And that this is the real cause is most evident from the lives and actions of most of those persons, who pretend want of evidence to be the ground of their infidelity. Their lusts, their appetites, their affections, are interested: they are lovers of vice and debauchery, and slaves to evil habits and customs; and therefore they are not willing to discern the evidence, which would compel them to believe that, which they cannot believe with any comfort, so long as they resolve not to part with their beloved vices. Their hearts and affections are habitually fixed upon things here below; and therefore they will not attend to the force of any argument, that would raise their affections to things above. They are enslaved to the sensual pleasures and sinful enjoyments of earth; and therefore they will not hearken to any reasonable conviction, which would persuade them to relinquish these present gratifications, for the future and more spiritual joys of heaven. The love of this present world has blinded their eyes; and therefore they receive not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto them; neither can they know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. ii. 14.) In a word, the true and only reason why men love darkness rather than light is, because their deeds are evil. (John iii. 19.) Nothing is more frequent, than the charge of superstition | versed with him. But since the matters of fact are as clearly and credulity, which is brought by modern unbelievers proved to us, as it is possible for matters of fact to be, he against Christians, for giving assent to moral evidence of that will run the hazard of losing eternal happiness, and such force as to amount to a moral demonstration. Yet the falling into eternal misery, rather than believe the most cre fact is, that the charge of credulity attaches with unanswer-dible thing in the world, merely because he does not see it able force to these very rejectors of divine revelation. For with his eyes, it is plain he does not believe the thing for they admit, that a few illiterate Jews, devoted to external want of evidence, but because it is contrary to some particular circumstances and to a national religion, conquered their vice of his, which makes it his interest that it should not prejudices, and published an universal religion, which was be true. And for that reason also he might have disbelieved free from the numerous rites and ceremonies of their nation; it, though he had seen it himself. that they taught religious and moral doctrines, surpassing the wisdom of the highest heathens-subdued the power and policy of the Jews and Gentiles-speedily propagated their tenets among many nations and conquered the pride of learning, without divine assistance. The opposers of revelation admit, that many persons united in propagating a forgery, which produced them no advantage; and that not one of them was induced, either by promises or by threats, to betray a plot or to disown a testimony which exposed them to inconveniences. A man may endure inconveniences for his country to obtain wealth or power for himself, or in defence of a false religion which he believes to be true; but unbelievers cannot point out a single individual who exposed himself to insult, imprisonment, tortures, or death, which produced none of those conveniences. According to the creed which they profess, impostors were attached to virtue, and voluntarily endured every evil, in order to propagate opinions that were beneficial to society, but detrimental to themselves: that bad men reformed the religion and manners of all nations, or that good men attempted it by fraud and imposture. They admit, that a few ignorant fishermen were able to make proselytes, in opposition to power and prejudice, to eloquence and learning: that crafty men chose for their hero a crucified malefactor, and suffered every evil in order to establish the religion of an impostor, who deluded them by false promises, if he did not rise from the dead. It is much easier to believe the facts recorded in the New Testament, than to suppose them false, and believe the absurd consequences that must follow from such a supposition. It is more credible that God should work a miracle for the establishment of a useful system of religion, than that the first Christians should act against every principle that is natural to men. It is as contrary to nature that men should prefer shame, affliction, and death, to esteem, comfort, and life, in support of a falsehood, as that the dead should be raised, or ponderous bodies hang unsupported in the air. All the mysteries of the Gospel shall be clearly and satisfactorily explained, when the unbeliever can show, how these or any other things could have been accomplished without supernatural assistance. How little credit, then, is due to those pretenders to wisdom, who are obliged to admit things more incredible than those which they reject or disbelieve! Though they affect to resemble the ancient sages in wisdom and goodness, yet are they inferior to them in both these respects. The wisest heathen sages acknowledged their own ignorance and the imperfection of their faculties; their pretended successors are self-sufficient, and disclaim all assistance. The former laboured to discover arguments for the comfortable hope of a future state; the latter, to erase all apprehensions of it. The former paid great deference to things accounted sacred; while the latter turn every thing serious into jest and ridicule, and openly advocate immorality of every kind. The heathen philosophers spared even false religion for its political benefits; while the modern unbelievers attack