom and might
are his. He changeth the times andfeafons^ he
removeth kings and fetteth tip kings. The
proud king of Affyria, in the midft of his
conquefts, is reprefented, If. x. 5. as the
flaffm the hand of God. At the fame time
we are affured by our Saviour, Mat. x. 33.
that a Jparrow falleth not to the ground without
his willy and that the very hairs of our heads are
numbered. And this is true philofophy, for fo
connefted are all the parts of the fyftem,
that the fmalleft things are as neceffary as
the greateft, and in many cafes we cannot
but fee that the greateft things depend
upon the fmalleft. Voltaire juftly ob-
ferves that had a particular ftone been

thrown

194 THE EVIDENCES OF

thrown with a little more force, it would
have given a different turn to the whole
hiftory of the Eaft. It was a ftone by
which Mahomet was knocked down, as
he was engaged in battle, but not killed.

There is moft of the appearance of the
doftrine of a providence among the Stoics.
But according to Zeno and Chryfippus,
^ there is in nature a fatCy or an eternal
^ and immutable feries of caufes and ef-

* fefts, within which all events are includ-

* ed, and to which the Deity himfeif is

* fubjefl:,' though the later Stoics, who
wrote after the promulgation of chriflianity
changed this fate into the providence of the gods.

Other philofophers did not pretend
that God, or the gods, had, in any fenfe,
or in any refped, the government of the
world. According to Ariftotle, the Deity,
if it can be faid that he believed in any
proper deity, * is eternally employed in

* the contemplation of his own nature.

* He obferves nothing (this philofopher
fays) ' he cares for nothing beyond himfeif.
^ Refiding in the firft fphere, he poflTeffes

neither

REVEALED RELIGION. «9|

* neither immeiifity nor omniprefence.

* Removed from the inferior parts of^

* the univerfe, he is not even a fpeftator

* of what is paffing among its inhabitants,

* and therefore cannot be a proper objeft

* of worfhip/

Epicurus, I have obferved, faid that
there were gods, only to avoid popular
odium. According to his own account of
them, they were of no manner of ufe in
creating or governing the world. ** There
** are,'' he faid, ^* in the univerfe divine
*' natures, but that it is inconfiftent with
" our natural notions of the gods, as hap-
** py and immortal beings, to fuppofe that
*^ they encumber themfelves with the
*^ management of the world, or that they
" are fubjeft to the cares and paffions
*^ which muft neceflarily attend fo great
'' ^ cliarge. We are not, therefore, to
^* conceive that the gods have any inter-
** courfe with mankind, or any concern
^^ in the affairs of the world." But, ac-
cording to the fcriptures, every thing is
conduced by the Supreme Being, without

trouble.

196 THE EVIDENCES OF

trouble. With refpeft to creation itfelf, it
is faid. He Jpake audit was done, he command-
ed and it Jloodfafi. He faid Let there be light;
and there was light; and the government of
the world, is no doubt, as eafy to him as
the creation of it. It is, in faft, a continu-
ation of the fame exertion, whatever that
be. But no idea fo fublime as this was
ever entertained by any heathen philofo-
pher*

It was the confideration of the immen-
fity of the univerfe, and the idea men had
of the multiplicity of cares that was ne-
ceflary to the government of it, that led
thofe of the philofophers who fuppofed that
the world was in any fenfe governed by
fuperior Beings, to think it neceflary to
provide a great number of them, each to
fuperintend his particular province. They
had no conception of the fublime, but tru-
ly rational doftrine of the fcriptures, ac-
cording to which one intelligence, one
mind, perfeftly comprehends, and direds,
the whole. And yet the uniformity we
obferve in the works of nature might have

fuggefted

REVEALED RELIGION. 197

fuggefted the idea of one mind having ar-
ranged and direfted the whole, immenfe
as that whole is. But the amazing variety,
and feeming difcordancy, of many parts
of the fyftem prevented their perceiving
their uniformity, nor could Mofes, or any
of the Hebrews, have been able to difcover
it of themfelves.

6. Mention is made in the fcriptures
of angels, as created beings, fuperior to
man; but they are never fuppofed to in-
terfere in the affairs of men, except on
particular occafions, and by the exprefs
appointment of the Supreme Being, never
by their own voluntary agency. They
are employed merely as mejfengers (for fo
their name in the Hebrew fignifies) to
convey the orders of the Almighty. But
according to the fyftem of all the philofo-
phers, as well as that of the vulgar, among
the heathens, there are beings inferior to
the Supreme, who at their own pleafitre , in-
terfere in the affairs of men, and a6l ac-
cording to their peculiar humours and
pafFions,

Among

198 THE EVIDENCES OF

Among the Egyptains the idea of one^
fupreme God was, from the earlieft times,
connefted with the beUef of inferior divi-
nities, refiding in the various parts of na-
ture, whence arofe the worfhip of thofe
parts of nature. According to the mytho-
logy of the Greeks, thofe inferior deities
Iprungfrom chaos. Pythagoras fuppofed
the region of the air to be peopled with
thefe beings, whom he calls godsy demons^
and heroeSy according to their rank, thefe
laft approaching the neareft to the nature of
man, ' Thefe,' he faid, ^ at their pleafure,

* by means of dreams and other inftru-
5 ments of divination, communicate to men

* the knowledge of future events, and the

* good demons are to be invoked by pray-

* er.' Socrates admitted the exiftence of
beings * poflefled of a middle nature be-

* tween the Supreme Being and man; and

* to their agency he afcribed the ordinary

* phenomena of nature, and the particular
< condudl of human affairs; and he encou-

* raged the praftice of divination, under

* the notion that the gods fometimes dif-

* cover future events to good men.'

^ Plato

REVEALED RELIGION. 1 99

Plato fuppofed that there were ^ fub-

* ordinate divinities appointed by the Su-
^ preme Being, both to form the bodies

* of animals, and to fuperintend the affairs

* of the vifible world.' Xenocrates, a
difciple of Plato, taught that ' the heavens
t are divine, and the ftars celeftial gods,
' and that befides thefe divinities, there

* are terreftrial demons, of a middle nature

* between God and man, and partaking

* both of mind and body, like human
' beings, capable of paflion, and liable to

* a diverfity of char after/

Ariftotle, who beheved in no particular
providence, yet fuppofed that there were

* intelligent natures inferior to the firft

* mover, who prefided over the lower

* celeftial fpheres/

Though Democritus rejefted the doc-
trine of a Supreme Deity, he admitted
the popular belief of divinities inhabiting
the aerial regions, faying that ^ they made

* themfelves vifible to favoured mortals,

* and enabled them to fortel future events/
He faid, ^ they were inform liicemen, but

of

200 THE EVlDENCESt &c,

* of a larger fize, and a fuperior nature ;
' being compofed of the moft fubtle atoms,
' and lefs liable to diflblution than human

* beings, but neverthelefs mortal/ Accord-
ing to the Stoics, ' portions of the ethe-

* real foul of the world, being diftributed

* through all the parts of the univerfe, and

* animating all bodies, there are inferior

* gods and demons, with which all nature

* is peopled. They conceived them, how-

* ever, to be limited in their duration, re-

* turnmg at length to their original, and

* lofing their feparate exiftence/

DISCOURSE VIII.

The Principles of the Heathen Philofophy
compared with thofe of ReveJation.

P A R T II.

The world by wifdom knew not God.

I Cor. i. 21.

XTAVING given you a comparative
view of the religion of the Hebrews, and
that of the antient idolatrous nations, I
began, in my laft difcourfe, to give you a
fimilar view of the principles of the heathen
fhilofophy^ that it might not be faid that I
took an unfair advantage, in relating no-
thing more than the opinions and practices
of the vulgar among the heathens, inftead
of the real fentiments of the wifeft among
them. Thefe, however, I fhewed you
were, in feveral refpefts, far lefs rational
than thofe of the fcriptures, I mentioned

T their

202 THE EVIDENCES OF

their univerfal opinion of the impoffibiiity
of creation out of nothing, of the eternity
and indeftrud:ibiUty, of matter ; its necef-
fary evil tendency ; the doctrines of many
of them, of the produftion of all inferior
beings by emanation, or protrufion, from
the fubftance of the deity, and their ab-
forption into it again ; the abfolute denial
of the being of a God by many, and thofe
fome of the moft eminent, of the Creek
philofophers ; their various and unfatisfac-
tory opinions concerning the origin of evil ;
their denial of a divine providence, their
belief of the exiftence of intelligent beings,
inferior to the fupreme, who at their plea-
fure, and contrary to the will of the Su-
preme Being, interfered in the direftion of
human affairs. I now proceed to obferve,
7. If the heathen philofophers became
fo vain in their imaginations, when they fpe-
culated concerning the nature of God, and
the origin and government of the univerfe,
and were not able to retain the great truths
which mankind had received by tradition
relating to them, much more did they

wander

REVEALED RELIGION. 203

wander in uncertainty and error, with re-
Ipedl to the dodirine of z future flat e, con-
cerning which, as I have obferved, the
light of nature gives us no information at
all. On this fubjed:, fo important that
without it the doftrine concerning God and
providence is merely a curious fpeculation,
of no pradlical ufe, the principles of thofe
philofophers who admitted a future ftate
are totally difcordant with thofe of the
fcriptures, which alone are agreeable to
reafon, though not difcoverable by ic. On
this fubjed, I muft be excufed if I advance
fome things which will not be approved by
the generahty of Chriftians, who, in my
opinion, have not mtirely got rid of doc-
trines introduced into Chriftianity from a
heathen fource, from which have been
derived almoft all its corruptions.

According to the fcriptures, the future
ftate of man depends intirely upon a rcjur-
reBioUy to take place at a diftant period,
called the lafi day, and nothing is faid con-
cerning the rewards of the righteous, or
the punifhment of the wicked, antecedent

T 2 to

5^04 THE EVIDENCES OF

to that time. Our Saviour recommending
ads of charity, fays, (Luke xiv. 14) Thou
jloalt he recompenfed at the refurre3ion of the jiifi,
and on no occafion did he refer his hearers
to any ftate of things prior to this. When
he fpeaks of being caji into hell, it is with
hands and eyes, which are members of the
body ; and the rich man in the parable is
reprefented as with a tongue, tormented
with burning thirft, thovigh for the fake
of fome circumftances in the parable the
future ftate is reprefented as taking place
before the proper time.

The Apoftle Paul, comforting the Thef-
falonians on the death of fome of their
friends, refers them only to the refurrec-
tion, and gives no hint of their enjoying
any degree of happinefs at the time that
he was writing, which would have been
unavoidable if, in his opinion, they had
been happy then, i. Theff. iv. 13. I would
not have you be ignorant^ brethren^ concerning
them that are afleep^ that ye forrow not as thoje
%uho have no hope. For if we believe that Jefus
died and rofe again, even fo alfo them that
J fleep

RfiVEALED RELIGION. ' i^^

fkep in Jcfiis will God bring with him, and thd
dead in Chrijl Jliall rife firfi, that is, before
any change take place on thofe who will
be then alive. Why, indeed, did he ufe the
term Jleep, tf, in his idea, the dead were not
in a ftate of infenjibility , and not to h6
awaked to life and adion, but at the re-
furreftion ?

Again, when the fame apoftle exhorts
Chriftians to live fober, righteous, and godly
lives, Tit. ii. 13. he directs them to look for
that blefed hopCy even the glorious appearing ef
the great God, and our Saviour Jefus Chriji,
when he fhall come again to raife the dead
and judge the world. When our Saviour
fays that he will receive the apoftles to
himfelf, he refers them to the fame time,
and nothing prior to it, John xiv. 3. / will
come agaiUf and take you to ntyfelf, that where
I am there ye may be alfo. When, therefore,
the apoftle Paul fpeaks of being abfent from
the body and prefent with the Lord^ he muft
have meant the fame great period, over-
looking all that pafled between the time
of his death and bis refurreftion, which

indedd

so6 THE EVIDENCES OF

indeed will only appear as a moment: as
in the cafe of a man awaking from a pro-
found fleep.

When Mofes defcribes the formation
of man, he reprefents him as made whol-
ly, and not in part only, of the diijl of the
ground^ and fays after this, God put breath
and life into him, thereby giving motion
to the curious machine, which was before
a lifelefs mafs. It is to this doflrine of
Mofes, that our Saviour refers, when he
fays that God is able to dejlroy both body and

foul, or the power of life, in helL For the
word that is here rendered foul, is elfe-
where rendered life, meaning that men,
by killing the body, which God has been
pleafed to put in their power, cannot pre-
vent its returning to life, this being in the
power of God only. There is not, in
reality, any more reafon to fuppofe life
to be a real fubftance, than death, which
we neverthelefs perfonify, when we fay
that death comes, and furprifes men, and
takes them. In the fcriptures, both death,

* and fin, are perfonified.

The

REVEALED RELIGION. 207

The Gnoftics, who were the firft of
the philofophers who embraced Chriftiani-
ty, could not diveft themfelves of their
prejudices with refpeft to mattery as the
fource of all evil ; and thinking it the hap-
pieft ftate of the foul, to be entirely de-
tached from it, they explained away the
dodlrine of the refurreBioUy as to be under-
ftood of fomething that took place during
life. To them the apoftle Paul alludes,
when he fays, 2 Tim. ii. 18. that they erred
concerning the faith; faying that the refurredion
was pafi already, and overturned the faith of
fome, Juftin Martyr, the firft Chriftian wri-
ter after the apoftolic age, whofe works are
come down to us, enumerating the parti-
cular tenets of the Gnoftics, who were
deemed to be heretics, and not allowed to
be properly Chriftians; fays of them, Dial,
p. 2. ' They alfo fay that there is no re-
' furredion of the dead, but that immedi-

* ately after death, fouls are received into

* heaven. Do not take thefe to be Chrif-
' tians.'

This

-ftog THE EVIDENCES OF

This language of this antient and ve-
nerable writer, is not a little remarkable.
Think not, however, that I approve of
his harlh cenfure of the Gnoftics. Others
will fay that they who rejeft the dodrine
•of a foul, are not Chrifhalns, Both are
equally reprehenfible. The Gnoftics as
^well as Juftin, believed the divine miffion
of Jefu^, 'and a Irfe of retribution after
death, and many of them were martyrs
as well as himfelf. The doftrine of a fu-
ture life, is the moft important article of
Cliriftian faitli. The time, the place. Or
the manner, in which it will be effe6ted,
are all comparatively of little moment.
-1. ; Thotigh after this Chriftians in general
adopted the doftrine of a foul diftind: from
the body, they thought that, after death, it
remained in a place under ground, called
'Hades, wh^re it waited for the refurreAion
of the body, when, and not before, it would
be admitted to the immediate prefence of
•God and of Chrift, in heaven. This con-
tinued to be the faith of the Chriftian
world, for about a thoufand years. They

pretty

REVEALED RELIGION. fief

pretty foon, however, made an exception
in favour of the fouls of the martyrs, which
they thought went direftly to heaven.

There are thought to be fome traces of
the doftrine of a refurreelion in the heathen
world, as among the Chaldeans and Za-
bians. But if this was the cafe, the doc-'
trine was foon obliterated, and fpeculative
perfons, thinking a proper rejitrredion to be
abfolutely impoffible, and yet unwilling to
give up all hope of iovnQ future ft ate, ima-
gined that there was fome fpiritual, or
ethereal, principle in man, which having
exifted long before his birth, would fubfift
after his death. For with the heathens
thefe two doftrines always went together;
and Origen, one of the moft learned of
the early Chriftians, believed both the
pre-exiftence of the foul, and its feparate
exiftence after death. Afterwards Chrif-
tians in general abandoned the former, but
retained the latter, though originally they
were both derived from the fame fource.

But what evidence is there, from any
appearances in nature, which is ail that

the

2IO THE EVIDENCES OF

the heathens had to look to, on which their
belief either of the pre-exiftence, or the
feparate exiflence of the foul is founded.
The former will be allowed to have been
wholly chimerical. But with refpedb to
the latter, is it not evident that the power
of thinking depends upon the brain ; and
if thought is fulpended in the ftate of found
fteepy and during a fiimn, muft it not be
more eifeftually fufpended in a ftate of
death?

It will be fai,d that we cannot conceive
of any connection between the properties
of perception or thought, and the idea
of matter. But we know nothing at all
of the connection of any properties with
thofe of any fubftance w^hatever. Who
can explain the connexion between the
magnet and the property of attrafting
iron, or the caufe of the gravitation of all
material fubftances towards each other ?
And what clearer ideas have we of the con-
nexion between the power of perception
and thought with an immaterial fubftance
any more than with a material one. Let

us

REVEALED RELIGION.

211

US then no longer cover our ignorance, or
our fancied knowledge, with the repeti-
tion of mere words, to which we have no
ideas, but confine ourfelves to known /i?r?j,
fuch as the flri^l conne6lion between the
powers of thought and the organization of
the brain. When that is deftroyed, fenfa-
tion and thought ceafe ; fo that there can-
not be any rational ground to expeft the
reftoration of the one without the reftora-
tion of the other. And certainly the
great Being who made man of the duft of
the ground, can make him again, though
reduced to the fame duft. As to the
manner in which this is to be eifefted, we
know as much of the one as of the other ;
which is juft nothing at all. But as the
one has been effefted by the fame Being
who has promifed the other, we have no
reafon to entertain any doubt of its ac-
complifliment at the time appointed.

The only rational hope of a future
life muft, therefore, be founded on the
fcripture dodlrine of a refiirreEHoUy when
the whole man, with all his powers, will

be

2tii THE IVIDKN-CES OF

be revived. That this dodrine of a re-
furreftion is inconfiilent with that of a
foul, \vhich furvives the body, and retains
all its faculties, not only unimpaired, but
improved, (for fuch is the original and
proper doftrine on the fubjed:) is obvious
to the flicrheft confideration. For if fuch

o

be the condition of the foul, when freed
from the clog and obftruclion of the body,
a refurred:ion would not only be unneceP
fary, but even undehrable. The two fyf-^
terns are, therefore, repugnant to each
other, and cannot be rationally held to-^
gether.

The doctrine of a foul, and confe-
quently that of an intermediate ftate be-
tween death and the refurreftion, has
been the foundation of the worfliip of
dead men and women, called faints, of
the do6trine of purgatory, and many
other doArines of popery. Thefe, and
almoft every other corruption of genuine
chriftianitv, came from the fame heathen
fource, as I have fiiewn at large in my
Hijiory of the Corruptions of Chriftia?iitj.

The

REVEALED RELIGION. ^^13

The imagiRation of man being let loofe
in fpeculations on the origin and nature of
fouls, and their exifrence after deaths wq
do not wonder at the wildeft and moft ex-
travagant hypothefes on fo obfcure a fub-
j.e<ft. The general opinion of the philofo-
phers was, that all fouls, having been
portions of the divine eflence, or of the
great foul of the world, and having con-
tracted various impurities in their ftate of
feparation from their fource, muft pafs
through a courfe of purgation, by going
through various animal bodies, before they
could be reunited to the fountain from
which they fprung, and to which they al-
ways tend.

The Egyptians, according to Herodo-
tus, believed that when the bocjy wa^
decayed, the foul paffed into that of fome
other animal, which was juil then born,
and that after it had made the circuit of
beafts, birds, and fiflies, through a period
of three thoufand years, it again became
an inhabitant of a human body. They,
therefore, endeavoured to delay rfiis tranl-

mlgration.

214 THE EVIDENCES OF

migration, by embalming the body, and
thereby preferving it uncorrupted, and in
a ftate fit for the refidence of the foul, as
long as pofFible.

Pythagoras, who borrowed his doc-
trines from the Eaft, carried this of tranf-
migration into Greece. He alfo held that
of the final return of all fouls into the
eternal fource from which they fprung.
It does not, however, appear that the doc-
trine of tranfmigration, though ftill held in
die Eaftj remained long in Greece ; but
the doclrine of pre-exiftence^ ever accompa-
nied that of a foul, and on this principle,
the Grecian philofophers believed its natu-
ral independence on the body, and its con-
tinued exiftence after its feparation from
it by death. Socrates held this doftrine,
but either with fome degree of doubt, or
having no high opinion of the happinefs
of a future ftate*. Plato reprefents him

as

* The heathens in general, at leafl the Greeks, do not
appear to have had any high idea of the happinefs of tlie
bed of men after death. For Homer makes Achilles fay to

Ulyfles,

REVEALED RELIGION. 215

as faying to his friends, who attended
him at his trial, * whether it is better to

* Uveor die, was known only to the gods."

Plato, though a difciple of Socrates,
combined his doctrines with thofe of other
philofophers, and had fome peculiar ideas
on this fubjet^. Thefe, on account of his
great celebrity, I muft not omit to men-
tion, if it were only to fhew what very
abfurd and extravagant notions the great-
eft of men have adopted Vv^hen deftitute of
the light of revelation. He fuppofed that
' there exifts fomething between God, and
' the matter of which the world was form-

* ed, which he calls ideas ^ exifting in the
' divine mind; and as external objefts are
^ perceived by the jhijesy thefe can only be

* perceived by the mtelled,^ Senfible things,
he faid, * being in a ftate of continual

* fluftuation, cannot be the object of

* fcience^ but thefe ideas ^ being permanent,

* may^ and by the contemplation of them,

UlyfTes, when he found him in the Elyiian fields, ' I had

* rather be a poor man, and ferve another poor man, who

* had himfelf a bare f efficiency of food, on earth, than rule

* over all the dead.'

* he

2i6 THE EVIDENCES OF

* he fuppofed that men might attain to a

* kind of union with God, in whofe mind

* thofe ideas exift. He alfo fuppofed that

* there is a third fuhjtance, compofed of

* fpirit and matter, difliifed through the

* univerfe, and the animating foul of

* the world ; that the fouls of men are

* not derived immediately from God, but

* from this foul of the world, which from
' its origin was debafed by a mixture of

* material principle. He faid that when

* God formed the univerfe, he feparated

* from the foul of the world, a number of

* inferior fouls, equal in number to the

* ftars, and aifigned to each its proper ce-

* leftial abode; but that thefe fouls (from

* what reafon does not appear) were fent

* down to the earth, as into a fepulchre,

* or prifon, and that it is only by difen-
' gaging itfelf from animal pafTions, and

* rifing above fenfible objefts, to the con-

* templation of tlie world of intelligence,'
(the ideas above mentioned) ' that the
' foul of man can be prepared to return

* to its deftined habitation.'

He

REVEALED RELIGION. a^xj:

He moreover held that ' the fQ^l ^o^i-

* fifts of three parts, the firft the fea^ pf
\ intelligence, the fecond of the paffions,
and the third of appetite, and he alfigned
tQ each its proper place in the human body.

The Stoics thought very differently
from each other concerning the duration
of fouls. ^ Some of them were of opinion
^ that they would all remain till the general

* conflagration; fome that only thofe of

* the wife and good would continue fo
\ long; fome thought that all fouls, on be-
^ ing releafed from th^ir bodies, would be

* immediately abforbed in the foul of th^

* world ; fome that fouls being of the ^14-

* ture of firCy would b^ extinguifhed at

* death ; others that the^ foul was fo cor^-
*• filled in the grofs body, ;hat it could not
^ find a paffage out even at death, but
^ mufb remain till it was intirely deftroyed.

* Sonie of the Stoics thought that, in the?

* univerfal reftoration of nature, each in-
< dividual would return to its former body,
^ but others thought that then only fimilar

* fouls would be placed in fimilar bodies.

u Uncertainty

2i8 THE EVIDENCES OF

Uncertainty cannot be more ftrongly in-
dicated than in this diverfity of opinion.

It does not appear whether Ariftotle
thought the human foul to be mortal or
immortal; but the former is the more pro-
bable, from his opinion concerning the
nature and origin of it. For he fays * it

* is an intellecSlual power, externally tranf-

* mitted into the human body, from the
' common fource of rationality to human

* beings.' He does not fay what he con-
ceived this univerfal principle to be ; but
there is no proof that he fuppofed this
principle continued with any individual
after death.

If we may colled the fentiments of
Ariftotle from thofe of his followers, we
may certainly conclude that he did not
expe^^ that men would in any fenfe, fur-
vive death. Dicaearchus, an Ariftotelian,
held that * there was no fuch thing as mind^

* OT foul, in man or beaft, that the principle

* by which animals perceive is equally dif-

* fufed through the body, and infeparable
' from it.' Alexander Aphrodifceus, an-
other

THE EVIDENCES OF 319

Other follower of Ariftotle, faid that ^ the

< foul was not a diftiiift fubftance itfelf, but

* the form of an organized body/ mean-
ing probably, that it was a property that
was the refult of organization. Theo-
phraftus, an Ariftotelian, at the clofe of
life, exprefled great regret at the fhort-
nefs of it, and complained that ^ nature

* had given long life to flags and crows,
^ to whom it is of little value, and had
^ denied it to man, who, in a longer du-

* ration, might have been able to attaui

* the fummit of fcience , but now, as foon
t as he arrives within fight of it, he is ta-

* ken away.' His laft advice to his difci-
ples was that, ^ fince it is the lot of man

< to die, as foon as he begins to live, they

* ftiould take more pains to enjoy life, than

* to acquire pofthumous fame.' Indeed
the natural inference from this doftrine is,
as the Apoftle expreffes it. Let us eat and
drinky for to morrow we die»

The great father of modern unbelievei:s
among Mahometans and Chriftians, was
Averroes, a Saracen, devoted to the phi-

u 2 lofophy

220 THE EVIDENCES OF

lofophy of Ariftotle, whofe writings made
all the unbelievers in the age of Petrarch,
and that of Pope Leo X. He held ' the
^ eternity of the world, and the exiftence

* of one univerfal intelleft, the fource of
'all human intelligence, into which every

* feparate intelligence will finally be re^
' folved, and confequently he denied the
^diftind: exiftence, and proper immortality
' of the human foul.' T need not fay how
irrational this notion, fo long prevalent
with thofe who ridiculed the fcriptures, is.
Modern unbelievers will fmile at the ex-
treme abfurdity of it, as much as any
Ghriftians, and fo they will at all the fyf-
tems of their prcdeceflbrs, the heathen
philofophers ; though in a general way,
with a view to difparage the writers of
the fcriptures, they, but with little
real knowledge of them, occafionally cry
them up.

I hardly need to mention any more of
thefe vague opinions, altogether deftitute of
proof, or probability. But I fliall obferve
that Democritus faid that * men were firft

* produced

REVEALED RELIGION 221

' produced from water and earth, and
' that the foul, or the principle of animal

* life and motion, is the refult of a com-

* binatioii of round and fiery particles, and

* is mortal, and perifhes with the body.'
And Epicurus faid, ' the foul is a fubtle
^ corporeal fubftance, compofed of the

* fineft atoms/

The principles of found reafoning and
true philofophy, have fufficiently exploded
all thefe crude fyftems, the beft of which
never produced fuch a perfuafion concern-
ing a future ftate as men could aft upon,
and fuffer and die for ; whereas the faith
of Jews, and Chriftians, has unqueftion-
ably produced, and does flill produce,
thefe fubftantial fruits. And if the great
end of theory, as it undoubtedly is, be
praSice, a do6lrine which is both rational
in itfelf, and fupported by fufEcient autho-
rity, muft be infinitely preferable to fuch
wild and incoherent fyflems as thofe of
the antient philofophers, the knowledge
of which, moreover, never extended be-
yond their own difciples, and which does

not

21% THE EVIDENCES OF

not appear to have had any real influence
even upon them.

