III* 52 isw» Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/christiansarmourOOIori THE CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY: BEING A COLLECTION OF RARE AND VALUABLE TRACTS UPON THE EVIDENCES OF DIVINE REVELATION, BY DISTINGUISHED WRITERS. WITH A PRELIMINARY ESSAY ON THE CHARACTER AND PRETENSIONS OF MODERN INFIDELITY, TOGETHER WITH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, BY THE REV. JOHN G. LORIMER, MINISTER OF ST DAVID’S PARISH, GLASGOW. GLASGOW: W. R. M‘PHUN, PUBLISHER, 86, TRONGATE; N. H. COTES, LONDON; JOHN JOHNSTONE, EDINBURGH; LEWIS SMITH, ABERDEEN; G. PHILIP, LIVERPOOL; BANCKS & CO., MANCHESTER; AND W. CURRY, JUN., & CO., DUBLIN. MDCCCXXXIX. •>if yt/ 2 PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY. When one considers what is the nature of true Chris- tianity, and what are the benefits which it has conferred upon the world, even in its enfeebled and corrupted forms ; how it has raised the female sex — one half the species — from the lowest social degradation ; how it has abolished or mitigated slavery — humanized war — strengthened the intellect of man — promoted literature and freedom — purified morals ; how, from being the religion of a poor despised Jew, it has moved onward till it has become the religion of the most enlightened, powerful, free, and civilized nations of the earth, dis- tinguished in science and art ; when it is remembered what systems of darkness and superstition and cruelty and blood it has successfully encountered and over- thrown in its progress ; what hopes it has awakened respecting the future; how many death -beds it has irradiated and gladdened ; — one would imagine Chris- tianity would be universally hailed as the Benefactor of mankind, and that men would as soon think of attempt- ing to blot out the sun from the firmament as desire to deny its claims or check its advancement. What better system of belief and practice can be substituted in its room ? But, strange to say, in almost all ages, there have been not a few who have denied its Divine autho- rity, and proved its bitter enemies, treating it as if it were the foe of human happiness ; and, what increases the surprise, men of superior intellect and attainments have not unfrequently been the most prominent in this unhappy class. At the present day, infidelity has descended from a limited number in the higher or more intelligent circles of society, to a large class of the uninstructed and the poor. In Popish countries, the absurd and indefensible aspects under which Christianity has been presented ; and in Protestant countries, the cold- i ness and indifference, the divisions and the errors and ungodliness, of too many professed Christians, toge- ther with the want of adequate means of religious instruction, whether for old or young, have all power- fully contributed to this melancholy result. Perhaps in our own country, the principles of infidelity were never more widely spread among all, and especially the humbler, classes of society, than at the present ^ day. In all departments — in literature and science- in views of education and civil government and national happiness — we meet with the principles of unbelief, 'often unknown to those who hold and propagate them ; while in prints and regular publications, and public meetings and lectures, we find abundant evidence that many of the poor and hard- wrought, who, of all men, need the consolations and hopes of true religion most, have abandoned themselves to infidel teaching, and are bringing up their children according to the same mis- erable model. It is bad enough that such infidel prin- ciples are in high repute and acceptance, as that — in religion there is no finding out the truth ; and that man is not responsible for his belief ; and that he may attain to perfectibility in a present life, by the mere force of knowledge and political institutions ; — but it is still worse, when horrible prints are circulated, cari- caturing the Jehovah of the Scriptures; when the Jge of Reason is drawn forth from its obscurity, pub- licly proclaimed, and set above the Bible ; and when men are not ashamed to publish themselves as the Enemies of God and to advocate Atheism. And yet all who are acquainted with the state of the larger manu- facturing towns, must be aware, that such things exist and prevail among a certain class of their people. Nor is a denial of Revelation, leading onward to the denial of a God, to be met with only in this country ; traces of the same spirit appear in vaidons parts of the world. Even in the United States of America, which are Protestant like ourselves. Atheists hold meetings for the public worship of nature,* and have regular organized congregations in various quarters ; three in the city of New York. The Rev. Dr Beecher, one of the most eminent ministers of the Presbyterian Church, said, in the course of a speech before its General Asembly, two years ago — “ It used to be alleged that there were no Atheists among us. It is too late now to sing that song in our ears. They are now in the midst of us, and on every side. They swarm like the frogs of Egypt. They go up upon our tables, and into our chambers, to pollute and destroy. And they are different from the Atheists of former days. Formerly they were men of speculation — insulated men — here and there indulging their theory, like David Hume, in his study. But now they are open, active, organized — laborious — proselytizing. In- stead of looking into the airy regions of mere fanciful speculation and theory, their maxim seems to be, like that of Cromwell to his soldiers, “ Fire low.” They aim at the mass of mankind. They prepare con- tamination and death for our working men. They scatter the materials of political combustion among those who are our strength — the bone and sinew of our nation — where a touch will blow us into atoms. The prevalence of corruption in our cities, however lament- able, would be comparatively a trifle, so long as our farmers and the yeomanry of the land kept steady. * See Churcli of Scotland Magazine, Atheism in Ameriar, vol, iii. 1), fid IV PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY. Your theorists and abstract speculators may float like balloons on the moral atmosphere, and we may gaze upon them as objects rather of curiosity than alarm; but corrupt the jpeople, and all is lost. This is what they are now attempting to do, by the printing and circulating of tracts, by the publication of newspapers, and by a combined application of ingenuity and indus- try worthy of a better cause.” As the fruit of this state of things, he records the melancholy facts, that there is a practical denial of accountability, and a growing spread of licentiousness, and a disposition to look upon all law as a tyrant. It is recorded, that at the period of the French Revo- lution, 14,000 copies of Paine’s deistical works were sent over to the United States. We are grieved to learn, that the infidels of America, in their turn, have of late years been sending large supplies of the same works to India, and that Paine is read on the banks of the Ganges by young men whose minds are only opening to consider the claims of Christianity. We need say nothing of the continent of Europe. In popish France, in the course of twelve years, ending 1829, nearly six million copies of the writings of four of the most eminent French infidels were sold and cir- culated. Less than 100,000 copies of the Scriptures — many of them given gratuitously — were disseminated in the same time. In popish Spain, no literature is more current than French infidel literature. Volney and Voltaire are wide spread. This prevalence of infidelity, both at home and abroad, is most affecting, and the guilt of those who listen to its temptations is serious and aggravated indeed. But it is well to remember that it does not come by chance, nor is it any matter of real surprise to the friends of Revelation. If the Bible speak true, this world is fallen and apostate ; and if so, then it is not to be expected that the holy principles or the impera- tive claims of Christianity can be relished. Scrip- ture expressly prophesies that a class of men will oppose and reject its authority even to the end. Did they not appear in the persons and character of infidels, the Scriptures would not be true ; the evidence of pro- phecy would here be invalidated. Not a few eminent writers, such as Sir Isaac Newton, Lavater, Dr Hart- ley, &c., have been impressed, from the study of pro- phecy, with the conviction, that previous to the mil- lennial triumphs of Christianity, there is to be a wide diffusion, if not a reign, of infidelity over Christendom. If this idea be well-founded, we may lay our account with the temporary ascendency of infidelity; but it is only to make the glory of the Gospel, in rising superior to all its enemies, the more conspicuous. In addition to these things, we have to consider, that in the Pro- vidence of God, important ends are answered by the permission of infidelity : that the opposition of unbe- lievers has, in every age, been overruled for good, for guarding the truths and evidences of Revelation, by provoking care and discussion. There is nothing, then, strange or wonderful in the existence or progress of infidelity. This is what the friends of Christianity might have anticipated. But while Christians afe not taken by surprise, and while the whole success of infi- delity is known before hand, and is at least limited and temporary, preparatory to the more glorious triumph of the Gospel, still it is the duty of Christians to use earnest and persevering means for exposing its fallacies and counteracting its influence. Very ample is the provision which has been made for this purpose. The works on the Evidences of Revelation are im- mensely numerous and exceedingly varied. Men of all bodies professing Christianity — in all countries and ages — of all stations and professions — the layman as well as the minister of religion — have put forth books in defence of the Divine authority of the Scriptures. When the Christian church was too cold and dead to publish almost any thing else, she published on the Evidences. Of course the success of the writers has varied with their own qualifications, and the favourable or unfavourable position in which they stood for defending Christianity. One position is much more advantageous than another : the ground of a Protestant is far stronger than that of a Roman Catholic — that of an Evangelical Christian than that of a Socinian. Still there can be little doubt that good has been wrought by all in their respective spheres. In this country, I allude more particularly to Scotland, not a few important works have been published, from time to time, in defence of Divine Revelation. I cannot enumerate them all, but record those which at present occur — there may be some unknown to me. Many of the discourses which, throughout a century, have been preached before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Know^ ledge, and afterwards published, have been directed to the Christian Evidences. Professor Haliburton, of St Andi'ew’s, wrote On the Insufficiency of Reason; Dr Beattie, of Aberdeen, On the Evidences; Dr Campbell, of Aberdeen, Essay on Miracles; Dr M‘Knight, of Edinburgh, Gospel Harmony ; Dr Findlay, of Glasgow, Vindication of the Old Testament, against Voltaire ; Dr Gerard, of Aberdeen, Dissertations on the Genius and Evidences of Christianity ; Sir H. Moncrieff, an early volume of Discourses; Dr Hill, of St Andrew’s, Lectures . on Divinity, vol. i. ; Dr George Cook, On the Resur- rection of Christianity ; Dr John Cook, On the Books of the New Testament ; Dr Brewster, Testimonies of Distinguished Laymen to Revelation ; Dr Keith, On the Evidence of Prophecy, and Demonstration, &c. ; Dr Chalmers, On the Evidences, besides two volumes ad- ditional in the new edition of his works ; Dr Ranken, Institutes of Theology ; Rev. Mr Wilson, of Irvine, On the Reasonableness of Christianity ; Dr Wilson, one of the General Assembly’s Missionaries at Bombay, a Comparison of Heathenism and Christianity, in various works; Dr Dewar, of Aberdeen, a recent Text-Book on the Evidences. Among laymen, the works of Lord Dalrymple Hailes, Inquiry, in answer to Gibbon ; Robert Haldane, Esq., On the Evidences of Revelation; R. Ainslie, Esq., Father’s Gift to his Children; Thomas Erskine, Esq., On the Internal Evidence~-mny be men- PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY, V tlone^, besides many others. ^ These different authors : have all written ably and well in the department of the Evidences. Of late various smaller works have appear- ed ; and, among others, a Course of Lectures by the Ministers of Glasgow, last winter. Much, however, as has been written and published, a good deal remains to be done in the way of application. Though there are new illustrations of the argument, with the progress of particular sciences, such as Astronomy and Geology, still, it is believed, considerable and important use may be made of old materials — ^materials which retain all their force, and which are fresh to many. In this publi- cation, it is proposed to collect together, and reprint, at a cheap rate, a series of valuable Tracts on the subject, for the most part inaccessible to the general reader. So far as 1 am aware, they have never been collected, at least in this form, before. A few notes and illustra- tions are added, which, by bringing down the argument to the present day, and giving some account of the writers, and of the circumstances in which their works were written, it is hoped, may not prove uninteresting or uninstructive. All the Tracts are very able ; more than one of them celebrated. The argument in each is conclusive ; the combined force of the whole must, with every candid mind, be satisfactory indeed. Before introducing the reader to these Tracts, in their appropriate order, it may not be amiss shortly to estimate the pretensions of infidelity, as a whole, at the present day. It puts itself forward in various im- portant aspects and characters. Formerly, it was con- tented to be associated with the quiet speculations of literary or scientific men. Religion was thought a good thing for the body of the people ; necessary at once for their restraint and comfort. Infidelity made no claims to general or exclusive usefulness ; but now the case is altered, and unbelievers stand forward, con- tending that religion is the great evil in society, and that they are the great friends of knowledge, of free- dom, and of social happiness! It is these pretensions which it is desirable for a moment to consider. I. According to infidels, Christianity is the enemy of Knowledge : they are its devoted advocates. That some men professing Christianity, that a whole apos- tate church, are opposed to knowledge, may be true ; but this does not affect the honour of true Christianity. She is not responsible for the errors and sins of mere nominal adherents. In her own nature, and according to her genuine operation upon her real disciples, she is the grand Friend and Advocate of knowledge ; not every new and empirical notion, which may be dignified with the name, but of the great and established acquisitions of true knowledge. She has nothing to fear from science ; she has much to hope from it. Not only has there ever been a crowd of the most learned men who have made a fair profession of Christianity, thus show- ing that there is no inconsistency between the two ; but there is every reason to believe, that, apart from true religion, the great body of a people will never be edu- 703806 cated. While education promotes religion, true reli- gion is the direct promoter of education. It is when men are impressed with the conviction, that the Bible is the word of God, and contains the knowledge of the only way to eternal life, and that, as a matter of duty, it must be daily read ; it is when parents are impressed with these things, that they will generally exert them- selves, and make sacrifices that their children may be able to peruse the Scriptures; and when this is gained, and habits of reading formed, they will natu- rally turn to other departments of knowledge also. The grand impulse, however, towards a universal education, is a sense of the value and imperative claims of the Bible, as a revelation from heaven. Wo may safely say, that nothing but this, or some very peculiar national institutions, will persuade men to submit to the drudgery of teaching themselves or teaching others. These views are borne out by facts. What have been the countries of most education and knowledge ? Where have the people been most uni- versally instructed ? They are those countries where Christianity has been most prevalent, and where the educational institutions have arisen out of the Chris- tian church. Witness Switzerland, Holland, Scot- land, New England. What party, at the present day, has done, or is doing most for popular education ? Who are making the greatest sacrifices of trouble and money, rearing the greatest number of schools, &c. ? The answer must be. It is the religious party, under the influence of Christianity. Infidelity boasts of its love of knowledge and education; but what has it accomplished on this field? What sacrifices has it made ? What schools has it reared ? What com- parison could it bear with the educational services of our Scottish forefathers, of pious memory ? The un- believers of France may have expended large sums of money, in their contest with Christianity, and in the diffusion of their infidelity ; but what have they actu-^ ally expended for the benefit of the great body of the people — to educate their families, and make them use- ful in society ? If their claim to being the grand friends of knowledge be well founded, they should be able easily to refer to cases of illustrious service. I need scarcely say, there are no such cases ; and that while infidelity so miserably fails as a substantial supporter of knowledge and education, it is that very Christi- anity, "which she denounces as the patron of ignorance, which is the active, ard unwearied, and self-sacrificing promoter of the cause of knowledge, among all classes of society. The friends of Christianity in Glasgow, in connexion with the Established church alone, have, in the course of a few years, raised and expended a sum of £20,000 for the instruction chiefly of the pool*. What has infidelity done in the same way, and in the same space of time, in any country under heaven? The truth is, that whatever may be her boasting, she is a stranger to the best, and indeed only motives to per- suade one to diffuse abroad the blessings of education. What is here said of infidelity, is true also of all the VI PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY. latitudinarian systems of education, which are based, without many perhaps being aware of it, on infidel principles. They are radically defective in power and system. So much for the claims of infidelity in com- parison with those of Christianity, in the matter of knowledge, and the love and diffusion of it. Mav we not add, among the proofs how little she is animated by the sincei’e and candid love of knowledge, that infidels themselves have discovered the most perverse ignorance in their treatment of Christianity ? Could they have done this, at least to the extent with which they are chargeable, had they possessed the least love of true knowledge ? Dr Beattie, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Aberdeen, who him- self wrote well on the Evidences, and was repeatedly brought into contact with unbelievers, remarks, “From several conversations, which it has been my chance to have with unbelievers, I have learned, that ignorance of the nature of our religion, and a disinclination to study both it and its conclusions, are to be reckoned among the chief causes of infidelity.” It would not be so wonderful that this should hold true of a few des- perate partisans. Such persons are to be found among all classes. But it appears conspicuously among the very leaders and patrons of unbelief, who boast of their literature and love of knowledge. The ignorance of Foltaire is almost incredible. The letters of certain Jews to him, and the learned “ Vindication’ of the Rev. Dr Findlay of this city, establish a degree of ignorance on his part, respecting the Old Testament, of which a Sabbath-school scholar might well be ashamed. Gib- bon, so remarkable for his learning, does not seem, so far as one can gather from his Memoirs and Diary, to have ever read any judicious exposition or able defence of Christianity. We need wonder less at his conver- sion to Popery, and reconversion, and ultimate termi- nation in infidelity. Hume, in a letter to the Rev. Dr Blair, a literary friend, says, “ I have long since done with all inquiries on such subjects (religious), and am become incapable of instruction, though, I own, no one is more capable of conveying it than yourself.” Does this state of mind argue the presence of any real love of knowledge ? It is stated, on the authority of Dr Samuel Johnson, well known for his scrupulous veracity, that Hume acknowledged to a clergyman in the diocese of Durham, he had never read the New Testament through with attention. Is this love of candour, or love of truth? And yet Hume wrote against the Scripture miracles, and endeavoured to show that a miracle does not admit of proof? As to Paine, any one who has read his work will be at a loss to decide, whether ignprance or malice predominate more in its pages. He acknowledges that he deter- mined to write against Christianity, and then procured a Bible and Testament, that he might know what he should write against. If such were the ignorance and want of candour of the champions, what may we be- lieve is the state of things among men of the same sentiments, but of inferior note ? Had literature or science been treated in the same way in which Chris- tianity has been, where would have been their success and prosperity ? Does not such hard treatment of revelation indicate, that the opposition proceeds, not from want of evidence, but from the fact that there is too much evidence to allow the guilty heart to remain at peace ; therefore does the infidel endeavour to get rid of the subject, by reckless unprincipled resistance. II. Another of the pretences of infidelity at the pre- sent day is, that she is the great friend and advocate of Freedom, while Christianity is the ally and encourager of despotism. This pretence will be found as vain as the preceding. That some systems, calling themselves Christian, have been associated with priestcraft and civil despotism — I allude more particularly to the Church of Rome — is what no one acquainted with the history of the world will deny, and far less an enlight- ened Christian. In this the latter sees a fulfilment of prophecy, and so a confirmation of the Divine truth of his holy faith j but nothing can be more unfair than to make true Christianity responsible for the spirit and the deeds of Popery — a spirit and deeds which she de- nounces and abhors. • How would Deists like to be made responsible for the conduct of Pagans or of Atheists ? We must look to the nature of true Christianity, as un- folded in the Scriptures, and in the genuine history of its operation; and, tried by this standard, we shall find her the warmest friend, and most successful supporter of freedom, civil and religious. The great commandment, to love our neighbour up to the same measure and degree in which we love ourselves ; the picture of Chris- tian love exhibited in the 13th chapter of 1st Corin- thians; the tenderness which is repeatedly recommend- ed in behalf of the scruples of less informed brethren ; these are all inconsistent with the selfishness of despot- ism, and lie at the root of the generosity of true freedom. And bating the atrocities of Popery, what has been the history of Christianity, but the history of human liberty ? The humanity inspired by the Gospel, and a sense of the value of the soul of man, led to the abolition of slavery, which previously had been almost universal ; while the representative councils of the Christian church, seem to have led the way to repre- sentative forms of civil government, the freest of all forms. Compare Protestant Christendom with Pagan- ism, ancient or modern : is there any real comparison in point of civil freedom ? Nay more, turn to the great struggles for freedom throughout Christendom in modern times — who were the men who made the noblest sacrifices — who spent and endured most? Were they the scholar, the man of literature, the philosopher? No. Had they been the only supporters, the cause of freedom would have perished. It was religious men ! of all ranks — men deeply imbued with Christianity, ' who wrought out the liberties of Europe. Nay, what ' is very striking, it could be proved from the history of Britain, that every increase of liberty was preceded ' by an increase of religious knowledge and feeling ; in PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY, vii short, that Christianity was the parent of British liberties. Turning to Scotland, who needs to be re- minded, that it was to the Christian men of the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries, that our country is indebted for the present free constitution under which we have the happiness to live ? What infidel or Pagan can point to such sacidfices in behalf of freedom as they cheerfully endured? Where are the martyrs of infidelity ; yea, where would have been the liberty which infidels now so often abuse, had it not been for the men of the Covenant, whom they profess to scorn ? Unbelievers often taunt Christians with their perse- cutions, and tell us how tolerant the ancient Pagans were, and how tolerant they are. The animosity and violence which have prevailed among Christians, are indeed much to be deplored. Nothing can be more opposite to the spirit of the Gospel ; but if the Church of Rome, and those parties whom she more immedi- ately infected with her spirit, be left out of the account — and in justice they must be so — from any estimate of the operation of genuine Christianity, the sura of persecution which can be laid to the score of Chris- tians is very much abridged ; and the extreme impor- tance which is pi'operly attached to Scripture princi- ples and doctrines, mitigates, if it do not justify, a zeal in pressing them upon others, which would be absurd and unwarrantable in inculcating and diffusing any thing else. It is, however, a gross historical error to imagine that the ancient heathen were tolerant toward Christianity. On the contrary, they persecuted its adherents with the most unrelenting cruelty ; and Roman emperors, eminent for literature and mildness in every other department, were among the foremost of the persecutors. Jerome states that the Roman emperors of the three first centuries were estimated in that space of time to have cut off not less than 1,820,000, or nearly two millions of Christians. Of course the brunt of the persecution was confined to, comparatively speaking, a few years, which makes the results the more appalling. With regard again to the tolerant chai-acter of mo- dern infidelity, the claim is equally unfounded. There is nothing in its principles to teach men generosity, to regard the rights and privileges of others. Its spirit is essentially selfish; a consistent infidel has no motive to show respect or kindness to others ; and what then can he be but selfish, and in the same degree where he has the power, overbearing and despotic? These reason- ings are borne out by facts. Have leading infidels been eminent for their love of liberty ? They may in some cases have been employed as instruments in the provi- dence of God, in sapping and hastening the overthrow of the superstitions of Popery, misnamed Christianity ; but what were the principles to which they gave utterance in doing so, and what was the system which they sub- stituted in the room of Popery ? Did they breathe of true freedom ? Far from it. Rousseau, immediately after denouncing persecution, in a letter to D’Alem- bert, thus speaks of fanaticism, which many would de- scribe by the more honourable name of true religion: “ Fanaticism is not an error, but a blind, a senseless fury, which reason can never keep within bounds. The only way to hinder it from spreading, is to restrain, those who broach it. In vain is it to demonstrate to madmen that they are deceived by their leaders, still will they be as eager as ever to follow them. I see but one way to stop its progress, and that is, to com- bat it with its own weapons. Little does it avail either to reason or convince. You must lay aside philosophy, shut your books — take up the sword and punish the knaves." Why should religious men, fana- tics though they be, in the estimation of Rousseau, be persecuted at all, and much more upon principle ? If they are so miserable as the infidel represents them, that is the stronger reason why they should be pitied. How would the infidel have liked had Christians thought that scepticism was a species of fanaticism, which could be restrained only by taking up the sword and punishing the knaves, and had begun by applying it to Rousseau himself ? Voltaire, it is well known, instead of sympathizing, as every lover of freedom ought to have done, with the persecuted Protestants of France* denounces them as “ weak and obstinate men,” because they suffered so much, rather than give way to the usurpations of the Church of Rome. Hume, it is equally well known, in his History of England, uni- formly takes the side of the oppressor, and does all that lies in his power to blacken and misrepresent the character of the persecuted, though to them we are in a great degree "indebted, under God, for our civil and religious liberties. Does this indicate any thing like an alliance between infidelity and the love of freedom ? With regard to Gibbon again, in spirit and character he was intensely selfish. An able writer who has examined his Diary and Journals with care, declares, that “ from the beginning to the end of his life, there is not one noble generous sentiment ex- pressed.” This holds out but a poor prospect for so generous a feeling as the love of liberty. Accordingly, we need not wonder to learn, that Gibbon, when a member of Parliament, was a silent supporter of meas- ures adverse to freedom; and that in 1779, after denouncing the existing administration as little short of traitors, in fifteen days he accepted office under them ; in other words, he was bribed into a change of sentiment. Does this speak much for his patriotism or love of freedom ? As to Paine, whatever may have been the success with which his political pam- phlets were attended, though they may have had an influence in shaking off despotic principles, and in giving currency to more liberal institutions, yet who does not know that, in his own spii-it and conduct, he was an utter stranger to true toleration ? What are the terms in which he speaks of Christian men, and especially Christian teachers ? Are they not those of unmeasured abuse and violence ? Does he not inces- santly impute the worst motives to them, and what Vlll PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY. does tliis indicate ? Does it indicate the presence of that toleration and liberty of which he speaks so much ? If Christians are so ignorant, superstitious, and de- ceived, as he represents them to be, he should feel for them the deeper compassion. Is this his spirit or his tone ? Does he not rather show the temper of the persecutor ? Impressive facts proclaim that infidelity, so far from being tolerant, is intensely persecuting. It is not unknown to the student of history, that many of the most atrocious persecutors in the Church of Rome, were infidels under the guise of ecclesiastics. They persecuted the saints of God to the death, for not be- lieving what they themselves did not believe. And when infidelity actually came forth from its conceal- ment, and appeared openly at the head of the govern- ment of France, forty years ago, what was the character which she manifested to the world ? One would have expected that, after all her outcry about toleration and freedom, she would have been remarkable for the tenderness, ability, and success, with which she upheld the cause of liberty — bearing with the ignorant, and protecting the weak ; but what is the fact ? She stood forth as the very demon of persecution, under the name of freedom, and persecuted not only the Roman Catholics, but the Protestants — in short, Christianity ; shutting up the churches, abolishing the sacraments and sabbath, with a virulence and blood thirstiness hitherto unknown in the history of the world. French infidelity, while denouncing the Gospel as cruel, butchered two millions of the people of that unhappy country in seven short years. The pagan emperors of Rome, could boast of nothing like this; and yet infidels would have us to believe that they are tolerant, and the only true friends of freedom ! Let them not only disown and abominate the conduct of their brethren of France, but change their own tempers and dispositions when speaking of Christianity and of Christians, before they expect to receive any credit for such idle assertions. I subjoin a statement of the numbers who fell by the hands of infidelity, from the work of one of themselves. Prudhomme, a republican, gives the following table : Guillotined hy Sentences of the Revolutionary Tribunal. Nobility of both sexes . 2028 Wives of labourers and artisans 1467 Priests .... 1135 Religieuses .... 350 Common persons 13,633 Women died of premature child- birth .... 3,748 Women killed in La Vendee 15,000 Children do. do. 22,000 Men slain do. do 900,000 Victims at Nantes 32,000 Killed at Leon 31,000 1 , 022,351 Of course, the loss of life, as a whole, was far greater than these figures describe ; 20,000 persons are esti- mated to have died of famine ; and in ten years, not less than three millions perished in France alone; 800,000 by civil war. During the Convention, the guillotine struck off a thousand heads per day. The reader will now be able to judge with what truth infidelity represents Christianity as the friend of des- potism, and herself as the great pillar of freedom ! The claim is not only not true, but it is the very reverse of the truth. III. There is still another pretension which we must shortly consider; and it is this, that infidelity conducts to human Happiness and Perfectibility, while, to say the least, Christianity can establish no such claim. It is well known that there is a class of speculators, many of whom avow no hostility to revelation, who dream that, by the spread of general knowledge, the improvement of arts and sciences, and well-poised poli- tical institutions, our race, apart from religion, may be conducted to a state of perfectibility and happiness on earth. Of course this theory proceeds upon a denial of the most obvious truths of revelation, such as the depravity of man, and may therefore justly be called infidel in its character, whether men are aware of it or not. Of the good which such influences as those to which we have referred, may be able to work out for the race of man, we do not pretend to judge. It is very probable that in some respects they would im- prove his outward condition ; but we hold, that infi- delity, whatever character it may assume, is utterly inadequate to meet the circumstances and the wants of man, and therefore can never lead him to that happiness of which it boasts. We shall show that the most eminent infidels, so far from being happy in their own minds, have been miserable ; and that the only certain approximation which is made to happiness in this world, is through the medium of genuine Christianity. We have seen that infidelity is neither the friend of knowledge nor the friend of freedom : that its influence is hostile to both. It is obvious that this must stand very much in the way of that millennium of bliss of which it speaks. Two important elements, conducive to human happiness, do not acknowledge infidelity ; they disown it. But, as a matter of fact, consider what has been the prevailing state of mind on the part of unbelievers, and say whether it be desirable it should be universal, or whether, if it really were so, the general happiness would thereby be promoted. We have seen how selfish some of the most distinguished unbelievers were —that they had no motives to be generous. Now it is in the exercise of the more generous dispositions, those which point to the welfare of others, that our true happiness lies. So far then infidelity leaves men strangers to abiding enjoyment ; but let us refer to particular cases. The following is Voltaire’s view of human life. Does it argue the presence of happiness ? Does it point to the perfectibility of man ? PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY. ix Who,” says Voltaire, “ can without horror con- sider the whole world as the empire of destruction ? It abounds with wonders ; it also abounds with victims. It is a vast field of carnage and contagion. Every species is without pity pursued and torn to pieces through the earth, and air, and water. In man there is more wretchedness than in all the other animals put together. He loves life, and yet he knows that he must die. If he enjoys transient good, he suffers various evils, and is at last devoured by worms. This knowledge is his fatal prerogative, other animals have it not. He spends the transient moments of his exis- tence in diffusing the miseries which he suffers; in cutting the throats of his fellow-creatures for pay ; in cheating and being cheated ; in serving that he might command ; and in repenting of all he does. The bulk of mankind are nothing more than a crowd of wretches, equally criminal and unfortunate ; and the globe con- tains rather carcasses than men. I tremble at the review of the dreadful picture, to find that it contains a complaint against Providence itself: and I WISH I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN.” What a contrast is this view of human life, to that entertained by Haliburton ! an eminent Professor of Theology at St Andrew’s, one of the earliest writers on the Evidences in Scotland. If all men could hon- estly make use of such language as the following, might it not well be said, that our race had reached the per- fection of earthly happiness ? — “ I shall shortly get a very different sight of God from what I have ever had, and shall be made meet to praise him for ever ; oh ! the thoughts of an incarnate Deity are sweet. Oh ! how I wonder at myself, that I do not love him more, that I do not admire him more. What a wonder that I can enjoy such compo- sure under all my bodily pains, and in the view of death itself! What a mercy that, having the use of my reason, I can declare his goodness to my soul ! I long for his salvation. I bless his name. I have found him, and die rejoicing in him. O, blessed be God that I WAS born i ’ O that I was where he is 1 I have a father and mother, and ten brothers and sis- ters in heaven, and I shall be the eleventh. Oh 1 there is a telling in this providence, and I shall be telling it for ever 1 If there be such a glory in his conduct to- ward me now, what will it be to see the Lamb in the midst of the throne ! Blessed be God that ever I WAS BORN.” These are not peculiar cases. Turn to the experi- ence of Hume. I do not refer to the affected merri- ment of his death-scene, and its real misery and awful- pess — a death-scene of infidelity which the nurse, who witnessed it, declared she would, on no consideration, attend again; I refer to his own state of mind, as declared in his Treatise on Human Nature, between thirty and forty yeai's before his death, when he was in full health and vigour. “ When I look abroad, I see on every side dispute, contradiction, anger, calumny, and detraction ; w-hen I turn my eye inward, I find nothing but doubt and IGNORANCE. All the world conspires to oppose and contradict me ; though, such is my weakness, I feel my opinions loosen and fall off of themselves when un- supported by the approbation of others. Every step I take is with hesitation, and every new reflection makes me dread an error and absurdity in my reason- ing; for, with what confidence can I enter on such hold enterprises, when, besides those numberless infir- mities peculiar to myself, I find so many that are com- mon to human nature ? The intense view of manifold contradictions, the infirmities in human reason, have so worked upon my brain, that I am ready to reject all belief and reasoning, and can look upon no opinion even as more likely and more probable than another. Where am I, or what ? From what causes do I derive my existence, and to what condition shall I return ? Whose favour shall I court, and whose anger shall I dread ? What beings surround me, and on whom have I any influence, or who have any influence on me ? I am confounded hy all these questions, and begin to fancy myself in the most deplorable condition imagina- ble ; environed with the deepest darkness, and utterly deprived of the use of every member and faculty,” It is unnecessary to remind the reader of the de- graded life of Paine, or his wretched death ; but I beg to quote two sentences from a letter of Franklin l o his brother infidel, on showing him in manuscript his Age of Reason, and requesting his opinion of it. This letter is little known, and unbelievers have denied its authority; but its genuineness has recently been estab- lished beyond all question. Franklin’s remarks are, “ I would advise you not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person.” “ If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be without it ?” Here the sagacious but sceptical Franklin confesses infidelity to be a tiger — a description which the scenes of the first French revolution afterwards showed to be fearfully correct. He acknowledges also its inability to restrain wicked- ness. What prospect, then, does unbelief hold out, of conducting to the perfectibility of our race? where the social millennium under the auspices of infidelity ? The Age of Reason reminds me of the Goddess of Reason — the unhappy profligate young woman who, in France, consented to be publicly recognised as the personification of infidelity. Surely she should be a picture of happiness — an emblem of the glories of in- fidelity when universal. The following is the account of her, taken from the Paris papers of 1st August, 1817 “ Died, within these few days, in the hospital for pauper lunatics at Salpetriere, where she had lived un- pitied and unknown for many years, the famous The- roigne de Mericourt (the Goddess of Reason), the most remarkable of tlie heroines of the Revolution. She, who was taught publicly to blaspheme her Crea- tor and to dishonour her sex (for she appeared in public nearly naked), was, for the last twenty years of her miserable life, subject to the greatest of human calami- ties — the deprivation of reason. She repented very severely of her horrible crimes, and her few lucid in- tervals were filled up by the most heart-rending lamen- tations. She died at the age of 57.” Righteous was the moral retribution of heaven—. the Goddess of Reason for twenty years bereft of reason ! I might quote the last words of the chief of the Utilitarian School, Jeremy Bentham, who, I under- stand, belonged to the same unhappy class of infidels. Shortly before his death, he said to one of his disciples, who was watching over him, “ I feel that I am dying ; our care must be to minumize the pain. Do not let any of the servants come into the room, and keep X PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY, away the youths ; it will be distressing to them, and they can be of no service. Yet I must not be alone. You will remain with me, and you alone ; and then we shall have reduced the pain to the least possible amount.” What a contrast between the dying infidel and the dying Christian! Would the latter, in such circumstances, say, that the chief care was to diminish the pain, and to keep his family from him ? Would it not rather be to glorify God, by meekly bearing the appointed suffering ? and would it not be his earnest desire to see his children, in the prospect of separation, and give them those counsels which, with the Divine blessing, might bring them to the same eternal bless- edness which stretched out before him ? I shall conclude these illusti'ations, which might be greatly enlarged, by quoting the case of Lord Byron, and contrasting with it the case of Henry Martyn, the late eminent Christian missionary to Persia. Both were men of first-rate talent and accomplishment, and both were called to the experience of the severest trials. The one was an infidel, the other was a decided Christian. Let us see their respective state of feeling in life, and judge whether unbelief leads to the perfec- tibility of man. On the death of one of his early friends, Byron thus writes : — “ My friends fall around me, and I shall be left a lonely tree before I am withered. I have no resource but my own reflections ; and they present no prospect here or hereafter, except the selfish satisfaction of sur- viving my betters. I am indeed most wretched.” On another occasion, he gave a more comprehensive view of the state of his mind ; — “ Why, at the very height of desire and human happiness — worldly, amorous, ambitious, or even avaricious — does there mingle a certain sense of doubt and sorrow — a fear of what is to come, a doubt of what is ? If it were not for hope, what would the future be ? A hell ! As for the past, what predomi- nates in memory ? Hopes baffled ! From whatever place we commence, we know where it must all end ; and yet what good is there in knowing it ? It does not make men wiser or better. If I were to live my life over again, I do not know what I would change in ray life, unless it were for, not to have lived at all. All history, and experience, and the rest, teach us that good and evil are pretty equally balanced in this exis- tence, and that what is most to be desired is, an easy passage out of it. What can it give us but years ? and these have little of good hut their ending” On one of the anniversaries of his birth, he thus writes : — “At 12 o’clock I shall have completed thirty-three years. I go to bed with a heaviness of heart, at hav- ing lived so long, and to so little purpose. It is now three minutes past 12, and I am thirty-three. ‘ Eheu fugaces Posthurae, Posthume, Labuntur anni.’ But I do not regret them so much for what I have done, as for what I might have done.” Poetically he thus describes his own career : — “ A wandering mass of shapeless flame, A pathless comet and a curse. The menace of the universe. Still rolling on with innate force, Without a sphere, without a course— A bright deformity — on high The monster of the upper sky.” I How diflFerent the feeling of Martyn ! On the : death of one most dear to him, he says, I “ Can it be that she has been lying so many months ' in the cold grave? Oh, my gracious God! what I should I do without thee 1 There is nothing in the I world for which I could wish to live, except it may I please God to appoint me some work to do. O thou j incomprehensibly glorious Saviour! what hast thou done to alleviate the sorrows of life !” On another occasion he writes : — “ I like to find myself employed usefully in a way I I did not expect or foresee. The coming year is to j be a perilous one ; but my life is of little consequence, whether I finish the Persian New Testament or not. I look back with pity bn myself, when I attached so much importance to my life and labour. The more I see of my own works, I am the more ashamed of them ; for coarseness and clumsiness mar all the works of man. I am sick when I look at the wisdom of man ; but am relieved by reflecting, that we have a city, whose builder and maker is God. The least of his works is refreshing. A dried leaf, or a straw, makes me feel in good company ; and complacency and adniiration take the place of disgust. What a momentary duration is the life of man 1 Lahitur et lahetur in omne volubilis cevum, may be affirmed of the river ; but men pass away as soon as they begin to exist. Well, let the moments pass, ‘ They waft us sooner o’er This life’s tempestuous sea ; Soon we shall reach the blissful shore Of blest eternity.’ ” The last record from his dying hand w’as in these words — “ I sat in the orchard and thought with sweet comfort and peace of my God — in solitude my com- pany — my Friend — my Comforter.” Such is a brief illustration of the pretension of in- fidelity to secure the perfection of man. I have not taken inferior men. I have drawn my examples from the most noted of their class. Suppose that all men were infidels — that society was entirely made up of such persons as Voltaire and Hume and Paine and Byron, would its general happiness be advanced? would we be making an approximation to social per- fectibility? Would we not rather be decidedly frus- trating the hope of both ? It is, comparatively speak- ing, the small number of infidels, and their conformity to Christian usages and institutions where they do exist, which render them tolerable. On the other hand, suppose that true Christianity were universal — that the wmrld were filled with such men as Haliburton or Martyn.^who can doubt that the happiness would be universal, and that we would be upon the high road to the perfectibility of society ? It is vain to urge the unhappy and immoral lives and wretched deaths of many professed Christians ; these things will not prove infidelity to be the source either of personal or social happiness ; the important point to mark is, that where Christians are wretched, as regards their comfort and hope, this is owing either to their not really being Christians, or to their falling far short of their rights and privileges as Christians. In no case is it owing to Christianity, but to the want of it ; whereas, in the i case of unbelievers, their disquietude and wretchedness PREFATORY ESSAY ON MODERN INFIDELITY. can be traced directly to their infidelity, and so it is justly held responsible for them. While I have thus endeavoured to expose the false claims of modern infidelity to the character of the friend of knowledge, the friend of freedom, and the friend of social happiness, I have been indirectly re- commending the Evidences of Christianity, by proving her to be the true friend of all these great interests. I desire to remind the reader, in taking leave of him, that it is not enough to study and be satisfied with the Evidences of the Divine authority of the Scriptures. A man may be convinced, from various external and other marks, that a letter has come from above, and yet be quite indifferent or hostile to the contents of that letter. He may receive the letter as from God, and still perish in his sins. It is indispensable that he re- ceive the contents of the letter into his heart, so as to fnfluence and regulate his life, as well as the outward letter into his hands ; and this can be attained only through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Let every reader, then, clearly see the way, and the only way, in which he can partake of^the real benefits of Chris- tianity. Let him remember that it is through the faith of the Gospel, as a message of mercy to his own soul as a sinner, conveyed by the Spirit, that he can alone attain to the most conclusive of all proofs that the Bible is Divine, even the proof of a personal ex- perience — the proof of its marvellous adaptation to his circumstances and necessities — at once bestowing peace and purity and hope ; and let him therefore pray to the Father of Lights while he reads his word. And let Christians not be contented to know the truth for them- selves: let them be zealous and unwearied in spreading abroad its proofs among others. The enemies of Revela- tion are active ; let not the friends be remiss. “ Truth is great and will prevail but in a fallen world it will only do so if appropriate means are perseveringly ap- plied. I cannot better conclude, than in the solemn words of the great Andrew Fuller, spoken above forty years ago, but remarkably applicable to the present day. They should strike a note of warning into every Christian heart, and awake the faithful to new zeal and devotedness against infidelity in all its forms. “ The human heart,” says he, “ has ever been averse from the Gospel of Christ, but the turn or temper of the present age is peculiarly favourable to infidelity. In much the same manner as in former ages men were violently attached to a persecuting superstition, they are now verging to the opposite ex- treme, and are in danger of throwing off all religion. Our temptations, and those which will attend our posterity after us, are likely, therefore, to be widely different from what they have hitherto been. Hitherto nominal Christianity has been no reproach, but re- xi proach has attached itself to the other side. The case, in this respect, may soon be altered. Men grow bold in avowing their contempt of Christianity, and many among the dissipated part of the youth are following their example. Now, if characters of this description should spring up in sufficient numbers, not only to keep each other in countenance, but to turn the tide of re- proach against Christians, as a company of wrong- headed enthusiasts, we shall soon see which side the mass of mankind will take. Their characters being loose and profligate, they have long felt themselves condemned by the Gospel, and this is a matter that does not sit very easy upon them. Nothing has kept them from rejecting it before, but the disgrace that would follow upon their becoming open infidels. When- ever, therefore, this disgrace shall be removed, we may expect them to go off in great companies. The slightest observation of human nature must convince us, that the greater part of mankind, even in religious matters, are governed by fashion. They go with the course of the world. So great an influence has the tide of public opinion upon them, that even where it is not altogether agreeable to their own views and in- clinations, they are nevertheless frequently carried away by it ; but if it be thus where public opinion and private inclination are at variance, it must, of course, be much more so in those cases wherein they are agreed. This will be a union of the wind and tide ; and the vessel which is carried along by such a joint influence, can scarcely have any thing left to impede its progress. * '* * It is not unlikely that almost all our religious controversies will soon be re- duced to one, upon which the gi*eat body of men will divide. Is Christianity true or false ? Is there a God ? Is there a heaven and a hell ? or is it all a fiction ? Agitated by these important questions, the greater part of the inhabitants of Europe, and perhaps of America, including our own posterity, may rank either as real Christians or as open infidels.” Vol. vii. pp. 141, 142. Can any parent who loves Christianity, or loves his children, read these solemn sentences and not be aroused to the warfare against infidelity ? Earnestly do I pray that the God of Truth may bless the present publica- tion, and use it as armour which shall do good service, in defence of his own cause. He often honours the humblest means. It may be noticed, that the writers of the following excellent Tracts belonged to different denominations of professed Christians. Their perfect concurrence here is the more valuable. Principal Robertson, Principal Campbell, of Aberdeen, Dr Campbell, of Edinburgh, Mr Bonai", of Perth, were all ministers of the Church of Scotland. Mr Leslie was a minister of the Church of England ; and Mr Carson, who is still alive, is a Dissenting minister in Ireland, of the Congregational body. JOHN G. LORIMER. Glasgow, IG/A January, 1839. CONTENTS. FADE Prefatory Essay on Modern Infidelity. By the Rev. John G. Lorimer, Glasgow iii Summary of the Evidences. By the late Rev. John Campbell, D.D., Edinburgh 13 The Variety and Dissimilarity of the Evidences a Proof of the Truth of Divine Revelation. By the Rev. John Davison, B.D 19 The Situation of the World at the Time of Christ’s Appearance. By the Rev. William Robert- son, D.D., Principal of the University of Edinburgh 20 A Short and Easy Method with the Deists. By the Rev. Charles Leslie, M.A 27 Observations on the Conduct and Character of Judas Iscariot. By the Rev. John Bonar, Perth 37 The Success of the First Publishers of the Gospel a Proof of its Truth. By the Rev. George Camp- bell, D.D., Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen 46 The Truth of the Gospel Demonstrated from the Character of God Manifested in the Atonement ; A Letter to Mr Richard Carlile. By Alexander Carson 54 Confessions of Infidels in favour of Christianity 62 THE CHEISTIAFS ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCES. BY THE Late Rev. JOHN CAMPBELL, D.D., One of the Ministers of the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh. Though the single argument handled in each of the Tracts, now for the first time collected together, would, by itself, establish the Divine truth of Christianity ; yet it is desirable to have a brief but comprehensive sum- mary of the whole question of the Evidences. We begin with a general outline of the entire field — an outline drawn by the pen of the late Rev. Dr Campbell, of the Tolbooth Church, Edinburgh. I am not aware that there is any shorter, or more correct and full, and beautiful statement, in the English language. In the original paper, he supports every position of importance by numerous learned notes, which it is not necessary to quote. The Scriptures contain strong internal characters of divinity. Certain books are put into our hands, confessedly of high antiquity, and purporting to have been given by inspiration of God. Though written by different penmen, at distant periods, and on various subjects, a wonderful uniformity of design pervades the whole. The style employed by the several writers, is remark- ably simple, majestic, and awful. These books contain authentic records of ancient transactions, which per- fectly harmonize with the best accounts of profane his- torians. They inculcate a pure and sublime morality ; exemplified by a character of perfect excellence, the conception and delineation of which, by the writers of the life of Jesus, seems no less to transcend the power of man, than any of the wonders they record. They communicate most important information, respecting both the duty and the happiness of man. They give descriptions of the character and perfections of God, which, though nature could never have discovered, do well accord with the best principles of right reason. They remove the vail, which hides the spiritual and eternal world from our view, and open most interest- ing prospects, into which our unassisted faculties could never have penetrated, respecting the counsels and dispensations of God, the origin and destiny of the human race. And withal, in those instances in which they are received as true, they acquire an authority over conscience, possessed by no other writings, which fails not to produce a most beneficial change in the character, sentiments, and pursuits of men. Blessed indeed is that man, who resigns himself, without re- serve, to the influence of these inestimable writings ! Me hath the witness in himself and wants no other evi- dence of their heavenly origin. This experience of the truth of Scripture, is not only more satisfying to the mind than any other species of proof, but indeed, is indispensably necessary to the attainment of its ultimate design, the end of our faith, the salvation of the soul. Nay, the essential truths of revelation, seem to have their foundation so deeply laid, in the original principles and sentiments of the human mind, that their power has often been fek and confessed by men, who have professed to reject or disregard the gospel. In moments of serious reflection, conscience, even in wicked men, sometimes joins its testimony to that of Scripture, with an authority, which neither the sophis- try of scepticism, nor the blandishments of sensuality, are able to silence. m * * * It must be owned, however, that the minds of avowed unbelievers, cannot be expected to possess that impartiality, and freedom from prejudice, which is in some degree necessary to discern the proper import and value of the internal evidence of Christianity. Other proofs, therefore, more extrinsic and palpable, were offered to the world on its first promulgation. And here it is impossible not to admire the infinite wisdom of God, displayed in the specific nature of that evidence, on which our assent to the gospel is claimed. It is that of supernatural facts, accredited by proper testimony ; a species of evidence, which, precluding as well the impositions of fancy, as the subtilties of reasoning, lies open to investigation, is less liable to mistake, and seems well adapted to produce conviction on the minds of those to whom they are exhibited. These facts regard the character and ministry of Jesus Christ ; the wonderful circumstances of his life, and death, and resurrection ; the miracles performed by him- self, and afterwards by his apostles in his name. If these can be disproved, or if it can be shown, that the grounds on which they are believed, are insufficient to sustain the conclusions that are built upon them, then our “ faith is vain,”* and the Christian cause must fall to the ground. On the other hand, if the evidence of- fered in support of the miracles of the gospel, appear sufficient to authorize our belief of them, then it fol- lows, that the gospel must be true, because “no man can do such miracles, except God be with him.”f If ♦ 1 Cor. XV. 17. t John Hi. 2. J4 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. it were reasonable for the first Christians to believe, it must be reasonable for us to do so now. The whole argument, then, resolves itself into these two questions : Are we, at this distant period of time, possessed of the same documents on which the ancient Christians re- ceived the gospel ; and if we are, is there reason to believe that the wonderful facts contained in them are true ? Here a fair ground of discussion is opened, both to the friends and foes of Christianity. To enter fully into the detail of the argument, would be quite impracticable. But it may not be unuseful to recapi- tulate the leading points of evidence, which are largely established by many advocates of the Chi'istian cause. Let it then be recollected, that the circumstances relative to the personal history of Jesus Christ, the miracles performed by Himself during his life, and by his apostles after his departure from the world, are delivered in certain hookst purporting to have been written by persons who had witnessed these transac- tions, or who had been intimately connected with such original witnesses ; that these histories were soon published to the world, and in the country where the events which they record are understood to have happened ; that from the very beginning, they were quoted with great respect, by a succession of Christian writers, and publicly read and expounded in their reli- gious assemblies ; that after the most scrupulous in- vestigation, they were received by the early Christi- ans as genuine and authentic : that catalogues of the canonical books are given by many of the writers of those times, in all of which the historical books are included, and when the canon of the New Testament was finally settled, it contained precisely the same books which belong to it at this day ; that these were uniformly appealed to by the primitive Christians, as the ground and standard of their faith, in all their controversies with their enemies, and with one another; nay, that they were explicitly acknowledged and ap- pealed to as such, by acute and learned adversaries, who made them the object of their attack : all these things are clearly ascertained by indubitable testimony. It therefore follows, that these sacred books were in- deed written by the persons to whom they are ascribed, and that they contain faithful records of those facts and doctrines, which were most surely believed by the primitive Christians. We are therefore in pos- session of the same documentsy on which the gospel was at first believed. If we proceed to attend to the nature of the apos- tolic testimony, and the circumstances in which it was delivered, we shall also find abundant reason to con- clude, that the testimony which they give is true. They could not be deceived as to the facts which they reported. Whatever difficulty there may be in giving such a definition of a miracle, as will obviate all the exceptions of a subtle and captious adversary, there can be no difficulty in perceiving when a man that was born blind, receives the faculty of sight ; when one that was deaf and dumb, is enabled to hear and to speak ; or when one that had been dead for several days, is restored to life. This requires no superior endowments of mind. In such cases, a plain, illiterate fisherman, is as well qualified to judge, as the most learned and ingenious philosopher. There appears no reason to call in question the integrity of the apostles. The design in w’hich they were engaged, might well preclude the suspicion of dishonesty. They were attempting to reform a degen- erate world, and calling men to the love of truth, and the practice of universal goodness. Nor w’as there any thing in their character or conduct, that seemed nnsuited to the views which they avowed. Their writings indicate an unaffected simplicity. They con- ceal nothing, however unfavourable to themselves or their brethren, and faithfully record their own imper- fections and errors. They were actuated by no selfish views, but were uniformly moved by a strong disin- terested benevolence. Their most inveterate enemies found it impossible to fix the smallest imputation on their character. Could such men propagate falsehood, to subserve the cause of truth, and relinquish all pre- tensions to integrity, in order to lead men to purity and virtue ? They could have no interest in attempting to impose on the world. The considerations of interest indeed, lay altogether on the opposite side. Had they quietly submitted to the prohibition of the Sanhedrim, and preached no more in the name of Jesus, they might have lived at home, in security, and ease, and credit. By persevering in their testimony, they renounced every prospect of advantage in the world, and exposed themselves, not to a doubtful, but certain prospect of sufferings and death. What could induce them to this, but the fullest conviction of the truth and importance of the things which they testified? And therefore, when the Sanhedrim endeavoured to intimidate them, by threatening grievous penalties, if they should con- tinue to “ teach in the name of Jesus,” they made no other reply, than the artless but unanswerable apology, “ We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”* But though the apostles had been willing, it was not in their power to impose on the world. If infidels insinuate that they were either wild enthusiasts, or designing impostors, will they also affirm, that it was in their power to make thousands of other men enthu- siasts and impostors too ? The observations that have been already made deserve regard, though the testi- mony of the apostles had related to facts, of which they themselves and their associates had been the only witnesses. But it must be remembered, that the min- istry of Jesus had been very public, and the miracles which he performed, “were not done in a corner. ”f Multitudes had seen them, throughout the cities and villages of Judea, and some of the cases had become the subject of judicial investigation. By publishing these things, (if the cause had been bad,) they furnish- ed their adversaries with every advantage. Could they persuade their countrymen, that several thousands of men and women had, on two different occasions, been fed with a few loaves and fishes ; that a blind man, cured by Jesus, had been strictly examined, and afterwards, through envy, excommunicated by the San- hedrim ; or that Lazarus of Bethany had been raised from the dead ? These things could never have been advanced and insisted on, if they had not been true. If they were certainly false, the detection was easy, and must have inevitably ruined the cause of the apostles. The enmity of those who then opposed the gospel, must surely have disposed them to manifest the alleged imposition, had it been in their power. This, how- ever, was never done, nor attempted to be done. But the apostles were not merely the witnesses of the life, and miracles, and resurrection of Jesus. They themselves were endowed with the power of working miracles, and performed many no less signal than those that had been done by their Lord. This power they ascribe altogether to Him.f And they were enabled also to impart it to others.§ These miraculous gifts were exercised with great publicity, and proved effec- tual for converting many to the faith of Christ. Ac- counts of them wei'e speedily communicated to the world ;[| and the apostles in some of their letters to Christian churches, refer to the exercise of such gifts, * Acts iv. 20. f Acts xxviii. 26. t Acts ii. 33. ^ Acts viii. 1^. II Acts ii., iii., el passim. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCES. 15 as well known and uncontroverted facts.* Let the reflecting mind pause on these amazing circumstances ; and consider, if it be possible to account for them on the principles of enthusiasm or imposture. These considerations are greatly strengthened by observing, that though the miraculous facts undoubtedly form a principal part of the history of the New Tes- tament, they do by no means occupy the whole of it, but are interwoven with multifarious details, both of domestic and national history. They do not appear in insulated narratives, which might easily be extracted from the rest, and yet a consistent series of ordinary occurrences be still preserved. The whole must stand or fall together. The circumstances of time and place in regard to particular transactions, are minutely spe- cified ; the names of individuals, both in public and private life, are mentioned ; and many incidents re- lated, which must have been well known, not only to smaller circles, but to the whole Jewish nation. Thus, the birth, and ministry, and death of the Baptist John ; the circumstances that preceded the birth of Jesus; the visit of the Magi ; the inquiries and consternation of Herod ; his massacre of the children at Bethlehem ; the testimonies of Simeon and Anna ; the baptism of Jesus ; his various intercourses both with friends and enemies ; the individuals and families with whom he was wont to associate ; his public ministrations in the temple, and throughout all the cities and villages of Judea ; his last solemn entrance into Jerusalem ; espe- cially the circumstances of his death ; the treachery of Judas, and his engagement with the chief priests and rulers ; the examination of Jesus before Caiaphas, and the council, and Pilate ; the dream and message of Pilate’s wife ; the governor’s testimony to his inno- cence ; the crucifixion and burial of Christ ; the sub- ornation and testimony of the soldiers ; the events of the day of Pentecost ; the cure of the lame man by Peter and John ; the imprisonment of the apostles ; the deliberations and proceedings of the Sanhedrim. It were endless to pursue the specification. Was it possible that these things could have been published to the world, and believed, on the spot, and soon after they are stated to have happened, had they been un- true ? The argument would appear in all its force, were we to transfer the history to our own country, and our own time. It is unnecessary to particularize it. Every mind, at all capable of reflection, must perceive the absolute impossibility of procuring credit to naiTatives far less wonderful, which are supposed to have had no foundation in fact. Thus did the testimony of the apostles pass from one country to another, confirmed by additional mira- cles performed by themselves ; and “ multitudes every where believed the gospel.” Men renounced at once idolatry and vice, their corrupt passions, and their worldly interests. They voluntarily shared in the fortunes of their teachers, and joyfully submitted to all the afflictions that attended the profession of the name of Jesus. In these circumstances, surely, the success of the gospel is an irrefragable attestation of its truth. The effect is accounted for by an adequate cause ; on the opposite hypothesis, it is altogether inexplicable. It has been maintained by a subtle sceptic, that miracles being contrary to experience (as he understands the phrase), it is more improbable that they should be true, than that the testimony by which they are supported should be false. The fallacy of this principle has been well exposed by many able writers. But may not the observation, in so far as it seems capable of any proper meaning, be justly re- torted on the advocates of infidelity ? That men should be deceived with respect to such miraculous * 1 Cor. xii., xiv. facts as are recorded in the New Testament, or believe the report of them without evidence, and under this conviction, change their religion, and course of life, and willingly expose themselves to obloquy, tortures, and death itself, is not all this utterly repugnant to reason and experience ; a marvellous phenomenon without any assignable cause or end; and infinitely more incredible, than any miracle or mystery con- nected with Christianity ? On these grounds, then, it is reasonable to believe that the facts contained in the Christian history are true, and therefore that the Christian religion is Divine. It remains that we consider, how the Providence of its great Author, is manifested in the transmission of that evidence, by which these facts are established, from age to age. This eminently appears in the preservation of the Books of Scripture, and in their transmission, entire* and uncorrupted, through many generations, even to the present times. These, as we have seen, contain strong internal characters of Divinity. They are the authentic records of the History of Revelation, and the infallible standard of revealed truth. The posses- sion of them, therefore, genuine and pure, is of infi- nite importance to the evidence of the gospel. Let us for a moment imagine that these books, many ages ago, had irrecoverably perished. Under what disad- vantages must we now have laboured, when called to vindicate the truth of our religion ! How would the ene- mies have insulted and said, “ Where is now your God f where is the evidence and rule of the faith of Christ- ians ? Let them produce those books on which they allege that their religion is founded, that we may know whether they are indeed Divine.” These books are now produced, and the world is left to judge of their credibility. That this fact, however, may have its full w’eight, it is certainly necessary, that the in- tegrity of the Canon, and the purity of the Text of Scripture be sufiiciently ascertained. It is of great importance to know, that no inspired book has been excluded from the sacred volume. It is of still greater importance to be assured, that no uninspired book has been admitted into it ; and that the text itself has un- dergone no material alteration. It must therefore be highly satisfactory to Christians to perceive, that more abundant evidence is offered for the integrity and purity of the Scriptures, than can be produced in behalf of any other ancient book whatever. They were held in high veneration, preserved with great care, publicly read in the churches, and early and ex- tensively circulated amongst the ancient Christians. Of the scrupulous accuracy with which they judged of the pretensions of all writings which claimed admission into the sacred canon, their rejection of various spu- rious books is an incontestible proof ; and the speci- mens of those that have come down to us, abundantly serve to justify their decision. The character of the primitive disciples of Jesus, precludes all suspicion of their attempting to corrupt these writings, or of their suffering them to be corrupted by others. When copies were multiplied, this indeed became impracti- cable ; as any attempts to vitiate the text, must have been speedily detected by the collation of copies.* The dissensions that soon arose amongst Christians, natu- rally led to a mutual jealousy, and consequently to an inviolable care of those inspired writings, to which they all appealed as the common standard of their faith. Numerous manuscript copies are still extant, older by many ages than the invention of printing. Some of them indeed ascend to very high antiquity. By these, as well as by the ancient versions which have come down to us, the integrity of the canon, and * Dr Dotltlridgc’s Lectures, 4to, p, 2C9, IG CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. purity of the text of the New Testament, may be ascertained with great precision. Thus the watchful care of our Divine Lord conspicuously appears, in the preservation and transmission of these invaluable monu- ments of the Christian history and faith, to the times in which we live. Next to the Sacred Books, it is of great importance, that so many of the writings of the ancient Christians have been preserved to our times. By men of differ- ent views indeed,' the Fathers have been extolled or depreciated beyond all reasonable bounds. But what- ever we may think of their judgment in matters of opinion or reasoning, it were certainly unjust in the extreme, to suspect their integrity, when relating facts with respect to which they could not be deceived. For they entered deeply into the spirit of the religion which they professed, and many of them died for its sake. Their testimony, therefore, concerning those books which constitute the Sacred Canon, is entitled to high regard. So numerous are their quotations from them, that it is believed, that though all the entire existing copies were destroyed, the substance of the New Testament might be recovered from the writings of these ancient Fathers.* They also serve to throw much light on the early history of Christi- anity, as they describe the spirit and conduct of be- lievers, the practice of the churches, the progress of the gospel, and the sufferings which Christians endured from their heathen persecutors. Though the apolo- gies which were published by some of them, are not constructed on principles calculated to obviate all the exceptions of modern Deists, yet they seem well adapt- ed to the circumstances in which they were written. They could not reply to objections which were not then thought of, but they solidly repel such as had actually been advanced. They nobly defend their religion in their own times, and authenticate the memoi'ials of its origin and progress, for the benefit of succeeding ages. Nor are we indebted to the writings of friends alone. Contemporary historians, both Jewish and Heathen, corroborate that historic testimony which supports the credibility of the gospel history. The works of Jose- phus are of great value. In his Antiquities of the Jews, he bears ample testimony to the history of the Old Testament, He was no friend to the Christian cause; yet he could not have been unacquainted with the re- markable circumstances that had recently occurred in his own country, respecting Jesus Christ and his apos- tles, and the progress of their doctrine, not only in Judea, but throughout the world. The omission of these subjects in his history, must certainly have been designed. It is most naturally accounted for by sup- posing, that he did not choose to narrate facts, the tendency of which he did not approve, but the truth of which he could not deny. “ Perhaps he did not know how to represent the business, and disposed of his difficulties by passing it over in silence. ”f Viewed in this light, his silence has all the force of an indi- rect testimony. But his relation of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, affords a strong confirma- tion to the evidence of the gospel ; and its importance in this connexion, we shall soon have occasion to per- ceive. Considering “ the obscure and distant view,” which the character, situation, and prejudices of the philosophers and historians of those times, led them to lake of a new Jewish sect, “every where spoken against,” we cannot reasonably expect from them, copious accounts of the affairs of Christians. Yet even in their writings, we meet with references to some circumstances in the history of Christ, as well * Dr Doddridge’s Lectures, p. 2S9, t Paley’s Evidences of Christianitij, vol. 1. p. 122. as to the number, sufferings, and innocence of his fol- lowers.^ All that they deliver harmonizes with the Christian history ; and nothing contradictory to it can any where be discovered. The preservation of these writings, therefore, is of great use in supporting the evidence of the gospel. But it is still more material to remark, that the truth of the Evangelical history is confirmed even by the labours of its most inveterate enemies. In the ear- liest ages, attempts were made to depreciate the ex- cellence, and discredit the evidence of Christianity, by men possessing all the advantages, which eminent talents and learning, as well as local situation, could afford. It now becomes an interesting subject of inquiry, to discover on what specific grounds their opposition was stated. It is a remarkable fact, that though the works of these adversaries are lost, yet no inconsiderable portions of them are preserved in the writings of those Christians by whom they were refuted. From these we are not only enabled to collect with certainty, the general grounds of their opposition, but are even acquainted with many of the particular objec- tions, which they thought proper to advance. Celsus, the first of these, lived somewhat later than the middle of the second century. In his book, which was enti- tled, The True Word, he ascribes the miracles of Christ to magic, and objects to many passages of the New Testament, which he treats with the most abusive ridicule. Yet his references to the facts contained in it, are so numerous and explicit, that an abridgement of the life of Christ may be extracted from them. Forphyry, who flourished a century later, wrote against the Christians in fifteen .books, in which (besides his attack upon the book of Daniel) he brought forward many objections against the writings of the New Tes- tament, which he also treated with great contempt. Hierocles, another writer who lived about the same period, charged the books of Scripture, with inconsis- tencies and contradictions ; and attempted, especially, to depreciate the miracles of Jesus, by contrasting them with those, which were alleged to have been performed by Apollonius of Tyana. The emperor Julian, who lived nearly a century later, had been originally edu- cated in the profession of Christianity, which he after- wards thought proper to renounce. Though not so sanguinary a persecutor, as some preceding emperors had been, he was, however, a bitter enemy to Christ- ians. He wrote a long work against them, in whieh, he went over much of the same ground that had been occupied by former adversaries, directing the most poignant satire against the religion of Christians, and those books which were held by them as Divine. All these writers seem to have been well acquainted with the books of Scripture, especially those of the New Testament, as well as the history and affairs of Christ- ians. Most of their objections are extremely trifling,, and even the most plausible of them admit cf easy refutation. By directing the force of their atiacksi against the Scriptures of the New Testament, they afford undoubted testimonies to the existence and antiquity of these books, and to their authority amongst Christians, as constituting the foundation of their faith. Their numerous quotations from them, and references to particular passages, confirm the genuineness and authenticity of the canonical bocj», and show, that they were essentially the same with those which are at present in our hands. Nothing could have served their cause so much, as to disprove the facts contained in the gospel history, had it been in their power to do so. This, however, they have not attempted j but endeavour to account for thent* * Paloy’s Evidences of Christianity, ypk h, part i., chap. 2; and vol. ii., part hi., chap. 4. SUMMARY OP THE EVIDENCES. 17 on principles that will not be adopted by modern in- fidels. The facts then, must now be held as established, by the concessions of those early adversaries, who w'anted neither opportunity nor inclination to over- throw the evidence on which they stand. This testi- mony to the gospel, is precious beyond ail calculation. The observation which is made, by a late laborious and able advocate of Christianity, with respect to the emperor Juliariy may be justly applied to each of these ancient adversaries. “ Upon the whole, he has undesignedly borne witness to tl^e truth of many things, recorded in the books of the New Testament. He aimed to ovei*- throw the Christian religion, but has confirmed it. His arguments against it are perfectly harmless, and insufiicient to unsettle the weakest Christian. He justly excepts to some things introduced into the Christian profession, by the late professors of it, in his own time, or sooner. But he has not made one ob- jection of moment against the Christian religion, as contained in the genuine and authentic books of the New Testament.”* Whilst labouring with so much zeal to subvert it, how far were these men from ima- gining, that they were actually confirming its evidence, and furnishing materials for its support and vindica- tion, in ages long to come ! “ V/ho can forbear ador- ing the depth of Divine wisdom, in laying such a firm foundation for our faith in the gospel history, in the writings of those who were so inveterate enemies to it, and so indefatigable in their attempts to overthrow it !”f “ Where then is the wise ? Where is the scribe ? Where is the disputer of this world ? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this w'orld ? For the wis- dom of this world is foolishness w’ith God : For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the w'ise that they are vain.”J Thus the Christian reli- gion is established by the opposition of enemies : ene- mies themselves, become undesignedly the witnesses of its truth. The historic evidence of Christianity, is not only pi’eserved in the wi’itten testimonies, both of friends and foes, but is still more conspicuously exhibited, in those positive Institutions, which have originated from itself, and in those changes in the state of society, which it has been instrumental in producing. The rites of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, are coeval with the gospel; they can.be traced no higher; and have not ceased to be celebi'ated amongst Christians, from its commencement to the present times. The occasion and design of these institutions are clearly laid down in the evangelical records ; and their appointment is connected with sonae important circumstances in the life of Christ. The Sabbath too, changed from the seventh to the first day of the week, is a perpetual memorial of the resurrection of Jesus. If the facts to which they ai-e supposed to refer are untrue, let unbe- lievers inform us, what was the origin of these institu- tions ; what is their use ; and how came they to be generally received and observed in the world? The gospel, by the authority of its precepts, and the grad- ual diffusion of its spirit, effectuated many important changes in the state of human society. It abolished idolatry and polytheism, together with those impure, unnatural, and sanguinary usages, that were not only tolerated by the laws, but sanctioned by the religion of the ancient Gentiles. It has provided greatly for the comfort of private life, by prohibiting polygamy, restraining divorces, and discouraging domestic slavery. In all those countries which assumed the Christian * Dr Lardner’s Heathen and Jeivish Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 94-. + Dr Dofidridgo in Lardner’s Heathen and Jewish Testimonies, vol. ii. p, 330. J 1 Cor, i. 20; and iii. 19, 20, name, crimes that were formerly neither uncommon nor disreputable, were suppressed by legislative autho- rity, or repudiated by public opinion. The spirit of Christianity, to a great degree, insinuated itself into the prevailing sentiments, character, and habits of men, so as to produce effects highly favourable to public virtue and happiness. In those places where the gospel is professed, even vicious extravagancies which escape judicial cognizance, are frequently pun- ished with the forfeiture of reputation ; and in gene- ral, the practice of humanity, and decency of manners, are supported by the testimonies of public approbation. That these effects are to be ascribed to the positive or indirect influence of the Christian religion, cannot be doubted, if we compare the state of society in those nations where it is professed, with the situation of those countries which have been unacquainted with it, whether in ancient or modern times. The present state of visible religion indeed, in those nations which are called Christian, will not bear to be tried with the perfect standard of Scripture. But without attempt- ing at all, to palliate the lamentable degeneracy of modern times, let us reflect on the state of society in Greece and Rome, in the periods of their highest re- finement ; or let us attend to the situation of those Pagan countries at this day, where civilization is most considerably advanced, but where true Christianity is altogether unknown. A view of human society is there exhibited, from which we turn away with disgust or with horror. Even the most corrupted form of Christianity restrains, or discountenances, at least, crimes, to which in Pagan countries, public sentiment attaches no criminality. But where evangelical truth is generally known, there the power of the gospel is proportionably seen, in promoting private virtue and comfort, as well as public order and prosperity. The influence of the religion of Jesus, in meliorating the condition of society, has often been justly stated, as illustrating its excellent nature and genius. In this view, it properly belongs to the internal evidence of the gospel. But in the present argument, the benefi- cial changes that have been produced by it, are only adduced as public and permanent monuments, which corroborate the history of its introduction, preserva- tion, and influence in the world. Thus the evangelical facts are established by a mass of historic testimony, which no other facts can pretend to rival. They are not now to be overthrown by the subtilties or sarcasms of modern infidels. They ai-e incorporated with the annals of society. They form an essential part of the history of the w'orld, and can- not now be overlooked by historians, however dis- affected to the Christian cause, who undertake to relate the transactions of those times. If one of this description, presume to misrepresent material facts, the original authorities are at hand, and his errors are detected with ease. If, departing from the proper sphere of history, he choose to philosophize on his subject, and refer the progress of Christianity to causes, independent of its native truth and excellence, and of the power of its Divine Author, we are entitled to canvass his reasonings ; nor has it been found difficult, to e.xpose the fallacy of those principles, on which such erroneous conclusions are built. Though the facts relating to the introduction and propagation of the gospel, were only considered as original and independent, altogether unconnected with any previous arrangement or design of Providence, yet supported as they are by such a body of historic evidence, they do certainly amount to a full proof of the truth of our religion. But this evidence receives a vast accession of strength, when the same facts are viewed as connected w’ith a precedent Divine Revela- 18 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, tion, and as the completion of ancient prophecies. “ God at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake to the fathers by the prophets.”*’ The Divine autho- rity of the books of the Old Testament, is supported not only by the testimony of the New, but by indubi- table independent evidence. On this argument, how- ever, I am not at present to enter. A series of pro- phecy is contained in these books, which commences almost with the beginning of the world, and reaches forward to the end of time. Many of these predictions relate to the Jewish people, and the neighbouring nations ; and their accomplishment is verified, by the testimony of profane historians. The correspondence between the prophecies in the book of Daniel particu- larly, respecting the four gi*eat empires, and the events to which they refer, is wonderfully exact and striking. The forrce of this evidence, the acute mind of Porphyry was unable to evade in any other way, than by assum- ing, without proof, that the prophecy must have been written posterior to the history. The advent of Mes- siah, his character, and a great variety of particular circumstances relative to his life, and death, and resur- rection, are foretold with all the minuteness of histo- rical precision. And in the evangelical biography, they appear to have been verified with the utmost punctuality. These ancient oracles “ testify before hand,” not only “ the sufferings of Christ,” hut “ the glory that should follow,”! in the effusion of the Spirit, the calling of the Gentiles, the success of the gospel, and its beneficial effects on the characters of men, and the condition of society. The remarkable agreement between the predictions and the events, must be perceived by every one, who compares the writings of Moses and the prophets, with those of the evangelists and apostles. And the existence of the Septiiagint version of the Old Testament, almost three hundred years before the birth of Christ, entirely pre- cludes the suspicion, that these prophecies might have been written at a period subsequent to the events to which they refer. Nor are the Scriptures of the New Testament to be considered only as records of the accomplishment of former prophecies. They contain additional predictions which have been fulfilled in the history of succeeding \ times. Our Lord foretold the destruction of Jerusalem forty years before it happened ; not in general terms, but with a minute specification of circumstances, awful beyond example, most unlikely to happen, which a sagacity merely human could never have imagined. The three gospels which record the prophecy, were incontestibly written long before the event. And Jose- j phus, who cannot be suspected of partiality to the Christian cause, could not have narrated the details of that awful catastrophe with more exactness, if he had really intended to comment on the predictions of Jesus. The rejection and dispersion of the Jews^ and that they should continue distinct from the rest of the *Heb. i. 1. f 1 Peter i. 11. nations, till the “ times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,” are also explicitly foretold. And do they not remain to this day, conspicuous monuments of the truth of sacred prophecy. The grand apostasy of the Christian Churchy the specific corruptions that should take place, the wide extent to which they should spread, the rise and progress of Papal Aniichristy are all described in such graphical characters, as leave no room to doubt of the object to which they refer.