the Gospel, which is not only capable of doing much good, but has also produced the greatest blessings, moral, social, and political, in every nation that has embraced it. Lastly, they who will not, by the arguments and proofs already exhibited, be convinced of the truth and certainty of the Christian religion, and be persuaded to make it the rule and guide of all their actions, would not be convinced (so far as to influence their practice and reform their lives) by any other evidence whatever-not even though one should rise from the dead, on purpose to endeavour to convince them. From what has been stated in the preceding pages, it is manifest that God has given us all the proofs of the truth of our religion that the nature of the thing would bear, or which it were reasonable either for God to give, or men to expect. It is true, the resurrection of Christ, and his other mighty works, must be confessed not to be such ocular demonstrations of the truth of his divine mission to after generations, as they were to those men who then lived, and saw, and con So long, therefore, as men continue under the dominion of their evil lusts and propensities, they will not be convinced, though the evidence of religion were even much stronger than it actually is. It is true that many men, who are now conscious and willing to acknowledge that they act contrary to all the reasonable evidence of religion, are nevertheless apt to imagine that if its great truths were proved to them by some stronger evidence, they should by that means be induced to act otherwise. If, however, the true reason why these men act thus foolishly is, not because the doctrines of religion are not sufficiently proved, but because they themselves are hurried away by some unruly passion, it is plain they might continue to act as they do, though the evidence of these things were greater than it is. They are willing to imagine, that if they had seen our Saviour's miracles they would have embraced his doctrine; and if their affections were not set upon this world, they would do the same now. But if they love the pleasures of sin now, the case would have been the same if they had lived in our Saviour's time. Others there are, who imagine that if a person was sent to them from the other world, they would immediately become new creatures. But if God should satisfy their unreasonable desires, there is little room to doubt, but as they hearkened not unto Moses, neither would they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. They might be terrified at first, but as soon as the fright was over, it is by no means impossible that their vicious habits would by degrees prevail over them. Some there are, in our present age, who pretend to be convinced of the being of spirits by the demonstration of their own senses, and yet we do not observe that they are more remarkably eminent for exemplary piety than any other good men. It is not, therefore, for want of evidence that men disbelieve the great truths of religion, but for want of integrity, and of dealing impartially with themselves. Wherefore, if they will judge truly of the reasonableness of the Christian revelation, it is necessary that they become impartially willing to embrace whatever shall appear to be agreeable to reason, without interesting their lusts in the judgment; and when they have put themselves into this frame of mind, let them try if they can any longer reject the evidence of the Gospel indeed, men who are of this good disposition, could not but give their assent to the doctrines of Christianity, on account of the intrinsic excellency of the things themselves, though the evidence was less than it is; nay, were there no other evidence but the bare excellency of the truths of religion, yet even in this case it would be most agreeable to reason to live according to the rules of the Gospel. But this is not our case. God has afforded us, as the preceding pages have largely and particularly shown, many and certain proofs of the truth and divine authority of the Scrip tures; even as certain as any matter of fact is capable of. And we now exhort men to believe-not that which is barely possible and excellent, and probable, and of the utmost importance in itself; but that, which they have all the positive evidence, and all the reason in the world to oblige them to believe. To conclude:-No man of reason can pretend to say, but that God may require us to take notice of some things at our peril: to inquire into them, and to consider them thoroughly. And the pretence of want of greater evidence will not excuse carelessness or unreasonable prejudices, when God has vouchsafed to us all that evidence which was either fit for him to grant, or reasonable for men to desire; or of which the nature of the thing itself, that was to be proved, was capable. CHAPTER VI. RECAPITULATION OF THE EVIDENCES FOR THE TRUTH AND DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES. MORAL QUALIFICATION FOR THE STUDY OF THE SACRED WRITINGS. 【. Necessity of a Divine Revelation proved.—II. The Genuineness and Authenticity of the Scriptures, considered simply as Compositions, established.—III. As also their uncorrupted Preservation.-IV. And their Credibility.-V. Proofs that the Scriptures were written by Men divinely inspired.—VI. The Scriptures a perfect Rule of Faith and Morals.