But the great queftion before us at
prefent is this ; if Mofes, and the other
writers of the Old and New Teftament,
are to be clafled with fhilofophers or legijla-
tors, how came they to frame a fyftem fo
fundamentally different from any that other
philofophers and legillators of the fame
age had conceived ? And if they were
noty but are to be confidered as perfons
who had no advantage of learning or edu-
cution, and therefore to be clafled among
the vulgar y and the vulgar of a rude and
barbarous nation, as the Jews are gene-
rally confidered, how came they to dif-
cover fo much true knowledge, and adopt
a fyflem of religion, laws, and morals,
which cannot be denied to be free from
the crude conceptions, and grofs abfurdi-
ties, with which the fyftems of the
boafted philofophers of the heathen world
are chargeable ? The only anfwer is,
that what they wrote was from a fource
of wifdom not their own, or any that they

could

REVEALED RELIGION. 223

could have borrowed from the neighbouring
nations, but one much fuperior ; and as
they profefs, from God. But what are we
to think of thofe, who with the fads that I
have recited before them, whether they
will attend to them or not, are continu-
ally exclaiming againft the religion of the
Bible, without Iparing any term of re-
proach, and praifing the fuperior attain-
ments, and philofophy, of the Greeks
and Romans. Happily, however, there are
fafts enow before us, and abundantly af-
certained, by which impartial perfons may
eafily form a true judgment concerning
both; and I hope tliere is yet in the world
common fenfe, and candour too, fufficient
to make a juft comparifon between them.
8. In a former difc our fe I ihewed you
to what horrid and abominable praftices
the popular religions among the heathens
led. But thefe, it may be faid, were pe-
culiar to the vulgar y and that the philofopbers
would not fail to condemn thofe praftices.
This, however, was far from being the
cafe. Many of the philofopbers, no doubt,

knew

S2^ THE EVIDENCES OF

knew better, and among themfelves d^-
fpifed and ridiculed the popular fuperfti^
tions, at leaft fome of them; but they had
hot the juft courage in the caufe of truth
knd virtue, to run any rifque in oppofing
lb deftrudlive a torrent. They tliemfelves
ctonfoi-med to all the fuperflitious practices
t)F thofe times, and recommended the fame
to others. Xenophon began his account
t)f his beloved m after Socrates, with fay-
ing, that ' he wondered how he came to

* be charged with not believing in the gods

* of his country, when he not only joined

* in the public facrifices, but frequently

* facrificed in private, attd openly prad:ifed

* divination, which was always deemed a
^ part of religion.' Socrates himfelf faid,
' that it is the duty of every perfon, to

* follow the cuftoms of his country, in all

* its religious rites.' In fuch veneration did
feVeral of the philofophers hold the laws of
their country, that they maintained there
tvas no other rule of right and wrong.
This doftrine was avowed by Democritus
and Ariftippus. I need not obferve how

abfurd

REVEALED RELIGION* 225

abfurd this maxim was. Were the laws
themfelves framed by no rules of natural
right or wrong ? and how are we, on this
principle, to make an eftimate of the
comparative excellence of different fyftems
of law ?

So far were the antient philofophers
from entertaining the liberal fentiments
which it is now the fafhion to afcribe to
them, that, in a period of three hundred
years, during which the Chriftians were
perfecuted, as oppofers of the vulgar fu-
perftition, there is no example of any
philofopher pleading for the toleration of
them. On the contrary, they were often
the foremoft to promote the perfecution.
The celebrated emperor Marcus Aurelius,
who was himfelf an eminent philofopher,
was one of the moft unrelenting perfecu-
tors of Chriftians.

9. As feveral of the philofophers were
aware that fome of their tenets would have
given offence to the vulgar, either from the
nature of them, or from their being liable
to be mifunderftood, they had doBrines^

which

226 THE EVIDENCES OF

which they communicated only to a few,
and this under a ftn6l injunftion of fecrecy.
This pradlice was adopted by Pythagoras
from the Egyptian priefts. He moreover
enjoined upon his pupils a filence of two,
and fometimes of five, years. In this ftate
of probation they were not permitted even
to fee their mafter, or to hear him, except
from behind a curtain, and when they
were admitted to his prefence, and favour-
ed with his fecret doftrines, they bound
themfelves by an oath not to divulge them.
Something of this nature was adopted by
Plato. He faid, ' it is a difficult thing to

* difcover the nature of the creator of the

* univerfe, and being difcovered, it is im-

* poffible, and would be impious, to expofe

* the difcovery to vulgar underftandings.

* He therefore threw a veil of obfcurity

* over his public inftru6tions, which was

* only removed for the benefit of thofe

* who were thought worthy to be admit-

* ted to his more private and confidential

* ledures.'

But

REVEALED RELIGION. 227

But how much more noble was the
condudl of Mofes, andof our Saviour, who
made no fecret of any thing that they
taught? How much dignity was there in the
charge that Jefus gave to his apoftles, to
pubhfh every thing that they knew of his
doftrines, Mat. x. 27. What I tell you in
darknefs, that /peak ye in the lights and -what
ye hear in the ear, that preach ye tipon the
houfe tops.

10. In general, no doubt, the heathen
philofophers had juft ideas concerning mo-
ral virtues, and in their writings they ex-
prefs themfelves with truth and energy on
the fubjeft ; but in feveral refpecls their
peculiar tenets mifled them, and were un-
favourable to a right difpofition of mind,
and a proper condud: in life. This could
not but be the cafe with the Stoics, the
moft rigidly moral of all the antient fedls.
Their opinion that all fouls are portions
of the divinity, from which they inferred
that they were fufficient for their own
happinefs, infpired them with a great de-
gree of pride. For they faid, * it was

* not

12-8 THE EVIDENCES OF

* not in the power of the gods to make a

* good man mJhappy.' They main-
tained diat pain was no evil, and that
a wife man may be happy even in
the midft of torture. They alfo held
that he ought to be free from every emo-
tion of afFeftion or paffion. Nature would
never fuffer any man to reduce this abfurd
fyftem to pradice; but die attempt to do
it mud have had an unfavourable influence
on a man^s temper and conduA. Whether
confidently with their principles, or not,
many of the more eminent of the Stoics
put an end to their own lives. This was
done by Zeno himfelf, the founder of the
feiS, when, in a very advanced age, he was
in much pain from breaking his finger.

II. It is common with unbelievers to
decry both Chriftianity and Judaifm, as
fpecies of fitperfiition. But no mifconcep-
tions or abufe, of the Jewifti or Chriflian
religions, led to more abfurd fuperftitions
than the doftrines of the heathen philofo-
phers, concerning the defiUng nature of
matter, their confequent contempt far the

body

REVEAXJEP EELIGION. 32,9

body, and their ideas of the purification
of th€ foul by the mortification of it, It
was, in fa6l, from the heathen philofo-
phers that the Chriftians of the fecond and
following centuries derived their opinions
and praftices on the fubjeft. It was from
them alfo that the monkilh ideas of the fu-
perior merit of a contemplati'ue to an aiiivc
life, and of the value of feclufion from the
world, were originally derived.

Pythagoras faid that ^ contemplative
^ wifdom cannot be completely attained
'. without a total abftraftion from the or-

* dinary affairs of life, and a perfedl tran-
' quility and freedom of mind.' But the
later Platonifts, among whom we might
expeft the moll advanced and improved
ftate of philofophy, carried thefe ideas
ftill farther. * They praftifed the moft
'rigorous abflinence, as by this means
\ they expected to purify themfelves from

* moral defilement, and they paffed whole

* days and nights in contemplation, and
^ what they called devotion. Plotinus
^ had fuch a contempt for the body, that

' he

2 30 THE EVIDENCES OF

* he never could be prevailed upon to

* make ufe of any means to cure the dif-

* eafes to which his conftitution was fub-

* jedl, or to alleviate his pain. His rigo-

* rous abftinence, and determined neglecSb

* of his health, at laft brought him into a
' ftate of difeafe and infirmity, which ren-

* dered the latter part of his life extremely

* painful.' In Chriftians this would be
laughed at, but in this deep philofopher, it
may perhaps be admired.

To this fuperftition thefe philofophers
joined the moft extravagant enthufiafm.
They fuppofed, that * the foul of man,

* prepared by previous difcipline, might

* rife to a capacity of holding immediate
^ intercourfe with good demons, and even
^ to enjoy in ecftafy an intuitive vifion of

* God himfelf,' a degree of perfection and
felicity which fome of the more eminent
among them, fuch as Plotinus, Porphy'ry,
Jamblicus, and Proclus, were fuppofed
aftually to have attained. Plotinus is faid

* to have afc ended through all the Platonic

* fteps of contemplation, to the aftual vi-

* fion

REVEALED RELIGION. 2^1

* fion of the Supreme Being himfelf, and

* to have been admitted to fuch inter-
' courfe with him as no other philofopher

* ever enjoyed." Porphyry fays that he

* himfelf, in the fixty-eighth year of his
' age, was in a facred ecftafy, when he
Vfaw the fupreme intelhgnece, the god/
he fays, ' who is fuperior to all gods, with-

* out an image.'

According to Jamblicus, ' the human

* foul has an innate knowledge of God,

* prior to all reafoning, in confequence of

* its having originally derived its eflence

* from, and having fubfifted in, the divine
' nature ; that by the intervention of de-

* mons, it enjoys communication with
' the fuperior divinities, and with God

* himfelf. Gods, demons, and heroes,'
he fays, * appear to men under various
' forms, in dreams, or waking vifions, to
' render them bodily or fpiritual fer vices,

* and to enable them to predift future

* events. But thefe communications with

* the divine nature are not to be obtained

* without the obfervance of certain facred

rites.

2SZ THE EVIDENCES OF

'. rites. The figns of divine communica-

* tions/ he fays, ' are a temporary fufp en-
*-. fion of the fenfes and faculties, the inter-

* ruption of the ordinary fundlions of

* Hfe, and a capacity of fpeaking and dq-

* ing wonders, fo that in this ftate the per-
' fon does not hve an animal, or huni4n>

* but a divine life/

Jews and Chriftians are reproached for
their credulity, for their faith in miracles,
however well attefled; but can they fay
.that thefe Platonifts were lefs credulous ?
f. With a view to deftroy the credit which

* the Chriftian religion derived from mira-

* cles, or at leaft to advance their philofo-

* phy to a level with it, they pretended to

* a power of performing fupernatural ope-

* rations, by the aid of invifible beings,

* and faid that the miracles of Chrift/
which they did not deny, * were wrought
*. by the fame magical, or as they termed
' them, ibeurgic powers, which they them-

* felves poffefled. The emperor Julian,

* made great ufe of magical arts in exe->
' cuting his political purpofes. While he

* reported

REVEALED RELIGION. 233

* was at Vienna, he reported that m the
' middle of the night he was vifited by

* a celeftial form, which, fpeaking in heroic

* verfe, had promifed him the pofleffion
' of the imperial dignity/

With thefe fads before us, and many
more of the fame kind might have been
adduced, furely chriftianity will no longer
be exclufively taxed with fuperftition,
enthufiafm, or creduUty. . But no coun-
tenance is given cO thefe idle notions, or
abfurd practices, in the fcriptures. Chrift
and the apoftles Vv^ere not monks, nor had
they any monki(h ideas. Their piety was
perfeftly rational, and their love of God
evidenced by benevolence to man. And
they inculcated no aufterity, or morti-
fication, befides that temperance, which is
oppofed to vicious excefs, and contributes
to the true eqjoyment of life.

On the whole, we may furely fay that
had modern unbelievers found in the fcrip-
tures any of the do6lrines which I have
lliewn to have been profeffed by the philo-
fophers of antiquity, had they found there

X the

»34 TH£ EVIDENCES OF

the doftrine of two coeternal principles,
that of the emanation of all fouls from
the fubftance of the Supreme Being, the
abforption of them into it again, with
their repeated emiffions and retractions to
ail eternity; had they found there the
doctrine of the formation of all things by
the fortuitous concourfe of atoms, that the
air is filled with demons of different cha-
racters, directing the affairs of the world
at their pleafure, and giving intimations of
future events by omens and divination ;
had they found in the fcriptures the doc-
trine of the pre-exiftence of all human
fouls, their lapfe into grofs bodies, where
they are confined, and alfo contaminated
by their connection with fo debafing a com-
panion, the purification of thefe embodied
fouls by aufterity and mortification, their
tranfmigration through the bodies of ani-
mals, by way of preparation for their af-
cent to the empyreal regions; had they
there found the doCtrine of one common
principle of intelligence, or foul of the
univerfe, in all men and animals, without

giving

REVEALED RELIGION. 235

giving to each a permanent exiflence, had
all or any of thefe dot^rines been found in
the fcriptures, would they not have ex-
claimed againft fuch crude notions, and
wild conceptions, and have rejefted the
fyftem without farther examination ? It
was, in faft, the finding no fuch opinions
as thefe in the fcriptures, that firft led
chriftian philofophers, (after having adopt-
ed feveral of them from a heathen fource,
and having long endeavoured to hold them
in conjunftion Vv^ith their chriftian princi-
ples) that led them to fufpeft their truth ;
and farther reflection on the fubjeft
led many to explode them altogether.
Thus is the world indebted to chriftianity
for the deteftion of errors which were
the difgrace of human reafon, though pa-
tronized by the moft eminent philofophers
of the heathen world; yet modern un-
believers, though lying, with the reft of
the world, under fo great obligations to
chriftianity, are now bufily alfaulting it
with every weapon of reafon or ridicule.
Its friends, however, are under no appre-
X 2 henfions

236 THE EVIDENCES, &:c.

henfions about it. This very ftate of things
was forefeen, and foretold, by its founder.
Revealed religion is fo far from Ihrinking
from, that it invites, the ftridleft examina-
tion. Its friends being thofe of reafon and
truth, engage in its vindication only as
fupported by reafon and truth, and as
favourable to the beft interefts of man-
kind.

DISCOURSE IX.

T'he evidence of the Mofaic and Chriftian
Religions,

PART I.

God, who, at fundry times), and in divers manners, fp-
in time pafl unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath, .
thefe laft days, fpoken unto us by his fon.

Heb i. I — 2.

In the preceding Difcourfes I have
endeavoured to prepare the way for the
proper evidence of revealed reUgion, by-
explaining the nature, and fhewing the im-
portance, of the fubjefl:, and by exhibiting
a comparative view of the heathen reli
gions, and that of the Hebrews, which is
that branch of revealed religion which is
moft objedled to by unbelievers. The
fyftems of the heathen religions, efpecially

thofe

23S THE EVIDENCES OF

thofe of remote ages, coeval with the
Mofaic inftitutioiis, you have feen to have
been not only a confufed mafs of mifer-
able fuperftition, arifing from a total igno-
rance of the laws of nature, but to have
confiiled in rites fho eking to humanity,
good morals, and common decency, and
that they were, in a great meafure, the
caufe of the horrid depravity of manners
which prevailed in the Gentile v/orld. On
the contrary, the tenets of the religion of
the Hebrews, which has been fo much de-
cried by Voltaire and others, were, in the
higheft degree, rational, worthy of the
Supreme Being, leading to the greatefl
purity of heart and life, and peculiarly
calculated to counteraft the effeds of the
abfurd and mifchievous religions of the
neighbouring nations. Being, therefore,
fo much fuperior to, and reverfe of, all
the forms of religions, with which Mofes
or any of his countrymen, could have been
acquainted, and even fuperior, as I have
ihewn, to the principles advanced by the
moft celebrated of the heathen philofo*

phers.

REVEALED RELIGION. 259

phers, there is the greateft antecedent pro-
bability that it came from God, the foun-
tain of wifdom ; who thought proper to
make choice of one nation, in which to
preferve the true knowledge and woriliip
of himfelf, amidft the general defection
from it, and by that means to diffufe, in
due time, the moft falutary hght to all
his offspring of mankind. And it has al-
ready, in a great meafure, eifefted this
benevolent purpofe, in the gradual unfold-
ing of the plan, in the chriftian revela-
tion, which has a conflant reference to
that of Mofes ; fo that they are to be con-
fidered as parts of the fame fcheme ; the
proper evidence of which I fhall now pro-
ceed to lay before you. In order to
do this as briefly as pofTible, I fliall not
confider the evidence of each feparately,
but jointly ; efpecially as I have done the
former, and more in detail, in another fet
of difcourfes, w^hich are already before
the PubUc.

I Ihall begin with obferving that the
only proper evidence of the interpofition

of

340 THE EVIDENCES OF

of God, as the author of nature, is an ex-
hibition of fomething wliich he alone is
capable of performing, that is, a proper
miracle, or a controlling of the order of na-
ture, which it muft be allowed that no
other than he who eftablifhed it, and who
conftantly maintains it, can do. The me-
dium of divine communications may be
^en, and where the inftrudlion and refor-
mation of men is the objeft, it is moft
naturally and properly fo ; but the power
by which it is efFefted, muft appear to be
of God. Other wife, there would be no
reafon to fuppofe that there was any thing
fuperhuman in the fcheme.

It has, indeed, been the opinion of fome,
that proper miracles may be wrought by
beings fuperior to man, though inferior to
the Supreme God, and even for purpofes op-
pofite to any that could be his, tending to
miflead and injure mankind. But this is
an opinion which I am perfuaded will not
be ferioufly maintained by any perfon at
this day. It cannot, with any appearance

of

REVEALED RELIGION. 241

of reafon, be fuppofed, that the Supreme
Being would put it in the power of any
malevolent demon (fuppofing fuch beings
to exift) thus to deceive his creatures, and
without refer ving to himfelf the power of
undeceiving them. For if fuch beings as
thefe were permitted to work real ndra-
cles, or perform fuch works as men were
unable to diftinguifli from real miracles, it
was all that himfelf could do; fo that the
mifchief would be without remiedy.

We muft therefore, take it for granted,
and I doubt not, it will be univerfally al-
lowed, that if there be a real departure from
the order or laws of nature (v/hich in the
greater inftances there is no danger of
miftaking') it muft be by the interpcfition
of a power properly divine, and for a pur-
pofe worthy of divinity, of the great and
good parent of the human race; for in-
ftance, to give them feafonable alfiftance
in the difcovery of interefting truth, and
removing the caufes of error, vice, and
mifery, which mull otherwife have re-
mained without remedy.

Miracles,

242 THE EVIDENCES OF

Miracles, then, being allowed to be
the only, but a fufficient, evidence of di-
vine interpofition, it will be afked, what
is the evidence of their having been
wrought, to thofe who are not them-
felves witnefles of them? For it is not
pretended that miracles are exhibited be-
fore all perfons, but only occafionally.
I anfwer, the teftimony of thofe who were
properly witnefles of them, but teftimony
fo circumftanced, that the fuppofition of
its being falfe would be more improbable
on the whole than that of its being true;
fo that its being falfe fhall, by a fair efti-
mate, appear to be a greater miracle, or
a greater deviation from the ufual courfe
of nature, than what is related as fuch.
And certainly fuch cafes may be fuppof-
ed.

If, for inftance, a great number of
perfons, miiverfally allowed to have the
nfe of their fenfes and underftanding, fe-
rioufly declare that they actually faw, or
heard, any thing whatever, though a priori
ever fo improbable, and their veracity be

not

REVEALED RELIGIOl^. 245

not queftioned, their fenfes muft have
been under a miraculous illufion, if the
thing be not as they reprefent it. It will
alfo be allowed, from the opinion general-
ly entertained of human nature, that cir-
cumftances may be fuppofed, in which a
great number of perfons agreeing to tell
a falfehood, when they could not have any
motive to do it, would be deemed nothing
lefs than miraculous.

It is readily acknowledged, that mira-
cles not being events of daily or frequent
occurrence, require more definite evidence
than ordinary fafts, and this in proportion
to their antecedent improbability, arifing
from their w^ant of analogy to events that
are common. But there is no fad that
is poffible in itfelf, but the evidence inay be
fuch as to make it credible. The circum-
ftances which tend to give credit to human
teftimony with refpeft to miracles, are the
following. The witnefles muft be in fuf-
ficient number. They muft be in circum-
ftauces in which they cannot be deceived
themfelves, and they muft have no appa-
rent

^^4 THE EVIDENCES OF

rent motive to deceive others. In order
to this, the miracles mud be in fufficient
number, and exhibited fo long, as to af-
ford opportunity^ for examining them.
They muft alfo be upon a large fcale, or
of fuch a nature as to exclude all idea of
trick or impofition. They muft be exhi-
bited before perfons who had no previous
difpolition to expecb or to receive them.
A fufficient degree of attention muft be
excited to tliem at the time, and a num-
ber of perfons muft be interefted in afcer-
taining their reality. The hiftory of
them muft be coeval with the events, and
the belief of them muft produce a lafting
eifea.

If all thefe circumftances fliould be
found to concur in the miracles recorded
in the fcriptures, it muft be allowed that
they have all the credibility that fa6ls fo
extraordinary, and of fo great antiquity
can have, and nothing more can be requir-
ed in the cafe. The moft fceptical of
men cannot demand more fatisfadlory evi-
dence. I fliall therefore now proceed to

confider

REVEALED RELIGION 245

confider how far thefe circumftances apply-
to the miracles of which an account is con-
tained in the Old and New Teftament.
For it is the truth of the fyftem of reli-
gion propofed to us in thefe books that is
to be proved by them.

I muft, however, remind you, that
though 1 would by no means crave your
indulgence in being fatisfied with a finall
decree of evidence, or lefs than fuch as I
have defcribed, the thing to be proved is
far from being improbable a priori, fo as to
make fuch extraordinary evidence necef-
fary. If men, who are the oifspring of
God, were involved dn error, vice, and
mifery, from which it v^as not in their
power to refcue themfelves, it m^ight even
have been expcBed that their benevolent
parent would provide fome efteilual means
for their relief. And the fchenie of re-
velation, which gives men the fuUeft ir.for-
mation concerning the being, the perfe(^ions
and the providence of God, concerning
man-s duty here,, and a future Hale of
retribution hereafter, the knowledge ot

>\ hlch

246 THE EVIDENCES OF

which we have feen the wifeft of men
never attained of themfelves, is excellent-
ly adapted to anfwer this end, and there-
fore it is not only defirable, but far from
being improbable. On the contrary, I have
Ihewn at large that the plan of revelation
is, in a variety of refpefts, the moft natural
and the moft effeftual, and confequently
the moft eligible, mode of communicating
religious inftruftion to men.

In this, however, I fpeak to the feel-
ings of the virtuous, the worthy, . and the
thinking part of mankind, thofe whofe
charafters and conduft are fuch as will na-
turally lead them to wifh for, and rejoice
in, the difcovery of fuch momentous
truths, and not the profligate and thought-
lefs, who are governed by mere appetite
and paflion, like the brutes, who, looking
no farther than to mere animal enjoyments,
never think of a God, of a providence,
or a future ftate at all; and who, if it
depended upon them, would not choofe that
there fliould be any fuch thing.

In

REVEALED RELIGION. ^47

It is well known that there are ftate$
of mind in which no attention will be
given to any thing that is ofFenfive to it.
A philofopher of great eminence, having
advanced an opinion concerning fomething
that might be determined by a microfco-
pical obfervation, refufed to look through
a microfcope that Avas brought to him,
with the objeft ready prepared, when he
was told that the infpedion would refute his
hypothefis. And certainly vicious propenfi-
ties lay a ftronger bias on the mind than
any fpeculative opinions whatever.

In minds exceedingly debafed, there
muft be an almoft invincible bias againft
the dodlrines of revelation ; and probably
the evidence even of their own fenfes
would not be fufficient to convince them.
To fuch perfons as thefe, I do not ad-
■drefs myfelf at all, becaufe it would be
altogether in vain. Indeed I can hardly
fuppofe that any motive, even that of cu*
riofity, would bring any perfon of this
character to hear me on the fubjeft, and

therefore

248 THE EVIDENCES OF

therefore I will not fuppofe any fuch to
be prefent.

I . To thofe perfons whofe minds are
not abfolutely ihut againft conviftion, I
would obferve, in the firft place, that the
miracles recorded in the fcriptures, and
on which tlie truth of the Mofaic and
Chriflkn inftitutions refts, are fufficiently
numerous. Faffing over all that preceded
the age of Mofes himfelf, the miracles
which efFefted the emancipation of the
in^aelites from their bondage in Egypt,
and their fettlement in the land of Canaan,
will certainly be allowed not to have
been deficient with refpecl to nimber,
whatever elfe be objefted to them. They
began Vv^ith the miraculous appearance of
fire, in a bufli which was not confumed
by it, the withering and reftoring of Mofes'
arm, and the changing his rod into a fer-
pent, and that ferpent into a rod as at firft.
Then follow the ten great plagues of
Egypt, beginning with the changing of
the waters of the river into blood, and

ending

'^-K

REVEALED RELIGION. 249

ending with the death of all the firft born
of the Egyptains in one night, according
to the prediction of Mofes. We then pro-
ceed to the paflage of tl^ red fea, while
the waters rofe on each fide to admit of
it; the fweetning of the waters of Mara,
the delivery of the ten commandments in
an articulate voice from mount Sinai, the
fupplying of the whole nation with man-
na, and the condudling of them with the
appearance of a pillar of cloud by day,
and of fire by night during forty years,
the drawing water from a rock, enough
to fupply the whole nation, at two differ-
ent times, the death of Korah, Dathan,
and Abiram by the opening of the earth
at the word of Mofes, the death of Na-
dab and Alihu, the two fons of Aaron, by
fire from heaven, the pafTage of the river
Jordan, by the dividing of its waters, the
fall of the walls of Jericho, and fome
others of lefs confequence, all in the com-
p.afs of one generation.

In the fubfequent hiflory of the Ifrael-
ites, miracles were not fo numerous, but

Y i%

%

s^o THE EVIDENCES OF

it is probable that no long period of it was
intirely without them, till they were difcon-
tinued after the Babylonifh captivity. But
in this interval the Hebrew prophets foretold
in the plaineft language many future events
which came to pafs in their own times, or
vfery near to them, and among thefe the fate
of all the neighbouring nations, as well as
of their own, to the lateft period of timCi
Jeremiah foretold not only the Babylonifli
captivity, but the exaft duration of it.
In the time of Daniel we have the deliver-
ance of Shadrach, Melhach and Abednego
from the fiery furnace, of Daniel himfelf
in the den of lions, and his foretelling the
infanity (for fuch it muft have been) of
Nebuchadne^ar, and his reftoration after
feven years, as well as his prophecies con-
cerning the rife and fall of the four great
monarchies, which have been wonderfully
verified, though part of them yet remain
to be fulfilled.

After this we have an interval of about
four hundred years, in which we find no
pretentions to miracles, or propliecy. But
during the public miniftry of Jefus, mira-

#• cles

REVEALED RELIGION. 251

cles were more numerous than they had
ever been before. His divine miffion was
announced three times by articulate voices
from heaven, he cured the difeafes, how-
ever obftanate, of all who applied to him,
and fome when he was at a diftance, and
he raifed at ieaft three perfons from a ftate
of death. He twice fed feveral thoufand
perfons with a fmall quantity of provifions,
he alfo changed a large quantity of water
into wine. He ftilled a tempeft at a word^
he walked on the fea, and caufed a fig-
tree to wither by only fpeaking, he fore-
told the deftruftion of Jerufalem, and the
temple, and the defolation of the country,
to come to pafs, in that generation ; he
rofe from the dead after being publicly
crucified, and vifibly afcended to heaven.

Miracles notlefs confiderable than thefe
diftinguiihed the miniftry of the apoftles,
who fucceeded Jefus. They not only ex-
prefled therafelves in languages which they
had never learned, but imparted this pow-
er to all the converts ; they healed many
fick perfons, they even raifed the dead,

Y 2, and

2^2 . THE EVIDENCES OF

and foretold feveral future events, w^hich
came to pafs in their own time. If any
perfon will fay that thefe miracles (and
many are omitted in this general view)
are not fufRciently numerous for the pur-
pofe for which they were wrought, he
would fay that no number whatever would
be fufficient, and therefore his objeftion
would not be to the number ^ as fuch, but
muft be of fome different kind, which will
be confidered under fome of the following
heads.

2. Many of the miracles recorded in
th^ fcriptures, were on fo large a fcale or
on other acounts of fuch a nature, that
there could be no fufpicion of trick or de-
ception, with refpeft to them. If the ap-
pearances only exifted (and with refpe6l to
them, the fenfes of men could not be de-
ceived) the caiife was indifputable. And
fuch were almoft all the miracles exhibited
in Egypt, as the changing of all the water
of fuch a river as the Nile, as large as any
in this country, into blood, or any thing
like blood, fo that no ufe could be made

of

REVEALED RELIGION. 253

of it ; and this not momentarily, but for a
confiderable time, and yet an evil of this
magnitude was removed at the prayer of
Mofes. Perfons fkilled in tricks of flight
of hand, which was, no doubt, the cafe ol
the magicians of Egypt, might impofe upor
a company, even of intelligent and quiet:
fighted perfons, not ufed to them, and or
Mofes himfelf, with a fmall quantity 01
water, contained in a bafon, or they might
dexteroufly fubftitute a ferpent in the place
of a rody or a rod in the place of a ferpent,
but the miracles exhibited by Mofes, con->
vinced even the magicians themfelves, that
what he did was by the finger of God, as
they expreflfed themfelves.