* Of these, the his- tory of the Church of Rome affords the best explana- tion. And in its present state, who does not clearly perceive the predicted symptoms of its approaching fall? It has been suggested, that whatever credibility may be considered as due to the miraculous facts, in the ancient history of Christianity, it were desirable that a succession of these should take place ; or at least that specimens of them should occasionally be repeated, for the satisfaction of men in future ages. Without staying to discuss the precarious principle which this demand assumes, is it not sufficient to observe, that, though it be not complied with in the way which unrea- sonable men presume to dictate, its object is substan- tially attained, in a manner no less adapted to silence the cavils of infidelity ? “ The Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.”f If prophecies be accomplished, then that testimony is established for ever. Let his- tory then decide the controversy. In the events of former ages, and even in the present situation of the world, a variety of facts present themselves to view, which appear to be the completion of sacred prophecy. Must not these therefore possess all the force of per- petual miracles, in confirming the truth of Christian- ity ? The faithful accomplishment of prophecies in the past and present times, authorize us assuredly to conclude, that those relating to periods yet future, shall also be fulfilled in their season. And thus the evidence of the Divine origin of the gospel remains not merely unimpaired. It is not a stationary but a germinant demonstration. It keeps pace with time itself ; and advances progressively in strength, with the history of society. “ Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare : before they spring forth I tell you of them. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth : ye that go dowm to the sea, and all that is therein ; the isles and the inhabitants thereof. Let the wilderness, and the cities thereof, lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit : let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands. • The Lord 1 shall go forth as a mighty man ; he shall stir up jeal- ousy like a man of war^ 'he shall, cry aloud ; he shall shout amain shall prevail against his enemies.”^ * 2 Thess. ii. ; 1 Tim. iv. 1—3; Rev. xiii., xvii., xviii. f Rev. xix. 10. t Isa. xlii, 9—13. See Bishop Lowth’s Translation.. THE VARIETY AND DISSIMILARITY OF THE EVIDENCES, A PKOOF OF THE TRUTH OF DIVINE REVELATION. Such is the title which may appropriately be given to the following paragraphs, extracted from the very able work of Davison On Prophecy. They form a good conclusion to the excellent sketch of Dr Campbell ; prov- ing, as they do, that the very number and diversity of the lines of proof, to which he refers, is an evidence that the Scriptures are Divine. It is only truth which could stand so severe a test. There is one quality or condition comprehended in these mixed and various evidences of our religion, which deserves to be further considered by itself ; a condition highly characteristic of its truth, and indeed replete with the strongest confirmation of it. The condition is this, that its evidences are so exceedingly dissimilar in their several descriptions, l^hey are not necessarily connected in their origin ; they are inde- pendent in their principle : they do not infer each the other ; they are connected only in the subject which they conspire to attest. This independence of the component members of the argument is a material con- sideration. Perhaps it has not been urged in the defences of Christianity, with the force it is entitled to. It affords, however, a very decisive criterion of truth, as the following remarks may serve to show. If man’s contrivance, or if the favour of accident, could have given to Christianity any of its apparent testimonies ; either its miracles or its prophecies, its morals or its propagation, or, if I may so speak, its Founder, there could be no room to believe, nor even to imagine, that all these appearances of great credibi- lity could be united together by any such causes. If a successful craft could have contrived its public mira- cles, or so much as the pretence of them, it required another reach of craft and new resources, to provide and adapt its prophecies to the same object. Further, it demanded not only a different art, but a totally opposite character, to conceive and promulgate its admirable morals. Again, the achievement of its pro- pagation, in defiance of the powers and terrors of the world, implied a new energy of personid genius, and other qualities of action, than any concurring in the work before. Lastly, the model of the life of its Founder, in the very description of it, is a work of so much originality and wisdom, as could be the offspring only of consummate powers of invention ; though to speak more fairly to the case, it seems, by an intuitive evidence, as if if could never have been even devised, but must have come from the life and reality of some perfect excellence of virtue, impossible to be taken * from, or confounded with, the fictions of ingenuity. But the hypothesis sinks under its incredibility. For each of these suppositions of contrivance, being arbi- trary, as it certainly is, and unsupported, the climax of them is an extravagance. And if the imbecility of art is foiled in the hypothesis, the combinations of accident are too vain to be thought of. The genuine state of the Christian evidence is this : There is unambiguous testimony to its works of miraculous power ; there are oracles of prophecy ; there are other distinct marks and signs of a Divine original within it. And no stock but that of truth could, in one subject, produce them all, or can now account for their existence. The whole compass and system of the Christian Evidence unquestionably has nothing like it, nor ap- proaching to it, in the annals of the world. It is a phenomenon standing alone. I assert this, on the concession of those who have exalted it, beside their intention, by the impotent comparisons thi'ough which they have sought to slander and traduce it. For what has been done ? Its Miracles have been forced into a sort of parallel with some wild unauthenticated rela- tions in the cloudy romance of a Pagan sophist (in the case of Apollonius Tyaneus) ; or with the vague and insulated pretences of abetter history (in the case of Vespasian) ; or the mask of a detected and defeated imposture among a Roman Catholic sect. Its Prophe- cies have undergone the violence of a similar compari- son with the oracles of Heathenism, long ago put to silence, or the legends of a more recent superstition. Its Divine morals have been represented as little better than might be derived from the philosophy of a Grecian or an Eastern teacher, Socrates or Confucius. Its wonderful progress and propagation, carried with- out any of the instruments of human power, and in opposition to them, have been matched with the suc- cess of the Mahometan heresy effected by the power of the sword. Thus all ages, and countries, and creeds, have been explored, with an industry greater than the success, .to furnish the separate materials of such com- parisons as the objectors have been able to produce : whilst the conspicuous and uncontested fact, that Christianity unites within itself the signs and indica- tions which no other system, philosophic or religious, does, nor is pretended to do, leaves it in possession of a character which repels the indignity of all compari- son, by the distant and incommensurate pretensions of the things attempted to be put in resemblance with it. THE SITUATION OP THE 'WORLD AT THE TIME OF CHRIST’S APPEARANCE * BY WILLIAM ROBERTSON, D.D., Principal of the University of Edinburgh. The next Tract which I shall lay before the reader, is from the pen of the celebrated Principal Robertson, one of the most eminent historical writers in the English language. It w'as originally preached as an Anniversary Sermon, before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge. It is the only discourse which Dr Robertson ever published ; and what is remarkable, it is his first production ; published several years before he went to Edinburgh, and before any of the great historical works on which his fame rests. The nature of the subject being somewhat historical, gives scope for his peculiar powers. The style reminds us of one of the purest and most musical writers,of his own, or of any other age. The discourse has gone through various editions, and has, I believe, been translated into various foreign languages. It may be interesting to the reader to be informed, that the Society, before which it was preached, is a very important institution ; and at that period was the only one in Scotland which laboured at once to diffuse Christian education in the Highlands and Islands, and to send the gospel to heathen lands. The number of its schools, at that date, was about one hundred and eighty. The number of children taught between six and seven thousand. It can now boast of double that number. There is no employment more delightful to a devout mind, than the contemplation of the Divine wisdom in the government of this world. The civil history of mankind opens a wide field for this pious exercise. Careful observers may often, by the light of reason, form probable conjectures with regard to the plan of God’s providence, and can discover a skilful hand directing the revolutions of human affah-s, and com- passing the best ends by the most effectual and sur- prising means : but sacred history, by drawing aside that veil which covers the councils of the Almighty, lays open his designs to the view of his creatures ; and we can there trace the steps which he taketh towards accomplishing them, with more certainty, and greater pleasure. The facts which inspired writers relate, are no less instructive than the doctrines which they teach. The latter inform us, that God is powerful, and wise, and good ; the former discover those perfections brought forth into action, and confirm speculative opinions, by real and striking examples. The publication and establishment of Christianity in the world, is a remarkable event of this kind, and con- tiubutes greatly to illustrate, as well as to magnify the Divine power and wisdom. From beginnings the most inconsiderable, and by instruments the most unlikely, the Almighty, with incredible facility, raised that glorious fabric of his church, which hitherto hath with- stood all the rage of his enemies ; and “the gates of hell,” we believe, “ shall not prevail against it.”* According to our Saviour’s beautiful image, “ the least of all seeds grew up, and waxed a great tree, and spread out its branches, and filled the earth. ”f The hand of God sheltered this feeble plant from the storm, and by his care it w'as reared, and cultivated, and brought to ma- turity. The wisdom and power of men united to oppose the doctrine of God: but it confounded the former, and * Matt. xvi. 18. Mark iv. 32. overcame the latter. Neither the bigotry of the Jews, nor the superstition of the heathen, could resist its progress ; and in vain “ did Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and people of Israel, gather them- selves together against the Lord and his Anointed.”* Many circumstances concurred in procuring for Christianity such a favourable receptiomand firm esta- blishment in the world. Whoever reflects upon the situation of mankind at the time when it was published, will find abundant reason to admire the Divine wisdom, which disposed these circumstances w'ith so much art, and improved them with such skill and success. The text naturally leads me to consider the conduct and administration of Providence in this particular light : “ The word of God,” saith the apostle, “ the mystery hid from ages, and from generations, is now made manifest to his saints.” W^hy was the gospel of Christ so long concealed from the world? Why was it pub- lished at that time ? What do we find in that particu- lar junctui'e to render the discovery of the Christian religion more necessary, or the propagation of it more successful ? In the following discourse, I shall endeavour to ac- count for this part of the Divine economy, by select- ing some remarkable circumstances, in the situation of mankind, which prove, that God “ manifested the mystery of the gospel” at a time when the world stood most in need of such a revelation, and was best pre- pared for receiving it. The appearance of Christ in so late an age, was an objection raised by his ancient adversaries, against the truth of his mission ; and modern infidels have not failed to revive and to urge it, with their usual confi- dence and triumph. But if we can establish the truth of our general proposition, this cavil falls to the ground, and the Divine conduct is fully vindicated. ♦ Acts iv. 27. * Preached before the Scciety in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, January Gth, 1750. STATE OF THE WORLD AT CHRIST’S APPEARANCE. 21 I. About the time of Christ’s appearance, there prevailed a general opinion, that the Almighty would send forth some eminent messenger to communicate a more perfect discovery of his will to mankind. The Supreme Being conducts all his operations by general laws. It seems to be one among these, that no per- fection of any kind can be attained of a sudden. The motion bv which his works advance towards their final and complete state, is gradual and progressive. This holds with regard to all the productions in the natural, and all the changes in the moral world. The same principle appears to have regulated the dispensa- tions of religion. The light of revelation was not poured in upon mankind all at once, and with its full splendour. The obscurity of the dawn went before the brightness of the noon-day. The will of God was at first made known by revelations, useful indeed, but dark and mysterious. To these succeeded others more clear and perfect. In proportion as the situation of the world made it necessary, the Almighty was pleased further to open and unfold his scheme. And men came by degrees to understand this progressive plan of Providence, and to conceive how systems temporary and incomplete might serve to introduce that conclud- ing and perfect revelation which would “ declare the whole council of God to man.”* The dignity of the person employed to publish this revelation, the virtues of his character, the glory of his kingdom, and the signs of his coming, were de- scribed by the ancient prophets with the utmost per- spicuity. Guided by this “ sure word of prophecy,” the Jews of that age concluded the period, predeter- mined by God, to be then completed ; and that the “fulness of time” being come, the promised Messiah would suddenly appear. Devout persons among them “ waited day and night for the consolation of Israel ;”f and the whole nation, groaning under the Roman yoke, and stimulated by the desire of liberty, or of vengeance, expected their deliverer with the most anxious im- patience. Nor were these expectations peculiar to the Jews. By their dispersions among so many nations, by their conversation with the learned men among the heathens, and by the ti*anslation of their inspired writings into a language almost universal, the principles of their religion were spread all over the East : and it became the common belief, that a pidnce would arise at that time in Judea, who should change the face of the w'orld, and extend his empire from one end of the earth to the other. In this “ due time” did the wisdom of God send forth his Son ; not to assume any strange character, or to claim any new and unknown dignity, but to fulfil “ all that had been spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began. While the eyes of men were employed in search of the promised Messiah ; while they watched every sign that could indicate his coming, and observed every circumstance which could lead them to discover him ; “while the earnest expectation of all creatures waited for the re- velation of God;” at that happy and favourable junc- ture was “ the mystery hid from ages” manifested to the world. No wonder the Jews should receive our Saviour, on his first appearance, not only without pre- judice, but even with eagerness and applause ;§ no wonder the Gentiles should “ gather together unto him,” who had so long been “the desire of all nations,”|| * Acts XX. 27. + Luke ii. 25, 38. } Acts iii. 21. § This statement needs to be taken with qualification. On some occasions it is declared, that “ the common people heard him gladly but, from the very outset, he met with keen opposition. His outward appearance seemed inconsistent v/ith his claims ; and the moment his true character came to be known, the Jews could not endure him.— Editor. II Gen. xlix. 18; Hag. ii. 7. Had Christ been manifested at a more early period, the world would not have been prepared to meet him with the same fondness and zeal. Had his appearance been postponed for any considerable time, men’s expec- tations would have begun to languish, and the warmth of desire, from a delay of gratification, might have cooled, and died away. II. But it is not only from circumstances peculiar to the Jews, and neighbouring nations, that we con- clude the Christian religion to have been published at the most proper time : we propose to bring a further confirmation of this truth, from a survey of the condi- tion and circumstances of mankind in general. Let us venture then into this large field, and take a view of the political, of the moral, of the religious, and of the domestic state of the world. We begin by considering the political state of the world, about the time of our Saviour’s appearance. The world, in the most early ages, was divided into small independent states, differing from each other in language, manners, laws, and religion. The shock of so many opposite interests, the interfering of so many contrary views, occasioned the most violent convul- sions and disorders. Perpetual discord subsisted be- tween these rival states ; hostility and bloodshed never ceased during that turbulent and restless period. Com- merce had not hitherto united mankind, and opened the communication of one nation with another. The world may now be considered as one vast society, closely cemented by mutual wants ; each part conti-i- buting its share towards the subsistence, the pleasure, and improvement of the whole. But in those more simple ages, the intercourse between nations was ex- tremely inconsiderable. Voyages into remote countifies, in quest either of wealth or of knowledge, were very rare. Men moved in a narrow circle, little acquainted with any thing beyond the limits of their own small territory, and utter strangers to the condition and character of distant nations. At last the Roman ambition undertook the arduous enterprise of conquering the world, and conducted it with such refined policy, irresistible courage, and in- imitable perseverance, as, in the end, crowned the attempt with success. “ They trode down the king- doms,” according to Daniel’s prophetic description, “ and by their exceeding strength, they devoured the whole earth.’”* However, by enslaving the world, they civilized it ; and while they oppressed mankind, they united them together. The same laws wei*e every where established, and the same languages under- stood. Men approached nearer to one another in sen- timents and in manners. The intercourse between the most distant corners of the earth was rendered secure and agreeable. Satiated with victory, the first emperors abandoned all thoughts of new conquests. Peace, an unknown blessing, was enjoyed throughout all that vast empire ; or, if a slight war was waged on an outlying and barbarous frontier, far from disturbing the tranquillity, it scarcely drew the attention of man- kind, f Such was the political state of the world when Christianity made its first appearance ; and, from this representation of it, many circumstances occur to justify the Divine wisdom, in choosing that particular conjuncture, for publishing it. During the peribd, which I first described, the propagation of any new religion must have been exti*emely slow and uncertain. How could it have forced its way through innumerable difficulties, arising from the unsettled state of the * Dan. vii. 7, 23. t A remarkable proof of the peace which then reigned in the world, is to be found in the fact, that the temple of Janus was then shut. This was a public emblem of peace, and had not occurred for 700 years before.— Editor 22 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY world, fi'om the fierceness and animosity of hostile and divided nations ? The power of God, no doubt, could have surmounted all these obstacles : but it is observ- able, that this power is never exerted but on the most necessary occasions. The Almighty seldom effects, by supernatural means, any thing which could have been accomplished by such as are natural. And, were we to judge by maxims merely human, the propaga- tion of Christianity, in those circumstances, would have proved not only a dangerous, but an impossible enterprise. But, favoured by the union and tranquillity of the Roman empire, the disciples of Christ executed their commission to great advantage. The success and rapidity with which they diffused the knowledge of liis name over the world, are astonishing. This epistle to the Colossians was w'ritten about thirty years after our Saviour’s ascension ; and, even then, the apostle could assert, that the gospel had been “ preached to every creature which is under heaven,”* i. e. through the whole extent of the Roman empire. Nations were then accessible, which formerly had been unknown. Under this situation, into which the providence of' God had brought the world, the “joyful sound” in a few years, reached those remote corners of the earth, into which it could not, otherwise, have penetrated for many ages.f This view of our subject presents to us an idea of the Christian religion, equal to the greatest and most magnificent conception of the human mind. The noblest people, that ever entered upon the stage of the world, appear to have been only instruments in the Divine hand, for the execution of wise purposes con- cealed from themselves. The Roman ambition and bravery paved the way, and prepared the world for the reception of the Christian doctrine : they fought and conquered, that it might triumph with the greater ease. “ Howbeit, they meaned not so, neither did their heart think so ; but it was in their heart to de- stroy and cut off nations not a few.”J By means of their victories, the over-ruling wisdom of God esta- blished an empire, that really possesses the perpetuity and eternal duration, which they vainly arrogated to their own : He erected “ a throne which shall continue for ever ;”§ and “of the increase of that government there shall be no end.”|| III. Let us consider the state of the world with regard to morals. We cannot expect to find pure and undefiled virtue among those people who w'ere desti- tute of the instructions, the promises and assistance of Divine I'evelation. Unenlightened reason often errs : undirected virtue frequently deviates from the right path. But, even in those less favoured ages, righteous- ness had not altogether “ perished from the earth ; and the nations wdiich had not the law', did by nature the things contained in the law.”^ Those virtuous but feeble efforts of the human mind, were encouraged and seconded by several happy circumstances in the situation of the world, owing in appearance to the sagacity of men, but ordained in reality by the wisdom of God. One of these was of a singular nature, and well deserves our particular attention. We have already mentioned the early division of * Col. i. 23. t One cannot help thinking, that all the amazing facilities of communication with the most remote parts of the world, which are opening up at the present day, are designed for a similar pur- pose. We cannot believe, that so much talent, and enterprise, and wealth, are all expended merely for promoting the interests of a perishable commerce. It is more natural to believe, that the connexion of Great Britain with India, and Australasia, and Africa, and the growing facilities of intercourse with so many other parts of the world, are intended to carry the gospel into the heart of the vast regions of the East, and generally to promote its propaga- tion over the earth.— Editor. t Isa. X. 7. ^ Heb. i. 8. || Isa. ix. 7. ? Rorti. ji. U. tbe world into small independent states. These states, unbroken by the refinements of luxury, and animated with the noblest of human passions, struggled for liberty and obtained it. Lawgivers, intimately ac- quainted with human nature, deep politicians, and lovers of mankind, arose in different places, and found- ed those equal and happy governments, which have been the admiration and envy of all succeeding ages. Temperance, frugality, decency, public spirit, love to their fellow-citizens, magnanimity, were the virtues which flourished under such wise institutions. At the same time, in those small commonwealths, the conduct of every citizen w’as subjected to the eye of the magistrate, and the nature of the government obliged him to inspect their manners with severity. The smallest crimes could not escape observation : Even dangerous virtues were exposed to censure. On this foundation of public liberty, did ancient virtue rest ; an effect of government little known in modern times, wherein the views of legislators are confined to inferior objects. But from this source were derived all those splendid actions among the heathens, which, on the one hand, have been so invidiously displayed by infidels, as a reproach to our holy religion, and, on the other, so justly celebrated by Christians, in order to rouse the zeal and emulation of a degenerate age.* Virtue, however, did not long enjoy this temporary and precarious support. Those wise institutions were the works of men, and, like their authors subject to decay. Some of them perished by the malignity of internal diseases : and, if a vigorous constitution, or more skilful management, prolonged the period of others, they yielded at last to the violence of external injuries. It was impossible either to divert or resist the torrent of Roman power : It gathered strength from opposition, and bore down all nations before it. But, by subduing the world, the Romans lost their own liberty. Many causes, which it is not our present business to explain, concurred in producing this effect : ^lany vices, engendered or nourished by prosperity, delivered them over to the vilest race of tp’ants that ever afflicted or disgi'aced human nature. The alliance between morals and government was now broken ; an influence hitherto so friendly to virtue, became altogether malignant, and was exerted, with most fatal effect, to poison and debase the human mind. Together with despotic power, entered all those odious vices, which are usually found in its train : and in a short time, they grew to an incredible pitch. The colours are not too strong, which the apostle em- ploys in drawing the character of that age. Contem- * This picture of the high moral character of the ancient repub- lics, is greatly overdrawn ; but it was a current error of the literary men of Dr Robertson’s time. That these republics were free from many of the gross vices of a more luxurious or despotic age. is pro- bable enough ; but they were far indeed from being either religious or moral, in the right sense of the terms. The apostle Paul, in hig awful account of the heathen world, in the 1st chapter of Romans, makes no exception on behalf of the ancient republics either of Greece or Rome; and the more minute and accurate investiga- tions of recent historians have not lightened but darkened the pic- ture. If men were as good and virtuous, without revelation, as the writer represents, the argument for the necessity of Christian- ity would seriously be lessened. Heathenism would deserve no small praise; but I beg to remind the reader, that, in these much applauded republics, the most intolerable«lavery prevailed. In the small state of Attica alone, there were not less than 400,000 slaves. In Athens, w here they were better treated than in many other quarters, 20,000 deserted’during a single war ; so intolerable did they feel the oppression. In Sparta, 2000 poor slaves were murdeied in cold blood. The youth were taught expertness by surprising and killing slaves. The Roman writers are full of ac- counts of the most wanton cruelty, practised upon slaves. Indeed, slaves do not seem to have been treated as human beings. It may be added, the vice of slavery always indicates and draws along with it, a crowd of other evils. ^Ve^e it necessary to enlarge the proof of crime, one might refer to shameful cruelties in war— fearl ul con- jugal infidelity in Athens, where, at one time, 5000 of the citizens were illegitimate— Ostracism, or the exile, perhaps death, of the man who had distinguished h.mself for his public virtues— the destruction, by law, of weak or deformed children, among the re- publican* of Sparta—and many others.— E ditor. STATE OF THE WORLD AT CHRIST’S APPEARANCE. 23 porary historians justify him, when he describes it “to be alienated from the life of God, walking in vanity through blindness of mind ; to be past feeling, given up to lasciviousness, and to work all uncleanness with greediness.”* In this time of universal corruption, did the wisdom of God manifest the Christian revelation to the world, not to re-establish virtue upon the same insecure foun- dation of civil government, but to erect it upon the eternal and immoveable basis of a religion, which teacheth righteousness by the authority of God. What the wisdom of men could do for the encourage- ment of virtue in a corrupt world, had been tried dur- ing several ages ; and all human devices were found, by experience, to be of very small avail : so that no juncture could be more proper for publishing a religion, which, independent on human law^s and institutions, explains the principles of morals with admirable per- spicuity, and enforces the practice of them by most persuasive arguments. Had not Christianity appeared to check and to mitigate the pernicious effects of des- potic unlimited empire, it is hard to say how far they might have gone towards extinguishing the name and exercise of virtue among men. This we know, that, in a most dissolute age, and under the worst govern- ment, the primitive Christians attained to an emin- ence in every virtue, of which there is no example in the history of mankind. The spirit of their religion, superior to the corrupt genius of the age, continued pure and vigorous ; and men saw with admiration, that, when every other foundation of virtue was over- thrown, “ the foundation of. God stood sure,” immove- able amidst “ the floods which came, the rains that descended, and the winds that blew and beat upon it.”f IV. Let us consider the world with regard to its religious state. The national character of the Jews seems to have been deeply tinctured with superstition. Their early education in Egypt, the example of neigh- bouring nations, the influence of the climate, but, above all, the perverseness of their own disposition, rendered this impression indelible. Obstinate against all the endeavours employed by the Divine Lawgiver to repress or to extirpate it, this superstitious spirit broke out on every occasion. Delighted with the ceremonial prescriptions of the law, the Jews utterly neglected the moral : and, fond of such rites as please the ima- gination, they undervalued those duties which improve the heart. This unhappy bias was greatly increased by the doctrine of the Pharisees, which reduced the prejudices of their countrymen into a regular system of superstition. By their vain traditions, they added to the load of ceremonies : by their wretched interpre- tations of the law, they abridged the number of moral pi-ecepts. They openly preferred the former before the latter ; and substituted observances frivolous and insignificant, in the place of “the weighty matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.” J While the Pharisees undermined religion on one hand, their rivals the Saducees carried on a more bold and impious attack against it, from another quarter. By denying the immortality of the soul, they wounded religion in a vital part ; and overturned the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, which hath been, and must ever be, the chief foundation of virtuous obedience. The practice of these two contending sects, was perfectly suitable to their principles. The follow- ers of the one were scandalous libertines ; the disciples of the other, notorious hypocrites: and, between them, the knowledge as well as power of true religion were entirely destroyed. It was high time then for the wisdom of God to vindicate his injured law, and to revive languishing and decayed religion among his « Eph. iv. 17—19. + Matt. viii. 25. t Matt, xxiii. 23 ancient people. To recall the Jews from their former wanderings, the Almighty had with success employed the ministry of his holy prophets : but the malignant distempers of that age would not have yielded to any common remedy : a conceited and perverse generation would have listened to no inferior messenger : and therefore, the great prophet was sent forth in this due time, to explain, to extend, and to perfect the law, “ and to fill Zion with judgment and righteousness.”* f But the deplorable situation of the heathen world with regard to religion, called still more loudly for an immediate interposition of the Divine hand. I shall not mention the characters of the heathen deities, in- famous for the most enormous ci'imes ; nor descifibe their religious worship, consisting frequently in the vilest and most shameful rites. Certain it is, the more any man honoured such gods, the worse he him- self was ; and the oftener he served them, the more wicked he would become. The spirit and genius of heathenism, according to the apostle’s observation, were “ in all things too much superstitious.’’^ Stately temples, expensive sacrifices, pompous ceremonies, magnificent festivals, with all the other circumstances of show and splendour, were the objects which false religion presented to its votaries : but just notions of God, obedience to his moral laws, pui'ity of heart, and sanctity of life, were not once men- tioned as ingredients in religious service. Superstition never prevailed among any people, but at the expense of morals. The heathen superstition, far from giving any aid to virtue, seems not to have had the least con- nection with it. No repentance of past crimes, no future amendment of conduct, are ever prescribed by it, as proper means of appeasing their offended deities. “ Sacrifice a chosen victim ; bow down before an hal- lowed image ; be initiated in the sacred mysteries ; and the wrath of the gods shall be averted, and the thunder shall drop from their hands.” Suitable to these sentiments, is the behaviour of Balak king of Moab, described by the prophet Micah. That prince had provoked the God of Israel ; and, in order to regain his favour, thought of the same means, which superstition employs to mitigate the rage of its false gods. “Wherewith,” says he, “ shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?§ — To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly w’ith God,” were ac- ceptible services, which made no part in the system of heathen religion. Happily, the wisdom and simplicity of ancient government checked the progress of this infectious principle, and corrected, in some degree, its poisonous and destructive qualities. But no sooner had the tyranny of the Roman emperors removed this restraint, by subverting liberty, than superstition made its ad- vances on the world by sudden and mighty steps, and exercised an uncontrolled dominion in every corner of the earth. Tyranny and superstition, like those other destroyers of mankind, famine and pestilence, are nearly allied. Superstition breaks the spirit, and prepares it for servitude. Tyranny, for this reason, encourages superstition, and employs it as an useful auxiliary to illegal power. Accordingly, Rome adopted the gods * Isaiah xxxiii. 5. f Of course the writer does not mean, in this statement, to ex- clude the priestly office and character of Messiah. Important as is the prophetical, the atoning and the priestly is not less indis- pensablc. Without the latter, comparatively speaking, the com- ing of Christ would have been vain.— E ditou. t Acts xvii. 23. ^ Micah vi. (i-8. 24 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, of almost every nation wlioni she had conquered ; and opened her temples to the grossest superstitions of the most barbarous people. Her “ foolish heart being darkened, she changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.”* f At this time, therefore, did a good God, in pity to his deluded creatures, publish the Christian revelation. By it, the God of truth was made known ; “ and the idols of the nations were moved at his presenre.”l[; Rational and sublime in its doctrines, humane and beneficent in its precepts, pure and simple in its wor- ship ; Christianity was better calculated than any other religion, to repress the inroads of superstition, and to establish an acceptable and manly devotion, consisting “ in spirit and in truth.”§ No period can be mentioned, when instruction in these important articles would have been more seasonable or necessary. The absurd fictions, and abominable practices of superstition, had gone near to extinguish the natural sentiments of the iiuman mind, concerning the Supreme Being, and to banish his name and worship from the earth. No wonder, men, under these circumstances, should listen with joy to the Christian revelation, which delivered them from that hateful yoke, and taught them ‘ ‘ to serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him.”! ^ V. Let us consider the world with regard to its domestic situation ; a view, perhaps, less extensive and magnificent than those which hitherto have engaged our attention, but not less important. The private and domestic situation of mankind is the chief circum- stance which forms their character, and becomes the great source of their happiness or misery. Any poison in this fountain, communicates itself to the manners of men ; any bitterness there, infects all the pleasures of life. Many circumstances, of the most fatal influence on domestic virtue and happiness, occur to attentive observers of the penod under review. Domestic society is founded in the union between husband and wife. Among all civilized nations this union liath been esteemed sacred and honourable ; and from it are derived those exquisite joys or sorrows, which can embitter all the pleasures, or alleviate all the pains in human life. In the ancient world, there prevailed two practices, equally peniicious to the peace and happiness of the married state. From the most early times, polygamy seems to have been universal among the Eastern nations ; and men married as many wives as their fancy wished for, or their fortune could maintain. Now, this practice not only appears to be contrary to the intention of the Almighty, who at first created but one person of each sex, and hath since pre- served an admirable proportion between the number of males and females whom he sends into the world ; but by it likewise were banished from domestic life all those enjoyments which sweeten and endear it. Friend- ship, social intercourse, confidence, and the mutual * Rom. i. 21, 23. + The eminent author seems here to overrate the influence of simple forms of ancient government, as guards against superstition. Where men are not blessed with the light of revelation, they be. come the slaves of superstition, whatever maybe the form of their political government, whether simple or complex. In manycoun. tries of the' world, where the forms of government are simple, the superstition is most gross and abominable. The countries of savages are a proof of this. Rome, doubtless, adopted the gods of all the nations of the earth, as a matter of policy, to please all parties, like the advocates of modern liberalism ; but this proceeded, in the first instance, from her ignorance of Divine truth, and hatred to it She did not receive Christianity into her favour. She perse- cuted its disciples with merciless cruelty. — Editor. t Isa. xix. 1. § John iv. 24. || Luke i, 74. ^ The statement, that men listened with joy to the Christian revelation, as a deliverance from the yoke of superstition, is only true to a certain extent No doubt, those who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, received the gospel, rejoiced in their deliverance ; but the great body of men, so far from gladly embracing the Chris- tian revelation, hated and persecuted it for its holiness.— Editor. j care of children, were iu a great measure unknown, j On the one hand, rigour, voluptuousness, jealousy ; on the other, subjection without love, fidelity, or j virtue. One half of the human species became the property of the other; and the husband, instead of being the friend and protector of a wife, was no better than the master and tyrant dver a slave. The envy and discord which were introduced into the families of Jacob and Elkanah by a plurality of wives, are but imperfect pictures of the enormities occasioned by the same practice under masters less virtuous, and in ages more dissolute and luxurious. Wherever the Christian religion is established, an end hath been put to an in- stitution so inconsistent with the felicity of domestic life. Marriage, suitable to the ordinance of God, is rendered a friendly and indissoluble alliance between two per- sons ; and tranquillity, confidence, and jo)’-, bless an union begun and cemented by mutual love. In the western parts of the world, the maxims with regard to mamage were more conformable to nature. One man was confined to one woman ; but, at the same time, their law's allowed a practice which intro- duced the most fatal disorders into domestic life. The Almighty, “ because of the hardness of their hearts,” permitted the Jews, on certain occasions, “ to give a writing of divorcement to their wdves.”* According to their usual custom, the Jews stretched this indul- gence to most extravagant lengths ; and, defining the cases in which they pretended divorces to be lawful with a minute and over-curious nicety, they altogether perverted the institution of God. Their doctors per- mitted divorces for causes so trivial and ridiculous, as cannot be mentioned in a grave discourse. The utmost dissolution of manners w'as the effect of such licentious opinions ; and our Saviour found the abuses to be grown so enormous, as to render the strictest and most precise limitations of the Mosaic precepts absolutely necessary. Nor was this matter on any better footing among the heathen nations. Divorces, on very slight pre- tences, were permitted both by the Greek and Roman legislators. And though the pure manners of those republics, restrained, for some time, the operation of such a pernicious institution ; though the virtue of private persons seldom abused the indulgence which the laws allowed them : yet no sooner had the pro- gress of luxury, and the establishment of despotic power, vitiated* the taste of men, than the law with regard to divorces was found to be among the worst corruptions which prevailed in that abandoned age. The facility of separation rendered married persons careless of obtaining or practising those virtues which render domestic life tranquil and delightful. The education of children was neglected by parents, who often met together with a scheme of separation in both their thoughts. Marriage, instead of rest^-aining, added to the violence of irregular desire ; and, under a legal name, became the vilest and most shameless pros- titution. From all these causes, the mairied state fell into disreputation and contempt ; and it became necessary to force men, by penal laws, into a society where they expected no secure or lasting happiness. Among the Romans, domestic corruption grew, of a sudden, to an incredible height ; and perhaps, in the history of mankind, we can find no parallel to the undisguised impurity and licentiousness of that age.f It was in a good time, therefore, that our Saviour abolished a pi*actice which had been one of the most fertile sources of those disorders. The bonds of the marriage union w'ere I'endered by him almost indisso- luble ; and the “ cords of love,” were drawn as close as possible. Political projectors may please themselves ♦ Mark x. 4, 5. + Rom. i. 2fl, &c. STATE OF THE WORLD AT CHRIST’S APPEARANCE. 25 with imaginary advantages resulting from the liberty of divorces ; but reason, as well as the experience of mankind, justify the wisdom of the Divine decree concerning them. If the manners of men he not ex- tremely pure and simple, the least indulgence in this article hath always proved fatal to the peace and virtue of domestic life ; and whatever remains of these we now find in a dissolute age, must be entirely ascribed to that regulation in the gospel,* which superficial reasoners represent as a grievance, though it he in truth the greatest blessing to mankind.f If the lives of those who are at the head of domestic society needed reformation, the sufferings of those who were subject to them merited relief. So many are the wants of human society, that far the greater part of mankind is condemned to constant toil and labour in order to supply them. In the ancient world, the condition of this numerous and useful race of men, differed widely from that wherein they are now placed. They were not freemen, hut slaves, who occupied the inferior, though necessary, station in human life. Their labour was not a volun- tary duty to the society, which entitled them to a reward ; it was an hard task, imposed without their consent, and exacted with the utmost rigour. The number of persons reduced to this unhappy condition, was immense. In those parts of the world whose history and situation are best known, above two-thirds of the whole inhabitants are computed to have been in a state of slavery. The persons, the goods, the children of these slaves, were the property of their masters, disposed of at pleasure, and transferred, like any other possession, from one hand to another. No inequality of condition, no superiority in power, no pretext of consent, can justify this ignominious de- pression of human nature, or can confer upon one man the right of dominion over the person of another. But not only doth reason condemn this institution as unjust ; experience proved it to be pernicious both to masters and slaves. The elevation of the former in- spired them with pride, insolence, impatience, cruelty, and voluptuousness : the dependent and hopeless state of the latter, dejected the human mind, and extin- guished every generous and noble principle in the heart. Were I to mention the laws and regulations of the most civilized states among the ancients, concern- ing those unfortunate sufferers ; were I to relate the treatment which they met with from persons most renowned for their virtue ; maxims so inhuman, and actions so barbarous, would excite the strongest pity and indignation, in an age which never beheld the tyranny of the oppressor, nor heard the groans of the captive.J It is true, while men enjoyed those wise institutions of government which we formerly described, the state of servitude did not become altogether intolerable ; many expedients were used for mitigating the rigour of command, and lightening the yoke of obedience ; but upon establishing despotic government in the * Matt. V. 32. + It might have been added, that the moral restraint which the gospel imposes, is a striking proof of its Divine origin. Nothing like it is to be met with in any of the religions of men, especially those which originated in the East. — Editor. t Even in the time of Justinian, one of the Christian emperors of Rome, after the influence of Christianity had made consider- able progress, the law upon the condition of slaves ran in these ■words “ Slaves are in the power of their masters, which power is founded in the law of /lations ; for amon^ all nations alike, we may observe, that masters have the power of life and death over their slaves, and whatever the slave gets belongs to the master.” Another part of the same code is in these words : — “ No law has leference to the slave.” In other words, slaves are beyond the protection of any law, and what then must have been their condi- tion with such ignorant, selfish, ungodly masters as those who ruled over them ? We have already shown, in a former note, that the exception which the writer, in the next paragraph, makes in behalf of the mild treatment of the slaves of the ancient republics, « greatly exaggerated.— E ditor. Eoman empire, domestic tyranny rose, in a short time, to an astonishing height. In that rank soil, every vice which power nourishes in the great, or oppression engenders in the mean, thrived and grew up apace. Here then is an object worthy the attention of that merciful God, “ who delivereth the soul of the afflict-, ed from violence, who heareth the cry of the needy, and him who hath no helper.”* The groans of such an innumerable multitude of his reasonable creatures, bereaved of the noblest privilege of their nature, liberty and independence, would not, we may believe, be uttered in vain. He could not always “ keep silence, and be still,” when he beheld their wretched situation, so destructive of happiness, and so fatal to virtue. At last the Divine wisdom interposed ; and when the evil had become intolerable, and seemed to be past cure, the promulgation of Christianity brought an effectual and timely remedy. It is not the authority of any single detached pre- cept in the gospel, but the spirit and genius of the Christian religion, more powerful than any particular command, which hath abolished the practice of slavery through the world. The temper which Christianity inspired, was mild and gentle ; and the doctrines it taught, added such dignity and lustre to human nature, as rescued it from the dishonourable servitude into which it was sunk. All men, of every condition, are declared to be the offspring of the same God, and the heirs of the same heavenly inheritance.f Our Savi- our redeemed them from iniquity by his death, and one Spirit worketh powerfully in their hearts. Wher- ever such opinions prevail, no human creature can be regarded as altogether insignificant and vile : even the meanest acquire dignity ; exterior distinctions dis- appear; and men approach nearer to that original equality in which they were at first placed, and are still viewed by their impartial Creator. What a wonderful and blessed change hath Christi- anity produced in the face of the world ? Together with the knowledge of it, liberty, humanity, and domestic happiness, diffused themselves over every corner of the earth. It is deemed a virtue, to admire and to praise those illustrious personages who deliv- ered mankind from the rage of tyrants, and vindicated the violated laws and constitution of their country. And is no admiration due to the generous spirit of that religion which restored liberty, not to one nation or society alone, but rescued from the worst servitude far the greater number of the human race, and ac- quired for them that happy freedom which they still enjoy When we behold Christianity making its progress through the world, and working every where such an important alteration in the condition of man- kind, we may well apply to a temporal deliverance what the prophet spoke concerning a spiritual salvation: * Ps. Ixxii. 12. t Christianity does not say that all men are the heirs of the same heavenly inheritance. This is a loose and injurious mode of speech. Tlie gospel offers salvation to all men, Jew and Gentile alike, but we are assured that soine only will actually participate in the blessing. — Editor. t The permission of slavery in our American colonies, is a spe- cious, not a real objection against the reasoning under this head. The genius and tendency of any religion are known by the opera- tion of its vigorous, not of its declining age ; and if, in a degen- erate world, avarice hath revived an institution which Christianity had utterly abolished, this, like many other vices which prevail among Christians, must be charged upon the corruption of the human heart, not upon that religion which testifies against it.* * The sentiment of this note is just and good. Happily, since the day of Principal Robertson, slavery has been abolished in the British domin- ions ; and, it may be safely said, in a chief degree, through the exertion of Christians. Some men may have lent their influence from political or party motive, but Christianity has had the laigesl share in the victory. Mr ■\Vilberforce, and others, who first set the movement on foot, and who maintained it for .so many years, was an eminent Christian, and acted in the question from Christian motives; and it is the Christian men and churches of the United States of America, who seem destined, in the Pro- vidence of God, to abolish the wide-spread and abominable slavery of that great republic.— Editob. 26 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, ‘ Behold, the acceptable year of the Lord is come ! Liberty is proclaimed to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. They shall rest from their sorrow, and from their fear, and from the hard bondage wherein they were made to serve.”* The abolition of domestic slavery was the occasion of another change in the manners of men, which is no less remarkable. Captives taken in war, were, in all probability, the first persons subjected to perpetual servitude ; and when the necessities or luxury of man- kind increased the demand for slaves, every new war recruited their number, by reducing the vanquished to that wretched condition. Hence proceeded the fierce and desperate spirit with which wars were carried on among ancient nations. While chains and slavery were the certain lot of the conquered, battles were fought and towns defended, with rage and obsti- nacy, which nothing but horror at such a fate could have inspired ; but, by putting an end to the cruel institution of slavery, Christianity extended its mild influence to the practice of war ; and that barbarous art, softened by its humane spirit, ceased to be so de- structive. Secure, in every event, of personal liberty, the vanquished resisted with less obstinacy, and the tri- umph of the victor became less cruel. Thus, humanity was introduced into the exei'cise of war, with which it appeal’s to be almost incompatible ; and it is to the merciful maxims of Christianity, much more than to .my other cause, that we must ascribe the little fero- city and bloodshed which accompany modern victo- ries. Even where the passions of men are fiercest, and most highly inflamed, the powerful genius of our religion interposes, restrains the fury of war, and sets bounds to its destroying rage. The benevolent spirit of the gospel delivereth the captive from his fetters, “looseth those who were appointed to death ;”f “and saith to the sword that is ready to devour. Return to thy scabbard, and be still. It hath become a fashionable topic among political reasoners, to celebrate the mildness and humanity of modern manners, and to prefer the character of pre- sent times, in that respect, before the ancient. To what cause shall we ascribe this important revolution in the sentiments and dispositions of mankind ? Not to the influence of better instituted governments ; for in legislative wisdom the ancients far excelled us ; not to the effects of a better directed education ; that * Isa. Ixi. 1 ; xiv. 3. f Ps. cii. 20. J Jer. xlvii. 7. duty, shamefully neglected by us, was, among them, an object of chief attention ; nor to our superior re- finements in elegant and polite arts ; there we must be content to equal, without pretending to surpass the ancients.* The Christian religion, “ hid from ages, but now manifested to the w’orld,” is the only cause capable of producing so great an effect : “ That wis- dom which is from above, is pure and peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy. ”f Genuine Chris- tianity is distinguished above all other religions by the mildness of its spirit ; the enemy of every practice which hardens the heart ; the eucourager of every virtue which renders the character humane. Where- ever it hath been established in purity, and practised with zeal, “ kindness, long-suffering, meekness, chari- ty,”J are the graces which accompany it. Even the vices and inventions of men, which have mingled themselves with the truths of God, have not been able entirely to destroy their effects. Under all disadvan- tages, the genius of the gospel exerts itself, civilizing the fiercest and most barbarous nations, and inspiidng a gentleness of disposition, unknown to any other reli- gion. Together with the best spiritual blessings, the most valuable temporal mercies have been communi- cated to the world by Christianity. It not only sanc- tifies our souls, but refines our manners ; and w’hile it gives the promises of the next life, it improves and adorns the present. That happy change which the wisdom of man could not effect, God in his good time accomplished, by “ manifesting to the world the mys- tery hid from ages and generations. ”§ * Here the writer seems again to allow his love of classical anti- quity to blind him to the attainments of modern times. There can lie little question that many of the legislative enactments of the ancient governments betoken great wisdom ; but it seems very questionable whether they are entitled to the praise of having a better directed education ; this were saying little for our Christi- anity ; and in point of fact, it will be difficult to produce from anti- quity the case of any nation, which, in point of intellectual and moral worth, can be compared with Scotland in the middle of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century, under a widely diffused system of literary and Christian education. The ancient governments may have made a small class of individuals great proficients in certain accomplishments, but it was Christi- anity.which was the first to aim at the universal improvement of a nation, by educating the whole body of the people. — Editor. f James iii. 17. t Col. iii. 12. § The wonderful moral revolution which has taken place in a number of the islands of the South Seas, and the interesting fact, that, in the island of Antigua, thirty thousand slaves were safely emancipated in 1834, in a moment, without any of that prepara- tion which was adopted in other islands, are striking testimonies to the power of the gospel. In both cases, the result was owing to the influence of a widely-spread and living Christianity.— Editor. [In the preceding Tract, the writer has well shown the peculiar fitness of the coming of Christ, to the circumstances of the world, at the time in which he appeared ; that he did not come at random, op arbitrarily, but at the most appropriate season ; and that this is an argument for the Divine truth of Christianity. But in addition to these views, various considerations might be suggested, still farther illustrative of the subject. It is often asked. Why was Christianity so late of being introduced to the w’orld ? One reason might be to give ample scope for the depravity of man to display itself. It is on this very depravity that the gospel proceeds as a first principle. Another reason might be to show forth the weakness of human wisdom, the utter inability of man to heal himself, and therefore the necessity of a Divine interposition. A third reason might be to afford opportunities for the development of the argument from prophecy, and so the better to establish the Evidences of Revelation. A farther reason might be to afford the world time to be full of people, that Messiah might have a more giorious triumph for his kingdom, in their ranid conversion. — Editor. J A SHOET AND EASY METHOD WITH THE DEISTS. BY THK Rev» CHARLES LESLIE, M.A. The Rev. Charles Leslie, M.A., the celebrated author of the following Tract, was the son of an Irish Bishop, and was himself appointed to a charge in Ireland, during the trying period of 1687, when Popery was fast gaining the ascendancy in Great Britain. He was a determined Protestant, and held repeated public discussions with Papists. He published nearly thirty different tracts and pamphlets, chiefly controversial. Indeed, so highly was he reputed as a polemic, that he was sent over to the Continent by some gentlemen of England, to endeavour to convert the son of James II. to the Protestant faith, an undertaking, however, in which he failed. The most celebrated of his works is his Short and Easy Method with the Deists. The fol- lowing interesting account of the origin of the publication is taken from the preface to the edition published by the Rev. Mr Jones of Nayland. It need scarcely be added, that the work has gone through a great variety of editions, though still it is far from being so generally known or possessed, as its value justly claims. “ Every readei', to whom the Short Method is new, will be induced to think more highly of it, if I tell him its history ; as I received it from Dr Delany, Dean of Down, in Ireland; who told me he had it from Captain Leslie, a son of the author. It was the fortune of Mr Leslie to be acquainted with the Duke of Leeds of that time; who observed to him, that although he was a believer of the Christian religion, he was not satisfied with the common methods of proving it ; that the argument was long and complicated ; so that some had neither leisure nor patience to follow it, and others were not able to comprehend it ; that as it was the nature of all truth to be plain and simple, if Christianity were a truth, there must be some short way of showing it to be so ; and he wished Mr Leslie would think of it. Such a hint to such a man, in the space of three days, produced a rough draught of the Short and Easy Method with the Deists ; which he presented to the Duke, who looked it over, and then said, ‘ I thought I was a Christian before, but I am sure of it now ; and as I am indebted to you for converting me, I shall henceforth look upon you as my spiritual father.’ And he acted accordingly ; for he never came into his company afterwards, without asking his blessing. Such is the story ; very nearly as Dr Delany himself would tell it, if he were now alive. The circumstances are so memorable, that there must have been something very extraordinary at the bottom to account for them. And so thought Dr Middleton ; though the work affected him in a very different manner. Feeling how necessary it was to his principles that he should some way rid himself of Mr Leslie’s argument, he looked out for some false fact, to which the four marks might be applied, and this he did for twenty years together, without being able to find one. This I learned from the late Dr Berkeley, son to the celebrated Bishop of Cloyne, who con- versed much with the world, and I believe would not have reported such a thing, but upon good authority. “ To those who take Mr Leslie’s tracts into their hands, I have only this short advice to give. I beseech them to remember, that if Christianity be true, it is tremendously true. All the great things this world can show are as nothing in comparison of it. Heaven and hell are the issue. Its facts yet to come are as certain as those that are past. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised ; the heavens shall be on fire, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the angels shall gather the elect of God from the four winds; all men shall be called upon to give an account of their words and actions; and they who now deny Jesus Christ, and hold him in defiance, shall see the heaven and earth fly aw^ay before his face. A man must be stupified if he can think on these things, without fleeing from the wrath to come ; and there is no way but in the belief of Christianity, which this book teaches.” SIR, I. In answer to yours of the 3d instant, I much con- dole with you in your unhappy circumstances, of being placed amongst such company, where, as you say, you continually hear the sacred Scriptures, and the his- tories therein contained, particularly of Moses and of Christ, and all revealed religion, turned into ridicule, by men who set up for sense and reason. And they say that there is no greater ground to believe in Christ, than in Mahomet ; that all these pretences to revelation are cheats, and ever have been among Pagans, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians ; that they are all alike impositions of cunning and designing men, upon the credulity, at first, of simple and un- thinking people, till, their numbers increasing, their delusions grew popular, came at last to be established by laws; and then the force of education and custom gives a bias to the judgments of after ages, till such deceits come really to be believed, being received upon trust from the ages foregoing, without examining into the original and bottom of them. Which these, our modern men of sense (as they desire to be esteemed), say that they only do, that they only have their judg- ments freed from the slavish authority of precedents 28 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. and laws, in matters of truth, which, they say, ought only to be decided by reason ; though by a prudent compliance with popularity and laws, they preserve themselves from outrage, and legal penalties ; for none of their complexion are addicted to sufferings or mar- tyi'dom. Now, Sir, that which you desire from me, is some short topic of reason, if such can he found, whereby, without running to authorities, and the intricate mazes of learning, which breed long disputes, and which these men of reason deny by wholesale, though they can give no reason for it, only suppose that authors have been trumped upon us, interpolated and corrupt- ed, so that no stress can be laid upon them, though it cannot be shown wherein they are so corrupted ; which, in reason, ought to lie upon them to prove, who allege it ; otherwise it is not only a precarious, but a guilty plea : and the more, that they refrain not to quote books on their side, for whose authority there are no better, or not so good grounds. How- ever, you say, it makes your disputes endless, and they go away with noise and clamour, and a boast, that there is nothing, at least nothing certain, to be said on the Christian side. Therefore you are desirous to find sonle one topic of reason, which should demonstrate the truth of the Christian religion, and at the same time, distinguish it from the impostures of Mahomet, and the old Pagan world: that our Deists may be brought to this test, and be obliged either to renounce their reason, and the common reason of mankind, or to submit to the clear proof, from reason, of the Christian religion ; which must be such a proof, as no imposture can pretend to, otherwise it cannot prove the Christian religion not to be an impostiu'e. And, whether such a proof, one single proof (to avoid con- fusion) is not to be found out, you desire to know from me. And you say, that you cannot imagine but there must be such a proof, because every truth is in itself clear, and one ; and therefore that one reason for it, if it be the true reason, must be sufficient; and if sufficient, it is better than many ; for multiplicity con- founds, especially to weak judgments. Sir, you have imposed an hard task upon me, I wish I could perform it. For though every truth is one, yet our sight is so feeble, that we cannot (always) come to it directly, but by many inferences, and laying of things together. But I think, that in the case before us, there is such a proof as you require, and I will set it down as short and plain as I can. II. First, then, I suppose, that the truth of the doctrine of Christ will be sufficiently evinced, if the matters of fact, which are recorded of him in the gos- pels, be true ; for his miracles, if true, do vouch the truth of what he delivered. The same is to be said as to Moses. If he brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea in that miraculous manner which is related in Exodus, and did such other wonderful things as are there told of him, it must necessarily follow, that he was sent from Go(k: these being the strongest proofs we can desire, and which every Deist will confess he would acquiesce in, if he saw them with his eyes. Therefore the stress of this cause will depend upon the proof of these matters of fact. 1. And the method I will take, is, first, to lay down such rules, as to the truth of matters of fact in general, that where they all meet, such matters of fact cannot be false. And then, secondly, to show that all these rules do meet in the matters of fact, of Moses, and of Christ ; and that they do not meet in the matters of fact of Mahomet, and the heathen deities, or can pos- sibly meet in any imposture whatsoever. 2. The rules are these : 1st, That the matters of fact be such, as that men’s outward senses, their eyes and ears, may be judges of it ; 2d, That it be done publicly in the face of the world; 3d, That not only public monuments be kept up in memory of it, but some outward actions to be performed; 4th, That such monuments, and such actions or observances be instituted, and do commence from the time that the matter of fact was done. 3. The two first rules make it impossible for any such matter of fact to be imposed upon men, at the time when such matter of fact was said to be done, because every man’s eyes and senses would contradict it. For example : Suppose any man should pretend, that yesterday he divided the Thames, in presence of all the people of London, and carried the whole city, men, women, and^ children, over to Southwark, on dry land, the water's standing like walls on both sides : I say, it is morally impossible that he could persuade the people of London that this was true, when everv man, woman, and child, could contradict him, and say, that this was a notorious falsehood, for that they had not seen the Thames so divided, or had gone over on dry land. Therefore I take it for granted (and I suppose, with the allowance of all the Deists in the world), that no such imposition could be put upon men, at the time when such public matter of fact was said to be done. 4. Therefore it only remains that such matter of fact might be invented some time after, when the men of that generation, wherein the thing was said to be done, are all past and gone ; and the credulity of after ages might be imposed upon, to believe that things were done in former ages, which were not. And for this, the two last rules secure us as much as the two first rules, in the former case ; for when- ever such a matter of fact came to be invented, if not only monuments were said to remain of it, but likewise that public actions and observances were constantly used ever since the matter of fact was said to be done, the deceit must be detected, by no such monuments appearing, and by the experience of every man, woman, and child, who must know that no such actions or observances were ever used by them. For example : Suppose I should now invent a story of such a thing done a thousand years ago, I might perhaps get some to believe it; but if I say, that not only such a thing was done, but that, from that day to this, every man, at the age of twelve years, had a joint of his little finger cut off; and that every man in the nation did want a joint of such a finger ; and that this institution was said to be part of the matter of fact done so many years ago, and vouched as a proof and confirmation of it, and as having descended, without interruption, and been constantly practised, in memory of such matter of fact, all along, fi-om the time that such matter of fact was done : I say, it is impossible I should be believed in such a case, because every one could contradict me, as to the mark of cut- ting off a joint of the finger; and that being part of my original matter of fact, must demonstrate the whole to be false. III. Let us now come to the second point, to show that the matters of fact of Moses, and of Christ, have all these rules or marks before mentioned ; and that neither the matters of fact of Mahomet, or what is reported of the heathen deities, have the like ; and that no impostor can have them all. 1. As to Moses, I suppose it will be allowed me, that he could not have persuaded six hundred thousand men, that he had brought them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea ; fed them forty years, without bread, by miraculous manna, and the other matters of fact LESLIE ON DEISM. 29 recorded in his books, if they had not been true. Because every man’s senses that were then alive, must have contradicted it. And therefore he must have imposed upon all their senses, if he could have made them believe it, when it was false, and no such things done. So that here are the first and second of the above-mentioned four marks. From the same reason, it was equally impossible for him to have made them receive his five books, as truth, and not to have rejected them, as a manifest imposture ; which told of all these things as done before their eyes, if they had not been so done. See how positively he speaks to them, Deut. xi. 2, to verse 8 : “ And know you this day, for I speak not with your children, which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched-out arm, and his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt, unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land, and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots ; how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you ; and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day : and what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place ; and what he did unto Dathan and Abh*am, the sons of Eliah, the son of Reuben, how the earth open- ed her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord, which he did,” &c. From hence we must suppose it impossible that these books of Moses (if an imposture) could have been invented and put upon the people who were then alive, when all these things were said to be done. The utmost therefore, that even a suppose can stretch to, is, that these books were wrote in some age after Moses, and put out in his name. And to this, I say, that if it was so, it was impos- sible that those books should have been received as the books of Moses, in that age wherein they may have been supposed to have been first invented. Why ? Because they speak of themselves as delivered by Moses, and kept in the ark from his time. “ And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finish- ed, that Moses commanded the Levites who bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.” Deut. xxxi. 24 — 26. And there was a copy of this book to be left likewise with the king. “ And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites : and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life : that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them.” Deut. xviii. 18, 19. Here then you see that this book of the law speaks of itself, not only as an history or relation of what things were then done, but as the standing and muni- cipal law and statutes of the nation of the Jews, bind- ing the king as well as the people. Now, in whatever age after Moses, you will suppose this book to have been forged, it was impossible it could be received as truth ; because it was not then to be found, either in the ark, or with the king, or any where else : For w'hen first invented, every body must know, that they had never heard of it before. And therefore they could less believe it to be the book of their statutes, and the standing law' of the land, which they had all along received, and by which they had been governed. Could any man, now at this day, invent a book of statutes or acts of parliament for England, and make it pass upon the nation as the only book of statutes that ever they had known ? As impossible was it for the books of Moses (if they w’ere invented in any age after Moses) to have been received for Avhat they declare themselves to be, viz., the statutes and municipal law of the nation of the Jews: and to have persuaded the Jews, that they had owned and acknowledged these books, all along from the days of Moses, to that day in which they were first invented ; that is, that they had owned them before they had ever so much as heard of them. Nay, more, the w'hole nation must, in an instant, forget their former laws and govern- ment, if they could receive these books as being their former law's. And they could not otherwise receive them, because they vouched themselves so to be. Let me ask the Deists but one short question : Was there ever a book of sham-laws, which were not the laws of the nation, palmed upon any people, since the world began ? If not, with what face can they say this of the book of laws of the Jews ? Why w'ill they say that of them, which they confess impossible in any nation, or among any people ? But they must be yet more unreasonable. For the books of Moses have a further demonstration of their truth than even other law-books have : For they not only contain the laws, but give an historical account of their institution, and the practice of them from that time : as of the passover in memory of the death of the first-born in Egypt :* and that the same day, all the first-born of Israel both of man and beast, were by a perpetual law dedicated to God : and the Levites taken for all the first-born of the children of Israel. That Aaron’s rod which budded, was kept in the ark, in memory of the rebellion, and wonderful destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ; and for the confirm- ation of the priesthood to the tribe of Levi. As like- wise the pot of manna, in memory of their having been fed with it forty years in the wilderness. That the brazen serpent was kept (which remained to the days of Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii. 4) in memoiy of that wonderful deliverance, by only looking upon it, from the biting of the fiery serpents, Num. xxi. 9. The feast of Pentecost, in memory of the dreadful appear- ance of God upon Mount Horeb, &c. And besides these remembrances of particular actions and occurrences, there were other solemn institutions in memory of their deliverance out of Egypt, in the general, which included all the particulars. As of the Sabbath, Deut. v.. 15. Their daily sacrifices, and yearly expiation ; their new moons, and several feasts and fasts. So that there were yearly, monthly, weekly, daily remembrances and recognitions of these things. And not only so, but the books of the same Moses tell us, that a particular tribe (of Levi) was appointed and consecrated by God, as his priests ; by whose hands, and none other, the sacrifices of the people were to be offered, and these solemn institutions to be celebrated. That it was death for any other to ap- proach the altar. That their high priest wore a glorious mitre, and magnificent robes of God’s own contrivance, with the miraculous Urim and Thum- mim in his breast-plate, whence the Divine responses were given. | That at his word, the king and all the people were to go out, and to come in. That thesei Levites, were likewise the chief judges, even in all civil causes, and that it was death to resist their sen- * Num. viii. 17, 18, f Num. xxvii. 21, so CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. tence.* Now, whenever it can be supposed that these books of Moses were forged in some ages after Moses, it is impossible they could have been received as true, unless the forgers could have made the whole nation believe, that they had received these books from their fathers, had been instructed in them when they were children, and had taught them to their children ; moreover, that they had all been circumcised, and did circumcise their children, in pursuance to what was commanded in these books ; that they had observed the yearly passover, the weekly sabbath, the new moons, and all these several feasts, fasts, and ceremo- nies commanded in these books ; that they had never eaten any swine’s flesh, or other meats prohibited in these books : that they had a magnificent tabernacle, with a visible priesthood to administer in it, which was confined to the tribe of Levi ; over whom was placed a glorious high-priest, clothed with great and mighty prerogatives : whose death only could deliver those that were fled to the cities of refuge. f And that these priests were their ordinary judges, even in civil matters : I say, was it possible to have persuaded a whole nation of men, that they had known and practised all these things, if they had not done it ? or, secondly, to have received a book for truth, which said they had practised them, and appealed to that practice ? So that here are the third and fourth of the marks above-mentioned. But now let us descend to the utmost degree of supposition, viz., that these things were practised, before these books of Moses were forged ; and that those books did only impose upon the nation, in making them believe, that they had kept these observ- ances in memory of such and such things, as were inserted in those books. Well then, let us proceed upon this supposition, (however groundless) and now, will not the same im- possibilities occur, as in the former case ? For, first, this must suppose that the Jews kept all these observ- ances in memory of nothing, or without knowing any thing of their oi'iginal, or the reason why they kept them. Whereas these very observances did express the ground and reason of their being kept, as the passover, in memory of God’s passing over the children of the Israelites, in that night wherein he slew all the first-born of Egypt, and so. of the rest. But, secondly, let us suppose, contrary both to reason and matter of fact, that the Jews did not know any reason at all why they kept these observances ; yet was it possible to put it upon them, that they had kept these observances in memory of what they had never heard of before that day, whensoever you will suppose that these books of Moses wei'e first forged? For example, suppose I should now forge some romantic story, of strange things done a thou- sand years ago, and in confirmation of this, should endeavour to persuade the Christian world, that they had all along, from that day to this, kept the first day of the week in memory of such an hero, an Appollo- nius, a Barcosbas, or a Mahomet ; and had all been baptized in his name ; and swore by his name, and upon that very book, (which I had then forged, and which they never saw before) in their public judica- tures ; that this book was their gospel and law, which they had ever since that time, these thousand years past, universally received and owned, and none other. I would ask any Deist, whether he thinks it possible that such a cheat could pass, or such a legend be re- ceived as the gospel of Christians ; and that they could be made believe that they never had any other gospel ? The same reason is as to the books of Moses ; and must be, as to every matter of fact, which has all the ♦ Deut. xvii. 8—13; 1 Cliron. xxiii. 4. + Num, xxxv.25,28. four marks before mentioned ; and these marks secure any such matter of fact as much from being invented and imposed in any after ages, as at the time when such matters of fact were said to be done. Let me give one very familiar example more in this case. There is the Stonehenge in Salisbury-plain, every body knows it ; and yet none knows the reason why those great stones were set there, or by whom, or in memory of what. Now, suppose I should write a book to-morrow, and tell there, that these stones were set up by Her- cules, Polyphemus, or Garagantua, in memory of such and such of their actions. And for a further confirm- ation of this, should say in this book, that it was wrote at the time when such actions were done, and by the very actors themselves, or eye witnesses. And that this book had been received as truth, and quoted by authors of the greatest reputation in all ages since. Moreover that this book was well known in England, and enjoined by act of parliament to be taught our children, and that we did teach it to our children, and had been taught it ourselves when we were children. I ask any Deist, whether he thinks this could pass upon England ? And whether, if I, or any other should insist upon it, we should not, instead of being believed, be sent to Bedlam ? Now, let us compare this with the Stonehenge, as I may call it, or twelve great stones set up at Gilgal, which is told in the fourth chapter of Joshua. There it is said, verse 6, that the reason why they were set up, was, that when their children, in after ages, should ask the meaning of it, it should be told them. And the thing in memory of which they were set up, was such as could not possibly be imposed upon that nation, at that time when it was said to be done : it was as wonderful and miraculous as their passage through the Red Sea. And withal, free from a very poor objection, which the Deists have advanced against that miracle of the Red Sea: thinking to salve it by a spring-tide, with the concurrence of a strong wind, happening at the same time ; which left the sand so dry, as that the Iraelites being all foot, might pass through the oozy places and holes, which it must be supposed the sea left behind it : but that the Egyptians, being all horse and chariots, stuck in those holes, and were entangled, so as that they could not march so fast as the Israel- ites : and that this was all the meaning of its being said, that God took oft' their (the Egyptians) chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily. So that they would make nothing extraordinary, at least, nothing mira- culous, in all this action. This is advanced in Le Clerc’s Dissertations vpon Genesis, lately printed in Holland, and that part, with others of the like tendency, endeavouring to resolve other miracles, as that of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c., into the mere natural causes, are put into English by the well known T. Brown, for the edification of the Deists in England. But these gentlemen have forgot, that the Israelites had great herds of many thousand cattle with them ; which would be apter to stray, and fall into those holes and oozy places in the strand, than horses with riders who might direct them. But such precarious and silly supposes are not worth the answering. If there had been no more in this passage through the Red Sea than that of a spring tide, &c., it had been impossible for Moses to have made the Israelites believe that relation given of it in Exodus, with so many particulars, which themselves saw to be true. And all those Scriptures which magnify this action, and appeal to it as a full demonstration of the miracu- LESLIE ON DEISM, 31 lous power of God, must be reputed as romance or legend. I say this, for the sake of some Christians, who think it no prejudice to the truth of the Holy Bible, but rather an advantage, as rendering it more easy to be believed, if they can solve whatever seems miracu- lous in it, by the power of second causes : and so to make all, as they speak, natural and easy. Wherein, if they could prevail, the natural and easy result would be, not to believe one word in all those sacred oracles. For if things be not as they are told in any relation, that relation must be false. And if false in part, we cannot trust to it, either in whole or in part. Here are to be excepted, mistranslations and eiTors, either in copy or in press. But where there is no room for supposing of these, as where all copies do agree ; there we must either receive all, or reject all. I mean in any book that pretends to be written from the mouth of God. For in other common histories, we may believe part, and reject part, as we see cause. But to return. The passage of the Israelites over Jordan, in memory of which those stones at Gilgal were set up, is free from all those little carpings before- mentioned, that are made as to the passage through the Red Sea. For notice was given to the Israelites the day before, of this great miracle to be done. Josh, iii. 5. It w'as done at noon-day, before the whole nation. And when the waters of Jordan w’ere divided, it was not at any low ebb, but at the time when that river overflowed all his banks, verse 15. And it was done, not by winds, or in length of time, which winds must take to do it ; but all on the sudden, as soon as the “ feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, then the waters which came down from above, stood and rose up upon an heap, very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan : and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off : and the people passed over, right against Jericho. The priests stood in the midst of Jordan, till all the armies of Israel had passed over. And it came to pass, when the priests that bare the ai'k of the covenant of the Lord were come up, out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lift up upon the dry land, that the waters of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks as they did before. And the people came out of Jordan, on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho, and those twelve stones which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying. When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying. What mean these stones ? Then shall ye let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over : as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over. That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty : that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.” Chap. iv. from verse 18. If the passage over the Red Sea, had been only taking advantage of a spring tide, or the like, how would this teach all the people of the earth, that the hand of the Lord was mighty ? How would a thing no more remarkable have been taken notice of through all the world ? How would it have taught Israel to fear the Lord, when they must know, that notwithstanding of all these big words, there was so little in it ! How could they have believed, or received a book, as truth, which they knew, told the matter so far otherwise from what it was ? But, as I said, this passage over Jordan, which is here compared to that of the Red Sea, is free from all those cavils that are made, as to that of the Red Sea, and is a further attestation to it, being said to be done in the same manner as was that of the Red Sea. Now, to form our argument, let us suppose, that there never was any such thing as that passage over Jordan. That these stones at Gilgal were set up upon some other occasion, in some after age. And then, that some designing man invented this book of Joshua, and said, that it was wrote by Joshua at that time. And gave this stonage at Gilgal for a testimony of the truth of it. Would not every body say to him, we know the stonage at Gilgal, but we never heard before of this reason for it ? Nor of this book of Joshua ? Where has it been all this while ? And where, and how came you, after so many ages, to find it ? Besides, this book tells us, that this passage over Jordan was ordained to be taught our children, from age to age : and therefore, that they were always to be instructed in the meaning of that stonage at Gilgal, as a memo- rial of it. But we were never taught it, when we were children; nor did ever teach our children any such thing. And it is not likely that could have been forgotten, while so remarkable a stonage did continue, which was set up for that and no other end ! And if, for the reasons before given, no such impo- sition could be put upon us as to J.he stonage in Salis- bury plain ; how much less could it be to the stonage at Gilgal? And if where we know not the reason of a bare naked monument, such a sham reason cannot be im- posed, how much more is it impossible to impose upon us in actions and observances, which we celebrate in memory of particular passages ? How impossible to make us forget those passages which we daily com- memorate ; and persuade us, that we had always kept such institutions in memory of what we never heard of before ; that is, that we knew it, before we knew it ! And if we find it thus impossible for an imposition to be put upon us, even in some things which have not all the four marks before mentioned ; how much more impossible is it, that any deceit should be in that thing where all the four marks do meet ! This has been showed in the first place, as to the matters of fact of Moses. 2. Therefore I come now (secondly) to show, that as in the matters of fact of Moses, so likewise all these four marks do meet in the matters of fact, w'hich are recorded in the gospel of our blessed Saviour. And my w'ork herein will be the shorter, because all that is said before of Moses and his books, is every way as applicable to Christ and his gospel. His works and his miracles are there said to be done publicly in the face of the w^orld, as he argued to his accusers, “ I spake openly to the world, and in secret have I said nothing,” John xviii. 