—VII. Moral Qualifications for the Study of the Scriptures, and in what order they may be read to the greatest Advantage. SUCH are the principal proofs, external and internal, for the genuineness, authenticity, and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures; and when the whole are taken together, every rational and candid inquirer must be convinced that we have every possible evidence for their truth and divine authority, which can be reasonably expected or desired. I. No one, who believes that there is a God, and that He is a Being of infinite power, wisdom, and knowledge, can reasonably deny that He can, i ne thinks fit, make a revelation of himself and of his will to men, in an extraordinary way, different from the discoveries made by men themselves, in the mere natural and ordinary use of their own powers. And as the works of creation prove that He is a being of infinite power and goodness, so we may be assured that He who has given us the power of communicating our ideas to each other, cannot be at a loss for some proper method, by which to make it apparent to his rational creatures, that it is He who speaks to them. To admit the existence of a God and to deny Him such a power, is a glaring contradiction. Since it cannot reasonably be denied, that it is POSSIBLE for God to reveal His Will to mankind, let us, in the next place, consider, which is most probable and agreeable to the notions we have of Him, whether he should or should not make such a revelation. Now, if any credit be due to the general sense of mankind in every age, we shall scarcely find one, that believed the existence of a God, who did not likewise believe, that some kind of communication subsisted between God and man. This was the foundation of all the religious rites and ceremonies, which every nation pretended to receive from their deities. Hence also the most celebrated legislators of antiquity, as Zoroaster, Minos, Pythagoras, Solon, Lycurgus, and others, all thought it necessary to profess some intercourse with heaven, in order to give the greater sanction to their laws and institutions, notwithstanding many of them were armed with secular power. And, what gave birth and so much importance to the pretended oracles, divinations, and auguries of ancient times, was the conscious sense entertained by mankind, of their own ignorance, and of their need of a supernatural illumination, as well as the persuasion that the gods had a perpetual intercourse with men, and by various means gave them intelligence of future things. The probability and desirableness of a divine revelation further appear from this circumstance, that some of the ancient philosophers, particularly Socrates and Plato (though they did not believe the pretences to revelation made by their priests), yet confessed that they stood in need of a divine revelation, to instruct them in matters which were of the utmost consequence; and expressed their strong expectation that such a revelation would, at some future time, be vouchsafed, as should dispel the cloud of darkness in which they were involved. From the preceding remarks and considerations, we are authorized to infer, that a divine revelation is not only probable and desirable, but also absolutely NECESSARY. In fact, without such revelation, the history of past ages have shown, that mere human reason cannot attain to any certain knowledge of God or of his will, of happiness, or of a future state. Contemplate the most polished nations of antiquity; and you will find them plunged in the grossest darkness and barbarism on these subjects. Though the works of nature sufficiently evidence a Deity, yet the world made so little use of their reason, that they saw not God, where even by the impressions of himself he was easy to be found. Ignorance and superstition overspread the world; the ancients conceived the parts of nature to be animated by distinct principles, and, in worshipping them, lost sight of the Supreme Being. The number of deities continually increased; the grossest and most sanguinary idolatry prevailed; human sacrifices were universal; the vilest obscenities were practised under the name of religion; and the heathen temples were commonly places of prostitution, from which many of them derived a considerable revenue. All men, indeed, under pain of displeasing the gods, frequented the temples, and offered sacrifices: but the priests made it not their business to teach them virtue. So long as the people were punctual in their attendance on the religious ceremonies of their country, the priests assured them that the gods were propitious, and they looked no further. It cannot, therefore, excite surprise, that religion was every where distinguished from, and preferred to, virtue; and that a contrary course of thinking and acting proved fatal to the individual who professed it. If we advert to the doctrines and practices inculcated by the ancient philosophers, who professed to teach the knowledge of virtue, we shall find the light of reason enveloped in equal obscurity. There was, indeed, a very small number of these, who were comparatively wise and good men ; who entertained more correct notions of morality and religion than the rest of mankind; and preserved themselves, to a certain degree, unpolluted from the world. Yet these were never able to effect any considerable change in the prevailing principles and manners of their respective countrymen; their precepts being delivered to their own immediate pupils, and not to the lower orders of people, who constitute the great mass of society. Further, the moral systems of the philosophers were too refined for the common people: about them, indeed, the Stoics gave themselves no trouble, but seem to have considered them as little better than beasts; and even those moral truths, which the philosophers were able to prove and explain to others with sufficient clearness and plainness, they had not sufficient authority to enforce in practice. At the same time they entertained