The plague of frogs, that of the lice,
(as our tranflation renders the word) of the
murrain among the cattle, of the boils, of
the hail, of the locufts, and of the darknqfs,
might each of them feparately, have been
produced by natural caufes. But that they
fhould all be announced before hand, that
none of them fhould affeft the diflrift oc-
cupied by the Ifraelites, which adjoined to

the

2,-4 ¥tt£ MVIDENCfeS Of

tfee feft 6f Egypt, and that they fhould all
b^ removed at the prayer of Mofes, are
undeniable evidences that the hand of God
was in them. Still more was this evident in
the death of the firft-born, and of the firft-
born only, df man and of beaft, through all
the country, while not one of the Ifraelites
died. By this difplay of divine power, Pha-
rdoh and all the Egyptians were fo terrified
and fubdued, that, unwilling as they before
had been, to part with fuch ufeful fervants,
they ^ver^ now defirous of getting rid af
them, at any rate.

Upon a greater fcale ftill, was the paffage
of the whole nation of Ifraelites, though
not fewer than two millions of people,
marching at their leifure with all their cattle
and baggage, through an arm of the red fea,
while the water rofe on each fide of them,
and all the Egyptians who had ventured to
follow them were drowned. There could
be no impofition on the fenfes in fuch a
fcene as this, or in the funilar miracle of
the paffage of the river Jordan, in the fame
manner. The fame may be faid of otlier

miraculous

REVEALED RELIGION. ^i[5

miraculous appearances in the time of Mo-
fes, efpecially that of the delivery of the
ten commandments in an articulate voice,
heard by all the Ifraelites, then, as I ob-
ferved, more than two millions of people,
from mount Sinai, in a river, (for it
could not be lefs) ifluing from a rock, at
the word of Mofes ; for the blow of his
ftafF could not have had any fuch efFeft,
and the defcent of the manna every morn-
ing, with the remarkable and conftant ex-
ception of one particular day in the feven,
on which no manna fell, for the fpace of
forty years, and the pillar of a cloud by day
and of fire by night, which alfo attended
them the fame time, and direfted all their
marches. He muft have been a bold im-
poftor, indeed, who fhould have attempted
any thing of this kind, and not fo reluftant
and fo timid a leader as Mofes evidently
was.

Among the miracles which were on fo
large a fcale as to exchide all idea of de-
ception, 1 may mention the falling down

of the walls of Jericho, on the ark being

carried

256 THE EVIDENCES OF

carried round the place feven times, the
falling down of the idol Dagon, in the
prefence of the ark, the calamities which
befel the cities of the Philiftines, to which
it was fent, and the circmnftances of its
conveyance back into the land of Canaan,
viz. in a carnage drawn by cows whofe
calves were kept at home.

Of the miracles that come under this

clafs, was the ftrength imparted to Sam-
fon, by which he was able to take down
the gates of a city, and carry them to the
top of a hill, and after lofing his ftrength
his recovering it again, fo as to pull down
the building in which were afTembled all
the lords of the Philiftines, when they w^ere
all killed. Such alfo was the burning of

the facrifice of Elijah, on mount Carmel,
while the priefts of Baal attempted the
fame in vain, he being alone, and they four
hundred men, favoured by an idolatrous
king, who was himfelf prefent, and the
people in general alfo favouring them. I
might add, under this head, feveral other
miracles recorded in the Old Teftament,

and

REVEALED RELIGION. 257-

and muft not omit to mention in this view
alfo, the cafe of Shadrach, Mefhach and
Abednego, who were preferved unhurt in
the fiery furnace at Babylon, and alfo the
delivery of Daniel from the lions, in the
fame city.

The miracles recorded in the New
Teftament are not, in general, on fo large
a fcale as many of thofe recited in the Old,
but they are fufficiently fo to be out of the
reach of any charge of trick and impofi-
tion. Such were the cures performed by
Jefus, of fach difeafes as, though fome-
times curable by medical treatment, always
require a long time ; whereas his cures were
always inftantaneous, and yet complete.
Such were his cures of blindefs, efpecially
of the man who was born blind, of fevers,
which are never cured but by coming to a
certain crifis, of leprofy, of the dropfy ;
and efpecially of infanity, called the carting
out of demons, the fuppofed caufe of that
diforder. Of this clafs, more efpecially,
Avas his raifmg to life, the daughter of
Jarius, at Capernaum, the widow's fon at

Nwiin,

ft^S THE EVIDENCES OF

Nain, and of Lazarus at Bethany. Of
miracles of this clafs, were bis feeding
firfl: five thoufand, and afterwards four
thoufand perfons, with a few loaves and
fifhes, his ftiUing a tempeft, his walking on
the fea, and a ftormy fea, and laftly his
refurredion and afcenfion.

In the hiftory of the apoftles, the
Biiracles of this clafs arc thofe called
the gift of tongues^ by which thoufands of
perfons were enabled to exprefs them-
felves in languages which they had not
learned, the cure of the beggar w^ho was
know^n to have been lame from his birth,
at the gate of the temple, the deli-
verance of Peter and John, and after-
wards of Peter only, out of prifon, when
every precaution had been taken to fecure
them, and alfo the cure of many difeafes
by Peter and others, fimilar to tlie cures
perfoi'med by Jefus, Several other mira-
cles might be mentioned under this head,
but thefe are abundantly fufficient for the
purpofe, that is, they were appearances
with refpeftto which there could not have

been

REVEALED RELIGION. ajg

been any deception. Perfons who were
prefent could never have been under any
miftake with refpedlto the fads ^ and the
fads were of fuch a nature, that they
muft neceflarily have been miraculous,
how ignorant foever we may be of the
powers, or laws, of nature in other re-
fpeds.

3. Many of the miracles recorded in the
fcriptures, and almoft all thofe that are
mentioned under the preceding head, were
performed in the prefence of a great num-
ber of perfons. At the miracles perform-
ed by Mofes, all the inhabitants of Egypt,
and the whole nation of Ifraelites, were
prefent. All the latter mull; have feen
every thing that paiTed in the wildernefs.
The whole nation pafled through the river
Jordan and faw the falling of the walls of
Jericho. The whole nation of the Phi-
Jiftines could not but know of the triumph
of the ark of God over their idol Daoon,
and the manner in which it was conveyed
back to the land of Canaan. Ahab and
his court, and no doubt thoufands of the

common

2 6o THE EVIDENCES OF

common people were prefent at Elijah's
facrifice. Nebuchadnezzar, and all the
people of Babylon, muft have known of
the deliverance of Shadrach, Mefliach, and
Abednego, and fo muft Darius, and all
people in his time, the deliverance of Da-
niel from the lions.

With refpeft to the miracles of Jefus^
it is evident from the nature of them, and
from his manner of life, that they could
not but have been known to the whole na-
tion of the Jews. Peter, fpeaking of them
to a promifcuous multitude who were af-
fembled in Jerufalem on the report of the
wonderful gift of tongues, expreffed himfelf
in the following remarkable manner, Afts
ii. 2Z. Te ?ncn of Ifrael, hear my words ^
J ejus of Nazareth y a man approved of God
among you, by miracles and wonders and figns^
which God did by him, in the midji of you,
as ye yourfelves alfo know. Again addreffing
himfelf to CorneHus, a Roman centurion,
and his friends, he fays, concerning Jefus,
•and the gofpel, A6ls, x. 36. The word
which God jent unto the children of Ifrael^

that

REVEALED RELIGION. 261

that word ye know, which was publified
throughout all Judea. I le evidently did not
think it neceflary to produce witneffes of
particular fads. He took it for granted
that they were known to every body,
how God anointed Jefus of Nazareth with the
holy fpirity and with power, who went about
doing good, and healing all that were opprcffcd
of the devil, for God was with him ; and we
are witnejjes of all things which he didy both in
the land of the Jews, and in Jerufale?n.

Alfo, when Paul was addrefiing king
Agrippa, in the prefence of Feftus, and
the court, he fays. Ads xxvi. 20, None
of thefe things are hidden from him ; for this
thing vjas not done in a corner* To the re-
furreftion and the afcenfion of Jefus, all
the country, but for the beft reafons,
were not witneffes. But certainly five
hundred who faw him at one time, were
abundantly fufRcient to afcertain the fad:,
as far as any number could do it.

The miracle of the gift of tongues,
conferred on the apoftles, and ail the
primitive Chriftians, could not but be

known

t6z TH5 EVIDENCES OF

known to all the country; and in every-
place in which it was conferred. The cure
of the lame beggar at the gate of the tem^
pie, was, from the circumftances of it, as
public as any thing of the kind could well
be^ and the deliverance of Peter and John
from prifoD, \vhcn the court and ail the
people kne^v of their commitment, and
were in expedation of their being pro*
duced, muft have engaged univerfal atten*'
tion. Paul was a perfon fo well know^n
to the chief priefts, and fo adive in the
perfecution of the Chriftians, that thedr-
cumflances of his converfion were, no
doubt, the fubjefi: of much converfation,
and the miracles that he performed in
ftriking Elynias with blindnefs in the pre-
fence of the governor of Cyprus, the cure
of the lame man at Lyftra, for which the
people would have facrificed to him as to
a god, his cm'e of the infane w<?man at
ThefTalonica, and of the demoniacs at
JEphefus, wei^e of the moft conipicuous
nature,

A. The

REVEALED IIELIGION. 265

4. The miracles recorded in the fcrip-
tures, efpecially the great ones which at-
tended the promulgation of the law of
Mofes, and of chriftianity, where all per-
formed in the prefence of enemies, at lead
of perfons not at all predifpofed to believe
them, or to be convinced by them. It
appears that Mofes himfelf, who had re-
fided fm'ty years in Arabia, and was mar-
ried, and had fettled there, was exceed-
ingly averfe to undertake any thing in fa-
vour of his countrymen, and that they,
feeing no remedy, had acquiefced in their
ftate of fervitude ; but that his reludiance
was overcome by miracles, and the pofitive
command of God.

In his expoftulation with God on the
fubj€<ft, he €xpreffed the unwillingnefs of
his countrymen to believe his miiFion. On
the fight of the miracles which he was
impowered to work in their prefence,
they were fatisfied with refpe6l to it, but
their deliverence not being eftecled imme-
diately, and their fervitude being render-
ed more galling, they conceived great in-
dignation

264 THE EVIDENCES OF

dignation againil: Mofes and Aaron, for
attempting it. We read, Exod. v. 20.

And they met Mofes and Aaron^ ivho Jlood in
the way, as they came forth from Pharoah^ and
they faid unto them, the Lord look upon you^
and 'judge, hecaufe you have made our favour
to be ahbojTed in the eyes of Pharoah, and in
the eyes of his ferv ants, to put a f word into their
hands to (lay us, Mofes himfelf at this time
repented of his undertaking. For we read
V. 22. And Mofes returned unto the Lord, and
faid, wherefore kafl thou fo evil intreated this
people ? Why is it that thou haft fent me, for
fince I came to Pharoah to fpeak in thy name,
he hath done evil to this people, neither haft thou
, delivered thy people at all. On this Mofes re-
ceived farther encouragement, but when
he Ipake to his countrymen again, chap,
ix. they hearkened not unto him, for angidfh of
fpirit, and for cruel bondage.

When, in confequence of a feries of
miracles, of the moft aftoniihing kind,
the dehverance of the IfraeUtes was ac-
tually efFeded, and they had marched out
of the country, on perceiving that they

were

REVEALED RELIGION. 265

were purfued, they were exceedingly alarm-
ed, and faid unto Mofes, Exod. xiv. ri.
Becaufe there ivere no graves in Egypt, hajl
thou taken us away to die in the wilder nefs.
Wherefore haft thou dealt thus with us, to carry
us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the %uordthat
we did tell thee in Egypt ? faying. Let us alone
that we may ferve the Egyptians, For it had
been better for us to ferve the Egyptians, than
that we Jhoidd die in the wilder nefs. It was
almoft with as much reluftance that the
Ifraelites were induced to leave Egypt as
the Egyptians exprefled to let them go.
On every adverfe event, or hardlliip, we
find them making the fame complaints,
and regretting that they had left Egypt.

Thus, when they wanted water, we
read, Exod. xvii. 3. The people murmured
againft Mojes, and faid, wherefore is it that
thou haft brought us out of Egypt, to kill us
and our children, and our cattle with thirft.
And Mofes cried unto the Lord faying, what
fjall I do unto this people, they be almofi ready
to ftone me. Finding no flefh meat in the
wildernefs, they again repented that they
z h^d

;j66 the evidences OF

had left Egypt, Num. xi. 4. They wept
Joying, Who jhall give lis flejh to eat. We remefnr
her the fif,o that we did eat freely in Egypt ^ the
cucumbers and the mellons^ the leeks ^ the onions^
and the gar lick; but now is our foul dried away.
There is nothing at all hut this manna before our
eyes.

On the unfavourable report of the fpies,
who had been fent to explore the land of
Canaan, we read, Num. xiv,^ 2. All the
children of Ifrael murmured againfi Mofes and
dgainfl Aaron, and the whole congregation faid
unto them. Would God that we had died in the,
land of Egypt, or would God that we had died
in the wildernefs ; and wherefore hath the Lord
brought us unto this land to fall by the fword,
that our wives and our children foould be a
prey. Were it not better for us to return to
Egypt. Again, when they wanted water,
after paffing forty years in the wildernefs,
and been maintained by miracle all that
time, we read, chap. xx. 2. they gathered
theynfehes together againfi Mofes, and againfi
Aaron, and the people chode with Mofes, and
the people faid, Woidd God we had died when

our

REVEALED RELIGION. 267

our brethern died before the Lord, and why have
ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into
this ivildernefsy that we and our cattle foould
die there ; and wherefore have ye made us come
up out of Egypt y to bring us to this evil place?
It is not a place of feed , or of figs, or vines ^
or pomegranates, neither is there any uuater to
drink. Laftly, When Arad the Canaanite
fell upon them, and took fome prifoners,
we read, Numb. xxi. 4. the fovtls of the
people were much difcouraged, hecaufe of the
way, and the -people Jpake againfl God and
agai?t/i Mofes, Wherefore have ye brought us up
Utt of Egypt, to die in the wilder^efs j for
there is no bread, neither is there any water,
and our foul loathe th this light bread.

As to the religion which Mofes pre-
fcribed to this people, there is the moft
abundant and indifputable evidence of their
having been very far indeed from having
had any predeliftion for it. On the con-
trary, they from the firft difcovered a dif-
like to it, and took every opportunity of
deferting it, and revolting to the more al-
z 2 luring

268 THE EVIDENCES, &c.

luring rites of the neighbouring nations ;
and fuch as, no doubt, they had been ac-
cuftomed to, and been fond of, in Egypt.
But as this is a fubjeft of the greateft im-
portance, I fhall defer enlarging upon it
to the next opportunity.

DISCOURSE X-

7he evidence of the Mofaic and Chrijlian
Religions.

PART II.

God, who, at fundry timcb, and in divers manners, fpake
in time paft unto the fathers, by the prophets, hath, in
theie laft days, fpoken unto us by his fon.

Heb i. I — 2.

1 N my laft Difcourfe, I obferved that
the only proper evidence of divine revela-
tion, is the exhibition of fomething to
which divine power alone is equal, or pro-
per miracles^ and that thefe, not being ana-
logous to common events, are, on that ac-
count, improbable, a prioriy and therefore
require more definite evidence, though
there is nothing that is poflible in itfelf,
but may be proved to have taken place by

humau

270 THE EVIDENCES OF

human teftimony. And T farther obferv-
ed, that all that the moft fceptical perfons
could require in the cafe, were the follow-
ing circumftances, viz. that the miracles
muft be in fufficient number, and alfo
exhibited fo long, as to afford fufficient
opportunity to confider and examine them.
They mufi: be on fo large a fcale, or other-
wife of fuch a nature, as to exclude all
fufpicion of trick and impofition ; they muft
be exhibited before perfons who had
no previous difpofition to expeft or be-
lieve them; a great degree of attention
muft be excited to them at the time, and
a fufficient number of perfons muft be
interefted to afcertain their reality, while
the events were recent; the hiftory of
them muft be coeval with the events, and
the belief of them muft have produced a
lafting efFeft.

Three of the firft jnentioned of thefe
circumftances I have already fliewn are
found in the miracles recorded in the fcrip-
tures, and with refpeft to the next, I
have ftiewn that the Hebrew nation was

fufficiently

REVEALED RELIGION. a-jt

fufRciently indifpofed to believe the divine
milfion of Mofes in general, and I fliall now
proceed to ihow that they were more par-
ticularly indifpofed to receive the religion
which he prefented to them, and which it
was the great obje6l of all the miracles to
eftablifh. So far, I have obferved, were
they from being predifpofed to receive and
embrace it, that from the very firft they
difcovered a diflike of it, and took every
opportunity of deferting it, and revolting
to the more alluring rites of the neighbour-
ing nations, and this difpofition continued
more than a thoufand years.

Upon Mofes's Haying in the mount
longer than the people expedled, and chink-
ing they ihould hear no more of him (for he
had been abfent forty days, and where he
could not find any fuftenance) we read Ex-
xxxii. I . the people gathered themfelves toge-
ther itnto Aarofiy and j aid unto him. Up make iis
gods that jloall go before us. For as for this
Mofes, the man that brought ns up out of the land
of Egypt, we ivot not luhat is become of him.
After- this, they made a golden calf, built
an altar before it, offered burnt offerings,

and

a;^ THE EVIDENCES OF

and peace offerings, when the people fat
dovjii to eat and drink y and rofe up to play, no
doubt in the Hcentious manner in which the
religious feftivals of the Egyptians were
condufted.

A fevere judgment, and the return of
Mofes, brought them back to the new re-
hgion. But after they had pafled forty years
in the wildernefs, in which they had no
opportunity of fhewing their difpofition,
on coming into the neighbourhood of the
Moabites and Midianites, we read Numb.
XXV. I . the people began to commit whoredom with
the daughters of Moaby and they called the people
to the facrifces of their gods , and the people did
eaty and bowed down to their gods, and Ifrael
joined himfelfunto Baal Peor, Another heavy
judgment recovered them from this defec-
tion, but it is not probable that any reafon-
ing, or expoftulation, would have done it.
The miraculous paflage of the river
Jordan, the falling down of the walls of
Jericho, and their conquering the warlike
inhabitants of Canaan, devoted to the wor-
Ihip of idols, fatisfied the Ifraelites that
their God was fuperior to the gods of that
' country,

REVEALED RELIGION. 273

country, and tlierefore we read Jofh.xxiv*
31. that * Ifrael ferved the Lord all the
^ days of Jofhua, and all the days of the

* elders who out lived Jofhca, who had

* known all the works of the Lord, that

* he had done for Ifrael/ But the very
next generation Ihewed a different dif-
pofition. For we read Jud. ii. 10. * w^hen

* that generation was gathered to their fa-

* thers, there arofe another generation af-

* ter them, which knew not the Lord, nor

* yet the works which he had done for
^ Ifrael ; and the children of Ifrael did

* evil in the fight of the Lord, and ferved

* Baalim, and they forfook the Lord God of
' their fathers, who brought them out of

* the land of Egypt, and followed other

* gods, of the gods of the people who were

* round about them, and bowed themfelves

* unto them, and provoked the Lord to
^ anger, and they forfook the Lord, and
< ferved Baal and Afhtaroth.'

The hiftory of this people, till the time
of Samuel, is nothing but a repetition of
revolts, and punifliments for them, by the
invafion and oppreffion of fome neighbour-
ing

274 THE EVIDENCES OF - '

ing nation. ^ When they repented,' as we
read Jud. ii. 1 6. ' the Lord raifed up judges,

* who delivered them outof the hand of thofe

* that Ipoiled them, and yet they would not

* hearken unto their judges; but they went
*a whoring after other gods, and bowed

* themfelves unto them. They turned quick-

* ly out of the way which their fathers walk-
*edin, obeying the commandments of the
' Lord, but they did not fo. And when the

* Lord raifed them up judges, then was the
' Lord with the judge, and delivered them

* out of the hand of their enemies, all the

* days of the judge. And it came to pafs

* when that judge was dead, that they re-

* turned and corrupted themfelves more

* than their fathers, in following other
^ gods, to ferve them, and to bow down
^ unto them. They ceafed not from their
^ own doings, and from their ftubborn way.
' And the anger of the Lord was hot againft
^ Ifrael, and he faid, Becaufe this people
^ has tranfgrefled my covenant, which I
^ commanded their fathers, and have not

* hearkened unto my voice, I alfo will not
' henceforth drive out any from before

them.

REVEALED RELIGION. a;^

' them, of the nations which Jofhua left

* when he died, that through them I may

* prove Ifrael, whether they will keep the

* way of the Lord, to walk therein, as their

* fathers did keep it, or not.

For thefe revolts they were reduced
into fervitude, firft by Cufhan-rilhathaim,
king of Mefopotamia, from whofe power
they were refcued by Othniel, then by
the king of Moab, from whom they were
delivered by Ehud ; then by the Phiiif-
tines, when they were delivered by Sham-
gar. From Jabin king of Canaan, they
were delivered by Deborah and Barak ;
from the Midianites by Gideon, from the
Ammonites by Jephtha, from the Phiiif-
tines a fecond time, in part by Samfon,
but more completely by Saul and David,
under whom the worlhip of Jehovah was
rendered triumphant ; and in that ftate it
continued till the latter end cf the reign
of Solomon, when he had the weaknefs
not only to indulge his v/ives, taken from
the neighbouring nations, in the worfhip
of the gods of their refpedive countries,
but to join them in it.

Notwithflanding '

276 THE EVIDENCES OF

Notwithftanding the very flourilhing
ftate of the affairs of the Ifraelites in the
reigns of David and folomon, which was
always in thofe days, and long afterwards
afcribed to the power of the gods that
they worfliipped, the ten tribes which re-
volted from the houfe of David, revolted
alfo from the religion of Mofes, at firfl; in-
deed by only fetting up images at Dan and
Bethel, in honour of the true God, but
afterwards, and elpecially in the reign of
Ahab, worihipping Baal, and all the hoft
of heaven. And though by the judgment
of a three years draught, in which they
found that the worfhip of Baal could give
them no relief, and the feafonable miracle
of Elijah at mount Carmel, they were re-
covered, at leaft for fome time, from this
fpecics of idolatry, they continued to wor-
fhip the calves at Dan and Bethel, till
their captivity by the Affyrians ; when
they became fo mixed and incorporated
with other nations, as not to be diftin-
guiflied ; and whether they be now difco-
vered or not, they are without any badge
of their antient religion, to which it is evi-
dent

REVEALED RELIGION. 27;

dent they never difcovered any attach-
ment.

The kingdom of Judah havmg the
temple within its limits, and other advan-
tages, adhered better to the worfhip of
the true God, but with feveral remark-
able departures from it, as in the reign of
Rehoboam the fon of Solomon, who as
we read, 2 Chron. xii. i. forfook the law of
the Lord, and all Ifrael with him ; in that of
Jehoram, the fon of Jehofaphat, of Aha-/
ziah, of Joalh, after the death of the pious
high-prieft Jehoiada, of Ahaz, of Manaf-
feh, who made ufe of the temple itfelf,
for the worfliip of other gods ; and of
Amon, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, whofe
reign was put an end to by Nebuchadnez-
zar taking Jerufalem, deftroying the tem-
ple, and carrying the people into captivity
to Babylon.

If this hiftory, of which I have only
given a faint outUne, do not fupply fuffi-
cient and redundant evidence of the dif-
like which the Ifraehtes had to the infti-
tutions of Mofes, and confequently of the
reluftance with which they muft have re-
ceived^

278 THE EVIDENCES OF

ceived, and conformed to them, nothing
can be proved concerning the difpofition
and turn of thinking of any people what-
ever. It cannot, therefore, be denied,
that all the miracles wrought to eftablifli
this religion, and confirm them in it, may-
be confidered as exhibited before enemies,
perfons predifpofed not to receive, but to
cavil at, and rejeft it. This is the more
remarkable, as there is no other inftance
in ajl hiftory, of any nation voluntarily
abandoning the religion of their anceftors
till the promulgation of chriftianity, be-
fore which they all gradually difappeared,
like clouds before the fun.

The Babylonifti captivity having been
foretold, together with its cxadl duration,
by the Hebrew prophets, and the over-
throw of Babylon, famous for its addidl-
ednefs to idol worfhip, effeftually cured
thofe of the Jews who returned to their
own country, and no doubt many others,
of any difpofition to the worfliip of fo-
reign gods, but they were not by thj^
means the more, but in fad, the iefs dif-
pofed to receive the miracles of Jefus.

Indeed

REVEALED RELIGIOlT. 279

Indeed it is evident that they had not been
previoufly difpofed to believe any miracles,
For before the appearance of Jefus, there
had been no pretenfions to a power of
working miracles in the country, a cir-
cumftance which by no means agrees with
the charge commonly advanced againft
the Jews as a credulous people. It is weU
known, however, that when Jefus appear-
ed, the nation in general, then in a ftate of
fubjeflion to the Romans, a fituation which
they ill brooked, were in anxious expecta-
tion of the appearance of the Meffiah an-
nounced by their prophets, and who
they took for granted, was immediately
to aflUme the chara£ler of a temporal
prince, refcue them from their fubjeftion
to the Romans, and give them the domi-
nion of the whole world ; and certainly
to this charafter .that of Jefi^s bore no re-
femblance,

Befides, Jefus's free confure of the
priefts, and leading men in the nation,
foon made them his moft bitter enemies.
They, feeing, th?.t whatever he was, they

had

iSa THE EVIDENCES OF

had nothing to expeft from himy fpared no
pains to deftroy him, and did not reft till
they had actually compaffed his death.
All the miracles of Jefus, therefore, were
exhibited before enemies. Even the moft
virtuous and beft difpofed of the Jews
were as much attached to the idea of a
temporal prince, for their Meffiah, as any
of their countrymen, fo that even this
part of the nation muft have been exceed-
ingly indifpofed to receive Jefus in that
charaiSler ; and when they did it, it was
with the idea that, though he did not aflume
it then, he would at fome future time.
Even after his refurreftion, the apoftles
afked him whether he would at that time
rejlore the kingdom to Ifrael, Afts i. 6. and
their minds w^ere not fully enlightened
on this fubjeft till after the defcent of the
Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecoft.

The refurreftion of Jefus, though
the moft pleafmg event to all his difciples,
was a thing of which, it is evident, they
had no expe6bation after his death, fo that
it was not without the greateft difficulty,

and

REVEALED RELIGION. 281

and the moft undeniable evidence, that of
their own fenfes, that they were brought to
believe it. The manner in which the apoftle
Thomas exprefled his incredulity on the fub-
jeft, is very remarkable. He was not pre-
fent at the firft appearance of Jefus, and
when the others, as we read, John xx. 25,
faid unto him, We have feen the Lord, he
faid unto them. Except I fee in his hands the
prints of his nails , and put my finger into the
print of the nails y and thrufi my hand into his
fide, I will not believe. In this particular
however, Jefus, the next time that he ap-
peared to his difciples, gave him the fatis-
faftion that he demanded. Yor he faid to
Tho7nas, Reach higher thy finger, and behold my
hands y and reach hither thy hand, and thruft it
into my fide, and be not faithlefs, but believing.
No doubt all the reft of the apoftles were at
firft, in the fame ftate of mind with refpeft
to this event. In this cafe, therefore, even
' the difciples of Chrift, may be confidered
as prejudiced againft the reception of this
great miracle, and are by no means to be
charged with credulity.

A a The

2S2 THE EVIDENCES OF

The apoftles, and all the firft preachers
of chriftianity, were in the fame fituation
with refpe^l to the great body of the Jews,
that Jefus had been in before them; and
nothing could be more violent than the op-
pofition they aftually met with. One of
the mofi: remarkable converfions, was that
of Paul, and in the hiftory of it, we fee,
in the ftrongeft light, the extreme preju*
dice which even the better kind of Jews,
entertained againft chriftianity. Nothing
lefs than the appearance of Jefus himfelf,
was able to effeft his converfion. Of the mi-
raculous circumftances attending this con-
verfion, his chofen companions, men who,
no doubt, were actuated with as much zeal
as himfelf, againft the new religion, and
who probably continued enemies to it, were
witneifes, and to them he afterwards ap-
pealed for what they faw and heard, viz. a
light furpaffmg that of the fun at noon-day,
and the found of a voice, though they did
not diftinguifli the words, that were dired:-
ed to him.