20. It is told. Acts ii. 41, that three thousand at one time ; and Acts iv. 4, that above five thousand at another time, were converted, upon conviction of what themselves had seen, and what had been done publicly before their eyes, wherein it was impossible to have imposed upon them. There- fore here were the two first of the rules before-men- tioned. Then for the two second : Baptism and the Lord’s Supper were instituted as perpetual memorials of these things ; and they were not instituted in after ages, but at the very time when these things were said to be done ; and have been observed without interruption, in all ages through the whole Christian world, down all the way from that time to this. And Christ him- self did ordain apostles and other ministers of his gospel, to preach and administer the sacraments ; and 32 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, to govern his church ; and that always, even iinto the end of the world. Accordingly they have continued by regular succession, to this day : and, no doubt, ever shall, while the earth shall last. So that the Christian clergy are as notorious a matter of fact, as the tribe of Levi among the Jews. And the gospel is as much a law to the Christians, as the book of Moses to the Jews : and it being part of the matters of fact related in the gospel, that such an order of men were appointed by Christ, and to continue to the end of the world ; consequently, if the gospel was a fiction, and invented (as it must be) in some ages after Christ ; then, at that time when it was first invented, there could be no such order of clergy, as derived themselves from the institution of Christ ; which must give the lie to the gospel, and demonstrate the whole to be false. And the matters of fact of Christ being pressed to be true, no otherwise than as there was at that time (whenever the Deists will suppose the gospel to be forged) not only public sacraments of Christ’s institu- tion, but an order of clergy, likewise of his appoint- ment to administer them : and it being impossible there could be any such things before they were in- vented, it is as impossible that they should be received when invented. And therefore, by what was said above, it was as impossible to have imposed upon man- kind in this matter, by inventing of it in after ages, as at the time when those things were said to be done. 3. The matters of fact of Mahomet, or what is fabled of the deities, do all want some of the aforesaid four rules, whereby the certainty of matters of fact is demonstrated. First, for Mahomet, he pretended to no miracles, as he tells us in his Alcoran, c. 6, &c., and those which are commonly told of him pass among the Mahometans themselves, but as legendary fables : and, as such, are rejected by the wise and learned among them ; as the legends of their saints are in the Church of Rome. See Dr Prideaux his Life of Maho- Viet, page 34. But, in the next place, those which are told of him, do all want the two first rules before-mentioned. For his pretended converse with the moon : his mersa, or night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven, &c., were not performed before any body. We have only his own word for them. And they are as groundless as the delusions of the Fox or Muggleton among oui'selves. The same is to be said (in the second place) of the fables of the heathen gods, of Mercury’s stealing sheep, Jupiter’s turning himself into a bull, and the hke ; besides the folly and unworthi- ness of such senseless pretended miracles. And more- over the wise among the heathen did reckon no other- wise of these but as fables, which had a mythology, or mystical meaning in them, of which several of them have given us the rationale or explication. And it is plain enough that Ovid meant no other by all his Met am or phases. It is true, the heathen deities bad their priests : they had likewise feasts, games, and other public institutions in memory of them. But all these want the fourth mark, viz., that such priesthood and insti- tutions should commence from the time that such things as they commemorate w'ere said to be done ; otherwise they cannot secure after tiges from the im- posture, by detecting it, at the time when first invented, as hath been argued before. But the Bacchanalia, and other heathen feasts, were instituted many ages after what was reported of these gods was said to be done, and therefore can be no proof. And the priests of Bacchus, Apollo, &c., were not ordained by these sup- posed gods : but were appointed by others, in after ages, only in honour to them. And therefore these * Matt, xviii, 20. orders of priests are no evidence to the matters of fact which are reported of their gods. IV. Now, to apply what has been said. You may challenge all the Deists in the world to show any action that is fabulous, which has all the four rules or marks before-mentioned. No, it is impossible. And (to resume a little what is spoke to before) the histo- ries of Exodus and the gospel never could have been received, if they had not been true ; because the insti- tution of the priesthood of Levi, and of Christ ; of the Sabbath, the passover, of circumcision, of baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, &c., are there related, as de- scending all the way down from those times, without interruption. And it is full as impossible to persuade men that they had been circumcised or baptized, had circumcised or baptized their children, celebrated pass- overs, Sabbaths, sacraments, &c., under the govern- ment and administration of a certain order of priests, if they had done none of these things, as to make them believe that they had gone through seas upon dry land, seen the dead raised, &c. And without believ- ing these, it was impossible that either the law or the gospel could have been received. And the truth of the matters of fact of Exodus and the gospel, being no otherwise pressed upon men, than as they have practised such public institutions, it is appealing to the senses of mankind for the ti'uth of them ; and makes it impossible for any to have in- vented such stories in after ages, without a palpable detection of the cheat when first invented ; as impos- sible as to have imposed upon the senses of mankind, at the time when such public matters of fact were said to be done. V. I do not say, that every thing which wants these four marks is false : but, that nothing can be false, which has them all. I have no manner of doubt that there was such a man as Julius Csesar, that he fought at Pharsalia, w’as killed in the senate house, and many other matters of fact of ancient times, though we keep no public ob- servances in memory of them. But this show that the matters of fact of Moses and of Christ, have come down to us better guarded than any other matters of fact, how true soever. And yet our Deists, w’ho would laugh any man out the world as an irrational brute, that should offer to deny Caesar or Alexander, Homer or Virgil, their public works and actions, do, at the same time, value themselves as the only men of wit and sense, of free, generous and unbiassed judgments, for ridiculing the histories of Moses and of Christ, that are infinitely better attested, and guarded with infallible marks, which the others want. VI. Besides that the importance of the subject would oblige all men to inquire more narrowly into the one than the other : for what consequence is it to me, or to the world, whether there w'as such a man as Caesar, whether he beat, or was beaten at Pharsalia, whether Homer or Virgil wrote such books, and whether what is related in the Iliads or .®neids be true or false ? It is not twopence up or down to any man in the world. And therefore it is worth no man’s while to inquire into it, either to oppose or justify the truth of these relations. But our very souls and bodies, both this life and eternity are concerned in the truth of what is related in the holy Scriptures ; and therefore men would be more inquisitive to search into the truth of these, than of any other matters of fact ; examine and sift them narrowly ; and find out the deceit, if any such could be found : for it concerned them nearly, and was of the last importance to them. How unreasonable then is it to reject these matters LESLIE ON DEISM. 33 of fact, so sifted, so examined, and so attested as no other matters of fact in the world ever were ; and yet to think it the most highly unreasonable, even to mad- ness, to deny other matters of fact, which have not the thousandth part of their evidence, and are of no consequence at all to us whether true or false ! VII. There are several other topics, from whence the truth of the Christian religion is evinced to all who will judge by reason, and give themselves leave to consider. As the improbability that ten or twelve poor illiterate fishermen should form a design of con- verting the whole world to believe their delusions; and the impossibility of their effecting it, without force of arms, learning, oratory, or any one visible thing that could recommend them ! And to impose a doctrine quite opposite to the lusts and pleasures of men, and all worldly advantages or enjoyments ! And this in an age of so great learning and sagacity as that wherein the gospel was first preached ! That these apostles should not only undergo all the scorn and contempt, but the severest persecutions and most cruel deaths that could be inflicted, in attestation to what themselves knew to be a mere deceit and forgery of their own contriving ! Some have suffered for errors which they thought to be truth, but never any for what they themselves knew to be lies. And the apostles must know what they taught to be lies, if it was so, because they spoke of those things which they said they had both seen and heard, had looked upon and handled with their hands, &c. * Neither can it be, that they, perhaps, might have proposed some temporal advantages to themselves, but missed of them, and met with sufferings instead of them : for, if it had been so, it is more than probable, that when they saw their disappointment, they would have discovered their conspii-acy, especially when they might not have only saved their lives, but got great rewards for doing of it. That not one of them should ever have been brought to do this. But this is not all : for they tell us that their Master bid them expect nothing but sufferings in this world. This is the tenure of that gospel which they taught ; and they told the same to all whom they converted. So that here was no disappointment. For all that were converted by them, were con- verted upon the certain expectation of sufferings, and bidden prepare for it. Christ commanded his dis- ciples to take up their cross daily, and follow him ; and told them, that in the world they should have tri- bulation ; that whoever did not forsake father, mother, wife, children, lands, and their very lives, could not be his disciples ; that he who sought to save his life in this world, should lose it in the next. Now, that this despised doctrine of the cross should prevail so universally against the allurements of flesh and blood, and all the blandishments of this world ; against the rage and persecution of all the kings and powers of the earth, must show its original to be Divine, and its protector Almighty. What is it else could conquer without arms, persuade without rhetoric; overcome enemies ; disarm tyrants ; and subdue em- pires without opposition ! VIII. We may add to all this, the testimonies of the most bitter enemies and persecutors of Christianity, both Jews and Gentiles, to the truth cf the matter of fact of Christ, such as Josephus and Tacitus ; of which the first flourished about forty years after the death of Christ, and the other about seventy years after : so that they were capable of examining into the truth, and wanted not prejudice and malice suffi- cient to have inclined them to deny the matter of fact itself of Christ : but their confessing to it, as likewise * Acts iv. 20, 1 John i, 1, Lucian, Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian the apostate ; the Mahometans since, and all other enemies of Christi- anity that have arisen in the world, is an undeniable attestation to the truth of the matter of fact. IX. But there is another argument more strong and convincing than even this matter of fact ; more than the certainty of what I see with my eyes ; and which the apostle Peter called a more sure word, that is pi'oof, that what he saw and heard upon the holy mount, when our blessed Saviour was transfigured before him and two other of the apostles : for having repeated that passage as a proof of that whereof they were eye witnesses, and heard the voice from heaven giving attestation to our Lord Christ, 2 Pet. i. 16 — 18, he says, verse 19, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy,” for the proof of this Jesus being the Messiah, that is, the prophecies which had gone before of him from the beginning of the world, and all exactly fulfilled in him. Men may dispute an imposition or delusion upon our outward senses. But how that can be false, which.has been so long, even from the beginning of the world, and so often by all the prophets in several ages fore- told ; how can this be an imposition or a forgery ? This is particularly insisted on in the Method with the Jews. And even the Deists must confess, that that book we call the Old Testament, was in being in the hands of the Jews long before our Saviour came into the world. And if they will be at the pains to com- pare the prophecies that are there of the Messiah, with the fulfilling of them, as to time, place, and all other circumstances in the person, birth, life, death, resur- rection and ascension of our blessed Saviour, will find this proof what our apostle here calls it, “ a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” Which God grant. Here is no possibility of deceit or imposture. Old prophecies (and all so agreeing) could not have been contrived to countenance a new cheat : and no- thing could be a cheat, that could fulfil all these. For this, therefore, I refer the Deists to the Method with the Jews. I desire them likewise to look there, Sect. 11., and consider the prophecies given so long ago, of which they see the fulfilling at this day with their own eyes, of the state of the Jews for many ages past and at present, without a king or priest, or temple, or sacri- fice, scattered to the four winds, sifted as with a sieve, among all nations ; yet preserved, and always so to be, a distinct people from all others of the whole earth. Whereas those mighty monarchies which oppressed the Jews, and which commanded the world in their turns, and had the greatest human prospect of perpetuity, were to be extinguished, as they have been, even that their names should be blotted out from under heaven. As likewise, that as remarkable of our blessed Savi- our, concerning the preservation and progress of the Christian church, when in her swaddling clothes, con- sisting only of a few poor fishermen. Not by the sword, as that of Mahomet, but under all the persecu- tion of men and hell ; which yet should not prevail against her. But though I offer these as not to be slighted by the Deists, to which they can show nothing equal in all profane history, and in which it is impossible any cheat can lie ; yet I put them not upon the same foot as the prophecies before-mentioned of the marks and com- ing of the Messiah, which have been since the world began. And that general expectation of the whole earth, at the time of his coming, insisted upon in the Method with the Jews, Sect. 5., is greatly to be noticed. But, I say, the foregoing prophecies of our Saviour Q. 3i< CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. are so strong a proof, as even miracles would not be sufficient to break their authority.", I mean, if it were possible that a true miracle could be wrought, in contradiction to them : for that would be for God to contradict himself. But no sign or wonder, that could possibly be solved, should shake this evidence. It is this that keeps the Jews in their obstinacy ; though they cannot deny the matters of fact done by our blessed Saviour to be truly miracles, if so done as said. Nor can they deny that they were so done, be- cause they have all the four marks before mentioned. Yet they cannot yield ! Why ? Because they think that the gospel is in contradiction to the law ; which, if it were, the consequence would be unavoidable, that both could not be true. To solve this, is the business of the Method with the Jews. But the contradiction which they suppose, is in their comments that they put upon the law ; especially they expect a literal fulfilling of those promises of the restoration of Jerusalem, and outward glories of the church, of which there is such frequent mention in the books of Moses, the Psalms, and all the prophets. And many Christians do expect the same, and take those texts as literally as the Jews do. We do believe and pray for the conversion of the Jews. For this end they have been so miraculously preserved, according to the prophecies so long before of it. And when that time shall come, as they are the most hon- ourable and ancient of all the nations on the earth, so will their church return to be the mother Christian church as she was at first ; and Rome must surrender to Jerusalem. Then all nations will flow thither ; and even Ezekiel’s temple may be literally built there, in the metropolis of the whole earth ; which Jerusalem must be, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall meet with the conversion of the Jews. For no nation will then contend with the Jews, nor church wdth Jerusa- lem for supremacy. All nations will be ambitious to draw their original from the Jews, “ whose are the fathers, and from wdiom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.” Then will be fulfilled that outward grandeur and restoration of the Jews and of Jerusalem, which they expect, pursuant to the prophecies. They pretend not that this is limited to any parti- cular time of the reign of the Messiah. They are sure it will not be at the beginning ; for they expect to go through great conflicts and trials with their Messiah (as the Christian church has done) before his final conquest, and that they come to reign with him. So that this is no obstruction to their embracing of Christianity. They see the same things fulfilled in us, which they expect themselves; and we expect the same things they do. I tell this to the Deists, lest they may think that the Jews have some stronger arguments than they know of, that they are not persuaded by the miracles of our blessed Saviour, and by the fulfilling of all the prophecies in him, that were made concerning the Messiah. As I said before, I would not plead even miracles against these. And if this is sufficient to persuade a Jew, it is much more so. to a Deist, wffio labours not under these ob- jections. Besides, I would not seem to clash with that (in a sound sense) reasonable caution used by Christian writers, not to put the issue of the truth wholly upon miracles, without this addition, when not done in con- tradiction to the revelations already given in the holy Scriptures. And they do it upon this consideration, that though it is impossible to suppose, that God would work a real miracle, in contradiction to what he has already revealed ; yet, men may be imposed upon by false and seeming miracles, and pretended revelations (as there are many examples, especially in the Church of Rome), and so may be shaken in the faith, if they keep not to the holy Scriptures as their rule. We are told, 2 Thess. ii. 9, “of him whose coming is after the working; of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders. And Rev. xiii. 14 ; xvi. 14 ; and xix. 20, of the devil, and false prophets working miracles. But the word, in all these places, is only 2'/j^£ra, Signs, that is, as it is rendered, Matt. xxv. 24 , which, though sometimes it may be used to signify real miracles, yet not always, not in these places. For though every miracle be a sign and a wonder, yet every sign or wonder is not a miracle. X. Here it may be proper to consider a common topic of the Deists, who when they are not able to stand out against the evidence of fact, that such and such miracles have been done, then turn about, and deny such things to be miracles, at least that we can never be sure whether any wonderful thing that is shown to us be a true or a false miracle. And the great argument they go upon is this, that a miracle being that whicL exceeds the power of nature, we cannot know what exceeds it, unless we knew the utmost extent of the power of nature ; and no man pretends to know that, therefore that no man can certainly know whether any event be miraculous: and, consequently, he may be cheated in his judgment betwixt true and false miracles. To which I answer, that men may be so cheated, and there are many examples of it. But that though we may not always know when we are cheated, yet we can certainly tell, in many cases, when we are not cheated. For though we do not know the utmost extent of the power of nature, perhaps in any one thing ; yet it does not follow that we know not the nature of any tiling in some measure ; and that certainly too. For exam- ple, though I do not know the utmost extent of the power of fire, yet I certainly know that it is the nature of fire to burn ; and that when proper fuel is administered to it, it is contrary to the nature of fire not to consume it. Therefore, if I see three men taken off the street, in their common wearing apparel, and without any preparation cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace, and that the flame was so fierce that it burnt up those men that threw them in, and yet that these who were thrown in should walk up and down in the bottom of the furnace, and I should see a fourth person with them of glorious appearance, like the Son of God. And that these men should come up again out of the furnace, without any harm, or so much as the smell of fire xjpon themselves, or their clothes, I could not be deceived in thinking that there was a stop put to the nature of fire, as to these men ; and that it had its effect upon the men whom it burned, at the same time. Again : though I cannot tell how wonderful and sudden an increase of corn might be produced by the concurrence of many causes, as a warm climate, the fertility of the soil, &c., yet this I can certainly know, that there is not that natural force in the breath of two or three words, spoken to multiply one small loaf of bread so fast, in the breaking of it, as truly and really, not only in appearance and show to the eye, but to fill the "bellies of several thousand hungry persons ; and that the fragments should be much more than the bread was at first. So neither in a word spoken, to raise the dead, cure diseases, &c. Therefore, though we know not the utmost extent LESLIE ON DEISM. 33 of tlie power of nature ; yet we certainly know what is contrary to the nature of several such things as we do know. And. therefore, though we may be cheated, and imposed upon in many seeming miracles and wonders ; yet there are some things wherein we may be certain. But further, the Deists acknowledge a God of an Almighty power, who made all things. Yet they would put it out of his power to make any revelation of his will to mankind. For if we can- not be certain of any miracle, how should we know when God sent any thing exti-aordinary to us ? Nay, how should we know the ordinary power of nature, if we knew not what exceeded it ? If we know not what is natural, how do we know there is such a thing as nature ? That all is not supernatural, all miracles, and so disputable, till we come to down- right scepticism, and doubt the certainty of our out- ward senses, whether we see, hear, or feel ; or all be not a miraculous illusion ! Which, because I know the Deists are not inclined to do, therefore I will return to pursue my argument upon the conviction of our outward senses, desiring only this, that they would allow the senses of other men to be as certain as their own ; which they cannot refuse, since without this they can have no certainty of their own. XL Therefore, from what has been said, the cause is summed up shortly in this : that though we cannot see what was done before our time, yet by the marks which I have laid down concerning the certainty of matters of fact done before our time, we may be as much assured of the truth of them, as if we saw them with our eyes ; because whatever matter of fact has all the four marks before-mentioned, could never have been invented and received but upon the conviction of the outward senses of all those who did receive it, as before is demonstrated. And therefore this topic which I have chosen, does stand upon the conviction even of men’s outward senses. And since you have confined me to one topic, I have not insisted upon the other, which I have only named. XII. And now it lies upon the Deists, if they would appear as men of reason, to show some matter of fact of former ages, which they allow to be true, that has greater evidence of its truth, than the matters of fact of Moses and of Christ ; otherwise they cannot, with any s|iow of reason, reject the one, and yet admit of the other. But I have given them greater latitude than this, for I have shown such marks of the truth of the mat- ters of fact of Moses and of Christ ; as no other matters of fact of those times, however true, have, but these only : and I put it upon them to show any forgery that has all these marks. This is a short issue. Keep them close to this. This determines the cause all at once. - Let them produce their Apollonius Tyanieus, whose life was put into English by the execrable Charles Blount,* and compared with all the wit and malice he was master of, to the life and miracles of our blessed Savipur. Let them take aid from all the legends in the church ■* The hand of that scorner, which durst write such outrageous blasphemy against his Maker, the Divine vengeance has made his own executioner. Which 1 would not have mentioned (because the like judgment has befallen others), but that the Theistical Club have set this up as a principle, and printed a vindication of this same Blount for murdering of himself, by way of justification of self-murder; which some of them have since, as well as formerly, horridly practised upon themselves. Therefore this is no common judgment to which they are delivered, but a visible mark set upon them, to show how far God has forsaken them ; and as a caution to all Christians to beware of them, and not to come near the tents of these wicked men, lest they perish in their destruction, both of soul and lynly. of Rome, those pious cheats, the sorest disgraces of Christianity ; and which have bid the fairest of any one contrivance, to overturn the certainty of the mira- cles of Christ and his apostles, and whole truth of the gospel, by putting them all upon the same foot : at least they are so understood by the generality of their de- votees, though disowned and laughed at by the learned, and men of sense among them. Let them pick and choose the most probable of all the fables of the heathen deities, and see if they can find in any of these, the four marks before-mentioned. Otherwise, let them submit to the irrefragable cer- tainty of the Christian religion. XIII. But if, notwithstanding all that is said, the Deists will still contend that all this is hut priestcraft, the invention of priests for their own profit, &c., then they will give us an idea of priests, far different from what they intend : for then we must look upon these priests, not only as the cunningest and wisest of man- kind, but we shall be tempted to adore them as deities, who have such power as to impose at their pleasure, upon the senses of rriankind, to make them believe that they had practised such public institutions, enacted them by laws, taught them to their children, &c., when they had never done any of these things, or ever so much as heard of them before : and tlien, upon the credit of their believing that they had done such things as they never did, to make them further believe, upon the same foundation, whatever they pleased to impose upon them, as to former ages : I say, such a power as this must exceed all that is human ; and consequently make us rank these priests far above the condition of mortals. 2. Nay,^ this were to make them outdo all that has ever been related of the infernal powers : for though their legerdemaiu has extended to deceive some un- wary beholders, and their power of working some seeming miracles has been gi'eat, yet it never reached, nor ever was supposed to reach so far, as to deceive the senses of all mankind, in matters of such public and notorious nature as those of which we now speak, to make them believe, that they had enacted laws for such public observances, continually practised them, taught them to their children, and had been instructed in them themselves, from their childhood, if they had never enacted, practised, taught, or been taught such things. 3. And as this exceeds all the power of hell and devils, so is it more than ever God Almighty has done since the foundation of the world. None of the mira- cles that he has shown, or belief which he has required to any thing that he has revealed, has ever contra- dicted the outward senses of any one man in the world, much less of all mankind together. For miracles being appeals to our outward senses, if they should over- throw the certainty of our outward senses, must destroy with it all their own certainty as to us; since we havo no other way to judge of a miracle exhibited to our senses, than upon the supposition of the certainty of our senses, upon which we give credit to a miracle, that is shown to our senses. • 4 . This, by the way, is a yet unanswered argument against the miracle of transubstantiation, and shows the weakness of the defence which the Church of Rome offers for it, (from whom the Socinians have licked it up, and of late have gloried much in it amongst us) that the doctrines of the Trinity or In- carnation, contain as great seeming absurdities as that of transubstantiation : for I would ask, which of our senses it is which the doctrines of the Ti'inity or in- carnation do contradict ? Is it our seeing, hearing, feeling, taste or smell? Whereas transubstantiation does contradict all of these. Therefore the compari- S6 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. son is exceedingly short, and out of purpose. But to return. If the Christian religion he a cheat, and nothing else but the invention of priests, and carried on by their craft, it makes their power and wisdom greater than that of men, angels, or devils ; and more than God himself ever yet showed or expressed, to deceive and impose upon the senses of mankind, in such public and notorious matters of fact. XIV. And this miracle, which the Deists must run into to avoid these recorded of Moses and Christ, is much greater and more astonishing than all the Scrip- tures tell of them. So that these men who laugh at all miracles are now obliged to account for the greatest of all, how the senses of mankind could be imposed upon in such public matters of fact. And how then can they make the priests the most contemptible of all mankind, since they make them the sole authors of this the greatest of miracles ? XV. And since the Deists (these men of sense and reason) have so vile and mean an idea of the priests of all religions, why do they not recover the world out of the possession and government of such blockheads ? "Why do they suffer kings and states to be led by them ; to establish their deceits by laws, and inflict penalties upon the opposers of them ? Let the Deists try their hands ; they have been trying, and are now busy about it. And free liberty they have. Yet have they not prevailed, nor ever yet did prevail in any civilized or generous nation. And though they have some inroads among the Hottentots, and some other the most brutal part of mankind, yet are they still exploded, and priests have and do prevail against them, among not only the greatest, but best part of the world, and the most glorious for arts, learning and war. XVI. For as the devil does ape God, in his institu- tions of religion, his feasts, sacrifices, &c., so likewise in his priests, without whom no religion, whether true or false, can stand. False religion is but a corruption of the true. The true was before it, though it be fol- lowed close upon the heels. The revelation made to Moses is elder than any history extant in the heathen world. The heathens, in imitation of him, pretended likewise to their reve- lations : but I have given those marks which distin- guish them from the true : none of them have those four marks before-mentioned. Now the Deists think all revelations to be equally pretended, and a cheat ; and the priests of all religions to be the same contrivers and jugglers ; and therefore they proclaim war equally against all, and are equally engaged to bear the brunt of all. And if the contest be only betwixt the Deists and the priests, which of them are the men of the greatest parts and sense, let the effects detei-mine it ; and let the Deists yield the victory to their conquerors, who by their own confession carry all the world before them. XVII. If the Deists say, that this is because all the world are blockheads, as well as those priests who govern them ; that all are blockheads except the Deists, who vote themselves only to be men of sense ; this (besides the modesty of it) will spoil their great and beloved topic, in behalf of what they call Natural Beligion, against the Revealed, viz., appealing to the common reason of mankind : this they set up against revelation ; think this to be sufficient for all the uses of men, here or hereafter, (if there be any after state) and therefore that there is no use of revelation : this common reason they advance as infallible, at least as the surest guide, yet now cry out upon it, when it turns against them ; when this common reason runs after revelation (as it always has done), then common reason is a beast, and we must look for reason, not from the common sentiments of mankind, but only among the beaux, the Deists. XVIII. Therefore, if the Deists would avoid the mortification (which will be very uneasy to them) to yield and submit to be subdued and hewed down before the priests, whom of all mankind they hate and de- spise ; if they would avoid this, let them confess, as the truth is, that religion is no invention of priests, but of Divine original ; that priests were instituted by the same Author of religion ; and that their order is a perpetual and living monument of the matters of fact of their religion, instituted from the time that such matters of fact were said to be done, as the Levites from Moses, the apostles and succeeding clergy from Christ, to this day ; that no heathen pidests can say the same ; they were not appointed by the gods whom they served, but by others in after ages ; they cannot stand the test of the four rules before-mentioned, which the Christian priests can do, and they only. Now the Christian priesthood, as instituted by Christ himself, and continued by succession to this day, being as impregnable and flagrant a testimony to the truth of the matters of fact of Christ, as the sacraments, or any other public institutions : besides that, if the pi'iesthood were taken away, the sacraments and other public institutions, which are administered by their hands, must fall with them : therefore the devil has been most busy, and bent his greatest force in all ages against the priesthood, knowing that if that goes down all goes with it. • XIX. With the Deists, in this cause, are joined the Quakers and other of our Dissenters, who throw off the succession of our priesthood (by which only it can be demonstrated), together with the sacraments and public festivals. And if the devil could have pre- vailed to have these dropt, the Christian religion would lose the most undeniable and demonstrative proof for the truth of the matter of fact of our Savi- our, upon which the truth of his doctrine does depend. Therefore we may see the artifice and malice of the devil, in all these attempts. And let those wretched instruments whom he ignorantly (and some by a mis- guided zeal) has deluded thus to undermine Christi- * In this and the succeeding paragraph, the writer seems to give utterance to sentiments, in which only High Church Episcopalians will sympathize with him. At least they are not entertained by the great body of Christians of any denomination, and so it is hazardous to attempt to rest any serious argument in behalf of Christianity upon them. There can be no question that the Lord Jesus Christ established the oflBce of the Christian ministry as a permanent office in his church ; and that in all ages, through all periods of darkness and corruption, there have, agreeably to his promise, been a body of faithful men taught by Christian minis, ters. He has always had a church to glorify and serve him ; but whether the ministers of that church have succeeded each other by regular ordination, is a very different and very inferior question. Scripture, which speaks so certainly of a succession of the truth — a succession of faithful men in every age, says nothing of a suc- cession of ordination, far less that the validity of the sacraments, and of the church’s testimony to Christianity, depend upon the unbroken regularity of that succession. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to show that the alleged apostolic succession among Episcopalians, has not often been broken. It is certain that in many cases it has been broken ; and that the eminent Christian churches of the Waldenses and Albigenses — the only churches which, for centuries, held the pure light of Christianity— could never boast of that succession in ordination, of which so many idle and foolish things are at present spoken. However desirable a regularly ordained ministry may be, descending by uninterropted order from the apostles, the validity of the sacraments docs not stand or fall with it. The succession may be broken, or the min- istry may become so corrupt as to lose the character of the ministry of Christ ; and still Christianity may live, and its ordinances be effectively administered by others. It would be hard, as well as dangerous, to make the promise of Christ resiwnsible for more than it actually contains — to burden it with a succession of ordination, where he meant only to secure a succession of truth. It would be difficult to see what virtues men notoriously ignorant, ungodly, and profane, as multitudes of the ordained in the Church of Home have been, could communicate to others. How can the enemies of gospel truth be the lawful and effective dispensers of its ordi- nances— in many cases, its only lawful and elective dispensers ? The pretence is absurd.— E ditob, CONDUCT AND CHARACTER OF JUDAS ISCARIOT. 3? anity, now at last look back and see tlie snare in which they have been taken : for if they had prevailed, or ever should, Christianity dies with them. At least it will be rendered precarious, as a thing of which no certain proof can be given. Therefore let those of them who have any zeal for the truth, bless God that they have not prevailed ; and quickly leave them ; and let all others be aware of them. And let us consider and honour the priesthood, sacraments, and other public institutions of Christ, not only as means of gi-ace and helps to devotion, but as the great evidences of the Christian religion. Such evidences as no pretended revelation ever had, or can have. Such as do plainly distinguish it from all foolish legends and impostures whatsoevex*. XX. And now, last of all, if one word of advice would not be lost upon men who think so unmeasur- ably of themselves as the Deists, you may represent to them what a condition they are in, who spend that life and sense which God has given them, in iddiculing the greatest of his blessings, his revelations of Christ, and by Christ, to redeem those from eternal misery, who shall believe in him, and obey his laws. And that God, in his wonderful mercy and wisdom, has so guarded his revelations, as that it is past the power of men or devils to counterfeit : and that there is no denying of them, unless we will be so absurd as to deny not only the reason but the certainty of the outward sense.s, not only of one, or two, or three, but of mankind in general. That this case is so very plain, that nothing but want of thought can hinder any to discover it. That they must yield it to be so plain, unless they can show some forgei-y which has all the four marks before set down. But if they cannot do this, they must quit their cause, and yield a happy victory over them- selves: or else sit down under all that ignominy, with which they have loaded the pidests, of being, not only the most pernicious, but (what will gall them more) the most inconsiderate and inconsiderable ot mankind. Therefore, let them not think it an undervaluing of their worthiness, that their whole cause is compi'ised within so naiTow a compass : and no more time be- stowed upon it than it is worth. But let them rather reflect how far they have been all this time fi'om Chiustianity ; whose rudiments they are yet to learn ! How far from the way of salvation ! How far the race of their lives is run before they have set one step in the I'oad to heaven. And therefore, how much diligence they ought to use, to redeem all that time they have lost, lest they lose themselves for ever ; and be convinced by a dreadful experience, when it is too late, that the gospel is a truth, and of the last^ consequence. OBSERVATIONS ON THE, CONDUCT AND CHARACTER OF JUDAS ISCARIOT BV THE Late Rev, JOHN BONAR, One of the Ministers of Perth. The next important Tract on the Evidences, to which I beg leave to direct the reader’s attention, is entitled, ** Observations on the Conduct and Character of Judas Iscariot^ in a Letter to the Rev. Mr James Primrose, by the late Rev. John Bonar, one of the Ministers of Perth.” The author was one of a long line of able and faithful ministers of the Church of Scotland. His gi'andfather was the excellent Mr Bonar of Toi'phichen, who bore a part in the distinguished revival of religion in the West of Scotland, with which God was pleased to bless the church, towards the middle of last century. He has had many worthy descendents, both ministers and lay- men. At present there are not less than four of them ministers of the Church of Scotland, and all in char., acter and talent not inferior to their ancestors. The Tract was first published about the middle of the last century, when infidelity was fast spi*eading among the higher classes of the community. The argument I be- lieve to be original. Many would naturally think, that the case of Judas was adverse to the claims of Christ. Mr Bonar shows that it is the very revei'se — that he is a distinguished witness in favour of Chidstianity. Dr Doddi-idge, who himself thought and wrote not a little upon the Evidences, was much struck with Mr Bonar’s view; and, in his Lectures, strongly recommends the Ti'act, “as setting in a most just and beautiful light,” the important testimony of the apostate Judas to the innocence of his Mastei*. The publication was reprinted in 1822 , and is noticed in some works on the Evidences, but still is comparatively little known. While the argument founded on the case of Judas is in itself complete, it is intei'esting to consider that it does not stand alone, but is, after all, only an illustration of a great principle on which God conducts the administration of his church, viz., to make enemies do the work of friends. To an infinite mind this is easy, and finely shows forth the Divine power and wisdom. In all ages, God has made the wrath of man to praise him. Heretics, perse-. 38 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. tutors, infidels, have all unwittingly rendered the most important services in the defence, vindication, and diffusion of the gospel. Had it not been for early errors and abuses, we never w'ould have had various books of Scripture which were w-ritten to meet and remove them. Had it not been for infidelity, the Evidences never would have been scrutinized so thoroughly, nor the truth advanced in so satisfactorv a form as it now stands ; and, had it not been for the violence of persecution, it is to be feared the primitive church would have kept the gospel to herself, and not gone forth, or at least not gone forth in so zealous and effective a spirit, for the conversion of the world. How different are God’s ways from man’s ways ! — who would have thought of enlisting enemies in behalf of his cause ? — ^but oftentimes their opposition has been overruled to do more good than all the zeal of friends. So vain is it for man to attempt to fight with God ! It may be doubted whether, in various respects, Judas may not be a better witness in behalf of Christianity, than any of the faithful apostles. Without meaning to anticipate the statements of Mr Bonar’s paper, I cannot better conclude these preliminary remarks than in the words of a recent and excellent article of the Rev. Dr Easdale of Perth, in the Scottiah Christian Herald — a publication which cannot be too warmly encouraged, for its valuable services in behalf of Christianity. (Oct. 20, 1838.) Speaking of the apostles, he says: — “ Unbelievers can get the better of the evidence of the martyrs only by alleging that they were enthu- siasts, and that the delusion which they had cherished through life, clung to them till the last moment of exist- ence; but, if ever there was unimpeachable evidence in the world, it is that of Judas, who neither lived nor died a Christian — who died convicted but not converted — esteeming it a lighter evil to suffer punishment with kindred reprobate spirits, than to endure the righteous, the withering scorn of those wdth whom he had not a high sentiment in common, and whose holy hopes and virtuous feelings would have been gaU and wormwood to his corrupted soul.” Again, — “ In this then, we have a peculiar kind of evidence as strong if not stronger than that of the holy apostles, inasmuch as various reasons might be assigned for men adhering to opinions and statements which they had once openly avowed ; decided boldness and the pride of consistency have often made men persist in ^statements which the world refuses to believe, though they scrupled not to die in confirmation of their word. Such scenes the world has witnessed ; but, did we ever hear of any one who, having successfully maintained a falsehood for a long time, at last comes forward and declares the truth, and then puts himself to death, because the world will not believe him ? Here, tlien, we have the evidence, not of an interested partisan, not of a visionary enthusiast, not of a weak and superstitious bigot, but we have the evidence of one wdaose interest it was to have believed the gospel to be a forgery, and whose character was concerned to prove it to be so. Yet the conscience of this hardened villain, which had carried him through so long, at last turned against him, and drove him to desperation at the recollection of his last and greatest crime.” Sir, — Could I have forced you from that retirement, in which vou studiously labour to conceal the fruits of an excellent genius and unwearied application, the fol- lowing argument, of which you suggested the first hint, had appeared with superior strength and advan- tage. But, since all my endeavours to that purpose have been ineffectual, I have ventured to send abroad the result of my own reflections on that head, rather than that any thing, which tends to support Christi- anity, should remain unobserved in an age of so much scepticism and infidelity. When you first mentioned the conduct of Judas as a proof of the Christian religion, the newness of the fancy struck me : for new it was to me. Nor can I yet find any one writer who has sufficiently attended to it though I must own, that the more I reflect upon it, the more am I convinced of its strength and solidity. Nothing, perhaps, contributed more to the uncom- mon applause and success of Mr Lyttleton’s late in- genious performance, than the compendiousness of his proof, and its depending entirely upon one chain of facts. But however favourable its reception, no man was surprised to find the apostle Paul adduced as an evidence for Christianity. But to find Judas Iscariot forced into the same service, will doubtless seem * “ The testimony of Judas is briefly touched upon by Dr Ben- son, in the History of the Life of Jesus Christ, and by Dr Craig, in his Essay on the same subject. In tlie Thcologieal ReposUoiy, vol. iii. no. 2, is an Essay on tlie History and Character of Judas. • See also vol. ii. no. 14.”— Note to Doddridge’s Lectures, vol. ii. p. 5. whimsical to some, and absurd to others; yet, as people generally allow the testimony of an enemy to be less suspicious than that of a friend, so possibly the setting this matter in a just light, may help to remove the prejudices of those who will credit nothing that comes from the friends of Jesus. If ever there was an enemy to Christ in the world, Judas was that enemy; if ever there was an apostate from the faith, Judas was that apostate ; and if ever there was a traitor, he too was the man. And yet to find this malicious, this traitorous, this apostate Judas, instead of disproving Christianity in any point, prov- ing it in every one — sealing a testimony to the truth of it even with his blood, and giving solemn evidence against himself ; this, sure, is a phenomenon prettv surprising, and what even the warmest friends of Christianity could scarce have expected. If the infi- del suspects the integrity of Paul, let him now hear the testimony of J udas : if the one has no weight with him, surely the other will. The following observations, therefore, claim a fair , and dispassionate hearing. This is all the favour that they ask ; and, it is hoped, it is all that they need. As it is from the writings of the evangelists that we have any knowledge of the character and conduct of Judas Iscariot, we must beg leave to quote these as genuine records of the events they pretend to relate — an honour which I hope our adversaries will not deny them ; or, if they should, they must be sensible, that as strong proof can be brought in favour of Luke and CONDUCT AND CHARACTER OF JUDAS ISCARIOT. 39 the other New Testament writers, as of any who wrote at an equal distance of time.* Taking this, therefore, for granted, I beg leave to transcribe what we find concerning Judas in these an- cient records. The first time Judas is mentioned in the New Tes- tament, is when Christ chooses twelve from the multi- tude that attended his ministry, and appoints them to be apostles, or particular messengers, for propagating his religion. We have the catalogue of these apostles given us by three evangelists, who all conclude it with the name of “ Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him."\ Matt. X. 4 ; Mark iii. 19 ; Luke vi. 16. Some short time after, we find him, together with the other eleven, receiving from his great Master power over all unclean spirits, diseases, nay, death it- self ; and commissioned to go and preach the gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See Luke ix. After this we hear nothing of him till a little before the third passover of Christ’s public ministry, when many of his disciples left him, upon his declaring, in the synagogue of Capernaum, that he was the “ bread of life, which came down from heaven.” On this occasion Christ puts the question to the apostles, “Will ye also go away ?” Whereupon they all reply by the mouth of Simon, “ Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life ; and we believe, and are sure, that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.” In answer to which, Christ assures them, that although he had chosen them twelve, yet one of them was a “devil,” or should prove his accuser ; as the Greek word literally signifies ; J which the Evangelist assures us he spoke of Judas. John vi. 70. The next time we find him spoken of, is on the Sabbath immediately preceding the passion- week ; when Christ, being arrived at Bethany, is invited, with his disciples, to an entertainment in the house of Simon the leper — During which entertainment a box of very precious ointment is poured out upon Christ’s head. Upon which the historian remarks, that some present had indignation ; and that Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, expressly said, “ Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor ? and this he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and 6are§ what was put therein.” John xii. 4; Matt. xxvi. ; and Mark xiv. On the third day of the passion-week, he entered into the infamous contract with the high-priest and rulers of the Jews, to deliver his Master into their hands. Of which the Evangelists give us this account: — “ Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, into the palace of the high-priest, who is also called Caiaphas ; and con- sulted how they might take Jesus by subtilty, and put him to death. But they said. Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar among the people. Then entered Satan into Judas, sirnamed Iscariot, one of the twelve ; and he went his way, and communed with * See Conybeare’s Defence of Revealed Religion, cap. 9 ; Camp, bell On thfi Four Gospels, vol. ii. p. 180, sect. 9 •, Lardner’s Credi- ' bility of the Gospel History. + Here one cannot but be struck with the spirit of forbearance and charity in which the sacred writers speak of Judas. We might have expected, after his atrocious crime, and the deep dishonour which he had brought upon the whole company of the apostles, that they would have spoken of him with severity, and denounced him as a wretch and a villain. But there is nothing of this. They simply speak of him, to distinguish him from others, as the Judas who betrayed or delivered him uj). What a change in the temper of the disciples, from the day when they would have called down fire from heaven, to consume a Samaritan village, because due respect had not been shown to their Master! — Editou. X It is so used 1 Tim. iii. 11 ; 2 Tim, iii. 3 ; Titus ii. 3. § 1 have no doubt that the proper rendering of K(Sxirrix.liv IS far stronger, and that it should be translated, carried off, or stole what was put therein. What a view does this give us of Christ’s supenority to the world— that he gave the charge of all that he had of it to one whom he knew to be a thief l Little, surely, had he caicd about the world !— Eunoii. the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them ; and said unto them. What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you ? And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money ; and covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And he promised ; and from that time sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.” Compare Matt. xxvi. ; Mark xiv. ; and Luke xxi. Towards the evening of the fourth day of the pas- sion-week, Jesus comes with his disciples from Bethany to Jerusalem; and having ordered the passov’er to be prepared, at the appointed time sits down to eat it with the twelve. During which solemnity, he takes occasion to let them know that he was thoroughly ac- quainted both with the treachery and the traitor. For, being troubled in spirit, he said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me ; for the hand that betrayeth me, is with me on the table. Then the disciples were exceeding sorrowful, and look- ed one on another, doubting of whom he spake ; and began every one by turns to say. Lord, is it I ? Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom, one of the disci- ples whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter, who probably sat on the other side of the table, therefore beckoned "unto him, that he should ask who it was of whom he spoke. He then leaning himself down on Jesus’ breast, saith unto him, “ Lord, who is it ?” Jesus answered with a low voice, so that none of the rest heard, “ He it is to wdiom 1 shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.” And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas ; who, just as he was reaching out his hand to take it, says, “ Lord, is it I ?” To which Jesus replied, “ Thou hast said.” And immediately after the sop, Satan entered into him ; and, fired with indignation, ho rose from the table. Upon which Christ says, “ What thou dost, do quickly.” But none of the disciples, ex- cept John, seem to have known with what intent he said so. John xiii. “ After the paschal supper, and the institution of the eucharist, Jesus goes out with his disciples to a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives ; a place .ludas was w’ell acquainted with, and where he knew his Master was to spend part of that night. Having therefore received a band of men and ofiicers from the chief priests and Pharisees, he came tliither with lan- terns, torches, and weapons ; and having given them this as a sign whereby they should know the person whom they were to apprehend, he goes up to Christ, and, kissing him, saith, ‘ Hail, Master.’ Whereupon Jesus saith, ‘ Man, wherefore art thou come ? — Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss ?’ Upon which it appears that he shrunk back again amongst the crowd : for immediately, when Christ by a word strikes them all to the ground, it is observed that Judas also stood with them.” John xviii. “ Jesus being thus taken, and next day condemned by Pilate to be crucified, Judas repented of what he had done, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘ I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood ;’ and, casting down the pieces of silver in the temple, he went and hanged himself.” Matt, xxvii. Luke, in his history of the acts of the apostles, has added one circumstance more — that “ falling headlong, Judas burst asunder in the midst, and all his bow'els gushed out.” Acts i. 16.* * * § * It may bo proper to observe, that amongst other instances from which Mr Tindal endeavours to overthrow the credit of the gospel history, this of the conduct of Judas is one.— Christianittj as Old as the Creation, ]). 245. And it seems a little odd, that the learned Dr Conybearc, in his elaborate Reply, should leave his adversary in full possession of this objection ; saying nothing in answer to it, but that it will be time enough to allege the miscarriages of Judas, when we build any thing on his cvidcncc.—Difcncc of Revealed Religion, p. l it). 40 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. This is all the account that the Evangelists give of .Tudas : and the argument thence arising in favour of Christianity, seems to be this: — Here is a man of sense and ability, thoroughly acquainted with the most secret conduct and views of Jesus, and therefore capa- ble to detect any fraud or imposture that might be carrying on by him ; a man, not only able to inform against Jesus, but highly willing ; engaged from prin- ciples of honour, interest, and self-preservation ; tempt- ed by reward, by avarice, by ambition, by resentment, to make the discovery ; yet this man, after having delivered up Christ through the strength of these temptations, no sooner reflects on what he had done, than his conscience, taking the alarm, makes him in the strongest manner retract, and attest his Master’s innocence, before those very rulers to w’hom he had sold him but a few hours ago ; and finding all had no effect, in an excess of grief and remorse he expires almost in their very presence “ I have sinned,” cried he, “ in that I have betrayed innocent blood — an attestation of the innocence of Christ, so circum- stantiated, that it is scarce possible to suppose a stronger ; and which nothing but the most thorough conviction could have extorted. If by “innocent blood,” Judas meant no more than '* that Christ was a person who had done nothing worthy of death, sure this is the very lowest sense in which the words can be taken. However, taking them no higher, they plainly seem to intimate, 1. That Judas believed that Jesus was the true Mes- siah, and Son of God, as he all along affirmed himself to be : for, otherwise, Christ could not have been a man of truth and veracity, if he laid claim to a charac- ter which ill no ways belonged to him. In that case, too, he would have been guilty of blasphemv, and con- sequently worthy of death by the Jewish law.* 2. As he hereby declares his belief that Jesus was the true Messiah, so he in effect declares, that, in as far as he could discern, his miracles were all true, his doctrine Divine, and his life pure and holy : for it was from these things that he must have been convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. 3. Judas hereby declares, that, for his part, he was privy to no design formed by Christ of erecting a tem- poral kingdom ; otherwise he must have reckoned, that he ought to have suffered death, if not by the Jewish, at least by the Roman law. 4. By this expression, Judas strongly declares his opinion, that Christ was innocent of the crimes laid to his charge by the Sanhedrim ; particularly, of deceiv- ing the people by pretended miracles ; stirring them up to sedition against Caesar, saying, “ that he him- self was a king ;” and casting out devils by magic, or Beelzebub the prince of the devils : and consequently, he hereby declares, in the strongest manner, his total and profound ignorance of those frauds and collusions, of which some quick-sighted modern Deists have made surprising discoveries. But one is apt to think, that the words innocevt hlood imply somewhat more than all this. They seem to point out, that Judas was convinced, not only that Jesus was an innocent man, but a beneficent one ; one That Judas knew Christ to be the true Messiah, seems also evident from Matt. xxvi. 49, and Luke xxii. 48, where Christ says to him, upon receiving the treacherous kiss, “ Judas, betraye’st thou the Son of Man ?” i. e. the person whom thou knowest to be the Son of Man, or Messiah.* Which interpretation gives the words a force and spirit, which I have not seen attended to by any but the devout and learned Dr Doddridge. — Family Expositor, vol. ii. p. 507. It is worthy of notice, that when the question is put to Judas, he does not deny. He does not say, “No; I £un not betraying the Son of Man; I cun only exposing an unprincipled impostor.” This would have been the time to vindicate himseli and accuse Christ, had either been possible. — constantly employed in doing good ; and particularly, that he was a man remarkable for meekness of temper; of a merciful, compassionate, and harmless disposition; void of ambition, innocent, and quiet. Now, if it can be made appear, that the person giving such a strong attestation to the innocence of Christ, was one well acquainted with his most secret views ; was one able to form a just judgment of them ; was one who would have been fond to find out and expose any fraud ; and was one w’ho could have no worldly interest to serve by adhering to Christ, but, on the contraiy, had every inducement to detect his design : if, I say, these things can be made appear, will it not strongly conclude, that Jesus was what he professed himself to be, the true Messiah, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world ? This is an argument founded on the few simple facts above set down ; which it requires no depth of thought to comprehend, and no abstract reasoning to discover. The consequence, I apprehend, is undeniable, provided the premises are able to support such a fabric. It must therefore be the business of the following pages, to examine these with becoming accuracy. And here the leading inquiry^ will be. Whether the person giving such a strong attestation to the inno- cence of Jesus, in these peculiar circumstances, was one of sense and ability ; able to form a just opinion of Christ and his designs ? For unless we can be assured of his capacity, his testimony will have very little weight ; since it is impossible to draw any argument from the freakish inconsistencies of conduct into which a man of a weak mind may run ; whereas, when a man of sense changes his conduct, we are naturally led to inquire into the grounds upon which he proceeds. We are not indeed able to trace out the birth and education of Judas, which lies in equal obscurity with that of the other apostles. He is called the son of Simon, and Judas Iscariot ; but neither of these epi- thets give much light into the matter. They are pro- bably added, to distinguish him from the other Judas, who was faithful to the death. Some have supposed him the son of Simon the leper, in whose house Jesus was so elegantly entertained a few days before he suf- fered. The ingenious Mr Fleming concludes him the son of Simon the Canaanite. But both opinions are merely conjectural ; though either of them seems more probable than the fancy of those who will have him a native of Corcyra, where his house and posterity, say they, may yet be seen ;• or the notion of the Cainites, who make him the head of a considerable family in the tribe of Issachar.| I should not have mentioned these uncertain conjec- tures, did they not seem to intimate a general notion that prevailed very early in the church, that Judas was some considerable person ; which I scarce know how to account for, but by supposing, that, by birth or education, he was somewhat conspicuous in the college of the apostles. For, why should the earhest writers, by a sort of general consent, in this manner aggrandize the traitor, while they speak of the other apostles in a different style ? As to his name Iscariot, some refer it to the office of purser, which he bore in Christ’s family, from a Hebrew word of much the same sound, and correspon- dent meaning. But the opinion of those seems better founded, who, deriving it from the place of his birth, read Judas Ish-Carioth, i. e. Judas a man of Carioth, a small town beyond Jordan. J But it is much more to the present purpose to * Petrus a Valle, in itincribus suis, pars 1. Turcica;, cpist. 1. + Calmet’s Dictionary, art. Judas. i The different conjectures as to the meaning and derivation of the name, may be seen in Bartoloccii Bib. Rab. tom. 3. p. 24. CONDUCT AND CHARACTER OF JUDAS ISCARIOT. 41 observe, that this person was made choice of by Jesus to be one of his apostles and constant attendants ; •which will sufficiently warrant our concluding him a man of good natural sense and ability.* For although Christ made choice of men in low life to be his apos- tles ; yet I can see no reason why we must conclude them fools too, unless we will say that good sense is only to be found among the sons of learning and for- tune. So that Judas being of the number of the apostles, gives a strong presumption in his favour; since there is the very best reason to conclude them all men of sound minds and good understandings, though not brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. To this we must add, that Judas was raised by Christ to a sort of supexdor station in the family. He was appointed treasurer ; a place which would doubt- less be given to the man of greatest activity, and acquaintance with the world. In this office he not only had the custody of what presents were made to Jesus and his disciples, which required a person of re- puted honesty ; but also he had the laying out of that money for their daily maintenance and support, which called for a man of activity and discretion. Nay, it appears, that to him Jesus had been in the practice of leaving the distributions for the poor; which supposes a high opinion of his judgment and prudence — qualifi- cations essentially necessary to the prudent conferring of charity. And if we may build any thing upon the opinion of those who had best access to know him, his fellow- dis- ciples and apostles, he seems to have been in no small repute among them : for when the plainest intimations were given by Christ, as we have seen above, that one of them should betray him, nay, that Judas was the person, yet no man suspected him ; which doubtless would have been the case, had they judged him either a deceitful or a weak man, capable of acting such a base and dishonourable part. The manner, too, in which he conducted the treach- ery from first to last, gives no bad specimen of his abilities. That he commenced a disciple of Jesus from worldly views and prospects, will scarce be denied. With the rest of the Jews of that time, he had long expected the promised Messiah, hoping to find him a temporal mon- arch, who should rescue their nation from the oppres- sion of the Komans, and raise it to the highest pitch of grandeur. The fame of Jesus had reached his ears ; and possibly the mii-acle wrought on the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, made him conclude that certainly he must be the person ; for it is soon after this miracle that he is numbered with the apostles. "f As these views made him commence a disciple, the same views soon made him resolve to abandon that way. Covetousness was the reigning passion of his soul. He found in Christ’s family nothing to gratify it, nor any prospect of the matter mending in that respect; and therefore he resolved to abandon his new profession, but in such a way as he might make something by the bargain. Knowing the hatred of the Jewish rulers to his Master, he resolved to deliver him into their hands, hoping they would generously reward such a service. But, that he might make the most possible of his treachery, he resolved to delay the exe- cution of it, until there should be something consider- * That the apostles were men of superior sense to the bulk of people in their station, will scarce be denied by the Deists ; who, upon that very supposition, build all the phenomena of Christi- anity, which, according to them, was contrived by Jesus Christ and these twelve cunning impostors. + It appears from the history, that Christ did not make choice of the twelve till some weeks after the second passover ; for, though there is mention made of his calling Philip, Nathanael, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, long before, yet it was only at the above period that they were appointed to be apostles, or messengers. able in the bag; which he shrewdly enough conjectured might be the case, when his Master should go up to Jerusalem to the passover ; where the very sacrifices they were to offer, and the other necessary expenses, would require a larger stock than was necessary in their country retirement.* And this, I think, will naturally account for delaying the execution of his design so long after he had formed it ; for it is beyond all question, from the plain intimations that our Lord gives long before of the intended treachery, that there was such a design in head.f But however Judas had formed such a design, he so artfully concealed it, that none but the All-searching eye could penetrate the disguise. Often do the other disciples betray their expectations of a worldly king- dom ; but we never hear a syllable to this purpose drop from the lips of Judas. Two forward disciples may pray down fire from heaven, to consume the Samaritans, who w^ould not receive and honour their Lord ; but Judas discovers no such imprudent zeal. The sons of Zebedee may solicit to sit, one on the right hand and the other on the left, in his kingdom ; but Judas betrays no such ambitious weakness. And when we find him reproving Mary for anointing Jesus, it is under the specious pretence of giving to the poor. As to the perpetrating the treachery, how artfully is it managed ! Flis agreement with the priests is pri- vately made, and the most private opportunity taken to put it in execution. Nay, when he gave the treach- erous kiss, he seems to have hoped to pass undiscov- ered. He came in the dark, w'ent at some distance before the multitude, and afterwards mingled with the crowd. In short, a design could not have been better laid, more artfully carried on, or cautiously executed, than this of Judas betraying Christ ; which shows him master of no small address and cunning. I might conclude this head, with observing, that to his natural sagacity there was added superior powers by Jesus, when he sent him out with the other apos- tles, and gave him power over all unclean spirits, J dis- eases, and death itself ; from which moment he must be considered as a person endued in a very extraordi- nary manner. So that, upon the whole, the first observation made, viz., That Judas was a man of sense and ability, and sufficiently able to judge if Christ was carrying on any fraud, is abundantly evident. But as this is the basis upon wdiich all the subse- quent argument rests, I must not dismiss it till 1 have obviated one objection that seems to lie against this part of Judas’ character, as a man of sense and saga- city ; and that is, his selling his master for such a trifle as thirty pieces of silver, little more than L.3 15s., or, according to Dean Prideaux, L.4. 10s. of our money : which seems rather to represent him as a greedy fool, who knew not how to make use of the opportunities which offered of gratifying his covetous- ness ; as none can doubt but that the Jewish rulers w'ould have given a much greater sum rather than allowed Jesus to have escaped them. * For it is pretty evident, that the apostles never attended Christ to Jerusalem till the last passover. They were not appointed till after the second passover; our Lord went not up to the third : so that this fourth was the first they attended in company with him. And it is probable, that our lord did not choose to appear with such a retinue until his time should be fully come; that so he might not too much alarm the Jewish rulers. t bee Apostolic Constitutions, book 5. chap. 14, where we find these words, froT^Xou [Av X It seems to me an excessive refinement, to distinguish unclean spirits from other evil spirits which might possess men, supposing the word only to signify such kind of spirits as drove men to dwell among tombs, by which tliey became ceremoniously unclean ; for it is evident, that unclean and evil spirits arc generally used as synonymous, referring to the moral impurity and malignity of their natures. Compare Matt. xii. 13; Luke xi. 24; and Kev. xvL 13, 14. 42 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, I frankly own, that there has been no part of his conduct for which I have found it so difficult to ac- count, as this. Once I was in hopes of finding, that a piece of money might be applied to other coins as well as to the shekel, so that the sum might be greater than what interpreters generally fix it. And in this I thought myself not a little supported, by what the Evangelist assures us, that with that money they were able to purchase a field in Jerusalem for a burying- place to strangers. But I am now convinced, that it is not to be accounted for in this way. For, 1. I cannot find, that a piece of silver, or a silver- ing, is ever applied to any Jewish coin but to the shekel ; whereas to that it is very often applied in the Old Testament. 2. Nor would increasing the value of the pieces of silver at all agree with what we find in the prophet Zechariah concerning this very transaction, of the price given by the Jews for Jesus ; where the thirty pieces of silver given to the prophet as his hire, is spoken of as a sign of the contempt in which they held him and his services.* A goodly price (says he) at which they have valued me. It was the very price which a slave was to give for his liberty, and at which slaves were bought among them. 3. And as to the purchasing a field with these thirty pieces of silver, which seems to intimate a much greater sum ; it may not be difficult to accQuut for that, especially if we grant the place which is at pre- sent shown to travellers, to be the very spot ; for it is not above thirty yards long, and fifteen broad. | And when the Evangelist calls it the potter’s field, he gives us a reason why it might be such a cheap purchase, as having been employed formerly in making and burning earthenware, it must have been marred for any valua- ble use. For these reasons, I apprehend we cannot reason- ably increase the value of the thirty pieces of silver ; but must endeavour to account for Judas’ conduct in selling his Master for such a trifle, in some other way. And to this the history itself seems to give us a key. For, however covetousness might have been the reign- ing passion of his soul, )’^et it is very evident, that resentment pushed him on to the immediate execution of his design. He judged himself affronted by Jesus, when at the last supper he pointed him out as the ungrateful person who was to betray him. The dis- covery seems to have exasperated him to the last degree : for he instantly sprung from the table ; and, leaving the room, went directly to the chief priests, to conclude the infamous bargain about which he had formerly treated with them. And if we attend to the then temper of his mind, we shall find the part which he acted, a natural consequence of covetousness and resentment. His covetousness would not allow him to give up Jesus for nought; whereas, on the other hand, his resentments were so keen and pungent, that he had not coolness enough to make the most advan- tageous bargain, but impatient for revenge, accepted what they offered. For which this further reason may be assigned. That, as his design was now known, he must either immediately accept of the offer that had been made him, otherwise the opportunity w’as for ever lost. And as for the Jewish rulers offei'ing no higher a bait, it may naturally enough be accounted for, from that contempt in which they professed to hold Christ and his adherents; whereas had they offered a much greater sum, it would have convinced others, that these very rulers judged him more formi- * Zcch. xi. 12. Ignatii cpist. ad Philip, ov \TtfJLY,(r(i,v,ro a^o iiuv This whole prophecy is set in a very clear liglit, iu Dr Doddridge’s Fatnil;/ Expositor, vol. ii. p. 5S0. t Maundrel’s Travels, p. 101. dable than they were willing to own. Wherefore, I cannot see, that from this part of his history any ob- jection can be brought against what was formerly alleged in favour of his sense and sagacity.* But it will not be sufficient to our present purpose, that Judas was a man of good understanding, perfectly capable of penetrating into the most secret designs of Jesus and his disciples, unless we can also show, that he had sufficient opportunities of informing himself as to these. This therefore, in the second place, must be canvassed and examined. Various reasons have been assigned by those who comment upon Christ’s life and history, for his making choice of Judas to be an apostle, while yet he was thoroughly acquainted with the badness and insincerity of his heart ; as if he thereby intended to teach us only to judge by the external conduct : that ordinances derive not their virtue and efficacy from the adminis- trator; and that even in the purest societies upon earth we must expect a mixture of good and bad men. These indeed are pious instructions ; but they seem far from containing the whole of the case. The scheme now under consideration, suggests, in my apprehension, a still more important reason, namely, that by choosing Judas into his family, who should afterwards prove a traitor, Christ would show the world, that he was not afraid to have his most secret conduct witnessed by his enemies ; and lest they should suspect that there was some fraud privately carrying on, he would ven- ture to initiate one of their own party into all the mys- teries of his religion : a conduct which, I dare say, every man must be convinced, stands clear of the least suspicion of imposture. I apprehend it will readily be granted, that, upon the supposition that Jesus was carrying on a fraud, this could not have been done without accomplices. It was an imposture of that nature, as could not have been managed by one man alone. Jesus aspired to nothing lower than being thought the Messiah ; in con- sequence whereof he not only pretended to work mira- cles himself, but to give the power of doing so to others. Now, if accomplices were necessarj^ none, I dare say, will be thought so proper for this purpose as the twelve apostles ; nay, our adversaries will not scruple to grant that these were the very persons. They were pitched upon from the whole multitude of his disciples, to be stated and constant attendants upon him ; they were present at his public teachings ; they were the companions of his most private hoiu's : so that if he held any esoteric or secret opinion, if he carried on any private design ^’hich he artfully disguised from the world, it must certainly have been known to them. Judas was one of this number ; and, by the whole of the history, appears to have been admitted into as great confidence and familiarity as the other apostles. And, however it may be pretended that the eleven, deeply tinctured with enthusiasm, might easily be im- posed upon; yet this cannot be alleged of Judas, who afterwards made it evident, that he had never so fully entered into their designs. Free then from this bias, with all his senses alert, nay, as will appear, with the design of quitting their party full in his eye, and there- fore watching every occasion against them ; was he not able to discover in their most free and private conver- sation the bottom of the plot? Must he not have known whether Jesus lived as he taught ; or if, white he recommended the strictest morality to others, he * To these considerations it may be added, that the smallness of the sum was matter of prophecy, intended, in the providence of God, to exhibit the contempt in which his beloved Son was held by men, and that, moreover, avarice is proverbially blind and incon- sistent.— Editor. CONDUCT AND CHARACTER OF JUDAS ISCARIOT. 43 indulged himself in any private crimes ? which would certainly have been the case had he been an impostor. To which I must add one very strong consideration on this head, of Judas’ opportunities of knowing if any fraud was carrying on by Chidst and his disciples ; and that is, that Christ not only pretended to work mira- cles himself, but also pretended to give the same power to his disciples : “ Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases : and they departed, and went through the towns preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere.” And lest we should suspect that Judas was not so highly endued, the evangelist Mat- thew takes care, immediately after this commission, to subjoin a complete catalogue of the apostles who re- ceived these powers, in which Judas is particularly mentioned. Judas heard his Master pretend to give him such powers ; and, in consequence thereof, he goes and makes the experiment on the first diseased pei'son he meets. Must he pot then immediately have known whether the effect followed, and whether the lame and the blind received their sight and strength ? If he saw this undeniably the case, what a strong conviction must it have wrought in his mind that his Master was the Messiah ? And how naturally does it account for that anguish he afterwards endured, upon his basely betraying him ? Whereas, on the other hand, had Judas discovered all to be trick, had he discovered that the pretended cures were only the effect of a collusion betwixt the persons who feigned the disease and Christ, would he have failed to lay open the cheat ? Espe- cially if we add, that in case there was any fraud carry- ing on by Jesus and his disciples, Judas had every sup- posable inducement to make the discovery : which, joined to what has already been said of his knowledge and opportunities, will, in my apprehension, go a great way to make the argument conclusive. This will hold true, whatever the personal character of Judas is supposed to be. Was he a man of con- science and honesty, who waited for the consolation of Israel, and had commenced a disciple of Jesus, in hopes of finding in him the long-wished-for Messiah ; we may easily be convinced what part he would have acted, upon finding his hope disappointed, and that, instead of a prophet, he was following an impostor. Regard to truth, and the glory of God, would not have allowed him to hesitate one moment. He must not only have abandoned the party himself, but have fairly laid open their frauds and secret practices to others. Regardless of whatever reflection the dishonest or unthinking part of mankind might throw upon him, as having once been of the party, he would labour to undeceive the multitude, and wish to confront the impostor himself. Regard to the religion of his country would greatly have strengthened such a resolution. It is well known how zealous the bulk of the Jews were on this head ; which alarmed them the more at the pretensions of Jesus to be the Messiah, while his doctrine tended so evidently to set aside their numerous rites and cere- monies : so that, as a good son of the church, Judas would have been led to use the utmost care to prevent the dangerous infection. All the principles of benevolence and love to man- kind would have awaked in his breast, in order to in- duce him to a speedy discovery, that so others might be prevented from falling into the snare in which he was well nigh caught. And this too would he have judged the best return of gratitude to that God who had saved him from being entirely led aside by the error of the wicked. In fine, to such a speedy discovery he would have been strongly excited % the powerful motive of love to his country. It was one reason why the more politic Jews gave so little regard to the various cir- cumstances that concurred to prove Jesus the Messiah, lest by seeming to acknowledge any other king than Csesar, they should give a handle to the Romans, under whose yoke they lay, to take away their city and nation. The force of which argument was the greater, as they could not yet have forgot the many inconve- niences which two pretenders to that chai'acter had brought upon them a few years before ; instances, which, as they happened in Judas’ owui time, must have been more than enough to overbalance any argu- ment that might be brought to the contrary by the false shame of commencing informer. By such views and motives must Judas have been actuated, had Jesus been an impostor, and he a man of integrity and conscience. But supposing, what indeed is the fact, that this Judas was a man of a very opposite character, was an abandoned wretch, destitute of honour, conscience, and love to his country ; yet, even in that case, inter- est, powerful private interest, must soon have deter- mined him to make a discovery of the fraud, if any such was carrying on. A man of such a character must certainly have com- menced disciple from worldly views, concluding that Christ was to erect a temporal kingdom. He hoped, by joining him so early, to merit the highest prefer- ments in that future monarchy. But finding himselt disappointed, and that there w'as neither honour, riches, nor fame to be got in his service ; nay, that the very Master himself seemed, by some unaccountable con- duct, always to decline any advantages that were thrown in his way, and whimsically talked of a spirit- ual kingdom ; observing this to be the case, would not rage at his disappointment naturally lead him to di- vulge the secret ? which, too, would have been a sufiicient apology for abandoning a sect which he had once espoused. If covetousness was the chief bent of his mind, this was most likely to be gratified by a discovery. He knew how inveterate the chief priests and rulers were against Jesus, and with what malice and keenness they sought his ruin : so that he might reasonably expect to be well paid for what discovery he should make to them. Nor can it be alleged that such a discovery would either have subjected him to odium or danger. To odium or reproach it could never have exposed him with any man of sense and reflection ; for his discovering such a fraud, stood justified by every motive and consideration which can have weight in such a case. So that instead of reproach, his uncom- mon honesty would have merited universal applause. Nay, we may go one step farthei*, and affirm, that the applauses which he merited would have been liberally conferred upon him ; immediately he must have be- come the darling of all the rulers; and this fully obviates the other part of the objection, That possibly he might have been deterred through fear from making the discovery. But of whom, pray, was ho to be afraid ? Of Jesus and his followers ? A very incon- siderable party indeed, without either number, power, or influence ; who, so far from being able to injure others, could not even defend themselves. Ere I dismiss this head, it will be proper to add, that the manner in which Jesus all along treated his followers, and the apostles themselves, makes it evi- dent, that he was never afraid of what discoveries they could make. It is the interest of every impostor, not only to gain 44 . CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, partisans, but also to manage those whom he may have gained with the utmost delicacy and address, lest, for- saking his party, they should work his ruin : an ob- servation which stands confii*med by the practice of all impostors that have yet appeared in the world. But instead of this address and management, we find Jesus always treating his disciples with the greatest plainness and freedom. When two of them, incensed at the conduct of the Samaritans, would have prayed down fire from heaven upon those despisers of their Master, instead of applauding their zeal, Jesus tells them, that they knew not what spirits they were of. How oft in presence of the multitude, does he blame the twelve for their dulness and incredulity ? And when, from the tenderest affection, Peter had declared himself unwilling to hear of his sufferings and death, he re- ceives the sharp rebuke, “ Get thee behind me, Satan ; for thou savourest not of the things which be of God.” But not to insist on these, and many instances of the same kind which occur in the gospel with regard to the other disciples, let us observe the behaviour of Jesus towards this very Judas, and we shall find it such as naturally tended to irritate and provoke him to a dis- covery, if he had any discovery to make. If Judas had conceived a design of betraying his Master some considerable time before he put it into execution, we find Jesus speaking of it even then as a thing he was well acquainted with. “ Behold, I have chosen you twelve, and one of you shall prove my accuser.” This he repeats at sundry times. And though, as afterwards appears, he was as well acquaint- ed with the person of the traitor, as the treachery in general ; yet he by no means observes any particu- lar delicacy of conduct towards him. When he was to be transfigured, he keeps him back from the honour of that glorious transaction. When this Judas ani- madverts upon Mary’s anointing his Master’s feet, we find Jesus soon silencing him, by openly vindicat- ing, the woman, and condemning the reflection thrown out against her. But as if all this had not been suffi- cient, at the last paschal supper, we find him pointed out by Jesus as the ungrateful monster who, though he dipped with him in the dish, should in a few hours betray him. Then too does he hear the most dread- ful judgments denounced against himself, which imme- diately filled his mind with the keenest desires of revenge ; so that in fury he springs from the table. But Jesus, instead of being alarmed at this, as he must certainly have been had not all his conduct been fair and honest, puts him, as it were, to the defiance ; bids him go do w^hat he intended ; and that, instead of flying fi’ora him, he would even so far countenance his design as to retire to the private garden of Gethsemane, a place with which the traitor w'as w’ell acquainted, and where he might apprehend him without disturbance. To all which I may add, that, knowung the covetous temper of Judas, he had before committed the bag to him, that he might always have it in his power to run off with advantage. Now, let any man say if he discerns ought in such a conduct that can give the least suspicion of imposture ? Nay, does not the fair and open part which Jesus acts, strongly argue the contrary ? Thus I have endeavoured to show, that Judas was thoroughly acquainted with the most secret designs of Jesus ; that he had sufficient capacity to discover any fraud that might be carrying on : and that he had all possible inducements to lead him to make such a dis- covery : so that it only remains that we inquire in fact what part this Judas acted. Does he, in consequence of having got to the bottom of the plot, go to the rulers of the Jews, and make the discovery ? Sure, notliing could have so much ingra- tiated him into their favour. Such a discovery would have been of far greater importance to them than the death of the impostor. Hereby should they have been enabled effectually to oppose his designs, and ruin his credit with the people. Hereby should they have been furnished with a just ground of accusation against him ; an accusation not founded on matters of doubtful dis- putation, or questions of their law, but on the reason of things — on common justice and equity. This too would have most successfully gratified Judas’ revenge against Christ, and fully exonerate him in forsaking a party he had once espoused. How wide of this was the part he acted ! From covetousness and revenge he resolves to deliver his Master into the hands of the Jewish priests. This resolution he executes in the manner above mentioned : yet he has not the effrontery to allege any one crime of which he was guilty ; although I think it pretty evident from the history, that the Jewish Sanhedrim had examined Judas very particularly about Jesus — about his miracles, his doctrine, and his predictions ; and that he had told them every thing he knew about these.* Had Judas made any discoveries to the prejudice of Christ, which no doubt he would have done, had he been able, it would not long have remained a secret. Our Lord had been twitted with it at his trial ; it had been thrown up to Judas when he came, saying, “ I have betrayed innocent blood and it would have been objected to his apostles afterwards when brought to a trial for propagating the same religion. But in none of these cases was there the least insinuation to this purpose ; but, on the contrary, after all they could expiscate, we find them entirely at a loss how to lay their accusation against Christ, or how to prove it even after it was laid. And as for Judas, no sooner does he see what the consequences of his treachery would be, and that the Jews were actually proceeding to put Christ to death, than his conscience takes the alarm, and drives him in despair to be his own executioner. For it is the same thing as to the present argument, whether, according to our translation, we make Judas to have hanged him- self, or, as the Greek words might be rendered, that, falling down on his face, he was suffocated through the excess of his grief, and burst asunder in the mid- dle. Only, if we take this last to be the fact, it is worth observing, that the Talmudists make such a suffocation the punishment which God was wont to inflict on such pei'sons as bore false witness against their neighbour.! Now, let any man attempt to account rationally for this excess of grief and remorse, upon the supposition that Jesus was an impostor, and that Judas knew him to be such. In which case, his discovery would have stood justified by the most rational arguments, and no foundation could have been laid for such anguish of mind. But allowing the fact as it stands, and this to have been the end of Judas, does it not strongly con- clude, that after Judas, a man of sense and ability, had been thoroughly acquainted with Christ’s life and doctrine, and for a considerable time had watched * It seems probable, that it was Judas who informed the Sanhe- drim of what Christ had said about his resurrection on the third day ; otherwise, I cannot see how they came to be so distinctly in- formed about it, as they tell Pilate they were ; for, so far as 1 can recollect, Christ never spoke of his resurrection plainly to any but the apostles. t What it was that drove Judas to despair, rather than to ask forgiveness of this meek and merciful 4,amb of God, I shall not determine. But it seems to me evident, that two things contri- buted greatly to it : — 1st. A conviction that he had betrayed the true Messiah } and 2dly. A remembrance of those awful warnings that Christ had formerly given him. “ The Son of Man,” saith Christ, “ goeth, as it is written of him ; but wo unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed : good were it for that man that he had never been born.” CONDUCT AND CHARACTER OF JUDAS ISCARIOT. 