the most imperfect and erroneous notions relative to the nature of the Divine Being, his attributes and worship, and the duties and obligations of morality. Thus, they were ignorant of the true account of the creation of the world, of the origin of evil, and of the cause of the depravity and misery which actually exist among mankind, and which they acknowledged and deplored. Equally igno rant were they of any method, ordained and established by the Almighty, by which a reconciliation could be effected between God and man, and divine mercy could be exercised without the violation of his attribute of justice. They were, moreover, ignorant-at least they taught nothing of divine grace and assistance towards our attainment of virtue and perseverance in it. Their notions of the true nature of happiness were dark and confused; and they had dark and imperfect notions of the immortality of the soul, and of the certainty of a future state of rewards and punishments: for, although their poets fancied an elysium and a hell, and mention the appearance of the ghosts of departed men, in a visible form, and as retaining their former shapes in the shades Lastly, if we advert to the pagan nations of the present age, we learn from the unanimous testimony of navigators and travellers, that they are enveloped in the grossest ignorance and idolatry; and that their religious worship, doctrines, and practices are equally corrupt: yet they also possess the same light of reason which the ancient heathens enjoyed. The consideration of all which facts shows that a divine revelation is not only possible and probable, but also absolutely necessary to recover mankind out of their universal corruption and degeneracy, and to make known to them the proper object of their belief and worship, as well as their present duties and future expectations.' below, yet these were regarded rather as well-contrived re- | prove them to have been composed at the time and by the straints for the vulgar, than as articles of their own belief. persons to whom they are ascribed, and, consequently, that Consequently, they had no perfect scheme of moral rules for they are both genuine and authentic. Thirdly, such a mulpiety and good manners; indeed they were grossly ignorant titude of minutely particular circumstances of time, place, of moral duties. Thus we find several sects esteeming re-persons, &c. is mentioned in the books of the Old and New venge not only lawful but praiseworthy; self-murder, as a Testaments as affords a clear and unquestionable proof of proof of a noble mind; and the love of applause, as the great- their genuineness and authenticity. No forged or false acest incentive to the practice of virtue: at the same time they counts of things superabound thus in peculiarities: in fact, countenanced, both by arguments and example, the most fla- no forger would mention so great a number of particulars, gitious practices. Destitute of proper authority to enforce since this would be to put into his reader's hands so many the virtues and duties which they did recommend, they had criteria by which to detect him; nor could any forger or reno motives powerful enough to overrule strong temptations later of falsehoods produce such minute details. It is easy and corrupt inclinations: their own example, instead of re- to conceive how faithful records, kept from time to time by commending their precepts, tended to counteract them, for it persons concerned in the transactions, should contain such was generally, even in the very best of them, in direct oppo- minute particulars of time, place, persons, &c. But it would sition to their doctrines; and the detestable vices to which be a work of the highest invention, and greatest stretch of many of them were addicted, entirely destroyed the efficacy genius, to raise from nothing such numberless particulars as of what they taught. are almost every where to be met with in the books of the Old and New Testaments;-particulars, the falsehood of which would most assuredly have been detected by the persons most interested in detecting them if they had been forged, but whose acquiescence with them, as well as their obedience to the injunctions contained in these books, are conclusive evidence in favour of their genuineness and authenticity, abundantly sufficient to convince every candid inquirer. Fourthly, the moral impossibility of the books of the Old and New Testaments being forgeries is an additional evidence of their genuineness and authenticity: for it is impossible to establish forged writings as authentic, in any place where there are persons strongly inclined and well But notwithstanding this mass of evidence, especially the qualified to detect the fraud. If the books of the Old Testaconfessions made by the most distinguished ancient philoso- ment be forgeries, they must have been invented either by phers, of their need of a revelation,-it has been contended Gentiles, by Jews, or by Christians. By the Gentiles they by the opposers of revelation in modern times, that the book could not have been invented, because they were alike ignoof creation or of nature is the only word of God; that phi- rant of the history and sacred rites of the Hebrews, who most losophy and right reason are fully sufficient to instruct and unquestionably would never have given their approbation to preserve men in their duty; and, consequently, that no divine writings invented by them. It is equally certain that they revelation is necessary. But it is certain that this book of are not the fabrication of the Jews, because they contain varinature is so far from being universally intelligible or con- ous difficult precepts