As

REVEALED RELIGION. 283

As to the Gentiles, nothing can be ima-
gined more unpromifing than the mifTion
of the apoftles to them. The pride of the
Jews, and the contempt with which they
treated other nations, had given rife, as
was natural, to an equal degree of hatred
and contempt on their fide; fo that nothing
coming from a JeWy was at all likely to
be favourably attended to by them. The
heathens in, general, and the Greeks and
Romans in particular, were moft ftrongly
attached to the rites of their religions,- and
thought the obfervance of them necelfary
to the profperity of their feveral ftates.
The graveft magiflrates dreaded the dif-
continuance of them, and the profligate and
licentious among the heathens, gave a loofe,
as I have fliewn, under the fanftion of re-
ligion, to their favourite vicious propenfi-
tiea, in the greateft latitude. The learned
and philofophical among the heatliens,
looked with the greateft contempt on the
plainnefs and want of eloquence, in, the
apoftles, and other preachers of chriflanity.
In this ftate of things, then, was it td^be
A a 2 expefted

2U THE EVIDENCES OF

expefted that the heathen woi^id hi general,
would be at all credulous, with refpefl: to
miratles wrought by fuch men. On the
contrary, the preachers of chriftianity, had
nothing to expecS but the extreme of in-
credulity. In faft, great numbers could
not be brought to give the leaft attention
to any thing that was reported concerning
them, or to look into any of their books.
Dr. Lardner obferves, that it is pretty evi-
dent that even Pliny, who gave the empe-
ror Trajan an account of his proceedings
againft the Chriftians, and his examination
of them, when they were brought before
his tribunal, (and he was a man of letters)
had not read any of the books of the New
Teftament, or any other writings of ChriA
tians, which were unqueftionably extant.
If, therefore, the new religion did make
its way, it muft have been againft every
poflible difadvantage, and hiftory fhews that
this was the cafe.

5. In order to fecure credit to accounts
of fniracles, there muft be both opportunity ^
and motive^ for examining into the truth

of

REVEALED RELIGION. ^S^

of the fads. Now, the miracles being
numerous, a circumftance on which I have
already enlarged, gives opportunity for ex-
amination ; fo alfo does that of their conti-
nuance fome fpace of time, and this was the
cafe with refpeft to many, I may fay almoft
all the miracles, which have been already
mentioned, particularly the fever al plagues
of Egypt, none of which were momentary
appearances, but all were of fome days
continuance. Such, alfo, was the pafTage
through the red fea, and the river Jordan,
one of which took up a whole night, and
the other a whole day. The fame was the
cafe with refpeft to the delivery of the
ten commandments from mount Sinai, but
more efpecially the miracle of the manna,
and the pillar of cloud and fire, which
continued forty years.

The cures performed by Jefus, though
inftantaneous, produced lafting effefts, efpe-
cially his raifing of the dead, as of Lazarus,
which, as we read, excited much curiofity
to fee him afterwards. Our Saviour's own
appearance after his refurreftion, was not

like

286 THE EVIDElSrCES OF

like that of an apparationin the night, but
always in the day time, and frequently re-
peated. His firft appearance was when
his difciples had no expeftation of any fuch
thing, fo that they could not have been
deceived by their imaginations, and after-
wards by particular appointment, fo that
they had time to recolleft themfelves, and
to procure any kind of fatisfa6tion that
they w^anted ; and this continued the fpace
of forty days before^ his afcenfion, which
appears to have been leifurely, fo that
they who were prefent flood gazing fome
time, while they faw him go above the
clouds. He did not leave them in a private
manner, and go they knew not w^hither.

But the beft opportunity for examining
the truth of any fafts, is when fome per-
fons aflert, and others deny them, and
when they are at the fame time much in-
terefted in the event of the inquiry, as by
having what is moft dear to them depend-
ing upon it. And this was remarkably
the cafe with refpeft to the refu/reftion of
Jefus. With refpeft to his miracles, and

alfo

REVEALED RELIGION. 287

alfo thofe of the apoftles, there does not
appear to have been any difpute about
them, by thofe who were then in the
country. They only afcribed them to a
falfe caufe. But Jefus not appearing to all
perfons after his refurreftion, and efpecially
not to his enemies, but only to his friends,
though in numbers abundantly fufRcient
for the purpofe, his enemies denied that
facl.

The fad:, however, was of fo very
important a nature,, that we cannot doubt
but that it muft have been thoroughly
hiveftigated, much more fo than any other
fad; in all hiftory, becaufe infinitely more
depended upon it, than upon any other fad
whatever. For in a very Ihort time fuch was
the rage of the rulers of the Jews againft the
rifing fed:, that not only were the peace, and
the property, but the lives of the Chriftians
at flake, and thefe they would not give up
for an idle tale. At the fame time their
perfecutors, who were the men in power,
ftimulated by hatred and oppofition, would
leave nothing untried to refute the ftory.
This ftate of things began immediately

after

a8S THE EVIDENCES OF

after the refurreftion of Jefus, and continu-
ed about three hundred years, during all
which time the Chriftians, though expofed
to previous perfecution, kept increafing in
number, till at the time that Conftantine
was advanced to the empire, it was not
only fafe, but advantageous to him to de-
clare himfelf a Chriftian. We may there-
fore be fatisfied, that the great fa6l of the
refurredion of Jefus, on which the truth of
chriftianity more particularly depends, un-
derwent a more thorough inveftigation
than any other fa£l in hiftory.

This rigorous fcrutiny began while the
event was recent, and when there was,
accordingly, the beft opportunity of ex-
amining into its truth or falfehood. Paul,
who fays that Jefus at one time appeared
to more than five hundred perfons, fays
that the greater part of them were then
living, and of courfe liable to be interro-
gated on the fubjed:. Now, had Jefus
appeared as publicly after his crucifixion
as he did before, and of courfe the whole
Jewifh nation had become Chriftians, we

fhould

REVEALED RELIGION. z^

ihould now have been without this moft
fatisfaftory argument for the truth of the
fa<a.

It w.ould, in this cafe, have been faid,
that the Jews, always a credulous nation,
(though this has appeared to have been the
reverfe of the truth) had for fome reafon
or other, which it is now impoffible to af-
certain, changed their religion, or ra-
ther made fome addition to what they
profefled before, ,and that as no perfon
objefted to it at the time, there is no evi-
dence now before us that the fads, or
reafons, on which it was founded, were
properly fcrutinized ; and that it is impof-
fible to do it at this diftance. And thus
chriftianity might have fpread no farther
than Judaifm.

6. To enfure the credibiHty of mi-
racles, it muft appear that the accounts of
them were written while the fafts were
recent, fo that an appeal might be made
to living witnefles, and this was never in
antient times queflioned with relpeft to
the principal books of the Old or the New

Teflament.

ago THE EVIDENCES OF

Teftament. Befides, the internal evidence
of the books afcribed to Mofes, having
been written hy him, or by fome perfon
under his diredlion, which to every im-
partial reader of them, muft appear
ftronger than the evidence of any other
books having been written by any other
perfons, whofe names they bear, the faft
was never doubted by the Hebrew nation,
the only proper witneffes in the cafe, from
the earlieft times to the prefent; and no-
thing ftronger than this can be faid in fa-
vour of the authenticity of any writings
whatever.

This argument is peculiarly ftrong
with refpeft to the writings of Mofes, on
account of the reluctance with which thofe
writings, and the whole hiftory of that
nation, fhows, that they received his in-
ftruclions. If thofe of the Ifraelites who
were addicted to the religious rites of
the neighbouring nations, and who were
frequently the majority of the people,
could have Ihewn that the books afcribed
to Mofes, were not written hy him, or

by

REVEALED RELIGION. agi

by his authority; would they not have
done it, and thereby have had the beft
reafon for continuing in the rehgion they ^
preferred ? And what motive would any
man have to forge books which could be
fure to give the greateft offence, and could
not fail to be rejefted with contempt and
indignation I

The account of the death of Mofes in
the laft chapter of the book of Deuterono-
my, could not have been written by him-
felf. But what was more natural, than for
fome perfon of eminence, acquainted with
the fad, perhaps Joihua, or the high priefl
at the time, adding this account to the
writings of Mofes, and its being afterwards
annexed to them. Alfo, notes by way of
explanation of certain paflages, were, no
doubt, firft inferted in the margin, as has
been the cafe with many antient books,
and afterwards added by tranfcribers, in
the text. But fuch circumftances as thefe
are never thought to affea; the genuinenefs
of any antient writings. Judicious criti-
cifm eafily diftinguiflies the cafual additions,

from the original text.

The

»9» THE EVIDENCES OF

The internal evidence of the authen-
ticity of the writings of Mofes is peculiarly
ftrong. No other than a perfon aftually
prefent at tlie tranfaftions could have re-
lated them in the manner in which we
find his narratives written, with fo many
particulars of perfons, times, and places,
and with fo natural an account of the im-
preffion that was made on the minds of
men by the events that he relates*.

* That additions may be made to books, and even fuch
as the writers difapprove of, we have a remarkable inftance
of in the firft part of Mr. Paine* s Age of Reafon. In the fecond
part juft publiftied in this city, he fays, p. 84. " The for-
** mer part of the Age of Reafon has not been pubhUied two
" years, and there is already an expreflionin it that is not mine.
*' The expreffion is. The book of Luke was carried by a majority of
** o?ie -vote only. It may be true^., but it is not I that have faid
" it. Some perfon, who might know of that circumftance,
*' has added it in a note at the bottom of the page of fome of
*' the editions, printed either in England or in America, and
*^ the printers, after that have erefted it into the body of the
** work, and made me the author of it. If this has happen-
*• ed within fuch a fliort fpace of time, notwithftanding the
** aid of printing, which prevents the alteration of copies
*' individually, what may not have happened in a much
*' greater length of time, where there was no printing.** He
adds, " and when any man who would write, could make
" a written copy, and call it an original by Matthew, Mark,
"Luke, or John." But though this might eafily happen
with reipe^ft to flight circumftances> according with the reft of

a book.

REVEALED RELIGION. 29^

It ihould alfo be confidered, that books
were not forged till men were practifed m
the art of writing, and many books had
been written, fo that confiderable ad-
vances had been made in the art of com**
pofition and of criticifm. We may there-
fore conclude with certainty, that the
books afcribed to Mofes, which are un-
queftionably of as great antiquity as any
in the world, except perhaps the book of
Job, and a very few others mentioned by
Mofes, are no forgeries. Otherwife, the
art of forging hiftorical writings, the moil
difficult of all others, was brought to the
greateft perfeftion all at once, a fuppofi-
tion that cannot be admitted. Indeed,
there does not appear to have been the

a book, well known to exift, the fabrication of zvlwle boohy
which were not known to exift at all, and impofing them
on the world, when the belief of their contents drew after
it the facrifice of every thing dear to a man in life, and
often of life itfelf, was not fo eafy.

The infertion Mr. Paine complains of, being a recent
thins, and all the editions of his book not very numerous,
may be traced to its author, and it behoves" him, or his
friends, to do it ; but this cannot be done with refpe6l X.Q
books written two or three thoufand years ago.

leaft

294 THE EVIDENCES OF

leaft fufpicion of the forgery of any books
till after the time in which all thofe of the
Old Teftament are well known to have
been extant. There cannot, therefore, be
any reafonable doubt but that the books
afcribed not only to Mofes, but thofe to
the prophets Ifaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
and Daniel, are genuine, except fo far as
they may have fuffered by tranfcribers.

The objeftion of Porphyry to the book
of Daniel, that it was written after the
time of Antiochus Epiphanes (for which
it does not appear that he had any other
evidence than the exaft fulfilment of fome
part of his prophecies in the events) is
certainly not to be regarded. It can de-
rive no more weight from the time in
which he w^rote, than if it had been firft
advanced at this day, becaufe it is only
an argument from what appears on the
face of the book itfelf, which is before us,
as it was before him. And at that time
the evidence of the whole Jewifh nation,
which had always received that book, and
in fafl: that of the Samaritans too, who,

as

REVEALED RELIGION. 295

as far as appears, never objedted to it,
was againft him.

It is moreover felf evident, and in-
deed never was denied, that the books of
the Old Teftament were written by dif-
ferent perfons, and at different times. That
any number of them fhould have been
written by the fame perfon, or a combina-
tion of perfons, and impofed upon a whole
nation as written in former times, and by
different perfons in thofe times (efpecially
confidering the many ungrateful truths
contained in thefe books) is an hypothefis
which no perfon will fay is even poffible.
Coiifequently, the references to particular
books from others, may fafely be admitted
as an evidence of their genuinenefs, which
is the principal argument for the age, and
the genuinenefs, of all other antient writ-
ings. Now it appears from the books of
Kings and Chronicles, that Ifaiah lived in
the time of Hezekiah, and from the fame
that Jeremiah lived at the time of the fiege
of Jerufalem by Nebuchadnezzar, which
is abundantly evident from his own writ-
ings.

ag6 THE EVIDENCES OF

ings. The narrative part of the book of^
Jeremiah is remarkably circumflantial, fo as
to render its internal evidence unqueflion-
able. I do not even think it poffible for
anyperfon of the leaft degree of judgment
Jn thefe matters, to entertain afufpicion of
its being a forgery of a later time. Jere-
miah is alfo mentioned in the book of Da-
niel. Such too is the internal evidence
for the genuinenefs of the book of Ezekiel
v^ho makes mention of Daniel, of that of
Daniel too, and of all the other propheti-
cal books, in which there is any mention
of or allufion to hiftorical fadls.

A circumftance which adds to the au-
thenticity of the writings of Mofes, is,
that the folemn cuftoms and religious rites
of the Jews, fuch as their public feftivals,
and efpecially the obfervance of the paff-
over, were coeval with them, fo that they,
as it were, vouch for each other. The
paflbver was a folemn cuftom, exprefsly
inftituted, in commemoration of the deli-
verance of the Ifraelites from their bond-
age in Egypt, and began to be obferved at

the

REVEALED RELIGION. g^7

the very time ; fo that accompanied as it
is with the written account of it, it is the
moft authentic of all i^ecords. No other
event in hiftory, is fo fully authenticated
as this, except that of the death of Chrift,
by a firnilar rite, viz. that of the Lord's
Supper.

The early exiftence of the fed: of tlie
Samaritans affords a proof that the books
of Mofeshave not undergone any material
alteration from before the time of the Ba-
bylonifli captivity. If Ezra, who collefted
the books after that event, had made any
material alteration in them, the Samari-
tans, who were then extremely hoftile to
him, and to all who refided and woriliip-
ped at Jerufaiem, would, no doubt, have
expofed it. But in our Saviour's time,
they had the fame refpe£l for the books of
Mofes, that the Jews themfelves ever had,
arid this they have at this very day. It
is probable too, that tliey had the fame
refpefl: for the writings of the prophets,
though they did not make ufe of them in
their religious w^orlhip, and therefore had

B b 110

298 THE EVIDENCES Of

no copies of them ; for they appear (John
iv. 25;) to have expefted a Meffiah, of
whom there is no account, but in the wri-
tings of the prophets.

There is fimilar evidence, internal and ex-
ternal, that the principal books of the New
Tefl anient, by which I mean the hiftorical
ones, and alfo that the epiftles of Paul,
were written while the events were recent,
and that they were received as fuch, by
thofe who were mofl: interefted in their con-
tents. This was never queftioned by any
unbeliever, within feveral hundred years of
the time of their publication. It was admit-
ted by Celfus, and the emperor Julian, both
of whom wrote againft chriftianity, and did
not even queftion the truth of the greater
part of the miracles recorded in them.
And yet Mr. Paine, ignorant of this, af-
ferts in the fecond part of his Age ofReafon;
p. 83. that ^ there is not the ieaft fhadow
^ of evidence, who the perfons were that
^ wrote the books afcribed to Matthew,
* Mark, Luke or John, that none of the
^ books of the New Teftament, were writ-
ten

REVEALED RELIGION. 299

^ ten by the men called apoflles, and that

* there was no fueh book as the Nevj

* Tejlamenty till more than three hundred

* years after the time that Chrift is faid to

* have lived/ that is about the time of
Conftantine. On this fuppofition how ftu-
pendous a miracle, mull: have been the
overthrow of heathenifm, and the general
reception of Chriftianity, in the Roman
empire at that period. This would have
been far more extraordinary, than all the
miracles recorded in the fcriptures. But to
this obvious confequence of his hypothefis,
Mr. Paine had certainly given no attention.
In the fame manner, he alone, of all un-
believers, fays that none of the books of
the Old Teftament, were written before
the Babyloniih captivity. He might with
as much plaufibility, fay that the whole
Bible was a publication of the laft century.

Fafts fo interefting to thoufands, re-
corded in this manner, in books univerfally
received as genuine, by thofe who muft
have known whether they were fo or not,
have the teftimony not of the writers only,
B b 2 but

300 THE EVIDENCES OF

but of the age in which they were pubUfli-
ed. In reality, the authenticity of the fails
recorded in the NewTeftament, does not at
^11 depend on the authenticity of the books;
for chriflianity exifted, and had made a
tonfiderable fpread, long before any of
the books were written. The books were
iiot the caufe, but the cff^eS, of the belief
of it. The authors of thefe books were
not writers by profefFion, but only wrote
when neceffity, in a manner, called for
them, that is, when thofe who were beft
acquainted with the fafts, were about to
quit the ftage, and other perfons folicited
their teftimony to them, and this was not
till about thirty years after the death of
Ghrift, when there were Chriftians in all
parts of the Roman empire. The epifties
of Paul were written before that time, and
in them we find allufions to the ftate of
things, at the time of his writing, and
their exacl correfpondence to the hiftory,
would be a flrong confirmation of it, if ^
fuch confirmation were wantinor.

7. In

REVEALED RELIGION. 33^

7. In the laft place, the miracles i^e-
corded in the fcriptures, produced a great
and permanent eiFecl, correfponding to
their extraordinary nature ; which abun-
dantly proves that they were believed by
thofe before whom they were exhibited, or
who had the befl opportunity of informing
themfelves concerning them. Thofe which
were wrought in Egypt, effefted the deli-
verance of the Ifraelites from their ftate
of fervitude in that country, though they
were then the moft unwarlike, and their
mafters perhaps the moft warlike people in
the world, and exceedingly defirous to de-
tain them.

But what v/as much more than this,
addi<Sled as the Ifraehtes were to the religi-
ous rites of the Egyptians, and fond of fimi-
lar rites, in the religions of all the neigh-
bouring nations, fuch an impreflion was
made upon them by the miracles wrought
in their favour, and efpecially the delivery
of the law from mount Sinai, that they
actually adopted a very complex fyftem
of religion, the r-everfe of any thing of

the

302 THE EVIDENCES OF

the kind, to which they had been accuf-
tomed, and which they were far from being
predifpofed to Hke, or to receive; and in
all their apoftacies afterwards, it does not
appear that they ever dilbelieved the fafts.
They only thought they might join the
worlhip of other gods with that of their
own, at leaft with the acknowledgment of
the truth of their own, which was then
the prevailing fentiment of all nations,
who fcrupled not to admit the pretenfions
of other gods along with their own, and
to join in their worlhip efpecially in the
countries fuppofed to be under their imme-
diate protedlion, which was the cafe with
relpecl to the modes of worfhip, to which
the Ifraelites fo often revolted. On the
other hand, it appears, that the neighbour^
ing nations entertained the greateft refpeft
for the God, and the religion, of the If-
raelites, though they did not conform to it.
This V7as the cafe with the Philiftines, the
Syrians, the Babylonians, and the Perfian? ;
as it would be eafy to fhew by facSs in
their hiftory.

The

REVEALED RELIGION. 303

Thd efFed produced by the miracles
recorded in the New Teftament was ftill
more evident, becaufe more extenfive.
Many thoufands of the Jews became con-
verts to chriflanity on its firft promulga-
tion, notwithftanding their extreme aver-
fion to receive any fcheme of the kind,
from their attachment to their antient re-
ligion, which they thought to be incompa-
tible with the new, efpecially after the
admifTion of the Gentiles into the chrifU-
an church. From this time, indeed,
Jewifh converts were much iefs numerous
than before, this circumftance ihocking
their prejudices in a peculiar manner.
Many of thofe who were already chriflians
were exceedingly offended at it.

But the moft extenfive effed of the
miracles wrought by Chrift and the apof-
tles was the reception of chriflanity by
the Gentiles, attached as they were to the
rites of their antient religions, which
were enforced by the laws, and recom-
mended by all the learning and philofophy
of the age, and notwithftanding the

preachers

304 THE EVIDENCES OF

preachers of the gofpel laboured under
the greateft difadva.itages, being Jews,
generally illiterate, and deftitute of any
talent of public fpeaking or writing, and
'having nothing to proraife theii' converts
but happiiiefs in another world, with per-
fecution in this. Yet with all thefe difad-
vantages, in a reafonable fpace of time,
and exceedingly Ihort, confidering the
magnitude of the event, a complete revo-
lution was effefted in all the Roman em-
pire, which at that time comprehended
almoll: all the civilized part of the world ;
the heathen religion which had prevailed
from time immemorial, being every where
difcredited, and new rites and cuftoms the
reverfe of them, adopted.

No revolution produced by force of
arms can be compared to this, which was
effefted without arms, by the mere force
of truth, the evidence of which mufl
have been invincibly ftrong to have pre-
vailed as it did. Incredulous as unbeliev-
ers now are, thoufands, as incredulous as
they, and more interefted than they can

be,

REVEALED RELIGION. 305

be, to difcredit chriftianity, became
converts to it; and therefore, though
they now give Uttle attention to the evi-
dence, w^hich does not force itfelf upon
them, as it did upon thofe who Hved
nearer to the time of the tranfaftions,
had they Hved in thofe times, they might,
with the fame indifpofition to this reUgion,
have been unable to refift the evidence
with which the publication of it was ac-
companied. To do themfelves and the
queftion juftice, they fhould put them-
felves in the place of their predeceflbrs.
confider how the evidence flood in their
time, what was then obje(5led to chrftia-
nity by men as quickfighted and as preju-
diced as themfelves, and fay whether they
would abide by their objections. They
certainly would not, becaufe they go up-
on quite different principles, and fuch as
all modern unbelievers would rejeft, and
even with more contempt, than they re-
jeft chriftianity. Will they now afcribe
the miracles of Chrift and his apoftles to

the power of magic ?

The

3o6 THE EVIDENCES OF

The ftate of the argument very near
to the promulgation of chriftanity is eafily
afcertained, and certainly ought to be par-
ticularly attended to. All that the antient
unbelievers objeded to chriftanity, has
been carefully coUeded by Dr. Lardner,
in his excellent work on Jewijlo and Heathen
TefiimonieSy and a fummary view of the
whole may be feen in the fecond part of
my Letters to a Philofophical Unbeliever. But
inattention y joined to averjion, to any fubjefl:
will account for any degree of incredulity
with refped: to it. Several among the
moft confiderable unbelievers in France
will not admit that there ever was any fuch
perfon a Jefus Chrift; when with more rea-
fon they might fay there were never fuch
perfons as Alexander the Great, or Julius
Caefar.

But the greateft eifeft produced by
the miracles recorded in the New Tefta-
ment, an effeft far more difficult to be ac-
complilhed than any change of opinion y or
Ipeculative principles, is from vice to vir-
tue, which, however, was produced in

thoufands.

REVEALED RELIGION. 307

thoufands. For this we have the tefti-
mony of all hiftory. Be not deceivedy fays
the apoftle Paul, i Conn. vi. 9. neither
fornicatorsy nor idolatorSy nor adulterers^
nor effeminate^ nor abiifers of themfelves with
mankindy nor thievesy nor covetous y nor drunk-
ards y nor revilersy nor extortioners y JJoall in-
herit the kingdom of God, And fuch ivere fome
of you. But ye ate -wafoed, hut ye are fanBi-
fiedy hut ye are juftifed in the name of the
LordJefuSy and by thejpirit of our Gody that
is by the power of chriftianity and its
evidences, commonly called the gift of
the Ipirit.

If we compare the evidence of the
miracles recorded in the fcriptures with
that of any that are mentioned by hea-
then writers, we Ihall foon be convinced
of the fuperiority of that of the former.
Mr. Hume fays, that the cure of the blind
and the lame man, faid by Tacitus and
Suetonius to have been performed by the
emperor Vefpafian, at Alexandria, is one of
the heft attejled of any in frofan'e hiflory^
and he meant, I doubt not, in any hiftory*

But

30& THE EVIDENCES OF

But this boafted miracle is not related by
any perfon who was prefent. The oldeft
account we have of it being written about
thirty years after the event. It was not
exhibited before enemies. Such cures as
thefe might eafily have been pretended by
perfons prepared beforehand. The hea-
thens were very credulous with refped: to
things of this kind, and the report of thefe
might be very ufeful to procure credit to the
new emperor. There was no fcrutiny into
the truth of the fact at the time. Indeed
fuch fcrutiny would have been difcounte-
nanced, and not have been very fafe. And
laftly, the pretended miracles do not appear
to have produced any efFecS. It is even al-
moft certain, that the hiftorians themfelves
did not believe them. What then muft
have been the force of prejudice in a man
who could think that thefe miracles were '
better attefted than thofe of the fcrip-
turcs?

Such, my brethren, is the outline, for
it is nothino- more, of the evidence of the
credibility of the miracles recorded in the

Old

REVEALED RELIGION. 309

Old and New Teftament. It is readily ac-
knowledged, that though the great truths
to be proved by them, have nothing in
them incredible, but on the contrary, are of
fuch a nature as to be both defirable in
themfelves, and probable, a priori confider-
ing the ftate of vice and ignorance in which
the world was involved^ when deftitute of
that light, and confidering the benevolence
of our common parent, who indeed per-
mits all evils, but only for a time, and
makes them fubfervient to good) they yet
require much ftronger evidence than ordi-
narj" fafts, in proportion to their want of
analogy to fuch events as fall under our
daily obfervation. But notwithftancling
this, the evidence for them is abundantly
fufficient for the purpofe. The miracles,
as I have fliewn, were fufEciently nmner-
ous, they were performed on the largefl;
fcale, they were, from their nature, free
from any fufpicion of trick and impofition,
they were exhibited in the prefence of
perfons the leaft predifpofed to believe
them, or to be influenced by them ; they

were

3IO THE EVIDENCES OF

were fubjefted to the moft rigorous exa-
mination at the time, and while they were
recent, the written accounts of them were
of the fame age with the events them-
felves, and they aftually produced the
moft extraordinary effects ; which proves
that they were fully aflented to at the
time, by thofe who had the beft opportu-
nity of inquiring into the truth, and the^
ftrongeft motives for doing fo.

More than this it is not in the power
of any perfon to require, and therefore
it is all that is neceflary to the moft com-
plete fatisfaftion. I mean of the candid
and attentive.

For there is a ftate of mind in which
no evidence can have any effeft, as we fee
every day, and we muft not expeft that
miracles will now be wrought for the con-
vidion of any perfons, and leaft of all
miraculous changes in the difpofitions of
men's minds. Indeed, fuch miracles as
thofe do not appear ever to have been
wrought. All miracles were external, and
the reflection on them produced its natural

eifeft.

REVEALED RELIGION. 311

eiFecl, on the minds of thofe who gave
due attention to them ; and who were
fuitably impreffed with them.

As to the proper time for working
miracles, and making this or that age the
witnefles of them, and of courfe the vouch-
ers of their reaUty to others, it is a queftion
which we muft acknowledge we are not
able to anfwer. But neither does it con-
cern us to anfwer it, any more than to
affign a reafon why it pleafed the Divine
Being to create the world, or men and
other animals, at one time rather than ano-
ther, or why he did not make more or
fewer planets to attend the fun, &c. &c.
Of every thing of this nature, he alone is
the proper judge. It is enough for us if
we be fatisfied, on fufficient evidence, that
miracles have been w^rought at any time,
and if we have been informed of the pur-
pofe for which they were wrought. If
they were adually feen by others, though
at ever fo great a diflance of time, they
ought, in reafon, to have the fame efre^l
as if feen by ourfelves, and we are as in-

excufable

312 THE EVIDENCES, &c.

excufable, if we be not as much influenced
by them. And if God has fpoken, it can-
not be a matter of indifference, whether
we will attend to his voice or not. In this
cafe I may fay, after our Saviour, He that
hath ears to hear^ let him hear.

DISCOURSE XL

The proof of Revealed Religion
frofu Prophecy.

I have even from the beginning declared it unto thee. Before
it came to pafs I flievved it thee, left thou ftiouldeft fay-
mine idol has done them, and my graven image, and my
molten image, have commanded them.