45 every occasion against him, and at last, from covet- ousness and revenge, had delivered him into the hands of his enemies ; yet he was firmly persuaded that Jesus was an innocent person, and the true Messiah ; whose religion we are bound to receive as a revelation sent from God. Having thus observed the consequences of Judas’ treachery with regard to himself, it may not be im- proper, before I shut up the argument, to show what influence it had on Jesus and his apostles. As to Jesus himself, I am persuaded every man who reads the gospels, must be charmed w'ith his behaviour in this last pei'iod of his life. Whether Jesus was the Messiah or not, this will be allowred, that he was one betrayed by a pretended friend ; than which, no ch-- cumstance can tend more to sour the mind, and ruffle the temper, and every one must know what bitter reproaches such traitors receive, and ought to receive. But Jesus, superior to all trials, meets this horrid treachery with a heroic fortitude, and reproaches the traitor in no harsher terms than these, “ Judas, be- trayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” As to the disciples of Jesus, especially the eleven, notwithstanding this horrid treachery of one of their number, and the crucifixion of their Master which happened thereupon ; yet they continue firmly united in carrying on the design of Christ, and establishing his religion in the world ; which it was impossible for them to do had they been carrying on a fraud, or aggrandizing an impostor. For the case is the same here as in common life. If any twelve persons were engaged in a conspiracy, and one of them should go and discover the plot, this would at once put an end to the designs of the other eleven, and render it impossi- ble for them any longer to carry them into execution. That union and harmony which is the very soul of combination, would henceforward be broken ; and to that would succeed a mutual jealousy and distrust, every one suspecting that his neighbour might also become a traitor. The same must have been the case with the disciples of Jesus, had they not been entirely honest in their views. But as they were only adhering to truth, neither the treachery of Judas, nor the denial of Peter, in the least influenced them to abandon the cause in which they were engaged. Thus I have endeavoured to state an argument in favour of Christianity from the conduct and character of Judas the traitor. I have examined it with all the attention I am capable of, and have endeavoured to show that it is conclusive : though I am far from lay- ing the stress of the whole cause upon it. No ; blessed be God, we have a cloud of witnesses attesting the in- nocence of Jesus, and the truth of our holy religion, upon which all our hopes for time and eternity are founded ; witnesses whose characters have been can- vassed, and their evidence illustrated, not only by those of former times, but also by the most masterly writers of this and the preceding age, laymen as well as clergy.* Against whom, I may safely say, the advocates for in- fidelity have maintained a very unequal conflict ; since, notwithstanding their keenest efforts for these hundred years, they have not been able to weaken the smallest pillar by which the noble fabric stands supported. Would to God I could say, that they had succeeded no better against the life and practice of religion. As a heart-love to wickedness is at the bottom of their opposition to the gospel, their impiety has still kept pace with their infidelity ; and, as the most effectual way to debauch our principles, they have laboured hard to debauch our practice : and what melancholy success they have had in this respect, every one who hath eyes or ears can tell. While on the other hand, many of the friends of Christianity have been more careful to preserve our principles, than to reform our lives. But, sure it is now high time to awake, and to stand in the gap against impiety, as well as infidelity. Nor can we hope with success to discourage the latter, un- less we shall be able to suppress the former. For so long as men are vicious, they will have a strong pro- pensity to throw off those restraints which Christianity would lay upon their passions, and free themselves from that dread which it naturally inspires into the wicked. — I am. Sir, Your’s &c. * Besides the observations on the conversion of St Paul, already referred to, 1 have in mine eye Mr West’s elegant and striking re- marks on the evidences of Christ’s resurrection, and the present Bishop of London’s (Sherlock) Trial of the Witnesses — a book which, I am persuaded, will stand the test of ages, notwithstanding the ungenteel insinuation which Dr Middleton has lately thrown out against it. THE SUCCESS OP THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OF THE GOSPEL A PROOF OF ITS TRUTH. BY GEORGE CAMPBELL, D.D., Principal of Marischal College, Aberdeen. Passing from the striking testimony of Judas, who, I have no doubt, was placed in the Saviour’s family for the express purpose of being able afterwards to bear witness that there was not the most distant approach to collusion, or fraud, or vice, in any part of his proceedings, even the most secret and confidential ; let us now turn to the consideration of the testimony of the apostles, as a whole. We have heard the evidence of a prejudiced ^nemy, let us now hear the evidence of honest and impartial friends. This and many other important considerations, are brought out in a very able statement by the late Rev. Dr Campbell of Aberdeen, entitled, the Success of the First Puhlishers of the Gospel, a Proof of its Truth, The publication, appearing in the form of an Annual Sermon before the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge, is little known. Its excellence, however, is such as to merit universal circulation. It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader, that Dr Cambpell was one of the most acute and learned men of a period in the history of Scot- land eminent for intellectual power and accomplishment. He was the celebrated antagonist of Hume, and published a most conclusive work in answer to his objection to the Scripture miracles ; besides many others, which give him a first place among the scholars and philosophers of his native, or of any other country. Hume, in a letter written after Dr Campbell’s publication, expresses himself in a way which leaves no room to doubt that he fell himself defeated, though he does not acknowledge this in as many words. Perhaps too much ado has been made about Hume’s objections to miracles. It is certain, however, that they have di’awn forth a crowd of most able defenders, and none more original or successful than the Rev. Dr Chalmers, in his recent volumes on the Evidences. The objection, that miracles do not admit of proof, is not new. It was from a Jesuit that Hume first picked it up. It appears from Richard Baxter’s work on the Evidences, published in 1655, that one Clement Writer of Worcester, a fanatical Seeker, of the age of the Commonwealth, had previously started the very same objection on which Hume afterwards prided himself so much. As soon as propounded, it was demolished by Baxter. The Rev. Dr Duff of Calcutta stated, a few years ago, that the same metaphy- sical objections were urged by some of the young Hindoos attending the General Assembly’s Institution, though they had never heard of Hume or his works. The invention of Infidelity, it would seem, does not embrace, with all its boasting, a very comprehensive field. But I must not detain the reader from the present work of Dr Campbell, which as conclusively shows, that miracles must have been wrought in the primitive times of Christianity, as his other work shows that in themselves, miracles are perfectly credible. “The human and natural means originally employed for the propagation of the gospel, would, without the Divine interposition, have proved both foolish and weak, and therefore utterly incapable of answering the purpose. The purpose was nevertheless by these means fully answered. Consequently they must have been accompanied with the Divine interposition, and our religion is of God, and not of man.” I shall first endeavour to evince the truth of the first proposition, and show the utter inability of the natural means employed in promulgating the gospel, to effect the end. I shall next evince the truth of the second, pointing out the rapid and unexampled success of the means that were employed. I begin with the unfitness of the means, that is, the natural and ordinary means, admitted by infidels, as well as Christians, to have been employed ; for it is of such means only I am here speaking. Let it bo observed, that under this I comprehend the genius of the doctrine taught ; because, whether supernatural in its origin or not, it may have in it a natural fitness for engaging attention and regard ; or, on the contrary, a natural tendency to alienate the minds of men, and render them inattentive and averse. In this view the spirit and character of the institution itself ought to be regarded as natural means, either of promoting, or of retarding, its propagation. Let us then examine briefly the two principal circumstances already sug- gested, the doctrine, and the publishers. It is to the THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OF THE GOSPEL. former that the term foolishness is more especially ap- plied, as weakness is to the latter. The doctrine of the cross, in particular, the great hinge of all, was, in every view, exposed to universal dislike and derision. Considered as an article of faith in this new religion, as exhibiting the expiation of sin, and consequently as the foundation of the sinner’s hope of Divine pardon and acceptance, to men princi- pled as they were, it both shocked their understanding, and was humiliating to their pride. Considered as a practical lesson, and a warning of the treatment which the disciples might expect, when such horrible things had befallen their Master, to follow whom in suffering they were specially called, nothing could tend more powerfully to alienate their will, being opposed by all their most rooted passions, love of life, aversion to pain, and hoz-ror of infamy. And even considered only as a memorable event in the history of Him whom all the proselytes to this institution were bound to acknowledge as their Lawgiver and King, it was exceedingly disgustful, being contradictory to all the notions to which from infancy they had been habitu- ated, in regard to the protection of Providence, and the marks whereby Heaven distinguishes its favourites destined for honour and authority. Paul, accordingly, takes particular notice of the bad reception which this doctrine met with from both Jews and Gentiles, in consequence of the inveterate prejudices entertained against it. “ The preaching of the cross,” says he, “is to them that perish,” to them who reject and despise the gospel, “foolishness; but to us who are saved,” who by faith give it a grateful reception, “it is the power of God.”* Plowever much the Jews and the Greeks differed from each other, in their religious principles, as well as customs, they concurred in a most hearty detestation of this, which made so fundamental an article of the Christian dispensation. They viewed it differently, according to their different national characters ; but the effect, an indignant rejection, was the same in both. Our apostle, who perfectly understood the difference, has marked it with the greatest accuracy. “ The Jews require a sign,” an evidence of the interposition of Omnipotence, which may overpower their minds, and command an unlimited assent ; “ and the Greeks seek after wisdom,” the elaborate productions of oratory and ingenuity, which may at once convince their reason, and gratify their curiosity : “ but we preach Christ crucified ;” a doctrine so far from suiting the inclina- tions of either, that “ to the Jews it is a stumbling- block, and to the Greeks foolishness.” Both agree to reprobate this doctrine, but differently according to their different tempers. To the Hebrew, it is an object of abhorrence; to the Grecian, of contempt. He adds, “ but to them who are called,” those who are divinely instructed, “both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”f Nor can w'e justly wonder that so strange a doctrine as this of the cross, so repugnant to flesh and blood, should, upon the trial, prove so unwelcome to carnal men. If we inquire but ever so little, into the cir- cumstances of the case, we shall find, that its reception could not have been any other than it was. The Jew- ish nation was at that time split into sects, which in many things entertained opinions opposite to one another. Nevertheless, all who expected the Messiah, of whatever sect, concurred in the belief that he would be, what the world calls, an illustrious prince, a mighty conqueror, who would subdue kingdoms, and establish for himself a new universal monarchy, or secular em- pire (for of a spiritual kingdom they had no idea), wherein his own nation would be exalted above all the * 1 Cor. i. 18. f 1 Cor. i. 22-2i. nations of the earth. From these sentiments, the Samaritans (however much they differed from the Jews in other respects) seem not to have dissented ; in these sentiments all our Lord’s disciples had been brought up ; and to these sentiments, in spite of the manifest tendency of his instructions and example, they, by their own account, fii’mly adhered during his life, and even for some time after his resurrection. Nor do they seem ever to have relinquished these sentiments, till the descent of the Holy Ghost, after the ascension, on that memorable day of Pentecost, on which the promulgation of the evangelical economy may properly be said to have commenced. But it is not enough to say that the Messiah held forth to this people in the gospel, and that which the glosses and traditions of the Rabbis had taught them to expect, were personages widely different. They were, in most respects, the reverse of one another. The people had not yet learnt, that God, though not in the tempest, the earthquake, nor the thunder, may yet be found in the small and feeble voice. Their heads were occupied with ideas of grandeur and majesty merely human. When they were thinking of the royal palace, their attention was called to the shop of the artificer. “ Is not this the carpenter ?”* say they, with a mixture of astonishment and contempt. Instead of riches and splendour, behold poverty and humility ; for a potentate and warrior, they had only a peaceful citizen. In lieu of one whose undertakings were, in the sight of all mankind, to be crowned with glory and success, they were presented with a man incessantly haunted by misfortune from his cradle to his grave ; whose friends were few, and enemies innu- merable ; one, who in their eyes, had nothing desirable ; or, to adopt the expx'ession of the prophet, had “ no form nor comeliness ;”f one who accordingly, from his first appearance in public, was by all the men of power and influence, hated, derided, defamed, persecuted, dishonoured, and at last cruelly murdered. But the stone which the builders rejected, soon became the head of the corner. Prosperity and adversity have, in all ages, and in all nations, had some influence on the judgments of men, in regard to Divine favour and aversion ; but on no nation had these external things a greater influence than on the Jewish ; and under no dispensation or form of religion, true or false, more glaringly, than under the Mosaic. There was something in that in- stitution, it must be acknowledged, which naturally led the attention to these outward distinctions between man and man. The promises and threatenings of the law, interpreted according to the letter, are of things merely temporal. That under these are couched the eternal things of the gospel, is not to be denied ; things which were also typified by the established ceremo- nies and carnal ordinances. But it must be observed, that the literal is the most obvious sense ; the spiritual was perceived by those only whose faith or spiritual discernment put them in a capacity of seeing through the veil of symbolical language and ritual observances. For it ever did, and ever will hold, that “ the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.”J But in regard to the generality of the people (I may almost say the whole, the exceptions are so few), that out- ward happiness or misery were the standard by which they determined whether a person were the object of the love or of the hatred of heaven, is a fact that might be evinced, if necessary, from numberless pas- sages, both of the Old Testament and of the New. And if this holds in regal'd to what may be called the general tenor of a man’s life, it holds more especially of his death. To be adjudged to the death of a male- * Mark vi. 3, f Isa. liii. 2, % Psal. xxv. U. 48 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY factor by the supreme tribunal of the chosen people, they considered as an infallible mark of reprobation. How much more, vvhenthe very sort of death, suspension upon a tree, had a special malediction pronounced on it, which, as an indelible stigma, had been engrossed in the body of their law? “He that is hanged is accursed of God.”* The Jews, accordingly to this day, distinguish our Saviour by the name of the HANGED MAN, as the most disgraceful they can employ. We cannot then wondei*, that to those whose minds were blinded through sensual affection and obdurate prejudices, and in respect of whom, to adopt the apostle’s similitude, f the veil which covered the face of Moses, too splendid for their weak organs, remained unremoved, (we cannot, I say, wonder, that to them) the Messiah’s cross should prove a stumbling-block. It in reality did so. The undoubted fact confirms the reasoning. And the reasoning is, from their avow- ed principles, so unquestionable, as to be equivalent to the clearest testimony of the fact. Nor were the prepossessions of Pagans less impreg- nable, though built on different grounds. Of all nations, the Jewish was the most contemned and hated by both Greeks and Romans. That their con- tempt and hatred were unreasonable, I readily allow. But it is only with the fact I am here concerned ; and that is incontrovertible. It \vere easy, howevei*, to account for it, from several peculiarities in the Jew- ish constitution, which made them be reckoned by others, superstitious, unsociable, intolerant, self-opi- nioned, and untractable. Their refusal of all inter- community with those of other nations in matters of religion, a thing unexampled amongst idolaters, their distinction of meats into clean and unclean, and their laws in regard to ablutions, which very much inter- rupted even their civil intercourse with Gentiles, con- spired in alienating the minds of strangers. Though not deficient in courage and natural sagacity, their being but little acquainted with the arts of war and government, made them appear inconsiderable in the eyes of the Romans ; their ignorance of philosophy and the fine arts, rendered them despicable to the Grecians. It would not have been easy to make the people of either nation expect great benefits of any kind from a Jew. But to talk to them of such a one as their Messiah or Saviour, that is, as the terms were explained by the pi*eachers, the purchaser of the re- mission of sins, of Divine favour, of eternal life and happiness ; nay, as the person constituted by the Deity judge of all the earth, could, to men so ill affected to that people, hardly appear otherwise than as absolutely ridiculous. How much then was the ridicule enhanced, when they were further informed, that this Messiah, this man of circumcision, of the race of Jacob, had, like a common felon, and in company with common felons, suffered under a Roman procurator the infam- ous death of crucifixion ? It is not easy for us, at this distance, to enter per- fectly into the sentiments and feelings of men, whose mannei’s, opinions, education, and customs, were so totally different from ours. It is more difficult on this subject, on which our minds have been so long pre- occupied, than on any other. The death of Christ, whom we venerate as our Sovereign, our High Priest, and Teacher in Divine things, hath, to us Christians, ennobled the cross, the instrument of an event of such ineffable moment to the human race. We can no longer behold it with the same eyes. It is for this reason, that, in Christian countries, the use of it in punishing is universally abolished. We are inclined to consider it as too honourable a destiny, for any after Jesus Christ, of the posterity of Adam, to undergo. * Dcut. xxi. 23. t 2 Cor. iii. 14, But in order to judge of the appearance and effect of a new doctrine, published in a remote period, w’e must, as much as possible, enter into the opinions and pre- possessions that prevailed at the time. Considered in this view, it is but just to observe, that crucifixion was then, in the Roman empire, incomparably more disgraceful than any kind of death known in these days in any part of Christendom. No citizen of Rome, how atrocious soever were his guilt, how mean soever were his station, though the lowest mechanic, or the poorest peasant, could be subjected to it. If a man was not a slave, as well as a cifiminal, it was not in the power of any magistrate to dishonour him so far as to consign him to so ignominious a punishment. And though the privilege of Romans did not extend to every free subject of the empire, so far did the Roman sentiments prevail in regard to this mode of punishing, that it was held universally as in the last degree oppro- brious. Conceive then the emotions which would naturally arise in the minds of such people, when a man (a miserable culprit in their account), who had been compelled publicly to submit to so vile an execu- tion, so degrading, so shocking to humanity, was re- presented to them as the Son of the Most High God, and the Redeemer of the world. If to men so pre- possessed as were the Jews, this doctrine could not fiiil to appear impious and execrable (and for a time it did so even to the apostles) ; to men so pre- possessed as were the Gentiles, it could not fail to appear nonsensical and absurd. Nay, it is manifest from the writings of the early apologists for Christianity, in the second and third centuries, that this doctrine continued long to be a principal matter of offence to the enemies of our reli- gion, and was regarded by such as an insurmountable objection. They treated it as no better than madness, to place confidence in a man whom God had abandon- ed to the scourge of the executioner, and the indelible reproach of the cross. Yet this doctrine was, from the beginning, so far from being taught covertly by the apostles, as one would have thought that a small share of political wisdom would have suggested ; it was so far from being dissembled, and palliated, that it ap- peared to be that particular of their religion, of which, in spite of the utter abomination it raised in others, in spite of all the obloquy it brought upon themselves, they were chiefly ostentatious. With our apostle “ the cross of Christ” is a phrase in familiar use for denoting the whole of this new economy. The foes of the gospel he calls “ enemies of the cross of Christ.”* To the Corinthians, he says, he determined to know nothing among them, save “ Jesus Christ and him crucified. ”f The offence taken against Christianity, he styles, “ the offence of the cross.”J And the grand object of his glorying, w'as what to others appeared the greatest scandal, “the cross of Christ. ”§ So much in general (for jmur time does not admit my entering into particulars) of the foolishness of the doctrine. Let us next consider the weakness of the instni- ments, the first missionaries of this new religion. What were they ? We should certainly think, that a trust of this kind, requiring the most consummate skill and address to manage properly, could not, with the small- est hope of success, be committed to any, but men, who to great natural shrewdness, and acquired know- ledge, had all the advantages that result from being acquainted with the world, and conversant in public life. If to these, wealth, nobility, and authority, were added, so much the better. But were the first pub- lishers of the gospel men of this sort ? Nothing can be conceived more opposite. A few fishermen of * Philip, iii. IS. 1 1 Cor. ii. 2. t Gal, v. il. § Gal, vi. U THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OF THE GOSPEL* 49 Galilee, and some others of the lowest class of the people, poor, ignorant, totally unacquainted with the world ; without any visible advantages natural or ac- quired ; men who, before they received this extraordi- nary mission, had been obliged to drudge for bread within the narrow limits of a toilsome occupation, and had probably never dared to open their mouth in places where men of condition (their betters, as we familiarly express it) were present. Such were the agents employed in effecting the greatest revolution ever produced upon the earth. Was it in a rude and unlettered age that this religion was first broached ? or was it only to the illiterate that its promulgators were charged to communicate it ? It was at the time when Home was in the zenith of her power ; it was at the time when all the Grecian arts and sciences shone forth in their meridian glory. It was then that these plain, unexperienced men, were commissioned, not cautiously to impart this doctrine in a whisper, to persons of a particular stamp, but to proclaim it to all indiscrimi- nately, as from the house-tops, to “ preach the gospel to every creature.”* These lowly ministers of Jesus did accordingly publish it to the Jews in the temple and in the synagogues, and to the Gentiles in the forums of their cities, and in other places of public resort. Their undaunted spirit and freedom, consid- ering what they were, did indeed amaze their superiors, and all who heard them. When the high priest, and other members of the Sanhedrim, “ saw the boldness of Peter and John,” in the spirited and pertinent reply they made, and perceived “ that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled. ”f How different is the policy of Heaven — pardon the expression — from that of earth ! How truly is the matter represented in my context : “ God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are ; that no flesh should glory in his presence. The apostles were very sen- sible of their defects, in respect of natural talents, rank, and education ; they knew well, that by men of fashion, men of the world, they were counted “ as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things.’.’§ But as their zeal was kindled solely in behalf of the cause of their Master, they never affected to conceal or extenuate these defects. They neither disdainfully undervalued those acquired advantages which they had not, but which were possessed by many of their anta- gonists, nor vainly arrogated to themselves any merit from the success that attended their preaching. Their humble language was, “ we have this treasure,” the doctrine of the gospel, the inestimable riches of Christ, “ in earthen vessels ;” not vessels of gold or silver, as men of eminence among the great and learned might be called, but vessels of the very coarsest materials, those denominated the dregs of the people, “ that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”|| We are apt to attend but carelessly to the report of facts to which our ears have been long familiarized. Such is that of the low condition of those who were the first heralds of the gospel of peace. Besides, to us the very title Apostles conveys certain ideas of respect and dignity, which, as it were, hide from us the meanness and obscurity of their outward state. In order, therefore, to I’ouse our attention to this circum- stance, of the utmost importance to the right under- standing of my argument, let us consider what would • Mark xvi. 15. f Acts iv, 13, X 1 Cor. i. 27— S3, t 1 Cor. iv. 13. 11 2 Cor. iv, 7. be, I say not probably, but certainly, the effect of such an attempt in our own age and nation, made by such ill-provided, and, as we should say, despicable instru- ments unaided from above, in opposition to all the established powers, religion, laws, and learning ol the country. Yet we have no reason to believe, that our fishermen are, in any respect, inferior to the fishers of those days on the lake of Gennesaret. It would not perhaps be difficult to prove, that in point of education, in this part of the island at least, they are even supe- rior. But to render the parallel complete, and to make it tally perfectly with the infidel hypothesis about the promulgation of the gospel, we must con- ceive something still more marvellous ; namely, that a few such men in this country, so wretchedly accoutred, so unfurnished with human means, friendless and pen- nyless, unacquainted with every language but their mother-tongue, of which they can speak only a pro- vincial and barbarous dialect, form the vast project of traversing Holland, France, Germany, and the other countries on the continent, in order to make converts abroad, to impose on all mankind, and to publish throughout the world, a scheme of doctrine they had previously concerted among themselves. With the least reflection, we see the absolute impracticability of such a plan, when brought home to ourselves. Indeed, it is so glai'ingly impracticable, that it is not easy for us to conceive that such au extravagance could ever enter into the heads of men in their senses. Yet not one jot better equipped were the apostles, if we abstract from supernatural aid, than such projectors as I have now supposed. In point of language, a most essential circumstance, they could be no way superior.* Now, the nature of things, my brethren, was the same then that it is at present, and means which we perceive now to be perfectly inadequate, must have been always so. I do not talk of the improba- bility that such sort of men should, at the risk of peace, liberty, life, and every thing valuable, and without any imaginable motive, have conceived a project so fantastic, because so totally beyond their sphere, as that of subverting all the religious esta- blishments on the face of the earth, of extirpating at once opinions, ceremonies, laws, which had sub- sisted for many centuries, and even whole orders in society, by substituting in lieu of all these, a new theory of theirs, founded on a false story of their own devising. Nor do I talk of the absurdity of imagining, as some have done, that men who were neither fools nor mad (and if they had been either, their success would not have been less unaccountable) should, in a matter entirely subjected to the testimony of their senses, have imposed upon themselves, and thought they were promoting truth, if it was not so. But I talk at present of the impossibility of such agents suc- ceeding by natural means, in such a design, however formed. To account for the success, therefore, we must necessarily admit the Divine original of the whole, and have recourse to the concurrence of Him who “calleth the things that are not, as though they were,”f and who alone can “ destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” With such an Almighty assistant, and nothing less will account for it, they might well be superior to fear and apprehension, and might boldly challenge all human opposition, and say, “ Where is * The speech of tlie common people has always most of the peculiarities of the province. We have no reason to think that the dialect of any of the twelve was preferable to that of Peter. Yet he was detected at Jerusalem by a servant maid, from his un- couth idiom and accent, to be a Galilean ; at a time when, we may believe, he would gladly have concealed his country, by disguising his tongue, if it had been in his power. Matt, xxvi. 73. + Uom. iv. 17. 1 ) 50 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, the wise ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this world ? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this woidd ?”* But it will perhaps be urged, that the apostle Paul ought to be considered as an exception from the gene- ral remark I have been explaining. Was not he a man of letters, bred up at the feet of Gamaliel, a famous Jewish doctor, and instructed in all the Scrip- tural and traditionary learning of the Jews? Nay, does it not appear, that he was not altogether unac- quainted with the writings of the Grecian poets ? It is indeed true ; and as we judge of every thing by comparison, so when he is compared with his brethren in the apostolate, he maybe denominated learned. But it ought to be observed, that as his learning consisted chiefly, I might almost say solely, in the Scriptures, and the Rabbinical doctrine of the Pharisees, it is notorious in how little esteem that kind of erudition w'as among the Gentiles, of whom he was eminently tlie apostle. Of whatever account, therefore, this knowledge might have been, had his mission been only or chiefly to the Jews ; I must think, it was of very little, if any at all, to the Greeks and Romans. To them aU Jewish literature appeared no better than un- intelligible, and therefore insignificant, jargon ; or, as Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, contemptuously styled it, “ questions of words and names, and of their law.”f Whatever use Paul might have made of his learning, in disputing with the Jewish doctors, it could be of no service in his disputes with the philosophers of Greece, and the literati of Rome. It is remarkable, therefore, that the only man among the first preachers of the gospel, who was in any degree qualified to cope with the learned men of Judea, was not sent to them, but to nations amongst whom his Hebraistic knowledge could give him no advantage. Whereas Peter, who is by w'ay of eminence styled the apostle of the cir- cumcision, as the other is of the Gentiles J (Peter, I say), though of their own country, was but one of the untaught rabble, who, on account of the meanness of their birth and station, as well as their ignorance, were by the haughty scribes and rulers accounted the refuse of the earth. “ This people,” say they, ‘‘ who know not the law are cursed.”§ Nor could Paul, in respect of rank, claim great superiority over the rest. He was only a handicraftsman, having been bred a tent-maker ; a business which he occasionally exer- cised, for the support of himself and his attendants, during his apostleship. Ay, but had not this man all the advantages result- ing from the Grecian arts of logic and rhetoric ? Did he not speak their language wuth elegance and purity ? I know the apostle has had some strenuous and well- meaning advocates, especially among the moderns, not infidels, but Christians, who, with more zeal than judgment, have maintained the afiirmative. I am far from denying, that this eminent servant of our Lord possessed considerable talents, in respect of natural eloquence, depth of thought, strength of reasoning, and nervousness of expression. But that his Greek diction was pure and classical, or that in composing he followed the rules laid down by rhetoricians, we have the greatest reason to deny. His works that are extant, do, to every able and candid judge of these matters, show the contrary. The contrary was ad- mitted by the best critics and orators among the Greek Fathers, who must be allowed more capable of judging of propriety, fluency, and harmony, in their native tongue, than any modern can be in a dead and foreign language. || Further, the contrary is frankly * 1 Cor. i, 19, 20. + Acts xviii. 15. % Gal. ii. 7, 8, § John vii. 49. II Such were Origeo and Chrysostom. i owned by the apostle himself. Nay, he insists, that according to the Divine counsel it must be so, this being of a piece with all the other natural means God had employed in the work. Thus he was “ sent to preach the gospel,” as he tells us in the context, “ not with wisdom of words.” Why? “ Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”* Shall we then maintain his oratorical talents in spite of himself, and in spite of the irrefragable reason he adduces from the analogy of the Divine procedure, in this whole dispensation ? It would be paying him but a bad com- pliment, to extol his elocution at the expense of his veracity ; for we are under a necessity of denying one or other. It appears, that his enemies made a handle of the rudeness and inelegance of his style, to injure his reputation, especially at Corinth, where oratory was much in vogue. But though he vindicates himself from their other censures, he invariably admits the truth of this. “ Though rude in speech,” says he, “ yet not in knowledge.”! And, “ I came not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom.”^ And, “ the things of God we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth.”§ Again, “My speech, and my preaching, was not with enticing words of man’s wis- dom.” He assigns the reason, the same in import with that given formerly, “ that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but iif the power of God.”|| Speaking of their sentiments concerning him, “ His letters, say they, are weighty and powerful, but bis bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. ”*[[ The power ascribed to his letters, undoubtedly refers to the sense conveyed in them, and the ardour of spirit by which they are animated. That they did not conceive any part of their merit to be the purity or harmony of the style, is manifest from the latter part of the chai-acter, especially when compared with what is repeatedly acknowledged in other places. Paul, therefore, had neither the graces of pei'son, nor the ornaments of elocution, to recommend or enforce his doctrine. His language to Greek ears niust have ap- peared idiomatical, not to say barbarous. And as his sort of learning was but ill adapted to the people of Greece, Italy, or Asia Minor, amongst whom his mis- sion chiefly lay, he did not possess that superiority over the other apostles which is commonly imagined. Justly, therefore, might we apply to a Christian who should zealously assert the classic purity of our apos- tle’s style, the rebuke which our Lord once gave to Peter, on an occasion not unsimilar : “ Thou savour- est not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.”** The weakness, the infirmity, or, if you will, the insufficiency of these messengers of the new covenant, was their glory, and their boast. Their motive was, “ That the power of Christ might rest upon” them, ft and be manifested by them. To men of the world, indeed, the doctrine appeared not more foolish, than the ministry was weak. I have now, as I purposed in the first place, shown the inability of the natural means employed in pro- mulgating the gospel, to effect the end. I proceed to consider, secondly, the rapid and unex- ampled success of the means that were employed. As to the rapidity of the success, need I use many words to evince a point so evident, and so' universally ac- knowledged ? The canon of Scripture was not finished, that generation had not passed, when Jesus Christ had disciples and churches in Judea, Samaria, Syria, Phoe- nicia, Mesopotamia, Arabia, the countries of Asia Minor, Greece, Macedonia, Italy, Egypt, and as far as Ethiopia. This we learn, partly from the books of * 1 Cor. X. 17. + 2 Cor. xi. 0. t 1 Cor. ii. 1. i 1 Cor. ii. 13. 1| 1 Cor, ii. 4, 5. 1[ 2 Cor. x, 10. ♦ * Matt. xvi. 23. 2 Cor. xii. 9, THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OP THE GOSPEL 51 the New Testament, partly from the authentic remains of the apostolic fathers. Whilst the faith of the gospel was deeply rooted in all those who professed it ; whilst nothing but faith could induce any one to make the profession; whilst the professors themselves were harassed on every side with the most violent persecu- tions, — the church of Christ, in spite of all opposition, and every species of discouragement, increased daily. In less than three centuries, for I reckon not from the birth of Christ, but, as in a computation of this kind we ought to reckon, from the first publication of the gospel at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (in less than three centuries), Christianity having pierced into Gaul, Spain, Britain, and the African countries lying on the Mediterranean, became the predominant reli- gion of the Roman empire, which comprehended the greater and better part of the then known world. Nor was its extent limited by the empire. It did indeed, with wonderful celerity, overspread the most populous countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Since its establishment by human laws, it hath been put on so different a footing, and the methods taken for pro- pagating it, have been, on some occasions at least, so completely altered, and so little warranted by the spirit and precepts of that religion, that the success or want of success of these methods can hardly affect our present argument.* Now, as it is admitted on all hands, that the success of the first preachers of the gospel was great and rapid, I maintain that it still remains unexampled. I do not mean to state a comparison between conversion and conquest ; between subduing the mind by persua- sion, by what our apostle emphatically calls “ the foolishness of preaching,”t and conquering the body by the sword. In the one, both the reason and the will are gained by teaching ; in the other, a feigned assent is sometimes extorted by violence, and maintained by terror. It does not therefore in the least concern my * While there was ample success in the propagation of the gos- pel in primitive times, to prove its Divine truth ; while the success is inexplicable, except from the presence and the power of mira- cles ; there is, at the same time, a danger, speaking popularly, of exaggerating the progress which was actually gained. Gibbon, who is generally accurate in his facts, however prejudiced and perverse in his spirit, contends that, even in'the most prosperous times, the Christians were in the minority. The vacillation of Constantine seems to have sprung, in part, from a consciousness of the same kind. The circumstance, that the word “ paganus” means both a heathen and a countryman, seems to intimate that, whatever pro- gress the gospel had made in the towns and cities, the country gen- erally remained pagan. But we have still more direct evidence than this. The reader may be surprised to learn, but it is true, that in some of the largest towns and congregations of primitive times, such as Antioch, Rome, and Carthage, the Christians had but a single place of meeting, for three hundred years after Christ, No doubt several congregations may have assembled successively under the same roof on the same Lord’s day. But this is certainly an indication of a far more limited progress on the part of Christi- anity, than is commonly imagined. Till the middle of the fourth century, all the Christians of Alexandria were not too numerous to assemble in one place. My authority for these statements is Lord Chancellor King’s able work On ike Primitive Church. Had the gospel been as prevailing as it was in after times, it is impossi- ble to believe there would not have been, as in modern days, a greater number of places of worship, Mr Ballantine, a keen and able dissenting writer, says, “ The primitive church for nearly three hundred years acted under this system (the Voluntary sys- tem), and all things considered, its success was certainly extensive ; but there seems no reason to believe she had the means of instructing the great body of the people, till established by law.” Besides, it is certain that, early in the second and third centuries, Christianity was greatly corrupted in doctrine, and spirit, and practice, beyond the corruption of many parts of modern Protestant Christendom. Dr Camr)bell speaks of the “ establishment of Christianity by human laws,” and of unwarrantable methods of propagation : I presume he refers to the atrocities of the Popish method of spreading Popery by persecution. There can be no question, that the civil establishment of the Church of Scotland was, three several times, in the history of this country, crowned with a moral and religious success, far deeper and more pervading than can be alleged of any country in primitive times ; and that Christianity, left entirely to itself in modern days, has never been able to reach the same results. Miracles must have made a very important distinction between primitive and present times a dis- tinction perhaps not sufficiently attended to.— Lditob. + 1 Cor. i. 21, argument, what the success was of the Mahometan, I say not doctrine, but arms. Their engine was war, not preaching. The weapons of their warfare were carnal, those of the gospel, spiritual. Their aim was submission, not belief ; the external profession of the mouth, not the internal conviction of the understand- ing. When the like methods came to be adopted by Christians (for too soon, alas ! they were adopted, a sure sign that the religion of Jesus was then grossly corrupted and debased), the success is doubtless to be accounted for in the same manner. Every candid person will admit, that the success of Charlemagne over the Saxons, is no more an evidence of Divine favour, than that of Mahomet over the Arabs. But when all attempts of this kind are set aside, one will perhaps be at a loss what to bring into com- parison with the first promulgation of the gospel. It is not, however, for want of numerous and repeated trials, even in the way of preaching ; but when the effect is inconsiderable, or not correspondent to the expectation raised, the attempt itself comes gradually to be either quite forgotten, or little minded. Cru- sades, wars, and massacres, have not been the only methods employed by Rome, not over-scrupulous about the means, when the advancement of the hie- rarchy, that is, the extension of her empire, is the end. She knows how to employ preachers, as well as inqui- sitors, executioners, and soldiers. Nay, it is no more than doing her justice to acknowledge, that no church whatever, no state, no society, hath done half so much in this ^way as she hath done. But with what effect ? Has there appeared, in any part of the world, even where her missionaries have been most numerous, any fruits of their missions which bear a resemblance to the fruits so quickly produced every where by the apostles of our Lord ? Let the most sanguine vota- ries of that church, who know any thing of the matter, say so, if they dare. What then is the reason of the difference ? Had the latter, the apostles of our Lord, any advantages (observe I speak of human and natural advantages) which the former, the Popish missionaries, had not ? Quite the reverse. Every such advantage has been on the side of the missionary, not one on the side of the apostle. They are not ignorant artificers of the lowest class, whom Rome engages in such a business. She hath too much worldly wisdom (notwithstanding her arrogant and not very consistent pretence to miracles) ever to employ such messengers. Neither do her apostles go without the utmost preparation, that not only a learned education, according to the times, can give them, but such particular instructions, study, and discipline, as will serve best to qualify them to accommodate themselves to those to whom they are sent, to gain upon the people, and to bear with fortitude the difiiculties and hardships they may ba obliged to encounter. It is plain, therefore, that she puts no confidence in her supernatural powers, and acts precisely as though she were conscious she had none. Indeed, since the establishment at Rome of the congregation de propaganda fide, no attention, no pains, no expense, have been spared, that could serve for procuring all necessary information, in regard to the languages, arts, manners and customs, of the dif- ferent nations and tribes to whom it is judged proper to send preachers ; that they may be furnished, as much as possible, with every human and natural assistance for the work in which they are engaged. Yet what has been the success hitherto ? If one were to judge by the exaggerated accounts that have some- times been given by the missionaries themselves, we should think them wonderful indeed. But if we judge by the more impartial representations given by CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY, others, or by> what is still a better criterion, the re- maining effects of their missions, we must pronounce them inconsiderable. In many places, there is not now a vestige of their labours. In other places, the traces that have been left are, I may say, equivocal, as well as few. Father Charlevoix, one of their own people, in his account of the North American savages, observes, that the missions had been very unsuccessful among them ; and, what is more surprising, mentions one missionary, who had ingratiated himself so far with one of their tribes, that they would even have chosen him for their chief, who nevertheless had not been able to persuade one single person among them to embrace Christianity.* Well, but if the attempts have not proved so suc- cessful in the West, what wonders in the way of con- version have not been performed by a Saint Francis Xavier and his associates in the East ? Indeed, there is no man in these latter ages who has been so much, and I believe so deservedly, celebrated for his labours in this way, as this friar, whom Rome hath dignified with the title of the Apostle of the Indies. He was certainly a most zealous promoter of a cause which he doubtless believed to be the cause of God. His pious intentions deserve the commendation of those who can pity his errors and absurdities. Regard to the voice of conscience, even though a misinformed con- science, is still respectable. But is it not well known, that this famous missionary was not only a man of learning, the best that was then to be had, but, along %Hth his companions, acted under the auspices of the viceroy of Goa, the metropolis of the Portuguese set- tlements in India ? and where, for the greater security of the faith, they soon thought proper to establish the inquisition. Is it not evident, that in most places where the missionaries exercised their function, they were under the protection of the victorious fleets and armies of the king of Portugal ? And even where these had not reached, the terror of their name had reached, and was of no little service to these itinerant teachers. How unlike the case of the poor fishermen of Galilee ! Miracles indeed, stupendous miracles, were pretended to by them, and those of their party. For we have only the representations of one side. It is surprising they were so often at a loss for one mira- culous power, the gift of tongues, so common in the primitive church, which would have been of greater service to them than all the rest together. This how- ever they laudably supplied the best way they could, by the use of interpreters, as well as by study and application. An eminent French preacher of the last century has affiimed, in a panegyrical sermon on this apostle of the Pope, that he spread the light of the gospel through more than three thousand leagues of country, and subjected no less than fifty-two kingdoms to Jesus Christ. These are big words : but where, I pray, is that country ? and where are those kingdoms ? This is rather too violent an hyperbole, even for an orator. The conquests made by the Portuguese arms, in like manner as those made since by other European powers, Protestant as well as Popish, are not surely to be called kingdoms converted by preaching the gospel. Yet, abstracting from these settlements, or, if ye will, usurpations, it would be difficult to point out so much as one of those fifty-two kingdoms subdued to Christ. Of the same kind is that other assertion in the same discourse, that Xavier has more than repaired in the East, all the hurt done to Rome by Luther, and Calvin, and the other Reformers (heresiarchs, as he terms them) in the West. Can there be a clearer demon- stration of the little regard that is due to the word of a panegyrist and party man ? At this day, even in Letter x.xxi. the East, those Reformers have more disciples than Rome has. But, alas ! it is not by what the apostle calls “ the foolishness of preaching,” that disciples have been gained there to either side. The greater part have been transplanted from Europe, or are the de- scendants of those who were first transplanted thither. The rest are the effects more of conquest than of con- version. But what shall be said of the wonderful success of Xavier in the islands of Japan ? It was indeed as signal as it has proved transitory. Nothing could be more promising than the appearances were for some time. But there was a latent seed of corruption in the doctrine which those missionaries unknowingly misnamed the gospel, that, springing up, produced a plentiful crop of its ordinary fruits, pride, ambition, violence, and faction. These provoked a persecution, which quickly terminated in the total extinction of that infant church. Francis Solier, a Jesuit, who writes the ecclesiastic history of Japan, expresses his astonishment, that God should have permitted the blood of so many martyrs to be shed, without serving (as in the first ages of Christianity) as a fruitful seed for producing new Christians. But this can be no matter of wonder to the intelligent believer. The truth is, the cause was not more different at that time (though under the same name), from what it had been, than were the usual methods by which it was propagated. “ The Christianity of the sixteenth cen- tury,” says a late writer, “ had no right to hope for the same favour and protection from God, as the Christianity of the three first centuries. The latter was a benign, gentle, and patient religion, which re- commended to subjects submission to their sovereign, and did not endeavour to raise itself to the throne by rebellion. But the Christianity preached to the infi- dels of the sixteenth century was far different. It was a bloody, murtherous religion, that had been inured to slaughter for five or six hundred years. It had contracted a very long habit of maintaining and aggrandizing itself, by putting to the sword all that resisted it. Fires, executions, the dreadful tribunal of the inquisition, crusades, buUs exciting subjects to rebellion, seditious preachers, conspiracies, assassina- tions of princes, were the ordinary methods employed against those who refused submission to its orders.”* The ingenuous confession of a Spaniard, more honest, it would appear, than wise, may be pleaded in justifi- cation of the sanguinary precautions taken by the Emperor of Japan. Being asked by the king of Tossa, one of the Japanese isles, and probably one of the fifty- two kingdoms mentioned by Bourdaloue, How the king of Spain got possession of so great an extent of country in both hemispheres ? he answered frankly. That he used to send friars to preach the gospel to foreign nations ; and that, after having converted a considerable number of heathens, he sent his forces, who, joining w’ith the new converts, conquered the country. The Christians in that island (such Chris- tians as they were) paid dear for this indiscreet con- fession. Poor then, if we may judge by the pi*esent effects, has been the success of their missions among barbai'ians. Have they succeeded better in civilized nations ? Their missions in China, it is true, have subsisted for centuries. But will the candid and judi- cious, even of that communion, say, that the conse- quences have been proportioned to what might have been expected from the assiduity, labour, and expense bestowed on them? Most Roman Catholics them- selves, consider the greater part of the Chinese prose- lytes, as more than half Pagans still. What will Pro- testants then reckon them ? I know not any thing done by Romanists in modern * General Dictionary, Article Japan, Note E. THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OF THE GOSPEL. 53 times, that appears more favourable, than what has been effected by some Jesuits in the inland parts of South America, in the country called Paraguay. But of this, I am afraid, we have not as yet sufficient knowledge to enable us to form a judgment that can be depended on. Some things, however, will deserve our notice, that we may be satisfied that there is no similarity in this case to the primitive publication of the gospel. In the first place, those Jesuits are to be considered more as the founders of a polity than as the publishers of a religion. Religion, indeed, makes an essential part of their establishment ; still it is but a part. Nothing could be more opposite to the conduct of the apostles, whose sole object was to preach the doctrine and law of Christ, and, without interfering in the least with the rights of civil governors, to bring men every where to the obedience of the faith. I observe, secondly, that instead of those poor, illiterate, and obscure men, who first promulgated to the world the everlasting gospel of the Son of God, we have here some select members of an opulent, learned, and poli- tical society, who were careful to be previously in- structed in the language, manners, and religious observances of the people whom they were to teach ; men who had most attentively studied the policy of the ancient South American states, particularly of the Incas of Peru, and the arts they had successfully em- ployed in subduing the ferocity of their neighbours. I observe, thirdly, that it was more by insinuation, and indirectly, than by open and professed teaching, that the knowledge of Christianity was introduced by them. Their direct and only object long appeared to be to teach those savages agriculture, the most neces- sary manufactures, the art of building, and the other arts most conducive to civilization ; and when in this w^ay they had sufficiently recommended themselves to their confidence, to take occasion of inculcating, espe- cially on the children intrusted to their care, their religious principles. The method of the apostles was much shorter ; they did not find the least necessity for such artificial management.* Nor was it only in South America that the Popish missionaries found it convenient to recur to these arts. Of how much consequence it has been for promoting * I have examined the pretensions of the Foreign missions of the Church of Rome at great lengtli, in a Lecture (the 12th) in the series delivered in Glasgow in 1836-37, entitled “ The Truths of Protestantism Contrasted with the Errors of Popery f' and I have there shown that, for the most part, the statement as to the success of the Popish missions is grossly exaggerated ; that supposing the success to be real, it is not worth having ; and that very many of the missions have, in the course of a few years, turned out miser, able failures. With regard more particularly to Paraguay, I showed, on the authority of the new edition of the Encyclopcedia Eritannica, and the Modern Traveller^ “ That when tlie Jesuits were withdrawn, the fabric soon fell into ruins, and the Indians relapsed into their idolatry and savage habits, just as boys drop their tasks the moment they are liberated from school.” Again : “ When the Jesuits fell, as at the death of a magician all his spells are said to be reversed, all his enchantments are broken, so the effects of their labours melted away, and have left few traces behind. They built upon the sand!” Page 75, Lecture Vlth Editor. Since writing the above two years ago, I have learned from a French Roman Catholic journal, some curious facts strikingly illustrative of the decline and almost extinction of Popish Missions. The date of the information is little more than four years ago. According to a French priest, there are 180,000 adherents of the Church of Rome in Tonking, on the borders of China, for the in- struction of whom, there are only two aged and infirm priests, one of them above ninety years of age. What sort of Christians must these be — without a Bible too ! So of Cochin China, among 80,000 Roman Catholics, there are only two Bishops, and two Grand Vicars, one of the latter is paralytic, the other is never at home ! In Siam, there is only one French priest, in a country from which, in the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, a strong repre- sentation came, that the monarch wished to be converted and all his people! ! At Pondicherry, the alleged number of the flock is 140,000; the instructors, one Bishop, and flve priests, on a coast of two hundred leagues ! ! Similar facts as to other quarters are given. The priest concludes with a statement, from which it ap- pears that since, 1791, the Popish missionaries had been reduced o^.half. How different the history of Protestant missions.— Vide New York Observer, September. 1834.— Editor. tbe success of the Chinese mission, that those charged with it were able mathematicians, astronomers, geo- graphers, physicians, and natural philosophers ; and how much their knowledge in the sciences conduced to procui'e them the attention and respect of the natives, all the world knows. Where was the man of these modern apostles, who could say, as the apostle Paul, the poor Hebrew artisan, did to the Corinthians, “ I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified ?” Short, we may believe, would have been their abode in China, and in other places too, had they proceeded on this plan. But Paul needed not to depend on any human supplements or assistances whatever. Nothing indeed could be more unlike, or rather greater contrasts, in all respects, than the first ambassadors and the last, those of Jesus Christ, and those of the Roman Pontiff. The last were possessed of those accomplishments which preserved them from appearing despicable to any; the manifest superiority of their knowledge in the elegant, as well as in many of the useful arts, made them be respected as almost a superior order of beings, even by those whom they could not persuade to turn Christian. The first, on the contrary, on account of their low rank, and ignorance of the arts of civilized life, were acknowledged to be, in many respects, but weak and contemptible instruments, even by those who were converted by their minisUy. This was evidently the case of him, who of them all, had the best pre- tensions to knowledge and education. Not to mention the pageantry, even the rich sacerdotal vestments used by the Romish clergy in their worship, are naturally fitted to make an impression on the senses, not only of barbarians, but of the weak and supei'stitious even of polished nations. How different must the ordinary and homely garments of the primitive preachers have appeared, worn constantly in their peregrinations ! for they were not permitted to carry with them so much as a change of raiment.* Nor is this so trivial a circumstance as to some perhaps, on a superficial view, it will appear. Yet after all, w'ith every human and natural advantage, what have been the fruits of the last labourers compared with those of the first ? Have we not gotten ample reason, in this view also, to adopt the apostle’s words, and, on contrasting Christ’s humble delegates to the accomplished ambas- sadors of Rome, to say, “ Where now, is the wise ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this world ? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this w'orld? For God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, the weak to con- found the mighty, the base and the despised, yea and things that are not to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” If riches and learning, and the most refined policy, with the countenance and sujiport of the secular powers, cannot, though com- bined, accomplish what, in opposition to all these, is effected with ease by poverty and illiterate simplicity, can we hesitate a moment in pronouncing, “ This is the finger of God.”f * Matt. X. 10; Luke ix. 3. + While this argument is most conclusive, and plainly shows that miraculous agency must have been employed, and that to a great extent in primitive times, it must not bo imagined that all methods of propagating Christianity apart from miracles are vain. At the time that Dr Campbell wrote, little had been attempted by the Protestant church towards the diffusion of the gospel. Since then various efforts have been made, and with very encouraging success, in different parts of the heathen world. Still, even where most successful, the contrast between primitive and present results is such as must convince every impartial mind that there were in- fluences at work in the former, which we cannot command in the latter. In other words, that God revealed himself to the primitive teachers in miraculous power.— Editor. THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL DEMONSTRATED FROM THE CHARACTER OF GOD MANIFESTED IN THE ATONEMENT- A LETTER TO MR RICHARD CARLILE, BY ALEXANDER CARSON. The last Tract on the Evidences, to which I shall call the attention of the reader, is entitled, The Truth of the Gospel Demonstrated from the Character of God Manifested in the Atonement ; a Letter to Mr Richard Carlile^ by Alexander Carson, 1820 . The author of this most excellent Tract, is, as I have already noticed, a Dissenting minister in Ireland. He is favourably known to the Christian world, by his able services in the Apocrypha controversy ; his exposure of German Neology, and his vindication of the law of Christ, in the matter of tribute paying. The person to whom his letter is addressed, is the unhappy Richard Caidile, who has for many years laboured assiduously, and but too successfully, through the press and the print shop, to spread the poison of- unblushing infidelity. While, like Mr Carson, I pity the man from the bottom of my soul, I cannot at the same time help strongly condemning him, and charging guilt home upon his conscience. It is not by mere commiseration that infidels are to be reclaimed. Scripture condemns them as loving the darkness in preference to the light, and this should be held prominently before them. One great charm of Mr Carson’s paper is, that it contains a clear declaration of the gospel method of salvation ; and proves that the gospel itself, supplies one of the best evidences of its own Divinity. Many works on the Evidences do not proceed so far. They may be said to be limited to externals. At least they never venture on the experimental. As far as they go they are conclusive, and render men inexcusable ; but they do not go far enough ; and by not bringing out the peculiar doctrines of the gospel, they lose a great part of their proof of the Divine origin of the Scriptures. To a man who understands and receives the gospel into his own heart, there is no evidence half so satisfactory, as just its adaptation to his circumstances and necessities as a fallen creature ; but without actually experiencing this, one may see such beauty and harmony in the character of God set forth in the gospel, as shall convince him it could not have originated with man, but must have come from heaven. This is the view of the Evidences which Mr Carson’s letter presents; and, rightly understood, it is more wonderful than the morality of the Scriptures, which Rousseau confessed touched his heart. It is interesting to observe, that writers on the Evidences are dwelling more and more upon the Gospel itself, as a proof of the Divinity of Christianity, The Rev. Dr Chalmers, and Robert Haldane, Esq., in their valuable works on the Evidences, may be mentioned as peculiarly distinguished in this department of the Christian Proof. The only addition I could wish were made to Mr Carson’s Tract, is a more express acknowledgment of the work of the Holy Spirit, both in persuading a man to receive the gospel at first, and enabling him to hold by it, and to grow /in spiritual fruitfulness through the use of it, afterwards. I have no doubt that the writer holds this doctrine as strongly as I do ; but it is well to bring it out, and to remember that, beautiful as the gospel is in itself, and finely adapted to our wants, and established on the most irresistible evidence, still such is the depravity of man, he will not receive it, except constrained by the Almighty power of the Spirit of God. Sir, Your late conspicuous opposition to the Scriptures, has induced me to suggest to you a few thoughts on the evidence of the gospel. Though I consider you a most determined enemy to Jesus my Lord, my hope and my glory, you shall from me meet with none of that illiberal abuse, with which you are sometimes treated : I view you on the verge of eternal misery, and w-ould gladly be the means of showing you the refuge of the guilty. Jesus died for his enemies, and Richard Carlile cannot be more hostile to the doctrine of the cross, than was Saul of Tarsus. Jesus has the hearts of all men in his hands ; and should he open your eyes, your rebellion would be instantly subdued, and instead of reviling his word, your language would be, “ Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?” It could not then serve my purpose to undervalue your under- standing, or endeavour to bring your motives into suspicion. Should you even die in blaspheming the truth, a Christian has no disposition to revile you. TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL DEMONSTRATED. 55 From my soul I pity the man who loses both worlds by his error. Permit me then, Sir, to bespeak your candid atten- tion to what I shall submit. You must grant, that to determine correctly on this subject is a matter of the utmost importance. If the gospel is true, eternal damnation is the inevitable doom of all who believe it not. It is not then the part of a rational man to neglect to examine its pretences, or to reject it on slight consideration. To enter on the investigation of the subject determined to oppose, manifests the high- est temerity. Yet, Sir, permit me to observe, that in the writings of all the infidels with which I am ac- quainted, there is a total want of candid discussion. Their rancorous hatred of the God of the Scriptures, urges them to endeavour to prove them untrue. Yet there is a timid acquiescence in the truth of Christianity as little to be approved. Many declaini- ers against infidelity cry out, “ Why rob us of our pleasing hopes, even though vain ? Why awake us from our dreams of future felicity ? Let us enjoy our consoling delusions. It is cruel to deprive us of the only alleviation of human misery.” This is not the language of any man who understands the evidence of the gospel : it is not the language of reason. The belief of imposture can never be useful : to expose im- posture cannot be criminal. If the Scriptures are a forgery, let them by candid reasoning be proved to be such. The God of truth cannot need the assistance of lies in the management of his empire. It is not my intention to undertake a defence of Christianity from all the sources of its evidence. No truth, ever communicated to the world recommends itself by such a variety of means of proof. Each of these is wmrthy of full exhibition by those who have leisure for the task. But of all proofs the most satis- factory to a Christian are found in the Scriptures themselves. These are open to the inspection of all, and level to the meanest capacity. I shall not, how- ever, attempt to exhibit the general evidence that ap- pears in the Scriptures, attesting their Divine original. Even this branch of the subject would require volumes to do it justice. I shall confine myself to a single point. I undertake to prove the gospel to be true from its own nature. I maintain that the way of salvation which it proclaims, gives such a character of God, as to demonsti'ate its own truth ; and that, were it to be found in an island, without any other testimony, it is entitled to acceptance with the fullest confidence. Those who should reject it, even in these circum- stances, would reject it to their own just condemna- tion. No man who candidly examines the witness now at the bar, and discerns the import of his testi- mony, can withhold his conviction, that said witness is acquainted with the true God, and commissioned to declare him to the world. All the attributes of the Divine character are dis- played in the Scriptures, in a manner infinitely more glorious than the representations of them by the wisest of the human race. Giunting that the ancient philosophers had some glimmerings of the unity, power, and immensity of God, they never gave the slightest hint for the illustration of those Divine attributes which most concern the happiness of man. The God that philosophy now boasts has been principally stolen from the Scriptures. But we need not rest any thing on what, it appears from their writings, philosophers did not know : we are warranted in asserting, that the Scriptures give views of the Divine character, per- fectly rational, yet utterly unattainable from a view of the works of creation. Not only were some parts of the Divine character previously unknown ; they are still to be seen in no other light than that of the gos- pel. On the knowledge of these attributes depends the happiness of man. I shall begin with justice. JUSTICE. The infinite justice of God is to be seen in no other view than in the redemption of sinners through the atonement. No other plan of salvation has ever at- tempted to show God to be perfectly just. Every system, so far as it admits guilt in men, must view God as deficient in justice, if he saves them. Now, if all the human race are finally to be happy without atonement to justice, God must be unjust in propor- tion to the aggregate amount of human guilt. Do you believe yourself to be in any measure guilty before God ? How do you expect to free yourself from your guilt ? Do you believe that the good you have done will compensate for the evil ? Granting that your whole life had been a course of the highest virtue, with a single slight exception, all your goodness could not make amends for that single exception. I do not now speak from the authority of the Scriptures ; I speak from reason. Is not the Author of your existence entitled to your perfect obedience ? Can you do more than your duty ? When you have done all, are you not an unprofitable servant ? The best actions have nothing to spare for the covering of the sin. Would this pay a debt to any earthly cx'editor ? Should any one produce to you nine good shillings with one bad one, would you accept it in payment for ten shillings ? Should this person lu’ge that as there were so many good shillings, and but a single bad one, you ought to receive the latter for the sake of the former, would you not think him either a knave or a fool ? And will you venture to meet God on similar ground ? You hope to escape punishment though you are not sinless ; your God then is unjust. But, perhaps you will say, that as God is merciful as well as just, mercy will temper justice, and make it abate something of its demands. Granting for a moment that this is the case, I say again, your God is unjust. So far as his mercy bears down his justice, there is an inconsistency and oppo- sition in his attributes, and the former robs the latter of its right. Your God is at war with himself, and the quarrel among his attributes, can be settled only by compromise. Will you say, that temporary punishment on yourself, either here or hereafter, will atone for your guilt ? Where do you learn this ? Is it a self-evident truth ? But granting it to be true, if your God exacts full punishment from all, he is a God without mercy. The God of the Scriptures is the only God who is perfectly just, while he has mercy upon sinners. Now, Sir, I entreat you to consider how illustriously justice shines in the salvation of guilty men through the atonement made by the blood of Jesus Christ. Every scheme of salvation devised by human wisdom, leaves the sinner in an-ear to jus- tice. The claims of this Divine attribute are never perfectly respected. Here is a plan of salvation that gives infinite justice all its own. Instead of derogating ifom justice, the redemption of sinners by Christ, has magnified the law, and made it honourable. The eternal damnation of all mankind would not have done such honour to the law of God, nor have rendered his justice so illustrious. In the atonement of Christ, justice has a full compensation, which it never could have had in the punishment of the sinner himself. They wlio shall suffer for their sins, shall never have paid off the debt. What can be more honourable to the law of God, than that nothing less than the blood of his own Son could free from the wrath due to the breach of it ? The infinitely worthy Sacrifice gave justice a full remuneration. Here is justice in perfec- tion. What a solid ground of confidence does this 56 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY give to a Christian ? He depends not more on mercy than on justice and truth. The Scriptures declare that God is faithful and just to forgive the sins of believers. The righteousness of a Christian is better than that of the highest angel in heaven. It is the righteousness of the Son of God. Clear views of the Divine character give a sinner the utmost confidence in the presence of God. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect ? It is God himself who clears them. Who is he that condemneth ? Christ hath died. His blood takes away all the gnilt of all who believe in him. The most hardened enemy of God and his people, will not be able to allege in the day of judgment, that in the salvation of sinners, God has remitted a tittle of his justice. There will not be found a spot on the whole ransomed of the Lord. So far from tarnishing justice, the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, was necessary for the perfect manifestation of this attribute. In no other way could the infinitude of justice have been seen. It is the highest practical exhibition that infinite power could possibly give of infinite justice. Had sin never existed. Divine justice would have wanted its most perfect manifestation. In vain should we turn our eyes to the heavens and the earth for the discovery of this attri- bute. In vain should w’e search for it in the book of Providence, that records the acts of God’s government of the world. Some twinklings of it may be seen, but they are scarcely visible from the glare of human crime. Even in hell itself, justice shines not with such lustre, as in the atonement of sin by the blood of a Divine personage. Now, Sir, you say that the Scriptures are a for- gery. Here is a Divine attifibute which they display in perfection, which never was discovered by any of the human race. Here is a Divine attribute, which no other scheme of salvation but that taught in the Scrip- tures, can represent in infinite perfection. Will you say, that a number of illiterate fishermen have discov- ered that, which from the foundation of the world has lain hid from the wisest of the children of men ? Nay, to this hour, it lies hid from the wisest of men, who through the pi'ide of their wisdom will not submit to the wisdom of God. This discovery is still unknowm to multitudes who have in their hands the volumes that contain it. Not only infidels, but the great body of those who call themselves Christians, still restrict the Divine justice, and make the salvation of sinners the result of the victory of mercy. What then should bring to the minds of the apostles a view of justice so sublime, so perfect, so astonishing, so far from the common w’ay of thinking ? What should lead them to discover what the wilful blindness of others will not suffer them to perceive even when discovered ? If all men but the apostles, and those who receive their tes- timony, consider justice as standing in the way of the salvation of the guilty, and find it necessary to limit and mitigate this Divine attribute, before they can indulge hope before God, it is demonstrably certain that this view never was originally suggested by man. Even granting that this view of the Divine justice is false, and that the philosophical or common view of that attribute is just, I maintain, that this is a more su- blime conception than the others, and if God’s justice were such, he would be more perfect and glorious than he is without it. If the imperfectly just God be the true God, here is a theory of Divine justice that could render God infinitely more perfect than he is. Here is a plan that removes all the limitations of this attri- bute. But that cannot possibly be a true view of a Divine perfection, that represents it as capable of addi- tional perfection. Shall it be possible to conceive a view of justice more excellent than that which belongs to the true God ? The God of the Scriptures is so just that no sin ever w’ill be committed, without being visited with adequate punishment ; that neither angel nor man shall ever dwell in his presence tarnished with the slightest impurity. If your God be the true God, he is much inferior to this, for if he suffers the world to escape punishment, he is obliged to lay aside justice, and become like the gods of Epicurus. The justice of the God of the Scriptures is vindicated by the blood of a Divine person : the justice of your God is affront- ed without receiving any compensation. Can there be a question which of these is the true God ? Here is justice in perfection : here is justice utterly beyond human invention : here is justice essentially different from the natural views of that Divine attribute enter- tained by savage and sage ; here is a just God, though a Saviour of men. Sir, it is not more clear to me that there is a God, than that this is the true God. It is as clear as the light of heaven, that this character of God has come from himself. It would be more reasonable to ascribe the Newtonian philosophy to an idiot, than the origin of this conception to the human mind. MERCY. Let us next attend to mercy. However fond men may be of giving this attribute a prominent place in the Divine character, yet no human scheme of salva- tion has ever admitted it in a perfect degree. Men in general have no more idea of infinite mercy in God, than they have of infinite justice. They consider the salvation of sinners as owing neither to justice nor mercy in perfection and in harmony, but to the claims of both as mitigated by opposition. A salvation wholly of justice they fear, a salvation wholly of mercy they disdain. But the salvation of the gospel is of infinite mercy as well as of infinite justice. The mercy of God is unmixed mercy. The Scriptures de- clare salvation wholly of grace, without works of any kind or in any degree, as necessary for its reception. It is the gift of God through Jesus Christ. Since the foundation of the world, no man untaught by God ever looked for salvation in this way. Human wisdom in the learned and in the ignorant, in the civilized and in the barbarous, invariably expects that salvation will not be given without something on the part of the sinner himself to merit such a favour. The grace of God is not considered to consist in giving for no- thing, but in giving at an undervalue. The great blessing of pardon is given for something done by the sinner, which in itself is not of adequate value. Men, according to fheir view of their own character, vary in the degree of mercy and of merit, thought requisite to their salvation. But without some degree of merit to recommend him, no man will venture his trust on mercy. The most abandoned profligate on the street, reeling and foaming out blasphemy, must be saved by some kind of goodness in himself, as w'ell as mercy -in God. On the very gallows he has some fancied merit to avert the Divine vengeance due to a life of rapine and murder. Unless he has believed God’s testimony about his Son, he dare no more trust wholly to mercy, than to unmixed justice. Now, Sir, were the gospel a forgery, would not the mercy of God be represented in it agreeably to the common views of men of that attribute ? I hold it to be a self-evident truth, that if the mercy of God in the Scriptures is of a peculiar kind, that never suggested itself to the mind of man in any age or country, it cannot be looked upon as an invention of man. But it is not only mercy of a peculiar kind, it is the only kind of mercy that is worthy of God. It is pure mercy. A Divine attribute must be without alloy. Here then, Sir, is TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL DEMONSTRATED. a thing the most wonderful. Have unlettered impos- tors brought to view a Divine attribute, of the true nature of which all men in all ages have been igno- rant ? — an attribute that all men speak of, and to dis- cover the true nature of which is every man’s greatest interest ? For though this view of the Divine cha- racter was discovered by none of the human race, yet when perceived, it recommends itself as perfect wisdom. When the eye of reason perceives it, conviction is abso- lutely irresistible. It is impossible to perceive God without knowing that he is God. Men who have never seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, may be imposed on with false gods ; but, after they have seen the true God, the infinite glory of his perfections intuitively convinces them of his existence. The King of heaven has only to show himself to men, to thwart the pretensions of all usurpers. Yes, if Mr Richard Carlile perceived the glory of the character which God has revealed of himself, he would admire and love the God that now he hates. He would con- fess that he never knew God before. He would count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. If he will not perceive this glory, it must be owing to the shutting of his eyes against the light. “ If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost ; in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not : lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” If he does not discern Christ’s doctrine, it is because he cannot bear to hear it with a proper mind. The mercy of God in the Scriptures, is not only pure, it is also perfect. It extends to the chief of sin- ners. It receives at the last moment the most hateful of his enemies, through the belief of the truth. The thief on the cross found mercy on the very brink of eternity. Saul of Tai’sus, the greatest enemy of Jesus, was delivered by this mercy, at a time when, with a heart full of enmity, he was hasting to destroy the disciples. The hands of the three thousand converted on the day of Pentecost, were reeking with the blood through which they found mercy. These facts, while they call on the chief of sinners to believe in Jesus for salvation, sei’ve to distinguish the Divine mercy from all the views of it ever suggested or entertained by the wisdom of man. Instead of owing its origin to the contrivance of man, human wisdom has ever been ashamed of this view of the Divine mercy. The illus- trious facts above cited, are by many professed Christi- ans kept in the back ground, or represented as a sort of anomaly in the Divine conduct. Men dread the scowl of philosophy, and are apprehensive lest such representations of mercy should give encouragement to sin. So opposed are we naturally to this view of the Divine character, that men use the utmost inge- nuity to reconcile the Scriptures to human merit. They either give no encouragement to great sinners to turn to God through the belief of the truth, or they speak on this subject with a faltering voice. When a man is on the brink of eternity, they are indeed un- willing to give him up to despair ; yet they are afraid to give him hope through mercy, if he has been a very great sinner, lest they should endanger the interests of morality, and encourage others to continue in sin. Now, if the wisdom of man universally puts limits to the Divine meixy, the view of God’s character that represents this attribute as perfect, cannot be from man. But Divine mercy is not only perfect, it is also sovereign. It not only extends to the chief of sinners, but, from among sinners, it takes one and leaves another, without any other reason than the will of God. Nay, it often selects the one that human mercy 57 would overlook, and overlooks the one that human mercy would select. It chose the persecuting Saul, and overlooked the rich young man who professed to come for instruction. It saved many of the publicans and sinners, while it overlooked many who boasted of their religious attainments. Now, this is mercy truly sovereign, and mercy which no man will ever cordi- ally admit, whose high thoughts are not brought down by the word and Spirit of God. Nothing is more offen- sive to the world than this view of the Divine charac- ter. It is well known, that many who acknowledge this as a religious sentiment, are found to revolt at it in heart. Men will make God as accountable to them for the exercise of his mercy, as they are accountable to him in the exercise of his justice. They will not allow him to condemn or pardon the guilty as he pleases. He is not permitted to select a vile sinner, nor is he allowed to condemn those of a moderate character. Men therefore do not make God perfectly sovereign, therefore they do not make him truly God. If all men are guilty and worthy of punishment, which most who are called Christians admit, a sovereign God may punish all. If his mercy cannot save one, and pass by another, he is no sovereign. Here then is an attribute of God necessary to the Divine perfection, which human wisdom, so far from discovering, cannot admit. Shall we say that it was the invention of men ? But, granting that the apostles were capable of such a forgery, would impostors forge a character of their God, which they must know would be displeasing to the world ? What object could impostors have but to advance their temporal interests by gaining disciples ? How could they expect to do this by presenting to them a God whom they hate ? Such is our natural opposition to this attribute of God, that many deny it as it respects men, who admit it as it respects angels. They admit that the fallen angels are left in misery without mercy ; and that, without any superior claims to regard, God sent his Son to redeem men. They will not allow God to choose among sinners, though they grant that he chose men rather than angels. Indeed, I am sensible, that, to many called Christi- ans, this whole view of mercy will be as disagreeable as your infidelity, and that your God will be more popular than mine. Were my object to please men, I would represent God as extending mercy to all that deserve mercy, and would scarcely pronounce the dam- nation even of the infidel. Since, then, the sove- reignty of God is displeasing to the world, I conclude, as fi'om an axiom, that it is not an invention of im- postors ; and, since it is necessary to the perfection of the Divine character, the book that discovers it must be a revelation from God. I entreat you also. Sir, to consider the peculiar aspect of this sovereign mercy. There is a weak and wicked partiality which the gods of all nations are supposed to have for their favourite countries. This partiality the Jews supposed that the God of Israel had for them. In this confidence, t’ney considered themselves safe in doing the sins for which they knew the other nations of the world would be punished. This sort of partiality many think that God will have towards the pixfessors of Christianity, while he will more rigorously look to the conduct of infidels. While they drink, and swear, and lie, and cheat, without any dread of the Divine displeasure, thpy see the wrath of God coming on Mr Carlile. Indeed, there is a secta- rian god, who winks at the sins of zealots of a favour- ite party ; but this is not the sovereignly merciful Lord God of the Scriptures : it is an idol of man’s own creation, and the damnatioin of its deluded vota- ries is expressly declared by the true God. One of his ambassadors replies to them, at large, in the begin- 58 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. ning of the epistle to the Romans — “ And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them that do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?” Rom. ii. 3. Though the God of the Scriptures selects one sinner as an object of mercy, and leaves, another, not more criminal, to perish, he declares that there is no respect of persons with him. Rom. ii. 11. God’s free mercy leads him to choose a sinner, without respect to his previous character ; and his sovereign mercy to choose one rather than another : but neither the freedom nor sovereignty of mercy will cover any persisting in sin. All who receive this free sovereign mercy, are taught to “ deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present woidd ; looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ ; who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us unto him- self a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Tit. ii. 12 — 15. All then who encourage themselves in sin, from a hope of the Divine partiality in their favour, prove themselves ignorant of the true nature of God’s sovereign mercy, and discover themselves to be mere hypocrites. The same gospel that reveals mercy, free sovereign mercy, reveals the wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Now, Sir, if all men naturally view themselves as so entitled to the favour of their gods, that they may safely do what is condemnation to others, is it not self-evident, that, had the apostles been impostoi's, they would have given the same view of their God ? While he would have frowned on the crimes of others, he would have looked with an indulgent eye on the vices of his friends. All people accommodate the character of their gods to their own wants. The cha- racter given of God in the Scriptures has been altered, to make it suitable to the professors of Christianity. Does not this incontestibly prove, that the Scriptui^es were not made by man ? Had they been an imposture of man, their God would have been like the gods of human creation. WISDOM. The wisdom of God is the next of his attributes, to which I take the liberty to call your attention. This appears in a blaze of light, in the harmonizing of attri- butes necessary to the Divine perfection, yet by all men, untaught by the Scriptures, thought irreconcil- able. The plan of salvation by Jesus Christ, gives scope for the perfect operation of both justice and mercy, attributes which no other scheme of salvation can harmonize. Their claims are in themselves oppo- site, and, except on the gospel plan, really irreconcil- able. If salvation is by perfect justice, how can it be in any measure by mercy? If it is altogether of mercy, how can it be in any measure by justice ? Es- pecially how can it be of infinite justice and of infinite mercy ? If justice has all its own, how can mercy give all? If mercy gives all, how can justice receive its due ? What mercy is there in cancelling debts that are fully paid ? What justice can there be in free pardon? This is a question the solution of which is easy to the Christian, but by all others will remain unsolved for ever. The salvation of the believer is perfect justice, because his sin is fully punished in Christ, infinitely worthy as a Divine person : it is perfect mercy, because that punishment was suffered, not by the sinner himself, but by his Divine Substitute, sovereignly appointed. It is thus that the Scidptures speak of the believer as both justified and pardoned — words, in themselves, irreconcilable in any other way. To justify is to acquit, as being free from guilt : to pardon, is to freely forgive the person proved to be guilty. Believers are in different respects both guilty and innocent, pardoned and cleared. They are cleared of all sin, because their Substitute hath taken it away ; yet this is, in another light, pardon, because the Sub- stitute was a Divine person, freely given for sinners. Here is wisdom truly Divine. It is not indeed the wisdom of this world ; it is not like the speculations of philosophy : but to all whose eyes are not shut against it, through their enmity to God, there is an over- whelming glory in it that delights and amazes the soul. The more clearly it is understood, the more it asto- nishes. It commands the admiration of angels, though it is the scorn of the perverted intellect of rebellious men. Read all the treatises of all the wise men who have written on the being and attributes of God. Do you find any thing in their views of Divine wisdom like this ? Which of them has a God perfectly just, and perfectly merciful? Could the intellect of an angel suggest any other way of harmonizing these attributes ? You say the gospel is an imposture ! What ! Impostors forge such a God as this ! Tell me that the heavens and the earth are not the work of God, but a forgery of some impostors. There is wis- dom in the formation of the heavens and the earth, but in all the works of heaven and earth, there is not such wisdom as is displayed in that glorious plan of salvation that harmonizes infinite justice with infinite mercy. Human wisdom has never even attempted to recon- cile these attributes. Its only aim is to produce hope, and to promote virtue, by modifying and opposing them. Mercy obliges justice to work at the salvation of the impei'fectly virtuous, and justice forbids mercy to stretch out her hand to the utterly vicious. Thus they continually oppose each other. Mercy, indeed, must have precedency, and the claims of justice on many urgent occasions are thwarted. The glory of the Divine character, instead of being made to consist in the perfection and harmony of God’s attributes, is made to consist in the victory of mercy in a sti'uggle with justice. This is the god of the savage and of the sage, of the virtuous and of the vicious. This is the god of the wisdom of this world. But the Scriptures give us a God free of these imperfections. If there is a God, this is the true God. The wisdom of God shines also in a wonderful man- ner in the mercy of the atonement. The exercise of mercy, as a human attribute, always, in some measure, gives encouragement to trespass. In proportion as there is a facility of obtaining mercy, will men be em- boldened to violate law. Valuable as this prerogative is in our sovereign, it is necessarily accompanied with this disadvantage. Accordingly, the more effectually to prevent forgery, there has been no instance of the pardon of this crime. I believe the highest interest has failed in procuring it from a very merciful king. Men naturally entertain the same views of the Divine mercy, and, in proportion as they think God to be merciful, have they hopes of committing sin with im- punity. The most wicked pien accordingly shelter themselves under the Divine mercy, even while they continue in wickedness. God is merciful, is the refuge of the bulk of mankind, and their encouragement to disobey the God of mercy. That this is also the opi- nion of many of the advocates of Christianity, with regard to the tendency of Divine mercy, is clear, from their efforts to guard and limit it. They do not like to represent it with a very favourable aspect to the chief of sinners, nor are they fond of making it hang over the pillow of aged sinners. If the thief on the cross found mercy, the Saviour was then personally present, and the peculiar circumstances of that case can never again occur. They fear lest such views of TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL DEMONSTRATED. 