and laws, and also relate all the idolavincing, that, though the existence of a God may be known tries and crimes of that people, and the very severe punishfrom it, yet very few of the human race have learned even ments inflicted on them by God. Now all these discreditable the principles of deism from it. In every age, where the facts would not be comprised in those books if they had been Scriptures have been unknown, almost all men (as we have invented by the Jews. And the Christians could not have shown in the preceding pages) have been gross idolaters. forged the books of the Old Testament, because these were How inadequate, indeed, this boasted book of nature is, for extant long before the Christian name had any existence. the purposes of universal instruction, is evident from the fact, Equally impossible is it, that the books of the New Testathat it requires translators, expositors, and preachers, as well ment could have been forged; for the Jews were the most as the Bible but the bulk of mankind have neither time, violent enemies of Christianity: they put its Founder to money, nor inclination, to become astronomers themselves, death; and both Jews and Gentiles persecuted his disciples nor to attend on the lectures of astronomers, supposing them with implacable fury; and they were anxious to stifle to become preachers. The book of nature is an excellent the new religion in its birth. If the writings of the New book, but there are few indeed who understand it, while the Testament had been forged, would not the Jews have deBible instructs the peasant as well as the philosopher in mo-tected the imposture? Is there a single instance on record, ral and theological knowledge; and the contradictory and where a few individuals have imposed a history upon the discordant speculations of the enemies of divine revelation,2 world against the testimony of a whole nation? Would the both in religion and morals, only prove that such a revela- inhabitants of Palestine have received the Gospels, if they tion (if it had not already been given) is as absolutely neces- had not had sufficient evidence that Jesus Christ really apsary now as ever it was. peared among them, and performed the miracles ascribed to him? Or would the churches at Rome or at Corinth have acknowledged the epistles addressed to them as the genuine works of Paul, if he had never preached among them? Or, supposing any impostor to have attempted the invention and distribution of writings under his name, or the names of the other apostles, is it possible that they could have been received without contradiction in all the Christian communities of the three several quarters of the globe? We might as well attempt to prove that the history of the reformation is the invention of historians, and that no revolution happened in Great Britain during the seventeenth century, or in France during the eighteenth century, and the first fifteen years of the nineteenth century.7 II. Such a revelation the Scriptures profess to be: but, are we certain considering them simply as writings professing to be the productions of certain men-that they are GENUINE, that is, actually written by the persons to whom the different books are ascribed, and whose names they bear, and AUTHENTIC, that is, that they relate matters of fact as they really happened? The result of our investigation of these important questions is sufficient to satisfy the mind of every reasonable and candid inquirer. No nation, indeed, in the world, can be more certain of the genuineness and authenticity of any of their public acts and records, which have been preserved with the utmost care, than we are of the genuineness and authenticity of the writings, called the Scriptures, which are now in our hands. For, in the first place, the manner in which they have been transmitted to us, resembles that in which other genuine books and true histories have been conveyed down to posterity, and the most acute adversaries of the Scriptures have never been able to invalidate or to disprove the fact of their being so transmitted to us.3 Secondly, the language and style of writing, both in the Old and New Testaments, are such as 1 The details of evidence, on which the foregoing conclusions are formed, are given in chap. i. pp. 15-22. supra. 2 See pp. 22-27. supra. III. But, have the books of the Old and New Testaments been transmitted to us ENTIRE and UNCORRUPTED? We answer in the affirmative, and upon evidence the most satisfactory that can possibly be required. For, if they had been corrupted, such corruptions must have been introduced either by Christians or by Jews. See p. 31. supra, for the language and style of the Old Testament, and pp. 48, 49. for those of the New Testament. See pp. 31, 32. supra, for the Old Testament, especially pp. 33-38. for the Pentateuch, against which the efforts of modern unbelievers are chiefly directed, as the surest way to undermine the New Testament; and also pp. 3 For the transmission of the Old Testament, see chap. ii. sect. 1. pp. 29 49-52. for the New Testament. -31; and for the New Testament, see sect. ii. pp. 40—48. See p. 29. supra. See pp. 40. 54, 55. 