Isaiah, xlviii. 5,

X HERE is not, perhaps, any thing
more exclufively within the province of the
Supreme Being than the foreknowledge of
future events, depending on the voUtions
of men. For though all things future
may be faid to exift in their caufes,
which are prefent, thofe caufes are not
apparent, and their operations and com-
binations, are fuch as no human intelled
can trace ; fo that to us they are as con-
tingent, and uncertain, as if the caufes
did not exift. They who know mankind
c c m

314 THE EVIDENCES OF

in general, and even particular perfons,
the beft, can only conjedure how they
will aft in given circumftances, and are
often miftaken; but how they will aft in
future timey when it cannot be known in
what circumftances they will then be, is
what no man will pretend to, and this
ftill lefs with refpeft to perfons then un-
born. A prediftion of a future and
diftant event, depending on the voluntary
aftions of men, has therefore the etreft of
a miracle of the moft indifputable kind.
Now many fuch are recorded in the fcrip-
tures, and confequently ought to be enu-
merated among the cleareft proofs of their
divine authority, and of the truth of the
religion they contain. For this reafon I
iliall make them the fubjeft of this dif-
courfe, ftiewing, from the circumftances
of the prediftions, that they are not lia-
ble to any juft fufpicion of impofture,
that in this refpeft they were the reverfe of
the oracles of the heathens, and that they
^lave been clearly verified by the events.

There

REVEALED RELIGION. 31^

There were two ways in which the
knowledge of future events was commu-
nicated to the Hebrews. One was by
confulting the oracle^ as it may be called,
when anfwers to particular queftions were
given to the high-prieft ; and the other
by prophets, who were raifed up from
time to time to fpeak to the people in the
name of God. I fhall confider the cir-
cumftances of both.

I. The regular method of confulting
the divine oracle, called inquiring of the
Lord, was by the chief magiftrate attend-
ing in the fandiuary along with tlie high-
prieft in his proper veftments, direfting
him what queftions to put; when the an-
fwers were equally heard by them both.
Thus when Joihua was appointed to fuc-
ceed Mofes, it is faid. Num. xxvii. 16.
And he Jhall Jlaiid by Eleazar the prieft, who
/hall afk council for him, after the judgment of
Uriniy before the Lord. From this it is ob-
vious, that it w^as not in the power of the
high-prieft to impofe upon the country
what he thought proper, as a divine ora-
c c 2 cle.

3i6 THE EVIDENCES OF

cle. It does not even appear that he
ever went of his own accord to confult
the oracle, but only when required to do
fo by the civil magiflrate, who attended
along with him, and heard the anfwer as
well as himfelf. Of this we have feveral
examples in the courfe of the fcripture
hiftory. Indeed, it is evident from the
w^hole hiftory of the Hebrews, that nei-
ther by this, nor by any other means, was
it in the power of the priefts to acquire
any more authority than w^as given them
in the original conftitution.

If this had been the cafe, they would
always have preferved their fuperiority
over any occafional prophet, whofe claim
to refped: interfered w^ith theirs. How,
for example, could it be fuppofed that the
old high-prieft Eli would eafily have ac-
quiefced in the divine communications
made to the child Samuel, which contain-
ed the heavieft denunciations againft him-
felf and his family ? But inftead of contra-
didling them, though delivered by a mere
child, he, with the greateft refignation,

replied.

REVEALED RELIGION. 31;

replied, It is the Lord, kth'mi do what feemeth
him good. Surely here was no prieftcraft.
Neither under the judges, nor under the
kings, did any high-prieft acquire the
fmalleft addition to his civil power, or to
his emolument.

2. The Hebrew oracle appears to have
been acceifible at all times alike ; which w^as
not the cafe with the oracles of Greece.
That at Delphi could only be confulted
during one particular month in the year,
which was in the fpring; and, as it fhould
feem, only on a few dated days in that
month. At other times, as we are inform-
ed, the greateft princes could not by any
means obtain an anfwer. This certainly
gave the heathen priefts a better opportu-
nity of knowing what queftions were like-
ly to be propofed, and of being prepared
with the anfwers.

3. Noexpence attended the confultation
of the Hebrew oracle, fo that the priefts
ould not derive any emolument from it;
whereas the confulting of the Grecian ora-
cles was fo very expenfive, on account of

the

3i8 THE EVIDENCES OF

the facrifices that were to be offered, and
the prefents that were expefted on the oc-
cafion, that only the great and the wealthy
could have accefs to them. The riches of
which the temple of Delphi was poffefTed,
from the donations of opulent princes,
fuch as Craefus king of Lydia, were im-
menfe ; but it does not appear that either
the tabernacle, or the temple, of the If-
raelites, gained any thing by this means.

4. Nothing was done to overawe the
perfons who confulted the Hebrew oracle;
or to affeft their imaginations, fo as to
prepare them to receive whatever anfwers
the prieft, who direfted the oracle, might
fuggeft; which was the cafe more or lefs,
with all the Grecian oracles, but elpecially
that of Trophonius. The perfon who con-
fulted this oracle went into a cavern, and
and not immediately, on his prefenting
himfelf, but after much folemn prepartion.*

■* In this time all his food was the remains of facrifices,
and he was not permitted to bathe. After this he was waflied
by boys of thirteen years of age, and when this was done, he
drank of two waters, one of oblivion, and the other oi re-
membrance, and before he entered the cavern he was brought

to

REVEALEiD RELIGION.' §i|

Such were the marks of terror and
melancholy with which perfons ufually
came out of this cavern, that when any
perfon was unufuall} dejefted, they faid he
looked as if he had been confulting the
oracle of Trophonius.

5. Ihe anfwer of the Hebrew oracle
was always delivered in an articulate voice,
which was not liable to mifconftruftion;
whereas all tlie Grecian oracles, except
that of Apollo, gave their anfwers in a
difl^erent manner, as by dreams, the flight

of

to a certain ftatue, before which he made fome prayers.
Being then conduced to the mouth of the cavern, he de-
fcended by a ladder, which he brought with him for the
purpofe. At the bottom of this defcent he came to a nar-
row paffage, through which he was required to thruft himfelf
with Kisfeet foremoft; but during this he was forcibly drag-
ged along till he came to the place where he was to wait foJr
his anfwer, which M^as fometimes given in words, and fome-
times only by appearances of various kinds. Afterthis, which
fometimes detained him more than a day, he returned
through the narrow paiTage in the fame manner as before,
viz. with his feet foremoft. 'J'he priefls then placed him on
a kind of throne, and inquired of him what he had heard
or feen, and they made the report to others, who then car-
ried him, commonly in a ft ate of ftupefa<ftion, v/ith terror
and aflonifliment, to the cnapel of good genius, and of

good

320 THE EVIDENCES OF

of birds, or the entrails of beafts, &c, &c.
At Pherae, a city of Achaia, there was an
oracle of Mercury, where the perfon who
confulted it, after making the proper fa-
crifices and offerings, propofed his quef-
tion; and in order to get an anfwer to it,
walked with his ears flopped by his hands,
through the market-place, and then re-
moving them, took the firft words that he
happened to hear for the anfwer of the
oracle. At another oracle in Achaia, the
anfwer was given by throwing dice, in-
fcribed with particular charafters, which
the priefts interpreted. At another place

in

sood fortune, where after fome time he recovered his fenfes
and cheerfulnefs. This account is given by Paufanias, an
eminent Greek writer, who fays that he had himfelf con-
fulted this oracle.

Another perfon, of whom Plutarch gives an account,
was detained two days and nights in this cavern, and when
be came out he gave an account of many ftrange fights that
he had feen, and frightful founds that he had heard, refem-
bling the yellings and howlings of wild beafls, as well as a
difcourfe that was delivered to him Who does not fee
that it was in the power of the priefts to condu(ft all this
machinery juft as they pleafed, taking advantage of the
terror which was unavoidable in thefe circumftances ?

REVEALED RELIGION. 321

in the fame country, the anfwer of the
oracle, which was only given to queftions
relating to ficknefs, was given by letting
down a mirror into a fountain, and ob-
ferving the figures and images on its fur-
face.

6. There was no ambiguity in the an-
fwer given by the Hebrew oracle. It
was always plain and direft, not capable
of two conftruclions, of which the priefts
might avail themfelves on comparing it
with the event, as was remarkably the
cafe with refpeft to many of the an-
Iwers returned by the Grecian oracles,
even that of Apollo at Delphi, which,
however, was celebrated for the compa-
rative perfpicuity of its anfwers. Two
of thefe anfwers are particularly mention-
ed by Herodotus.

When the Lacedemonians inquired of
the oracle whether they ihould fucceed
in their attempt to conquer all Arcadia,
they received for anfwer, they ihould not,
but that he would give them Tegeay which

was

32a "rtlS EVIDENCES OF

Was vety fruitful, and which they fhould
Ineafure with a line. On this they had no
doubt but that they Ihould gain the poflef-
fion of it ; but being defeated in battle,
inany of the Lacedemonians were made
prifoners, and compelled to cultivate the
ground for their conquerors; and in doing
this, they ma4e ufe of a line to meafure
it, which was deemed to be a fulfilment
of the oracle. Again, w^hen Craefus con-
fulted the fame oracle, on his engaging in
a war with Cyrus, he received for anfwer,
that if he did, he fhould overturn a great
empire, and that the Perfians would not
conquer him until they had a mule for
their prince. Being conquered, and lofing
his empire, he fent to upbraid the oracle
for deceiving him, but he w^as anfwered,
that the empire that was to be overturned
was his own, and that Cyrus being de-
fcended from a Perfian father, and a Me-
dian mother, was the mule intended by
the oracle.

The Hebrew oracle never returned
fuch anfwers as thefe, but always fuch as

were

REVEALED RELIGIOlSf. 32^

were dired:, and perfectly intelligible.^
The divine oracle fubfifted, though irt
fome different manner, before the time of
Mofes. For we read that Rebecca, when
flie found herfelf with child, and felt a
violent motion in her womb, inquired of
the Lord, and received the following an-
fwer, Gen. XXV. 23, Two nations are in thy
tvomby and tzvo manner of people fall be fepa-
rated from thy bowels. The one fall be flronger
than the other, and the elder fall ferve the
younger.

When the oracle was confulted after
the death of Jofhua, v/e read, Jud. i. i .
Then Ifrael afked tbe Lord, faying. Who fall
go up, for us againfi the Canaanites firfi, to
fight againfi them, Jehovah faid Judahfall go
up, behold I have delivered the land into his
hand. David, in the courfe of his life,
received feveral anfwers from the oracle,
one of which was very particular. The
Philiftines fpreading themfelves, as we
read, 2 Sam. v. 23. in the valley of
Rephaim, v/hen David inquired of the

Lord,

324. THE EVIDENCES OF

Lord, he faid, Thoujlmlt not go tipy hut fetch
a compafs behind them, and come upon them over
again fi the mulberry trees; and let it be ivhen
thou hearejl the found of a marching in the top
of the midberry trees ^ that then thou foalt befir
thyfelf for then Jhall the Lord go out before thee
to fmite the hofi of the Philijlines, Vv^e have
no account of any other anfwer from this
oracle, that was not equally plahi, and free
from ambiguity.

All the diretSlions and predidtions that
were occafionally delivered by the God of
Ifrael, or by angels commiffioned by him,
v/ere equally clear and intelligible. Such
was the original command given to Abra-
ham, Gen. xii. i. ' Get thee out of thy

* country, and from thy kindred, and from

* thy father's houfe, unto a land that I will

* fliew thee, and I will make of thee a

* great nation, and thou Ihalt be ablelling.'
fuch was the meffage to Hagar when ihe
fled from her miftrefs, Genefis. xvi. ii.
' And the angel of the Lord faid unto her,

* Behold thou art with child, and fhalt

bear

REVEALED RELIGION. 32^

* bear a fon, and call his name Ilhmael,

* and he will be a wild man; his hand will

* be againft every man, and every man's

* hand againft him, and he fhall dwell in
^ the prefence of all his brethren.' A pre-
didion which has been exadly verified in
the general character, and hiftory, of the
Arabs, who are defcended from Ifhmael,
to this very day. All the commands of
God to Mofes were perfpicuous, and free
from ambiguity ; and fo were all the
divine communications without any excep-
tion.

Sometimes communications were made
in dreams, and by means of emblems;
but the interpretations were given in the
moft intelligible language. Thus Jofeph
in the interpretation of their refpedive
dreams, told Pharoah's baker, that after
three days he would be hanged, and that
the butler would at the fame time be re-
ftored to his office ; and he told Pharoah
that the next feven years would be years
of unufual plenty, but would be followed
by feven years of famine. The prophetic
dreams of Nebuchadnezzar were inter-
preted

426 THE EVIDENCES OF

preted with i:he fame diftin^lnefs by Da-
niel, and DanieFs own dreams by an
angel.

Befides the regular oracle, to which
the Ifraelites had accefs on particular emer-
gencies, God was pleafed to fend to that
nation a fucceffion of prophets, and they
all delivered their meflages in the plaineft
language, as became the melfengers of
God. The greateft, and ftriftly fpeak-
ing, the firft, of thefe prophets, was
Mofes; and nothing could be more dif-
tin£l and intelligible than the manner in
which he always fpake in the name of
God, on a great variety of occafions;
and he was informed that tH^^e would be
a fucceffion of prophets, like himfelf, Deut.
xviii. 1 8. * I will raife them up a prophet
' among their brethren, like unto thee,

* and will put my words in his mouth,
< and he fhall fpeak unto them all that I

* command him.'

An example of this we have in the
meflage which the prophet Ahijah was di-
refted to deliver to Jerufalem, of which

we

REVEALED RELIGION. 327

we have an account i Kings, xi. 29. 'And

* it came to pafs at that time, when Je-

* roboam went out of Jerufalem,' (which
was in the reign of Solomon,) ' that the

* prophet Ahijah the Shiionite found him

* in the way, and he clad himfelf in a new

* garment, and they two were alone in

* the field. And Ahijah caught the new

* garment that was on him, and rent it in

* twelve pieces. And he faid to Jerobo-

* am, Take thee ten pieces.* For thus
' faith the Lord, the God of Ifrael. Be-
' hold I will rend the kingdom out of the

* hand of Solomon, and will give ten

* tribes to thee, becaufe they have for-

* faken me, and have worfhipped Aflita-

* roth, the goddefs of the Sidonians, Che-

* mofh the god of the Moabites, and Mii-

* com the god of the children of Ammon,

* and have not walked in my way, to do

* that which is right in mine eyes, to keep

* my ftatutes and my judgments, as did

* David his father. Howbeit, I will not

* take the whole kingdom out of his hand,

* but I will make hi<n a prince all the

* days

328 THE EVIDENCES OF

* days of his life, for my fervant David's

* fake, whom I chofe, becaufe he kept
^ my commandments and my ftatutes:

* but I will take the kingdom out of his

* fon's hand, and will give it unto thee,

* even ten tribes, &c.* In the fame plain
and direft manner, did all the prophets
deliver themfelves ; as Elijah to Ahab,
Ifaiahto Ahaz,* and Hezekiah, and Jere-
miah to Zedekiah. With the fame dif-
tinftnefs did our Saviour deliver his pro-
phecy concerning the deftrudlion of Jeru-
falem, the demolition of the temple, and
the defolation of Judea.

Let this be compared with the manner
m which the pretended prophets among

the

* Mr. Paine charges Ifaiah with being a falfe prophet in
what he announced to Ahaz, concerning the invafion of
his kingdom by Rezin king of Syria, and Pckah king of
Ifrael, which was as follows. Ifaih vii. i, ' And it came

* to pafs in the days of Ahaz, the fon of Jotham king of

* Jiidah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the fon of
' Remaliah, king of Ifrael, went up towards Jerufalem to war
' againft it, but could not prevail againft it. And it was told

* the houfe of David, faying, Syria is confederate with Eph-

* raim; and his heart was moved as the trees of the wood

* are moved with the wind. Then faid the Lonl unto Ifaiah,

'Go

REVEALED RELIGION. ^29

the heathens delivered themfelves. It was
always in a kind of madnefs, or ecftafy, to
give the appearance of fome other being
than themfelves fpeaking from within them,
or making ufe of their organs. When
the pythonefs at Delphi delivered the ora-
cle, with which fhe was fuppofed to be
infpired, fhe began to fwell and foam at the
mouth, tearing her hair, cutting her flefli,

and

* Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou and Shear- jafliub thy

* fon, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the
' high way of the Fullers field, and fay unto him, Take heed
'and be quiet, fear not, neither be faint-hearted, for the two
'tails of thefe fmoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of
' Rezin with Syria, and of the fon of Remaliah, becaufe
'Syria, Ephraim, and the fon of Remaliah have taken evil
' council againft thee, faying, Let us go up againft Judah

* and vex it, and let us make a king in the midft of it, even
' the fon of Tabeal. Thus faith the Lord God, it fhall not
' {land, neither fliall it come to pafs.' He farther afTured
him that before a child that was foon to be born could dif-
tinguifli between good and evil, the countries of his enem.ies
would be 'forfaken of both their kings.'

. On this Mr. Paine fays, p. 47, ' To fhew the impofition and
' falfehood of Ifaiah, we have only to attend to the fequel of

* this ftory, which, though it is pafled over in filence in the
' book of Ifaiah, is related in the 20th chapter of 2 Chronicles,
' and which is, that, inflead of thefe two kings failing in
'their attempt againft Ahaz king of Judah, as Ifaiah had
'pretended to foretel in the name of the Lord, they fuc-

ceeded.

Dd

330 THE EVIDENCES OF

and in all her behaviour appearing as if
diftrafted. One of them was at one timefo
enraged, that fhe terrified not only thofe
who confulted the oracle, but the priefts
themfelves, fo that they ran away and left
her, and foon after fhe died. Others,
who were fuppofed to pry into futurity,
lay like dead men, deprived of all fenfe
and motion, and when they returned to

themfelves,

*ceecied. Ahaz was defeated and deftroyed, an hundred
' and twenty thoufand of his people were flaughtered, Jeni-
' falem was plundered, and two hundred thoufand women,
' and fons and daughters, were carried into captivity. Thus

* much for this lying prophet and impoftor Ifaiah, and the
' book of falfehoods that bears his name.'

Such is the charge, but the defence is extremely eafy.
The calamity which Mr. Paine, with much exaggeration
defcribes, was in the beginnhig of the reign of Ahaz, before
the prophecy was delivered. For it commenced about the
death of Jotham his predeceiTor. After reciting the events
of the reign of Jotham, the hiftorian fays, 2 Kings, xv. 37,
*• In thefe days the Lord began to fend againft Judah, Rezin

* the king of Syria, and Pekah the fon of RemaHah. And
' Jotham flept with his fathers, and Ahaz his fon reigned
*in his Head.'

This calamity, great as it was, by no means extended
fo far as Mr. Paine afferts. For Jerufalem was fo far from
being plundered, that it is exprefsly faid, 2 Kings, xvi. ^.

* That thefe two kings came up to Jerufalem to war, and
' tJiey befieged Ahaz, but they could not overcome him.'

Agreeably

REVEALED RELIGION. 351

themfelves, they related what they had
feen and heard. For it was their opinion
that the foul might leave the body, wan-
der up and down the world, vifit the re-
gions of the dead, and even converfe with
gods and heroes. Plutarch relates that
while the foul of one Hermodorus of Cla-
zomensE was thus out of his body, a wo-
man who had the cuftody of it, delivered
it to his enemies, who burned it.

Agreeably to this, Ifaiah fays * they went up towards Jerula-

* lem, to war againft it, but could not prevail againft it.' And
fo far were ihey trom being able to dethrone Ahaz, and fet
lip another king, the fon of Tabeal, that Ahaz reigned fixteen
years, and in the fourth year of his reign Pekah king of If-
raei was flain in a confpiracy of his own fubje61:, i. Kings,
XV. 30. and about the fame time an end was put vO the
kingdom of Syria by Tiglath Pilefer king of AlTyria taking
Damafcus, whither Ahaz went to meet him.

Mr. Paine takes advantage of the figurative and no doubt
hyperbolical language of the prophet Ezekiel, in his ac-
count of the defolation of Egypt daring forty years after the
conqueft of the country by Nebuchadnezzar, chap. xxix. 11.

* that no foot of man or of beaft ftiould pafs through it.'
We have no particular account of the ftate of Egypt in
this interval, but the civil war between Apries or Pharoah
Hophra and Amafis, which followed the devaftation made
by Nebuchadnezzar, muft have made travelling particularly
hazardous,

D d 2 The

33S THE EVIDENCES OF

The delivery of prophecies in a fran-
tic manner, as if the prophet was poflefled
by fome demon, is ftill praftifed in feve-
ral barbarous nations, as in Tartary, and
among the Indians of fome parts of Ame-
rica, of which travellers give amufing
accounts. In fa^^, when the Grecian ora-
cles were inftituted, that nation had as
httle knowledge as the Tartars, or In-
dians. At this day the random fayings of
ideots, and perfons difordered in their
fenfes, are catched up in the Eaft, as if
they came from the infpiration of fome
fuperior being.

But the principal queftion before us is,
not in what manner prophecies were de-
livered, but whether predictions faid to
come from God, and, as fuch, recorded in
fcripture have been verified by the events.
And to this the Divine Being himfelf ap-
peals. When the fucceffion of prophets
mentioned above was announced to Mofes,
he fays, Deut. xviii. 21, ^ If thou ftialt
' fay in thine heart, how fhall we know
* the word which the Lord hath not fpoken?

' it

REVEALED RELIGION. 333

it is anfwered, « When a prophet fpeaketh
^ in the name of the Lord, if the thing

* follow not, nor come to pafs, this is

* the thing which the Lord hath not

* fpoken, but the prophet hath fpoken pre-
' fumptuoufly. 1 hou fhalt not be afraid

* of him.' And on this fubjed: it is that
Jehovah challenges the gods of the hea-
thens, in Ifaiah xli. 21, ' Produce your

* caufe, faith the Lord, bring forth your

* ftrong reafons, faith the God of Jacob.

* Let them bring them forth, and fhew us

* what fhall happen. Let them fliew for-

* mer things what they be, that we may
^ confider them, and know the latter end

* of them, or declare us things for to

* come. Shew the things that are to

* come hereafter, that we may know that
^ ye are gods.' This is what no heathen
oracle or prophet could do. But the fcrip-
tures abound with prophecies which have
iudifputably been verified by the events,
and in fome cafes, at a great diftancefrom
the time of their dehvery.

There

354. THE EVIDENCES OF

There are few prophecies more re-
markable than thofe of Mofes, which ex-
tend even to the prefent times, and indeed
far beyond them. When his nation was
in a ftate Uttle better than that of the wild
Arabs, wandering in the wildernefs; he not
only looked forward to their certainly tak-
ing pofleffion of the land of Canaan, then
inhabited by a warlike people, who had
horfes and chariots of iron, and whofe ci-
ties are faid to have been fenced up to
heaven, and who had many years notice of
the intended attack upon them , when none
of the Ifraelites had feen war, when they
were poorly provided with weapons, and
could only fight on foot, and muft have
been wholly unacquainted with the method
of attacking fortified places; but he fore-
told their apoftacy from their religion,
their confequent expulfion from the land
of Canaan, their difperfion into all the
moft diftant parts of the world, their cruel
fufferings, and contemptuous treatment, in
thofe countries, of which we near three
thoufand years after the predidion, are now

witjieifes,

REVEALED RELIGION. 335

witneiTes, their fubfifling, notwithftanding
this, as a feparate people, of which alfo
we are witneffes, and Ukewife their final
reftoration, and refettlement in their own
country, when they are to be the moft
diftinguilhed of all nations. But I do not
enlarge on this fubjeft, becaufe I have done
it already, in a difcourfe which is- before
the public.

There is no nation bordering on the
land of Canaan, whofe future deftiny was
not foretold by fome of the Hebrew pro-
phets, and there is no pretence for faying
that the prediftions were written after the
events. For the accompliihment of feve-
ral of them is quite recent; whereas the
books have been extant between two
and three thoufand years. I fhall confine
myfelf to thofe concerning ^gypt, Baby-
lon, and Tyre, with lome obfervations on
the prophecies of Daniel.

I . The Egyptians were the firft nation
that rofe to any great degree of power,
and they continued in the firft rank of
warlike people, till they were conquered

by

336 THE EVIDENCES OF

by Nebuchadnezzar. But feveral years ber
fore that conqueft, viz. in the tenth year
of the captivity of Jehoiakim, three years
before he undertook the fiege of Tyre,
and fourteen before his invafion of Egypt,
the vjord of the Lord came to Ezekiely as we
read, Ez, xxix. i. &c. fcifmgy Son of man ,
fet thy Jace againji Pharoah king of Egypt, and
prophecy againji him, and againji all Egypt.
Speak and [ay. Thus faith the Lord God, Be-
hold I am againfi thee Pharaoh king of Egypt ^
the great dragon that lieth in the midji of his ri-
vers, who has faidy My river is my own, and
I have made it for myfelf^. But I %vill put
hooks in thy jaws, and I will bring thee ttp out
of the midfi of thy rivers. And I will leave
thee thrown into the wildernefs. I have given
thee for meat to the heajls of the field, and to
the fovjls of hedven, and all the inhabitants of
Egypt fall know that I am the Lord, becanje
they have been a (iciff of reed to the hoife of If

raeL

* This king of Egypt Pharaoh Hophra (called Apries by
Herodotus) was remarkable for his pride and impiety. Ac-
cording to this hiftorian, he boafted that it was not in the
power of the gods to dethrone him.

REVEALED RELIGION, 337

rae'L Thus faith the Lord God, I will bring a
fivotd upon thee, and cut off man and beajl out
of thee, and the land of Egypt fall he de folate
and waftey and they fall know that I am the
Lord. He then foretels a ftate of defolation,
which was to continue in Egypt forty
years, after which he fays, v, 14. 15. thej
fall be a bafe kingdom. It fall be the bafef
of the kingdoms y neither fall it exalt itfelf any
more above the nations, for I will diminifh theniy
that they fall no more rule over the nations.

A fhort time before Nebuchadnezzar's
expedition, Ezekiel again prophefied as
follows. Chap. XXX. 10. 1 will alfo make
the midtitude of Egypt to ceafe by the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he and his peo-
ple with him. The terrible of the nations fall
be brought to deflroy the landy and they fall
draw their fvords againfi Egypt y and fill the
land with the fain, and I will make the river
dry^y and fell the land into the hand of the

wicked,

* This is a figurative expreflion, denoting probably that
the river, of which this king made fo great a boaft, fhould
not avail him when he was invaded by his enemy. It flioulJ
be as eafily palTed, as if its channel had been dry.

33^ THE EVIDENCES OF

wicked, and I will make the land wajle^ and all
that is therein by the hand of Jlr angers. I the
Lord have fpoken it. Tims faith the Lord God,
I will alfo deflroy the idols ^ and I will caife their
images to ceafe out of Noph, and there fall he
no more a prince of the land of Egypt, and I
will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

The hiftory of Egypt from that time to
the prefent, which is more than two thou-
fand years, correfponds in a remarkable
manner to this predidion; that country
having been ever fmce under the dominion
of foreigners, viz. the Babylonians, Per-
fians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens,
Mamluks, and Turks. And, judging from
appearances, it is not at all probable that
the Egyptians will ever recover their liber-
ty, and have a king of their own. Indeed,
Egypt has been fo often conquered and
enflaved, fo many perfons of foreign ex-
tradlion have fettled in it,- that it muft be
hard to fay who of the prefent inhabitants
are of the flock of the antient Egyptians.
But it is not probable that any native of

the

REVEALED RELIGION. 339

the country, of whatever flock, will ever
have the fovereignty of it.

2. Ifaiah Uved in the reign of Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of
Judah, about one hundred and fifty years
before the conquefts of Nebuchadnezzar,
and more than two hundred before thofe
of Cyrus, while the kingdom of Babylon
was inferior to that of the Aflyrians, yet
he foretold the fall of the Babylonian em-
pire, in language peculiarly emphatical,
and his predictions have been verified by
the events in a moft remarkable manner,
fome of the particulars not having taken
place, till many ages had elapfed. Ifaiah
xiii. 9. Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the bean-
' ty of the Chaldees excellency y flail be as ivben
■God overthrezu Sodom and Go?norrah. It Jhall
never be inhabited, neither Jhall it be dzvelt in
from generation to generation, neither flmll the
Arabian pitch his tent there; and their hoiifes
pall he full of doleful creatures, and ovjIs Jhall
dwell there, and fatyrs fall dance there, and
wild beafts of the iflands (that is foreign wild
beafts) fhall cry in their deflate hoifes, and

dragons

340 THE EVIDENCES OF

dragons in their pleafant palaces^ and the time is
near to come, and her days Jhall not he prolonged.
He alfo fays-. Chap. xiv. 22. / will rife
up againfi them, faith the Lord of hoftsy and
cut off from Babylon the name and remnant y
andfon, and nephezu, faith the Lord. I will
alfo make it a poffefion for bitterns , and pools of
water ; and I will fweep it with the hefom oj
deflnidiony faith theLordof hofts. The pro-
phet even mentioned the nations, then in
their very infant ftate, by which Babylon
would be conquered, when he faid, chap,
xxi. 2. Go lip Elamy (i. e. Perfia) befiege, 0
Media, for they were the Medes and Per-
fians in conjundlion that overturned theBa-
by Ionian empire.