59 mercy should encourage others to sin, with a prospect of pardon in their last moments. And, with their views of mercy, they are right in their conclusions. If Divine mercy were like human mercy, all those dreaded consequences would flow from it. Their error lies in their views of the Divine mercy. Human mex'cy necessarily encourages to transgress; but the mercy revealed in the atonement is the strongest guard against sin. No man who really understands the mercy of God discovered in the salvation of Jesus Chi'ist can live in sin. Though there is a free pardon to the sinner, this cost nothing less than the life of the Son of God. If sin is such a thing, that it could not be forgiven without the punishment of a Divine person, it is demonstrably evident that it is most hate- ful to God ; and that any person who loves it, and continues in it, cannot escape the Divine wrath. If God spared not his own Son, when he stood in the room of sinners, shall any man expect to commit sin with impunity ? Every man who believes that Jesus died by sin, considers himself as having died with him ; and having this dreadful lesson before his eyes, he is effectually deterred from living in sin. In this view, sin appears no light matter. If any man, professing to be saved by the mercy of God through Jesus Christ, encourages himself to sin, with the hopes of impunity, he proves that he understands not this Divine attri- bute, and that he has no part in the salvation of the gospel. How can they who have died by sin, live any longer therein ? Is it possible that any man should perceive the mercy of God in the gift of his Son, and his infinite hatred of sin, yet continue in that, on ac- count of which the Father punished his Son without mercy ? If Jesus drank the cup to the dregs, shall the hypocrite be suffered to escape ? Men, therefore, who fear the consequences of exhibiting Divine mercy in all its freedom and fulness, err through not knowing the Scriptures, and by confounding the mercy of man with the mercy of God. When the king pardons a guilty man, justice bleeds; but when God pardons a sinner, justice has all its own. The broken law is more honoured in the atonement made by the Divine Substitute, than in the punishment of the transgressor himself. No king could safely imitate the Divine mercy. Were he to save enormously guilty criminals, the common sense of mankind would revolt, the autho- rity of law would be disrespected, and the total sub- version of manners would follow. But God pardons the murderers of his oWn Son, without the slightest imputation on his justice, without injury to his law, without encouragement to transgression. Nay, God’s hatred of the sin of the murderers of his Son, is more seen in the death of that Son for such sinhers, than in the punishment of such of these murderers as are now in hell. Were a judge to free an insolvent debtor, his mercy would be unjust; but were he to free him by paying his debt, mercy and justice meet. If among a number of housebreakers there were one who, at the hazard of his life, had prevented his associates from murdering a family, and another who exerted every effort for their destruction, the common sense of man- kind would be shocked, should a king pardon the latter, and suffer the former to perish for his crime. This would indeed be a monstrously bad action, and calculated, by its example, to endanger society. But God might save the guiltier of the two, and suffer the less guilty to die in his sins, without the slightest im- putation on the tendency of his mercy. They are both guilty, therefore both may justly suffer, in pro- portion to their guilt. Should Divine mercy choose to snatch the guiltier from destruction, the blood of the Son of God has sufficiently avenged justice. Now, Sir, as human mercy necessarily encourages crime, as all men naturally entertain the same views of the Divine mercy, would not every religious system of human invention, give the same representation of this attribute, and guard accordingly against its sup- posed tendency? Has not this actually been done even by the advocates of Christianity ? Were the gospel a device of man, its mercy would be the mercy of man ? Is not this an axiom ? But as the mercy revealed in the atonement, is not only of a peculiar kind, supposed by those who do not understand it, to give encouragement to sinners, but is in reality the strongest guard against it, shall we suppose that this is the invention of imposture ? Here is amazing wis- dom. Mercy to the chief of sinners, mercy at the last breath of life, yet mercy that effectually induces all who receive it to forsake sin ! Shall this wisdom be ascribed to men totally unacquainted with philoso- phical speculation, when all the philosophers in all ages of the world have been unable to find it by their wisdom ? when it lies hid from most of them, even when before their eyes, and while they profess faith in the books that make the revelation ? Shall impos- tors be the authors of a view of Divine mercy that gives no shelter to sin ? The wisdom of God shines also illustriously in the gospel, by causing sin, which in itself is dishonourable to God, to redound to his glory. By tempting our first parents to sin, Satan meant to dishonour God, and mar his purpose. But God hath made the intro- duction of sin the means of the manifestation of his glory. The redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ was absolutely necessary for the full display of the Divine character. In no other way could his attri- butes have been practically exhibited. In this way God showed himself to the world. The pei'son and work of Jesus Christ I'evealed God to mankind. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shined into the hearts of men, to give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of .Tesus Christ. The glory of God is seen in its highest exhibition, in the person and work of his Son. The heavens indeed declare his glory, but the gospel mani- fests a work more glorious than the creation. Can any thing be more wonderful than this ? Sin, the most hateful and apparently injurious thing to God, has served to manifest his glory ! Could such a thought ever have entered the mind of man ? Even when revealed, it remains hid to many. The salva- tion of the gospel, is considered by many who profess it, as a kind of after-thought in God, the best possible reparation of an evil not capable of being entirely mended. Whence then could come the thought, that the entrance of sin was necessary to show God to be what he is ? The wisdom of God is also seen in the event of sin with respect to the redeemed. So far from ruining them according to its natural tendency, it has issued in their infinitely greater happiness and glory. They are not restored to a happy life in an earthly paradise, but by being united unto God through Jesus, they are raised above all worlds, and shall reign with him for ever. As Jesus has overcome, and is set down on his Father’s throne, they also shall sit down with him on his throne. Here is wisdom. The efforts of Satan to plunge men into the misery of hell, have issued in the raising of millions of them to the throne of God. Did ever such a thought originate with man ? Compared with this, the loftiest conceptions of Plato dwindle into utter insignificance. This scheme of salvation manifests the Divine wis- dom also, in as much as it harmonizes confidence and humility ; the former necessary for the peace of tho Christian, the latter essential to a just sense of his own 60 CHRISTIAN’S ARMOUR AGAINST INFIDELITY. character. Yet these two things are in themselves inconsistent, and according to all other views of salva- tion, the one decreases by the increase of the other. If a man has a low opinion of his own merit, he can have little hope : if he has great confidence, he can possess little humility. “ I do not see,” said one, “ why such a man as Dr Price, should not con- fide on the justice of the Deity as w'ell as on his mercy.” The high moral attainments of the sage come impudently to the bar of the Almighty, and demand a reward from justice. According to the view of the person who made use of this language, there was no scope for humility in this case. Now, the same is the tendency of the confidence of the devotee, and of con- fidence arising from every species of religious attain- ments. How very inconsistent this is with the real situation of mgn, is abundantly obvious, even inde- pendent of revelation. Had Dr Price been as pure as the throne of God, I defy reason to say, that God ■would have done him any injustice, had he annihilated him. A sinless being indeed justice cannot punish, but a sovereign God may take away that which he freely gave. His wisdom is a security against caprice, but let not angels dare to make God their debtor. The thought would hurl them into hell. But if there were any speck of sin in the philosopher (and every man not blinded by the influence of the god of this world, must know him to be a sinner), instead of confiding in justice, it is impossible in himself even to meet its claims. My reason tells me, that ten thousand years of uninterrupted virtue, cannot cover a single offence. On this point, view the glory of the gospel plan of salvation. It unites the utmost confidence with the greatest humility. Nay, humility is increased with the increase of confidence. A Christian is never so humble, as when he perceives most clearly the ground of confidence in the work of Christ. If the eai'th were on fire under his feet, were the heavens melting over his head, were the red right hand of justice stretched out to take vengeance on iniquity, clearly perceiving this character of God, he would possess his soul in peace. He would triumph in the view of the bar of God, yet at the same moment would be clothed with humility in proportion to his confidence. He has no confidence in his own attainments : he sees himself utterly unworthy. He can indeed confide in justice as well as in mercy, but he has a Divine righteousness to meet Divine justice. The apostle Paul exclaims, ‘ ‘ Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” yet in the same letter he declares, “ In me, that is in my flesh, dweUeth no good thing.” Here then is the harmony of contraries. Shall this wonderful depth of wisdom be ascribed to man, when all men but those taught by the apostles, consider these two things in- compatible ? Tell the world that you have great confidence of salvation, and every man will immedi- ately reply, “ Then you must have a very high opinion of yourself.” If then the gospel reveals a plan which gives the utmost confidence, not only without encour- aging self-conceit, but ’ in necessary union with the deepest humility, I conclude as from an axiom, that the gospel is from God. LOVE. The love of God is an attribute which shines most illustriously in the atonement. To die for a friend, is the highest instance of love among mankind ; an in- stance scarcely ever found. But God commended his love to men, in that, while they were yet sinners, Christ died for them. Among all the ransomed of the Lord, there is not one ■u’ho is not naturally an enemy to him. There is not one of the human race who does not hate this God, till lie perceives his love in the atonement. You, Sir, can need no proof from me that you hate the God of the Scriptures. Even this God of love you hate to such a degree, that you are willing to make yourself a sacrifice to defame him. You no doubt love your own god, but he is an idol : he is the crea- tion of your own fancy. You love your god even for his imperfections. The God of the Scriptures you hate even for the perfection of his character. How- enormous must be the hatred of Mr Paine and you to this God, when you find debauchery in the holy records of the incarnation ? To him that believes in a Being of Almighty power, is there any thing more incredible in the manner of the Saviour’s conception, than in the ordinary production of man ? Yet how does the malignity of your heart manifest itself with regard to this amazing instance of the infinite love and conde- scension of God ! Now, had the Scriptures been the work of man, would they have represented, that the love of God was such that he gave his Son to sufter for such men as you ? Would they ever speak of mercy to such enemies ? Yet, thou blasphemer of the God of love, thou enemy of the incarnate Jehovah, to you does the gospel proclaim mercy. The blood that you have trampled on was shed for such enemies. Should God change your mind to the acknowledgment of the truth, after all your blasphemies, you should stand without spot before him in love, and reign with Jesus over all worlds. Here is love beyond any thing that could ever have entered into the mind of man. So far from being the authors of such a view of Divine love, men cannot credit it when revealed in the Scrip- tures. Multitudes even of those called Christians, would hesitate in making the Divine love extend to you. Some of them would grudge you such mercy. Surely then such a view of the love of God must have come from heaven. It has no feature of the offspring of man. Now, Sir, I entreat you to consider what is your guilt, if this gospel is true. What must be your condemnation if you persist in opposing this God of love? If an infinitely just God will punish sin as it deserves, what must be the punishment of the man, who counteracts the purposes of infinite love, and labours w’ith such zeal for the damnation of mankind ! Again, and again I entreat you. Sir, to contemplate the love of God in the gift of his Son. This is the greatest possible instance that infinite love could give of itself. The gift of ten thousand worlds would have been nothing to this. God, even the infinite Jehovah, had nothing greater to give. Could the thought of such amazing love have originated in the mind of man ? HOLINESS. The atonement manifests also God’s infinite holi- ness, and hatred of sin. How hateful must sin be to God, when he punished it even to its utmost desert in the person of his own Son ? Can infidelity, can philoso- phy, produce any such proof of God’s displeasure at sin? Did ever any philosopher conceive a God so holy, as to punish evei*y sin to its utmost desert ? No, the god of philosophy is very moderate in his hatred of sin, and makes many allowances for human infirmity. He must accommodate himself to the necessities of his worshippers, otherwise like Saturn he will be dethron- ed. As human nature is bankrupt, he must give an acquittance for a reasonable composition : as men have such passions, he must indulge them in some occasional deviations from duty. He is like a good natured old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but indulgently -winks at the levities and indiscretions of youth. This, Sir, I suppose is your God, and it is not strange that you should love him. But the infinitely holy God of the Scriptures has revealed his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL DEMONSTRATED. 61 men. Affliction and anguish are denounced as the portion of every one that doth evil. The smallest vio- lation of the Divine law subjects to the curse. Every sin of men and angels will be visited with merited punishment. Divine holiness is unsullied in the pardon of the sin of believers, nay, it is rendered infinitely more illustrious in the death of Christ. Now, Sir, is an infinitely holy God, the God of impostors ? No, Sir, he is the dread of the wise and the virtuous, and can- not therefore be the delight of men who could have no refuge from his vengeance. If the highest human virtue dare not meet such a God, how could deceivers escape his wrath ? Here is an infinitely holy God, yet such a God is naturally the aversion of all men. It is then a self-evident truth that this character of God came from himself. CONCLUSION. Such, Sir, are some of the attributes of the God of the Scriptures. What is your god to this God ? Here is a God who must be the true God, because he is perfect in every attribute. That cannot be the true God, a greater than whom it is possible to conceive. That cannot be God, whose attributes are capable of additional perfection. Now the god of the wisdom of this world is imperfect in many of his attributes, and I have here shown one infinitely perfect. Can it then be a question which of these is the true God ? Shall imposture and ignorance invent an infinitely perfect God, while wisdom and virtue Tail ? Shall I give up my God, the harmony of whose attributes secui*es my salvation, for yours, who cannot look upon me with an eye of pity, without being at war with himself? Then, Sir, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. In it alone the character of the true God is manifested to the world. I cannot read a page of the Scriptures without seeing proofs that they are not the work of man ; but the character of God manifested in the atonement, independent of all other proofs, demon- strates the truth of the gospel. It is intrinsically light. It is utterly impossible to understand it, and not be- lieve it. It is impossible to see God, and not believe him to be God. But here God is seen. He that hath seen Jesus hath seen the Father. The glory of God shines in his face. The view of this perfect character overwhelms the soul with evidence irresistible as the light of heaven. A man may as well look upon the sun, and yet be uncertain whether he sees that lumi- nary, as discern the harmony and infinite perfection of this character, and doubt whether this is the true God. This is the reason why the gospel is called light in the Scriptures. This is the reason that the knowledge of God is represented as amounting to the same thing with the belief of it. It cannot be known without being credited. The plan of salvation here revealed, not only hax’monizes the Divine attributes, but appears absolutely necessary, for the practical illustration of the Divine character. Had sin never entered, mercy could have had no scope, justice could have had neither operation nor adequate reparation. Love would have wanted an opportunity of manifesting its infinite per- fection. Sovereignty would have been totally hid. Holiness could not have been seen in the same strong light. Without the atonement, God could not have been seen in all the glory of his perfect character. It is not an after thought to repair an evil that could not have been prevented. It is the only light in which the lustre of the Divine character could appear. If, then, the knowledge of God is the noblest branch of philosophy, the gospel is the most noble science in the world. Here alone is to be found the knowledge of the true God. Philosophers, as well as- infidels, are in the habit of looking on Christians with contempt. It is the contempt of the rustic for the Copei-nican system. The weakest and most illiterate Christian knows more of the most excellent of all sciences, than the greatest philosopher who is ignorant of the gospel. The Christian is the only man on earth who knows God. “ For the pi’eaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness ; but unto us who are saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise ? where is the scribe ? where is the disputer of this world ? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world ? For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe.” CONFESSIONS OF INFIDELS IK FAYOTJR OF CHRISTIANITY. Understanding that without any addition to the price of this publication, there is room for a few addi- tional paragraphs, I hnow not how I can better occupy the space, and conclude this little work, in which I have felt much interest and pleasure, than by collect- ing and recording a few of the confessions of infidels to the truth and power of Chi'istianity. I do not speak of men, who, having been born and educated in infidelity, from conviction become believers. There have been many such distinguished persons both in this country, and on the Continent of Europe, from the days of Lord Rochester downwards, the celebrated noblemen, who, laying his hand upon the Bible, empha- tically said, “ The only grand objection to this book, is a bad life.” I do not speak of such persons. It is to be expected they should lift up a strong testimony in behalf of the truth, which after a long estrangement they have at length found. I allude to men who lived and died infidels ; who would not have given the testimony which they rendered, if they had not been thrown off their guard by the power of conscience, and constrained to it ; who probably afterwards, would have been glad to recall the secret which they had confessed, when aware how it might be turned to the disadvantage of their system. I allude to Boling- broke, and Blount, and Paine, and Byron, and men of the same school. Of course the truth of reve- lation is not affected by their confessions, or by the want of Them. The Bible would have been equally Divine — all the arguments employed in the preced- ing Tracts equally just and conclusive — though their reproach and obloquy of the Scriptures had been uni- form and unbroken; but it is an additional testimony in behalf of Christianity, and a very strong because a reluctant and impartial one, when the very leaders of infidelity are constrained to speak favourably of its character ; and yet strange to say, I believe there is scarcely an eminent adverse writer, who has not in the providence of God been led to admit enough, logically pursued, almost to close his mouth upon the subject of revelation altogether. So great is the power of conscience in the worst — so hopelessly incon- sistent and absurd is infidelity. Hence also we see that Deists are inexcusable in their unbelief. They show that they know enough of the truth to condemn them. Lord Bolingbroke, one of the most accom- plished Deistical writers, says: — “ No religion ever appeared in the world, whose natural tendency was so much directed to promote the peace and happiness of mankind, as Christian- ity. No system can be more simple and plain ' than that of natural religion as it stands in the gospel. The system of religion which Christ published, and his Evangelists recorded, is a complete system to all the purposes of religion, natural and revealed. Christianity, as it stands in the gospel, contains not only a complete, but a very plain system of religion. The gospel is in all cases one continued lesson of the strictest morality, of justice, of benevolence, and of universal charity.” After such confessions as these, one could scarcely see any very consistent ground upon which, as a good man, he could oppose so excellent a religion, especially as he could not pretend to substitute any thing better in its room. The same writer speaks with approba- tion of Christ blaming his disciples for wishing to call fire from heaven against the Samaritans, and declares “ that the miracles wrought by him in the mild and beneficent spirit of Christianity, tended to the good of mankind.” Also, that the pernicious effects of persecution “ have not been caused by the gospel, but by the system raised upon it ; not by the revelations of God, but by the inventions of men.” Also, that the simplicity and plainness of the Christian system of faith and practice, “ showed that it was de- signed to be the religion of mankind, and manifested likewise the Divinity of its original.” And yet after all these things, he charges those with impiety, “ who would impose upon us as the word of God, a book, which scarce contains any thing that is not repugnant to the wisdom, power, and other attributes of a Su- preme all-perfect Being.” ! ! I might refer to Blount, a well known infidel writer, who is constrained to confess that “ undoubtedly in our travels to the other world, the common road is the safest ; and though Deism is a good manuring of a man’s conscience, yet certainly if joined with Christi- anity, it will produce the most plentiful crop.” Is this not an acknowledgment that it is not safe to trust to Deism alone ; that if we would be safe or prosper- ous, we must add revelation ? The Confessions of Rousseau, as to his own cha- racter, are well known. A more base and presumptu- ous profligate, on his own showing, perhaps never existed. The following is a confession of a very differ- ent nature. In it he not only draws out a strong argument in behalf of the Divine character and mis- sion of Christ, but condemns and exposes his brother infidels by eulogizing those Sacred Writings on which they heap every term of contempt and reproach. He is at least as good a judge of writers and of writings as Paine. It may seem strange how one who could express himself in the following just and beautiful CONFESSIONS OF INFIDELS. 6S words, should still have remained an infidel ; until we remember that the true seat of infidelity is the heart, not the head; and that Rousseau felt the power of Rochester’s strongest objection to the Bible, “a bad life.” “ I will confess to you,” says he, “ that the majesty of the Scriptures strikes me with admiration, as the purity of the gospel hath its influence on my heart. Peruse the works of our philosophers, with all their pomp of diction : how mean, how contemptible are they, compared with the Scripture ! Is it possible that a book, at once so simple and sublime, should be merely the work of man ? Is it possible that the Sacred Personage, whose history it contains, should be himself a mere man ? Do we find that he assumed the tone of an enthusiast or ambitious sectary ? What sweetness, whac purity in his manner ! What an affecting gracefulness in his delivery ! What subli- mity in his maxims ! What profound wisdom in his discourses ! What presence of mind in his replies ! How great the command over his passions ! Where is the man, where the philosopher, who could so live and so die, without weakness, and without ostentation ? When Plato described his imaginary good man, loaded with all the shame of guilt, yet meriting the highest rewards of virtue, he describes exactly the character of Jesus Chi'ist : the resemblance was so striking, that all the Christian fathers perceived it. “ What prepossession, what blindness must it be, to compare Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, to Jesus, the son of Mary ? What an infinite disproportion there is between them ? Socrates dying without pain or ignominy, easily supported his character to the last ; and if his death, however easy, had not crowned his life, it might have been doubted whether Socrates, with all his wisdom, was any thing more than a vain sophist. He invented, it is said, the theory of morals. Others, however, had before put them in practice : he had only to say therefore what they had done, and to reduce their example to precepts. • Aristides had been iust, before Socrates defined justice : Leonidas had given up his life for his country, before Socrates de- clared patriotism to be a duty : the Spartans were a sober people before Socrates recommended sobriety : before he had, even defined virtue, Greece abounded in virtuous men. But where could Jesus learn, among his competitors, that pure and sublime morality, of which he only hath given us both precept and exam- ple. The greatest wisdom was made known among the most bigoted fanaticism, and the simplicity of the most heroic virtues did honour to the vilest people upon earth. The death of Socrates, peaceably philo. sophizing with his friends, appears the most agreeable that could be wished for ; that of Jesus, expiring in the midst of agonizing pains, abused, insulted, and accused by a whole nation, is the most horrible that could be feared. Socrates, in receiving the cup of poison, blessed indeed the weeping executioner who administered it ; but Jesus, in the midst of excruciat- ing tortui-es, prayed for his merciless tormentors. Yes, if the life and death of Socrates were those of a sage, the life and death of Jesus are those of a God. Shall we suppose the evangelic history a mere fiction ? Indeed, my friend, it bears not the marks of fiction; on the contrary, the history of Socrates, which nobody presumes to doubt, is not so well attested as that of Jesus Christ. Such a supposition, in fact, only shifts the difficulty, without obviating it ; it is more incon- ceivable that a number of persons should agree to write such a history, than that only one should furnish the subject of it. The Jewish authors wei'e incapable of the dictioi); and strangers to the morality contained in the gospel, the marks of whose truth are so striking and inimitable, that the inventor would be a more astonishing character than the hero.” — Emilius. I may next appeal to Paine. On putting him into the witness-box he confesses, after all the scorn and obloquy to which he had given utterance against reve- lation, that “ Jesus Christ was a virtuous and an ami- able man ; that the morality which he preached and practised was of the most benevolent kind ; that though similar systems of morality had been preached by Con- fucius, and by some of the Greek philosophers many years before, and by many good men in all ages, it has not been exceeded by any.” If the morality of Christ be so good, so much better than any which this world has been able to find after the labour and ingenuity of six thousand years, why attempt to explode the gospel on which it rests, and without whose peculiar doctrines it is but a name ? If “ Jesus Christ was a virtuous and amiable man,” w'ould he assume what did not belong to him, and attempt to deceive mankind ? Strange virtue and amiability this ! I conclude wdth unhappy Byron. In his own em- phatic language, he says, “ If a man was ever God, or God man, Jesus Christ was both.” What praise short of actually receiving and honouring Christ as the Son of God, could be greater ? On the blank leaf of his Bible, were found after his death, the following lines in his own hand- writing : — “ Within this wondrous volume lies The mystery of mysteries : Thrice happy they, of human race, To whom our God has given the grace To read, to mark, to learn to pray, To lift the latch, and force the way ! But better had they ne’er been born. Who read to doubt, and read to scorn.” I believe these lines are not the writing of Lord Byron, but of another modern poet. But his adopt- ing them, and transcribing them into the blank leaf of his Bible, is as strong if not a stronger proof that he felt and adopted the sentiment, than if he had actu- ally been the author. Nor is it Christianity alone to the excellence of which infidels have unwittingly confessed ; they have sometimes borne testimony to the wisdom of its means of propagation. Thus does Gibbon testify to the im- portance of public worship, one of the great Scripture appointments for the preservation and extension of true religion. “ The devotion of the poet or the philosopher may be secretly nourished by prayer, meditation, , and study ; but the exercise of public worship appears to be the only solid foundation of the religious sentiments of the people, which derive their force from imitation and habit ; the interruption of that public exeixise may consummate in the period of a few years, the important work of a national revolu^ tion. The memory of theological opinions cannot be long preserved without the artificial aids of priests and of books.”* Nor does this testimony stand alone. Dr Adam * Decline and Fall, Vol. iv. p. 83. 64 CONFESSIONS OF INFIDELS. Smith, the celebrated author of the Wealth of Nationsy ■who though he expressed some fine views in the first edition of his Theory of Moral Sentiments, pointing by the light of nature to the Scripture doctrine of atone- ment, may yet unhappily be pronounced an infidel, in as much as he said of the great sceptic Hume, “ that he came as near as human frailty admits, to the idea of a perfectly Avise and good man;” even Smith, I say, testides to the importance of Christianity and its means, when, in a letter to a friend, he says of Sabbath schools, though then but in their infancy, “ No plan promises to effect a change of manners with equal ease and simplicity since the days of the apostles.” What is the moral changing power in the Sabbath school ? It is the gospel of Christ presented in an attractive form to children. And what are Christian churches but lai'ger schools for a more advanced class, where substantially the same instructions and impressions are communicated ? Is this not the testimony of infidelity, and philosophy, and political economy, to the value of the despised gospel of salvation ? I cannot better conclude than by quoting the testi- mony of the same writer on the doctrine of atonement, above refeived to, one of the great doctrines on which the gospel of free salvation rests. “ If we consult our natural sentiments, we are apt to fear lest, before the holiness of God, vice should appear to be more worthy of punishment, than the weakness and imperfection of human virtue can ever seem to be of reward. Man, when about to appear before a Being of infinite perfection, can feel but little confidence in his own merit, or in the imperfect pro- pi'iety of his owm conduct. In the presence of his fellow-creatures, he may often justly elevate himself, and may often have reason to think highly of his own character and conduct, compared to the still greater imperfection of theirs. But the case is quite diiferent w'hen he is about to appear before his infinite Creator. To such a Being, he can scarce imagine that his little- ness and weakness should ever seem to be the proper object either of esteem or of reward. But he can easily conceive how the numberless violations of duty, of which he has been guilty, should render him the proper object of aversion and punishment; neither can he see any reason why the Divine indignation should not be let loose, without any restraint, upon so vile an insect, as he is sensible that he himself must appear to be. If he would still hope for happiness, he is conscious that he must entreat it from the mercy of God. Repentance, sorrow, humiliation, contrition at the thought of his past conduct, are, upon this account, the sentiments which become him, and seem to be the only means which he has left for appeasing that wrath, which he knows be has justly provoked. He even distrusts the efficacy of all these ; and naturally fears lest the wisdom of God should not, like the weakness of man, be prevailed upon to spare the crime, by the most importunate lamentations of the criminal. Some other intercession, some other atonement, he imagines must be made for him, beyond what he himself is capable of making, before the purity of the Divine justice can be reconciled to his manifold offences. The doctrines of revelation coincide in every respect with those original anticipations of nature ; and, as they teach us how little we can depend upon the im- perfection of our ow'n virtue, so they show us, at the same time, that the most powerful intercession has been made, and that the most dreadful atonement has been paid for our manifold transgressions and iniquities.” Who reading this, and not aware of the author, would not have imagined that he was perusing the page of some able analytic Christian divine? And yet, these are the w'ords of one who pronounced David Hume to have come as perfectly near to the idea of a great and good man, as human frailty admits of! Christians may have their inconsistencies; but it w’ould seem, the superior and boasted reason of Infidel- ity does not protect her from her full share of them, and that in the grossest form. JOHN G. LORIMER. 'JHE END. Glasgow Stereotyped and Printed by Pdward Kiiull; Printer to the l-'niversity. PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. T$Y SAMUEL CHANDLER, D.D. EDINBURGH Prii.tsd by Anukkw Shortreue, TListle Lane. PLAIN EEASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN, Introduction. — As I was born of parents who bore the Christian name, and was in- structed by them from my earliest infancy in the principles and duties of Christianity, though this in itself is no reason why I should believe and submit to it, yet I think, in gra- titude to them for their care in my education, and from the deference I owe to their natural authority over me, I am bound to examine the religion in which they have brought me up, that I may know whether it be consistent with the truth and reason of things, and, con- sequently, worthy my acceptation and belief. I am, indeed, abundantly persuaded, that religion ought to be my own free and rational choice, and that conviction, and not human authority, must be the rule of my judgment concerning it ; and as I was directed by my parents to examine and judge for myself, and find the Christian religion in particular appealing to the reason and consciences of mankind, I have endeavoured to make the most impartial inquiry I am capable of, and upon the strictest examination. I. The reason of my mind tells me, that there is a God, — that is, an eternal, all-perfect Being, the original cause and preserver of all things, the great author of all the relations and dependences of things upon each other, the creator, proprietor, and therefore natural lord and governor of all the reasonable creation. From hence it follows, that all creatures who are capable of understanding their deri- vation from him, their dependence on him, and their relation to him, are indispensably and necessarily obliged to pay him those acknowledgments and services, which result from, and are suitable and proper to, their respective circumstances and conditions. And by consequence religion, that is, the worship and service of God, is the necessary duty of every reasonable creature, and ought to be maintained and kept up in the world ; and every man in particular is bound to make choice of that religion, which appears to him most consonant to reason, and to carry in it the most evident marks of its being from God, and most agreeable to his nature and will. II. As I find that religion is the necessary duty of every reasonable creature, I am far- ther convinced of my obligation to make use of all the helps I can, to understand wherein the nature of it doth consist. And upon inquiry, I can think of but two ways by which I can come to the knowledge of it ; and these are, either the dictates of my own mind and reason, or some informations, dis- coveries, and revelations from God, the great object of my religious worship. The reason of my mind is that which renders me capable of discerning what is fit and unfit in disposition and behaviour ; and from hence I derive the notion, and infer the reality of moral obligation : and when I farther consider the first independent mind as the author of these relations, and fitnesses which arise from them, I am convinced that it is his will that I should act suitable to them, and that I offend when I do not ; and from hence I infer the certainty of religiuus obligation. And since this moral and reli- gious obligation owes its rise only to my reflections upon the nature of man, and the relation I stand in to God and other beings, this is properly natural religion, or the reli- gion of nature. Now, though the religion of nature be prior to and distinct from revealed religion, and gives the characters by which we are to judge of the truth of revelation ; yet the insufficiency of it, and, therefore, the expediency of a divine revelation, to lead men into a due knowledge of the principles, duties, and advantages of religion, appears, — From that gross ignorance of God and duty which sprung from the general corrup- tion and degeneracy of mankind, which ren- dered it highly improbable that any one in such circumstances should arise, who should be able to make the necessary discoveries of God and his perfections, and with clearness and solidity to represent men’s obligations in their proper extent and compass ; at least, not without those mixtures of weakness and superstition which might occasion the vicious and prejudiced to disregard his instructions, and thus abate the general success of them. PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 4 But if we could suppose his doctrines to be pure and unmlxed, it is not probable they would have a general, or indeed any consider- able influence over the strong bias that vice universally practised had given to men, with- out the marks of a proper authority to awaken them to consideration ; especially as those doctrines could not but w^ant the motives and encouragements proportionate to such an effect. It is indeed probable, that in such a situa- tion men might be led to see, that by acting contrary to the reason and fitness of things, they had offended the first and most perfect mind : the natural consequence of this would be fear of punishment. This fear must be infinite and boundless, as the power of God is conceived to be unlimited, and the nature and duration of the punishment would be absolutely unknown. A consideration highly disfavourable to all endeavours to break off their sinful habits, and attain to the contrary habits of virtue. However, if we could suppose men by such a fear of punishment persuaded to repentance — that is, to cease from acting contrary to the fitness of things, and to conform themselves for the future to it, — their former violation of this unalterable law of reason would remain, and cannot in strict speaking be undone by any better behaviour afterwards ; and of con- sequence their fears of punishment must remain. If we suppose that men’s natural notions of the divine goodness, and the forbearance that God exercises in the course of his providence, would lead them to think it probable that repentance would secure them from the dreaded punishment ; such probability would, in the nature of things, be mixed with the greatest uncertainty ; especially because, upon consideration, men, in the circumstances we now place them, would find, after all, their deviations from the law of reason many, and their virtue imperfect ; and, therefore," there would still be uneasy suspicions whether it be consistent with the wisdom of the supreme governor, entirely to remit the punishment due to such repeated offences. If we suppose that men might reason them- selves into this firm persuasion and hope, that a return to a sincere, though imperfect virtue, would secure them from the deserved evil ; yet this wdll not lay a solid foundation to expect that happiness, and those marks of the divine favour, which might have been hoped for, if there had been no deviations from the rule of right and fit. Here the light of nature is at an entire loss, and can never give men the necessary assurances in this important article. If it should appear inconsistent with the perfections of Deity not to make a distinction • between those who return to virtue, and I those who obstinately continue to act contrary to the fitness of things ; yet the degree and manner of doing it will still remain doubtful and uncertain, this being wholly dependent on the unknown pleasure and wisdom of God. And of consequence, the light of nature can- not determine whether an imperfect virtue may not have suitable degrees of punishment in another state ; or if the probability should preponderate on the other side, that God would reward a sincere, though imperfect virtue, reason could never assure us of what nature that reward should be, nor how long would be its continuance. As every man finds himself liable to death, a resurrection would scarcely be made appear by the light of nature probable, much less a resurrection accompanied with such favour- able alterations as the Christian religion dis- covers. In a word, if the light of nature could assure me of a future state, it could never make me certain that it should be a state of rewards, since the virtue of this life is SO very imperfect, that the other life might prove a new state of farther trial. But if it could go so far as to render it pro- bable, that it should be a state of recompense ; yet, wherein the rewards of it consist, and how long their continuance and duration shall be, it is so little capable of giving any distinct account of, that the greatest and wisest of men, who had no other guide but this, appear to have lived and died in the greatest uncer- tainties about them, — a full proof, that the light of nature is not sufficient to instruct us in these important articles, with any clearness and certainty : the consequence of which is, that men would want the proper arguments and motives to become virtuous with steadi- ness and constancy, against all the difficulties and temptations of a general and universal degeneracy. III. Since, therefore, the natural reason of my mind appears thus greatly defective and insufficient, I have considered the other method of discovering the will of God, and the principles and duties of religion, namely, immediate revelation from God himself ; and as this involves no contradiction in the nature of the thing, it must be possible to him, to whom belongs supreme and unlimited power. “ Shall not he that made the eye see 1” He that gave us all our conversable powers, shall he not be able to converse with us himself ? Shall not the Father of spirits, who is inti- mately present to every being, have an access to his own offspring, so as to assure the mind that it is he himself, by such evidence, as shall make it unreasonable to deny, or im- possible to doubt it ? If men can make themselves known, and discover their secret thoughts to each other, surely God can make himself known to men ; else we must suppose his power more bounded than theirs, and that PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 5 he wants a real perfection which they are possessed of. And as this is possible, my reason farther tells me it is highly desirable, the better to instruct me what God is, and what I am myself ; what I must do, and what I shall be : to save men the labour of a slow and tedious compass of observation, experience, and argu- ment, which every one is not fit for, and which those who are would be glad to be assisted in ; to free me from the uncertainties and fears of my mind, that arise from the consciousness of guilt, the sense of my being accountable, and the apprehensions I have of a future state ; to regulate my conduct, and guide me with safety in the midst of prevail- ing ignorance and darkness, the mistakes and corruptions of mankind, the snares of bad examples, and the numerous temptations to folly and vice ; to establish my hopes, by fixing the rule of worship, settling the condi- tions of pardon, assuring me of necessary assistance, and promising such rewards as are proper to support me under all the difficulties of my present duty. These things “ the world by wisdom knew not they were vain and mistaken in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened. And as such a revelation is both possible and desirable, the probability that there hath been one, may be fairly argued from the uni- versal ignorance and corruption that hath overspread the world, the characters of God as Father and Governor of mankind, the acknowledged goodness and equity of his nature, the sudden and astonishing reforma- tion that hath once been in the world, the numerous pretences that have been made to revelation in all ages and nations, which seem to argue the general consent of mankind, as to the expediency and reality of it, and its necessity to give religion its proper certainty, authority, and force. If, then, there be any religion in the world that fairly makes out its title to be a revela- tion from God, by such internal characters belonging to it, and such external proofs attending it, which are fit and proper in themselves to convince a reasonable and im- partial inquirer, and may be justly expected in a matter of such importance ; I am bound to acknowledge and submit to such a religion, and to receive it under the honourable charac- ter of a divine revelation. And as the Christian religion makes its pretensions to such a character and authority, I have endea- voured fairly to examine the proofs and evidence that attend it, as they are contained in those books which are known by the name of the New Testament, to which Christians appeal, as to the infallible rule of their faith and practice, and the sole judge of all contro- versies in their religion. And upon the most unprejudiced inquiry, I find, — IV. That there is the highest reason to believe, that these books are authentic and genuine, there being the same, or rather greater proofs, of their being written by the persons whose names they bear, and to whom they are ascribed, than any other ancient books have, though of the clearest credit, and most unquestionable authority. This is sup- ported by the testimony of many writers, who either were the contemporaries of the authors of the books of the New Testament, or lived immediately after them ; who fre- quently quote and refer to them, both amongst Christians themselves, who transcribe many parts of them in their works, and amongst the Jews and Heathens, who expressly mention them as the authors of the books ascribed to them, though they had the greatest aversion to the Christian religion ; their interest obliged them to disprove it, and the)^ had all the opportunity and power in their hands to do so. So that here there is an universal agree- ment, without any contrary claim, or preten- sion to other authors. That the accounts they have given us in these writings are genuine and true, I argue from the characters and circumstances of the writers themselves. They were persons of undoubted integrity, as appears by the inno- cence of their lives, their solemn appeals to God, the strict obligations they were under to truth by the principles of their own religion, their inculcating truth and sincerity upon others by the noblest motives, their having no worldly interest to bias them, and their cheerfully sealing the testimony they gave by their blood. They had the most certain knowledge of the things of which they wrote, which were either doctrines that they received immediately from Christ himself, or the inspiration of his Spirit ; or facts, done in their own times, and of which they were either eye-witnesses, or principal agents, and which have been pre- served by public memorials and solemn rites, that have obtained in all ages of the Christian Church. Their education, capacities, and circum- stances of life, rendered it impossible for them to invent so rational, consistent, and grand a scheme as the Christian religion contains ; they wrote at divers times and places, upon different occasions, sudden emergencies, and important controversies, which prevented any reasonable suspicions of combination or united fraud. The several accounts they give of the people and affairs of the time in which, according to their own relation, the things they report happened, entirely agree with other writers of undoubted authority, which is a very strong presumption of their being authentic and agreeable to truth. That these writings are still the same. PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 6 without any material alterations, is evident from the great value and credit they have been always in amongst Christians, who ever esteemed them as the rule of their faith and life, and the ground of their comfort and hope ; from their being publicly read in the Christian churches as a part of their solemn worship ; their being early translated from authen- tic copies, which long continued in the Chris- tian Church, into most of the known languages of the world, and the harmony and agreement of such translations ; from the quotations made from them, still remaining in ancient writers ; from the constant appeals made to them by the various sects that appeared amongst Christians, in all matters contro- verted by them ; for which reason they could not be corrupted in any material points, either by common consent, or by any parti- cular parties amongst themselves. So that they have no marks of fraud and imposture upon them, but are attended with every character of their being genuine and pure ; and have been handed down in the main without any adulteration or mixture, through many successions of ages, notwithstanding the violence of persecution, the strict search and inquiry into them, the errors and cor- ruptions that have been introduced into the Church, the interest of crafty, superstitious, and designing men, to add or to take from them, and the endeavours of tyrants utterly to destroy them by their own intrinsic excel- lency and evidence, and the special protection and care of Providence. Upon these considerations I am abundantly convinced, that the books of the New Testa- ment have all the evidence which any ancient writings have or can have of their being authentic and genuine ; and that therefore it is unreasonable to call this matter into ques- tion, when so many other writings are universally owned upon much less evidence ; no man of common sense pretending to doubt of the genuineness and truth of them. And, therefore, whatsoever account these writings give of the nature of the Christian religion, I am bound to receive as the true account, and to examine its authority by those facts which they relate as the proper evidence and proof of it. Now, as I should naturally expect to find in a revelation that is really from God, suitable and worthy accounts of his perfec- tions and attributes ; so, — V. I farther find, to my great satisfaction, that the things spoken of God in the Chris- tian revelation, are suitable to those notions of him, which I can prove the truth of by the reason of my own mind, and which have been entertained by the wisest and best of men in all ages and nations of the world. The light of nature can firmly demonstrate, and the most thoughtful and learned heathens have agreed in, the necessity of God’s exis- tence, the absolute perfection of his nature, his immensity and absolute unchangeable- ness ; his comprehensive knowledge ; his infinite wisdom, and his almighty power ; the rectitude of his nature ; his boundless and extensive goodness ; and his impartial equity and justice ; his being the creator of the world ; his being the supreme lord and governor of universal nature, and the father and friend of mankind ; his being a lover of virtue, and determined finally to accept and reward it. Now, the records of the Christian revelation are so far from containing any thing contrary to these apprehensions, that they confirm, enlarge, and enforce them. They speak of his necessary existence in a noble and com- prehensive way. They describe him as filling all things, and as without the least “ variable- ness or shadow of turning;” as “the King immortal, invisible, and eternal as having life in himself ; as the searcher of the heart, and knowing all things ; as God only, that is, supremely, infinitely wise ; as irresistible in power ; as absolutely holy ; as rich in goodness ; as just in his procedure ; as the Creator of the worlds visible and invisible ; as upholding all things by the word of his power ; as the observer of men’s actions — a lover of their virtue — and ready to assist them in it, and reward it. It gives the noblest representations of his claims of wor- ship and obedience from all his reasonable creatures, of his peculiar love to mankind, and his special favour to all the virtuous and good. It describes him to our minds as seated on his throne of grace ; as sending a person of the highest character, to lead men by his example and instructions to knowledge and piety, to peace of conscience and eternal happiness ; as dispensing by him pardon to the penitent, comfort to the afflicted, hope to the miserable, and life to sinners under the condemnation of sin and death ; as having appointed a day for universal judgment ; as judging all in righteousness according to their deeds, and the advantages they enjoy ; as the final punisher of the impenitently wicked ; and as the everlasting portion and revrard of all who, “ by a patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, honour, and immor- tality.” These representations of God, my mind and reason highly approve of ; and when I read them in the Christian records, they awaken my admiration, fill my soul with the warmest love, and excite within me a becoming reverence and godly fear. VI. As the Christian religion gives the noblest representations of the attributes of God, I farther find that it requires the most rational and excellent worship of him, the “ worshippers whom the Father” declares he “ now seeks,” being such only as “ worship him in spirit and in truth.” The rule of the PLAIN REASONS FOR gospel extends only to decency and order ; but contains no directions about external pomp and pageantry. The method of wor- ship it prescribes is not so much by positive rites and ceremonies, that have no intrinsic worth and excellency in them, as by a steady belief and worthy apprehensions of his per- fections and providence, by fervent love, by reverence and godly fear, by hope in his mercy, by submission to his will, by the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart, by gratitude, adoration, and praise, and by fer- vent humble supplication and prayer. In a word, by the exercise of all holy dispositions, by purity of soul, and a constant careful imitation of God in all the virtues of a holy life. I find all the writings of the New Testa- ment abound with precepts of this kind ; and as to such positive institutions as are enjoined by it, they are but few, and these not burden- some in their observance ; not pompous and costly, not tending to, and encouraging of superstition ; but plain and significant, de- signed either to represent the peculiar purity of the Christian profession, when men take it on them, or as memorials to perpetuate the remembrance of those important facts, upon the certainty and knowledge of which the authority and efficacy of Christianity doth entirely depend : and at the same time suited in every part of them to promote the pur- poses of piety, and universal fervent charity ; appointed as obligations upon men, to be more careful and exemplary in their beha- viour, and to abound in all the virtues of a good life ; and to assure them on the part of God, that if they act agreeable to their obliga- tions and professions as Christians, they shall be made partakers of the most valuable and durable blessings in his everlasting kingdom and glory. And though these institutions are supported by the authority of an express command, yet in order to prevent all possible abuse of them, the Christian religion farther expressly de- clares, that whatever claims men may here- after make to the rewards of a better world, from their having worn the name of Christ, or enjoyed the external privileges of his reli- gion, they shall not be accepted upon this foundation ; but that they themselves shall be rejected, if they are found workers of ini- quity ; and that none but such as fear God and work righteousness, shall receive the recompense of righteousness and glory. And therefore I am pleased farther to observe, that as the Christian religion places the worship of God in the exercise of suitable affections, and in the regular piety and virtue of a good life, it farther lays down and incul- cates such rules and precepts of substantial holiness, as are reasonable in themselves, per- fect in their kind, and well approved of by my BEING A CHRISTIAN. 7 judgment and conscience. Such which I find are in their nature conducive to promote the health, the honour, the reputation, the useful- ness, the worldly prosperity, the peace, and satisfaction of every individual person living and dying ; such which are suited to the par- ticular stations, characters, and circumstances of men in life ; and which are therefore calcu- lated to promote the ends of civil government, and the peace and welfare of civil society ; enjoining all to cultivate and maintain the most fervent charity and love, to be merciful in disposition and practice, to follow the things that make for peace, not to receive men to doubtful disputations, not to censure or judge one another upon account of diffe- rences in opinions, but that such as are strong should bear with the weak, and all endeavour to maintain the unity of fhe Spirit in the bond of peace ; doing good for evil, loving and praying for our enemies, and cheerfully forgiving offences and injuries against us. So that however Christianity may have been abused by some, to support a secular interest, I am abundantly convinced it is not from any tendency of its precepts to disturb the order of civil government, or alter the consti- tution and form of it amongst any nations of the world ; the great view of it being to engage men to govern their passions, to be of the most just, generous, and friendly disposi- tions to others, to discharge the duties of their respective stations, either employing them- selves in honest labours or public services ; magistrates ruling diligently as ministers of God for good, and subjects living quiet lives in all godliness and honesty. VII. As the worship which the Christian religion enjoins is thus worthy of God, and all its precepts for the conduct of life thus rational and perfect ; so I farther find the motives it proposes are weighty and sufficient, if duly considered and attended to, to determine men ill the choice of that course which it recom- mends ; all of them worthy the perfections of the blessed God, and suited to the circum- stances of his degenerate, offending, and guilty creatures. The assurance of pardon through the blood of Christ, and of the assistance of his good Spirit under all the difficulties of our present duty, are exceedingly favourable, and carry in them the noblest encouragement to ob- noxious and disabled sinners, when they entertain the thoughts of returning to God their sovereign, and happiness ; and indeed absolutely necessary to reconcile them to, and render them successful in, such an attempt. For what heart can any one have to begin the difficult work of breaking off his sins, and to enter upon a life of holiness, or what prospect of success, but under the comfortable assurance that his past offences shall be for- given, and that he shall receive all necessary 8 PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. assistances from God for the future, in struggling with the difficulties that attend the practice of virtue ? The intercession of so compassionate and powerful a friend with God, as Jesus Christ is represented to he, is a very firm ground of support, and inspires considerate minds with a cheerful hope of having their persons and services accepted, and of receiving all the necessary supports and blessings of life, what- ever opposition they may meet with from the enemies of true religion, and even though they should be exposed to the severest perse- cutions upon account of their adherence to it. The prospect and full assurance of his coming to raise the dead, and judge the world, and give eternal life, to reward his faithful fol- lowers with everlasting happiness, and to punish the wicked with an everlasting destruc- tion, is an argument abundantly sufficient to persuade men immediately to enter upon the ways of holiness and virtue, and to engage them to persevere in them with cheerfulness to the last. Especially considering, that good men are assured that all the inconveniences of life shall be made tolerable and useful to them, and death, the dread of nature, shall be their introduction into rest, and the com- mencement of their felicity. In a word, the gospel sets before men every consideration to encourage virtue, and deter from vice, and gives them particularly such assurances of retributions in the other world, as that no stronger motives whatsoever can be desired or needed to make them wise, and good, and happy, if they will but suffer them to have their proper and natural influence upon their minds. VIII. As the gospel precepts of religion and virtue, and the motives set before men to engage them to the love and practice of it, are worthy of God, and suitable to their cir- cumstances and desires, so the peculiar doc- trines of Christianity relating to Jesus Christ, the great author and dispenser of it, are such as demand the highest regard ; such as no founder of any other religion could pretend to, and yet such as are entirely consistent with the principles of natural religion, and all the certain discoveries of reason ; such as are sublime and grand in themselves, uniform and consistent with each other, plain and intelligible in the main and essential points ; and such as add great strength and force to natural religion, as they have an entire and absolute tendency to promote godliness and virtue. Thus it is declared of him, that he was before the formation of the world ; the Word that was with God, and God ; the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person ; that the Father by him created all things ; that by him all things consist ; that he came down from a state of heavenly glory to be made flesh, and dwell amongst us ; that he came from the very bosom of his Father, and had that perfect and complete knowledge of his Father’s will that no other messenger from him ever had or could have ; that to enable him the better to reveal it to mankind, he had a body miraculously pre- pared for him, which was conceived, and born without sin ; but in all sinless infirmities like unto his brethren, in the present suffering, afflicted state of the human nature ; that in this body he chose such a condition of life as gave him an opportunity of conversing most familiarly with all sorts of persons ; became an example of the most perfect purity and goodness, by his own lowliness and meekness disgracing the pride and passions of the world, and teaching men to place all real excellency and greatness in honouring the great God and Father of all, and doing good to their fellow- creatures, even to the worst and meanest of mankind. That so much greatness should condescend to put on such a veil, and so glorious a being give such amazing proofs of goodness, is beyond all parallel. It is indeed peculiar to the character of Jesus Christ to be possessed of the glories of Deity, and yet to stoop to the lowest state of human nature ; to be Lord of lords, and yet the meekest, humblest man that ever dwelt on earth ; to appear amongst men under the form of a servant, and to be made of no reputation, and yet at the same time to be honoured by a voice from heaven, declaring, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” However, notwithstanding this amazing condescension, great humility, and meanness of outward form, he is represented as assum- ing an authority worthy the Son of God ; an authority and right to settle the terms of men’s acceptance with God, according as ho- had received power from his Father ; an authority to forgive sins on earth, so as that they should be forgiven in heaven ; and so to retain sins, as that they should remain unpar- donable in a future state ; and authority and power to send the Spirit of his Father, and constitute him the prime minister of his kingdom amongst men ; that by his extra- ordinary and miraculous gifts he might con- firm the gospel, and make it successful upon its first publication ; and afterwards, in every age, continually accompany it with such impressions on the hearts of men, as, in the efficacy and design of them, should correspond to those more extraordinary gifts, which were poured out on Christians in common at their first embracing the gospel. And finally, an authority to raise the dead, and judge them when restored to life ; to send all the workers of iniquity into everlasting punishment, and to reward all who sincerely believe in him and obey him, with eternal happiness. PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 9 But notwithstanding these high preten- sions, it is farther declared of him, that he died the ignominious and accursed death of the cross ; that he died a sacrifice for the sins ; of the world ; that by his death he drew all i men to himself, and brought to pass that great mystery of calling in the Gentiles, taking away the difference between them and the Jews, making them one household and family ; thus founding his kingdom upon his own blood, and not on the blood of his ene- mies and opposers. But though he died to answer these ends, yet the same records testify, that in spite of all the malice and opposition of his enemies, he rose again the third day, effectually to remove the offence and scandal of his own cross, and to give an exemplar and sure proof of the resurrection of others by his power at the end of the world ; that after his resurrec- tion he abode forty days on earth, to settle the affairs of his kingdom with his disciples, commanding them to preach his gospel, send- ing them forth in such a style of majesty as could never be equalled by any earthly monarch, or author of any other revelation, “ all power is given me in heaven, and in earth;” and assuring them that the terms upon which they should declare men acquitted or condemned, partakers of eternal life or death, under the infallible conduct of his Spirit, should be ratified and confirmed in heaven : in this sense intrusting them with, not only the erection and ordering his king- dom upon earth, but also with the keys of heaven and hell. After this commission granted to his apos- tles, it is declared of him, that in their pre- sence he ascended into the heavens, a cloud receiving him out of their sight, leading cap- tivity captive, triumphing over those powers of darkness whose works he came into the world to destroy — spoiling those principalities and powers, those spiritual wickednesses in high places ; that he was seated on his Father’s right hand, angels being made subject to him, and the god of this world, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, being put under his feet, and reserved by him to be finally bruised at the judgment of the great day. And lastly, the same records that give an account of his investiture with this high dignity and office, do, with great consistency and propriety, declare, that the Father hatli committed all judgment to him ; that all shall appear before his judgment seat ; that when he shall come to execute this impor- tant trust, he shall appear in his own glory, and in his original form of God, all the holy angels attending him, and solemnly waiting round his tribunal. That then he shall be seated on the throne of his glory ; that all ^ nations shall be gathered before him ; that he ! shall separate them one from another on his right hand, and on his left, pass sentence on them, and thereby determine their everlasting state ; that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous be adjudged to life eternal ; that he shall present them blameless before his Father’s glory ; and that, as the conclusion of all, he himself shall lay down all rule, and all authority and power, deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, become subject unto him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. A scheme so sublime and grand, so consis- tent with the prerogatives of the great God, so suitable to the high dignity and infinite merits of the Son of God, so calculated to awaken men to virtue and piety, carries in it all the characters of probability and truth, and highly deserves the most attentive con- sideration and regard. IX. As these peculiar doctrines of Chris- tianity carry their own recommendation along with them, and appear worthy to be received for their intrinsic excellency, so they come to us attended with many clear and convincing demonstrations, that it is the will of God we should regard them as truths coming from him, and as revealed to us by his special order and appointment, for our recovery, improvement, and perfection. Jesus of Nazareth, the person from whom these doctrines receive their general name, and are called Christian, was called the Christ, be- cause he made pretensions to a divine mission, and always thought and spoke of himself as anointed and empowered by God to make these discoveries of his will to men, declaring himself the Son of God, and that person whom the Jews, with whom he lived and conversed, had been all along trained up and taught to look for. And of the truth of these preten- sions he gave sufficient evidence to every unprejudiced and attentive observer. It was very wisely ordered, that just before his appearance in the world, there should arise one who should prepare men for his coming, and give notice of his approach. This John the Baptist did, preaching in the spirit and power of Elias, and saying, “ Pre- pare ye the way of the Lord and though he did no miracle, yet by his virtuous and strict deportment, his self-denial, his pathetic ex- hortations, his bold and impartial admonitions and reproofs, he obtained the character of a great prophet. This man bare witness con- cerning Jesus, and the things he said of him could not but attract the eyes of men toward him, and raise great expectations from him ; and the gradual accomplishment of several things which John had foretold of him was at least some evidence that Jesus was a very extraordinary person, and was suited to keep every honest and impartial mind open to any 10 PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. farther proofs that Jesus might produce of his pretensions and mission from God. And of these he gave many during his life and ministry that were beyond all reasonable exception. He wrought many great miracles, — that is, did many things evidently and con- fessedly above all human power and skill to effect. He healed the sick, and cured all manner of diseases, such as by all the art and efficacy of medicine had been found incurable, — inveterate palsies, and lunacies. He opened the ears of the deaf, loosed the tongues of the dumb, made the lame to walk, rendered the maimed perfect, opened the eyes of those that had been born blind, and raised the dead. These amazing works he performed in an instant, even by the speaking of a word, in the cities and towns of the country where he lived, in places of the most public resort, before multitudes of his enemies as well as friends, and at such seasons, and such parti- cular places, on the Sabbath, and in the synagogues, as he well knew would occasion the most critical and narrow inquiry into all the circumstances of the facts. All these things he performed without any ostentation or vain-glory. In all his most public miracles there was always some circumstance or other, which plainly shewed that they were intended for the conviction of those who saw them, and not to gain applause to himself. But besides these extraordinary works, he answered all those characters which the pro- phets of former ages had given of the Messiah. As he was promised under the character of “a prophet like unto Moses,” but whose office was to be more general and extensive than that of Moses ; as one who was to be a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of his people Israel he accordingly came furnished and commissioned to instruct all mankind, Jew and Gentile, in every im- portant truth that they were concerned to know, in order to their obtaining the divine acceptance, and the happiness of a future state ; commanding all nations to be discipled, taught, and proselyted, that “ all men might come to the knowledge of the truth, and be saved.” As he was foretold under the character of a king, as “ the Son of man,” to whom should “ be given a kingdom, dominion, and power ;” so Jesus came asserting his right to a king- dom, setting up the kingdom of God amongst men, and claiming and exercising a rightful authority over their hearts and consciences. He appeared just at that time when a per- son of such a character was generally and reasonably expected ; just as the sceptre was departing from Judah, and at the period fixed and determined by the prophecy of Daniel. He came of the nation, tribe, and particular family, from which it was prophe.sied he should descend, being of the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Judah, and house of David ; and, by a wonderful interposition of Providence, born at Bethlehem, the place from whence was to “ come forth he who was to be ruler in Israel.” When he appeared and conversed amongst men, his disposition and behaviour were suited both to the character he sustained, and to the prophecies that had been given out concerning him. He was meek and lowly in heart, holy, and without blame, so that his most inveterate and malicious enemies could not convince him of sin. His circumstances in life were exactly such as they ^vere foretold they should be. He was “ despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” He lived iri want of many of the conveniences, and some- times of the very necessaries of life, and was subject to reproach, and the most ungrateful and inhuman usage. At last he was “ led as a lamb to the slaughter,” suffered death as a malefactor, and was “ cut off for the trans- gressions of the people,” All this he endured without murmuring, complaining, reviling again, or threatening. His enemies and accusers, his judges, executioners, and guards, his friends and relations, and a numberless multitude of curious and inquisitive spectators, judged, saw, and knew him to be dead. He was taken from the cross, buried in hi§ sepulchre, and yet rose again from the dead, and by this resurrection he was “ declared to be the Son of God with power,” beyond all possible contradiction. During his life and ministry he had often mentioned this great event as what should certainly come to pass, resting and laying the stress of his pretensions upon it ; sometimes in plain words ; at other times in figurative expressions, declaring how long he should continue in the grave, and in the state of the dead, namely, three days and three nights, — that is, part of three days and three nights. Accordingly, on the third day he rose, and shewed himself alive to his disciples, whom he had chosen to be his stated companions with this particular view, that they might be qualified to testify the most remarkable facts which occurred in his life ; and that they might be proper and unexceptionable wit- nesses of his resurrection from the dead. And as they have unanimously declared this to the world, there is no just reason to object to their testimony. For in asserting this, they assert what they so knew them- selves, as that they could not be deceived in. They knew the person, features, manner, and speech of Jesus. They were allowed to handle him, that they might be sure they were not imposed on by an airy phantasm, and delusive appearance only. They had free and familiar converse with him, and that PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 11 : repeatedly in the space of forty days. He discoursed to them largely on subjects, of ; which he had before his death given them more general hints, and renewed the great promise he had made them in his former life, of pouring out his Spirit on them ; with this additional circumstance, that it should be made good to them not many days from the time of his speaking to them. Upon these accounts, it cannot be supposed that these witnesses could be deceived them- selves in what they relate ; nor is there any reason to think that they attempted to deceive others, by bearing witness to the truth of a known imposture. For as to what appears, they were persons of honest minds, not crafty, covetous, ambitious, and designing : they had no temptation to invent such a story, or publish it if they had not known it to be true. They had no prospect of gain or worldly grandeur, however successful they might prove in propagating the story. The doctrine they taught enjoins the strictest regard to veracity, and the greatest abhor- rence of fraud and guile, under the most solemn and awful sanctions. Their testimony ! was uniform and consistent in all the parts ' of it. If the story had been forged, those who opposed and endeavoured to stifle it, might easily have detected the forgery : the surest, nearest, and plainest way to expose the authors, abettors, and believers of it, and to prevent its spreading in the world. But instead of this, they loaded the witnesses with hardships of every kind. Reproach, shame, poverty, bonds, imprisonments, scourgings, &c. were the arguments made use of by their enemies to stop their mouths. Nothing of this kind silenced them, or made any one of them to retract. They cheerfully underwent the severest persecutions, and submitted to death itself, rather than they would deny or conceal what they knew to be a truth of the last importance to mankind, j In short, a testimony so circumstanced as this is, in any other case, never did, nor ever can be disputed or disbelieved ; but in any age and place would, and in any time ! or country still will meet with a general credit and reception from all reasonable and fair men, without any cavil, hesitation, or demur. As Jesus Christ did in his lifetime, and after his resurrection, promise his disciples, that they should receive his Spirit, or power from on high ; he accordingly poured it down upon them in all its extraordinary and mira- culous gifts ; and thereby manifestly proved his ascension to the right hand of power and glory. Besides this, the divine mission and autho- rity of Jesus Christ is farther established by the actual and exact accomplishment of those important events, which he expressly and clearly foretold many years before they came to pass. He publicly declared before multitudes that heard him as well as his own disciples, that the city of Jerusalem, and its glory the temple, should, in a few years, be utterly laid waste and destroyed ; and that the gospel, which was at first offered to the Jews and rejected by them, should be taken away from amongst them, and be tendered to the Gen- tiles ; and that persons of all nations and languages under heaven should receive and become proselytes to his religion, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against his Church, but that he would be with it to the end of the world. These remarkable events, though at the time when he foretold them they were far from being probable, though there appeared no signs or tokens that should lead to such a conjecture, did nevertheless come to pass exactly according to his prediction. Before the generation of men, to whom he addressed himself, had passed away, Jerusalem became desolate, and the nation was destroyed ; and the history of that dreadful calamity, as it is related by Josephus, doth remarkably agree with the prophetic account given by Jesus concerning it, as it is very circumstantially recorded by the evangelists. And after the apostles had in vain attempted to persuade the Jewish nation and people to receive the Christian religion, they turned themselves to the Gentiles, who, in almost every place where the gospel was preached to them, shewed a better disposition, and minds more open to evidence and conviction ; multi- tudes of the Gentiles receiving the word with gladness and all readiness of mind. And notwithstanding the tares that have been sown — the strifes and divisions which have been excited and fomented — the declen- sions and degeneracy of many Christian professors — the persecutions with which the avowed enemies of the Christian Church have frequently worried it, — and the antichristian spirit that for many ages hath shewn itself amongst the greater part of those who have borne the Christian name ; notwithstanding Christianity hath been often moved from one place to another, and in many nations entirely suppressed ; notwithstanding the objections that have been urged against the doctrines of Christianity, and the contempt, ridicule, and insolence with which the person and miracles of Jesus have been treated, yet still the religion of Christ continues unto this day, in its external profession and internal efficacy, — not by might nor power, but by the Spirit, and favour, and blessing of God, and its own native excellency and intrinsic worth. From these considerations I am even forced to acknowledge and reverence the divine character and mission of the Son of God, and 12 PLAIN REASONS FOR to receive his religion in all the parts and branches of it as a revelation immediately from God. X. As Jesus Christ himself, the great founder of the Christian religion, had this full evidence and substantial proof of his own authority and commission from God ; and that he was a man approved of God, by won- ders, signs, and miracles, which God did by him ; and as he was sent to publish a new institution of religion, not only for one nation and people, but for all nations and people of the earth : so the same books which shew this, farther shew, that he took care to pro- pagate and confirm the religion he taught by choosing the most proper means and instru- ments to carry on and perfect it, and persuade men to receive it. And therefore, before he left the world himself, and ended his own personal ministry, he chose several persons to be his apostles and messengers, who should afterwards publish j his religion to the world, with sufficient ' authority and qualifications for so great a I work as the delivering a new revelation and ; rule of religion to mankind, i By a near acquaintance and constant con- I versation with him, they were proper persons ! to be credible witnesses of all his miracles, and in particular of his resurrection, that great evidence that he was approved of God ! and farther, to acquaint the world what were the truths he taught, and what were the rules of worship he appointed, having had such oppor- tunity to know them by his personal and private instructions. To give the greater weight to what they should teach the world as his religion, he gave them authority, by a solemn commission, in virtue of that full power that was given him in heaven and earth, to teach all nations, and make them his disciples, and to enter them as such by baptism, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, requiring them to ob- serve all things v^hatsoever he had commanded them. And such authority and commission from one already approved a teacher sent from God, justly gave credit to what they should teach in his name, or declare concern- ing him, either as to what they had seen themselves, or received in command from him to deliver unto others. But besides this, their authority and quali- fications to publish this religion to all nations are evidenced by many other plain and con- vincing proofs. For they had not only the benefit of his personal instructions and direc- tions all the time of their conversation with him, but he had promised to send to them the Spirit of truth after his removal from them, and that this Spirit, when he came, should guide them into all truths, farther necessary to perfect his institution of religion. This promise was again solemnly repeated. BEING A CHRISTIAN. after his resurrection, to his apostles, whom, being assembled together with them, he com- manded, that they should not depart from J erusalem, “ but wait for the promise of the Father, which,” says he, “ ye have heard of me ; for John truly baptized you with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence ; and ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” This remarkable promise was soon after accomplished ; for whilst they were together upon the day of Pentecost, there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, though before they had been utterly unacquainted with them. Their minds were in an instant illuminated, and filled with a clear and distinct knowledge of those important truths, which to that time had been absolutely, or in a great measure unknown to them. They had at the same time conveyed to them a power of healing all manner of diseases, of doing miracles, even of raising the dead to life, of prophecy, or predicting future events, and of conferring these extraordinary gifts and powers of the Holy Ghost upon others, which was so com- monly done, and so well known, that Simon, who by his sorceries had deceived many to account of him as the great power of God, offered money to the apostles, that he like them might have the power to give the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands. These gifts of the Spirit of God were such in their nature, as no human power or wisdom could confer ; such as none of the exorcists or j sorcerers of those times, with all their cun- | ning and art, management and reputation amongst the people, could counterfeit. They ; were so many and public, as gave the most ' clear and undeniable evidence of the apostles’ mission from God and Christ, greatly ani- | mated them in the work they were called to, and contributed much to their success. This effusion of the Spirit was a public affirmance ' of their private testimony concerning Christ, and added the weight of prophecy and mira- cles to the credibility of true and faithful witnesses. But besides all this, the manner of their instruction greatly recommended the testi- mony they gave, and the doctrines they taught. This was in all respects such as it became the best of men, and the wisest of ; religions to use. Never did men give greater ! instances of honesty and sincerity, and a firm persuasion of the truth of what they taught. Never did men appear more disinterested and PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 13 faithful in what they declared they had received from God. In all distant places, and on many different occasions, there still ap- peared an exact harmony of doctrine, and a constant union in promoting the same cause ; so that the same Spirit of truth appeared to direct them all, as they had all received the same spirit of power. Their hearts and lives were under the constant direction and influ- ence of the power and spirit of real religion. As they had all received the same miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, they