1. With regard to the Old Testament, the silence of the it has experienced from its numerous, powerful, and most Jews (who would not fail to have noticed the attempt bitter enemies. Nothing, indeed, but the plainest matter if it had been made) is a clear proof that it was never cor- of fact could induce so many thousands of prejudiced and rupted by the Christians. And if the Jews had either muti- persecuted Jews, to embrace the humiliating and self-denylated or corrupted these writings, they would have expunged ing doctrines and precepts of the Gospel, which they held in whatever militated against the character or honour of their such detestation and abhorrence. Nor could any thing but nation: but the silence of the prophets before the time of the clearest evidence, arising from undoubted truth, make Christ, as well as of Christ and his apostles, fully proves multitudes of lawless and luxurious heathens, receive, follow, that no obliteration or corruption had then been attempted. and transmit to posterity, the doctrine and writings of the The constant reading of their sacred books in public and in apostles: especially at a time when the vanity of their preprivate (which were at once the rule of their faith and of tensions to miracles, and to the gift of tongues, could be so their political constitution), and the numerous copies both of easily discovered, if they had been impostors;—at a time the original as well as of the Septuagint version, together when the profession of Christianity exposed persons of all with the numerous sects and parties into which the Jews ranks and ages to the greatest contempt and to the most imwere divided after their canon was closed, and the reverence minent danger. Further, an additional testimony is furnished of every party for their law, all concur to render any attempt to the credibility, truth, and genuineness of the Scriptures, at falsification improbable and impossible before the time of by their agreement with profane history, both natural and Christ; and after that event, the same books being in the civil, and by the existence of various coins, medals, and hands of the Christians, these would instantly have detected ancient marbles, which attest the reality and truth of many the malice and frauds of the Jews, if they endeavoured to of the facts therein recorded in short, no history in the accomplish such a design.' world is confirmed by such various and concurrent testimonies as that related in the Bible. 4. Equally satisfactory is the evidence for the integrity and incorruptness of the New Testament, in any thing ma- V. Moreover, that the Scriptures are not merely entitled terial. For the contents of its several books are precisely to be received as credible, but also as containing the revealed the same now, as they were in the two first centuries; to will of God,-in other words, that they are DIVINELY INwhich fact we may add, that the multiplication of copies, SPIRED,we have evidence of various kinds, amounting to which were read both in public and in private, the reverence moral demonstration. For their sacred origin is evinced by of the Christians for these writings, the silence of their the most illustrious attestations, viz. miracles and prophecy, acutest enemies, who would most assuredly have charged which carry with them the most manifest proofs of a divine them with the attempt if it had been made, and the agree- interposition; and which it cannot reasonably be supposed ment of all the manuscripts and versions extant, are all so that the Almighty would ever give, or permit to be given, to many proofs of the integrity and incorruptness of the New an imposture. The miracles were instantaneously and Testament; which are further attested by the agreement with publicly performed before multitudes, both friendly and it of all the quotations from it which occur in the writings hostile to the persons by whom they were wrought; they of Christians from the earliest age to the present times. It were sensible and easy to be observed. Memorials were is true that certain books are cited, or referred to in the Old instituted at the time many of them were performed, which and New Testaments, which are not now extant: but an continue to be observed to the present time;-a manifest examination in detail of those books (which does not admit proof this, of the reality of those miracles, which the bitterof abridgment) has shown that none of the genuine or ca- est enemies of the Gospel, who witnessed them, could never nonical books of Scripture have been lost. gainsay or deny, though they vainly attempted to evade IV. Not less satisfactory is the evidence for the credibility them.9 The prophecies, also, were delivered during a long of the writers of the books of the Old and New Testaments. succession of ages by persons who lived at different and For, in the first place, they were so many in number, and distant times; they were so numerous, so particular both lived at such a distance of time and place from each other, with respect to nations and individuals, so opposite and apthat, if they had been impostors (which their disinterested-parently so irreconcileable, that no human wisdom could ness, integrity, and impartiality prove them not to have been), have devised them, no human power could accomplish them. it would have been impracticable for them to contrive and to Many of the predictions, which are found in the Old Testacarry on a forgery without being detected. And as they ment, foretold unexpected changes in the distribution of neither would nor could deceive the world, so they neither earthly power. And whether they announced the fall of could nor would be deceived themselves. Every page, in-flourishing cities, or the ruin of mighty empires, the event deed, of these books proves that the writers of them had a has minutely corresponded with the prediction. To mention perfect knowledge of the subjects which they have recorded; a few instances:-Nineveh is so completely destroyed, that and their moral character, though rigidly tried, was never its site is not and cannot be known;-Babylon is made "a impeached by their keenest opponents. Secondly, if there desolation