Jeremiah, who lived in the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar, at the time when the
Babylonian empire was in its greateft
ftrength and glory, prophefied to the
fame purport with Ifaiah, chap. 50. * Lo,
^ I will raife up, and caufe to come up

* againfi Babylon, an affembly of great

* nations from the north country, and

* they ftiall fet themfelves in array againft

* her.

REVEALED RELIGION. 341

* her. From thence llie fliall be taken.

* Becaufe of the wrath of the Lord it ihall

* not be hihabited, but it fhall be wholly

* defolate. Every one that goeth by Ba-

* bylon fhall be aftonifhed, and hifs at all

* her plagues, for it is a land of graven

* images, and they are mad upon their

* idols. Therefore the wild beafts of the

* defert, and the wild beafts of the ifiands,

* fhall dwell there, and the owls fhall

* dwell therein, and it fhall be no more

* inhabited for ever, neither fhall it be

* dwelt in from generation to generation.'

This prophet alfo mentions the names
of the future enemies of Babylon, chap,
li. II. ' The Lord fhail raife up the fpirit

* of the kings of the Medes; for his devile

* is againft Babylon to deftroy it.' The
duration of the captivity of his country-
men by the Babylonians, Jeremiah exact-
ly foretold. After mentioning the con-
quefts of this nation, he proceeds thus,
chap. XXV. II, ' Thofe nations fliall ferve

* the king of Babylon feventy years, and
< it fhall come to pafs, that when feventy

years

ij4.^ THE EVIDENCES, OF

' years are accomplifhed, I will punifli the

* king of Babylon, and that nation, faith
'the Lord.' Chap. xxix. lo, ' For thus
' faith the Lord, that after feventy years
' be accomplifhed at Babylon, I will vifit

* you, and perform my good word to-

* wards you, in caufmg you to return to

* this place.'

The prophecies concerning the defola-
tion of Babylon were not fulfilled in their
full extent, till long after the time of our
Saviour. Babylon was taken by Cyrus
exaftly feventy years after the conqueft of
Judea; but it was not reduced to the (late
mentioned in thefe prophecies but by flow
degrees. Cyrus having taken the city by
turning the river which flowed through
it out of its channel, all the neighbourhood
became marfliy and unhealthy. Diodorus
Siculus, who wrote a little before the
time of ou% Saviour, fays, that the build-
ings of Babylon were then decayed, that
only a fmall part of it was inhabited, and
that the refl of the inclofure was employ-
ed in tillage. Pliny, who wrote in the

firfl

REVEALED RELIGION. 343

firft century after Chrift, fays that Baby-
lon was then reduced to folitude, being ex-
haufted by the neighbourhood of Seleucia,
which was not far from it. Paufanias,
who wrote about the middle of the fecond
century, fays, that '' of Babylon the great-
" eft city that the fun ever faw, there was
*' nothing remaining but the walls;' andLu-
cian, who wrote about the fame time, fays,
that very foon it would, like Nineveh, be
fought for, and not be found. In the
time of Jerom, who lived in the fourth
century, the whole inclofure of the walls
of Babylon Vv^as aclually converted into a
place for keeping wild beafts, and was
ufed for that and no other purpofe by
many of the kings of Perfia. At length,
even the walls of this great city, fo much
celebrated for their height and thicknefs,
\vere demolilhed, but by whom is not
known. About feven hundred years ago,
Benjamin a Jew, found fome remains of the
ruins of Babylon, but people were afraid
to go among them on account of the fer-
pents and fcorpions with which it fwarm-

cd.

344 THE EVIDENCES OF

cd , and at prefent it is not agreed among
travellers, in what place the great city of
Babylon flood. In this cafe, furely, there
cannot be any pretence for faying that the
prediftion was fubfequent to the event,
and yet no event was ever more diftinftly
defcribed.

What is perhaps, however, more re-
markable ftill, Ifaiah mentions Cyrus by
name, as the conqueror of Babylon, and
tlie perfon who was deftined to favour the
people of Ifrael, by ordering the rebuild-
ing of Jerilfalem and the temple, though
in his time they were both (landing. Ifa.
Ixiv. 2 2. ' Thus faith the Lord, thy re-

* deemer, and he that formed thee from

* the womb, I am the Lord that maketh
' all things, that flretcheth forth the hea-

* yens above, that fpreadeth abroad the
' earth bymyfeif ; that faith to Jerufalem,
*- Thou llialt be inhabited, and to the cities
^ of Judah, Ye fhall be built, and I will
' raife up the decayed places thereof; that

* faith to the deep. Be dry, and I will

* dry up their rivers, that faith to Cyrus,

* he

REVEALED RELIGION. 345

* he is my fhepherd, and fhall perform all

* my pleafure, even faying to Jerufalem,
^ thou fhalt be built, and to the temple,

* thy foundation fhall be laid. Thus faith

* the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

* whofe right hand I have holden, to fub-

* due nations before him, and I will loofe
5 the loins of kings, to open before him

* the two-leaved gates. I will break in

* pieces the gates of brafs, and cut in fun-
. * der the bars of iron. And I will give thee

* the treafures of darknefs, and hidden

* riches of fecret places, that thou mayeft

* know that I the Lord, who call thee by
^ thy name, am the God of Ifrael. I

* have furnamed thee though thou haft
' not known me. I am the Lord, and

* there is none elfe. There is no god be-
' fides me. I girded thee though thou

< haft not known me; that they may know
f from the rifing of the fun, and from

< the Weft, that there is none befides
' me. I am the Lord, and there is none

* elfe. I form the light, and create dark-

E e ' nefs :

346 TrtE EVIDENCES OF

*iiefs: I make peace, and create evil; I

* the Lord do all thefe things.'

3. Not lefs remarkably have the pro-
phecies concerning Tyre, received their
accompHfhment. In the eleventh year af-
ter the captivity of the Jews, w^hich wzs
fcefore the fiege of Tyre by Nebuchadnez-
zar, E^ekiel fays, Chap. xxvi. i. * The

* word of the Lord came unto ihe, faying,

* Son of man, becaufe that Tyrus hath

* faid againft Jerufalem, Aha, flie is bro-

* ken, that was the gatfe of tftie people,

* ihe is turned unto me, Tlhall be replenifli-

* 'ed now fhe is laid wafte. Thereforie thus
' faith the Lord God, Behold I am againft

* thee, O Tyrus, and will caufemany na-

* tions to come up againft thee, and they
^ fhall deftroy the walls of Tyrus, and

* break down her towers. I will alio
^ fcrape her duft from her, and make her

* like the top of a rock. It ihall be a

* place for the fpreading of nets in th*e

* midft of the fea, for I have ipoken it

* faith the Lord God, and it fhall become a

' fpoil

REVEALED RELIGION. 347

* {poll to the nations/ It is added v. 14.

* Thou fliall be built no more/

When this prophecy was deUvered
Tyre was in its glory, probably the moft
wealthy and the ftrongeft city in the world.
It was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, but not
till it had fuftained a fiege of thirteen
years. That city was never rebuilt, but
another on an ifland, at the diftance of
half a mile from the Ihore, which in time
became as flouriftiing, and as powerful, as
tlie former. This, however, was taken by
Alexander the Great, and it never reco-
vered itfelf. It is now a heap of ruins,
vifited, not inhabited, by a few filhermen.
A traveller, who, about a century ago gave
an account of it, fays that when he ap-
proached the ruins of Tyre, he found rocks
-ftretched out into the fea, and great ftones
ieattered up and down on the fhpre, made
clean fmooth by the fun, the waves, and
the wind, and of no -ufe but for the drying
of jfilhermen's nets, many of which were
gt that time, fpread upon them ; fo that
ihe full completion of this prophecy, deli-

E e 2 vered

348 THE EVIDENCES OF

vered above two thoufand three hundred
years ago, did not take place till within
the laft two or three centuries.

4. The prophecies of Daniel relate to
the moft diftant times, even thofe which
we have not yet reached; butfome of the
great events indicated in them by emblems,
and afterwards explained in words, have
fo evidently come to pafs, that for this,
and no other reafon, (which is merely tak-
ing the queftion for granted, againft the
ftrongeft evidence, internal and external)
it has been faid, that they muft have been
written after them.

To Nebuchadnezzar, chap. iv. was re-
vealed in a vifion of a great image, con-
fiding of different kinds of metal, over-
turned by a ftone, which afterwards be-
came a great mountain, filling the whole
earth, the fucceffion of four great mo-
narchies, of which his own was declared
to be the firft, and of which the laft can
be no other than the Roman, terminating
in ten kingdoms, which now exift, after
which is to come what is called the kingdom

of

REVEALED RELIGIOM. 349

of heaven^ which will continue for ever,
and this, according to many other ac-
counts of it, is to be the reign of peace
and righteoufnefs.

In another vifion, feen by Daniel him-
felf, chap. vii. four great empires, and no
doubt the fame with the former, are re-
prefented by four beafts, the laft of which
had ten horns, fucceeded by the appear-
ance of one like to the fon of man, to
ivhom was given domimoUy and glory ^ and a
kingdom ivhich fhould be univerfal and ever-
lailing. The firft of thefe empires being
the Babylonian, it is impolfible not to in-
terpret the fucceeding ones to be the Per-
fian, the Macedonian, and the Roman,
divided at laft into ten kingdoms as be-
fore.

Farther than this, another power is
defcribed as arifing among the ten king-
doms, in which the laft of the four em-
pires terminates, and by this it is almoft im-
poffible not to underftand, the papal. I
confidered the ten horns, fays Daniel, chap. vii.
8» and behold there came up among them another

little

350 THE EVIDENCES OF

little horn, before whom "were three of the frjl
horns plucked up by the roots ^ and behold in this
horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a
mouth fpeaking great things, v. 21. 1 beheld^
and the fame horn made war with the faints,
and prevailed againfi them, until the antient of
days came, and judgment 'Vtfas given to the faints
of the Moft High, and the time came that the
Jaints poffcjjed the kingdom. In the interpre-
tation of this, the angel fays, v. 24. The
Pen horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that
fhall arife. Hud another fall arife after them,
and he pall be diverfe from the firfi, and he
fhall fubdue three kings. And he fall fpeak great
words againft the Mofi High, and fall wear out
the faints of the Mof High, and think to change
times and lawf, and they fall be given into his
hand until a time and times, and the dividing of
time. But the judgment fhall fit , and they J hall
take away his dominion, to conjume and to deftroy
it unto the end. The hiftory of the popes,
tiiough I cannot now enter into the par-
ticulars, correfponds in a wonderful man-
ner' with this predidion, delivered tinqufef-
tionably above a thoufand years before
the event.

In

REVEALED RELIGION. 351

Ir^ anothet* vifion, chap. viii. a rain
with two horns, the one higher than the
pther, pf which the highefl came up laft,
was deftroyed by a he-goat, with one
great horn between his eyes^ which being
broken off four others came up in its
place. And in the interpretation it is ex-
prefsly faid, that the ram with two horns
reprefented the empire of the Medes and
Perfians, of which the latter was more
powerful than the former, though it was
pot fo at the firft, and that the he-goat
reprefented the kingdom of the Grecians,
that the great horn was the firft king,
and that after him four fhould ft and up out
of the nation, but not in* his power.

This vifion was in the reign of Belfliaz-
zar, before the conqueft of Babylon by
the Medes and Perfians, while the Medes
were by much the more powerful nation,
and therefore long before the conqueft of
Perfia by Alexander, on whofe death his
dominions were divided ainong four of his
generals. The remainder of this vifion,
and others, which probably relate to times

that

352 THE EVIDENCES OF

that are yet future, have fome difficulty in
their interpretation, which time will pro-
bably clear up. But if Daniel defcribed
the empire of the Greeks or Macedoni-
an, and much more that of the Romans,
it cannot be queftioned but that the events
indicated in his writings, were fubfequent
to the prediction of them, and fuch as no
human fagacity could at that time dif-
cover.

We find the cleareft marks of a pro-
phetic fpirit in the New Teftament, as well
as in the Old. Jefus, befides foretelling
his own death, and that by crucifixion,
with all the circumflances of indignity at-
tending it, alfo his refurreftion and afcen-
fion, appears by his parables, to have had a
clear forefight of the fpread, and final pre-
valence, of his religion in the world, of the
perfecution of his followers, the diflention
and mifchief of which it would for fome
time be the occafion, and of the corrup-
tion of his doftrine. He alfo foretold in
the cleareft language, without any figure
or parable, the deftruftion of Jerufalem,

the

REVEALED RELIGION. 35J

the total demolition of the temple, and the
defolation of the country of Judea, with
many figns of its near approach in that ge-
neration, when no other perfon of that na-
tion, or any other, appears to have had the
leaft apprehenfion of fuch events. The
warning he gave his difciples to flee out
of the country on the approach of thefe ca-
lamitous times, was well underftood by
them, and was the means of faving them
all; no Chriftians being in Jerufalem when
it was befieged and taken by Titus.

The apoftle Paul forewarns Chriftians
of the rife of a power in the Chriftian
church, which would advance higher claims
than thofe of any other earthly potentate,
that he would gain his authority by arti-
fice, and pretences to miracles, that he
would recoimnend abftinence from certain
meats, and difcourage marriage; but that
it would be finally deftroyed at the fecond
coming of Chrift, 2 Thefl*. ii. 3. Let no man
deceive yon by any means, for there miijt come a
falling away, or an apoftacy, firfl, i. e. be-
fore the time of final judgment, and that

man

354 THE EVIDENCES QF

man of fin mufl be revealed ^ the fon of perdi-
tioriy who oppofeth and exalteth himfelf above all
that is called God, or that is ivorjhippedy fo that
he, as God, ftteth in t/^e temple ofGodyJhew
ing himj elf that he is God — whom the Lord /hall
epnji^me with the fpirit of his mouth, and Jhall
deftroj with the brightnejs of his coming ; even
hifn zvhofe coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power, and figns, and lying wonders ^
and zuith all deceitjidnefs of unrighteoufnefs,
I Tim. iv. I . The fpirit fpeaketh exprefsly,
that in the latter times fome fall depart from
the faith, giving heed to feducing fpirits and
doBrines of demons— forbidding to marry, and
commanding to abfiain from meats, which God
has created to be received with thankf giving, A
farther defcription of this fame power, is
given in the Revelation of John, with the
fteps by which it rofe, and the fliocking
ufe that would be made of its power, in
the perfecution of the church. Certainly
ail thefe charavS^rs are to be found in the
Pope, and the church of Rome, and what
probability was there of the rife of any
fiich power, at the time that the prophe-
cies

REVEALED RELIGION. 355

cies were delivered? This apoftle alfo gives
a fketch of the moft interefling events of
every kind, from his own time to the end
of the world. But as, for evident reafons,
this prophecy is delivered in figurative lan-
guage, and emblems, its correfpondence
with the events cannot be expected to be
apparent, till after they have taken place.
And therefore it is not much for the pur-
pofe of my prefent argument, though I
think that till pretty near to the prefent
times, the correfpondence will be fufficient-
ly evident to the impartial and candid.

But without any regard to thefe predic-
tions, which are acknowledged to be bet-
ter calculated to confirm the faith of the
beUever, than to convert unbelievers, the
prophecies I have enumerated, though few
in comparifon of what might have been
adduced, will fatisfy any reafonable per-
fon, that they muft have been dictated by
a forefight more than human, and there-
fore that the Jewifti and Chriftia^ reli-
gions, having the fame author, muft be
of divine authority.

DISCOURSE

DISCOURSE XII.

Internal Evidence of Jefiis hemg no
Impojlor.

We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jefus
Chrift.

1 John, v. 20.

IJESIDES the evidence of miracleSy
including that of prophecy , which is the
proper feal of God to any thing that is al-
leged to come from him, with which we
become acquainted by hiftory, or traditi-
on, and which is ufually called the external
evidence of divine revelation, there is ano-
ther kind of evidence properly denomi-
nated internal, which to thofe who have a
fufficient knowledge of human nature and
human life, is hardly lefs fatisfaftory.
For knowing what men are, and what
men have done, we readily judge what is
probable or improbable, polfible or impof-

fible,

REVEALED RELIGION. 357

fible, with rcfpeft to the defigns and ac-
tions of men ; and if any thing be aflerted
of a man, and efpecially of a number of
men, which we well know could not be
aflerted with truth of any man, or any
number of men, with whom we were
ever acquainted, or concerning whom we
have had any authentic information, we
do not hefitate to pronounce it to be highly
improbable, and perhaps abfolutely impof-
fi ble.

It is, therefore, of the greatefl im-
portance, that we apply the knowledge
we have of human nature, and human
life, in our ftudy of the evidences of di-
vine revelation, to attend accurately to
the charafters and circumftances of Mofes
and the prophets, of Chrift and the apof-
tles, that we may form a judgment whe-
ther what is related of them, on the fup-
pofition of their having had divine com-
munications, or of their having been im-
poftors, be probable or otherwife. Hav-
ing in a former fet of difcourfes confidered
the circumftances of the hiftory of Mofes,
I ftiall in this confider the hiftory of Je-

fus;

358 THE EVIDENCES OF

fiis ; aiKl I think it will appear, that, if
what is, and muft be, allowed concerning
him be true, it w^as abfolutely impoffible
that h€ fliould have been an impoftor, every
thing related of him being perfeftly natu*
ral on the idea of his being confcious to
himfelf, or fully perfuaded in his own
imind, of his having a divine miffion, but
in the higheft degree unnatural, and even
impoffible, on the idea of his having been
an impoftor. That he was a mere enthu*-
f^fi, and really imagined that he had a
divine miffion when he had none, is ano-
ther <|ueft ion , which I fliail confider only
incidentally. This indeed was evidently
impoffible in fuch a cafe as this, and will
not, I am perfuaded, be fuppofed by any
unbeliever; fo that if Jefus was no im-
poftor, and did not know that he
was deceiving his followers and the
world, his divine miffion muft be ac-
knowledged.

I . If we confider the nart:ure and ex-
tent of the undertaking of Jefus, it muft
appear higWy improbable that it ihouM

have

KfeVEALEt) HELlGlOI^. ;^

have occurred to a perfon of his country,
and of his low birth, and education.
Had his views, whatever they were, ex-
tended no farther than his own country,
is undertaking any thing that fhould bring
hitn into notice, and advance him in life,
(which is all that an impoftor can be fnp*
pofed to aim at) muft have appeared very
unhkely to fucceed, and confequently muft
have been very unlikely to enter into his
thoughts, and have been undertaken by
him.. With the Jews, the place of a
man's birth was a circumftance of no
fmall moment, and Jefus was of Nazar-
reth, efteemed a mean place, in a defpifed
part of the country, fo that, on this ac-
count, he muft have lain under great dif-
advantage; and his occupation, which
was that of a carpenter, without any ad-
vantage of education, fuch as his countr}-
afforded, muft have made his undertaking
much more difficult. In thefe circum-
ftances, ambition fo prepofterous as that ol
Jefus, muft have bordered on infanity or
infatuation, which muft have appeared in his

conduft.

36o THE EVIDENCES OF

condud* But nothing of this kind does ap-
pear in him. Exclufive of the language
fuited to his undertaking, there was no-
thing like extravagance in his words or
affions. On the contrary, his whole be-
haviour fhewed a mind perfectly compofed
and rational, and what is more, there was
not in him any thing of oftentation, but the
moft amiable humility and modefty, though
accompanied with becoming dignity.

Whatever we may think of a Jewifli
education, and Jewifh literature, they
were highly valued by Jews, and muft
have been neceflary to gain general ef-
teem, efpecially with the higher clafTes '
of men, and for the purpofe of ading any
confpicuous part in that country. Jefus
himfelf could not but have found, and have
felt, this difadvantage ; and if he had not
been deterred by it from his undertaking,
he muft have had fuch an immoderate
and abfurd conceit of himfelf, as could not
but have appeared in his general conduft,
and muft have expofed him to contempt.
Such is always the cafe if any perfon in

fimilar

REVEALED RELIGION. 36:

fimilar circumftances with us attempt any-
thing above his fphere of Hfe. It fre-
quently happens that men of no education,
and, even of low occupations, ftep out of
their fphere, and become preachers, but
they are feldom attended to, except by
perfons like themfelves, and they general-
ly appear ridiculous in the eyes of others.
But fuch was not the cafe with Jefus. He
was revered and dreaded, by the chief
perfons of his nation; and the contempt
they fometimes expreifed for him was ei-
ther affected, or conceived before they had
fufficient knowledge of him. The manner
in which they at length proceeded againft
him, fliews that they v/ere moft ferioufly
alarmed, and thought their own credit
and fafety depended on their deftroying
him.

Some perfons deftitute of the advan-
tages of birth and education, have great
natural talents, vWiich fupply their place,
and give them great influence. But Jefus
does not appear to have had any advantage
of this kind. Like Mofes, he was neither
F f an

362 THE EVIDENCES OF

an orator, nor a warrior. He could, in-
deed, fpeak pertinently upon proper occa-
fions, and he difcovered great prefence of
mind incritical circumftances. But this is
not very uncommon, and there was no-
thing in his manner of fpeaking to capti-
vate an audience, by moving the paffions.
He never attempted any thing of the kind,
and the admiration with which his dif-
c6urfes were heard, was excited not by
any thing that we call eloquence, but by
the importance of what he delivered, and
and his authoritative manner of fpeaking,
v/hich a confcioufnefs of a divine miffion
naturally gave him. It is evident that he
avoided as much as polfible all occafions
of drawing a crowd after him, and when,
from the fame of his miracles, this was
unavoidable, he always withdrew as foon,
and as privately, as he could.

2. If we confider what it was that
Jefus undertook, we fliall find that it was
of a nature leaft of all calculated to ftrike
and captivate the Jews. All that we
know of them, of their general charafter

and

REVEALED RELIGION. 363

and views, make it evident that the only
perfon likely to gain their favourable atten-
tion was one who would perfonate their
Mejfiah, who was then expedled to make
his appearance, to deliver them from the
ftate of fubjedion they were then under
to the Romans, and to give them the em-
pire of the world. Except Jefus himfelf,
and his forerunner John the Baptift, no
other perfon ever gained any confiderable
number of followers among the Jews,
who did not flatter their ambition, by ad-
vancing that pretention, or in fome other
form erefted the ftandard of liberty among
them. But with thefe pretenfions they
never failed to gain many followers in
that nation. Jefus, however, eftabliflied
a permanent interefl in the affections of
thoufands of that country, all prepofTeffed
with the idea of a temporal deliverer (at
firfl, indeed, fondly hoping thatfe was the
perfon) though he carefully difclaimed all
fuch pretences. And what is more extra-
ordinary, his difciples and followers in-
F f 2 creafed

364 THE EVIDENCES OF

creafed after his death, when every idea
of that kind muft have been given up.

By fetting himfelf ahke againft the
Pharifees and Sadducees, Jefus not only
rendered himfelf obnoxious to all the
higher orders of perfons in the coun-
try, but muft have been lefs likely to fuc-
ceed even with the common people, by
whom the Pharifees were held in the
higheft efteem. Indeed, it cannot be faid
that there was any clafs or defcription of
perfons to Vv^hom he paid court, or v/as
at all ftudious to recommend himfelf. One
of his difcourfes to the people was of fuch
a nature, that all his audience left him,
except the twelve apoftles, and yet he
was not concerned or difcouraged by it ;
but, turning to the twelve, he calm-
ly faid, Will ye alfo go avjay? . Of what
kind, then, muft have been the ambi-
tion of Jefus, which was equally inde-
pendent of the favour of the great, and of
that of the commonality ? What could
he have expefted but univerfal contempt ?

A Jew,

REVEALED RELIGION, 36^

A Jew, whofe obje6l had been to
draw attention as a prophet, would natur-
ally have aflumed the habit and manner of
the antient prophets of that nation, which
had in them much of aufterity. And by
this means John the Baptifh, who did not
pretend to work miracles, was highly
and generally refpefted. But Jeius,
though with that example before him,
adopted a very different manner. He
appears to have dreifed, and to have
lived, like other perfons, without any pe-
culiarity whatever. Whenever he was
invited, he did not decline being prefent at
entertainments, and his prefence does not
appear to have been at any time a check
upon their innocent feftivity. This was
fo much the cafe, that his enemies faid
of him, that he was a gluttonous man and a
-winebihber^ as well as 2i friend oj public am and
fmners.

Befides, that, in a civil refpecSl, the ap-
pearance and pretenfions of Jefus were ill
adapted to favour any ambitious views, he
taught nothing with refpe<5l to religion

that

366 THE EVIDENCES OF

that was likely to recommend him to his -
countrymen. He did not pretend to teach
any dodlrine that was properly new, but
his expofingofthe abfurd comments of the
authorifed expounders of the law of Mo-
fes, together with their perlbnal vices,
was certainly hazardous. The general
obje-ft of his preaching was to inculcate
the ftrifteft and pur eft morality, fuch as
is found in the antient prophets. But he
drew the attention of his hearers in a more
particular manner to a juture Jlate^ much
more than had been done by any of the
prophets who had preceded him.

The doftrine of a refurreftion was at
that time the general belief of the Jewilh
nation, as it continues to be at this day.
But what he afferted of himfelf being ap-
pointed to raife all the dead, and to judge
the world, muft have appeared in the
higheft degree extravagant, and revolting,
without the moft evident teftimonials of a
divine authority for fuch high pretenfions.
What could an impoftor, who muft have
known that he had no authority for fuch a

claim.

REVEALED RELIGION. 367

claim, if fuch an idea could have been en-
tertained by him (which, however muft be
confeiTed to be very improbable) have ex-
pefted, but that, on the firfh hearing of
fuch pretenfions, his audience would have
turned from him with derifion. His pre-
tending to a kingdom, and a kingdom not
of this world, but in another, after he
Ihould be dead, was alfo more likely to
expofe him to contempt, than to procure
him refpeft. And this declaration was
made by Jefus when he was before a court
of judicature, expelling immediate death.
That, notwithftanding thefe circumftances,
Jefus did not appear an obje6l of contempt,
but attradled the moft refpeftful attention,
and had many difciples while living, and
many more after he was dead, has furely
in it fomething very extraordinary, and
well deferving to be enquired into; great
effedls always implying great caufes. All
thefe circumftances certainly fhew that Je-
fus was confcious to himfelf of having ad-
vantages fufiicient to counterbalance all
the difadvantages he lay under, and his

fuccefs

368 THE EVIDENCES OF

fuccefs proves that he was really poflefled
of them.

.3. Still more extraordinary was it that
fuch a perfon as Jefus fliould have extend-
ed his vie^vs beyond his own country, as
it is evident that he did when he direfted
his difciples to frofelyte and baptize all nations,
and when he foretold the univerfal fpread
of his religion, which, though inconfidera-
ble in its rife, like a grain of muftard feed,
or a fmall quantity of leaven, was deftined
to -embrace the whole world. No other
Jew, of any rank or charafter, had talked
in this manner before; and confidering the
extreme contempt in which the Jews muft
have known that they w^ere held by other
nations, except by the few whom they had
profelyted, any Jew muft have known that
a perfon of his nation undertaking any thing
confiderable, was likely to meet with the
worft reception, and nothing more offen-
five, or more hazardous, could have been
undertaken by any man.

The objeft of the religion of Jefus,
was nothing lefs than to overturn all the

eftablilhed

REVEALED RELIGION. 369

eftabliftied fyftems of religion then fubfifting
in the world, fyftems always moft inti-
mately connefted with civil policy, and as
fuch moft vigilantly guarded by all the
power of the reipeftive ftates, and, as was
then univerfally thought, with the greateft
reafon; it being taken for granted, that
their temporal profperity depended upon
the obfervance of the rites tranfmitted to
all nations by their remote anceftors; The
philofophers, who defpifed thefe rites, ne-
ver ventured to hint at the propriety, or
the fafety,»of difcontinuing them; and the
few who incautioufly fpake with difrelpe<S,
of them were charged with atheifm, and
had been put to death, or banillied. We
may, and juftly do, laugh at the religion
of the Greeks and Romans, and that of the
reft of the heathen world, as fyftems of
the moft wretched fuperftition; but they
were ferious things with themfelves; and
befides their reputed facrednefs, and the
general dread of a negled; of them, they
mixed with all their habits of life.