were all ani- mated with the same just and regular zeal. All shewed the same firmness of mind, tem- pered with the same modesty, meekness, and humility. Their own religion gave them the noblest supports under the many and great sufferings they endured ; and that no proof of their sincerity and faithfulness might be wanting, they sealed the truth of the doctrines they taught with their blood, and gave up their own lives to the hopes of that future happiness they proposed in the name of their Master to others. And lastly, as truth and religion stand in no need of artifice and violence, the apostles openly renounced all such methods of propa- gating the religion of Christ, directing men to hold the mystery of faith in a pure con- science. They imposed on no man’s judg- ment, they openly disclaimed all dominion over their faith and consciences, they reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, and instead of forcing their own interpretations upon them, commended them for searching the Scriptures whether the things were so. With all the authority their commission gave them, confirmed by many signs and wonders, they yet appealed to the judgments of men by fair arguments, and aimed at persuading the con- science by the conviction of reason, not to overbear it by the force of authority. It was indeed highly fit and necessary, that when they had approved the religion they taught to men’s consciences, and their own authority and commission by sufficient evi- dence, they, as the ministers and apostles of Christ, should both command and exhort in his name, and publish the rules of his religion as his commands, of binding obligation and authority ; for this reason, that he is the law- giver of the Church. Thus the apostles acted. When they had first proved the truth of their doctrine by fair reason and argument, and their own commission by the demonstration of the Spirit and of power ; that the faith of the Church should not stand on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God, it was necessary that they who were to publish Christ’s religion, should teach whatever he commanded them, and themselves command and exhort obedience to them. These were the methods the apostles of Christ used in teaching his religion, and it accordingly met with success beyond human expectation. And though the prevalence of an opinion is no sure argument of truth, yet when principles contrary to men’s inclina- tions and interests make their way only by evidence, and the force of reason and argu- ment, against all methods of long and violent opposition, it is a very strong presump- tion of their truth, and that such success must be owing to the power of God attend- ing it. And to suppose that such a religion as Christianity should prevail as it did, and by such means, without a miracle, would itself, in reality, be one of the greatest of miracles. XI. From these arguments and evidences I cannot but be convinced that Jesus was a person sent from God, and that his apostles acted by his commission and authority, and that therefore the whole Christian religion, as contained in the New Testament, is a revela- tion from God. As to the difficulties and objections that may be urged against its divine authority, I think they are far from carrying in them any evidence or proof. For as to those which are of greatest weight, they do not affect the truth of the facts recorded, nor destroy at all the credibility of them. There have never been any objections offered that render it unlikely or improbable, that Jesus Christ lived an holy life, taught excellent doctrines, did many great miracles, died on the cross, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and poured down his Spirit on his apostles. And, therefore, whilst these facts which support the credit of Christianity, stand upon this sure foundation of certainty, I must necessarily believe the divine authority of the Christian revelation, though the diffi- culties pretended were much greater than they are. Some of them may arise either from not knowing some particular circumstances and customs referred to, from the shortness of the accounts which are delivered, or from some lesser errors that may have cast some obscu- rity on those accounts. But from whence- soever they arise, they cannot invalidate the proof which arises from real and well attested facts, nor make me doubt of things that stand ' upon the strongest foundation of evidence. | I find, indeed, that many things, which | have appeared for a long while to wise and thoughtful men as difficulties of great weight, ; have at length been fully cleared up, and set ' in a very plain and rational view ; and I j therefore please myself with the hope, that in I the course of Providence, those things wdiich j still remain dark and perplexed, may be | explained and set in a just light, and made j appear as easy and consistent as they are now I obscure and intricate. j Besides, these difficulties which are pre- I Ij 14 PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. i! tended, do not in the least affect the main and substantial parts of Christianity ; they : do not cast any obscurity over the precepts, and promises, and principles of the gospel, and of consequence do not affect my duty or my happiness. Notwithstanding all the ob- jections that can be urged, I still find that the directions to serve God, and obey Christ, and secure my eternal salvation, are very obvious and plain, and therefore I am not under any pain or fear upon account of things I do not understand, or cannot explain. But what is of more importance, is, that the principal objections that are urged against the divine authority of the Christian religion, are fairly to be answered, so as to give satis- faction to any impartial and unprejudiced mind. It hath been objected against the prophecies relating to Christ, that they are to be interpreted of him only in an allegorical and mystical sense, and that they are in their nature obscure, and do not so plainly point out the Messiah as might be expected and desired. Whereas the truth is, that though there may be a difficulty in interpreting some of them, yet there are others which are exceeding plain and clear, have an evident reference to Christ, do agree to the circum- stances of no other person, are accomplished in him, and in him only. And if there are any prophecies, originally relating to other persons and things, applied to Christ, and the circumstances of his appearance and kingdom, they are never cited as originally belonging to Christ, but only as applicable to him in their proper meaning, and the times and events to which they are referred. When it is objected against the miracles of Christ, that they were the effect of magic, this appears to be absolutely impossible ; for it was never yet heard of, that magicians could raise the dead, and do the other won- derful works that Jesus did. Besides, the end of his miracles was so great and good, as a wicked impostor and magician can never be supposed to have in view ; and till it can be shewn that the Christian religion is a wicked religion, I must believe that the miracles recorded in the New Testament were wrought by an holy and good person, under the immediate influence of God. If it be objected, that some of the miracles recorded are attended with some very absurd and improbable circumstances, I think this charge hath not, and cannot be proved. And from the unsuccessful attempts that have been made this way, I have reason to believe that the more the miracles of Christ and his apos- tles are considered, they will appear more and more wonderful in themselves, and more worthy the interposition and assistance of God. If it be objected, that there is no sufficient evidence or proof that these miracles were ever wrought, I apprehend this objection to be of little w'eight ; because as there is the same ground of certainty for these, as there is for any other ancient facts which obtain universal belief, they deserve to be equally credited ; and I think nothing can be more unreasonable and unfair than to allow the same evidence to be sufficient as to some facts, and to deny the sufficiency of it as to others, which are equally possible in themselves, consistent with all the perfections of God, and designed to answer the most valuable ends and purposes amongst men. If it be said, that miracles are in their nature impossible, I think this can never be allowed but upon the supposition that all things are governed by, or rather subjected to an absolute and unalterable fatality. Because, if the supreme and eternal Cause of all things be possessed of liberty and power, the mira- cles recorded in the sacred writings are as possible to him as any other actions whatso- ever, and according to my conception, much more easily performed than the work of creation, which is a much higher exertion of power, and is by all sober deists ascribed to the will and agency of God ; and of conse- quence I can never allow the impossibility of miracles, because such a notion appears to me destructive of the being and perfections of God. As to the doctrines of Christ, if it be urged that some of them are unintelligible and mysterious, I have this to satisfy myself, that it is not much wonder if they should be so, because many of them relate to God, whom “ none by searching can find out to perfec- tion and that this is no more than may be objected against many of the most certain truths of natural religion. For whoever will enter into the consideration of the immensity and eternity of God, attributes which certainly belong to him, will find himself lost in the infinite and boundless subject. As far as they ; are mysterious and incapable of being under- stood, I am sure that my acceptance with God doth not depend on my understanding them ; and as far as they are intelligible, they increase my adoration, reverence, and love of God ; awaken and excite me to the care and practice of godliness and virtue ; and thus help me on in my preparation for heaven and happiness. If it be objected, that any of the doctrines of Christianity are irrational and absurd, I apprehend this hath never been proved by any of the enemies of the Christian revela- tion. Many principles which they have endeavoured to expose to ridicule, have not been the doctrines of the gospel, but either their own mistakes, or the corrupt additions of weak and designing men to the simplicity of the truth of Christ. Other doctrines that have been excepted against, have not been I i PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 15 revealed in their full extent and compass, and, therefore, can never be proved absurd by any particular inferences drawn from them ; because those very inferences may themselves appear false and absurd when the doctrines are placed in their full light, and men are rendered capable of clearly discerning and fully understanding them. As to others which have been excepted against, they have stood their ground both against ridicule and malice, and the objections that have been urged have had no other effect than to expose their own weakness, and to render the prin- ciples of the gospel of Christ more evident and convincing. If it should be objected, that the very pos- sibility of revelation itself may be questioned, I answer, that this must be upon one or other of these suppositions, — either that God him- self, who hath established the order and course of nature, cannot vary from it ; or else, that it is not to be conceived how he should discover himself to any person, so as that he shall be sure it is God and no other. If the former be asserted, that God himself cannot alter and vary from the course of nature, which he himself hath fixed, it will follow that he was obliged, by some external necessity, to form all things as they are, or else by a fitness of things absolutely indepen- dent upon his own pleasure and will. If the first be asserted, that God was obliged by some external necessity, or the agency of some being prior and superior to himself, — this is to assert eternity to be prior to itself, and infinite wisdom and power capable of being controlled by wisdom and power more than infinite, which is absurd. If the latter be asserted, that God was obliged by a fitness of things independent upon his own pleasure and will, this will appear equally absurd ; because, if he was under no external necessity to constitute the present frame, and consequently the present fitness of things, the actual constitution of the one and the other can be owing to no other cause or reason, but what is in God himself, and which, therefore, cannot be independent upon God ; which cause or reason can be no other than the will of God, directed by the dictates of his own wisdom and goodness. And of consequence, the pre- sent frame of things, with the fitness that results from it, is owing to the good pleasure and free choice of God, directed by the per- fections of his own mind ; which perfections do not destroy any natural power of acting or not acting ; but only direct to the wisest and best use of it. The very essence of liberty doth indeed consist in wisdom to direct and power to execute. Hence it follows, that if the present frame of things be the result of the most perfect freedom and choice in God, the same free choice will and must take place, in every other circumstance to which perfect wisdom and goodness do direct. And, therefore, if it be agreeable to the dictates of such perfec- tions in God, to vouchsafe an external revela- tion to mankind, in the case of an universal ignorance and degeneracy, such a revelation is as possible as the original constitution of things, and may be accounted for upon the very same foundation of reason. But if it be said, that it cannot be conceived how God can so discover himself to any per- son, as that he shall be sure it is God and no other, I answer, that supposing we are not able to describe the method by which God makes himself known to men, it will by no means follow, that it is impossible for God to do so, unless our conceptions are the measure of all possibilities. If God be the universal Creator, ho is surely the Creator of the souls of men, and hath implanted in them all their perceptive and reasonable powers and facul- ties ; and of consequence, being the former of spirits, he must be capable of acting on them, which sufficiently proves the possibility of revelation. Besides, if, as the whole visible creation around us shews the possibility and great probability of, there are reasonable spirits of natures, orders, and powers superior to us ; I suppose they will not bethought to be inca- pable of converse, and of communicating their ideas to each other : for this wmuld be to sup- pose spirits less happy than men : and if created spirits can thus convey their minds to each other, so as that they shall be abso- lutely sure who it is they converse with, can it be imagined that God the infinite Spirit should not be able to convey his will to spirits and reasonable beings, so as that they shall be sure that it is God who converses with them ? Nothing is more certain than that God, who is an absolute Spirit, acts on the material world ; and yet we cannot tell the manner how God acts upon it : and it is very wonder- ful to consider how one nature, absolutely distinct, and of quite different attributes and properties from another, should thus conti- nually act upon and influence it. But that spiritual beings, between whose natures, as spiritual, there is a necessary likeness and conformity, should act upon each other, and be capable of conversing with, and communi- cating their ideas to each other, is a much more easy and rational supposition, and as probable, as that body should act upon body, of which the whole frame of the material world is an absolute, constant proof. The account which revelation itself gives of the manner in which God conveyed his mind to men, is, either by an audible voice, attended with an appearance of visible glory, or else by making certain very clear and 16 PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. strong impressions on their minds. As to the former way, it is as reasonable to think that the voice and presence of God may be of so very peculiar a nature, as to be as well known, and as certainly distinguished, as the voice and countenance of a friend. And as to the latter, it appears to me extremely pro- bable, that impressions made on the mind may be attended with such peculiar circum- stances, which may as truly and certainly discover God, as a friend may be known by his resemblance and image, or as though we were mere spirits, and God was conversing with us as such. If it be allowed that revelation is possible, it may be denied that it is necessary, because the natural reason of men’s minds is abun- dantly sufficient to demonstrate to them whatever God requires of them. I very readily grant, that the reasonable powers and faculties of men’s minds are very capable of leading them into the knowledge of some of the most important truths that we are con- cerned to know, and duties we are obliged to perform ; and that men are criminal in the sight of God, if they run into ignorance and vice, through a neglect to improve those excellent faculties of reason, which God hath given them. But then it ought to be considered, that the powers of all men are not alike capable, and that though truths of importance when offered to them may be discerned and approved by them, yet that the generality would scarce ever have been able, by a long course of argu- ment and inference, to have reasoned them- selves into a clear knowledge of all those principles which are necessary to be known, effectually to support the interest of true reli- gion, and the practice of virtue ; especially if we consider them as wholly taken up with the affairs of the present life, educated with strong prejudices in favour of superstition and error, and trained up from infancy in idolatrous practices, and criminal courses. In such circumstances, what reason may be capable of doing, I know not. But that it hath not in fact led men to the knowledge of all the necessary principles and truths of reli- gion, is evident from the history of almost all nations, who have been destitute of revelation. And, therefore, to argue against the necessity of revelation, because possibly men’s own reason might have been sufficient without it, when in reality they did need it, is to set up mere supposition against positive fact, and to reason from possibilities against experience and certainty. Reason, — that is, men’s reasonable powers, are unquestionably capable of great improve- ments, and of making very considerable discoveries, with proper assistance and cultiva- tion. But without suitable helps and means of information, I apprehend that no man can affirm they would lead him into the know- ledge of all the necessary principles of religion. Cicero, the greatest genius of the age in which he lived, did not owe his superior knowledge and wisdom to himself only. He had the writings of Rome and Greece to instruct and inform him. From these he understood the principles of the several sects of philosophers that were before him, the arguments with which they confirmed their respective senti- ments, and the objections that were urged by some against the schemes and principles of others. Upon this foundation it was easy to reason, and in whatever respects his senti- ments were nobler than others, they were not properly the mere discoveries of his own mind, but inferences from, or the improve- ments of the discoveries and principles of others. And I cannot help thinking, that if any men are now capable of forming to themselves a complete scheme of rational religion and morals, they owe it to the disco- veries of the gospel revelation, though they assume the glory of it entirely to their reason. Besides, though reason might possibly dis- cover the duties of religion and virtue without any revelation, it cannot, in the nature of things, certainly discover what the rewards of being religious and virtuous shall be. Reason will indeed inform us, that a being perfectly virtuous, and who constantly acts agreeably to the reason and nature of things, without any deviation from it, cannot be finally mise- rable, but must be in some measure happy in the divine approbation and acceptance. But of what degree and duration that happi- ness shall be, depends wholly on the good pleasure of God. Being itself is the volun- tary gift of the Supreme Cause, and of conse- quence, the continuance of being must depend on his will who first gave it. And though perfect virtue will always be entitled to a proportionable reward from God, yet that such a being, and the happiness consequent upon his virtue, shall and must be of an everlasting continuance, can never be proved from the reason and nature of things, and of consequence, the knowledge of it can be derived from nothing but the voluntary dis- , coveries of God himself. This I think is plain, upon the supposition of a being perfectly virtuous. But if any reasonable beings deviate from the law of their creation, and act contrary to that fitness of things which reason assures them ought to be the rule of their actions ; in such a case reason will be so far from giving any positive assur- ances of a reward, that it wdll rather lead men to the expectations and fears of punishment, there being as natural a connection between vice and punishment, as there is between virtue and a reward. Whether God will pardon, and upon what conditions ; whether repentance, and a sincere amendment for the PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 17 future, shall entitle to happiness, and espe- cially the same happiness as would have been the reward of perfect virtue, here reason can never determine. And of consequence, if the certain knowledge of these important articles be in any sense necessary to encourage the repentance and reformation of men, it is in the same sense absolutely necessary they should have a revelation from God concern- ing them. If it be said, that supposing a revelation actually given, such revelation can be nothing but a revival of the principles and duties of natural religion, because men’s acceptance with God can depend on nothing but their acting agreeable to the law of their reason and nature. I answer, that if by the prin- ciples and duties of natural religion be meant such principles and duties which, when dis- covered, appear reasonable to the minds of men, it may be allowed, that revelation doth not, and cannot place the happiness and acceptance of men with God, upon any thing that is not reasonable and fit for them to know and do, and of which they cannot, in some measure, discern the reasonableness and fitness ; for then one certain mark of the truth of revelation would be plainly wanting, which is its placing the happiness of men upon such a foundation as appears reasonable in itself, and, therefore, worthy of God ; because I cannot believe that to be worthy of God which by reason I cannot in some measure plainly discern to be so. But if by the principles and duties of natural religion, be meant such principles and duties which natural reason, without any divine revelation, will lead men to the certain knowledge of, then the assertion is evidently false, that revelation can contain nothing but the principles and duties of natural religion ; because, as hath been observed, one great end of revelation is to give men certainty of such i important principles as natural reason is never able to do. j If we consider men in circumstances of : degeneracy, and as having acted contrary to the law of reason, a revelation merely to revive the law of nature would evidently be insufficient for their peace and happiness. For though this would be a direction of their future conduct, it would be no security to them against the punishment due to them for their past transgressions, which would prove the highest discouragement to their obedience for the time to come. And of consequence, a revelation from God, vouchsafed to mankind in such circumstances, must contain more than the mere law of nature, namely, the method and conditions of God’s extending his forgiveness to his sinful creatures ; without which it would want one essential mark of its being from God, namely, its suitableness to the wants and necessities of mankind. Besides, if God hath given men a revela- tion of his will, attended with sufficient evi- dence and proof, the belief of such a revelation is a moral duty, and a necessary instance of respect and reverence due to God ; it being as reasonable and fit that I should attend to the voice and will of the supreme being in exter- nal revelation, as that I should submit to the voice and will of God by reason or internal revelation. Upon this foundation depends that com- mand of Jesus Christ, “ Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” It is possible in hypo- thesis, that men may govern their passions, and act well in society, who do not believe the being of a God. But yet to “ believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him,” is a principle of natural religion ; and, as I imagine, necessary to every man’s happiness in the divine acceptance. And by consequence, if it be the will of God that I should believe in Christ, and if there be evidence to convince me of the reasonable- ness of believing in him, it doth not seem more unreasonable that God should require me to believe in Christ, than it doth that he should require me to believe in himself, in order to my receiving a reward of grace and favour from him ; because, if the suffi- ciency of evidence be a reason for God’s requiring belief in any case, it is a reason that will hold good in every one without exception. | Besides, if the observance of the religion and law of nature be allowed to dispose and prepare men for happiness in the favour of God, and though revelation cannot set aside the obligations of the one or other, but is principally designed to recover men to the knowledge of, and a conformity to the ori- ginal fitness of things ; yet I apprehend that revelation may enforce the practice of them by such considerations, and motives, and special precepts, as have no certain foundation in natural reason and light, — that is, which men’s reason would never have led them to have thought of, without a divine direction and command. j If the religion of nature be of God’s con- stitution and appointment, and results from those relations which he himself hath been pleased to order and fix, I apprehend that such positive institutions, which have a direct tendency to establish and promote men’s regard to and observance of it, may be ordained of God, and thereby become obliga- tory upon men. Because, if the law of nature itself necessarily and universally obliges man- kind, and their happiness depends on the observation of it ; such institutions which render the observation of it more easy and practicable, however voluntary and positive in themselves, are consistent with all our notions of the divine perfections, and ought j 18 PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. to be so far from being objections against tlie truth of any religion that contains them, that they are rather arguments in favour of it, as they are evident proofs of the wise and tender concern of God for the perfection and happi- ness of his creatures. If, then, the peculiars of the Christian religion have all of them this tendency, as I apprehend they have, it follows, that God’s requiring us to observe them is a reasonable and fit command ; as it is a command result- ing from his unerring wisdom, and his gra- cious regard to our welfare and interest. And, therefore, in this respect internal and external revelation, or the religion of nature and revelation, may certainly differ, and the latter command what the former would never discover or oblige to. If it be objected against the Christian revelation, that it is not explicit and clear ; but that those who search it fall into very different sentiments and opinions as to several articles of importance, and that it is scarce to be supposed that God should be the author of a revelation which, when given, is incapable of being understood ; I have this that gives my mind satisfaction and ease, — that if there are any intimations of doctrines in Scripture, that sincere persons who do the will of God, and lay aside all prejudice, and desire to receive the truths of God as far as they can understand them, cannot, after all their endeavour and care, come to the certain knowledge of, the knowledge of such doctrines cannot be necessary to their acceptance and salvation ; because Christ Jesus expressly declares, that “ if any man doth the will of his Father, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or no.” As to those doctrines, upon the acknow- ledgment of which the New Testament writings do expressly make salvation to : depend, I find, to my very great comfort, that they are very plain and intelligible in themselves, such as the existence of one God, the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and there being one Mediator between God and man, through whom God dispenses all bless- ings to his creatures. These, and other truths of like importance, are set in the clearest light; and if any have obscured and per- plexed them by intricate distinctions and philosophical speculations, the gospel of Christ gives no sanction to them, and the plain Christian hath no concern and business with them. If it be said, that the Christian religion hath no better effect upon mankind than the light of nature had, and that therefore it can scarcely be imagined that God would be the author of so ineffectual an institution ; I answer, that I suppose it can never be made appear that mankind are now as universally in the same circumstances of ignorance and vice, as they were before the revelation of the gospel. The knowledge of one God, the universal Creator and Father, doth certainly more uni- versally obtain than it did in the times of deep Paganism and Idolatry ; the precepts of religion and virtue are more generally under- stood ; and the rewards and punishments of a future life more certain as to their evidence, and more extensive as to the acknowledgment of them. And though many who profess to believe these things act contrary to their own prin- ciples, yet there have been many in every age, and now are, who, under the influence of this faith, “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in the present world.” And as to those who do not, it is not owing to the insufficiency of the principles and motives of Christianity, but to the want of consideration and a serious regard to them, and those powerful habits which they have contracted, and continue to strengthen by a wilful and allowed indulgence. And therefore, if the gospel be objected against as insufficient to reform men, and engage them to the love and practice of reli- gion and virtue, it must be because it doth not necessitate and compel them, and lay an irresistible force on the mind to comply with it. Whereas, if this were the case, it would be an unanswerable objection against it, because this would destroy that freedom and choice of the mind, which is essentially necessary to give virtue itself its proper value, and render it capable of a reward from God. And of consequence, if the Christian religion contains every argument and motive that is proper to be laid before and influence reason- able and free creatures, its not always proving effectual is no argument of its insufficiency, nor the least shadow of proof that it is not worthy of, and actually from God. And lastly, if it be objected that it hath been the occasion of such confusions, disorders, mischiefs, and calamities in the world, as that it can never be imagined that God would be the author of an institution that should be attended with such fatal consequences : I answer, that genuine Christianity hath never been the cause of any of the distractions and miseries that have afflicted mankind, since its entrance into the world, though that which hath been substituted in the room of Chris- tianity too often hath. Nothing is more visible and plain, than that the Christian religion is designed to calm the passions and cure the vices of mankind. And if its princi- ples were but duly attended to, and its precepts heartily submitted to, Christians would main- tain the most excellent dispositions, and lead the most inoffensive and blameless lives ; and this world would be, what I please myself the next world shall be, an habitation of PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. 19 righteousness, peace, and joy. The perfection I of the Christian law, as to all its moral pre- j cepts and important motives, abundantly justifies the wisdom and goodness of God in giving it ; and he is no more answerable for men’s corrupting and abusing it, and refusing to act agreeable to it, than he is for their abusing the blessings of his common provi- dence. ; Upon a full view, therefore, of these and other objections, I think they are capable of a satisfactory answer ; and as the evidence for the truth and certainty of the Christian reli- gion stands in full force, I think myself bound to receive it as a revelation from God, and to regulate my faith, and hope, and practice by it. XII. And that I might not be chargeable with partiality in my regards and attachment to Christianity, I have not only carefully : examined the credentials it brings to prove its divine original, but I have also endeavoured honestly to compare it with other religions that are in the world, as far as I am capable of understanding and judging concerning them ; and this comparison confirms me in the belief of the Christian religion, and increases my esteem and value for it. Paganism carries in it innumerable marks of its impiety and falsehood. The number of gods it hath introduced, the superstitions it countenances, the impure and barbarous rites it warrants and prescribes, are demonstrative proofs it hath no foundation in the reason and nature of things, and cannot be the appointment of, or agreeable to, the will of God, the supreme unchangeable purity, wis- dom, and goodness. As to Mahometanism, though it pretends to the character of a revelation from God, yet it hath all the evident marks of a real impos- ture. The character of its author appears too suspected ever to support the honour of his being a messenger from God. His disclaim- ing miracles to attest the truth of his mission, is a plain acknowledgment of the weakness and falsehood of his pretences. The few wonderful things related of him appear at jfirst view to be fable and romance. His for- bidding inquiries into the nature and princi- ples of his religion, evidently shews he was conscious to himself that it would not bear them. His propagating it by the sword, is proof sufficient that he knew it would not prevail with the weapons of reason and argu- ment. The falsehoods it contains as to mat- ters of fact, demonstrate the ignorance or wickedness of its founder. The indulgences it gives to the appetites and sensual desires of men, is a strong argument of the badness of his own inclinations, and shews his resolution to sacrifice chastity and virtue to the more prevalent views of ambition and power. Many of his precepts are absurd and ridicu- lous, and unworthy the nature of true reli- gion. And lastly, the motives and rewards set before men, and promised by him to encourage them to embrace and continue in his religion, are suited only to such whose minds are oppressed with sensuality and enslaved to vice ; no way worthy of the known perfections of God, nor any way suited to the rational spiritual nature of man. And of consequence, a religion thus defective in its evidence, and false in its very constitution and frame, can never be the institution of God, nor worthy of my reception and belief. As to the Jewish religion, though this appears to have many genuine marks of its being the appointment of God, yet I find that it could not in its nature be intended for the religion of the world, because several of its precepts were such, as that by far the greatest part of the world could not possibly comply with them. It was an institution peculiar to one particular nation and country, and of consequence, as such, never did or could oblige the rest of mankind. And as it was calculated for one peculiar people, so it ap- pears to have been constituted for a time only ; the books themselves, which contain the accounts of it, intimating that the “ sceptre should depart from Judah;” that “another prophet should be raised up like to Moses and declaring that “the days should come when God would make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that he made with their fathers, when he took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.” Besides this, there appear i to be various prophecies relating to a more | excellent and durable state of things, to com- mence under the government and reign of a ^ particular person, foretold in different ages, ' described by various persons, as to the time i of his coming, the place of his birth, the nature of his works, his sufferings and death, his resurrection and kingdom, and other re- markable events that attended him. And as these predictions and circumstances do all centre in Jesus Christ, I plainly discern that Judaism is so far from demanding my sub- | mission to it, that it directs me to Jesus ' Christ, and is accomplished and perfected in him. Upon all these accounts, I declare myself to be a Christian ; and am conscious that I | have not taken up the profession of Christi- | anity by chance, or in compliance with the custom of my country, or merely through the force of education. But as my faith is the ' result of a serious examination and impartial inquiry, and as I am persuaded that its pre- j tences to revelation and a divine original are ' supported with all the strength of argument and proof that the nature of the thing will - bear, or a reasonable mind can desire, I think I 23 PLAIN REASONS FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN. it both my duty and interest to submit to it as an institution from God. And till I can see the evidence of it disproved, or the religion of Christ itself demonstrated to be irrational and absurd, I am determined by the grace of God to hold fast my profession to the end, seeking after the kingdom of everlasting glory by the practice of that righteousness which prepares for and leads to it ; in a firm depen- dence upon the truth of that comfortable declaration of Jesus Christ, “ That God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begot- ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” KmNBIIiJC.II ; I’riiited by Anubew Shortbedb, Tliistle Lane. THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED, A DIALOGUE BETWIXT A CHRISTIAN AND A DEIST; WHEREIN THE CASE OF THE JEWS IS LIKEWISE CONSIDERED. BY THE LATE REV. CHARLES LESLIE, M.A. AUTHOR OF “ A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE DEISTS.” EDINBURGH : Printed by Andrew Shortrede, Thistle Lane. THE TEUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATE]!. (1.) Christian. It is strange you should | stand it out so against your own happiness, 1 and employ your whole wit and skill, to work ! in yourself a disbelief of any future rewards or punishments, only that you may live easy (as you think) in this world, and enjoy your pleasures : which yet you cannot enjoy free and undisturbed from the fear of those things that are to come, the event of which you pretend not to be sure of ; and therefore are sure of a life full of trouble, that admits not of any consolation, and of a miserable and wretched death, according to the utmost that you yourself propose. Deist. How can you say that, Avhen I pro- pose to live without any fear of those things ? I fear not hell, and I have discarded the expec- tation of heaven, because I believe neither. Chr. Are you sure there are no such things ? De. That is a negative, and I pretend not to proA'e it. Chr. Then you must remain in a doubt of it. And what a condition it is to die in this doubt, when the issue is eternal misery ! And this is the utmost, by your own confession, that you can propose to yourself. Therefore I called yours a disbelief, rather than a belief of any thing. It is we Christians who believe, you Deists only disbelieve. And if the event should prove .as you would have it, and that we should all be annihilated at our death, we should be in as good a con- dition as you. But, on the other side, if the event should prove as we expect it, then you are eternally miserable, and we eternally happy. Therefore one would think it the wisest part to take our side of the question ; especially considering that those poor pleasures, for the sake of which you determine yourselves against us, are but mere amusements, and no real enjoyments. Nay, we had better be without them than have them, even as to this life itself. Is not temperance and a healthful constitution more pleasant than those pains and aches, sick head and stomach, that arc inseparable companions of debauchery and excess, besides the clouding our reason, and turning sottish in our understanding? De. We take pleasure in, them for the time, and mind not the consequences. But, how- ever, a man cannot believe as he pleases. And therefore, notwithstanding all the glorious and terrible things which you speak of, it makes nothing to me, unless you can evidently prove them to be so. And you -must still leave me to judge for myself, after you have done all you can. Chr. What I have said, is only to dispose you to hear me impartially, and not to be prejudiced against your own happiness, both here and hereafter. (2.) De. Well, without more prefacing, the case is this : I believe a God, as well as you ; but for revelation, and what you call the Holy Scriptures, I may think they were wrote by pious and good men, who might take this method of speaking, as from God, and in his name, as supposing that those good thoughts came from him, and that it would have a greater effect upon the people ; and might couch their morals under histories of things supposed to be done, as several of the wise heathens have taken this course, in what the}^ told of Jupiter and Juno, and the rest of their gods and goddesses. But as to the facts themselves, I believe the one no more than the other ; or that all the facts in Ovid’s Meta- morphoses, or in HEsop’s Fables, were true. Chr. You seem willing, by this, to preserve a respectful esteem and value for the Holy Scriptures, as being wrote by pious and good men, and with a good design, to reform the manners of men. But your argument proves directly against the purpose for which you brought it, and makes the penmen of the Scriptures to be far from good men, to be not only cheats and impostors, but blasphemers, and an abomina- tion before God. For such the same Scriptures frequently call those who presume to speak as from God, and in his name, when he had not sent them, and given them authority so to do. And the law in the Scriptures condemns such to be stoned to death as blasphemers. It was not so with tho heathens, their moralists did not use the style of “ Thus saith 4 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. the Lord and their philosophers opposed and : wrote against one another without any offence. ' For all the matter was which of them could 1 reason best ; they pretended to no more. And for the facts of the fables of their gods, 1 themselves did not believe them, and have j wrote the mythology or moral that was inten- j ded by them. De. But many of the common people did believe the facts themselve# As it is with the common people now in the church of Rome, who believe tlie most senseless and ridiculous stories in their books of legends to ; be as true as the Gospel ; though the more wise among them call them only pious frauds, to increase the devotion of the people. And so we think of your Gospel itself, and all the other books you say were wrote by men 1 divinely inspired. We will let you keep them to cajole the mob, but when you would i impose them upon men of sense, we must come to the test with you. Chr. That is what I desire ; and to see whether there are no more evidences to be given for the truth of Christianity — that is, of the Holy Scriptures — than are given for the legends, and all the fabulous stories of the heathen gods. And if so, I will give up my argument, and confess that it is not in my power to convince you. De. I cannot refuse to join issue with you upon this. To begin, then, I desire to know your evidences for the truth of your Scriptures, and the facts therein related. (3.) Chr. If the truth of the book, and the facts therein related, be proved, I suppose you will not deny the doctrines to be true. De. No ; for if I saw such miracles with my eyes as are said to have been done by Moses and Christ, I could not think of any greater proof to be given, that such an one was sent of God. Therefore, if your Bible be true as to the facts, I must believe it in the doctrine too. But there are other books which pretend to give us revelations from God, and we must know which of these is true. Chr. To distinguish this book from all others which pretend to give revelations from God, these four marks or rules were set down. I. That the facts related be such of which men’s outward senses, their eyes and ears, may judge. — (This cuts off enthusiastical pretences to revelation, and opinions which may be propagated in the dark, and, like the tares, not known till they are grown up, and the first beginning of them not discovered.) II. That these facts be done openly in the face of the world. III. That not only public monuments, but outward institutions and actions, should be appointed, and perpetually kept up in memory of them. IV. That these institutions to be observed should commence from the time that the facts were done ; and consequently that the book wherein these facts and institutions are recor- ded, should be written at the time, and by those who did the facts, or by eye and ear- witnesses. For that is included in this mark, and is the main part of it ; to prevent false stories being coined in after ages of things done many hundred years before, which none alive can disprove. Thus Moses wrote his five books containing his actions and institutions ; and those of Christ were wrote by his disciples, who vrere eye and ear-witnesses of what they related. And particular care was taken of this, as you may see. Acts, i. 21, 22, upon choosing one to supply the place of Judas. “ Wherefore of these men which have com- panied with us, all the time that the Lord J esus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, until that same day that he was taken from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resur- rection.” And Saint John begins his first epistle thus : “ That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled — that which we have seen and heard declare Ave unto you.” I have" explained this fourth mark, because the author of the Detection, either wilfully or ignorantly, seems not to understand it. And this alone overthrows all the stories he has told, which he Avould make parallel to the facts of Moses and of Christ ; and therefore alleges that they have all these four marks. But he must begin again, and own that these four marks still stand an irrefragable proof of the truth of any fact which has them all, till | he can produce a book which was wrote by ' the actors or eye-witnesses of the facts it relates, and show that such facts, having the other three marks, have been detected to be false. Which, when he can do, I will give him up these four marks as an insufficient proof, and own I was mistaken in them. But hitherto they haA^e stood the test ; for he himself will not say he has produced any such book in all his Detection. If he says that facts may be true, though no such book can be produced for them, and though they have not all the aforesaid marks, I will easily grant it. But all I contend for is, that whatever has all these four marks cannot be false. For example : could Moses , have persuaded six hundred thousand men that he had led them through the sea in the manner related in Exodus, if it had not been true ? if he could, it Avould have been a greater miracle than the other. The like of their being fed forty years in the wilderness without bread, by manna rained down to them from lieaA^en ; the like of Christ’s feeding five thousand at a time Avith five loaves ; and so of all the rest. The two first THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 5 marks secure from any cheat or imposture at the time the facts were done, and the two last marks secure equally from any imposition in after ages, because this book which relates these facts speaks of itself as written at that time by the actors or eye-witnesses, and as commanded by God to be carefully kept and preserved to all generations, and read publicly to all the people at stated times, as is com- manded, (Deut. xxxi. 10 — 12 ;) and was practised, (Josh. viii. 34, 35 ; Neh. viii. &c.) And the institutions appointed in this book were to be perpetually observed from the day of the institution for ever among these people, in memory of the facts, as the passover, (Exod. xii.) and so of the rest. Now, sup- pose this book to have been forged a thousand years after Moses, would not every one say, when it first appeared, We never heard of this book before, we know of no such institu- tions, as of a passover, or circumcision, or sabbaths, and the many feasts and fasts therein appointed ; of a tribe of Levi, and a tabernacle wherein they were to serve in such an order of priesthood, &c. : therefore this book must be an errant forgery, for it wants all those marks it gives of itself, as to its own conti- nuance, and of those institutions it relates. No instance can be shown since the world began of any book so circumstantiated, that was a forgery, and passed as truth upon any people. I think it impossible ; and therefore that the four marks are still an invincible proof of the truth of that book, and those facts wherein all these marks do meet. But since I am come upon this subject again, I will endeavour to improve it, and give four other marks, some of which no fact, however true, ever had, or can have, but the fact of Christ alone. Thus, while I support the fact of Moses, I set that of Christ above him, as the Lord is above the servant. And the Jews being herein principally concerned, I will consider their case likewise as we go along : therefore I add this fifth mark as peculiar to our Bible, and to distinguish it from all other histories which relate facts formerly done. (V.) That the book which relates the facts contains likewise the law of that people to whom it belongs, and be their statute-book by which their causes are determined. This will make it impossible for any to coin or forge such a book, so as to make it pass upon any people. For example : If I should forge a statute-book for England, and publish it next term, could I make all the judges, lawyers, and people, believe that this was their true and only statute-book by which their causes had been determined these many hundred years past ? They must forget their old statute-book, and believe that this new book, which they never saw or heard of before, was that same old book which has been pleaded in Westminster-Hall for so many ages, which has been so often printed, and the originals of which are now kept in the Tower, to be consulted as there is occa- sion. De. I grant that to be impossible. But how do you apply it ? Chr. It is evident as to the books of Moses, which are not only a history of the Jews, but their very statute-book, wherein their municipal law, as well civil as ecclesias- tical, was contained. De. This is so indeed as to the books of Moses, to which they always appealed : “ To the law and to the testimony.” And they had no other statute-book. But this will not agree to your Gospel, which is no municipal law, nor any civil law at all, and no civil causes were tried by it. Chr. The Law was given to the Jews, as a distinct and separate people from all other nations upon the earth ; and therefore was a municipal law particularly for that nation only of the Jews. But Christianity was to extend to all the nations of the earth ; and Christians were to be gathered out of all nations ; and therefore the Gospel could not be a municipal law as to civil rights to all nations, who had each their own municipal laws. This could not be, without destro}dng all the municipal laws in the world, of every nation whatsoever ; and then none could be a Christian, without at the same time becoming a rebel to the government where he lived. This would have been for Christ to have immediately set up for universal and temporal king of all the world, as the Jews expected of their Messiah, and therefore would have made Christ a king. But he instructed them in the spiritual nature of his kingdom, that it was not “ of this world,” nor did respect their temporal or civil matters ; which therefore he left in the same state he found them, and commanded their obedience to their civil governors, though heathen, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. And as to the Law of Moses, he left the Jews still under it, as to their civil concerns, so far as the Romans, under whose subjection they then were, would permit them. As Pilate said to them, “ Ye have a law ;” and “judge ye him according to your law.” But the Gospel was given as the spiritual and ecclesiastical law to the Church, whither- soever dispersed through all nations ; for that did not interfere with their temporal laws, as to civil government. And in this the fifth mark is made stronger to the Gospel than even to the Law ; for it is easier to suppose that any forgery might creep into the muni- cipal law of a particular nation, than that all the nations whither Christianity is spread should conspire in the corruption of the Gos- pel, which to all Christians is of infinitely 6 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. greater concern than their temporal laws. And without such a concert of all Christian nations and people supposed, no such forgery could pass undiscovered in the Gospel, which is spread as far as Christianity, and read daily in their public offices. JDe. But I say it is discovered, as appears by the multitude of your various lections. Chr. That cannot be called a forgery ; it is nothing but such mistakes as may very easily happen, and are almost unavoidable, in so many copies as have been made of the Gospel, before printing was known. And considering the many translations of it into several languages, where the idioms are diffe- rent, and phrases may be mistaken, together with the natural slips of amanuenses, it is much more wonderful that there are no more various lections, than that there are so many. But in this appears the great providence of God in the care the Christians took of this, that they have marked every the least various lection, even syllabical : and that among all these there is not found one which makes any alteration either in the facts or in the doctrines. So that instead of an objection, this becomes a strong confirmation of the truth and certainty of the Gospel, w^hich stands thus perfectly clear of so much as any doubt concerning the facts or the doctrines therein related. But I will now proceed to a stronger evi- dence than even this, and all that has been said before ; which I have made the sixth mark, and that is the topic of prophecy. (VI.) The great fact of Christ’s coming into the world was prophesied of in the Old Testament from the beginning to the end, as it is said, (Luke, i. 70,) “By all the holy prophets which have been since the world began.” This evidence no other fact ever had ; for there was no prophecy of Moses, but Moses himself did prophesy of Christ, (Deut. xyiii. 15, applied Acts, iii. 22 — 24,) and sets down the several promises given of him. The first was to Adam, immediately after the fall, (Gen. iii. 15,) where he is called th.e seed of the woman, but not of the man, because he was to have no man for his father, though he had a woman to his mother. And of none other can this be said, nor that he should “ bruise the serpent’s head,” that is, overcome the devil and all his power. He was again promised to Abraham, as you may see, (Gen. xii. 8 ; xviii. 18. ^e this applied. Gal. iii. 16.) Jacob did expressly prophesy of him, with a mark of the time wlien he should come, and calls him “ Shiloh,” or “ He that was to be sent,” (Gen. xlix. 10.) Balaam prophesied of him by the name of the Star of Jacob, and Sceptre of Israel, (Num. xxiv. 17.) Daniel calls him the Messiah, the Prince % and tells the time of his coming and of his death, (Dan. ix. 25, 26.) It was foretold that he should be born of a virgin, (Isa. vii. 14 ;) in the city of Beth- lehem, (Micah, V. 2 ; ) of the seed of Jesse, (Isa. xi. 1 — 10.) His low estate and suffer- ings are particularly described, (Psal. xxii. and Isa. liii. ;) and his resurrection, (Psal. xvi. 10 ; ) that he should sit upon the throne of David for ever, and be called “ Wonderful,” the “ mighty God,” the “ Prince of Peace,” (Isa. ix. 6, 7,) “ The Lord our righteousness,” (Jer. xxxiii. 16,) Jehovah Tsidkenu, (an incommunicable name given to none but the great God alone,) and Immanuel, that is, “ God with us,” (Isa. vii. 14 ;) and David, whose son he was according to the flesh, called him his Lord, (Psal. cx. 1.) The cause of his sufferings is said to be for the sins of the people, and not for himself, (Isa. liii. 4 — 6 ; Dan. ix. 26.) And as to the time of his coming, it is expressly said, (to the confusion of the Jews now,) that it was to be before the sceptre should depart from Judah, (Gen. xlix. 10 ;) in the second temple, (Hag. ii. 7 — 9,) within seventy weeks of the building of it, (Dan. ix. 24,) that is, (according to the prophetical known style of a day for a year,) wdthin four hundred and ninety years after. (1.) From these, and many more prophecies of the Messiah or Christ, his coming was the general expectation of the Jews from the beginning, but more especially about the time in which it was foretold he should come, when several false Messiahs did appear among them. And this expectation still remains with them, though they confess that the time foretold by all the prophets for his coming is past. j But what I have next to offer will be more i strange to you. You may say it was natural : for the Jews to expect their Messiah, who , was prophesied of in their book of the Law, and was to be a Jew, and king of all the earth. But what had the Gentiles to do with this ? There were no prophecies to them. Therefore, what I have to show you is, that j these prophecies of the Messiah were likewise [ to the Gentiles : for it is said he should be i the expectation of the Gentiles as w^ell as of | the Jews ; and, (Gen. xlix. 10,) that the ! gathering of the people (or nations) should i be to him. In the Vulgate it is rendered ! expeciatio gentium, “ the expectation of the ^ Gentiles.” He is called “the desire of all ' nations,” (Hag. ii. 7.) And I will show you the general expectation the Gentiles had of his coming, about the time that he did come. ■ They knew him by the name of the East. Their tradition was, that the East should prevail, ut valesceret oriens, as I will show you presently. But first let me tell you, that THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 7 the Holy Scripture often alludes to him under this denomination. The blood of the great expiatory sacrifice was to be sprinkled towards the east, (Lev. xvi. 14,) to show whence the true expiatory sacrifice should come. And he is thus frequently styled in the Prophets, (Zech. iii. 8:) it is said, according to the Vulgate, “I will bring forth my servant the East;” and, (vi. 12,) “Behold the man whose name is the East.” Our English ren- ders it in both places the Branch, for the Hebrew word bears both senses. But the Greek renders it ’Avar«x«, which we translate the “ day-spring,” (Luke, i. 78,) and put on the margin Sun-rising or Branch. The Vul- gate has it oriens ex alto, the East or Sun- rising from on high. He is called the “ Sun of righteousness,” (Mai. iv. 2 ;) and it is said, (Isa. lx. 8,) “ The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” (2.) Now, Sir, how literally was this ful- filled in the Magi (generally supposed to be kings) coming from the East, led by a star which appeared to them in the East, to wor- ship Christ when he was born, and to bring presents unto him as unto a king, as it is told in the second of Saint Matthew ! De. Why do you quote Saint Matthew to me? You know we make no more of him than of one of your legend-writers, and believe this story no more than that these three kings are now buried at Cologne. (3.) Chr. You make great use of the legends, and answer every thing by them ; and I confess they are the greatest affront to Christianity, and, if possible, a disproof of it, as it must be to those who will place them upon the same foot with the Holy Bible, as too many do in the Church of Rome, and cry, we have the authority of the Church for both. And they are taught to receive the Holy Scriptures upon the authority of the Church only. But my business is not with them now ; I shall only sa)’’, that when they can bring such evidences for the truth of their legends, or for any particular fact in them, as I do for the Holy Scriptures, and in parti- cular, for the fact of Christ, then I will believe them. De. Will you believe nothing that has not all these evidences you produce ? (4.) Chr. Far from it ; for then I must believe nothing but this single fact of Christ : because no other fact in the world, no, not of all those recorded in Holy Scriptures, has all these evidences which the fact of Christ has. And so God has thought fitting, that this great fact, above all other facts of the greatest glory to God and importance to mankind, should appear with greater and more unde- niable evidence than any other fact ever was in the world. De. We are now upon the particular fact of the Magi or wise men coming to Christ. Have you any more to say as to that ? (5.) Chr. It has those same evidences that the truth of the Bible in general has, which are more than can be produced for any other book in the world. But now as to this fact in particular. Saint Matthew was the first who wrote the Gospel, and it was in the same age when this fact was said to be done. And can you think it possible that such a fact as this could have passed without contradiction, and a public exposing of Christianity, then so desirable and so much endeavoured by the unbelieving Jews, their high-priests, elders, &c. as the only means for their own preserva- tion, if the fact had not been notorious and fresh in the memory of all the people then at Jerusalem, namely, that these wise men came thither, and that Herod and the whole city were troubled at the news they brought of the birth of the King of the Jews ; that Herod thereupon gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, that they might search out of the prophets, and know the place where Christ should be born ; and then the slaughter of the infants in and about Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, which followed — I say could such a fact as this have passed at that very time, if it had not been true? Could Saint Matthew have hoped to have palmed this upon all the people, and upon those very same chief priests and scribes who he said were so far concerned in it? Would none of them have contradicted it, if it had been a forgery ? Especially when the detecting it would have strangled Christi- anity in its birth? Would not they have done it who suborned false witnesses against Christ, and gave large money to the soldiers to conceal (if possible) his resurrection ? Would not they have done it, who persecuted Christianity with all spite and fury, and invented all imaginable false stories and calumnies against it ? Whereas here was one at hand, this of the Magi, which, if false, could have been so easily detected, by appeal- ing to every man, woman, and child, I may say, in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and even in all Judea ; who no doubt had heard of the terrible massacre of so many infants, and the cause of it. De. I can give no account why the writers against Christianity did not offer to contradict this fact of the star and the Magi, which is put in the very front of this Gospel of Saint Matthew. And there it is called his (Christ’s) star. “We have seen his star in the East.” As if God had created a new and extraordinary star on purpose, as the signal of Christ hung out in the heavens, to give the world notice of his birth. But did none of the heathen phi- losophers take notice of this star, or of this relation given of it by your Saint Matthew ? (6.) Chr. Yes. For Chalcidius in his com- 7 8 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. ment upon Plato’s Timseus, speaking of the presages of stars mentioned by Plato, adds as a farther proof, Est quoque aha venerabilior et sanctior historia. There is likewise another more venerable and holy history, (by which I doubt not he means this of Saint Matthew, for what he tells seems to be taken out of it,) ‘‘ That by the rising of a certain unusual star, not plagues and diseases, but the descent of the venerable God, for the salvation and benefit of mortals, was observed by the Chal- deans, who worshipped this God newly born, by offering gifts unto him.” De. This makes those Magi or wise men to have been Chaldeans, who I know were the most noted then in the world for the most curious learning, particularly in astronomy. And they were likewise East of Jerusalem, so that it might be well said they came from the East, and had seen his star in the East. But I cannot imagine how they should read the birth of a God in the face of a new star ; and how that star should send them particularly to Jerusalem, though I may suppose it pointed them westward. (7.) Chr. This will be easier to you, when you know, that all over the East there was a tradition, or fixed opinion, that about that time a King of the Jews would be born, who should rule the whole earth. And the appear- ance of this extraordinary star in the East was taken by them as a sign that he was then born. And whither should they go to look for the King of the Jews, but to Jerusalem ? And when they came thither they inquired, saying, “ Where is he that is born King of the Jews % For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him.” This made Herod gather the priests and scribes together. And they, by searching the pro- phets, found that Bethlehem was the place ; whereupon the wise men went to Bethlehem ; and to convince them that they were right, the star which they had seen in the East appeared to them again, and ‘‘went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was.” This made them “ rejoice with such an exceeding great joy.” De. This would go down in some measure with me, if you could make good your first postulatum, of such a current- tradition or opinion in the East ; but for this you have given no sort of proof. And all the rest which you have inferred from thence must come to the ground with it, if it be not supported. I confess it would seem as strange to me as the star to the wise men, if God had (we know not how, it is unaccountable to us) sent such a notion into the minds of men, and at that time only, of such a King to be born, and that he should be a Jew, (the then most con- temptible people in the world, subdued and conquered by the Romans,) and that he was to be King of the Jews, and thence to become King of all the earth, and conquer his con- querors. The Romans would have looked with disdain upon such a notion or prophecy as this ; it would have made some stir among them, if they had heard of it, or given any credit to it. (8.) Chr. You argue right ; and I will show you what stir it made among them, and I hope you will take their word, as well for this eastern tradition, as for the effects it had among themselves. Nay, they wanted not the same tradition among themselves, and express prophecies of it in their Sibyls, and otherwise. So that the same expectation of the Messiah was then current over all the earth, wnth the Gentiles as well as with the Jews. Tacitus in his History, 1. v. c. 13, speaking of the great prodigies that preceded the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, says that many understood these as the forerunners of that extraordinary person whom the ancient books of the priests did foretell should come about that time from Judea, and obtain the universal dominion. His words are, “ Pluribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret Oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur :” that is, “ Many were persuaded that it was contained in the old writings of the priests, that at that very time the east should prevail, and the Jews should have the dominion.” And Suetonius in the Life of Vespasian, c. 1. n. 4. says, “ Per- crebuerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in satis, ut eo tempore, Judaea profecti j rerum potirentur ;” that is, “ That it was j an ancient and constant opinion (or tradition) throughout the whole East, that at that time, t those who came from Judea should obtain the dominion ;” that is, some Jew should be j universal king. Therefore Cicero, who was a | commonwealths-man, in his second book of Divination, speaking of the books of the Sibyls, who likewise foretold this great King to come, says, “Cum antistibus agamus, et j quidvis potius ex illis libris, quara regem i proferant : quem Romse post hsec nec Dii, nec homines esse patientur ;” that is, “Let us deal with these priests, and let them bring any thing out of their books, rather than a king, w'hom neither the Gods nor men wdll suffer after this at Rome.” But he was mistaken, and had his head cut off for writing against kingly government. And others more considerable than he laid greater stress upon these prophecies, even the whole Senate of Rome, as I come to show you. Whether these Sibyls gathered their pro- phecies out of the Old Testament, is needless here to examine. I am now only upon that general expectation which was then in the world of this great and universal King to come about that time. (9.) The same year that Pompey took Jerusalem, one of these oracles of the Sibyls THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 9 made a great noise, which was, ‘‘ That nature was about to bring forth a king to the Romans.” Which, as Suetonius relates in the Life of Augustus, c. 94, did so terrify the Senate, that they made a decree to expose, that is, destroy, all the children horn that year. “Senatum ex territum censuisse, ne quis illo anno genitus educaretur.” That none horn that year should he brought up, but exposed, that is, left in some wood or desert place to perish. But he tells how this dreadful sentence was prevented : “ Eos qui gravidas uxores haberent, quod ad se quisque spem traheret, curasse ne Senatus consultum ad ierarium deferretur.” That those senators whose wives were with child, because each was in hopes of having this great king, took care that the decree of the Senate should not be put into the serarium or treasury, without which, by their constitution, the decree could not be put in execution. And Appian, Plu- tarch, Sallust, and Cicero, do all say, that it was this prophecy of the Sibyls which raised the ambition of Cornelius Lentulus at that time, hoping that he should be this King of the Romans. Virgil, a few years before the birth of Christ, in his fourth Eclogue, quotes a prophecy of one of these Sibyls speaking of an extraordinary person to be born about that time, who should introduce a golden age into the world, and restore all things, and should blot out our sins. Si qua manent sceleris vestigia nostri. And calls him, Chara Deum soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum. Dear offspring of the Gods, and great son of Jove. He describes a new state of things like the “new heavens” and “new earth,” (Isaiah, Ixv. 17. Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo. A great order of ages does begin, wholly new. And as Isaiah describes the happy state in the “ new earth,” that the lion and the lamb should feed together, the serpent eat dust, and that they should not hurt or destroy in all the holy mountain,” (Isai. Ixv. 25.) Virgil does almost repeat his words : Nec magnos metuent armenta leones. Occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni Occidet. And as God introduces the Messiah with say- ing, “ I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea,” Hag. ii. 7. Virgil docs in a manner translate it in this Eclogue, introduc- ing the great person then to be born, and the joy which should be in the whole creation. Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum, Teirasq. tractusq. maris, coelumq. profundum. Aspice venture lajtcntur ut onmia seclo. Lo ! teeming nature, bending with its load. The earth, the ocean, and the heavens high. Behold how all rejoice to greet the coming age. Here the poet describes nature as in labour to bring forth this great King, as the other prophecy of the Sibyls before-mentioned speaks. And he says, “ aderit jam tempus,” — that the time was then at hand. Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto. Now a new progeny from heaven descends. And he applies it to Saloninus the son of Pollio the consul, then newly born, as if it was to be fulfilled in him. But as there was nothing like it in the event, so these words are too great to be applied to any mortal, or the reign of any king that ever was in the world ; or to any other but to the Messiah the Lord of heaven and earth. (10.) De. But, you know, the authority of these Sibyls is disputed. Some say the Chris- tians did interpolate them, and added to them, in about a hundred years after Christ. Chr. It is true, the Christians did often quote them against the heathens, as Saint Paul quoted the heathen poets to the Athenians, Acts, xvii. 28. And Clem. Alexandrinus in his Strom. 1. 6. says, that Saint Paul quoted the Sibyls likewise in his disputations with the Gentiles. And the Christians were called Sibyllianists, from their quoting the Sibyls so often. But Origen, in his answer to Celsus, 1. 7, challenges him to shew any interpolation made by the Christians, and appeals to the heathen copies which were in their own possession, and kept with great care. But what I have quoted to you out of Virgil was before Christ was born, and there- fore clear of all these objections. De. Then the Jews must have had some hand in them. As likewise in that eastern tradition you have spoken of. Chj\ If so, you must suppose that the Jews had it from their own prophets. And this will be a strong confirmation that the time of the Messiah’s coming was plainly told in the prophets. (11.) De. What say the Jews to this? For I cannot imagine how they can get off* from it. Chr. Some of them say, that the Messiah put off his coming at the appointed time, because of their sins. Others say, he did come at the time, but has concealed himself ever since. De. These are mere excuses. Do they pre- tend any prophecy for this? But to what purpose ? For these excuses show, that pro- phecies are no proofs, because if they may be thus put off, they can never be known. And they may be put off and put off* to the end of the world. (12.) Chr. But now. Sir, as to your point. If this genera] expectation, both cast and west, of the great King of the Jews to be born about that very time that he did come, was occasioned 10 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. by tlie Jewish tradition of it, it strengthens the truth of the Holy Scriptures, whence the Jews had it. But otherwise, if God, v/e know not how, did send such a notion into the minds ' of men, all over the w’orld, at that particular time, and never the like, either before or since ; then the miracle will be greater, and the attestation to the coming of Christ stronger, and, as you said, it will be more wonderful and more convincing to you, than the star was to the wise men in the east. JDe. I must take time to answer this. I made nothing at all of this of the Magi, and the star, and of Herod’s slaying the infants upon it. I thought it a ridiculous story, and to have no foundation in the world. But when I see Suetonius telling us of the decree of the Senate of Rome to destroy all the children born that year, and for the same reason, for fear of this great King that was then to be born ; I must think there was a strange chiming in of things heje, one to answer the other. I know not how it hap- pened : by chance, or how % (13.) Chr. You cannot imagine there could be any concert in tliis matter. That the Chaldeans, and Romans, and Jews, should all agree upon the point, and hit it so exactly, without any one of them discovering the contrivance ! especially when it was so terrible to both the Romans and the Jews, that they took such desperate methods to prevent it as to destroy their own children ! I>e. It is ridiculous to talk of a concert. I will not put my cause upon that. Would they concert what they thought their own destruction ? Besides, the Jews and Romans were then enemies ; and the Chaldeans were far off, and had little correspondence with either of them. And such an universal notion could not be concerted. Whole nations could not be trusted with a secret. And if they all kept it, and against their own interest too, it would be as great a miracle as any in your Bible. (14.) Chr. How much more impossible is it to suppose, That there should be a concert between different ages, betw^een all the ages from Adam downwards, in all those prophecies of the coming of the Messiah ? How should they know it but by revelation 1 And would they have all agreed so exactly as to the time, place, manner, and other circumstances, if it had been a forgery contrived by different per- sons and in different ages 1 (15.) This is an argument which Saint Peter thought stronger than the conviction even of our outward senses ; for having set dov/n what he and the other two apostles had both seen and heard upon the holy Mount, he adds, “ We have yet a more sure word (that is, a stronger proof) of prophecy, whereunto ye do dwell to take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn. and the day-star arise in your hearts,” ( 2 Pet. i. 19.) And he enforces it thus, “ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” De. I will grant his argument so far. That it is easier to suppose the senses of three men, or of all the men in the world, to be imposed upon, than that Adam, Abraham, and I, had concerted together. But I will not give you my answer yet. Have you any more to say upon this head of prophecy % Chr. I need say no more till your answer comes. For you have granted that this proof is stronger than what we see with our eyes. (16.) But that your answer may take in all together, I will give you something farther. I have set down already some of the great pro- phecies of the coming of Christ, his sufferings, death, and resurrection. But there are others which reach to several minute circumstances, such as cannot be applied to any other fact that ever yet happened, and which could not have been foreseen by any but God ; nor were known by the actors who did them, else they had not done them. For they would not have fulfilled the prophecies that went before of Christ in applying them to him whom they crucified as a false Christ. See then how literally several of these pro- phecies were fulfilled. As (Psal. Ixix. 21,) “ They gave me gall to eat, and vinegar to drink.” Then read Matt, xxvii. 84, ‘‘They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.” It is said, (Psal. xxii. 16, 17, 18,) “ They pierced my hands and my feet — They stand staring and looking upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.” As if it had been wrote after John, xix. 23, 24. It was merely accidental in the soldiers ; they would not tear his coat, because it was woven and without seam, therefore they cast lots for it : thus fulfilling this Scripture, without any knowledge of theirs, for they were Roman soldiers, and knew nothing of the Scripture. Again it is said, ! (Psal. xxii. 7, 8,) “ All they that see me, 1 laugh me to scorn ; they shoot out their lips, ! and shake their heads, saying. He trusted in God that he would deliver him ; let him deliver him, if he will have him.” Compare this with Matt, xxvii. 39, 41, 42, 43, “ And they that passed by, reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying. Come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him ; for he said, I am the Son of God.” It is said again, (Zech. xi. 10,) “ They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.” His very price was foretold, and how the money should be disposed of, (Zech. xi. 13,) fulfilled Matt, xxvii. 6, 7. And his riding into Jerusalem upon an ass. I THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 11 (Zech. ix. 9,) which the learned Rabbi Saadia expounds of the Messiah. That he should suffer with mpJefactors, (Isai. liii. 12.) That his body should not lie so long in the grave as to see corruption, (Psal. xvi. 10.) Many other circumstances are told which cannot be applied to any but to Christ. I have set down these few, that you may take them into consideration when you think fit to give your answer as to this head of prophecies. And you are to take care to find some other fact guarded with prophecies like this. Or else you must confess that there is no other fact that has such evidence as this. (17.) But, before I leave this head, I must mention the prophecies in our Bible of things yet to come to the end of the world, and of the new heavens and new earth that shall succeed. De . " These can be no proofs here, because we cannot see the fulfilling of them. Chr. You may believe what is to come, by the fulfilling you have seen of what is past. But I bring this now to show you, that there is no other law or history in the world that so much as pretends to this, or to know what is to come. This is peculiar to the Holy Bible, as being written from the mouth of God. You have seen how the current of the pro- phecies of the Old Testament did point at and centre in that great event, the coming of the Messiah. When he was come, then he told us more plainly of what was to come after him, even to the consummation of all things. And by what wc have seen exactly fulfilled of all he told us to this time, we must believe what remains yet to come. (18.) ilow particularly did he foretell the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, (Matt, xxiv ;) and that that age should not pass till it should be fulfilled ? And his very expression was literally fulfilled, that there should not be left one stone upon another in the temple ; for the very foundations of it j were ploughed up by Turnus Rufus. (See Scaliger’s Canon. Isagog. p. 804.) ! When Jerusalem was first besieged, it was full of Christians. But the siege was raised unaccountably, and for no reason that history gives. In which time the Christians, seeing those signs come to pass which Christ had foretold would precede its destruction, and particularly laying hold of that caution he gave, “ Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains,” and that in such haste, as that he that was in the field was not to return to Jerusalem to fetch his garment, or he on the house-top there to stay to take his goods j with him ; accordingly, all the Christians left 1 Jerusalem, and fled to Pella, a city in the ] mountains. And as soon as they were all gone, the Romans returned and renewed the ! siege. And so it came to pass, that when 1 Titus sacked the city there was not one 1 Christian found there, and the destruction fell only upon the unbelieving Jews. The others escaped, as Lot out of Sodom, by believing the prediction of that ruin. (19.) Another very remarkable prediction of our blessed Lord in that same chapter was of the many false Christs that should come after him ; and he warned the Jews not to follow them, for that it would be their destruc- tion. “ Behold (says he, ver. 25,) I have told you before.” But they would not believe him ; and accordingly it came to pass. Jose- phus in his Antiquities of the Jews, (1. xviii. c. 12. 1. XX. c. 6,) and De Bell. Jud. (1. vii. c. 31,) tells of abundance of these false Messiahs who appeared before the destruction of Jeru- salem, and led the people into the wilderness, where they were miserably destroyed. The very thing of which our Saviour cautioned them, (ver. 26,) “ If they say unto you. Be- hold, he (that is, Christ) is in the desert, go not forth.” And Josephus says, (De Bell. Jud. 1. vii. c. 12,) that the chief cause of their obstinacy in that war with the Romans, was their expectation of a Messiah to come and deliver them, which brought on their ruin, and made them deaf to the offers of Titus, who courted them to peace. And since the destruction of Jerusalem there have been so many false Messiahs, that Johannes a Lent has wrote a history of them, printed Herbonje, 1697 ; which brings them down as far as the year 1682, and tells the lamentable destruction of the Jews in follow- ing them. (20.) But the next prophecy of our blessed Lord which I produce is more remarkable than these ; and of which you see the fulfilling in a great measure, namely. That his Gospel should prevail over all the world, and that the gates of hell should not prevail against it : and this told when he was low and despised, and had but twelve poor fishermen for his followers : and that his religion should con- quer, not by the sword, like Mahomet’s, but by patient suffering, as lambs among wolves. And in this state the Church endured most terrible persecutions, when all the rage of hell was let loose against her, for the first three hundred years, without any help but from Heaven only ; till at last, by the Divine Pro- vidence, the great Emperor of Rome, and otlier mighty kings and princes, without any force or compulsion, did voluntarily and freely sub- mit their sceptres to Christ. No religion that ever was in the world was so begun, so propagated, and did so prevail : and hence we assuredly trust, that what remains will be fulfilled, of the promise of Christ to his Church in the latter days. But I speak now only of this prophecy so long beforehand, and when there was so little appearance of its coming to pass, so far as we have seen already. 12 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. Let me here remember one particular pas- sage foretold by Christ, concerning the woman who anointed his body to the burying, That wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of, for a memorial of her,” (Mark, xiv. 8, 9.) And we see how it is spoken of to this day. De. If this book had been lost, we had not heard of this prophecy. 1 Chr. So you may say of all the Bible, or of any other book : But Providence has fulfilled this prophecy by preserving the book ; and it is a prophecy that this book, at least this fact of the woman, should be preserved for ever, and it may be preserved though that book were lost. (21.) Be. When prophecies are fulfilled, and the events come to pass, they are plain to every body ; but why might they not have been as plain from the beginning % And then there could have been no dispute about them, as if it had been said, that such a one by name, at such a time, and in such a place, should do such things, &c. Chr. Because God having given man free will, he does not force men to do any wicked thing : and it would be in the power of wicked men to defeat a prophecy against themselves, as to the circumstance of time, place, or the manner of doing the thing. For example, if the Jews had known that Christ had told his Apostles he was to be crucified, they would not have done it ; they would have stoned him as they did Saint Stephen ; for that was the death appointed by the law for blasphemy : and they several times attempted to have stoned Christ for this, because he said I am the Son of God, (John, viii. 59 ; x. 81, 32, 33.) But crucifixion was a death by the Roman law. Therefore the Jews, to fulfil this prophecy (but not knowing it) delivered Christ to the Romans to be put to death. Yet he told them so much of it, that after he was crucified they might know it, as he said to them, (John, viii. 28.) “ When ye have lift up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am he.” And chap. x. 32, 83. “ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signi- fying what death he should die.” But they understood it not till they had done it, then they knew what the lifting up meant. And chap, xviii. 81, 32, when Pilate would have had them judge him according to their law, which was stoning, they were cautious at this time only, and said, “ It is not lawful for us to put any man to death ; because they were then under the government of the Romans. But the next words show the design of Provi- dence in it, “ that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.” They had no such caution upon them when they stoned Saint Stephen after this, nor the many times before when they took up stones to stone the same Jesus. Then, again, the piercing his side with the spear was no part of the Roman sentence of execution, but happened seemingly by mere accident ; for the sentence of the law was, to hang upon the cross till they were dead ; but that being the day of preparation for the Sabbath, which began that evening soon after Christ and the thieves were fastened to the cross, before it could be supposed they were dead, therefore, “ that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath-day,” the Jews besought Pilate that their legs might be broken (which was no part of the sentence neither, but done) lest they should escape when taken down. Accordingly the legs of the thieves w^ere broken, for they were yet alive, and the reason why they brake not the legs of Christ was, because “ they saw that he was dead already ; but to make sure, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear : little knowing that they were then fulfilling pro- phecies, as, that “ a bone of him should not be broken ;” and again, “ They shall look on him whom they pierced.” As little did the soldiers think of it when they were casting lots upon his vesture : and the chief priests (if they had known it or reflected upon it) would not have upbraided him in the very words that were foretold in Psalm xxii. which I have before quoted. And they would have contrived the money they gave to Judas to have been one piece more or less than just thirty : they would not have come so punc- tually in the way of that prophecy, (Zech. xi. 12, 13.) “ They weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.” And they would have bought any other field with it, but especially not that of the Potter, which Zechariah there likewise mentions. And as the enemies of Christ did not know they were fulfilling these prophecies of him, ! so neither did his disciples at the time when they were so doing. And it is said, (John, xii. 16.) “These things understood not his disciples at the first ; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they | had done these things unto him.” This j makes the fulfilling these prophecies yet more remarkable. Where Providence sees that prophecies will not be minded, they are more express and plain : as likewise where the passions and interests of men will hurry them on towards fulfilling them. Thus, Alexander the Great is described as plainly almost as if he had been named, (Dan. viii. 20, 21, 22.) And it is said, that this prophecy, which was showed him by the High Priest at Jerusalem, did encourage him in his expedition against the Persians. But it is not so when a man is to do foolish THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 13 and wicked things, and things hurtful to himself ; for if these were told plainly and literally, it would be in his power to do other- wise, unless God should force his will, and then he would not be a free agent. (22.) Be. I must have recourse to the Jews in answer to these prophecies of the Messiah which you have brought ; for they, owning these Scriptures as revelations given them by God, must have some solution or other for them, or else give themselves up as self-con- demned. Chr. The answers the Jews give will con- vince you the more, and render them indeed self-condemned. Before the coming of Christ, the Jews understood these texts, as we do, to be certainly meant of the Messiah, and of none other. But since that time they have forced themselves to put the most strained and contradictory meanings upon them ; for they agree not in their expositions, and the one does manifestly destroy the other. Thus, that text I before quoted, (Gen. xlix. 10,) was understood by the Chaldee and ancient Jewish interpreters to be meant of the Messiah. Yet of their modern Rabbies some say, that it was meant of Moses ; but others reject that, first, Because it is plain that the gathering of the nations or Gentiles was not to Moses ; secondly. Because the sceptre was not given to Judah till long after Moses. The first of it that appears was Judg. xx. 18, when Judah was commanded by God to “go up first,” and lead the rest of the tribes ; and David was the first king of the tribe of Judah. Thirdly, Because Moses did prophesy of a greater than himself to come, to whom the people should hearken, (Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19.) For these reasons, other Rabbies say it could not be meant of Moses, but they apply it to the tabernacle at Shiloh. This was only for the sake of the word Shiloh, for otherwise it bears no resemblance either to the gathering of the Gentiles, or the sceptre of Judah : and though the house of God was first set up at Shiloh, yet it was removed from thence, and established at Jerusalem ; which was the place of which Moses spoke that God would place his name there, as I shall show you presently. This interpretation therefore being rejected, other Rabbies say, that this prophecy must be meant of the Messiah, but that by the word sceptre is not to be understood a sceptre of rule or government, but of correction and punishment, and that this should not depart from Judah till Shiloh came. But the text explaining sceptre by the word lawgiver, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh came, overthrow's this interpretation, and shows the sceptre here mentioned to be meant of a sceptre of rule and government. Again, Joshua gave them rest from their enemies round about ; and the land had rest many years under their Judges ; and David delivered them out of the hands of their enemies ; and under Solomon they were the richest and happiest people upon earth ; and frequently after, they were in good condition and at ease ; so that the sceptre of correction did often depart from them before Shiloh came. This is so evident, that others of them allow this sceptre to be a sceptre of government ; but they say the meaning is, that the sceptre shall not finally or for ever depart from Judah, because the Messiah will come and restore it to Judah again. But this is adding to the text, and making a new text of it, and quite different from the former, nay, directly oppo- site to it ; • for the text speaks only of the departing of the sceptre, but nothing of the restoring it ; and it cannot be restored till once it is departed : therefore this exposition saying it “ shall depart,” and the text saying it “ shall not depart,” are directly contrary. Lastly, There are others wdio throw aside all these excuses, and say, that the sceptre or dominion is not yet departed from Judah, for that some Jew or other may have some sort of rule or government, in some part or other of the Avorld, though w'e know it not. Be. As if the Jews (who hold the best cor- respondence with one another of any people) could not tell this place, if there were any such where they were governed by their own laws, and by governments of their own nation, though in subjection to the government of the country where they lived. These salvos of the Jew's are contradictory to each other, they are poor excuses, and show their cause to be perfectly destitute. But I have an objection against this pro- phecy, which affects both Jews and Christians : that the regal sceptre did depart from the tribe of Judah long before your Shiloh came. Chr. First, This prophecy does not call the sceptre a regal sceptre, and therefore denotes only government in the. general. Secondly, The whole land and the nation took their name from Judah. It w'as called the land of Judah, and the nation took the name of Jews from Judah, as before that of Hebrews from Heber their progenitor, (Gen. X. 25.) And this prophecy spoke of those times when Judah should be the father of his country, and the whole nation should be comprehended under the name of Judah : and therefore Judah holds the sceptre wdierever a Jew governs. Besides, the word sceptre and throne are used in relation to inferior gover- nors, to tributary kings, and kings in cap- tivity ; thus it is said, that thirty-seven years after the captivity of Judah, the king of Babylon set the throne of Jchoiachin king of J udah above the thrones of kings that were 14 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. with him in Babylon, (2 Kings, xxv. 27, 28.) This was more than half the time of the cap- tivity ; and this was continued to Jehoiachin all the “ days of his life,” (ver. 29, 30,) which might last till the end, or near the end, of the captivity. But besides the king, the Jews had governors of their own nation allowed them, who were their archontes or rulers ; and they enjoyed their own laws, though in sub- jection to the king of Babylon. The elders of Judah (which was a name of government) are mentioned in the captivity, (Ezek. viii. 1.) And the chief of the fathers of Judah, and the Priests and the Levites, (Ezra, i. />.) And after the captivity, they had a trishahta or governor of their own nation, (Ezra, ii. 63 ; Neh. viii. 9.) And the throne or the governor is named, (Neh. iii. 7.) So that here was still the throne or sceptre of Judah. And from the time of the Maccabees to their conquest by the Romans, the supreme authority v/as in their high priests ; as it was afterwards, but in subjection to the Romans ; and they enjoyed their own laws. “ Pilate said unto them. Take ye him, and judge him according to your law,” (John, xviii. 