Five discourses on the truth and inspiration of the Bible; particularly designed for the benefit of youth

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ADVERTISEMENT.

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

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eiatio7i.

DISCOURSE I.

On the Truth of the Scriptures.

2 TIMOTHY iii. \6,

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

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

mufl Ik wltb uncommon weight uj^ dieir

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

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

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

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

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

8

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

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

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

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

1(5

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

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

I

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

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

12

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

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

»3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

'5

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

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

le

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

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

^7

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

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

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

19

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

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

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

ac

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

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

SI

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

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

13

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

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

23

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

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

«4

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

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

25

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

26

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

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

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

27 y

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

28

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

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

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

To this objedion it may be replied,

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

V

29

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

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

3°

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

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

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

DISCOURSE II.

On the Truth of the Scriptures.

2 TIMOTHY iii. 1 6.

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

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

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

32

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

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

53

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

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

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

34

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

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

35

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

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

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

36

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

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

37

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

38

((

iC

C<

«

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

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

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

39

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

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

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

40

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

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

41

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

4*

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

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

43

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

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

44

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

45

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

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

4<S-

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

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

47

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

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

45

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

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

. 49

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

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

5^

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

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

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

51

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

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

52

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

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

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

53

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

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

54

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

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

55

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

ii

muft be renounced as given by divine infpi-
ration

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

S7

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

—

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

I

«

<(

59

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

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

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

DISCOURSE IIL

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

2 TIMOTHY iii. 1 6.

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

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

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

6z

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

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

03

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

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

I

64

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

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

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

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

65

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

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

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

—

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

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

6^

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

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

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

7^

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

7t

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

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

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

72

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

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

1^

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

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

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

74

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

75

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

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

76 ■

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

17

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

78

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

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

19

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

«0

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

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

8i

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

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

82

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

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

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

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

J4_

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

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

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

* Ifaiah Irii. 15.

85

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

^6

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

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

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

87

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

88

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

89

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

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

90

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

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

91

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

92

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

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

93

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

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

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

DISCOURSE IV.

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

2 TIMOTHY iii. 1 6.

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

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

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

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

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

97

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

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

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

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

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

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

99

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

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

lOO

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

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

XOI

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

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

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

I03.

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

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

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

I03 .

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

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

1^4

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

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

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

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

I05

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

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

io6

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

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

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

toy

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

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

io8

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

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

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

1

ie9

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

no

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

Ill

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

II«

<c

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

cc

iC

113

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

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

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

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

I

114

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

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

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

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

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

ri6

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

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

117

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

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

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

ii8

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

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

"* Numb. xxiv. i.

119

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

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

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

120

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

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

121

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

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

132

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

123

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

124

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

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

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

♦ Matth. ix.

125

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

L 2

126

beftow our attention for a moment on thefc
inftances.

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

• Luke Tii.

127

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

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

* Liike viii.

12$

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

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

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

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

129

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

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

130

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

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

* Matth. xxviii.

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

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

$3^

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

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

i

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

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

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

M

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

DISCOURSE V.

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

2 TIMOTHY ill. 1 6.

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

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

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

135

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

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

J37

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

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

^38

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

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

I

^39

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

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

140

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

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

141

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

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

14^

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

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

^43

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

M4

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

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

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

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

H5

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

146

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

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

147

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

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

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

14^

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

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

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

M

149

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

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

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

I50

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the fupernatural revelation God hath

»53

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

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

«54

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

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

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

155

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

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

—

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

^57

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

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

—

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

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

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

159

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

i6o

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

i6i

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

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

O 2

x6z

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

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

1^3

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

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

1^4

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

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

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

'65

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

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

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

i66

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

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

i67

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

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

Dear Youth,

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

i68

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

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

j6^

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

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

170

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

171

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

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

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

»7*

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

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

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

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

'^!^^^'^s^:^mm

;if^::*:i•tiS«41t5^.^^

4(i,

•S7,

WS^-i^M^m