In

370 THE EVIDENCES OF

In all antient nations all occafions of
joy or forrow, and almoft every tranfaftion
of a civil nature, partook of their religion;
but more efpecially wsls every feafon of
feftivity, to which they were mod paffion-
ately attached, a religious aft. Even the
theatrical exhibitions of the Greeks and
Romans, calculated to entertain perfons of
the moft refined tafte, as well as the fefti-
vals of Bacchus and Venus, which gratified
the lewdeft and moft debauched of the
vulgar, were equally in honour of their
gods. Alfo all their moft admired poems
were with them, as with other nations,
tinftured with their religion ; fo that with-
out a knowledge of their religion, it is not
now poffible to underftand them. I can-
not, indeed, give a juft idea of the extreme
difficulty of the undertaking to overturn
the religion of the feveral ftates of anti-
quity, without entering into a detail of
particulars, too long for any difcourfe.
Only perfons well acquainted with anti-
quity, will ever conceive it.

This

REVEALED RELIGION. 371

This being the cafe, to change the re-
ligion of a people was, in a manner, to
make them over again. To fubdue them
by force of arms muft have appeared
much more eafy. There is not, indeed,
a fmgle inftance in all antient hiftory, of
a nation changing their religion from per-
fuafion or example. It is what the
greateft calamities, and the approach of
extermination has not been able to effeft.
The cafe of the Jews is the only excep-
tion on record. For they were ever ready
to adopt the religion of the neighbouring
nations. But then their remote anceftors
in Mefopotamia, according to Jofhua, and
themfelves in Egypt, had been addifted to
them. Though the Egyptians faw the in-
ability of their gods to fave them from a
feries of the greateft calamities, and
though the Canaanites found that theirs
could not prevent their expulfion from
their country, and their almoft extermina-
tion, both the Egyptians and the remains
of the Canaanites, appear to have conti-
nued as much attached to their feveral re-
ligions

37a THE EVIDENCES OF

ligions as ever. They would rather fup-
pofe that their gods were angry with
them, and had for that time deferted
them, than imagine that they had not
been able to defend them, or that the gods
of other nations (whofe power they never
called in queftion) had in that particular
prevailed over theirs. For no heathen na-
tion in all antiquity excluded the agency
of fuperior powers in any event, public or
private. The events of battles, though
iiioft evidently dependmg on the conduft
of the generals, and the valour of the
combatants, were always afcribed to the
fecret interference of the gods.

The prophet Jeremiah, exprefles in
very emphatical language, the extraordi-
nary cafe of the Ifraelites in revolting from
tlieir religion. Chap. ii. lo. Pafs ovei^ the
ijles ofChittim, and fee, and fend unto Ke.dar^
and confider diligent Ij, and fee if there be juch
a thing* Hath a nation changed their gods^
luhich are yet no gods; but my people have
changed their glory for that ivhich doth not pro-
ft.

In

REVEALED RELIGION. 37^

In thofe circumftances, fuch an under-
taking as that of Jefus, of the magnitude
of which it is not eafy for us at this day to
form an idea, muft furely have appeared
impoffible to a Jewifh carpenter. Or if,
from ignorance, he had conceived fuch an
idea, he, or his followers, would foonhave
found the imprafticability of it, without
divine aid. Jefus himfelf did not go be-
yond the bounds of his ov/n country, but
no fooner did the apoftles begin to preach
to other nations, and appeared to be
fomething different from Jevvs (vv^hofe
privileges and cu{loitls had been long tole-
rated, without any ferious inconvenience
arifing from it) than they found, that if
they perfifted, it muft be at the hazard
of every thing dear to them in life, and of
life itfelf. And with thefe difficulties the
preachers of chriftianity aftually ftruggled
about three hundred years; when the
whole fyftem of heathenifm, which had
prevailed from time immemorial, in the
whole extent of the Roman empire, hav-
ing been gradually undermined, gave way

on

374 THE EVIDENCES OF

on the converfion of Conftantine ; and
from that time, nothmg, as we may fay,
remamed of it, but ruins, which alfo crum-
bled away and difappeared in about three
hundred years more. And now nothing
more remains of the worihip of Jupiter
and Juno, Apollo or Bacchus, than if it
had never exifted. Thefe celebrated dei-
ties are gone into oblivion, together with
Baal of the Canaanites, Ifis and Orifis of
the Egyptians, and Thor and Woden
in Europe. It is only in hiftory, and
the books in which they are mention-
ed, that the memory of them, and of
the horrid and abominable rites with
which they were worfhipped, is preferved.
What could have accomplifhed fo great a
revolution, a revolution far more aftoniih-
ing than any that has ever been effefted
by policy or by arms, but a power not lefs
than divine, accompanying Jefus and the
apoftles ?

The revolution produced by Maho-
met had nothing it in approaching to this.
He did not queftion the divine origin of

the

REVEALED RELIGION. 375

the Jewiili or Chriftian religions. He
only pretended that his own v/as derived
from the fame fource, fo that he had no
occafion to v^ork any miracles. Idola-
ters, indeed (who, however, do not ap-
pear to have been very numerous) he fub-
dued by force, but Jews and Chriftians,
unable to treat them in the fame manner,
he tolerated. When the Mahometan
power was fully eftablifhed, and the ca-
liphs of Bagdathad longm.ade the greateft
figure of any princes in the Eaftern world,
and their fubjedls had attained a high de-
gree of civilization, feme Tartar nations
emerging from barbarifm, adopted their
religion; as the Tartars who conquered
China, adopted the inftitutions of the Chi-
nefe, and the Romans the literature and
philofophy of the Greeks. In this there
is nothing at all extraordinary. But the
Greeks and Romans changed their reli-
gion for the Chriftian when they were the
moft learned and civilized, and the Jews, in
their opinion, the moft ignorant, and the
moft defpifed of all nations, and the preach-
ers

376 THE EVIDENCES OF

ers of chriftianity were at firft of the moft
illiterate of that delpifed nation. This is a
fa£l that cannot be contradidled; and
having no parallel in the hiftory of man-
kind, is certainly deierving of particular
attention.

3. With all thefe difficulties before
him, from the nature of his undertaking,
and the people whom he had to gain to
his purpofe, Jefus promiled to his difciples
nothing at all in this world, but only in
another. On the contrary, he frequently
apprized them, that if they adhered to
him, they had nothing to expecl: in this
life, but perfecution, and many of them
that violent death to which he himfelf
was deftined. This is a kind of conduft
which muft certainly be deemed in the
highefi: degree prepofterous, and unac-
countable, in an impoftor, who, whatever
he gave out, could not have had a view to
any thing but fome advantage in this life.
It muft have been to facrifice himfelf and
his followers, for whom it is evident he
had the greateft affeflion, for no advan-
tage

REVEALED RELIGION. 379

tage whatever, to himfelf or them, which
is what any man muft pronounce to be ab-
iblutely impoffible.

That a great nmnber of perfons fhould
dehberately abandon themfelves to perfecu-
tion and certain death, in order to eftabhih
a fcheme which they conceived to be fa-
vourable to the happinefs of mankind, is
not to be admitted. That a fingle perfon
fhould devote himfelf to prefent death,
when immediate and great glory would
certainly accrue to himfelf, and an ample
recompence to his family, ispoffible, though
examples of it are uncertain and rare.
But that many perfons fhould do this, when
the profpeft of fame to themfelves, and
of advantage to their families, was diftant
and uncertain, and when for the prefent,
and an indefinite length of time, contempt
would be joined to their other fufferings,
is impoffible while human nature is what
we know it to be. Such conduft would be
deemed to be nothing lefs than infanity; and
that a number of perfons fhould be infane
in exactly the fame way, and infed thou-

G g fands

3§Q THE EVIDENCES OF

fands with the fame fpecies of the diforder,
would be moft miraculous.

That Jefus did expecft a violent death
for himfelf, and that he apprized his fol-
lowers that many of them muft expeft the
fame, appears from the whole courfe of
his hiftory. It was not a thought that oc-
curred to him only juft before his death,
and which he had not time torefleftupon;
but it appears that it was what he had ftea-
dily in view, fo as to have had an oppor-
tunity of confidering it in all its terrors,
and all its confequences, from the very be-
ginning of his miniftry, and what he in
good time informed his difciples of. Some
time before his laft journey to Jerufalem,
it is faid, Matt. xvi. 21. Fj'om that time
began Jefus to Jhew to his difciples how that he
miifl go up to Jerufalem^ and fuffer many things
of the elders y and chief priefts, and the fcrihes^
and be killed, and be raifed again the third day.
This, as was natural, ftaggered his difciples,
who at that time expelled preferment in
the kingdom which they believed he was
about to ereft, and Peter faid unto him,

7his

REVEALED RELIGION. sSr

This be far from thee Lord. But Jefus,' fo far
from palliating the matter, and endeavour-
ing to foften it, and reconcile their minds to
it, replied. Get thee behind me fat an y thou art an
offence unto me. For thou favour eft not the things
that are of God, but thofe that be of men; and
turning to his difciples, he faid. If any man
'will come after me, let him take up his crofs and
follow me. For whojbever will fave his life, fall
lofe ity and whofoever will lofe his life for my
fake fall find it. On another occafion he
faid. Matt. x. 38. He that taketh not his crofs
and followeth after fne, is not worthy of me.
On all proper occafions he clearly apprized
his difciples that in this world they had
nothing better to expeft than the treatment
that he himfelf met with. For when the
fons of Zebedee, James and John, applied
to him for the chief feats in his kingdom,
he faid. Matt. xx. 22. Ye know not what ye
afk. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I fall
drink of, and to be baptized with the baptifm
that I fall bebaptifed with? And when they
faid, we are able, he faid, Te fall indeed
drink of my cupy and be baptized with the bap-

G g 2 tifn

3S2 THE EVIDENCES OF

tifm that I am baptized with. When he fore-
told the deftrudion of Jerufalem, he faid
to the apoftles, Matt. xxiv. 9. Then /hall
they deliver you up to he afflidedy and Jloall kill
youy and ye Jhall be hated of all men for my
name*s fake. By way of encouragement to
bear all this, he could only fay, and this
he did in his firft public difcourfe from the
mount. Matt. v. 10. Blejfed are they that
are pcrfecuted for righteoufiefs fake, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven, Bleffed are ye when
men fball revile you, and perfemte you, and fay
all manner of evil againfl you falfely for my fake.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your
reward in heaven.

What could any man expeft from this
mode of addrefs, from which Jefus never
varied, but that his hearers, who looked
for nothing but worldly advantage (which
at firft was the cafe of the apoftles them-
felves) finding that he had nothing of that
kind to offer them, would turn from him
with indignation and contempt. Difap-
pointed in their fond profpefts, what could
have kept them with him but a firm per-

fuafion

REVEALED RELIGION. 383

fuafion that he had a divme miflion, and
therefore that it was their duty to follow
him implicitly, confident that, in fome
way or other, of which they had no idea,
they would in the end find their account
in it. Notwithftanding his perfifting in
difclaiming all pretenfions of a temporal
nature, they did not abandon the expedla-
tions they had entertained ; ftill flattering
themfelves that though he did not acquaint
them with it, he would at a proper time
afliime kingly power. But when he was
apprehended as a malefaftor, which did
not at all furprize or difconcert km, they
allforfook him and fled ^ while he with a pain-
ful an^ ignominous death before his eyes,
met his dreadful fate with the greateft com-
pofure, and went through the whole of
the trying fcene without giving the leaft
fufpicion that he wilhed to avoid it. Natu-
rally indeed he did, and therefore he pray-
ed that the bitter cup might pafs from him.
But he immediately added, but not as I willy
but as thou wilt. Surely this behaviour was
very unlike that of an impoflor.

This

384 THE EVIDENCES OF

This was far from being the conduft
of Mahomet. Befides promifmg his fol-
lowers the enjoyment of every luxury of
life, and efpecially that of women (free,
as he frequently repeats it, from impuri-
ty,) he did not fail to hold out to them
fomething worth fighting for in this world.
Neither himfelf, nor any of his immediate
followers, were voluntary martyrs to their
religion.

As Jefus did not fail to apprize his
followers of the dangers, and the incon-
venience, to which their adherence to him
would expofe them, he did not conceal the
great evils which would attend the propo-
gation of his religion, though it would
ultimately be in the higheft degree benefi-
cial to the world, and would finally pre-
vail in it. Think not^ fays he. Matt. x.
30, that I am come to fend peace on earth, I
came not to fend peace, but a fword. For I am
come to fet a man at variance againfi his father,
and the daughter againfi her mother, and the
daughter-in-law againfi her mother-in-laiv , and
a man^s foes fall he they of his own hoifehold,

V. 21.

REVEALED RELIGION. 385

V. 2 1 . The brother Jhall deliver up the brother
to death y and the father the child; and children
Jhall rife zip againft their parents and caufe them
to be put to death y and ye fall be hated of all
men for my name^s fake. Surely fuch difcourfes
as this was not likely to recommend his
religion, or invite followers.

4. An artful impoftor, would proba-
bly \\2iVC fecrets and confidental friends, to
w^hom he would intruft what he did not
choofe to communicate to others, though
this is not neceiTary to every impoftor. But
Jefus had no fecrets, nor does there appear
to have been any perfons to whom he com-
municated what he concealed from others.
When his audience difcovered great per-
verfenefs, and a difpofition to cavil, he
fpake to them in parables, but he after-
wards explained the meaning of them to
his apoftles, one of whom was Judas, who,
as he betrayed him, would, no doubt,
have divulged whatever he had known to
his prejudice. In the general inftruftions
which Jefus gave his apoftles, he direfted
them to publiih to the world every thing

that

386 THE EVIDENCES OF

that they had heard from him without ex-
ception. Matt. X. 27. What I tell you in
darknefs, that fpeak ye in the light ; and what
ye hear in the ear^ that preach ye on the houfc
tops.

The only fecret that Jefus had, was
not his pretenfions to a divine miffion (for
this he always openly aflerted, and ap-
pealed to his miracles for the evidence of
it) but to his being the Meffiah, announced
in the antient prophets. But this was only
for fear of exciting an alarm which would
have done no good, and at a proper time
he declared this to all the apoftles, and to
Judas among them. After his refurred:ion
and afcenfion, this was no fecret to any
perfon. He alfo avowed it in the moft fo-
lemn manner at his trial before the high-
prieft.

5. Jefus difcovered no anxiety about
the evidence of his divine miffion, which
vvould have been natural to a perfon who
had been confcious to himfelf that he was
unable to produce any that was fatisfadlory.
This anxiety appears through the whole of

the

REVEALED RELIGION. 387

the Koran. Mahomet's affertion of his
divine miffion, of the chapters in the Ko-
ran being fent to him from heaven, his de-
nunciations of the wrath of God, and of
hell-fire to the unbelievers, are repeated
without end, fo as to be tirefome in the
extreme. What he wanted in evidence
he endeavoured to fupply by confident af-
fertions, and this, together with the fuc-
cefs of the battles that he fought fuffici-
ently anfwered his purpofe. To thefe he
appealed, and his followers, no doubt,
thought that God would not give fuch fuc-
cefs to a mere impoftor.

On the contrary, Jefus never, of his
own accord, faid any thing about his mif-
fion, leaving it to thofe who faw his mira-
cles to make the neceffary inference from
them. He contented himfelf with an-
fwering objedlions as they were made to
him; and as his miracles were never quefti-
oned, he eafily fhewed the abfurdity of
every thing that was objedled to them, ef-
pecdally that of his cafting out demons by
Beelzebub- With great dignity he obferv-

ed

388 THE EVIDENCES OF

ed, on one of ihefe occafions, John x. 25.
thdit the works which his faiher gave him to do,
bare witnefs of him ; and in anfwer to the
clamorous demand of a fign from heaven,
he referred them Matt. xii. 39. to the fign
of the prophet Jona$, facing that as Jonas
had been three days in the belly of a fifh,
he fhould remain fo long in the ftate of the
dead, and rife again on the third day;
which it appears that his enemies well un-
derftood, by the precautions they took to
prevent any impofition with refpeft to it.

How natural was this conduft on the
fuppofition of Jefus having been confcious
to himfelf that he had a commiffion from
God, and that the evidence of it, w^hich
was conftantly before the world, was fuf-
ficient to fatisfy any unprejudiced perfon.
Had he been confcious that his pretenfions
were deftitute of any folid proof, he would
naturally have made the mofl of any falla-
cious appearance of evidence that he could
produce, as Mahomet did of his viftory of
Beder, and the excellence of the compofi-
tion of the Koran.

6. The

REVEALED RELIGION. 389

6. The piety obfervable in the cha-
rader of Jefus is alone a proof, to thofe
who give due attention to the human cha-
rafter, that he was no impoftor. That he
was aftuated by the genuine fentiments of
piety, appeared in all his difcourfes, and
the whole of his conduft. He not only
always declared that he came to do the will
ofGodwhofent him, and (Johnviv. 10.) that
the father within him did the works y which
evidenced his divine mifFion ; but it is evi-
dent that, as the Pfalmift faid, God was in
all his thoughts, and that to his will he was
at all times refigned. It was, as we read,
John iv. 34, his meat and drink to do the will
of him that fent him. He was frequent and
earneft in prayer, and taught his difciples to
pray, to avoid oftentation in prayer, Matt.
vi. 6. to go into their clofets, 'dnd flitting the
doors, pray to their father, who, he faid, faw in
fecret. Such a reverence for God, and de-
votednefs to his will, in life and in death, as
Jefus difcovered, is abfolutely incompa-
tible with falfe pretenfions to a miffion
from him, whatever **might be his objeft
in the impofture. It muft have appeared

to

390 THE EVIDENCES OF

to him as the extreme of arrogance and
impiety, fuch as could not fail to draw af-
ter it the divine difpleafure, and the hea-
vieft judgments.

No perfon can read the New Tefta-
ment, and imagine that Jefus was an athe-
ift, or an unbeliever in a future ftate of
righteous retribution. Indeed, it is not
probable that there were any proper unbe-
lievers am.ong the Jews in his time. Even
the Sadducees were believers in the being
and moral government of God, and in the
divine miffion of Mofes. But Jefus was
not a Sadducee. He was, without all
queidion, a fincere believer in the doftrine
that he taught. And that he was fuch an
enthufiaft as to imagine that he had thofe
fupernatural communications to which he
pretended without having them, is even
more improbable than the fuppofition of
his having been an impoftor. If ever man
was in his ri^n mmd, and knew what
he was about, it was Jefus. All his dif-
courfes and aftions difcover the greateft
calmnefs and compofure, and favour no-
thing of extravagance, which fo egregious

an

REVEALED RELIGION. 391

an enthufiafl could not always have con-
cealed. All his difcourfes are perfedlly
rational, and his whole conduft was of a
piece with them; fo that, if he had no di-
vme miffion, he muft have been not an en-
thufiaji, who had impofed upon himfelf,
but properly an impojior, who endeavoured
to impofe upon the world; and whether
this fuppofition be at all tenable, let any
perfon, at all acquainted with human na-
ture, now judge.

Befides the piety of Jefus, he was evi-
dently a man of great benevolence, and
had a ftrong fentiment of friendiliip for
his apoftles and others. And it cannot be
fuppofed that fuch a perfon would pur-
pofely deceive and miflead his country-
men and friends. Impoftors have callous
hearts. Intent upon their fchemes, they
are deaf to ever other confideration.

Jefus gave many proofs of the ftrongeft
and tendereft afFeftion. When he came
within fight of Jerufalem, he zuept over /V,
in the profpeiSl of the calamities that
awaited it. He wept at the grave of La-

39a THE EVIDENCES OF

zarus, and his difcourfes to his apoftles a
little before his death difcover the moft
amiable fympathy, and concern, without
the leaft regard to his own approaching
fufFerings. He was only occupied with the
idea of what they would feel when he
was removed from them. We fee no-
thing like this in the conduft of Mahomet.
Though Jefus affefted no aufterity, he
was free from all fenfual indulgence, which
was by no means the cafe of Mahomet;
and he certainly did not aim at temporal
power, but refolutely declined feveral pro-
pofals of the multitude to make him a king.
What, then, could an impoftor, without
ambition, or perfonal indulgence, aim at ?
Jefus, being a man, muft have had fome
fuch objects as other men have ; but there
was nothing that other men moft covet
that his conduft was at all adapted to gain.
He muft, therefore, have had views of a
higher nature. On any other hypothefis
his conduft is abfolutely unaccountable; but
on the fuppofition of his being confcious of
having a divine milfion, and of a ftation

of

REVEALED RELIGION. 393

of honour and power deftined for him in a
future world, all his difcourfes, and his
whole conduft, are perfeftly natural. For
the joy that was fet before him (Heb. xii. 2.)
he endured the crofs^ defpifing the fi ame of that
ignominous death ; but that he fhould have
done this without having had in view any-
thing that any other man ever thought
worth purfuing, is not to be fuppofed of
him, or of any man.

Let all thefe circumftances be duly
confidered, the obfcure birth, and mean
occupation of Jefus, in a diftant and de-
fpifed country, his high pretenfions to be the
Jewilh MelTiah, without any afTumption of
kingly power, univerfally deemed to be
moft efTential to that charafter, his claim
to a kingdom though not of this world,
and to the power of raifmg the dead and
judging the world, when he had nothing
but the certain profpeft of a violent death
before him ; his undertaking to overthrow
all the reUgions of the heathen world,
firmly attached as the feveral nations were
to them, religions which had kept their

ground

394 THE EVIDENCES OF

ground from time immemorial, notwith-
{landing a long period now boafted of as
the moft enlightened of any till the prefent ;
when there had not been from the begin-
ning of the world an example of any na-
tion voluntarily changing their religion;
his holding out to his difciples nothing but
perfecution in this world, and happinefs
in another; his having no fecrets; his dif-
covering no anxiety about the evidences of
his divine miffion, joined with his calm good
fenfe, his exalted piety, his general bene-
volence, and the ftrong afFeftion he always
Ihewed to his friends and followers ; let all
thefe circumftances, I fay, be confidered
and, without attending to his miracles, and
his fuccefs, it muft furely be thought im-
pofiible that this man could have been an im-
poftor, and meant to deceive the world. This
internal evidence added to the external, on
which I have already enlarged, viz. from
miracles, and prophecy, muft be abundantly
fufficient to fatisfy any reafonable and can-
did inquirer, with refpeft to the truth of
chriftianity, and of revealed religion in
general.

DISCOURSE XIII.

The moral influence of Chrijlian Principles.

If ye know thefe things, happy are ye if ye do them.

John. xiii. 17,

In the Difcourfes which I have
already deUvered, on the fubjed: of the
evidences of revealed religion, I fir ft endea-
voured to iliew the value of relidon in g-e-
neraly then the fuperior value of revealed
religion, compared with that which is called
natural. After this I gave you a view of the
ftate of the heathen ^vorld with refpeiSl to
religion, and to philofophy alfo as connected
with religion; and the great fuperiority of
the fyftem of Mofes, which has been moft
objeded to by unbelievers, in both thofe
refpefts. I then proceeded to explain the
dired, or external, evidence of the Jewiih
H h and

396 THE EVIDENCES OF

and chriftian religions, from miracles^ and
from prophecy ; and in the laft place, as a
part of the internal evidence, I Ihewed,
from the circumftances of the hiftory of
Jefus, the impoffibility of his having been
an impoftor.

Having thus finiihed the argumentative
part of my undertaking, I now proceed
to conclude the w^hole with fome obferva-
tions of a practical nature.

I . If revealed religion be true, it muft
be of great importance , and demand our
clofeft attention. It may well, mdeed, be
prefumed, that if the divine Being, the
great author of univerfal nature, has in-
terpofed in fo extraordinary a manner as
has been reprefented, in a fcheme com-
mencing with our firft parents, carried on
through the difpenfation of Mofes, continu-
ed by Jefus Chrift, and to be refumed at his
fecond coming, the object muft be fomething
of the greateft importance to the duty and
the happinefs of man ; and it cannot be
without hazard to ourfelves if we negleft,
and rejed: it.

The

REVEALED RELIGION. 397

The moft interefling article in the
fcheme of revelation is the doftrine of a
future fiate. And furely, if there really be
a future ftate for man, if it be of much
longer continuance than the prefent,
elpecially if it is to laft for ever, and if
our well being in that ftate will depend on
our behaviour in this, it behoves us to pay
much more attention to it, than to any
thing in this Ihort and tranfitory life. Did
any perfon now living in this country cer-
tainly know that he muft foon leave it, and
go to another, for example to France,
where he had the profpe£l of fucceeding
to a large eftate, would he not be thinking
of his voyage, and making preparations
for it I Would he not be learning the
French language, and endeavouring in every
other way to provide for his enjoyment of
life in that diftant country ? And would a
man be commended for his prudence in
this cafe, and blamed for fuperftition and
folly in another cafe exaftly fimilar to it ?
Or would you not think a man infane who
fhould forget a journey he was upon, and
H h 2 take

39^ THE EVIDENCES OF

take up with his inn; and not think it
reafonable that a man who beheves he is
travelUng towards an eternal world, fhould
have his attention fixed upon it, and make
light of any inconvenience he met with in
his way thither ?

Surely, then, it becomes Chriftians,

who profefs themfelves to be pilgrims and

frrangcrs here, and citizens of heaven, to be

thinking of their proper country, and

preparing for1:heir remove to it.

Men of the world naturally fay, let
lis eat and drink jor to-morrow we die. This
is the great burden of the fong with all the
heathen poets. But the Chriflian as natu-
rally fays with the apoftlePaul, Phil. iv.5.
1m your 7noderation be known unto all men, the
Lord is at hand.

To ufe one example m^ore. If you
knew that any particular child would die
at a certain age, as at ten or twelve, you
would adapt his education, and your whole
treatment of him accordingly, and not
trouble him with making him learn things
which he would have no occafion for till

he

REVEALED RELIGION. 399

he was a nian. But hoping and expefting
that your children will grow to man's
eftate, you reafonably endeavour to qua-
lify them for it, and would be univerfally
blamed if you did not. ♦

Let us, then, believing that we are
born for immortality, overlook the tranfi-
tory enjoyments and purfuits of this uncer-
tain life, and, inftead of laying up (Matt,
vi. 19) trcafitres on earth, where moth and nijl
corrupt, and where thieves break through and
fteal, lay up treasures in heaven, where none
of thefe inconveniences happen, and where
our treafure is, there let^our hearts he alfo.

2. If a life of virtue will alone enfure our
happinefs hereafter, and vice our mifery,
it certainly follows, that virtue is our
greateft good, and vice our greateft evil.
Confequently, our principal endeavour
through life, fliould be the improvement
of our moral character, to reftrain every
propenfity to the irregular indulgence of
our appetites and paffions, to cultivate
every generous fentiment of equity and
humanity to our fellow-creatures, and

habitual

40O THE EVIDENCES OF

habitual piety to God, Every thing elfe
Ihould in reafon be made fubfervient to
this one great end of human hfe. To be
rich, or to be poor, to be mafter, or to be
fervant, to be heahhy or difeafed, are
mere trifles, and wholly infignificant, com-
pared with afting our part in life well,
whatever that part be, that of a king or
of a beggar, becaufe it is upon our afting
the part affigned us ivelly and not at all
upon the nature or comparative dignity
of it, that our future well-being will de-
pend.

3. In fuch a world as this, in which
it has pleafed divine providence, and, no
doubt, with the greateft wifdom, to place
us, a ftate of trial and of difcipline, a
ftate in which temptations to vice and
excefs of every kind are continually before
us, conftant vigilance, and the moft ftrenu-
ous exertion, are abfolutely neceflary. In
youth the love of pleafure, in more ad-
vanced years objefts of ambition and
avarice, have ftrong charms for men ; and
the love of thefe things cannot be kept

within

REVEALED RELIGION. 401

within due bounds without the moil: unre-
mitted attention, till a habit of moderation
and felf government be acquired and con-
firmed. This habit once formed not only
takes away all pain of reftraint, but
converts our duty into pleafure. But,
then, fuch powerful habits as thefe, are
not acquired without much refleftion and
exercife. Reftraint of any kind (and all
virtue, at firft, is fuch) is neceffarily pain-
ful, and therefore will not be fubmitted to
without fome ftrong counteracting princi-
ple, without a principle of fubmiffion to fome
authority y as that of a parent, of a magiftrate,
of confcience, or of God. This, as I fhewed
you, is the moft certain and the moft power-
ful of all, and it is no where fo clearly afcer-
tained as in revelation. There we learn in
the moft inteUigible language, what it is that
the Lord our God requires of us, in order
to live and to die in his favour, fo as to
fecure a happy immortality.

