not all known that the account was true? Their neighbours, too, the Samaritans, though inclined to contest every thing with them, yet acquiesced in these books, and in not more than two hundred years after, their law was in such high esteem, that the king of Egypt had a translation made of it into Greek at a considerable expense.a

This

(3.) The authenticity and genuineness of the Books of the Old Testament, appear from the veneration in which they are held by the Jews. people had the divine authority of these books so deeply infused into them from age to age, that now above sixteen hundred years, though they cannot practise the main parts of their religion, and though they suffer much for professing it, yet they still adhere to it in opposition to all these obstacles. This is a firmness which has never appeared in any other religion besides the Jewish and the Christian. For all the several sects of heathenism have often changed when

a This was the celebrated translation called the Septuagint, from the seventy interpreters said to have been engaged in its arrangement. It was executed (as is generally supposed) in the reign and under the auspices of Ptolemy Philadelphus, who succeeded to the throne of Egypt B. C. 285. See Hales' Anal. of Chronol. v. 2. p. 586. Edit. Lond. 1812.

Philo says, "The Jews would rather suffer a thousand deaths, "than that any thing should be once altered in all the divine laws "and statutes of their nation." Apud. Eus. de præpar. Evang. 1. 8.

the government that supported them fell, whereas the latter have subsisted even under the most severe persecutions. This fact proves the divine original of these religions, and of the books on which they are founded. Again, it is certain that the Jews have not corrupted the chief of those passages that are urged against them to prove Jesus to have been the Christ. It is equally certain, therefore, that the Books of the Old Testament are as to the main faithful and uncorrupted. It is possible, however, that in the collection that was made of these Books after the captivity, by Ezra and others, some slight errors may have crept into the text, which may have arisen from a superstitious veneration for some ancient copies, whose faults may have been left unnoticed, except by a marginal correction. Still, if all the various readings of the different copies be compared together, it appears that they are inconsiderable, and do not concern our faith nor our morals, the setting which right was the main end of Revelation.

It remains only upon this head to consider what inspiration is, and how far it is to be carried. As in the ordinary intercourse of life, we find that one man conveys his thoughts to another, by causing a vibration in the air, and thus producing an impression on the brain of the latter; in the same way we can apprehend how God may make such impressions on men's brains,

as may convey to them such things as he intends to make known to them. Now, there are three degrees both of the objects that are revealed, and of the manner of inspiration.

1. A revelation of a body of rules and laws to men. This ought to be expressed in plain words ; the imagination therefore should not be much agitated, but the impression must be made so naked that the understanding may clearly apprehend it.

2. A revelation to awaken men to observe a law already received. This must be done with such pompous visions of judgments, coming upon the violation of those laws, as may alarm those to whom they are sent. And as the imagination is capable of having those visions acted upon it, and being so excited by them as to utter them with pompous figures and in a due rapidity, this kind of inspiration is called prophecy.

3. A revelation to improve men's ideas of religion. Here good and holy persons are to be excited by God to compose such hymns and discourses as should give men clearer apprehensions of divine things, and insensibly to charm them with a pleasing way of treating them. And if the providence of God should so order them in the management of their compositions, as that they should utter predictions, still, as they themselves did not understand this, they are not to be accounted prophets. Such are the books of the Psalms, Job, Proverbs, &c.

The Old Testament was divided into three volumes, according to the different order of these inspirations. The inspiration of the New Testament is all to be reduced to the first kind, except the Revelation, which is purely prophetical, but the other parts are written after a clearer illumination and in a style suitable to it. In these some parts are historical, some doctrinal, and some argumentative. As to the historical part, the facts in the main are all true, but neither is the order of time strictly observed, nor when discourses are related, are the individual words recorded; it is enough if the effect of them is reported, which is sufficient for all practical purposes. As to the doctrinal parts, we must entirely acquiesce in these as in the voice of God, who speaks to us by means of a person, whom we are therefore obliged to hear and believe. Lastly, as to their arguings, the Apostles sometimes reason on certain grounds, and at other times they go upon principles acknowledged and received by those with whom they dealt. The latter mode of arguing is perfectly convincing to those to whom it is addressed, but unless the premises are as expressly affirmed as the conclusion, we are not bound to assent to them in their full extent.

2d. The article asserts that no other books are canonical, besides those which we receive.

The reasons for the rejection of the Apocryphal books are: 1. They are not sanctioned by our Saviour or his Apostles. Though the canonical Scriptures are frequently quoted in the New Testament, the apocryphal books are not once cited in any part of it.

a

2. They were not acknowledged by the Jews. The chief motive which presses Christians to acknowledge the Old Testament, is the testimony given by Christ and his Apostles to the canon as it was then received by the Jewish Church. Now it cannot even be pretended that these books were ever received among the Jews. Josephus says" they had only 22 books that deserved belief, but that those which were written after the time of Artaxerxes were not of equal credit with the rest, in which period they had no prophets at all.”

3. The primitive Church rejected them. Me

a This testimony, we have seen, was confined" to the law, the prophets, and the psalms." Now it is evident, the apocryphal books cannot be classed under the law or the psalms, as they are composed in a different style of writing altogether. Neither can they be included under the prophets, for they are acknowledged to have been written after Malachi, from whose time the Jews date the cessation of the spirit of prophecy. See Extracts from the Talmudists in Bp. Beveridge on the Art. p. 128. note (b) and Prideaux's Fas. Cont. C. 1. Q. 2.

b Jos. 1. 1. Cont. Apion. To make up the number of 22, Ruth was added to Judges, and Lamentations to Jeremiah. See Cosin's Schol. Hist. of Can. c. 2.