for ever, a possession for the bittern, and pools of had been any falsehood in the account of such transactions water:"-Tyre, all voyagers and travellers concur in stating, as were generally known, it would have been easily de- is become like the top of a rock, a place for fishers to tected for these accounts were published among the people spread their nets upon ;"-and Egypt is "a base kingdom, who witnessed the events related by the historians, and who the basest of the kingdoms," and still tributary, and in a could easily have detected fraud or falsehood, if any such state of the most abject servitude to strangers. there had been, but who did not attempt to question either great object of the prophecies of the Old Testament is the the reality of the facts or the fidelity of the narrators. redemption of mankind. This, as soon as Adam's fall had Thirdly, the credibility of the authors of the Old and New made it necessary, the mercy of God was pleased to foretell. Testaments is further attested by the principal facts contained And, as the time for its accomplishment drew near, the prein them being confirmed by certain ordinances or monuments diction concerning it gradually became so clear, that almost of great celebrity, which were instituted among Jews and every circumstance in the life and character of the most exChristians for the express purpose of commemorating par- traordinary personage that ever appeared among men was ticular facts or events in their respective histories, at the very most distinctly foretold. The connection of the predictions time when those events took place, and which have subsisted belonging to the Messiah, with those which are confined to from that time to the present day, wherever either Jews or the Jewish people, give additional force to the argument Christians are to be found; but which ordinances most from prophecy; affording a strong proof of the intimate assuredly would not have been thus observed, in commemo- union which subsists between the two dispensations of Moses ration of fictitious events. To this consideration we may and of Jesus Christ, and equally precluding the artful preadd, that the wonderful establishment and propagation of tensions of human imposture, and the daring opposition of Christianity is a most convincing proof of the entire credi- human power. The plan of prophecy was so wisely conbility of the New Testament, and of the religion which it stituted, that the passion and prejudices of the Jews, instead establishes; which was spread far and wide, by the force of frustrating, fulfilled it, and rendered the person whom of truth that accompanied the preaching of the Gospel, and they regarded, the suffering and crucified Saviour, who had which has continued to spread, even to the present time, been promised. It is worthy of remark, that most of these notwithstanding all the persecutions and oppositions which predictions were delivered nearly and some of them more 1 See pp. 52-54. supra. See pp. 54, 55. supra. See chapter iii. sect. i. pp. 59-68. supra. See pp. 56-58. supra. See pp. 60-62. supra, for the Old Testament, and pp. 62-67. for the New Testament. See pp. 67, 68. supra. But the See chap. iii. sect. ii. §1. pp. 69-78. for the Old Testament, and § 2. pp 78-87. for the New Testament. See chap. iii. sect. ii. §3. pp. 88-92. supra. VOL. I. 2 A than three thousand years ago. Any one of them is sufficient Upon the whole, we have such a number of evidences of the truth of the Scriptures as no man can resist, who duly and impartially considers them; and it is to the wilful ignorance of those evidences that we are to ascribe that infidelity which at present exists in different parts of the world. is there, and there only, that we are informed, from authority, of the immortality of the soul, of a general resurrection from the dead, of a future judgment, of a state of eternal happiness to the good, and of eternal misery to the bad. It is there we are made acquainted with the fall of our first parents from a state of innocence and happiness; with the guilt, corruption, and misery which this sad event brought on all their posterity; which, together with their own personal and voluntary transgressions, rendered them obnoxious to God's severest punishments. But to our inexpressible comfort, we are further told in this divine book, that God is full of mercy, compassion, and goodness; that he is not extreme to mark what is done amiss; that he willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and save his soul alive. In pity, therefore, to mankind, he was pleased to adopt a measure, which should at once satisfy his justice, show his extreme abhorrence of sin, make a sufficient atonement for the sins of the whole world, and release all, who accepted the terms proposed to them, from the punishment they had deserved. This was nothing less than the death of his Son Jesus Christ, whom he sent into the world to take our nature upon him, to teach us a most holy, pure, and benevolent religion, to reform us both by his precept and example; and, lastly, to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification. By him and his evangelists and apostles we are assured, that if we sincerely repent of our sins, and firmly believe in him and his Gospel, we shall, for the sake of his sufferings and his righteousness, have all our transgressions forgiven and blotted out;-shall be justified, that is, considered as innocent in the sight of God;-shall have the assistance of his Holy Spirit for our future conduct;—and, if we persevere to the end in a uniform (though, from the infirmity of our nature, imperfect) obedience to all the laws of Christ, we