Do not deceive yourfelves by imagin-
ing that this great prize, of eternal life^ is
to be attained without exertion and labour.

Ad'

403 THE EVIDENCES OF

Advantages far inferior to this are never
fecured without them; and can w^e expeft
that the greateft of all good, fhould be
obtained fo eafily ? Chriftianity is, no
doubt, the fame thing now that it was in
the time of Chrift and the apoftles : and
he faid, (Matt. x. 37.) He that loveth father
or mother^ [on or daughter^ wife or friend,
more than me is not luorthy of me, and he that
taketh 7iot lip his crofs and followeth me is not
worthy of me. The apoftle Paul frequently
compares the life of a Chriftian to a ftate
of warfare, as when he exhorts Chriftians
Tim. vi. 12. to fight the good fight of faith,
and Eph. vi. 1 1 . to put on the whole armour of
God, He alfo compares it to a race, as
when he fays, i Cor. ix. i^*fo run that ye
?nay obtain, viz. what he calls (Phil. iii. 14.)
the prize of the high calling of God in Chrif
Jefus. Now both the ftate of warfare,
and the exercifes of running and wreftling,
as pradiifed in the Grecian games, to
which the apoftle alludes, required great
preparation before the conteft, and great
exertion in the courfe of ito

If

REVEALED RELIGION. 40J

If we be chriftians in earneft, we mufl
have the advantages of Chriftianity, and
the profpe6l of its rewards in a future
fliate, fo much at heart, that we fhall
prefer them to every other confideration,
to every thing in Hfe, and to hfe itfelf. I do
not fay tliat they who cannot do this are
no Chriftians, or are to be numbered with
the zuicked, and configned to future punifh-
ment ; but they cannot have any juft claim
to thofe diftinguifhed rewards ofChrifti-
anity, which are promifed to thofe who
are faid to have overcome the zuorldy which
imphes a contending with great difficukies,
and of whom it is faid (Rev. iii. 21.) that
they Jhall fit down with Chrift on his throne, as
he aljo overcame, and is fat down with his
father on his throne. In the houfe of God
the kingdom of heaven, there are many
manfionSy and the choiceft are referved for
thofe who (Afts iv. 22) through much tribu-
lation enter into the kingdom of God. But as
we do not content ourfelves with lov/
attainments in this world when higher are
\vithin our reach, let the fame ambition

animate

404 REVEALED RELIGION.

animate us with refped: to things of ftill
more value, in another world.

As there are all varieties of charafters
in men, and all gradations in every cha-
rafter, in this world, there will, no doubt,
be a correfponding diftribution of rewards
and puniihments in a future flate, though
in a general way of fpeaking, and in the
fcriptures, men are ufually divided into
two clafles, the righteous and the wicked.
For the Judge of all the earth will, no doubt,
do that which is right ; and if fo, there
mud be as great a variety of fituations
in the future world, as there are of
charadlers and deferts of men in this,
though we may not be able to form any
idea, or conjecture, in what manner this
will, or can, be effefted.

It may, indeed, be faid, and with
truth, that if we love virtue at all, fo
as to be juftly intitled to the character of
virUious and confcientioiis meuy wg Ihall fet no
bounds to our love of it. For if, in any
cafe, we give other objects and purfuits a
preference to it, it is only in feme cafes,

and

REVEALED RELIGION. 405

and not univerfally, that we are difpofed
to a£l the confcientious and upright part;
whereas God requires that we fhould give
him our whole hearts, we muft (Matt. xxii.
37.) love the Lord our Gody with all the
hearty with all the Jouly and all the mindy that
is, we muft be wholly devoted to his will,
hi doing and in fuffering, in life and in
death. The apoftle James obferves (chap,
ii. 10.) that he who keeps the whole law,
but offends in one pointy is guilty of all. If
there be any cafe in which a man wilfully
and habitually offends, he certainly wants
the proper principle of obedience, that is, a
juft refpedl for the divine authority, which
would lead to an uniform and invariable
regard to the laws of God. This is a
proof that there is fome vicious propenfity,
to which, in his mind, every thing elfe
will give way ; and that, had he had as
ftrong a propenfity to any other gratifi-
cation or purfuit, he would have been
equally regardlefs of the authority of God
in that cafe alfo. For he only obeys the
laws of God, and the dictates of con-

fcience.

4o6 THE EVIDENCES OF

fcience, when he feels no ftrong tempta-
tion to tranfgrefs them.

In this cafe no perfon can properly be
faid to be a fervant of Gody or of righteotif-
ncfsy but only a flave to his own favourite
appetite or paffion. But we cannot ferve
God and mammon.

In the prefent ft ate of things, fuch as
we cannot doubt is the beft for a ftate of
trial and difcipline, a theatre on which to
form great and excellent charafl:ers, a pro-
per Chriftian temper is neceflarily a difficult
attainment. To form a truly great cha-
radier there muft be many difficulties to
ftruggle with, evils of all kinds, moral as
w^ell as natural. For how could the greater
virtues of forbearance, doing good againft
evil, refignation, and truft in God, be
formed, but in a world in which men
fhould be expofed to injuries of every kind.
Not only could not real virtue be med,
and confequently knowity but it could not
even he formed y or exift, in other circum-
ftances. And furely the charafter in which
tlie virtues above mentioned exift is greatly

fuperior

REVEALED RELIGION. 407

fuperior to that of the generality of the
world ; who not comprehending its nature
or value, will under-rate and defpife it.
With them what is commonly called a high
fpirit, and a promptnefs to revenge injuries,
will be more admired and cultivated than
a difpofition to pity and befriend the inju-
rious perfon, which will be reckoned tam.e,
and defpicable; though certainly it mull
appear, on a little confideration, that the
latter is more truly magnanimous, implying
a greater command of paffion, and fuperior
refieftion. It is no lefs evident that it is
this prevailing fpirit of the ^tuorld which fills
private life with quarrels, and which, en-
tering into courts, fills the world with wars,
the fource of unfpeakable mifery; whereas
a truly Chriftian temper, a humble, meek,
and benevolent difpofition would make the
intercourfe of individuals, and of nations,
the fource of peace and of happinefs.

It is, however, no fmall attainment to
get above the cenfure and contempt of
perfons whofe minds are in a lower and
more degraded ftate than our own, vvhen

they

4o8 THE EVIDENCES OF

they are the great majority of the world
we live in, and are likely to continue fo.
In this ftate of things great exertion of
mind is requifite fo far to overcome the
world, as to poffefs our own minds in peace
and joy. It can only be done by looking
habitually towards a ftate in which a truer
judgment of charafters will be formed,
and in which thofe who are really fuperior
here will be advanced to that ftate of con-
fideration and refpeft to which they are
intitled.

The real difference between a merely
nominal believer, and an unbeliever is
very fmall, and of little confequence, com-
pared to the difference between the merely
nominal and the real Chriftian. What are
the generality of Chriftians, in what are cal-
led chriftian countries ? They are, in faft,
perfons who mind nothing but their bufi-
nefs, or their pleafure, without giving any
attention to the principles of chriftianity
at all. It is by no means the fubjeft of
their daily thoughts, it fupplies no motives
to their adlions, it contributes nothing to

moderate

REVEALED RELIGION. 409

moderate their joys, or to alleviate their
forrows. It neither enables them to bear
the troubles of life, nor does it give them
any folid hope in death. Whereas the
real Chriftian, as the apoftle fays, Rom.
xii. 15. rejoices as though he rejoiced tioty and
iveeps as though he -wept noty becaufe the fa--
JJnon of this vjorld pajjeth away, and the Lord
is at hand. He is ever looking. Tit. ii. 13.
to that blejfed hope, even the glorious appearing
of the great God, and his Saviour Chrif,
and has peace and joy in believing.

4. Chriftianity is lefs to be confidered
as a fyftem of opinions, than a rule of life.
But of what fignification is a rule, if it be
not be complied with ? All the dodrines
of chriftianity have for their obje6l chrif-
tian morals, which are no other than the
well known duties of life ; and the advan-
tage we derive from this religion is that
the principles of it aflift us in maintaining
that fteady regard to the providence and
;moral government of God, and to a fu-
ture ftate, which facilitates and enfures the
pradice of thofe duties; iiifpiring greater

piety

4IO THE EVIDENCES OF

piety towards God, greater benevolence
to man, and that heavenly mmdednefs
which raifes the heart and afFed;ions
above thofe mean and low purfuits
which are the fource of almoft all vices.
But chriftian principles not reflefted upon,
or attended to, cannot be accompanied
with any advantage of this kind; and bet-
ter, furely, were it to make no profeffion
of any principles, than to live without a
due regard to them. Better, therefore,
were it for any perfon to be an unbeliever in
chriftianity, than to be a Chriftian, and Uve
as if he had not been one. He deprives him-
felf of all apology or excufe, for his bad con-
du6l. And it would, I fear, be happy for
thoufands of profeifing Chriftians, if they
had been born and lived among heathens.

We cannot too much imprefs upon our
minds, that religion of any kind, is only
a means to a certain endy and that this end
is good condu(3; in life. Confequently,
if this end be not attained, we not only
lofe the advantage of the means, or in-
ftrument, of which we were poflefled,

but

REVEALED RELIGION. 411

but are chargeable with the guilt of fuch
neglecS, are guilty of an ungrateful con-
tempt of the means that were afforded us
for the greateft and beft of purpofes ;
and can we exped: that this will go un-
punifhed ?

The guilt of unbelief does not confift
in mere dilbelieving. For opinions of any
kind, as fuch, bear no relation to crimir
nalityy but in refufmg to confider with
due ferioufnefs and impartiality the evi-
dence of chriftianity that is laid before
men ; that refufal arifing from, and im-
plying, fome vicious prejudice, or improper
bias. And if, in any particular cafe (and
I doubt not there are fuch) this refufal
does not arife from any vicious prejudice,
there is nothing to blame in fuch refufal.
If, for example, any perfon had no accefs
to the fcriptures, by which he might have
had the means of better information, and
he was required to believe, as what was
contained in them, things that he found
it abfolutely impoffible for him to believe,
as that bread and wine were flefh and blood,

I i or

4tz THE EVIDENCES OF

or any thing elfe that appeared to hhn
equally impoffible, he muft of neceffity either
be an unbeliever, or give up all pretence
to common fenfe.

No perfon, however, can be wholly
innocent who does not weigh the difficul-
ties of believing with thofe of unbelief.
Whatever difficulties any perfon finds, or
are thrown in his way, he ihould confider
the general evidence of the great fads
on which chriftianity is founded ; and if
that be fufficient, he may be fatisfied that,
though he cannot for the prefent account
for fome particular appearances, or repre-
fentations, the difficulties occafionedby this
circumftance cannot be infuperable ; fince
all truths are confident with one an-
other. If it appear, from indifputable
hiftorical evidence, that Chrift wrought
real miracles, if he died, and rofe from the
dead, his religion is unqueftionably from
God ; and then all the abfurdities charged
upon his doftrine mufthave arifen from fome
mifconception, or mifreprefentation, though
we may not be able to trace it. But it is
no uncommon thing for a difficulty which

appears

REVEALED RELIGION. 413

appears infuperable to day, to be cleared
up to-morrow, as we fee in many cafes.

The principles of chriftianity, how-
ever, may be, and no doubt are, of great
ufe when they are not explicitly attended
to. They have been the means of eftablifli-
ing fuch maxims and habits in parents, as
are afterwards communicated to their pof-
terity, more by the natural and filent
operation of example, than by dired; in-
ftruftion ; fo that unbelievers, born of
Chriftian parents, and living in a chriftian
country, may be, in a manner, half Chrifti-
ans, without their knowing it. Alfo mere
nominal Chriflians are, no doubt, often
reftrained from vices and irreo-ularities
forbidden by chriftianity, without their
being aware that the reftraint comes origi-
nally from that quarter ; having acquired
habits of decent and proper conduft, which
operate mechanically, and without any
explicit regard to chriftian principles,
though originally derived from them.

There are alfo, all degrees of the in-
fluence of chriftian principles, from the
I i 2 exalted

414 THE EVIDENCES OF

exalted charadler of Chrift and the apoftles,
and many others m every age, who had
no other objed: of attention, and all whofe
thoughts, fentiments, words, and aftions,
were under the conftant influence of them,
who lived as the apoflle faid, as if con-
fiantly feeing things invifihle^ Heb. xi. 27.
hy faith and not by fight ^ 2 Cor. v. 7. as
if the great fcenes of the future world
were prefent to them ; there is a great
difference, I fay, between fuch chriftians as
thefe, and thofe of the lowefl order, who
may, indeed, have read the fcriptures, or
part of them, and who retain fome know-
ledge of them, and who entertain no doubt
of their truth, but in their general condufl:
they give no explicit attention to them.
Neverthelefs the knowledge they have ac-
quired has left fome favourable impreffions
on their minds, fome latent fear of God,
and refpeft to his providence, and a world
to come, which prevents the commiffion of
great crimes, and leads to an uniformly bet-
ter conduft than they would otherwife have
been capable of.

5- If

REVEALED RELIGION. 415

5. If we have any value for our re-
ligion, thinking it to be an ufeful inftitution,
and wirii well to our fellow creatures, to
whom we are therefore defirotts to recom-
mend it, we fhould be particularly careful
to exhibit it to proper advantage, in our
own difpofitions and condu^;. It is to
this that the generahty of mankind, ina-
tentive to reafoning, will look, and not
unjuftly. Our Saviour himfelf faid of
pretenders to prophecy, and of men in
general. Matt. vii. 6. By their fruits ye Jhall
know them. Indeed, as the only end of
good principles is good pradice, if the
latter be not apparent, the former will
not be inferred. On this account we mufl
not confine our religion to our clofets, but
carry it with us into life, and in the bufi-
nefs andbuftle of it, difcover that fuperior
meeknefs, benevolence, and difinterefted-
nefs, which chriftian principles tend to
infpire. We fhould, in all refpecfts, fliew
a greater command of our paffions, and a
greater freedom from the influence of a
love of fenfual pleafure, of ambition, and

avarice

4i6 THE EVIDENCES OF

avarice, and from all thofe vices which
arife from an exceffive love of the world,
and the things of it, to which a regard to
heaven and heavenly things, (on which
alone our beft affeftions ought to be fet)
naturally leads.

When this is done, but not before, the
world in general will have an opportunity
af perceiving the real effed: of chriftian
principles; and if they be not properly in-
fluenced by it, the blame will not be ours.
There can be no doubt but that^ though on
fome the faireft and moft advantageous
exhibition of chriftian conduft may have
an unfavourable effeft, fince as our Saviour
obferved, there are thofe who (John. iii.
19.) love darhiefs rather than lights and that
the worlds which loves its own (xv. 9.)
v/ill hate his difciples hecaufe they are not of
the world y this will be the cafe only with
thofe whofe hearts are greatly corrupted.
On others the effeft muft be favourable. As
he fays, (Matt. v. 6.) that when our light
Jhines before men they woidd fee the good works of
his difciples^ and glorify his father who is in

heaven

REVEALED RELIGION. 4^7

heaven. What he meant by g/ori)5'/V/gGo^, we
clearly fee from his faymg on another oc-
cafion (John xv. 8.) thenismy father glorified
when ye bring forth much fruity that is, fruits
of rigbteoufnefs y which the apoftle alfo fays,
(PhiL i. II.) are to the praife and glory of
God,

But, on the other hand, if, in the
whole tenor of men's lives, there does not
appear to be any difference between the
Chriftian and the man of the world, how
can thofe who have no other means of
judging, or who wall not have recourfe to
any other, fuppofe that there is any advan-
tage in the principles of the one more than
in thofe of the other? If the nominal
Chriftian behave juft like other men, if he
puts as little reftraint upon himfelf in indul-
gences of any kind; if he be as ambitious,
as avaricious, and as revengeful, when
provoked; if he appear to have no greater
regard to God, or love to mankind; (hew-
ing itfelf, as it natually will, in afts of
kindnefs, generofity, and mercy; if the
Chriftian appear to be in all refpefts, as

much

4i« THE EVIDENCES OF

much attached to the world, and the
things of it, as other men are, they will
naturally fay, that all his pretences to a
belief in a future world, a world pre-
pared for the righteous only, are vain,
when it is evident from his condud:, that
this world has as full pofleflion of his heart
as it has of thofe of other men.

By this condud:, not becoming, and
adorning, but difgracing, his profeffion,
the nominal Chriftian incurs the woe pro-
nounced by our Saviour, (Matt, xviii. 7.)
It muji needs he that offences come, hut woe to
the man hy whom they come. By this means
we not only lofe the benefit of chriftian
principles ourfelves, but, by giving others
an unfavourable opinion of chriftianity, we
indifpofe them to the reception of it, and
confequently deprive them of the benefit
of it. Inftead of being preachers of the
gofpel, as every Chriftian in fome fenfe or
other ought to be, and which every chriftian
may be, at leaft by his example, a perfon
who is only a nominal Chriftian, but a vi-
cious man, is in faft a preacher of infideUty,

and

REVEALED RELIGION. 419

and does every thing that is in his power
to unchriftianize the world. On this ac-
count there was great ufe in the ftrid dip-
cipUne of the primitive church, which
rejeded all fuch perfons from their com-
munion. Vicious men were to them as
heathen men and publicans. Being excluded
from all connexion with Chriftians, and
being known to be fo, the caufe of chrifti-
nity did not fufFer by their mifcondud: *.

It

* It has been unfortunate for the caufe of chriftianity,
that ecclefiaftical hiftory, like the civil, is, in a great mea-
fure, an exhibition of vices, and of mifery. For thefe things
are always mofl prominent, and catch the attention of tiie
generality of obfervers; while the beneficial effefts of reli-
gious, as well as of civil inftitutions, are much lefs confpicu-
ous. The meek, the humble, and the heavenly minded,
though the benevolent among Chriftians, attraft little atten-
tion, and therefore make no figure in the eye of an hiftorian.
Befides, in all cafes, virtue is more common than vice ; and
on this account the latter attracts more attention. The for-
mer is like the gentle rain, or dew, which though it does
infinite good, yet, becaule it is common, is not fo much
noticed, as the deftru^live ftorm or hurricane, which tears up
every thing before it, and lays a whole country wafte.

Wealth and power will corrupt the heartb of men. It
cannot, therefore, be thought extraordinary, if this was
the effect of wealth and power in the bifbops of the greater
fees, and it is the condu6t of thefe men about which ec-
clefiaftical

420 THE EVIDENCES OF

6 It will be enquired by what means
the influence of the world can be counter-
afted, or by w^hat means a due attention

to

cleliaftical hiftory is moll converlant; while the poor,
the humble, and laborious teachers of chrillianity, and
their hearers in lower life, who were really influenced by
its fpirit, and laid themfelves out to do good, hoping for
no reward but in heaven, pafTed unnoticed.

Occafions, hov^iever, have frequently occurred, which
drew out thefe men, and their principles, into public view.
1 mean feafons of perfecution ; and then it might be feen
what the power of chriftian principles really is. And when
it is confidered what numbers of Chriftians have fuffered
for their religion, in the heathen, the Papal, and even pro-
teftant, perfecutions, what torture many of them endured,
and, what is much more trying, of how long continuance
were the fufferings of many of them, in prifons and dun-
geons, w^here they lingered out their lives dellitute of every
comfort, when liberty, life, honour, and wealth, would
have been the reward of a fimple renunciation of their faith,
it will be evident that there is in chriftianity fomething that
has great power over the hearts and lives of men.

But the principal circumftance to be attended to in the
biftories of perfecutions is not the greatnefs, or the duration
of the fufferings of the martyrs, but the temper of mind
with which they fuffered ; their piety, their patience, their
meeknefs, their benevolence, their freedom from the fpirit
of revenge, and the good will which they fhewed even to their
enemies and perfecutors. This is an attainment of a truly
extraordinary nature, which it is in vain that we look for
among the heathens. This is not the difpofition with which
the North American Indian bears his torture.

Should

REVEALED RELIGION. 421

to chriftian principles can be bed fecured,
I anfwer, the principal means to efFefl: this
great purpofe, and one that will naturally
lead to every other, is a familiar acquaint-
ance with the fcriptures. The zealous
chriftian will make thefe books his con-
ftant companions. With the pious Pfalmift
(Pfalm i. 2.) his delight will be in the lavj of
the Lord^ and in his law will he meditate day
and flight.

Be affured that in reading the fcrip-
tures ever fo often, you will always find
fomething new and interefting. Many

Should perfecution again arife, chriftian principles being
the faiTie that they ever were, would, I doubt not, produce
as great and as extenfive efFefts. But I am far from wiftiing
for an experiment of this kind. We are direfted not to
court, but to Ihun perfecution, if we can do it with integrity
and honour, from which, however, we are never to fwerve.
And perhaps chriftian principles undergo a trial no lefs k^
vere in profperity than in adverfity. It is commonly faid,
and with truth, that if adverfity has flain its thoufands,
profperity has ftain its ten thoufands. A feafon of perfecution
forces an attention to chriftian principles, and unites num-
bers in the fame caufe; but in profperity we muft of our own
accord, and without any external impulfe, give attention
to chriftian principles; and this the obtrufion of worldly
objects too often prevents.

difficulties

442 THfi EVIDENCES OF

difficulties you will, no doubt, meet with,
as may be expected in books of fuch great
antiquity, written many of them in a lan-
guage which is but imperfectly underftood,
and abounding with allufions to cuftoms
with which we in this part of the world
are unacquainted, and, which being in
many refpefts the reverfe of ours, will of
courfe appear unnatural. But new light
is thrown upon things of this nature every
day. Many difficulties are already cleared
up in the moft fatisfaftory manner, and in
the mean time every thing of this nature
may be fafely neglected, or referred to
farther confideration, efpecially if you read
for the purpofe of moral improvement,
the greateft part of the Bible being per-
feftly intelligible to every capacity, and in
the higheft degree ufeful and edifying.

A familiar acquaintance with the fcrip-
tures will preferve upon the mind a lively
fenfe of God and his moral government.
It will continually bring into view, and
give you an habit of contemplating, the
great plan of providence, refpeding the

defign

REVEALED RELIGION. 423

defigns of God in the creation of man, and
his ultimate deftination. You will by this
means have a clearer view of the divine
wifdom and goodnefs in the government of
the world, even in the moft calamitous
events, as in the corruption of true religion,
as well as in the reformation of it. You
will perceive figns of order in the prefent
feemingly difordered ftate of things, and
will rejoice in the profpe6l of the glorious
completion of the fcheme, in univerfal
virtue and univerfal happinefs. Such views
of things as thefe, which will be perpetu-
ally fuggefted by the reading of the fcrip-
tures,have the greatefl tendency to ennoble
and enlarge the mind, to raifeour thoughts
and affedlions above the low pur fuits which
wholly occupy and diftraft the minds of the
bulk of mankind, they will infpire a
moft delightful ferenity in the midft of the
cares and troubles of life, and impart a
joy which the world can neither give nor take away.
By the frequent reading of the fcrip-
tures we fliall be unavoidably led to the
exercifes of meditation, conftant watch-

fulnefs

424 THE EVIDENCES OF

fulnefs, and prayer, and every other means
of virtuous improvement, whatever has
any tendency to reprefs what is vicious
and defeftive, and promote what is moft
excellent in the human charadler.

The ftudy of the fcriptures, w^hich
contain the hiftory of the tranfad:ions of
God with men, and which furnifh topics
of difcuffion proper for the exercife of the
greateft genius, is equally interefting to
the loweft and the moft improved of the
human race. Sir Ifaac Newton, whofe
reputation as a philofopher ftands higher
than that of any other man, devoted
almoft the whole of his time after he was
turned forty (and he lived to the age of
eighty-four) to theology ; and from my
perfonal knowledge I can fay that fome
perfons now living, and lately living in
England, who had greatly diftinguifhed
themfelves, in mathematical and philofophi-
cal purfuits, declared that, as they advanced
in life, they had the moft fatisfadlion in
theological ones. Nor can this be thought
extraordinary, when it is confidered that

thefe

REVEALED RELIGION. 42-

thefe are fubjefts of infinitely more mo-
ment than any others to rational beings,
born for immortality.

Let us then, my chriftian brethren,
whatever be our fituation or employment
in life, whether our purfuits relate to agri-
culture, raanufaiSlures, commerce, natural
philofophy, or any of the learned profeflions;
though we fliould be employed in the more
immediate fervice of the public, in any civil,
or military capacity, let us not forget that
we are ?nen and Chrijlians, and without ne-
gledling the immediate and neceflary bufi-
nefs of this life, attend chiefly to what is of
infinitely more importance, viz. our defli-
nation to another ; and, accordingly be
folicitous to aft fuch a part, and to culti-
vate fuch habits, as will be our beft
preparation for it ; that whenever we come
to die, the great bufinefs of life may be
done, and vve may be like fervants con-
ftantly looking for the return of their
lord, that when he pall return ^ and take an
account of his fervants y we may he found oj him ^
as the apoftle fays, 2 Pet. iii. 14. without

fpot

426 THE EVIDENCES, &c.

fpot and hlamelefsy and not be ajloamed before
him at his coming: but at the great day, em-
phatically fo called, before the confidera-
tion of which every thing elfe ihould
vanifh like a fhadow, we may hear the
joyful fentence. Matt. xxv. 21. well done
good and faithful fervants, enter ye into the
joy of your lord.

CATALOGUE OF BOOKS

WRITTEN BY

Dr. PRIESTLEY,

i-HP HE Hiftory and prefent State of Ekaricity, with original
A Experiments, illuftrated with Copper Plates, 5th Edition,
corre<5led, il. is. fterling, in boards.

N. B. A Continuation of this work, with original Experi-
ments by Mr. Nicholfon, /» i vol. 4to, is in the Prefs. — The
Continuation will be fold alone, il. is. in boards.

2. A Familiar Inhodudion to the Study of Electricity, 5th Edi-
tion, 8vo. 2s. 6d. fewed.

3. The Hiftory and Prefent State of Difcoveries relating to
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Number of Copper-Plates, il. us. 6d. in bds. il. i8s. bd.

4. Experiments and Obfervatims on different Kinds of Air and
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3 vols. il. is. in boards, being the former Six Volumes abridged
and methodifed, with many Additions.

5. Philofophical Empiricifm : containing Remarks on a Charge*
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tions relating to different Kinds of Air, is. 6d.

6. Experiments relating to the Decompofition of Dephlogifti-
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Water, is.

7. Heads of a Courfeof Lectures on Experimental Philofophy,
including Chemiftry, 3s. 6d. in boards.

8 A Familiar liicroducflion to the Theory and Pracftife of Per.
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Books xvritten by Dr. Priejlley,

q. A New Ckart of Bijlory^ containing a View of the princi*
pal Revolutions of Empire that have taken place in the World;
with a Book defcribing it, containing an Epitome of Univerfal
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12. The fame Grammar, with Notes and Obfervations, for the
ufe of thofe who have made fome Proficiency in the Language,
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13. Ledures on Hijlory and General Policy^ to which is prefixed,
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17. Letters to the Right Hon. Mr. Burke on his Reflections
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18. A Letter to the Right Hon. William Pitt, Firft Lord of
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The three preceding Articles may be properly bound up ivith the fecond
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Boohs written by Dr. Priejiley.

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72. A Serious Addrefs to Mafters of FamiHes, with Forms
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Death of Chrift; a new eddition : to which is added, A Concife
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N. B. The laft ten traftb, No. 65 to 74, may be had to-
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Books written by Br. Prieftley,

78. Obfervations on the Increafe of Infidelity, In anfwer to
Mr. Paine^s 4ge of Reafon, being a continuation of Letters to the
Philofcphersy and Politicians of France, on thefubje^ of Religion, and of
the Letters to a Philofophical Unbeliever.

Alfo puhliJJied under the direBion of Dr, Prieftley^

The theological REPOSITORY,

Confifting of Original EfTays, Hints, Queries, &c. calculated
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il. i6s. in boards, or 2I. 2S. bound. The three laft Volumes
cnay be had feparate.

r ■

Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries

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