31.) And though they answered, “ It is not lawful for us to put any man to death ;” the reason is given in the next verse, “ That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake, signifying what death he should die.” For crucifixion was a Roman death, but stoning by the law of Moses was the death for blas- phemy, of which they accused him. And they afterwards stoned Saint Stephen for the same (alleged) crime, according to their own lavv. Their high priests and council had full liberty to meet when they pleased, and to act according to their law. And Christ himself owns they “ sat in Moses’s seat,” (Matt, xxiii. 2.) The high priest sat to judge Saint Paul, who applied to him that text, (Exod. xxii. 28,) “ Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people, or speak evil of him,” as the Apostle renders it, (Acts, xxiii. 5.) So that here the government was still in the J ews, though in subjection to the Romans ; and thus it continued till the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans. But since that time they are dispersed in all countries, and have no governor or ruler of their own in any. The sceptre is entirely departed from them. Be. It is impossible but the Jews must see the difference of their state before the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, and since, and of their condition as to government in their several captivities, and now in their dispersion. In the former, they had still a face of government left among themselves : but now, none at all. And their excuses, which you have mentioned, render them indeed self-condemned. What do they say to that text you have quoted, (Jer. xxiii. 17, &c.) that David should never want a son to sit upon his throne, &c. You Christians apply it to Christ, who was called the Son of David ; but to whom do the Jews apply it ? Chr. Some of them say, that David will be raised from the dead, and made immortal, to fulfil this prophecy. Others say, that after the Messiah, who is to be of the seed of David, he shall thenceforward no more want a son, &c. Be. Both these interpretations are in flat contradiction to the text. The text says, shall never want ; these say, shall want for a long time ; they must confess now for near seventeen hundred years together, and how much longer they cannot tell, they have had none to sit in Moses’s seat, or on the throne of David, though in subjection to their enemies, as they had in the Avorst of their captivities ; but have not now in their dispersion. But is there any difference betwixt what you call the cathedra, or seat of Moses, and the throne of David ? Chr. None as to government ; for Moses was king in Jeshurun, (Deut. xxiii. 5,) but David was the first king of the tribe of Judah, which was to be the name of the whole nation ; and Christ was called the King of the Jews. It was the title set upon his cross. But after him none ever had that title to this day. Be. This is not to be answered by the Jews. But pray what person is it, do they say, was meant in chap. liii. of Isaiah, which you have quoted ? Chr. They will not have it to be any person at all ; for they can find none, except our Christ, to whom these prophecies can any way be applied. Therefore they say, it must be meant of the nation of the Jews, whose sufferings, &c. are there described in the name of a person, by which the people are to be understood. Be. But the people and the person there described as suffering, &c. are plainly contra- distinguished. It is said, ver. 8. “ For the transgression of my people was he stricken.” And ver. 3. 4, &c. “ We” (the people) “ like sheep have gone astray — And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,” that is, of the people ; who are here called Avicked. But he is called “ My righteous serA^ant, who did no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.” Therefore this people and the person here spoken of could not be the same. They are opposed to each other. The one called righteous, the other wicked. The one to die for the other, and to justify the other. “ By his knowledge shall my righteous servant jus- tify many,” &c. Chr. The Jews, before Christ came, under- stood this prophecy of the Messiah, as indeed it can be applied to none other ; but the Jews since Christ, to avoid the force of this and other prophecies which speak of the sufferings THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 15 and death of the Messiah, have invented two ' Messiahs, one Ben- Joseph of the tribe of Ephraim, who is to be the suffering Messiah, the other Ben-David, of the tribe of Judah, who is to triumph gloriously, and shall raise from the dead all the Israelites, and among them the first Messiah, Ben- Joseph. De. Does the Scripture, speak of two Mes- siahs, and the one raising the other % Chr. No, not a word ; but only of the Mes- siah, which shows it spoke only of .one. — It mentions the two-fold state of this Messiah, the first suffering, the second triumphing ; whence the modern Jews have framed to themselves these two Messiahs. De. This is shameful ! And plainly to avoid the prophecies against them. Chr. This of Isaiah is fully explained, Dan. ix. 24, &c. where it is said, that the Messiah the Prince should be cut off, but not for himself, but for the transgressions of the people, “ to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity.” And that this was to be within four hundred and ninety years after the building of the second temple, which I have mentioned before. De. I cannot imagine how the Jews get clear of this. Chr. They cannot. But in spite to it, they seek now to undervalue the whole book of Daniel, though they dare not totally reject it, because it was received by their forefathers, who preceded Christ. But about a hundred years after Christ they made a new distribution of the books of the Old Testament, different from their fathers, and took the book of Daniel out of the middle of the prophets, where it was placed before, and put it last of all. But more than this, to lessen the credit of this book, they adventured to shake the authority of their whole Scriptures ; for they took upon them to make a distinction of the books of the Scripture, and made them not all inspired or canonical, but some of them they called ' Ayioy^a,e. This argument is to the Jews ; and if I were a Jew it would move me, because they never were so long before with- i out king, temple, or sacrifice. ! Chr. But the prophecies of it, and these I fulfilled as you have seen ; and Christ being I so plainly pointed at, and the place of his I passion, by limiting the sacrifices to Jerusalem ' only ; and by causing the legal sacrifices to j cease throughout the world, to show that they | were fulfilled : all this is a strong evidence to you of the truth of these things, and of our | Jesus being the Messiah, or Christ, who was | prophesied of. I -De. I cannot deny but there is something | remarkable in this, which I will take time to j consider ; but I do not see how the Jews can stand out against this, because this mark given by Daniel of the Messiah, that soon after his death the sacrifice should cease, can- not agree to any after Messiah who should now come, so many ages after the sacrifice has ceased. Chr. Since we have fallen into the subject of the Jews, I will give you another prophecy which cannot be fulfilled in any after Messiah whom the Jews expect. And it will be also a confirmation to you of the truth of the prophecies of the Holy Scriptures. Thus God speaks, (Jer. xxxiii. 20—22,) “ Thus saith the Lord, if you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season ; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne ; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measT^red ; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.” Now let the Jews tell in which son of David this is fulfilled, except only in our Christ ? And how this is made good to the priests and Levites, otherwise than as Isaiah prophesied, (Ixvi. 21,) “ And I will also take of them” (the Gentiles) “for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.” And as it is thus applied, 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9 ; and Rev. i. 6 ; and this evangelical priesthood is multiplied as the stars of heaven, (which they are frequently called,) not like the tribe of Levi, which could not afford priests to all the earth. And as I said before of J erusalem and the sacrifices there, that they are ceased, to show they are fulfilled, so here, after this Son of David was come, all his other sons ceased, and the very genealogy of their tribes, and so of Judah, is lost, as also of the tribe of Levi ; so that the Jews can never tell, if any after B 18 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 1 Messiah should appear, whether he were of the tribe of Judah, far less whether he were of the lineage of David : nor can they show the genealogy of any they call Levites now among them. This is occasioned by their being dispersed among all nations, and yet preserved a dis- tinct people from all the earth, though without any country of their own, or king, or priest, or temple, or sacrifice. And they are thus preserved by the providence of God, so as never any nation was since the founda- tion of the world, to show the fulfilling of the prophecies concerning them, and the judg- ments pronounced against them for their crucifying their Messiah ; and that their con- version may be more apparent to the world, and their being gathered out of all nations, and restored to Jerusalem, (as is promised them) when they shall come to acknowledge their Messiah. And God not permitting them to have any king or governor upon earth, ever since their last dispersion by the Romans, (lest they might say that the sceptre was not departed from Judah,) is to convince them, when God shall take the veil off their heart, that no other Messiah, who can come hereafter, can answer this prophecy of J eremiah, or that of Jacob, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah till Shiloh came. (11.) And it is wonder/al consider how expressly their present state is prophesied of, that it could not be more literal, if it were to be worded now by us who see it. As that they should be scattered into all countries, sifted as with a sieve among all nations, yet preserved a people ; and that God would make an utter end of those nations who had oppressed them, and blot out their names from under heaven, (as we have seen it ful- filled upon the great empires of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Romans, who one after the other had miserably wasted the Jews,) but that the name of the Jews, the fewest and poorest of all nations, should remain for ever, and they a people distinct from all the nations in the world, though scattered among them all. Read the prophecies express upon this point, (Jer. xxx. 11 ; xxxi. 36, 37 ; xxxiii. 24 — 26 ; xlvi. 28 ; Isa. xxvii. 7 ; xxix. 7, 8 ; liv. 9, 10 ; Ixv. 8 ; Ezek. vi. 8 ; xi. 16, 17 ; xii. 1^ 16 ; Amos, ix. 8, 9 ; Zech. x. 9.) And it was foretold them long before that thus it would be, (Lev. xxvi. 44,) and this “ in the latter days,’^ (Deut. iv. 27, 30, 31.) Thus Moses told them of it so long before, as the after prophets frequently ; and you see all these prophecies literally fulfilled and fulfil- ling. The like cannot be said of any other nation that ever was upon the earth ! So destroyed, and so preserved ! and for so long a time ! — having worn out all the great empires of the world, and still surviving them ! — to fulfil what was farther prophesied of them to the end of the world. i De. I cannot say but there is something | very surprising in this : I never thought of it j before. It is a living prophecy w^hich we see I fulfilled and still fulfilling at this day before ' our eyes. For w^e are sure these prophecies | w^ere not coined yesterday ; and they are as ' express and particular as if they were to be ^ wrote now", after the events are so far come to pass. (12.) CJir. As the door w"as kept open to Christ before he came, by the many and fla- grant prophecies of him, and by the types representing him, so w-as the door for ever shut after him, by those prophecies being all fulfilled and completed in him, and applicable to none who should come after him ; and by all the types ceasing, the shadows vanishing, when the substance was come. No Messiah- can come now before the sceptre depart from Judah, and the sacrifice from Jerusalem ; before the sons of David (all except Christ) shall cease to sit upon his throne, none can come now wdthin four hundred and ninety years of the building of the second temple, nor come into that very temple, as I have before showed w"as expressly prophesied by Daniel and Haggai. De. I know not w"hat the Jews can say, who own these prophecies. Chr. They say, that the coming of the Messiah at the time spoke of in the Prophets, has been delayed because of their sins. De. Then it may be delayed for ever, unless they can tell us when they will grow better. But, however, these prophecies have failed which spoke of the time of the Messiah’s coming ; and they can never be a proof here- after, because the time is past. So that, according to this, they were made for no pur- pose, unless to show that they were false ; that is, no prophecies at all ! But were these prophecies upon condition ? Or was it said that the coming of the Messiah should be delayed if the Jews were sinful ? Chr. No : so far from it, that it was expressly prophesied that the coming of the Messiah should be in the most sinful state of the Jews, and to purge their sins, (Dan. ix. 24 ; Zech. xiii. 1.) And the ancient tradition i of the J ews was pursuant to this, that at the | coming of tho Messiah the temple should be | a den of thieves, (Rabbi Juda, in Masoreta,) j and a time of great corruption, (Talmud, tit. ! de Synedrio, and de Ponderibus, &c.) But more than this, the very case is put of their being most sinful, and it is expressly said, that this should not hinder the fulfilling of the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah, spoke of as the Son of David, (2 Sam. vii. 14 — 16 ; Psal. Ixxxix. 30, 33 -37.) But it was prophesied that they should not THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 19 i know their Messiah, and should reject him when he came ; that he should be a “ stone of stumbling,” and a “rock of offence” to them, (Isa. viii. 14, 15 ;) and that “ their eyes should be closed,” that they should not understand their own prophets, (xxix. 9 — 11 ;) that their builders should reject the head stone of their corner, (Psal. cxviii. 22 ;) and the like in several other places of their own prophets. And thus they mistook the pro- phecy concerning the coming of Elias, whom it is said they knew not, “but did to him what they listed ;” and so the same of Christ, (Matt. xvii. 12.) And it is said, (1 Cor. ii. 8,) that “ had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” De. This indeed solves the prophecies, both those of the coming of the Messiah, and of the Jews not knowing him, and therefore rejecting him ; and likewise obviates this excuse of theirs ; for if they were very sinful at that time, it was a greater punishment of their sin not to know, and to reject their Messiah, than his not coming at that time would have been. Chr, The great sin mentioned for which they were punished by several captivities, was their idolatry, the last and longest of which captivities was that of seventy years in Babylon ; since which time they have for- saken their idolatry, and have never been nationally guilty of it since, but always had it in the utmost abhorrence. But since their rejecting their Messiah, they have been now near seventeen hundred years — not in a cap- tivity, where they might be all together, and enjoying their own law, government, and worship, in some manner, but — dispersed over all the world, without country of their own, or king, or priest, or temple, or sacrifice, or any prophet to comfort them, or give them hopes of a restoration ; and all this come upon them, not for their old sin of idolatry, but from that curse they imprecated upon themselves when they crucified their Messiah, saying, “ His blood be on us and on our children which cleaves unto them from* that day to this, and is visible to all the world but to themselves ! And what other sin can they think greater than idolatry, for which they have been punished so much more terribly than for all their idolatries? what other sin can this be, but their crucifying the Messiah ? And here they may see their sinful state, which they allege as an excuse for their Messiah’s not coming at the time foretold by the prophets, rendered tenfold more sinful by their rejecting him when he came. De. This is a full answer, and convincing as to the Jews. But have you any more to say to me ? (13.) Chr. I have one thing more to offer, which may come under this head of types, and that is, persons who represented Christ in several particulars, and so might be called ; personal types. And I will not apply these out of my own head, but as they are applied in the New Testament, which, having all the marks of , the Old Testament, and stronger evidence than these, in those marks we are now upon, i their authority is indisputable. | 1. I begin with Adam, who gave us life 1 and death too ; and Christ came by his death to restore us to life again, even life eternal. ! Hence Christ is called the second Adam, and Adam is called the figure of Christ. The parallel betwixt them is insisted on, Rom. v. 12. to the end, and 1 Cor. xv. 45 — 50. Eve j received her life from Adam, as the Church from Christ. She was taken out of the side of Adam when he was in a dead sleep ; and : after Christ was dead, the sacraments of water i and blood flowed out of his side, that is, baptism, whereby we are bom into Christ, and the sacrament of his blood, whereby we are nourished into eternal life. 2. Enoch was carried up bodily into heaven ; as Elijah, — one under the patriarchal, the other under the legal dispensation. In both, the ascension of Christ was prefigured. 3. Noah, a preacher of righteousness to the old world, and father of the new. Vv^ho saved the church by water, the like figure where- unto even baptism doth also now save us, (1 Pet. iii. 20, 21.) 4. Melchisedec, that is. King of Righteous- ness, and King of Peace, and Priest of the most High God ; who was made like unto the Son of God, a priest continually, (Heb. vii. 1, 2, 3.) 5. Abraham, the friend of God, and Father of the Faithful, the heir of the world, (Rom. iv. 13 ;) in whom all the nations of the earth are blessed, (Gen. xviii. 18.) 6. Isaac, the heir of this promise, was born after his father and mother were both past the age of generation in the course of nature, (Gen. xvii. 17. xviii. 11. ; Rom. iv. 19. ; Heb, xi. 11, 12.) The nearest type that could be to the generation of Christ wholly without a man. And his sacrifice had a very near resem- blance to the sacrifice and death of Christ, who lay three days in the grave, and Isaac was three days a dead man (as we say in the law) under the sentence of death, (Gen. xxii. 4.) whence Abraham received him in a figure, (Heb. xi. 19.) that is, of the resurrection of Christ. And Abraham was commanded to go three days’ journey to sacrifice Isaac upon the same mountain (according to the ancients) where Christ was crucified, and where Adam was buried. Again the common epithet of Christ, that is, “the only begotten of the Father, and his beloved Son,” were both given to Isaac, (Gen. xxii. 2. ; Heb. xi. 17.) For he was the only son that was begotten in that 20 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. miraculous manner, after both his parents were decayed by nature. And he was the only son of the promise, which was not made to the seed of Abraham in general, but “ in Isaac shall thy seed be called,” (Gen. xxi. 12.) “ He saith not, And to seeds, as of many ; but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ,” (Gal. iii. 16.) And as Isaac, which signifies rejoicing, or laughing for joy, was thus the only begotten of his parents, so Abram signifies the glorious father, and Abraham (into which his name was changed on the promise of Isaac, Gen. xvii, 5, 16.) signifies the father of a multitude, to express the coming in of the Gentiles to Christ, and the increase of the Gospel ; whence it is there said to Abraham, “ A father of many nations have I made thee, and in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” Isaac, who was born by promise of a free woman, represented the Christian church, in opposition to Ishmael, who was born after the flesh, of a bond-maid, and signified the Jewish church under the law. (See this allegory carried on, Gal. iv. 21, to the end.) 7. Jacob, his vision of the ladder, (Gen. xxviii. 12.) shows the intercourse which was opened by Christ betwixt heaven and earth, by his making peace : and to this he alludes M'hen he says, “ Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man,” (John, i. 15.) And Jacob’s wrestling with the angel, (Gen. xxxii. 24, &c. Hos. xii. 4.) and as it were pre- vailing over him by force to bless him, shows the strong and powerful intercession of Christ; whereby (as he words it. Matt. xi. 12 ) “ hea- ven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Whence the name of Jacob was then turned to Israel, that is, one who pre- vails upon God, or has power over him ; God representing himself here as overcome by us ; and the name of Israel was ever after given to the Church. But much more so when Christ came, as he said, (Matt. xi. 12,) “ From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,” &c. that is, from the first promulgation of Christ being come. Thenceforward the Gentiles began to press into the Gospel, and as by force to take it from the Jews. This was signified in the name Jacob, that is, a sup- planter, for the Gentiles here supplanted their elder brother the Jews, and stole the blessing and heirship from them. 8. Joseph was sold by his brethren out of envy ; but it proved the preservation of them and all their families ; and Christ was sold by his brethren out of envy, (Mark, xv. 10,) which proved the means of their redemption : and Christ, as Joseph, became lord over his brethren. 9. Moses calls Christ a prophet like unto' I himself, (Deut. xviii. 18.) He represented j Christ the great lawgiver ; and his delivering i Israel out of Egypt, was a type of Christ’s | delivering his Church from the bondage of sin ! and hell. ! 10. Joshua, called also Jesus, (Heb. iv. 8,) overcame all the enemies of Israel, and gave them possession of the Holy Land, which was a type of heaven : and Christ appeared to Joshua, as Captain of the host of the Lord, (Josh. V. 14.) So that Joshua was his lieu- tenant representing him. ' ! 11. Sampson, who by his single valour and ; his own strength overcame the Philistines, and ! slew more at his death than in all his life, was a representation of Christ, who “ trod the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him, but his own arm brought him salvation,” (Isa. Ixiii. 8, 5.) But his death completed his victory, whereby he overcame all the power of the enemy, “and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross,” (Col. ii. 15.) 12. David, whose Son Christ is called, speaks frequently of him in his owm person, and in events which cannot be applied to David, as (Psal. xvi. 10,) “ Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption ;” for David has seen corruption. Christ is said to sit upon the | throne of David, (Isa. ix. 7.) And Christ is ' called by the name of David, (Hos. iii. 5,) and frequently in the prophets. David from a shepherd became a king and a prophet, denoting the threefold office of Christ, pastoral, regal, and prophetical. ' 13. Solomon, the wisest of men, his peace- ■ able and magnificent reign, represented the ^ triumphal state of Christ’s kingdom, which is described Psal. Ixxii. inscribed for Solomon, (there called the king’s son) but far exceeding the glory of his reign, or what can possibly be applied to him, (as ver. 5, 8, 11, 17.) But his reign came the nearest of any to that universal i and glorious reign there described, particularly ! in his being chosen to build the temple, because i he was a man of peace, and had shed no blood, like David his father, who conquered the ene- mies of Israel, but Solomon built the Church in full peace ; and as it is particularly set down, 1 Kings, vi. 7, and no doubt he was ordered by God so to do, “ That the house when it was building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither : so that there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any tool of iron , heard in the house while it was building.” Which did denote that the Church of Christ was to be built, not only in peace, but with- out noise or confusion, as Isaiah prophesied of him, (chap. xlii. 2.) “ He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street : a bruised reed shall he not break,” &c. THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 21 1 He was not to conquer with the sword, as the i Israelites subdued Canaan, hut to overcome by meekness, and doing good to his enemies, ^ and patiently suffering all injuries from them. And so he taught his followers, as Saint Paul says, (2 Tim. ii. 24,) “ The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men ; in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,” &c. And I cannot think but there was some imitation of this peaceable temple of Solomon in the temple of Janus among the Romans ; ; for that was never to be shut but in time of peace, which happened rarely among them, — but three times in ail their history. The last was in the reign of Augustus, in which time Christ came into the world, when there was a profound and universal peace: and so it became the Prince of Peace, whose birth was thus proclaimed by the angels, (Luke, ii. 14,) Glory to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men.” But to go on : 14. Jonah’s being three days and nights in the belly of the whale, was a sign of Christ’s being so long in the heart of the earth. Christ himself makes the allusion, (Matt. xii. 40.) 15. But as there were several persons, at several times, representing and prefiguring several particulars of the life and death of Christ ; so there was one standing and con- ; tinual representation of him appointed in the person of the high priest under the law ; who, : entering into the holy of holies once a-year, with the blood of the great expiatory sacrifice, i and he only, to make atonement for sin, did lively represent our great High priest entering 1 into heaven, once for all, with his own blood, to expiate the sins of the whole world. This is largely insisted upon in the epistle to the Hebrews, (chap. vii. viii. ix. x.) And our deliverance by the death of Christ is represented, as in a picture, in that ordinance i of the law, that the man-slayer, who fled to 1 one of the cities of refuge, (which were all of the cities of the Levites) should not come out 1 thence till the death of the high priest, and i no satisfaction be taken till then, and then he should be acquitted and “ return into the land of his possession.” (Num. xxxv. C, 25 — ' 28.) And I doubt not but the Gentiles had from hence their asyla or temples of refuge for criminals. (1.) De. There is a resemblance in these things ; but I would not have admitted them as a proof, if you had not supported them, at least most of them, with the authority of the New Testament. And it was not neces- sary that every one should be named in it ; for those that are named are only occasionally; and I must take time to consider of the evi- dences you have brought for the authority of I the New Testament, which you have made j full as great, if not greater, than the evidences 1 for the Old Testament. Chr. I may say greater upon this head of prophecies and types, because these are no proofs till they are fulfilled ; though then they prove the truth of these prophecies and types ; and so the one confirms the other : but the whole evidence of the law is fiot made apparent till we see it fulfilled in the Gospel. For which reason I call the Gospel the strongest proof, not only as to itself, but likewise as to the law ; and the Jews, as much as in them lies, have invalidated this strongest proof for the Old Testament, which is the fulfilling of it in the New. Nay, they have rendered these prophecies false, which, they say, were not fulfilled at the time they spake of, and never now can be fulfilled. And as no fact but that of our Christ alone ever had his evidence of prophecies and types from the beginning, so never can any other fact have it now while the world lasts. (2.) De. Why do you say. Never can have it? For may not God make what fact he pleases, and give it what evidence he pleases ? Chr. But it cannot have the evidence that the fact of Christ has, unless at that distance of time hereafter, as from the beginning of the world to this day. Because God took care that the evidence of Christ should commence from the very beginning, in the promise of him made to Adam, and to be ..renewed by the prophets in all the after ages till he should come : and the evidence of him after his coming (in which I have instanced) and which continues to this day, before it can belong to any other, must have the same compass of time that has gone to confirm this evidence, else it has not the same evidence. (3.) De. By this argument the evidence grows stronger the longer it continues, since you say, that the prophecies of the Scriptures reach to the end of the world, and so will be farther and farther fulfilling every day. This is contrary to what one of your doctors has lately advanced, who pretends to calculate the age of evidences,* That in such a time they decay, and in such a time must die. And that the evidence of Christianity having lasted so long, is upon the decay, and must wear out soon, if not supplied by some fresh and new evidence. Chr. This may be true as to fables which have no foundation : but is that prophecy I ' mentioned to you of the dispersion and yet wonderful preservation of the Jews, less evi- | dent to you, because it was made so long ago? De. No. It is much more evident for that. If I had lived at the time when those pro- phecies were made, I fancy I should not have believed one word of them ; but wondered at j the assurance of those who ventured to foretel such improbable and almost impossible things. ; And I should have thought the same of what you have told mo of your Christ forc- * Craig, Tlieologiac Cliristiana? Priiicipia Blathcmatica, IGOa j j 22 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. telling^ the progress of his Gospel, at the first so very slender appearance of it, and by such weak and improbable means, as only suffering and dying for it, which to me would have I seemed perfect despair, and a giving up the ! cause. I should have thought of them, as of I others, who prophesy of things after their : time, that they might not be contradicted wdiile they lived. But my seeing so much of these prophecies concerning the Jews, and the progress of the I Gospel, come to pass so long time after, is the only thing that makes me lay stress upon them, and which makes them seem wonderful : to me. ; Chr. When the prophecies shall all be fully completed at the end of the world, they will then seem strongest of all ; they will then be j undeniable ; when Christ shall visibly descend from heaven, (in the same manner as he I ascended) to execute both what he has pro- ; mised and threatened. And in the mean ; time the prophecies lose none of their force, but their evidence increases, as “ the light shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” (VIII.) Be. I observe you have made no use of that common topic of the truth and sincerity of the penmen of the Scriptures, and what interest they could have in setting up these things if they had been false ; for this can amount, at most, but to a probability : and you having produced those evidences which you think infallible, it might seem a lessening of your proof to insist upon bare probabilities ; so tliat I suppose you give that up. (1.) No, sir, I give it not up, though I have not made it the chief foundation of my argu- ment ; and if it were but a probability, it wants not ite force, for it is thought unreasonable to deny a flagrant probability, where there is not as strong a probability on the other side, for then that makes a doubt : but otherwise, men generally are satisfied with probabilities, for that is the greatest part of our knowledge. If w^e will believe nothing but w'hat carries an infallible demonstration along with it, we must be sceptics in most things of the world ; and such were never thought the wisest men. But besides, a probability may be sooner discerned by some, than the infallibility of a demonstration ; therefore we must not lay aside probabilities. But in this case, I think there is an infallible assurance, — as infallible as the senses of all mankind ; ^nd I suppose you will not ask a greater. (2.) Be. How can you say that, when I the suffering of afflictions, and death itself, is I but a probability of the truth of what is told i us ; because some have suffered death for j errors? I Chr. But then they thought them true ; j| and men may be deceived in their judgments, j l— - we see many examples of it. But if the facts related be such, as that it is impossible for those who tell them to be imposed upon them- selves, or for those to whom they are told to believe them, if not true, without supposing an universal deception of the senses of man- kind, then I hope I have brought the case up to that infallible demonstration I promised : and this is the case of the facts related in Holy Scripture. They were told by those who saw them, and did them, and they were told to those who saw them likewise themselves : and the relaters appealed to this : so that here could be no deceit. Be. I grant there is a great difference between erj’ors in opinion and in fact ; and that such facts as are told of Moses and of Christ, could not have passed upon the people then alive, and who were said to have seen them. And I find that both Moses, Christ, and the apostles, did appeal to what the people they spoke to had seen themselves. Chr. With this consideration, their patient suffering, even unto death, for the truth of what they taught, will be a full demonstration of the truth of it. (8.) Add to this, that their enemies who | persecuted them, the Romans as well as Jews, j to whom they appealed as witnesses of the I facts, did not offer to deny them : That none i of the apostates from Christianity did attempt | to detect any falsehood in the facts ; though they might have had great rewards if they j could have done it, the Roman emperors | being then persecutors of Christianity, and | for three hundred years after Christ : And | Julian the emperor, afterwards turned apos- } tate, who had been initiated in the sacra of i Christianity, yet could not he detect any of | the facts. | (4.) And it was a particular providence for the further evidence of Christianity, that all i the civil governments in the world were against it for the first three hundred years, lest it might be said, (as it is ridiculously in | your Amintor) that the awe of the civil j government might' hinder those who could ‘ make the detection. Now, sir, to apply all that we have said, I desire you would compare these evidences I : liave brought for Christianity, with those that are pleaded for any other religion. There are but four in the world, namely, Christianity, Judaism, Heathenism, and Ma- hometanism. (1.) Christianity was the first ; for from the ■ first promise of Christ made to Adam during | the patriarchal and legal dispensations, all was ! Christianity in type, as I have showed. And as to Moses and the Law, the Jews can i give no evidence for that, which will not ; equally establish the truth of Christ and the I Gospel. Nor can the}’^ disprove the facts of ] Christ by any topic, which will not likewise i THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 23 disprove all tliose of Moses and the Prophets. So that they are hedged in on every side : they must either renounce Moses, or acknow- ledge Christ. Moses and the Law have the first five evi- dences, but they have not the sixth and the seventh, which are the strongest. This is as to Judaism before Christ came ; but since, as it now stands in opposition to Christianity, in favour of any future Messiah, it has none of the evidences at all. On the contrary, their own prophecies and types 1 make against them, for their prophecies are I fulfilled, and their types are ceased, and can- not belong to any other Messiah who should come hereafter. They stand now more naked than the Heathens or the Mahometans. (2.) Next for Heathenism, some of the facts recorded of their gods have the first and second evidences, and some the third, but not one of them the fourth, or any of the other evidences. 1 But truly and properly speaking, and if we will take the opinion of the heathens thom- ■ selves, they w^ere no facts at all, but mytholo- gical fables, invented to express some moral ; virtues or vices, or the history of nature, and j power of the elements, &c. As likewise to turn great part of the History of the Old 1 Testament into fable, and make it their own, 1 for they disdained to borrow from the Jews, j They made gods of men, and the most vicious too ; insomuch that some of their wise men thought it a corruption of youth to read the history of their gods, whom they represented as notorious liars, thieves, adulterers, &c. though they had some mythology hid under all that. And as men were their gods, so they made the first man to be father of the gods, and called him Saturn, not begot by any man, but the son of CcbIus and Vesta, that is, of heaven and earth. And his maiming his father with a steel scythe, was to show how heaven itself is impaired by time, whom they painted with wings and a scythe mowing down all things. And Saturn eating up his own children, was only to express how timo devours all its own productions : and his being deposed by Jupiter his son, shows that time, which wears away ! all other things, is worn away itself at last. ! ' Several of the heathen authors have given i; us the mythology of their gods, with which I 1 will not detain you. : ‘ They expressed every thing, and worshipped ; every thing under the name of a god, as the i god of sleep, of music, of eloquence, of hunting, drinking, love, war, &c. They had above thirty thousand of them ; and in what they I told of them, and as they described them, they i often traced the sacred story. ' Ovid begins his Metamorphoses with a 1 perfect poetical version of the beginning of I Genesis, “Ante Mare et Tellus.” — Then goes j on with the history of the creation ; the for- mation of man out of the dust of the earth, and being made after the image of God, and to have dominion over the inferior creatures. Then he tells of the general corruption, and the giants before the flood, when the earth was filled with violence ; for which all man- kind, wdth the beasts and the fowl, were destroyed by the universal deluge, except only Deucalion and Pyrrha his wife, who were saved in a boat, which landed them on the top of Mount Parnassus ; and that from these two the whole earth was re-peopled. I think it will be needless to detain the reader with an application of this to the history of the creation set down by Moses, of the flood, and the ark wherein Noah was saved, and the earth re-peopled by him, &c. And Noah was plainly intended likewise in their god Janus, with his two faces, one old, looking backward to the old world that was destroyed ; the other young, looking forward to the new world that was to spring from him. So that even their turning the sacred history into fable, is a confirmation of it. And there can be no comparison betwixt the truths of the facts so attested, as I have showed, and the fables that were made from them. (3.) Lastly, as to the Mahometan religion, it wants all the evidences we have mentioned, for there was no miracle said to be done by Mahomet, publicly and in the face of the world, but that only of conquering with the sword. Who saw his Mesra, or journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to heaven in one night, and back in bed with his wife in the morning ? Who was present and heard the conversation the moon had with him in his cave? It is not said there was any witness. And the Alcnran, c. vi. excuses his not work- ing any miracles to prove his mission. They say that Moses and Christ came to show the clemency and goodness of God, to which miracles were necessary : but that Mahomet came to show the power of God, to which no miracle was needful but that of the sword. (1.) And his Alcoran is a rhapsody of stuff, without head or tail, one would think wrote by a madman, with ridiculous titles, as the chapter of the Cow, of the Spider, &c. And their legends are much more senseless than those of the Papists ; as of an angel, the distance betwixt whose two hands is seventy thousand days’ journey. Of a cow’s head with horns which have forty thousand knots, and forty days’ journey betwixt each knot : and others which have seventy mouths, and every mouth seventy tongues, and each tongue praises God seventy times a-day, in seventy different idioms. And of wax candles before the throne of God, wdiich are fifty years’ jour- ney from one end to the other. The Alcoran says, the earth was created in two days, and is supported by an ox, which stands under it, j i 24 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. upon a white stone, with his head to the east, and his tail to the west, having forty horns, I and as great a distance betwixt every horn as a man could walk in a thousand years’ time. I Then their description of heaven, in a full I enjoyment of wine, women, and other like ! gross sensual pleasures. (2.) When you compare this with our Holy Scriptures, you will need no argument to make you see the difference. The Heathen orators have admired the sublime of the style of our Scriptures ; no writing in the w'orld comes near it, even with all the disadvantage of our translation, which, being obliged to be literal, must lose much of the beauty of it. The j plainness and succinctness of the historical I part, the melody of the Psalms, the instruction of the Proverbs, the majesty of the Prophets, and, above all, that easy sweetness in the New j Testament, where the glory of heaven is set ; forth in a grave and moving expression, which yet reaches not the height of the subject ; not like the flights of rhetoric, which set out small matters in great -words. But the Holy Scrip- tures touch the heart, raise expectation, con- firm our hope, strengthen our faith, give peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost, which is inexpressible. All which you will experience when you once come to believe ; you will then bring forth these fruits of the Spirit, when you receive the word with pure affection, as we pray in our Litany. (8.) But, sir, if there is truth in the Alcoran, then the Holy Scriptures are the word of God, for the Alcoran says so, and that it was sent to confirm them, even the Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament ; and it expressly owns our Jesus to be the Messiah. At the end of the fourth chapter it has these words : “ The Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, is a I j)rophet, and an angel of God, his Word and i his Spirit, which he sent to Mary.” But it j gives him not the name of Son of God, for this I wise reason, (chap, vi.) “ How shall God have 1 a son, who hath no wives?” Yet it owns ' Jesus to be born of a pure virgin, without a I man, by the operation of the Spirit of God. j And in the same chapter this Mahomet I acknowledges his own ignorance, and says, “ I told you not that I had in my power all ! the treasures of God, neither that I had know- i ledge of the future and past, nor do affirm ' that I am an angel ; I only act what hath I been inspired into me ; is the blind like him that seeth clearly ?” And after says, “ I am I not your tutor, every thing hath its time, you I shall hereafter understand the truth.” ! This is putting off", and bidding them expect some other after Mahomet. But our Jesus said. He -was our tutor and teacher, and that there was none to come after him. Mahomet said he was no angel, but that Jesus was an angel of God. But when God bringeth Jesus into the world^ he saith, “ Lot all the angels of God worship him,” (Heb. i. 6.) And he made him Lord of all the angels. Mahomet knew not what was past or to come ; but our Jesus knew all things, what was in the heart of every man, (John, ii. 24, 25,) which none can do, but God only, (1 Kings, viii. 39,) and foretold things to come to the end of the world. Mahomet had not all the treasures of God ; but in Jesus are hid “ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” (Col. ii. 3, 9.) Again, Mahomet never called himself the Messiah, or the Word, or Spirit of God, yet all these appellations he gives to our Jesus. There were prophecies of Jesus, which w'e have seen : were there any of Mahomet ? None ; except of the “ false Christs and false Prophets,” which Jesus told should come after him, and bid us beware of them, for that they should deceive many. (4.) T>c. But if Mahomet gave thus the preference to Christ in every thing, and said that his Alcoran was only a confirmation of the Gospel ; how came he to set it up against the Gospel, and to reckon the Christians among the unbelievers ? Chr. No otherwise than as other heretics did, who called themselves the only true Christians, and invented new interpretations of the Scriptures. The Socinians now charge whole Christianity wdth apostacy, idolatry, and polytheism : and the Alcoran is but a system of the old Arianism, ill digested and worse put together, "with a mixture of some Heathenism and Judaism ; for Mahomet’s father was a Heathen, his mother a Jewess, and his tutor was Sergius the Monk, a Nesto- rian ; which sect was a branch of Arianism ; these crudely mixed made up the farrago of the Alcoran ; but the prevailing part was Arianism ; and where that spread itself in the east, there Mahometanism succeeded, and i sprung out of it, to let all Christians see the I horror of that heresy ! And our Socinians I now among us, who call themselves Unitari- ans, are much more Mahometans than Chris- tians. For except some personal things as to | Mahomet, they agree almost wholly in his doctrine ; and as such addressed themselves to ! the Morocco ambassador here in the reign of King Charles II. as you may see in the Preface to my Dialogues against the Socinians, printed in the year 1708. Nor do they speak more honourably of Christ and the Holy Scriptures than the Alcoran does : and there is no error concerning Christ in the Alcoran but what was broached before by the heretics of Chris- tianity ; as that Christ did not suffer really, but in appearance only, or that some other j was crucified in his stead, but he taken up into heaven, as the Alcoran speaks. So that, in strictness, I should not have reckoned Mahometanism as one of the four 1 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. 25 1 religions in the world, but as one of the ! heresies of Christianity. But because of its great name, and its having spread so far in the world, by the conquests of Mahomet and 1 his followers, and that it is vulgarly under- ' stood to be a distinct religion by itself, there- I ' fore I have considered it as such. And as to your concern in the matter, you i see plainly, that the Alcoran comes in attes- , tation and confirmation of the facts of Christ, and of the Holy Scriptures. De. I am not come yet so far as to enter into the disputes of the several sects of Chris- tianity ; but as to the fact of Christ and of the Scriptures in general, Mahometanism, I see, does rather confirm than oppose it. Chr. What then do you think of Judaism, as it now stands in opposition to Christianity ? De. Not only as without any evidence, the time prophesied of for the coming of the Messiah being long since past : but all their former evidences turn directly against them, and against any Messiah who ever hereafter should come. As that the sceptre should not depart from Judah ; that he should come into the second temple ; that the sacrifices should 1 cease soon after his death ; that David should never want a son to sit upon his throne ; that they should be many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, &c. which they do not suppose ever will be the case after their Messiah is come. So that they are witnesses against themselves. Chr. And what do you think of the stories of the Heathen Gods ? De. I believe them no more than all the stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Nor did the wiser Heathens believe them, only such silly people as suck in all the Popish legends without examining. And to tell you the truth, I thought the same of all your stories in the Bible ; but I ! will take time to examine those proofs you have given me. For we Deists do not dispute against Chris- ; tiaiiity in behalf of any other religion of the ,! Jews, or Heathens, or Mahometans, all which ; ]>retend to revelation ; but w'e are against all ; revelation ; and go only upon bare nature, and wliat our own reason dictates to us. 1 (1.) Chr. What nature dictates, it dic- ! tates to all, at least to the most and the :j generality of mankind ; and if we measure by ,, this, then it will appear a natural notion, that !! tliere is necessity of a revelation in religion : i| and herein you have all the world against you from the very beginning. And will you ! plead nature against all these ? ! De. The notion came down from one to an- ■' other from the beginning, we know not how. I CJir. Then it was either nature from the j beginning, or else it was from revelation at j; the beginning, wlience tlie notion has de- 1 ; scended through all posterities to this day. (2.) And there wants no reason for this : for when man had fallen, and his reason was corrupted, (as we feel it upon us to this day, as sensibly as the diseases and infirmities of the body,) was it not highly reasonable tliat God should give us a law and directions how to serve and worship him ? Sacrifices do not seem to be any natural invention : for wliy should the taking away the life of my fellow- creature be acceptable to God, or a worship of him ? It would rather seem an oftence against him. But as types of the great and only propitiatory sacrifice of Christ to come, and to keep up our faith in that, the institu- tion given with the revelation of it appears most rational. And that it was necessary, the great defection shows, not only of the heathens, but of the Jews themselves, who, though they retained the institution, yet, in a great measure, lost the true meaning and signification of it ; and are now to be brought back to it by reminding them of the institu- tion and the reason of it. Plato, (in his Alcibiad. ii. de Precat.) has the same reasoning, and concludes, that we cannot know of ourselves what petitions will be pleasing to God, or what worship to give him : but that it is necessary a lawgiver should be sent from heaven to instruct us ; and such a one he did expect ; and “ 0 how greatly do I desire to see that man I ” says he, and “ who he is ! ” The primitive tradition of the expected Messiah had no doubt come to him, as to many others of the heathens, from the Jews, and likely from the perusal of their Scriptures. For Plato goes farther, and says, (de Leg. 1. 4,) That this lawgiver must be more than man ; for he observes, that every nature is governed by another nature that is superior to it, as birds and beasts by man, who is of a distinct and superior nature. So he infers, that this lawgiver, who was to teach man what man could not know by his own nature, | must be of a nature that is superior to man, ; that is, of a divine nature. j Nay, he gives as lively a description of the : person, qualifications, life, and death of this ; divine man, as if he had copied chap. liii. of Isaiah : for he says, (de Repub. 1. 2,) That j this just person must be poor and void of all i recommendations but that of virtue alone ; ' that a wicked world would not bear his instructions and reproof, and therefore, within three or four years after he began to preach, he should be persecuted, imprisoned, scourged, and at last put to death ; his word is 'Ava.xtv- 'hvXiu that is, cut in pieces, as they cut their sacrifices. De. These arc remarkable passages as you apply them ; and Plato was three hundred years before Christ. j But I incline to think that these notions ' came rather from such tradition as you speak ' 1 26 THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. of, than from nature ; and I can see nothing of nature in sacrifices, they look more like institution, come that how it will. (3.) Chr. It is strange that all the nations in the world should be carried away from what you call nature ; unless you will take refuge among the Hottentots at the Cape of Good Hope, hardly distinguishable from beasts, to show us what nature left to itself would do ! and leave us all the wise and polite world on the side of revelation, either real or pretended ; and of opinion that mankind could not be without it ; and my business now with you has been to disting-uish the real from the pretended. (4.) Be. By the account you have given, there is but one religion in the world, nor ever was : for the J ewish was but Christianity in type, though in time greatly corrupted : and the heathen was a greater corruption, and founded the fables of their gods upon the facts of Scripture : and the Mahometan you say is but a heresy of Christianity. So that all is Christianity still. Chr. It is true God gave but one revela- tion to the world, which was that of Christ ; and as that was corrupted, new revelations were pretended. But God has guarded his revelations with such evidences, as it vras not in the power of men or devils to counterfeit or contrive any thing like them. Some bear resemblance in one or tw'o features, in the first two or three evidences that I have pro- duced ; but as none reach the fourth, so they are all quite destitute of the least pretence to the remaining four. So that when you look upon the face of divine revelation, and take it altogether, it is impossible to mistake it for any of those delusions which the devil has set up in imitation of it. And they are made to confirm it, because all the resemblance they have to truth, is that wherein they are any ways like it ; but when compared with j it, they show, as an ill drawn picture, half I man half beast, in presence of the beautiful j original. ; (5.) Be. It is strange, that if the case be I thus plain as you have made it, the whole j world is not immediately convinced. : Chr. If the seed be never so good, yet if 1 it be sown upon stoues or among thorns, it I will bring forth nothing. There are hearts I of stone, and others so filled with the love of riches, with the cares and pleasures of this life, that they will not see ; they have not a mind to know any thing which they think . would disturb them in their enjoyments, or ' lessen their opinion of them, for that would i be taking away so much of their pleasure ; ' therefore it is no easy matter to persuade men ; to place their happiness in future expectations, I which is the import of the Gospel. And in I pressing this, and bidding the worldly-minded abandon their beloved vices, and telling the i fatal consequences of them, we must expect to meet not only with their scorn and con- tempt, but their utmost rage and impatience, to get rid of us, as so many enemies of their lusts and pleasures. This is the cross which our Saviour prepared all his disciples to bear, who were to fight against flesh and blood, and all the allurements of the world ; and it is a greater miracle that they have had so many followers in this, than that they have gained to themselves so many enemies. The world is a strong man, and till a stronger than he come, (that is, the full persuasion of the future state,) he will keep possession. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. But we are told also that this faith is the gift of God ; for all the evidence in the world will not reach the heart, unless it be prepared (like the good ground) to receive the doctrine that is taught. Till then prejudice will create obstinacy, wdiich will harden the heart like a rock, and cry, Ao« persuadebis, etiamsi jjcrsuaseris ! “ I will not be persuaded, though I should be persuaded ! ” You must consider under this head, too, the many that have not yet heard of the Gospel ; and of those that have, the far greater number who have not the capacity or opportunity to examine all the evidences of Christianity, but take things upon trust, just as they are taught. And how many others are careless, and will not be at the pains, though they want not capacity to inquire into the truth ? All these classes will include the greatest part of mankind, — the ignorant, the careless, the vicious, and so the obstinate, the ambitious, and the covetous, whose minds the god of this world hath blinded. But yet, in the midst of all this darkness, God hath not left himself without witness,, which will be apparent to every diligent and sober inquirer that is willing and prepared to receive the truth. (6.) Good sir, let me ask you, though you are of no religion, as you say, but what you call natural, yet would you not think me very brutal, if I should deny that ever there was such a man as Alexander, or Caesar, or that they did such things ? — if I should deny all history, or that Homer, or Virgil, Demos- thenes, or Cicero, ever wrote such books? — would you not think me perfectly obstinate, seized with a spirit of contradiction, and not fit for human conversation ? And yet these things are of no consequence to me, it is not a farthing as to my interest, whether they are true or false. Will you then think yourself a reasonable man, if, in matters of the gi-eatest importance, even your eternal state, you will not believe those facts which have a thousand times more certain and indisputable evidence? Were there any prophecies of Ccesar or Pompey? THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY DEMONSTRATED. Were there any types of them, or public institutions appointed by a law, to prefigure the great things that they should do ? Any persons who went before them, to bear a resemblance of these things, and bid us expect that great event ? Was there a general ex- pectation in the worl(i of their coming, before or at the time when they came ? And of what consequence was their coming to the world, or to after ages? No more than a robbery committed a thousand years ago ! Were the Greek and Roman histories wrote by the persons who did the facts, or by eye- witnesses ? And for the greater certainty ; were those histories made the standing law of i the country ? Or were they any more than our Holinshead and Stow, &c. Must we believe these, on pain of not being j thought reasonable men ? And are we then unreasonable and credulous, if we believe the ; facts of the Holy Bible? which was the standing law of the people to whom it was ; given, and wrote or dictated by those w^ho : did the facts, with public institutions appointed ! by them as a perpetual law to all their gene- rations ; and which, if the facts had been \ false, could never have passed at the time 'i‘ when the facts were said to be done ; nor, for ;■ the same reason, if that book had been wrote ! afterwards ; because these institutions (as cir- I cmncision, the passover, baptism, &c.) were iis notorious facts as any; and that book, ! saying they commenced from the time that j: the facts ^vere done, must be found to be false, '! whenever it was trumped up in after ages, by ■I no such institutions being then known. Not i like the feasts, games, &c. in memory of the j heathen gods, which were appointed long j after those facts were said to be done ; and , the like institutions may be appointed to- ; morrow in memory of any falsehood said to : be done a thousand years ago ; and so is no proof at ail. And though a legend, or book of stories of things said to be done many years past, may be palmed upon people, yet a book : of statutes cannot, by which their causes are tried every day. Are there such prophecies extant in any profane history so long before the facts there recorded, as there are in the Holy Scriptures of the coming of the Messiah ? Were there any types or forerunners of the heathen God cannot alter what he has once or- dained, 22 Ans. 1. This pleaded by the Samaritans against the Jews, ....... ib. 2. No pretence from hence to the alterations introduced by Mahomet ib. 3. Several alterations in the Jewish economy, . ib. X. The great objection from Deut. xiii. 1 — 3, . . 24 Ans. 1. They were not true miracles which are here spoke of, ib. Pagb 2, This' command respects only the worship of false gods, which cannot be extended, (1.) To the worship of Christ, or . , 24 (2.) To the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, 25 3. The Jews have given up this objection, . 2/ XI. God’s exact fulfilling of his promises, particularly of one very remarkable to the Jews, which is miraculously visible at this day 28 Another as remarkable to the Christian Church, 29 Whence it is inferred, that his promise concerning the Messiah cannot be extended farther than to Jesus Christ, ib. XII. Marks of Jesus being the Messiah, . . .29 XIII. The Gospel does exalt and ennoble the Law, . 30 XIV. Some of those obstacles which hinder the conversion of the Jews. 1st, On the part of the Jews. Their having altered their ancient topics and principles. 1. In relation to the Holy Scriptures, . . 31 2. In the received notion of the A«y«? , or W'^ord of God, ..... 32 3. In the Law being typical, . . 33 4. In the Messiah being to work miracles, . 34 5. In their late invention of two Messiahs, &c. ib. 2d, On the part of the Christians. 1. Of the Church of Rome. In their images of God, and worship of saints and angels, . . . .34 Their forfeiting the estates of the Jews who em- brace Christianity, . . ib. 2. Of the Protestants, in Holland especially. 1. Their Latitudinarian principles, which destroy the notion of the seguUah or peculium, . 35 2. Socinianism, ... 38 England the most likely place where the conversion of the Jews is to begin, . . ib. 3d, The great hinderance of the Jews in the new foundation which they have set up of their faith, namely, the tradi- tion of their fathers, . . . . ib. Ans. 1. That tradition is on the Christian side, ib. 2. This runs them into the circle of the Church of Rome, of proving the Church from the Scriptures and the Scriptures from the Church, . 40 3. The Ten Tribes and the Samaritans have the same I pretence against the other Jews, . .41 4. The Jews can never convert other nations (as they expect) by this principle, . . ib. 4th, The grand mistake of the Jews in the end of the Mes- siah’s coming, and their contending that man was never under the curse of God, . . . 45 XV. The qualifications of the Messiah, In relation to the Gentiles, ..... 48 54 XVI. The Conclusion, A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. I. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. I addressed a former discourse against the Deists, equal enemies to you and us, who deny all instituted and revealed religion ; and I have justified the truth of yours, while I have asserted that of the Christian religion. They both stand upon one bottom. They only, of all the revelations that ever were pretended in the world, can shew the four marks mentioned in the Method with the Deists ; which do infallibly demonstrate the truth of any matter of fact where they all do meet. And the consequence is as plain, that if the revelation of Moses be true, that of Christ must be true also. And you can never demonstrate the truth of the matters of fact of Moses by any arguments or evidences, which will not as strongly evince the truth of the matters of fact of Christ, : and, on the other hand, you cannot overthrow the matters of fact of Christ, but you must, by the same means, destroy those of Moses. So that, I hope, you are involved under the happy necessity, either to renounce Moses, or to embrace Christ. But if you will allow (as some of you have done) that the matters of fact of our Lord Jesus, as recorded in the Gospels, are true, but will contend that this does not infer the truth of his doctrine, because, as may be alleged, those seeming miracles which ho wrote were done by magic : then I beseech you, how will you rescue the miracles of Moses from the same objection ? The com- j)arison, in this case, must lie betwixt the miracles of Moses and of Christ. And I believe you will not deny, but that those recorded in the Gospel are full as great as those in Exodus. II. If the Deists think to come in here betwixt us, and conclude both to be false miracles, at least that we cannot be sure they are true miracles, because, as they philosophize, we do not know the utmost extent of the power of nature, and consequently cannot know what exceeds it. Ans. 1. This is an objection, not against the miracles recorded of Moses or of Christ, but against all miracles ; and putting it out of God’s power to shew any miracle that ought to be believed of man : which is a contradic- tion to the principles of the Deists themselves, who allow an eternal Being of infinite power, and yet, by this, would put it out of his power to make any external revelation to men. 2. But, in the next place, their philosophy is not good. For though we could not know the utmost stretch of what nature can do, yet it will not follow, that we cannot know what is contrary to nature, in those works of nature which we do know. For example, though I cannot tell all the whole nature of fire, and all its operations, yet this I certainly know, that it is of the nature of fire to burn ; and there- fore, if proper fuel be administered unto it, it is contrary to the nature of fire not to consume it. Thus, when Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, were thrown into the burning fiery furnace, if that matter of fact be true, in all its circum- stances, as it is related in the third chapter of Daniel, we can be sure that there was a stop there put to the natural power of the fire, which is a miracle. We can be as sure of it as of any thing we either see or hear. So that the same scepticism which these men advance against miracles, will, as much, take away the certainty of our outward senses ; which is the only postulaturn they would have taken as undoubted, and to wTiich they reduce all the certainty of which mankind is capable ; giving to tiiemselves, by their ^reat sense, little pre-eminence above the condition of brutes, to which they would degrade all the rest of the world with themselves. And some of them hav^c shewn their parts in witty satires upon this subject. But let us leave them with the company they have chosen, and return. As sure as we can be that it is the nature of fire to burn, (though we may not know every thing else it can do,) so sure we can be, that A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 6 it exceeds the power of nature to raise the dead by the speaking of a word, to cure the lame, blind, &c. by the same means, or the touch of one’s finger, without any other appli- cation. III. Now, then, the miracles recorded of Christ, being as great as those recorded of Moses, and carr}ing along with them the same evidences of their truth, deduced down from that time to this, what reason can be given for the believing of the one, and yet rejecting of the other ? There can be none, my friends, only there are some prejudices under •which you labour, that stop your way towards receiving of the truth, which you cannot deny : as conceiving it inconsistent with your interpretation of some texts in your law. But ought you not rather to suspect your own interpretations (especially where the •w’ords will favourably bear another) than to reject such an evidence as must under- mine your law itself, and destroy its infal- lible certainty, by disowning the same, in the only case that carries the same demonstration along with it ? God cannot contradict him- self ; and therefore would never have set his own seal (which it is not possible to counter- feit,) to the truth of the Gospel, if it did, in the least iota, contradict or destroy the law. Therefore it behoves you well to consider, whether those things that you take for con- tradictions are such. In order to which, 1. Consider the difference betwixt destroy- ing and fulfilling. The fulfilling of a pro- phecy, is not its destruction, but completion. So of all types, or shadows, which point at things to come, when the substance is come, the shadow ceases of course. Now, if the Messiah -was prophesied of, and typified in the law, then his coming will in- deed put an end to these, but not by -way of destroying, which would be contradicting, but of fulfilling them, which is confirming, and attesting to the truth of them. And I suppose you are not ignorant that our Messiah did not pretend to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. And did most strongly assert and confirm it to the least iota, (Matt. v. 17 — 19 ; Luke, xvi. 17.) And did fulfil it, in every circumstance, even to his suffering without the gate, to answer the burning of the body of the expia- tory sacrifice without the camp, &c. (Heb. xiii. 12 ; Lev. xvi. 27.) That, as himself said, “ all things might be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning him,” (Luke, xxiv. 44.) Some of which are repeated hereafter. Sect. XII. 2. But I will carry this argument farther. That not only there is no contradiction to the law in the Gospel, but that the law cannot be true, unless you allow the truth of the Gospel. For no other way possible is there to reconcile the promises made in the law but as they are fulfilled in the Gospel, of which let me give some few instances, out of many. 1. “ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come : and unto him shall the gathering of the people, or nations, be,” (Gen. xlix. 10.) This the Chaldee and ancient Jewish inter- preters do understand of the Messiah. And the sceptre being long since departed from Judah, and no other Messiah come, but our Lord J esus Christ, to whom the gathering of the nations or Gentiles has been ; the Rabbies of the Jews, since his coming, have strained their wits to invent salvoes and evasions for this prophecy. Some of them say, that by Shiloh here was not meant the Mes- siah, but Moses. Others say, it was the taber- nacle at Shiloh. But others, thinking these interpretations not tenable, and that it cannot be denied to be meant of the Messiah, have fenced about the word sceptre, which they contend to be a rod, not of rule, but of cor- rection, which should not depart from Judah till Shiloh or the Messiah should come. Others, not liking this, allow it to be a sceptre of government, but then turn it this way, namely, that the sceptre should not finally or for ever depart from Judah, because the Mes- siah should come, that is, to restore it. But this being an altering, instead of expounding the text, others, seeing there could not be any tolerable evasion made from the words of the text, have boldly adventured upon a new way of satisfying it, namely, that the sceptre or dominion is not yet departed, that is, not totally, for that some of them have some- where or other some share or other of govern- ment or jurisdiction, more or less ; at least some that have, one way or other, descended from the tribe of Judah, though it may not be known. I will not take up time to examine or dis- prove these pretences. They carry guilt in their face. And being all contradictory to one another, shew to what a confusion the Jews are brought, in forcing their way through the plain predictions of the Messiah, of which I will go on to more instances. 2. “ Thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. Neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man before me to offer burnt- offerings, and to kindle meat-offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. — Thus saith the Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season ; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests, my ministers,” (Jer. xxxiii. 17, 18, 20, 21.) Now is all this A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 7 gloriously fulfilled in our Messiah, the Son of David, who is made Lord of heaven and earth, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end. But without this, how is this prophecy ful* filled ? What Son of David can you produce, who now reigns over the house of Israel ? And as for the covenant with Levi, that is as much broken, for instead of sacrifices conti- nually, you have not now, nor have had since the destruction of Jerusalem, above sixteen hundred years, any sacrifice at all. But if you understand these prophecies as of the kingdom of the Messiah, so of his priesthood, of which that of Levi was a type, and fulfilled in it, then is this prophecy exactly accomplished in the evangelical priesthood which our Messiah has instituted, and which, we doubt not, will, according to the utmost extent of this pro- phecy of it, last as long as the covenant of day and night, that is, as our Messiah has again given us his assurance, “ even unto the end of the w'orld,” and that the gates of hell shall never be able to “ prevail against it,” (Matt, xxviii. 20 ; xvi. 18.) Some of the Jews pretend, that David will be raised from the dead, and made immortal, to fulfil this prophecy, (Limborch, Collat. p. 73.) But others, rejecting this interpretation, say, that this is to be meant of the timo after the Messiah ; so that, after the Messiah shall come of the seed of David, there shall no more want of his seed, to rule, &c. But the words of the text are, that “ David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel.” And putting to this, “after the coming of the Messiah,” is adding to the text. And the like liberty would leave nothing certain, in any text of the Bible, or in any other writing. The next I produce is, 3. That most exact description (Isaiah, liii.) of the death and sufferings of the Messiah, with the reason of it, namely, as an expiation and satisfaction for the sins of the people. And how forced and foreign is that inter- pretation which some of your modern Jews have put upon this chapter, on purpose to avoid the plain proof of our Messiah therein ? As if the person there spoke of, were not any particular person, but only a description of the people of the Jews in the name of a person ; of their present dispersion through all nations ; with the contempt and misery which they suffer ; and withal their making many proselytes to their religion in this their dispersion. For their many proselytes, we hear not of them. If the Jews keep their own ground, it is the most that, in your present circum- stances, you seem to expect ; and would be well content to compound for it, not only here, but in all the countries whither you are dispersed. What king, what nation have you converted ? nay, in our part of the world, what family, what persons ? And we hear as little of it from other parts. You boast of many in Spain and Portugal ; but they con- ceal it, and we know them not. But the flowing in of the Gentiles has been to the Christian Church ; and only so can the promise of it to your Church be verified, that is, as yours was a type of ours, or as ours is truly yours, fulfilled and continued, in the reign of your Messiah, pursuant to all the prophecies which went before of him. There- fore, by all that has yet appeared of your dis- persion, it is as a just punishment for your own sins, and not for the conversion of the Gentiles. But how for their conversion ? when your learned Jew confesses (as here- after quoted) that you have no arguments against the Gentiles, nor can convince any of them. And in all the prophecies of this your dispersion, (some of which are recited. Sect. XI.) there is nothing told of the conversion of the Gentiles as thereby designed, but only as a punishment of your iniquity, and, at the length, for your conversion, as well as that of the Gentiles. As that God will have mercy upon you, and cause your captivity to return, (Jer. xxxiii. 26.) That the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and turn away iniquity from Jacob, (Isaiah, i. lix. 20.) And in the mean- time, that you should be rejected for your wickedness, and another people chosen in your place. For thus it is said to you, (Isaiah, Ixv. 11 — 15,) “ But ye are they that forsake the Lord. Therefore will I number you to the sword. Because when I called, ye did not answer ; when I spake, ye did not hear,” (ye did not hearken to the words of the Lord, in the mouth of that prophet, whom he told you, Deut. xviii. 13, 19, he would send) “ Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry ; behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty ; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed ; behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen : for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name.” How literally is this fulfilled ! God hath chosen the Christians in your place, and called his servants by another name: not that you should be finally rejected, but till the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in ; and then shall you be converted by them, and not they by you. Therefore are you fatally deluded, who attribute to your- selves, and to your present circumstances, all that righteousness which is spoken of the Messiah in the fifty-third of Isaiah : as, “ By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many,” &c. Was it for this end that God foretold your dispersion? No, but for your grievous iniquities, and for your own conversion. As said by a ju’ophet of your j A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 8 own, (Ezek. vi. 8, 9, 10,) ‘‘ Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, wdien ye shall be scattered through the countries : And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations — Because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me — And they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations : And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.” Again, (xii. 15, 16,) “ They shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries : But I will leave a few men of them — that they may declare all their abomi- nations among the heathen whither they come ; and they shall know that I am the Lord that is, you Jews shall know. It is to convince and convert you that you shall be so dispersed as you are this day. Again, (Amos, ix. 7, 8, 9,) “ Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, 0 children of Israel ? saith the Lord. — Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth ; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord: For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” You shall be preserved, in your dispersion, in order to your repentance, not for your holiness to convert the nations, for you are called the sinful kingdom, and as children of the Ethiopians. And God will choose other hands to raise his kingdom among the heathen ; as it follows, “ In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this,” (Amos, ix. 11, 12.) See that fulfilled this day. Where are the heathen that are called by the name of the Lord ? Who does possess them, but our Messiah, the Son of David, by whose name they are called Christians ? In vain, therefore, do you expect the heathen to be converted by you. You see it done already by those whom God has chosen in your room, and who now seek to convert you, by persuading of you to hearken to Moses and your own prophets ; wdio have told you of this conver- sion of the Gentiles, while you remain in your obstinacy, “ I am sought of them that asked not for me ; I am found of them that sought me not ; I said. Behold me, behold me unto a nation that was not called by mj’’ name,” (Isa. Ixv. 1.) But unto Israel he saith, (ver. 2.) “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious and gain-saying people.” Yet you would attribute great holiness to yourselves in this your dispersion, even all that which is spoken of the Messiah in the fifty-third of Isaiah. I have insisted thus long upon it, because this is all you have to say against that won- derful prophecy of the low outward appearance of the Messiah when he should come ; and of the end of his coming, not fighting (as you expect) but suffering ; not conquering men with the sword, but, as it is there expressed, (Isa. Ixv. 10,) “ giving up his soul an offering for sin,” whereby to redeem us from that death denounced against sin, (Gen. ii. 17 ;) and so conquering him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; to whom we were in bondage, lying under the curse, of which he was made the executioner. And this (till the time should come) was shadowed out to us in several types and repre- sentations of it, not only in your law, which was but one of them ; for sacrifices (the most i express type of the death and sacrifice of the i Messiah) were instituted upon the first sin of j man, and the promise of the Messiah then given, and his conquest of the serpent, (Gen. iii. 15 ;) and were practised by Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, &c. before the law ; but most lively expressed in the sacrifice of Isaac, upon which the promise of the Messiah was again renewed to Abraham, (Gen. xxii. j 18.) This salvation by the Messiah w^as like- i wise prefigured by the saving of Noah and his j family in the ark ; as by your passage through ! the Red Sea, and deliverance out of Egypt ; | particularly by the erection of the brazen ser- | pent, as of’ Christ upon the cross ; and your salvation only by looking upon that, as purs by faith in him. But these types may be over-valued, when we rest in them, without looking forward to what they represent. Therefore Hezekiah broke that brazen serpent to pieces, and called it Nehushtan, (2 Kings, xviii. 4,) a contemptible name, that is, only a bit of brass. And God expresses himself with as much indignation against your sacrifices, as insufficient of themselves to re- concile to him. In which sense, he declares, (Isaiah, i. 11 — 15,) that he hates them, that they are a trouble and an abomination to him, and that he is weary to bear them ; and that he will not accept of them, nor has required ' them as a satisfaction for sin. What is it then that he wdll accept 1 Even the Messiah, for whom a body w^as prepared, (Psal. xl. 6, 7,) in which he was to make that atonement i which the bodies of beasts could not ; and j w'hich is very particularly described in the fifty-third of Isaiah ; and cannot be applied to the Jewish nation (as they w^ould now’ turn it) under their present sufferings and calamity. ^ It is said (ver. 12,) “ He bore the sin of many, . and made intercession for the transgressors.” i Do the Jew's make intercession for the Gen- tiles ? or hew do they bear their sins ? It is [ said, (ver. 9,) “He had done no violence, neither ' A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 0 was any deceit in his mouth ; yet it pleased i the Lord to bruise him,” &c. But what is I before recited out of your prophets, and much more could be added to the same purpose, shew plainly, that you have been bruised for your own great wickednesses. And the opinion of your own righteousness is not the ! least part of your delusion. But you oppose I yourselves, and set up contrary pretences ; for when you come to give an account why your Messiah has delayed his coming so long beyond the time which was limited by the prophets, you have no other answer, but that it is because of your sins. And they must be sins more than ordinary, wdiich have provoked God to break his promises, so oft repeated, concerning the time of the Messiah’s coming. So that here you make yourselves the greatest sinners that can be ; but in answer to Isaiah, liii. then you are righteous altogether, and there is no deceit in your mouth ; your nation is the “ Righteous servant of the Lord,” there spoke of ! But of that servant it is said, (ver. 8,) “ For the transgression of my people was he stricken.” Therefore he was not that people, but he suffered for that people. The learned Jew says, (Liinbor. Coll. p. 53) That the death which the Christians would infer of the Messiah from this of Isaiah, liii. means not a real death (for they suppose rightly, but misunderstood, that their Messiah will live for ever,) but only labores et flagella (as he words it,) great labours and afflictions, which they suppose he may endure ante per- fectam regni revelationenif before the full esta- blishment of his kingdom. And he brings, as a parallel place, (2 Cor. xi. 23,) “ In deaths oft,” which the apostle speaks of himself, but it means no more than dangers. Ans. 1. The Messiah’s undergoing stripes and afflictions, though in order to his kingdom, is as adverse to the Jews’ notion of the Messiah, as death itself. For they suppose him to go on gloriously in conquests and victory, and not to be scourged, or ignominiously treated. Ans. 2. Being in deaths, shews itself to be a figurative expression : for a man can be in death but once, therefore not, in that sense, often ill deaths. But as a man in battles, or storms at sea, may be said to be often in deaths, so the apostle in the many dangers which he there repeats. But far otherwise are the expressions concerning the death of the Messiah : (Isaiah, liii. 8, 9, 12,) “ He was cut off out of the land of the living. He made his grave with the wicked. He poured out his soul unto death.” And, “ Messiah the prince shall be cut off, but not for himself,” &c. (Dan. ix. 25, 26.) If these expressions do not signify death, what others can? And the Jews struggling against it, shews oijly that they are resolved not to be convinced by |i any words whatsoever that can be spoken. They try all ways, but dare stick to none. For they are contradictory to one another, and if one of their excuses hold, the rest must be false ; which confusion, of itself, were enough to convince them. You shall see more of them. To avoid this, and other prophecies which speak expressly of the poor and low state in which the Messiah was to appear, “ Behold thy king cometh unto thee poor,” or as we translate it “ lowly,” &c. (Zech. ix. 9,) the modern Jews have framed to themselves two Messiahs — one, Ben Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, who was to be poor and con- temptible, and undergo great indignities, — the other, Ben David, of the tribe of Judah, who was to be victorious, and conquer all the earth before them, and to live for ever in temporal grandeur \ that he was to raise again from the dead all the Israelites of for- mer ages, and among them the first Messiah, Ben Joseph. Thus the Jews, shutting fast their eyes, do dream, and invent Messiahs on purpose, because they will not be concluded by the plain prophecies of the one and only Messiah. Where do the prophets speak of two Messiahs? But speaking all along of one and of the Son or Messiah, does necessarily exclude any other. If there were two, one would not be the Messiah. And by the same rule they make two, they may make two score of Messiahs. But this shameless contri- vance shews how hard they are put to it to elude the plain prophecies of the Messiah, and is a confirmation of the true import and meaning of these prophecies, which are not answerable but by such poor and guilty shifts. It is for this reason that I have been so long upon this prophecy of Isaiah ; and shewn the dream of your modern Rabbies, of two Messiahs, unknown to all your expositors before Christ came, but invented since, on purpose to avoid the plain and undoubted characters which our Jesus bore of the Messiah. 4. The famous prophecy of Daniel’s seventy weeks, (Dan. ix. 24, &c.) which, according to the prophetical computation of a year for a day, makes four hundred and ninety years. In which time it was then foretold that the Messiah should come ; and our Messiah did come within that time. And all there spoken of him 'were punctually fulfilled : as, that the Messiah should be cut off ; and soon after, that the city of Jerusalem, and the sanctuary should be destroyed ; and the sacrifice and oblation should cease ; and that even after all this, desolations were determined against your nation. And the end of the Messiah’s coming is like- wise there told, not temporal conquests, as you dream of, but, “ To finish the transgres- sion, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness.” A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 10 This prophecy pinches so close, that the modern Jews, to avoid it, would endeavour to discredit the whole book of Daniel : They dare not quite throw it off, because it was indubitably received by their forefathers before Christ came. And the high rank in which Daniel is put, (Ezek. xiv. 14, 20,) rather gives him the preference before all the rest of the prophots, than excludes him out of their number. It makes him, at least, the most highly favoured of God, of all the men living in the world in his time. And his visions of the four great empires of the world, and prophecies of the state-revolutions which followed so remarkably, made his prophecies more noted than those of any of the other prophets. And God sets him forth as the standard of wisdom amongst men, (Ezek. xxviii. 3.) For these reasons, the Jews after Christ could not expunge this book of Daniel. But about a hundred years after Christ, they quite inverted the method of the books of the Old Testament, which to that time had been received amongst them, and made a new dis- tribution of them ; and a distinction of those they called 'Ay/o 7 ^a(pa, or “ Holy Writings but put them in a class below the inspired and canonical Scriptures. And into this lower class they thrust the book of Daniel, at the end of the prophets, which before was placed in the middle of them. But this book of Daniel, if it be not among those which are inspired in the highest degree, it cannot stand among any holy or good writings, but it must be reckoned false and blasphemous, because it speaks of itself all along as immediately inspired by God : and if those visions and revelations there related be not true, then it is telling of lies, in the name of the Lord, which is high blasphemy. Therefore, since the modern Jews dare not place the book of Daniel lower than among the holy or pious writings, they confess it to be inspired and canonical, and have only discovered their own guilt in seeking to avoid the witness of their own prophets to our Messiah. 5. That promise concerning the temple of Solomon, (2 Chron. vii. 16,) that God’s name should be there for ever, and perpetually, can- not be verified but as it was a type of the Christian Church, which shall last for ever. For types, as pictures, are often called by the name of what they represent, and by them is meant that whereof they are the types. 