shall, through his merits, be rewarded with everlasting glory in the life to come."s Thus do the Holy Scriptures contain "all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation."9 VII. Such, then, being the utility, excellence, and perfection of the Holy Scriptures, since they are not merely the best guide we can consult, but the only one that can make us wise unto salvation, it becomes the indispensable duty of all carefully and constantly to peruse these sacred oracles, that through them they may become "perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work."10 This, indeed, is not only agreeable to the divine command," and to the design of the Scriptures, but is further commended to us by the practice of the church in ancient,12 and in modern times, and by the gracious promise made by Him who cannot lie, to all true believers, that "they shall all be taught of God."13 What time is to be appropriated for this purpose, must ever depend upon the circumstances of the individual. It is obvious that some time ought daily to be devoted to this important study, and that it should be undertaken with devout simplicity and humility; prosecuted with diligence and attention; accom panied by prayer for the divine aid and teaching;is together VI. "The Scripture," as a late eminent prelate has justly remarked, "is not a plan of Christianity finished with minute accuracy, to instruct men as in something altogether new, or to excite a vain admiration and applause; but it is somewhat unspeakably nobler and more extensive, compre. hending in the grandest and most magnificent order, along with every essential of that plan, the various dispensations of God to mankind, from the formation of this earth to the consummation of all things."-" Other books may afford us much entertainment and much instruction, may gratify our curiosity, may delight our imagination, may improve our understandings, may calm our passions, may exalt our sentiments, may even improve our hearts. But they have not, they cannot have, that authority in what they affirm, in what they require, in what they promise and threaten, which the Scriptures have. There is a peculiar weight and energy in them which is not to be found in any other writings. Their denunciations are more awful, their convictions stronger, their consolations more powerful, their counsels more authentic, their warnings more alarming, their expostulations more penetrating. There are passages in them throughout so sublime, so pathetic, full of such energy and force upon the heart and conscience, yet without the least appearance of labour and study for that purpose; indeed, the design of the whole is so noble, so well suited to the sad condition of human kind; the morals have in them such purity and dignity; the doctrines, so many of them above reason, yet so perfectly reconcileable with it; the expression is so majestic, yet familiarized with such easy simplicity, that, the more we read and study these writings, with pious dispositions and judicious attention, the more we shall see and feel of the hand of God in them." Thus are the Scriptures the only rule of our faith and standard of our lives; and thus do they point out to us the only way by which to attain solid comfort, peace, and happiness. "But that which stamps upon them the highest value, that which renders them, strictly speaking, inestimable, and distinguishes them from all other books in the world, is this, that they, and they only, contain the words of eternal life. (John vi. 68.) In this respect every other book, even the noblest composi-true saving knowledge." tions of man, must fail; they cannot give us that which we most want, and what is of infinitely more importance to us than all other things put together-ETERNAL LIFE. "This we must look for nowhere but in Scripture. It See chap. iv. sect. iii. pp. 123-126, supra, for a view of the prophecies respecting nations, and pp. 126-129. for those relative to the Messiah; and pp. 129-132. for predictions delivered by Christ and his apostles; and the Appendix, No. VI. chap. ii. sect. iii. infra, for the predictions of Jesus Christ concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, and the propagation of Christianity, &c. 2 See chap. v. sect. i. pp. 142, 143. supra. 3 See chap. v. sect. ii. p. 167. supra. 4 See chap. v. sect. iii. p. 168. supra. See chap. v. sect. iv. pp. 169-177. supra. See chap. v. sect. v. pp. 177-180. supra. Archbishop Secker, Works, vol. iii. pp. 310, 311. s Bishop Porteus, Lectures on St. Matthew, vol. i. pp. 18. 21. Article vi. of the United Church of Great Britain and Ireland. The suf 10 2 Tim. iii. 17. ficiency of Scripture is ably illustrated by Bishop Tomline (Elements of Luke xi. 13. Eph. i. 17. "The Revelation of the Holy Ghost inspireth the Montis Dei. 14"Without attention," says a pious but neglected writer of the seventeenth century, "all books are alike, and all equally insignificant; for he that adverts not to the sense of what he reads, the wisest discourses signify no more to him, than the most exquisite music does to a man perfectly deaf. The letters and syllables of the Bible are no more sacred than those of another book: it is the sense and meaning only that is divinely inspired; and he that considers only the former, may as well entertain himself with the spelling-book." Lively Oracles, sect. viii. § 25. 15 Though the natural man may well enough apprehend the letter and grammatical sense of the word, yet its power and energy-that insinuative, persuasive force whereby it works upon our hearts, is peculiar to the Spirit; and, therefore, without his aids the Scripture, while it lies open before our |