6. As that promise to the temple of Solo- mon, so neither can that made to the second temple, be otherwise verified than as fulfilled in our Messiah, — that “ the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former,” (Hag. ii. 3, 7, 9.) And yet it was as nothing in comparison of the former. How then should the glory be greater? It is told, ! because “the Desire of all nations” should come into it, and “ In this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.” Here was given the eternal peace and reconciliation of God with men, in the person of Jesus Christ, in whom God was, by his means, reconciling the world unto himself, (2 Cor. v. 19.) Some Jews, to avoid the force of this pro- phecy, do now pretend, that, by “ the latter house,” (Hag. ii. 9,) is not to be meant that second temple, but some other yet to be built. This is very precarious, and a guilty plea. But it will not bear ; for it is plain, that it was of that very second temple which the prophet spoke. The comparison (ver. 3,) is betwixt that temple which they then saw, and the first temple of Solomon. And (ver. 7,) God, speaking of that temple then built, says, “ I will fill this house with glory.” And (ver. 9,) “ The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former.” If it were spoken of a third or a fourth temple, the word “ former” w^ould not relate to the first temple. And there was no other “ former,” when this prophecy was given forth. It was the second temple that seemed as nothing, in the eyes of those who had seen the first, who therefore wept, (Ezra, iii. 12.) And, to comfort these, it was here promised, that the glory of that second house should exceed that of the former. But there were other glories, much greater than that of the building, which the first temple had, and the second had none of them ; as your own Rabbies ^ do reckon them under five heads : — 1. The holy ark, wherein were the tables of the covenant, the pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded ; and where God was said to dwell, between the cherubims that covered it, (Psal. Ixxx. 1. ) 2. The Schechina, or divine presence in the cloud of glory. 3. The miraculous Urim and Thummim. 4. The holy fire that came down from heaven. 5. The gift of prophecy, or of the Holy Ghost. These all ceased under the second temple ; which made its glory much more inferior to that of the first, than the difference as to the magnificence of the building. But all these glories were much exceeded under the second temple ; they were fulfilled, and more divinely exhibited in their archetype the Messiah ; who w^as the true Schechina, God not only ap- pearing in, but personally united to our nature ; whose Holy Spirit descended mira- culously in fire upon his apostles, the same day (of Pentecost) wherein the law was given in fire from Mount Sinai ; and filled them with the gifts of tongues, of miracles, and of prophecy, which w'ere now departed from the temple ; and placed that infallible Urim and Thummim in their hearts, which was but faintly represented in the breastplate of your high priest. 7. Again, of this second temple it was said, 1 R. Kimclii and R. Solom. in Ilag. i. 8. and R. Bcchai in Legem, f. 5y. A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 11 (Mai. iii. 1.) ‘‘ The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple ; even the angel of the covenant, whom ye delight in : behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts.” Therefore it was necessary that the Messiah should come during the standing of the second temple ; and that prophecy can never now be fulfilled. You have several times attempted to rebuild your temple, in the reigns of Adrian, of Con- stantine, of Julian, when having gained not I only that apostate emperor’s consent, but I that he was willing to bear the expenses of it ; ! and gave orders for the rebuilding of your I temple at Jerusalem, in odium to the Chris- tians ; and the heathens did with great zeal (for the same reason) assist you in it : even then, when you seemed on all hands to have gained your purpose, behold, God did imme- diately himself interpose, and by a terrible earthquake threw up the stones out of the very foundation with that violence, as destroyed many of the workmen and spectators ; and by overthrowing the building near adjoining to the temple, killed and maimed many more of the Jews, who were there gathered together, for the carrying on of this work. And when, not terrified with this, they again attempted to lay the foundations of the temple, globes of fire bursting out of the ver}" foundations, not only destroyed the workmen, but devoured the stones. This is recorded in Soerat. Hist. Eccl. 1. 3. c. 20, and in Sozom. 1. 6. c. 22, wlfo appeals to several witnesses of it, then living. And our Chrysostom says, (Orat. 2. coiitr. Jud.) “We all are witnesses of this thing.” But besides these testimonies of Christians, this is likewise told by Ammianus Marcellinus, who was not a Christian, in his twenty-third book. Thus the building of the temple was defeated at that time, a. c. 361, and to this day ; though, if you had a new temple to-morrow, that could not solve the prophecies that were made either to the first or second temple, which last has been destroyed now more than sixteen hundred years ; much less could it satisfy all those prophecies that speak so particularly of the time of the Messiah’s coming, which are longer since past. IV. The prophecies of the Holy Scriptures concerning the time of the coining of the Messiah, were so noted and known among the Jews, tliat when it drew near, namely, about the time that our blessed Saviour came into the world, the Jews were generally looking out for him, and expected his coming. Some thought that Herod (who repaired the temple, and made it more glorious) was he, and took the name of Herodians. Others followed Theudas ; others Judas of Galilee. Both of which arc mentioned in our history of the Acts of the Apostles, (v. 36, 37 ;) and likewise by your Josephus, (Antiq. l.'xxviii. c. 1, 2. 1. XX. c. 2.) If it was not another Theudas, who, as he tells, pretended to mira- cles, namely, to divide the river Jordan by his command, and give his followers passage through it on dry land. He mentions another impostor, (ibid. c. 7.) who led the Jews into the wilderness, and promised them deliverance, if they would follow him thither : whom Fes- tus destroyed, with all his followers. This our Saviour literally foretold, (Mat. xxiii. 23 — 26.) and cautions against following these false Christs and false prophets into the desert. And Josephus says, (Antiq. 1. xx. c. vi.) that there were at that time (which was about fifty- seven or fifty-eight years after the nativity of Christ) many enchanters and deceivers, who persuaded the common people to follow them into the desert, where they promised to work miracles, &c. He says, that the country of Judea was stored with such : so intent were they then to find out their Messiah, and so per- suaded that that was the time of his coming. The two brothers Asinseus and Anileus, (Antiq. 1. xviii. c. 12,) both weavers, had mighty successes, but were at last destroyed, and were the occasion of the destruction of many of the Jews, who followed them, about forty years after the birth of Christ. And about seventy-four years after, another weaver, one Jonathan, (Joseph, de Bell. Jud. 1. vii. c. 81,) led many of the Jews after him into the wil- derness, where he promised to shew them signs and wonders. He w^as burnt alive, and mul- titudes of the Jews were massacred about Cyrene. This was two years after the destruc- tion of Jerusalem. And Josephus tells, that the great cause of that, was their expectation of their Messiah, then to come. For he says, (Bell. Jud. 1. vii. c. 12,) “That the chief thing which incited them to that war (with the Romans) was a doubtful prophecy (as he calls it) found in the Holy Scriptures, that, about that time, one of their country shouhl be monarch of the whole world.” He said (after the destruction of Jerusalem) that they were deceived in this interpretation of the prophecy ; which he (then) applied to the reign of Vespasian, as if fulfilled in him. V. But what is more remarkable, the Romans themselves had the same notion current among them. And not only they, but all the eastern part of the world, which may well include all that was then known. Thus says Suetonius, in the Life of Vespasian^ “ Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis, ut eo tempore, Judaja profecti reruin potirentur,” that is, “ That an ancient and constant tradition lia,d obtained throughout all the East, that in the fates it was decreed, that, about that time, some who should come from Judea, should obtain the dominion, or government,” that is, of the w'orld, which the Romans then possessed. And Corn. Tacit. (Hist. 1. 5.) speaks almost 12 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. in the same words, telling of the great pro- digies which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem. He says, that many understood them as the forerunners of that extraordinary person, whom the ancient books of the priests did foretell should come, about that time, from Judea, and obtain the dominion, “ Plu- ribus persuasio inerat, antiquis sacerdotum literis contineri, eo ipso tempore fore, ut valesceret oriens, profectique Judaea rerum potirentur.” These^ ancient books of the priests, must either mean the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, in the hands of the Jewish priests, and which were known to the Romans ; and if so, it shews the sense of the Jews at that time, and before, that that was the time of the Messiah’s coming. Or otherwise, which is more probable, by these books, were meant the oracles of the Sibyls, which were kept with great veneration by the Roman priests, and which very plainly foretold the coming of Christ, and pointed out the very time. And this raised so great an expectation, and a jealousy in the Roman government at that time, with a watchful eye particularly upon the Jews. The same year that Pompey took Jerusalem, one of the sibyl oracles made a great noise, namely, that “ nature was about to bring forth a king to the Romans.” Which, as Suetonius tells in the Life of Augustus, did so terrify the senate, that they made a decree, that “ none born that year should be educated ; and that those whose wives were with child did each conceive great hopes, applying the pro- })hecy to themselves.” “ Senatum exterritum censuisse, ne quis illo anno genitus educaretur, eos qui gravidas uxores haberent, quod ad se quisque spem traheret, curasse ne Senatus con- sul turn ad serarium deferretur.” And Appian, Plutarch, Sallust, and Cicero, do all say, that it was this prophecy of the Sibyls which stirred up Cornelius Lentulus at that time, he hoping that he was the man who should be king of the Romans. Some applied it to Caesar, which Cicero {de Diviuatione) after Ca3sar’s death, ridicules, and cautions that those pro- phecies should not be interpreted of any future king to be in Rome. “ Cum anstititibus agamus et quidvis potius ex illis libris, quam regera proferant : quern Romae post haec nec dii, nec homines esse patientur.” Virgil, in his famous fourth eclogue, written about the beginning of Herod the Great, compliments the Consul Pollio with this prophecy, by supposing it might refer to his son Saloninus, then born. But the words are too great to be verified of any mere mortal man, and speak of such a golden age and renovation of all things, as cannot be fulfilled in the reign of any earthly king. And Virgil does express it, almost in the words of the Holy Scriptures, wherein they tell of the glorious age of the I Messiah ; of new heavens, and a new earth, ii then to begin, and to be finally completed at the end of the world, (Isaiah, Ixv. 17 ; 2 Pet. iii. 13.) Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis aetas : Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo Jam nova progenies caslo demittitur alto. Tu modo nascenti puero, quo ferrea primum Desinet, ac toto surget gens aurea mundo. Now the last age decreed by fate is come, And a new frame of all things does begin : An holy progeny from heaven descends ; Auspicious be his bii-th, which puts an end To tlie iron age, and from whence shall rise A golden state far glorious through the earth. Then the poet runs a division upon the peace- able state of that reign, perfectly a paraphrase of Isaiah, Ixv. from verse 17 — 25. “ The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw as the bullock ; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt, nor destroy, in all my holy moun- tain, saith the Lord.” Nec magnos metuent armenta leones. Occidet et serpens et fallax herba veneni Occidet. Nor shall the flocks flerce lions fear. No serpent shall be there, or herb of poisonous juice. Nay, the very atonement for our sins, which Daniel attributed to the Messiah, (ix. 24,) “ To finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for ini- quity,” is thus expressed in this eclogue : Te duce, si qua mannent sceleris vestigia nostri, Irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras. Ry thee, what footsteps of our sins remain Are blotted out, and the whole world set free Prom her perpetual bondage, and her fear. And the very words of Haggai, (ii. 6,) seem to be literally translated by Virgil. Thus says the prophet of the coming of the Messiah, “ Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. And I wdll shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come.” And thus the poet, Aggredere O magnos (aderit jam tempus) honores, Chara Deum soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum. Aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum, Terrasque, tractusque, maris, caelumque profundum. Aspice venturo lajtenter ut omnia seclo. Enter on thy high honour, now ’s the time. Offspring of God, O thou great gift of Jove ! Rehold the world, heaven, earth, and seas do shake. Rehold how all rejoice to greet that glorious age ! And as if Virgil had been learned in the doctrine of Christ, he tells that these glorious times should not begin immediately upon the birth of that wonderful person, then expected to come into the world ; but that wickedness should still keep its ground in several places. Pauca tamen suberunt priscae vestigia fraudis. Erunt etiam altera bella. Rut yet some remains shall still be left Of ancient fraud, and wars shall still go on. Now, how Virgil applied all this, is not the matter ; whether in part to Augustus, or partly to Pollio, and partly to Saloninus, his A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 13 son, then newly born. But it shews the general expectation that there was, at that time, of the birth of a most extraordinary person, who should introduce a new and golden age, and both reform and govern the whole world, — ^justly, therefore, called by the prophet, “ the Desire of all nations.” Now the Sibyls had pointed out the time to be then at hand ; and if it should be sup- posed (though there is no reason for it) that the Jews had forged or interpolated these oracles, and made them speak thus in the language of the Holy Scriptures, yet this still shews, that the Jews at that time did so understand the prophecies of the Old Testa- ment, concerning the Messiah, as that then was the time prefixed for his coming. But if these prophecies of the Sibyls be what they speak themselves, (against which nothing but presumption has yet appeared,) then can they not be denied as a demonstrative proof of our Jesus being the Messiah ; for they describe him so personally, and so plainly, that this is made the cause of suspicion against them ; as if they could not be genuine, because they speak so very plainly and particularly of Jesus Christ. This has carried some Christian critics too far, to reject, upon this only presumption, the authority of the Sibyls. And yet they have not (not any of them that I can find) taken into due consideration the answer which Origen gives to this same objection of theirs, for it is not a new one. It was first objected by the heathens. Celsus had recourse to this, alleging that the Christians had interpolated and added several things to the prophecies of the Sibyls. But^ Origen appeals to the ancient copies of them, and provokes Celsus, or any of the heathens, to shew what was added, which he says they could not instance, and that certainly they would if they could. Yet some of our critics have declared them- selves, in this, for Celsus against Origen ; but without answering of Origen’s argument, which Celsus could not. And it is not to bo imagined that Origen would have put the issue upon such a plain matter of fact, if it had not been true, and which could have been so easily disproved. But this especially is to be considered, that the primitive fathers of the Church, — as Justin, Clemens, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Origen, Eusebius, Lactantius, &c. — did lay so great stress upon the Sibyls, and quoted them so often against the heathens, that they called the Christians Sibyllianists. Clemens Alex- andrinus, in his Stromat. 1. 6. quotes Saint Paul (some work of his now lost) in his dis- 2 , on rra,^tn'y^&‘^etijt,iv Uf ret iTtt'vvts rroWot xot) xoti ftii otiToiii^ets l*rih’ on *■'» if xxOctz^Ti^et iii'ixtvi, xcu ovx 'ixovret cin^ curat xot^tyyiy^at^ifjaf aeroht^xs on ian rauTot. Origen contra Cels. 1. vii, p. .T69. putations with the Gentiles, referring them to their own Sibyls. And he lived near to the time of Saint Paul ; so that we must suppose this to have been at least the current opinion of that early age of Saint Clement. This is observed obiter, for the sake of some Christian critics, who seem not to have a due regard for the authority of the primitive fathers of the Church. ^ But as to what concerns you Jews, and the present subject we are upon, there can be no dispute, by what is quoted out of the Sibyls, by several authors, before Christ came, that they spoke of a wonderful person to appear in the world, who should rule all nations ; and that it was understood, as well by the then Jews as Romans, to be about that time in which our Jesus was born. Now there could be none but Jews or heathens to have made these prophecies of the Sibyls, (there being no Christians then in the world ;) and, as said before, it is all one, as to our present argument, whether the one or the other made them. For I bring them now only to shew, that there was a general expectation of the Messiah, at that time, when our Jesus was born. And I have shewn that it was univer- sal all the world over, the greatest part of which was then under the Roman govern- ment ; who likewise testify, that all the eastern part of the world had the same expec- tation. And that not only at that time, as if then put into their heads, (by the craft or artifice of the Jews, as some fanciful men have pleased themselves to imagine ;) but that they had it all along as an ancient and undoubted tradition, written in the books of fate ; and that it should come to pass at that very time ; and never but at that time was there any such general expectation. This universal impulse (if we will call it no more) which was imprinted, in whatever manner, upon the minds of the whole earth, to expect a glorious and wonderful deliverer, restorer, and king of the world, at that time, when our blessed Lord and Saviour was born, (and never before or since) cannot be made of less account, than a very extraordinary, and even divine apparatus, or preparing of the way, whereby to introduce the Son of God with the general expectation and commotion of whole nature, into the world ! And among all these, the expectation was most firm, as there was most reason, with you, the Jews, who had the lively oracles of the Holy Scriptures, which punctually pointed 3 What is said of the Sibyls I would have so understood, as that I do not put the stress whether those books of the Sibyls that we have now, have received no additions or interpolations from what they were in the second century, when quoted by the fathers ; but that, as they were then, and before Christ came, they had most flagrant testimonies to our blessed Saviour, which confounded the Gentiles; and that they were not at that time corrupted, as there is no proof that they have been since. A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 14 out the time wherein God had decreed to send his great Messiah into the world. This appears with a flagrant evidence, in your setting up, at that time, this and that person for the Messiah (as I have before shewn, out of Josephus) and so continued to the destruction of Jerusalem. And since that time, you have not desisted looking out for your Messiah, and following every impostor that, with any or no pretence, set himself up for it. As our Lord, your true Messiah, has foretold to you, that many would come in his name, saying, “ I am Christ.” “ Behold,” says he, (Matt. xxiv. 25,) “ I have told you before.” But you would not believe ; and it has turned to your destruction. VI. The history of these false Messiahs has been lately wrote by Johannes a Lent, and printed Herbonse, 1697, with sufficient vouchers from the Rabbies of the Jews them- selves. Let me but name them, to shew the succession of delusion in the Jews. You have heard before out of Josephus, the multitudes of false Messiahs before the destruction of Jerusalem. Afterwards, a. c. 114, you set up another, in the reign of Trajan, one Andrew, which occasioned the destruction of many thousands of you. Again, in the reign of Adrian, another, whom ye called Bar Cohab, that is, the son of a star, alluding to the star of Jacob, (Num. xxiv. 17.) And again rebelling under this Messiah, caused a most dreadful destruction among you, insomuch that, as yourselves have told it in your own books, there was twice the number of Jews that perished, upon this occasion, more than all those that came out of Egypt, and that you suffered more under Adrian than under Nebuchadnezzar or Titus. When you were at last undeceived (too late) then you changed the name of this false Messiah from Bar Cohab, the son of a star, to Bar Cosibah, that is, the son of a lie, as being a false Messiah. And how oft have you been deceived since ! In the year of Christ 434, in the reign of Theodosius the younger, another pseudo Mes- siah arose in the island of Crete, who said that he was Moses, and sent from heaven to carry the Jews in Crete on dry ground through the sea, and persuaded several of them to throw themselves into the sea. In the year of Christ 520, another pseudo Messiah, one Dunaan, arose in Arabia, and with the Jews, who followed him, set upon the bishop and Christians in the city of Negra, and committed great outrages, till he was destroyed. A. c. 529. The Jews and Samaritans in Palestine were seduced into rebellion by Julian, a pseudo Messiah, which occasioned the destruction of many of them. And when Mahomet appeared about the year 620, the Jews flocked to him as their Messiah, to which he at first pretended. And they stuck to him, till, as some say, they saw him eat camel’s blood, or, as others tell, for other reasons they left him. Indeed, he left them, and set up other pretences. After, A. c. 721, they followed a certain Syrian, who said that he was Christ. A. c. 1137. They followed another in France, which occasioned their banishment out of that country, and the slaughter of great numbers of them. The year following, namely, a. c. 1138, in Persia, a false Messiah taking arms, brought great mischiefs upon the Jews there. A. c. 1157. The Jews rising under another Messiah, in Spain, had well nigh all of them been cut off. A. c. 1167. They suffered much, under another Messiah, in the kingdom of Fez. And the same year, under another in Arabia ; who gave for a sign, that after his head was cut off, by the king of Arabia, he would rise to life, which he did not, but by this escaped a more cruel death. And not long after, in the same twelfth century, they suffered much by another beyond Euphrates, who gave for hi-s sign, that he would go to bed leprous, and rise sound in the morning. About the year 1174, another arose in Persia, and led the Jews into rebellion, which occasioned great destruction among them ; and one David Almusar, occasioned the like to them in Moravia, in Germany. And again, in the same century, another pseudo Messiah ; all mentioned by Maimonides and other Jewish Rabbins. Who likewise tell us of that most famous pseudo Messiah, in Persia, called David El David, alias, David Alroy, about the year 1199, or 1200, a great magician, who deluded many of the Jews. A. c. 1222. Many Jews followed a false Messiah in Germany, whom they called the Son of David ; and the same year expected their Messiah to be born of a woman, then with child, at Worms ; but it proved a girl. A. c. 1465. When the Saracens made such inroads upon Christendom, the Jews then thought their Messiah was come to fight their battles. And the same year, Rabbi Abraham Aven- aris, a Jewish astrologer, from the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign Pisces, fore- told the coming of the Messiah to be then at hand. And afterwards R. Abarbanel, in his Com- mentary upon Daniel, (p. 84, 86.) gathered the time of the Messiah’s coming from the like conjunction of J upiter and Saturn in Pisces. About the year 1497, the Jews were again deceived in Ishmael ^phus, whom they took for their Messiah, who having got together an army of vile and profligate men, pursued his victories successfully through Media, Parthia, Persia, Mesopotamia, and A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 16 i Armenia ; but at last cheated the Jews, and set up a new sect for Mahomet. A. c. 1500. Rabbi Ascher Lemla appeared 1 in Germany, as the forerunner of the Messiah, who he promised should come, and restore the Jews to the land of Canaan, that same year. And the Jewsgenerally every wheredid believe him ; and appointed public fasts and prayers to prepare for the coming of their Messiah. About the year 1534, a new Messiah rose up in Spain, who was burned by Charles, V. As was another at Mantua, R. Salomo Malcho, whom many of the Jews did believe came again to life after he was burned, and every sabbath visited his wife Zephati. But the emperor spared R. David, who called himself one of the emissaries of the ! Messiah, then soon to come : who, when he j was at Rome, is said to have fasted six days together. Another pseudo Messiah rose up in the East Indies about the year 1615. And another in Holland, a. c. 1624. But the famous pseudo Messiah Sabethai Zevi, A. c. 1666, is a story remarkably known, who, after all the expectation of the people of the Jews, turned at last Mahometan, to save his life. And no longer since than the year 1682, there has got up another false Messiah, R. Mardochai, a German J ew, whom almost all the Jews in Italy, and many in Germany, have owned ; but, like wise men, with due respect to the Inquisition and self-preservation. Whether he be yet alive, or what stress the present Jews do lay upon him, I cannot tell, nor do I suppose they will be willing to own. But from the foregoing account, I would lay before them what a strange uncertainty they are at, — running after every impostor for their Messiah — having lost all the marks whereby they may know their Messiah — nay, being willing they should be lost ; and dis- puting against them, for this only reason, that because all the marks given of the Mes- siah, in the Old Testament, do meet in our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and can never meet in any other, therefore they would have no marks of him at all. The learned Jew who disputed with Lim- borch, an. 1687, (five years after their last, or present Messiah, R. Mardochai, appeared) contends, that the prophets foretold neither the time or place of the nativity of the Mes- siah, (Limb. p. 73 ;) and says, (p. 65,) that miracles were not needful to prove his mission, but only to gather the Jews together from all parts of the world, and to conquer the nations. Agreeable to this notion, the pseudo Messiah before mentioned, who arose in Persia, a. c. 1138, when desired to shew some miracle to prove his mission, said, that the Messiah was not to be known by miracles, but by his success in conquering the world. And your famous Maimonides says the same, (II. Melac. and Milch, c. 11,) that the Messiah was not to work miracles, but to fight the Lord’s battles, and conquer all be- fore him. Mahomet made the like excuse for his not working of miracles. He said, (Alcoran, c. 2, &c.) that Moses, Solomon, and Jesus were sent to shew God’s righteousness, wisdom, and cle- mency, to which miracles were necessary to gain belief, but that he (Mahomet) was sent to shew God’s fortitude ; to which no miracles were necessary, but to enforce it with the sword, which carried its own conviction. The guilt and folly of this excuse is appa- rent. For at the first setting up of any for the Messiah, how shall it be known that he shall have success? We see how often the Jews have been deceived and ruined by it. But do they believe that their Messiah shall have success, without interruption, all along from his first setting up? No, the learned Jew before mentioned, interpreting the death of the Messiah, which is spoke of Isa. liii. only of troubles and afflictions which he should endure, says, (Limborch, p. 53. and 127,) it shall be in the wars with the nations, before he complete the redemption of the Jews ; and then (says the learned Jew) shall be fulfilled that prophecy of Jeremiah, “Et erit dies tribulationis Jacob, sed ex ea salvabi- tur,” “ That the Jews shall suffer great tribu- lation, but shall be saved out of it so that, by this rule, they cannot know their Messiah, by his success, till he is quite ruined and destroyed, and they confounded, as it has hitherto befallen them. One would think this enough to open their eyes, that while they have obstinately rejected the sure and infallible marks which God by his prophets has given of the Messiah, they have left to themselves no marks or rules at all, whereby they can know him, or which do distinguish him from every impos- tor. The Jews, in our Saviour’s time, did expect that the Messiah, when he came, would w ork miracles, (Job, vii. 31.) Many of the false Messiahs pretended to it. And no doubt the present Jews would think it a great confirma- tion of any who should now set up for their Messiah. Which shews, that they dispute against the necessity of miracles to vouch the Messiah, because they cannot deny those of our Saviour. And it likewise discovers their diffidence in ever having a true Messiah to come, (whatever they pretend,J because they dare not put it to the issue oi a miracle, or trust that they shall have any who shall be endowed with such a power. Yet they reject him, who they cannot but own had that power, and confess that they are ready to acknowledge another without that power ; that is, they reject the strongest 16 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. credentials, and will accept of lesser. They cannot deny this to be their case. They will not say that they do not desire they had a Messiah who could work miracles to vouch his mission. And their doctors have asserted, “ That as the Messiah was to be greater than Moses ; so when he came, he should work greater miracles than Moses had done.” As it is quoted out of R. Levi, Ben Gerson, Parascha, by Theodoric Hackspan, in his edition of R. Lipmann’s book, Nizachon, an. 1644, p. 387. Yet now they cry down miracles as a mark of the Messiah, because they despair of any such ; that is, indeed, of any Messiah at all to come. For no otherwise can they know him, whenever they suppose that he should come. They confess that they cannot know him by the time when he should come, nor by the works he shall do when come, other than by the issue of his battles, which they cannot know beforehand, and consequently can never be sure with whom to join, in time, before it be too late, as they have hitherto experimented in all their false Messiahs. I would entreat them to think of another thing, as to the time of the Messiah’s coming. They never set up any false Messiah, nor did any pretend to it, till near the time that our blessed Saviour came into the world, which was the time foretold by Daniel and the Pro- phets. And since that time, they have been perpetually setting up of false Messiahs, one after another, even to our times. Which shews plainly, that the time wherein our Messiah did come, was the time wherein he was generally expected by the Jews ; and that then they understood their Law and their Prophets, in the same sense that we have done, as to the time of the Messiah’s coming, though now they would dissemble it. VII. I come now, in the next place, to con- sider (what I have before hinted) the excuse that you have for the delay of your Messiah’s coming beyond the time (as yourselves have confessed) which was foretold by the Prophets. And you have so little to say upon this point, that you only pretend your sins have hindered his coming. This is a very bare, and looks like a guilty put off. Surely it cannot satisfy yourselves : for I pray you to consider, i. What are those sins you now complain of? They must be more than common sins, that should defeat so many express and solemn prophecies. And by your interpretation of Isaiah, liii. (before spoke to) you pretend to be righteous and holy to a superlative degree. But what are those sins that should prevent the coming of your Messiah ? Are they greater than those of which you were formerly guilty in the days of Moses? (read Deut. ix.) — and from that time to the captivity, (2 Kings, xvii. 7 — 24.) — in the captivity and after, (Ezra, ix ; Neh. ix ; Ezek. xvi ; Dan. ix ; Zech. vii. and the whole prophecy of Malachi.) No, you are not now so guilty of these idolatries ; and vile abominations ; you have greatly i reformed yourselves from these ; and (except- ing only your rejecting of your Messiah, and standing out still against him) you have not now, nor have had since his coming, more sins i to answer for, or more notorious, than other men. So that this, of your supposing the coming of the Messiah to be delayed for your sins, seems only to be an excuse, because you can find no other. 2. The coming of the Messiah is promised as a remedy for sin. “ In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness,” (Zech. xiii. 1.) And what is before quoted, (Dan. ix. 24.) expresses the design of his coming to be, “ To make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity.” So that our sins are so far from being a reason for the deferring of his coming, that they are rather an argument for the hastening of it. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking of the coming of the Messiah, and the condition of the Jews at that time, (Jer. iii.) recites their most horrible wicked- ness, and of Judah worse than Israel, and promises the new covenant of the Messiah, as a redemption to the penitent : when God would give them “ pastors, according to his own heart, which should feed them with knowledge and understanding,” (ver. 15.) And to shew that this was not the renewing or restoring of the legal dispensation, but the leaving it behind, for one more excellent, it is added, (ver. 16,) “In those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more. The ark of the covenant of the Lord ; neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done any more.” And this is the time of the great wickedness of Israel. And this is according to the tradition which your Rabbi Juda tells in Masoreta under the title de Synedrio, c. Eelec. that at the time of the coming of the Son of David, the temple should be a den of thieves or unclean persons. And that this should be a time of great dissolute- ness, is likewise delivered in your Talmud, tit. de Synedrio, and de Ponderibus, &c. and by several of your Rabbies. So that this excuse, of your Messiah delaying his coming because of your sins, is against your own expositions and traditions, as well as not only without any ground from, but contrary to, the tenor of the Holy Scriptures ; which I come next to shew, yet more expressly. 3. The promises of the coming of the Mes- siah are not only positive, and without any condition ; but the case is expressly put, of the sins of David or of his posterity ; and there God declares, that tjiough he will punish those sins, yet that, because of them, he would not A SHORT AND EASY MP^TIIOD WITH THE JEWS. 17 break or alter the promise he had given con- cerning the coming of the Messiah, (2 Sam. vii. 14 — 16 ; Psalm Ixxxix. SO, 83 — 37.) 4. But I have another answer yet to give ; and I beseech you seriously to consider of it. That is, whether it would not be as great a punishment to your sins, if God has blinded your eyes, that you should not know your Messiah when he came, and a much greater punishment than if his coming had been delayed? And now consider, whether this be not the case. It has been plainly pro- phesied, that your builders would reject the chief corner stone, (Psal. cxviii. 22.) That he should be “ for a stone of stumbling, and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabi- tants of Jerusalem : and that many among them should stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared and be taken,” (Isai. viii. 14, 15.) “ Stay yourselves and wonder ; cry ye out, and cry : they are drunken, but not with wine : they stagger, but not with strong drink : for the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes : the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered ; and the vision of all is become unto you, as the words of a book that is sealed,” (xxix. 9 — 11.) Is not this literally your case? Are not your prophets now to you as a book sealed up ? Do you understand by them, when you are to expect your Messiah ? or what are the signs of his coming ? No, they are all long since past ; and you are left in the dark, in endless and groundless expectation ! And in this method, there is no breach of God’s promises ; and yet his judgments have their full scope ; and there is still room and hopes of his mercy. When his time comes to open your eyes, then will you return to him, and he will turn to you. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail covers his face from you, that is, the true im- port and full end of the law ; which vail is done away in Christ. For “ Christ is the end of the law for righteousues to every one that believeth.” 5. To avoid all the absurdities of this pre- tence of yours, some of you have set up another notion, namely, that the Messiah did come at the time foretold by the prophets, and has been in the world ever since, and is still ; but for your sins, conceals himself among the lazars or lepers that sit at the gates of Rome or elsewhere ; others say, (Theodor. Hackspan, ubi supra, p. 851,) that he is in paradise, but there fettered in a woman’s hair. This we must suppose is by way of allusion to Samson and Delilah. Some of the Rabbles put a mystical sense upon this, meaning by the woman’s hair in which the Messiah is tied, our evil concupiscence, which retards his coming. How horribly absurd and ridiculous is this ! These sort of strained excuses were enough to convert any men of reason amongst you ; besides that they are contradictory, which shews one must be false, for the former pre- tence overthrows this ; and this, if true, destroys that. But what foundation have you for this ? What prophecies have you for such a state of the Messiah ? What ! was the end of his coming, to keep himself concealed for sixteen hundred years ; and all that time to undergo so miserable and wretched a life as you would have him ? How was his coming to be “ a light to the Gentiles,” so often prophesied of, if the Gentiles have not heard of him from that time to this ? If he has undergone the state of a leper and a beggar, now for sixteen hundred and ninety- nine years, how do you object the afflictions and low estate of Jesus for thirty- three years, as inconsistent with the glorious state of the Messiah ? But if he be come, and you know him not, and that this, you think, will solve all those prophecies concerning the time of his coming, behold your own conjecture truly fulfilled : he is come, and you have not known him ; while the Gentiles have been convinced by his miracles, and submitted to him, even to the uttermost parts of the earth, as was expressly prophesied of him. Again, if you did not know him, what hinders but that you might likewise persecute him? And why should this seem a thing so impossible to you ? Have ye not done the same to almost all of your own prophets ? You stoned Zechariah in the “ court of the house of the Lord,” (2 Chron. xxiv. 21 ;) you perse- cuted Jeremiah till the day that Jerusalem was taken, (Jer. xxvi. 8, 9 ;) and the hands of your priests and your prophets were chief in the pursuit of his blood ; and after them the cry of all the people, as it was in your persecution of your Messiah. How often did you rebel against Moses, against David, against Solomon, against all your prophets ? How do they all complain against you ? “ Moreover, all the chief of the priests and the people transgressed very much, after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem : and the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers. — But they mocked the mes- sengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy,” (2 Chron. xxxvi. 14 — 16.) And now it has risen a hundredfold more since your despising and misusing of your Messiah ; and your not knowing your Messiah was a just judgment upon you for your rejecting and persecuting all your former prophets. Elijah n . 18 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. complained that you had slain them all, every one of the prophets, but himself alone, (1 Kings, xix. 10,) and he was forced to fly for his life, and was miraculously preserved. In the solemn confession of the priests and the Levites, and the covenant which they and the princes sealed, they confess that they “ slew the prophets, who testified against them, to turn them to the Lord,” (Neh. ix. 26.) This branch was never forgot in all their confes- sions, for it w^as notorious : “ We have not hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land,” (Dan. ix. 6.) Why, then, should it be thought a thing impossible •with you, that you should not hearken unto the last prophet, the Messiah, who refused to hearken to any before him ? Read all your provoca- tions, (recorded Psalm cvi.) and then your present obstinacy will not appear so strange to you, or so totally disproportionable to your former demeanour. It is said, (ver. 7,) “ Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt then it is possible that you might not under- stand the wonders of your Messiah. Your forefathers killed the prophets, and your fathers built their sepulchres, and you say, “ If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets ; w^herefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them who killed the prophets,” (Matt, xxiii. 29 — 31, &c.) And how have you “ filled up the measure of your fathers V’ As our Messiah told you beforehand that you would do, (Luke, xi. 49, 50 ;) that he would send you prophets and apostles, and that you w'ould slay and per- secute them ; “ that the blood of all the prophets, which •was shed from the founda- tion of the world, might be required of our generation.” And how severely has it een required ! Believe, in this, our Messiah to have been a true prophet ; and that this last sin of your crucifying him, and perse- cuting his apostles and messengers whom he sent unto you, has been greater, as it has been more grievously punished, than all your for- mer provocations ; of w^hich, that you may be more sensible, (for it is a material considera- tion,) I invite you, as the last thing I shall say upon this head, to make the comparison betwixt your former captivities and sufferings, and that much more heavy hand of G^, which has lain upon you since your crucify- ing of your Messiah. 6. In the book of Judges, you are told of the several captivities into which you were sold for your repeated idolatries : 1^^, Unto the hand of the King of Mesopotamia for eight years ; then, 2dlj/^ After forty years of deliverance, unto the King of Moab for eigh- teen years, (Judg. iii. 8, 11, 14 ;) 2dl//, Unto Jabin, King of Canaan, for twenty years, (iv. 2 ;) 4thly, Into the hand of Midian for seven years, (vi. ] ;) 5^/^/y, Of the Philistines and Ammonites for eighteen years, (x. 8 ;) Of the Philistines for forty years, (xiii. 1 ;) the seventh^ was the great and longest captivity of seventy years in Baby- lon. All these for your idolatry. But after this you were cured of your idolatry ; and to this day have kept yourself in the greatest abhorrence of it ; and yet, now, since your rejecting of our Messiah, and saying, “ Let his blood be upon us and our children,” you have undergone, not a bare captivity, as in Baby- lon, where you were all together, and prophets sent amongst you to comfort you, and assure you of a restoration, and that in seventy years, but a dispersion over the face of the whole earth, without a king, -wfithout any prophet, as a people forsaken of God, and without a temple or sacrifice, and that not only for seventy or seven hundred, but now almost seventeen hundred years. And if this heavy judgment be come upon you for your not understanding the promises of God, and thereby hardening yourselves against the clear proofs which your Messiah brought of his mission, then is there no appearance of your being delivered, till you shall repent of this greater sin, and more grievously punished than your idolatries, — to reject and crucify your Messiah ! The ingenious and learned Jew before men- tioned answers to this, (Limborch, p. 99,) that the captivity of the ten tribes has been longer than that of the two tribes ; and it cannot be said that the captivity or dispersion of the ten tribes was for the rejecting of their Messiah ; and therefore, that it cannot be concluded, that the lesser punishment of the two tribes w^as for a more heinous sin (namely, of cruci- fying their Messiah) than that sin (namely, of idolatry) for which principally the ten tribes were delivered to captivity. Ans. Though the ten tribes were sent into captivity about one hundred and twenty years before the two tribes, yet their captivity has not been so long ; for, as the temporal punish- ment of any man ends with his death, so the punishment of a nation, as a nation, ceases when that nation has lost its name, and is scattered or incorporated into other nations. Particular persons who have descended of that nation may sufier, but the nation is no more, and so cannot be said to sufier, when it is extinct. As when a regiment is broke, it is no more a regiment, though the soldiers are incorporated into other regiments. Thus, in families, a family is said to be extinct when the name is lost, and there are none left to support it, though all the particular persons of that family may live under other names and in other families. And thus it is that the family of the ten tribes of Israel are A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 19 long since lost in the world : all the Jews now known being of the family of Judah, as distinct from Israel ; but the family of Judah, consisting of the tribes of Judah and Benja- min, with the Levites, are still preserved to suffer, a visible example of God’s just judg- ment and indignation against them ; the very names of all the other tribes of Israel being so far lost as that not one of them is now known, or any Jew does so much as pretend to be of any of those tribes. Though it is very probable that many of the ten tribes are incorporated (albeit they may not know it) into the two remaining tribes, yet all go under the name of the two tribes ; and therefore the two tribes are they only who are said to suffer : as they only (and such of the ten tribes as were then incor- porated with them) were concerned in the rejection and crucifying of their Messiah. But as the punishment of the two tribes has been so many hundred years continued longer than that of the ten tribes, for this their greater sin of crucifying their Messiah, so there was a plain and visible reason for the at first greater punishment of the ten tribes : — 1. They rebelled from under the house of David ; 2. They fell into schism against the house of Aaron, and set up new priests of their own ; 3. As a consequence of both these, they set up a false worship in the calves of Dan and Bethel, and returned not from their idolatry, their schism, and rebellion, till their extirpation. And we may see a very legible hand of God upon them, in great judgments, all along from their revolt. Judah had many bad kings, but some emi- nently good. Israel had a succession only of nineteen kings from their defection, among whom there was not one that was good. And they were carried away captive one hundred and twenty years before the captivity of Judah. But then the captivity of Judah having been continued so much longer than theirs, (as before has been said,) swells up the punish- ment of Judah now to exceed theirs, as their sin in crucifying their Messiah has far exceeded all the sins of the house of Israel. Let me add to this, the many and miserable massacres and destructions of the two tribes since our Saviour, under the several false Messiahs whom they set up ; in one of which they suffered more than in either of the destructions of Jerusalem, by the Chaldeans, or the Romans, as before has been shewn from their own confessions. Now, let us consider, that at the day of judgment, there is no representation of nations ; but every man suffers for his own sin ; national judgments are only in this world. And hence it is observable, that no wicked nation has ever yet escaped a national judg- ment in this world. Though God may bear long with them ; yet, if they do not repent, by a national sorrow and amendment, judg- ment overtakes them even here ; for no where else are there any national, either mercies or judgments. And as all nations have been wicked in their several degrees ; so have they every one been severally punished, according to their demerits, even before the sons of men. But there are no judgments that have befallen any nation so legible, as what have been sent upon your nation, particularly upon the two tribes. No nation, since the earth began, has been kept under so long a captivity and dispersion, so wonderfully preserved, and so remarkably punished — preserved for punishment! and when God’s time shall come, for a glorious restoration, in the acknowledg- ment of your only true and divine Messiah I 0 that this were the time ! But the learned Jew has another answer, (Limbor. Coll. p. 101. n. iv.) namely, that the Jews have not been free from idolatry, since their return from the captivity of Babylon, nor are at this day ; and therefore, that the comparison must fail, which we draw betwixt the punishments that have come upon them for their former idolatries, and this sixteen hundred years’ dispersion, after they had for- saken their idolatry ; which, he says, they have not yet forsaken. He says, (p. 102,) that they have it in the utmost abomination, and avoid it wherever they can ; but that for fear, or other base motives, very many of them have turned Mahometans, in all the dominions of the Turk, in Africa, in Asia, in Persia, and Arabia. But though this be an apostacy, and forsaking of their law, yet he does not charge it as idolatry, because the Mahometans do not worship God by images. But then, he returns upon the Christians, and says, that since the idolatry of the Church of Rome, multitudes of the Jews have, to avoid persecution, embraced the Popish idolatry, in divers countries. And even in our own times, (says he,) we have fresh experiences of it. He names the whole Neapolitan Synagogue of Barcelona, and all the others in Catalonia, who turned to the Church of Rome ; and in Spain and Portugal they have turned so fast, that he says, “ Ex Judaeis apostatis fere omnos et principes, nobiles, et populares, originem ducunt. Quod in iis regionibus adeo notum, ut nemo dubitaverit,” that is, “ That almost all of them, princes, nobles, and commons, are sprung from apostate Jews : which is so well known in those countries, as that none doubt of it. Notwithstanding (as he says) for the obtaining of great places and honours, especially the ecclesiastical, they are obliged to renounce Judaism, and to bring certificates 20 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. that they are not descended of the Jews. Which” (as we may easily believe him) “ are attainable at that, as well as other courts, where money is not wanting.” This indeed does plainly shew the suspicion, at least, that they are descended of the Jewish race ; he says, moreover, that many of their clergy, bishops, and even of the inquisitors themselves, are Jews in their hearts ; and dissemble Chris- tianity for the avoiding of persecution, and to gain “ honours” and preferments ; of whom (he says) some do repent and fly, as they can. And that “ there are in Spain both bishops, and the gravest of their monks, whose parents, brothers, and sisters, do fly into this country,” (that is, into Holland,) “ that they may freely profess Judaism ; that many of the Friars, Augustins, Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, have there and in several other countries, renounced their idolatry that is, of the Church of Rome. This, I suppose, he would make an argument of their returning back to J udaism. But he does not deny, that there are many Christian countries, who have thrown off the idolatry of the Church of Rome, and yet do not Judaize. But now, to consider all this vrhole excuse. 1st, If many Jews, to avoid persecution, sub- mit to idolatrous practices — as this learned Jew confesses that he himself had often bowed the knee to Baal, for which he begs God’s pardon — yet this is still but the defection of particular persons, and cannot be compared to those national idolatries wherein their kings, and priests, and people did concur, of their own choice, without any force or com- pulsion : as were their many idolatries before the captivity of Babylon, and none the like since. Their principles were then corrupted, but not since ; for they confess that they have idolatry in the greatest abhorrence, though many of them cannot resist unto martjTdom. 2^/, But this learned Jew has afforded us a very material consideration ; for if all Spain and Portugal, or the greatest part of them, and likewise many in other countries, are de- scended of the stock of the J ews, this may let us in to conjecture what is become of the ten tribes. It is certain they are dispersed among other nations ; and though they have lost their name, and consequently their nation, yet their posterity must remain somewhere, under other denominations. It is reasonable to believe, that many of them did return to J udea, after the two tribes were restored to their country, and Jerusalem and their temple were built again, and consequently are mixed among them to this day. It will not be so easy, without this, to reconcile the vast numbers of the Jews that w'ere destroyed in the siege of Jerusalem, under their several false Messiahs, and that are now dispersed all over the world ; from whence 1 make these inferences : 1. That many of the ten tribes might be involved in the guilt of crucifying their Mes- siah, and standing out against him unto this day ; though all going then under the name of Judah, or the two tribes, and consequently sharing with them in the punishment. 2. If the Spaniards, Portuguese, and other Christians, are of the race of the Jews, they must be of the ten tribes, so far, at least, as they were mixed with the two tribes. And they turned more into other nations than the two tribes, because they have lost their name and nation, which only survives in the two tribes. Therefore the ten tribes may be said to be more converted to Christianity than the two tribes, who only, by name, of all the tribes, persist in their infidelity against Christ our Lord. This will make the punishment of the ten tribes for their idolatry, schism, and rebellion, much less than that of the two tribes for the rejecting and crucifying of their Messiah ; and this sin of the two tribes to be much greater than that of their own former idolatries, as the punishment of it has been many ways more remarkably transcendent. Which I pray God you may lay to heart as you ought. 8. Many myriads of the Jews, as well priests as others, (Acts, xxi. 20 ; vi. 7 ,) were converted to Christianity, in the beginning of the Gospel, upon conviction of what they themselves had seen and heard. About three thousand at one sermon, (Acts, ii. 41,) five thousand at another, (iv. 4,) “Multitudes, both of men and women,” (v. 14.) These, with their religion, lost (in time) their nation, or the name of Jews, having embraced that of Christians in the stead of it ; and their pos- terity are Christians, though of the Jewish race. Now, by reasonable computation, there are more of these Christian Jews at this day in tlie world, than of all that are known by the name of the Jews. For the Jews were almost all cut oflP, and utterly extinct, in the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus ; and more afterwards by Adrian, for adhering to their false Messiah Barcosbas. And all that now go by the name of Jews, are sprung from the small remainders that were left out of these destructions, like brands plucked out of the fire. Whereas the Christian Jews escaped all these, and all that came upon the other Jews, for their several false Messiahs before men- tioned. And, which is wonderfully observable, the Christian Jews that were in Jerusalem when it was besieged, were saved by a mira- culous providence ; the siege being unaccoun- tably raised for a short time, till the Christian Jews, taking hold of that warning of our Saviour, (Matt. xxiv. 16,) fled to Pella, a city in the mountains ; and thereby escaped that dreadful overthrow, wliich swept away the A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 21 unbelieving Jews that waited their fate in Jerusalem. By this, it appears that the stock of the Christian Jews has increased and spread much farther than that of the infidel Jews ; whose tree was twice cut down by Titus and Adrian even to the ground, and left to spring again out of the old root ; besides the many great loppings afterwards, under several others of their false Messiahs. Whereas the believing Jews have increased and multi- plied without any of these interruptions, and spread far and wide through the world. From whence w^e must conclude, that much the greatest number of the Jews are converted, and have embraced the Christian faith ; and by this means are delivered from that servitude and dispersion, which now lies only, as a curse, upon those infidel Jews who continue in their obstinacy against the Messiah. Let me here take notice of another passage in the place before quoted of Limborch, where the learned Jew, speaking of the defection of so many of the Jews to idolatry, to Mahome- tism, &c. according to the countries where they live, wishes the Jews were as good, as this argument of the Christians would suppose them, namely, that they had reformed from their idolatry since their return from the captivity of Babylon, and were in other respects better than before, excepting that sin of rejecting their Messiah, and persisting in it : which this learned Jew will by no means allow, but, to avoid the force of this argument, he makes the Jews now more wicked than ever. Upon which occasion, I would mind you of your exposition (before mentioned) of the liii. of Isaiah, which makes them most holy and righteous, (see p. 7,) and that their dispersion was for the conversion of the Gen- tiles by them ; whereas now you make them grow more and more wicked, and that they are corrupted every where with the idolatries and delusions of the nations, instead of con- verting them. Theodore Hackspan, in his book before quoted, p. 394, cites the Jewish Rabbies and Talmud, making the ancient Jews much better than the modern : he quotes Jalkut upon the first of Isaiah ; and upon these words, that “Righteousness lodged in Jerusalem,” R. Juda F. R. Simonis says, “ That there was not a man then to be found in Jerusalem, in whose hands any sin was to be found.’* But how was this ? “ The daily morning sacrifice did cleanse the sins of the night, and the daily evening sacrifice the sins of each day ; so that none was to be found in Jerusalem upon whom there was any sin.” Thus he. But of the Jews, after the daily sacrifice did cease, it is said in the Talmud by Jochanan Massech, (Jonia. cap. 1.) that “a nail of the former Jews was better than the whole body of the after Jews,” because the daily sacrifice was wanting, by which the former Jews were cleansed. See how vile the modern Jews are here made, ever since the destruction of the second temple! How vile this learned Jew here makes them ! And this, that they might find an excuse for the delay of the Messiah thus long after the time foretold by the prophets. But at another turn, when they apply what is said of the sufferings of the Messiah in the liii. of Isaiah to their own present suffering state, then they are “ the righteous servant of the Lord,” and “ there is no deceit in their lips !” Then do they apply to them- selves all that righteousness which is there spoken of the Messiah. At one time they are more vile than the heathen among whom they are mixed 1 At another time, they are righteous above all that are on the earth ! And by their righteousness the Gentiles are to be converted I These contradictory pretences, set up seve- rally as they are pinched, shew the desperate- ness of their cause. Therefore I will labour this point no farther, but proceed to another topic. VIII. It is strange that you will adhere so obstinately to the letter of those promises made to Levi, which yet you must acknow- ledge are, according to the letter, and have been, long broken ; and yet so easily get over the letter of the promises concerning the Messiah, which can never be fulfilled b^ut in the person of Jesus Christ. Especially considering, that in that famous prophecy of the Messiah, (Psalm cx.) it is expressly said that he should be a priest, not of the order of Levi, but of Melchizedek. Here was a new priesthood. And a change of the priesthood does necessarily infer a change also of the law. In your sense of the promises to Levi, you make that promise, of the future priesthood after another order, to be a contradiction to the promises made to Levi ; but in our sense they both stand toge- ther, and the one fulfills and completes the other. If you will admit no change of the Levitical priesthood, you must throw off the Psalms of David, as well as the Gospel of Christ. Then consider, that the promise to the priesthood, of which David then prophe- sied, was confirmed by an oath that God would not alter his purpose, “ I have sworn, and will not repent.” There was no oath to the priesthood of Levi. Again, the priesthood of the Messiah was declared to be eternal, “ Thou art a priest for ever.” And the type of this priesthood in Melchizedek, was more noble than that in Levi ; because Abraham, the father of Levi, and of all Israel, did pay an acknowledgment to the priesthood of Melchizedek, as superior to his own, in paying of tithes to Melchizedek, instead of receiving tithes from him, and being blessed by Mcl- chizedek as his superior. When the flowing in of the Gentiles to the 22 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. Church is described, it is written, (Isaiah, Ixvi. 21,) “ I will take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord or, if this were to be understood of the Jews, yet the covenant with Levi would be at an end, if the priest- hood were enlarged to let in those of other tribes. And it is promised, (Exod. xix. 6,) “ ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests.” This could not be under the Mosaical dispen- sation ; but it is under the evangelical, where the priesthood, which is designed to serve the whole earth, is not, it cannot be, confined to one family, or tribe, or nation ; and so the whole kingdom of God, which is the whole world, as they that are made capable of the covenant of grace, so also of the priesthood. And if the, whole Gentile world were gathered unto you (as you expect) then surely the one tribe of Levi would not be sufficient for priests to them all. So that, according to your own expectation, there must be a change. And yet, IX. Your great objection is, that God cannot alter any thing that he has once ordained. It is true God is immutable, and cannot change ; and what he ordains, must answer the ends for which he has ordained it. He does not always tell us what those ends are, and therefore we cannot always tell when they are accomplished. But when he pleases to make known to us the ends for which he has ordained such things, what it is they tend to, and when they are to be accomplished, then when they are accomplished at the time he has named, to think this any breach of promise, or alteration in God, which is the highest proof of his veracity and unchange- ableness, is a great weakness in our under- standings, and our great unhappiness, wffien this betrays us to oppose and fight against the council of God, and forfeit our share in his glorious dispensations, all ordained to bring us to bliss. 1. This objection of yours, which keeps you from Christianity, is that which has divided the Samaritans from you. They stick to the institutions given to the fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : and think that what was after commanded to Moses, cannot alter what God had before appointed. “ Our fathers worshipped in this mountain (said a Avoman of Samaria to our Messiah,) and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship,” (John, iv. 20.) Our Lord deter- mined the case on your side, against the Sa- maritans, and said that “ salvation is of the Jews.” But by the same argument that you can defend yourselves against the Samaritans, you must yield up the cause to the Christians. For if God could alter his institutions, from what he gave to the fathers, to what he commanded by Moses, why not from what he commanded by Moses, to what he instituted by Christ ? 2. If you say, that the argument will run on to all changes, as from what he instituted by Christ, to what it is pretended he anew revealed to Mahomet, and so on to the end of the w’orld, and then nothing can be certain. I answer, that Mahomet could not prove his pretended revelations by those marks as Moses and Christ did ; and they only, as shewn in the “ Method with the Deists.” And we may safely venture all the impostors in the world to counterfeit these marks, and to believe them if they can. But in the next place, Christ was foretold by Moses, (Deut. xviii. 18,) “ yea, and all the prophets that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days,” in which our Messiah came into the world, and fulfilled all that they had prophesied of him. So that the Gospel is a confirmation and fulfilling of the law, and bears witness to it. But though the Alcoran does acknowledge both the Scriptures of the Old and New Tes- tament, and so far bears witness to them ; yet it cannot shew that Mahomet was foretold either by Moses or Christ, or by any of the prophets ; nay Christ has told that he is the last, and none to come after him ; and there- fore gives us caution to believe none such. So that the Alcoran is in direct opposition both to the Law and the Gospel. If Moses had said that he himself was the last that God would send, then could not you expect any Messiah to come ; but since Moses has told us (Deut. xviii. 19) of a prophet that God would send after him, and com- manded all to hear him, and threatens God’s judgments upon those who will not hearken to the words of God which he shall tell them, what difficulty should you make to hearken unto him, who has come with the same attes- tation and seal of God, as Moses himself did ? 3. If you say, that you are forbidden (Deut. xiii.) to trust even miracles against what Moses commanded ; that Scripture shall be considered by and by ; and it will be shewn, that it extends only as to the worship of false gods ; and that they are not true but seeming miracles that are there spoken of. But your Talmud (tit. de Synedrio) gives this as a standing rule, that “ any command whatsoever may without scruple be trans- gressed by the command of a prophet,” that is, who works miracles to attest his mission. This is to be understood of those commands which stand only upon positive precepts of God’s institution, and have not a moral, which is an indispensable, obligation in their own nature. And of this there are many examples in Scripture, even where no miracles were wrought to warrant them ; but they gave place ofttimes to cases of necessity and public good. A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. ^ How oft have the treasures of the temple, which were hallowed, being dedicated to God, and the very gold upon the doors and pillars of the temple, been given to heathen and idolatrous kings (when other treasure there was none) to procure peace to the kingdom upon great emergencies? And no censure past upon this. David in a case of necessity, (1 Sam. xxi.) eat of the hallowed bread, and those who were with him, of which it was not lawful for any but the priests to eat ; and was blameless. The command of the sabbath was trans- gressed, as oft as the eighth day for the circum- cision of a child fell upon that day. Joshua and all the men of war compassed Jericho on the sabbath day, (Josh, vi.) Circumcision (so positively commanded) was omitted forty years in the wilderness, (Josh. V. 5.) Samuel sacrificed at Mizpeh, (1 Sam. vii. 7 — 17,) and built an altar at Ramah, neither of which was the place that God had appointed ; which w'as contrary to the general command (Deut. xii. 13, 14.) And besides, Samuel was no Levite ; and therefore it was death for him to offer sacrifice by Num. xviii. 7. The same did Elijah, (who was not a Levite) and had God’s approbation by a great miracle then shewn, (1 Kings, xviii. 38.) The place of which Moses spoke (Deut. xii. 5, 6,) that God would “ choose to put his name there,” was established at Shiloh, which bore the name of the Messiah, and was called, “the tabernacle which God had pitched among men,” (Psalm Ixxviii. 60.) It remained there from the days of Joshua to Samuel, about four hundred and fifty years ; and thither they brought their tithes, sacrifices, &c. and came up yearly to worship, as Moses had commanded, (1 Sam. i. 3, 7,) to “ the house of the Lord,” which was there. Yet this was altered by the authority of David and Solomon, who set it up at Jeru- salem, and moreover made several changes in the courses of the priests and the Levites, and other parts of the worship of God, which Moses had commanded ; particularly as to the time of the Levites’ service, which, by the commandment of Moses, (Num. iv. 3, 23.) was from the age of thirty to fifty ; but this, by the last words of David, (1 Chron. xxiii. 27,) was altered, and they were to begin their service at the age of twenty ; and the reason is there given, b^ecause the manner of their service was changed, not being so labo- rious as when they were to carry the taber- nacle upon their shoulders ; the practice of which ceased, when the house of the Lord was built at Shiloh, after the conquest of Canaan, for then the ark was fixed ; and all the tribes repaired to it at Shiloh, (Jos. xviii. 1 ; 1 Sani. i. 7 ; iv. 3 ;) and it was not carried about with them from place to place, as for- merly. Yet this alteration of the age of the Levites’ service was not made till the time of David, but served ever after, (Ezra, iii. 8.) And there was no prophecy going before to warrant these changes, nor had Moses spoke any thing of them. But he spoke expressly of the Messiah, and implied changes to be made by him ; for he gives strict charge (Deut. xviii. 15, 18, 19.) to “ hearken to what he should command,” and threatens God’s judgments to those who should refuse. Now, what occasion was there for this, if he had no more in commission than Moses had, and were to command nothing more or less than Moses had done ? If he were only to reinforce what Moses com- manded, that was the business of lesser pro- phets, and would make him less than Moses ; which, I suppose, none of you will say. But beside Moses, we have the joint voice of all the prophets, which do, in express terms, declare, that the Messiah would make great changes from what Moses commanded ; and introduce a much more glorious state into the Church, which Isaiah expresses by “ new heavens and a new earth,” (Isa. Ixv. 17 ; Ixvi. 22.) And tells, that at that time God would throw off the Jews, and make others his chosen. “ And ye” (says God to your nation) “ shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen ; for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name,” (Isa. Ixv. 15.) And, “ In those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the cove- nant of the Lord ; neither shall it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall that be done any more,” (Jer. iii. 16.) “ Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah : not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,” (Jer. xxxi. 31, 32. — See Ezek. xvi. 61, “ Not by thy covenant.”) And it is told, that the Messiah should be a priest, but not of the order of Levi, as before shewn, p. 21. And, as your priesthood, so it is said that God would reject and put an end to your sacrifices, and bring in their place the great and only expiatory sacrifice of the Messiah. “ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire ; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required.” What then? “ A body hast thou prepared me,” says the Messiah. And, “ Lo, I come ; to do thy will O God ; in the volume of the book it is so written of me,” (Psalm xl. 6, 7.) Thus it is written of the Messiah, and of the changes which he was to introduce ; yet you will have none of them, because they are changes ; though you make no scruple of the changes by David, Solomon, and others, of A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 24 whicli there were no prophecies ; nor did they attest their mission, as our Messiah has done, by such a multitude of miracles, and of such a wonderful nature, as never before were shewn upon the earth. Nay, you yourselves have made alterations, without the command of any prophet that you can produce, or of any miracles to warrant you ; for you are commanded not to add to what Moses commanded, as well as not to diminish, (Deut. iv. 2 ; v. 32 ; xii. 32 ; J os. i. 7 ; Prov. xxx. 6.) Yet how many traditions of your elders do you observe, that were never commanded by Moses, — as the washing of pots and cups, &c. If that were all ; for you have traditions quite contrary to the law of God, and which render them of none effect. Moses said, “Honour” (that is, support) “your father and mother but ye say, if a man has made a voluntary corban, or gift, of what he has, though in reversion, to the temple, or other use of your law, he is free from that part of the fifth command, which you have thus enervated by your tradition : and many other such like things do ye ; nay, you have laid an eternal fund of traditions to vie with the written law ; these you suppose delivered to Moses, and by him orally conveyed to your elders, of which they have the keeping ; and their stock is inexhaustible, and these you make of equal authority to the written law. What prophet or miracle had you for changing of the posture in eating of the Pass- over? so positively commanded, (Exod. xii. 11 ;) yet, after you were at rest in Canaan, you made your own construction upon the equity of the command, and released your- selves from the trouble of that manner of eating it. You likewise added a post-ccsnium to it, which you observed with as much strictness as the passover itself. You added baptism to circumcision, and several other things which were not com- manded in your law. Yet you reject your Messiah, because you say he made alterations in the ordinances which Moses delivered. X. From what has been said, I hope it will not be a difficult task to remove from you all scruple as to that master objection which you most insist upon, grounded upon Deut. xiii.l — 3, where it is said, “ If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or won- der come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying. Let us go after other gods, (which thou hast not known,) and let us serve them, thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams ; for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” From hence you would infer, that you are not to believe our Messiah, let his miracles be never so great, because he seeks to turn you after other gods. Ans. 1st, The sign or wonder here men- tioned is not any true and real miracle, but only telling of something which might after- wards come to pass. And this has h^appened, and may happen many times, by chance, which yet may seem a wonder to the people. And it is only against these false and seeming miracles that God here guards his people, which he sometimes permits, for the trial of their faith. Therefore, observe, the word “miracle” is not used here, only a sign, a wonder, or a dream. For none can work a true and real miracle but God. And it cannot, without the highest blasphemy, be supposed, that God would work a miracle on purpose to set his seal to a lie. If this were possible, it would destroy all revelation ; for how could we know when it were true or false ? Therefore, where there can be no doubt as to the miracle, there can be no scruple as to the revelation which that is brought to attest. Now, the miracles of our Jesus were such, as that there can be no manner of doubt con- cerning them ; the most hardened Deist upon the face of the earth, if he allowed the matters of fact, would grant them to be true and real miracles ; and you must either allow them to be such, or throw off all those of Moses, which were neither so great nor so many. This is the first answer I give, which con- cerns the nature of the sign or wonder that is spoke of Deut. xiii. The next answer is concerning that thing for which such a sign, or wonder, or dream, is produced ; and that is, “ To go and serve other gods.” And as to this, consider, 2c/, What are these gods here spoke of ? It is told (ver. 7,) “ Namely, the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far oflF from thee, from the one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth that is, all the gods of the heathen world ; and against all these our Jesus is as severe as your Moses, and confirms this very text, and all that Moses commanded against them. They are called “ devils” over and over again, (1 Cor. x. 20, 21 ;) and Christianity, wherever it has come, has rooted out all the Pagan idolatry, more than ever the Law has done. Obj. 1. If you say, that our Jesus would have men to worship himself. — Is/, That is none of the gods mentioned in this place of Deuteronomy, for you will not say that any of the heathen did worship the Messiah. Uly, You do not refuse worship to the Messiah. David called him Lord, (Psalm cx. 1 ;) and said of him, “ Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever,” (Psalm xlv. 6,) and, “ God, even thy God, hath anointed thee,” (ver. 7,) and A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 25 says to the King’s daughter, that is, the Church, “ He is thy Lord, and worship thou him,” (ver. 11.) And God calls him, his fellow or associate, (Zech. xiii. 7.) And commands all the kings of the earth to kiss, that is, to worship the Son, (Psalm ii. 12.) (for that was an act of worship. Job, xxxi. 27 ; 1 Kings, xix. 18 ; Hos. xiii. 2.) And David speaks of him, (which can be applied to Solomon no otherwise than as he was a type of the Messiah,) “ They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations — He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and unto the ends of the earth — All kings shall worship or fall down before him ; all nations shall serve him — Prayer shall be made ever unto him, or, he shall ever be adored — All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him, and all the heathen shall praise him,” (Psalm Ixxii. 5, 8, 11, 15, 17.) These are the very epithets given to the Messiah (and can belong properly to none other) who is called the “ Desire of all nations,” (Hag. ii. 7.) And that “ In him all nations of the earth should be blessed,” (Gen. xii. 3 ; xviii. 18 ; xxii. 18.) And “ To him shall the gathering of the Gentiles be,” (Gen. xlix. 10.) Which is to Christ our Jesus, but was not to Solomon, unless in a very low sense, as he was greatly famed for his wisdom, which made him much respected by many of the heathen. But they had no relation to him, or were gathered to him, as their king or their Saviour, as they are now to our Jesus ; whom Solomon did but faintly represent. And if you should apply the worship before men- tioned to Solomon, then surely much more to the Messiah. So that the worship of him is established in your own Scriptures. And comes no way within the prohibition of Deut. xiii. which respects only the worship of the heathen deities. Let me add here, what your Talmud (tit. de Synedrid) says, that Jesus is not the name of any idol, nor can be reckoned such, when the Christians do refer the honour they pay to him, to God the Creator of all. And (tit. Schebuoth et ShabbatJi) agrees with Rabbi Solomo, who (upon Gen. xxii. 18.) does acknowledge that God might take upon him human nature, and thinks that he had done it for a time. And the Chaldee para- phrase (upon Hos. i. 7, and other places) calls the Messiah the ‘‘Word of God,” the same that our Saint John calls him, (John, i. 1, &c.) and your Talmud upon Taanith says, from Isaiah, xxv. 9, that at that time God would be pointed at, and shewn even with the finger. The above quoted Psalms, which speak of the worship of the Messiah, are owned to refer to the Messiah. The second Psalm by David Kimchi, Abraham Esdra, R. Jonathan in Beresith rabba, and that most learned Rabbi Saadia, who owns the same of Psalm cx. as the Chaldee paraphrase does of Psalm xlv. But there needs not attestations, for these Scriptures are expressed in such a strain, as may indeed be accommodated, at an infinite distance, to transactions here below, but can- not be properly applied nor verified of any but the Messiah ; and some are such as can in no way be adapted to any other. What other did David call his Lord ? What other claims the worship of all the kings upon the earth ? Whose kingdom but his, is without end, and extends to the “ uttermost part of the earth ?” All which, in the second Psalm, is given to the Son, but was not given to David. Neither was it given to David that his filesh should not see corruption, as it is pro- mised, (Psal. xvi. 9, 10,) but was verified of none that ever entered the grave, except only of our Messiah. Obj. 2. You urge our doctrine of the Holy Trinity, as inferring plurality of gods, and so to be brought within the prohibition, Deut. xiii. But you cannot say that this is any of the gods of the heathen, who only are ex- pressed in that command, when we profess to worship none other but that one only God, who spoke to your fathers in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. And we detest all thoughts of any other God ; our great Messiah taught us this to be the “first of all the Commandments, that the Lord our God is one Lord,” (Mark, xii. 29.) And all expositions of the Blessed Trinity, or inferences from it, that do in the least interfere with this, we condemn as impious and heretical. But whether this one most simple and uncompounded nature of God may not be communicated to three eternal persons, with- out either confusion of the persons, or divichng of the substance, does in no way interfere with the unity of the nature, because this very hypothesis does suppose the unity of the nature, in the strictest sense that is possible. And if we should be under great difficulty (as how can it be otherwise) in explaining such an unfathomable mystery, yet can it not infer polytheism upon us, while we are ready to part with all, rather than to admit of that. You know, we bring many proofs for this out of your Scriptures of the Old Testament, (some are named hereafter,) and you cannot infer from hence, that we do not own these Scriptures, (nay this is a proof that we do own them,) only that we do not understand them aright ; and if you should prove against us, that we do not rightly understand (who docs?) the divine incomprehensible nature, while we contend, as earnestly as you, for the necessity of its unity, you cannot charge us with polytheism for our mistake in other matters ; and therefore this can never come under the prohibition of Deut. xiii. I say not this, that I would waive entering with you upon this subject, but there is not room for it in this short essay ; it would A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 26 require a discourse by itself : all that I am at present concerned in, is to shew you, that this can he no cause for your rejecting of our Messiah. There are some called Christians, who say that we have mistaken our Messiah in this point. But I would be loth to clear you from the objection by that method. Only thus much it shews you, that if we have mis- taken the Gospel, so have we the Law too, as to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity ; and this can be no more an argument that we set up polytheism against the Law, than against the Gospel, which as strongly asserts the unity of God as the Law, and confirms all that the Law says of it ; therefore, if you reject the Gospel, because we would infer a Trinity from thence, you must, upon the same account, reject the Law too. If our inferences are not just, the Gospel is cleared as well as the Law ; and if our arguments do hold, then the Law does infer a Trinity as well as the Gospel. Nor is it we Christians alone that would infer a Trinity from your law ; your own Cabalists do distinguish God into three lights, and some of them call them by the same names as the Christians, of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit ; and yet say, that this does not at all break the unity of God. Your famous Philo expresses the same in many places. Upon the Sacrifices of Cain and Abel he says, that God was accompanied with his two supreme virtues of power and goodness, and that God being one, did produce out of his clear mind three operations, of which each is unmeasurable or infinite, for that his powers are unlimitable. And in his second book of the Husbandry of Noah he distinguishes these into To ov, ro 'hioToriKOD, rhv ^Xiea that is, being, power, and goodness. In his Allegories^ he calls the Word, the name of God, and the maker of the world, or the great instrument of God, whereby he made the world, the same as our Gospel, (John, i. 3.) And in his book before quoted of Husbandly, he calls the Word by the same name as we do (Heb. i. 3,) Xa,ga,y,rn^, “the express image of God.” Moses, the sou of Nehemannus, calls him “ the Angel the Redeemer,” who is called “ the Face of God,” that is, says he, “ God himself,” the same that appeared to Jacob at Bethel, and said to Moses in the bush, “ I am the God of thy Father,” &c. the Lord that should come to his temple, and “ the angel of the covenant,” prophesied of Mai. iii. 1. Maimonides, in his book of Foundations, and after him Joseph Albo, distinguish in God, 1. that which knows ; 2. that which is known ; 3. the knowledge itself. But I will not detain you here with quota- tions. Our Eusebius, in his book of the Preparation of the Gospel, (p. 327,) tells you that all your Rabbles, “ after the God of all, and his First-born Wisdom, do join into the same divine nature a third, whom they call the Holy Ghost, by whom your inspired persons were enlightened.” And you do all generally agree, that this Holy Spirit was not any thing that was created ; and yet you distinguish it from him that sent it. Your Rabbi tells us, that in the word Elohim, there are three degrees ; each distinct by itself, yet all one ; joined in one, yet not divided from one another. And, as you make that Holy Spirit which inspired the prophets not to be a creature, yet distinct from him who sent him ; so you make what you call the Schechina to be a divine thing, and distinguish it not only from God, but from that Holy Spirit ; as in your Jerusalem Gemara, of Documents, cap. 3. and the Babylonish Gemara, tit. Joma, cap. 1. Your R. Jonathan, in the preface Ecka Rabthi, says, that the Schechina waited three years and a half upon Mount Olivet, expecting the conversion pf the Jews. This was the place where our Jesus (the true Schechina) made his abode, (Luke, xix. 29 ; xxi. 37 ;) and whence he rode into Jerusalem, to accomplish his blessed passion ; and the time of his preaching was about three years, (Luke, xiii. 7 ;) so long, he said, he would bear with the obstinate J e ws. This may be applied as to what your high priest said, (John, xi. 51.) though himself knew not the true import of it. Now, then, all these forecited testimonies to the Holy Trinity, whether of Jews or Chris- tians, are not the setting up of any other God, but only searching into the nature of that God whom we acknowledge ; as, to give an example, (though any parallel to God must be at an infinite distance,) we argue three great faculties in our soul, the understanding, the memory, and the will, and that these may be under- stood, without either confusion of the faculties, or division of the substance of the soul. And suppose that some should object, that this was making of three souls ; I say, that whatever the consequence might be from this hypo- thesis, yet that no man could be justly charged wdth holding three souls in man, who pro- fessed that he held but one. We are not to be charged with the consequences of an opinion, so as to infer that we do not hold that opinion : for we may not see all the consequences of what we hold ; therefore, though three facul- ties should infer three souls, yet cannot he who holds three faculties be charged with holding of three souls, while he does hold but one soul, and thinks that the contrary does not follow from his holding of three faculties in the same soul. Thus, though three persons did infer three Gods ; yet does not he hold three Gods, who holds three persons in one and the self-same God. If you say, that this will excuse all idolatry as of those who worshipped the sun^ &c. A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 27 because of God’s supposed residence there ; I answer, No ; because, supposing of that resi- dence, yet it would be idolatry to w^orship the sun, or any thing else, merely because of God’s residence in it : as you would have thought it idolatry to have worshipped the temple, or the cloud of glory, because of God’s special presence which was there afforded. But they did not think it to be idolatry ; was it therefore none ? No, our thoughts can- not alter the nature of things, and there are sins of ignorance. None ever confessed, no, nor, I believe, thought himself to be an idolater : for then, it must be supposed, that he would not continue in it. But he that adores one God in three persons (supposing him mistaken in his judgment) comes not under either of the branches of idolatry, — 1. Of a false object ; 2. Of a false manner of worship. For the manner, there is no pre- tence ; that consists in the worship of God by images, (which he has forbidden,) whether artificial, of our own making ; or natural, by any creature of God’s making, — as any of the host of heaven, sun, moon, or stars ; or any thing here below, as of men, birds, beasts, fish, &c. though the worship be referred to God, as represented by them, or from his supposed residence or presence in them. This is idolatry in the manner of our worship, but nothing of this can be applied to the three persons, which are supposed to be God himself. This was your idolatry in the golden calf, which you did not take to be God himself, that you yourselves had made ; nor could such folly be supposed in your Solomon, as to think the images he made, to be that God that made him. This w'as the idolatry forbidden in the second command. Then, for the first command, which relates to the object of worship. If that be taken for setting up any creature as the Supreme Being, or giving divine honour to angels or other ministers of God, as inferior or middle deities betwixt the Supreme Being and us, as the Heathens thought their demons, whom therefore they called DU Medioxumi; in neither of these senses can idolatry be applied to the three persons supposed to be in the divine nature. For, ] st, they are not creatures, nor, 2dly^ any inferior deities, nor so supposed to be ; but all equally to partake of the same one divine nature ; as the three faculties do of the same one and indivisible soul. And therefore whatever mistake may be supposed in the hypothesis, yet it cannot come under any notion of idolatry. And no otherwise can the worship, or paying of divine honour, to the Son or Messiah (already proved) be excused from idolatry, than by acknowledging him to be the Word of God, (as you yourselves have called him,) that is, one of the divine persons in the Godhead. And this does avoid all notion of idolatry in the worship of him. and can no ways come under that prohibition of Deut. xiii. against worshipping of the false gods of the Heathen. You lay not this to the charge of your own Talmud and Rabbles, who give the same expositions of your Scriptures as we do. And you know how many of them do think, that a plurality of powers in the one nature of God is intimated in the very name of God Elohim, which is the plural number ; and in these texts, among many others of the Old Testament, (Gen. i. 1 — 26; iii. 22; xix. 24 ; Psalm xlv. 6, 7 ; Ixviii. 18 ; cx. 1 ; Isa. ix. 6 ; xlviii. 16 ; Jer. xxiii. 6 ; Mich. V. 2 ; Zech. ii. 8, 9 ; iii. 2 ; xii. 10.) Now, may we not reason upon these texts, as you have done, without imputation of polytheism ? And so of the texts in the Gospel ? And when you come to embrace the Gospel, (God send it !) we will reason with you, as with some amongst ourselves, upon what proofs are there, answerable to, and explanatory of those texts in the Old Testament, which favour the doctrine of the Holy Trinity ; and then, and not till then, will be the proper time to enter with you, at large, upon this controversy. But what I have now said, I hope, will be sufficient to remove all scruple from you against the Gospel, from that text of Deut. xiii. And then that other text (Deut. xviii. 19) will look very terribly upon you, that who- ever should not hearken to the Messiah, when he came, God would require it of him. And you feel it severely, that God has required it. 3c?, But, to put an end to this objection from Deut. xiii. The Jews have yielded it, if they will allow that learned Jew who dis- puted with Limborch to give their true sense ; and that according to their own Talmud before quoted (tit. de Synedrio,') which says, “ That any command may be transgressed by the command of a prophet,” that is, Mffio can work miracles to prove his mission. And says that learned Jew, (Limbor. Col. p. 182,) “ If Christ, after he rose from the dead, had publicly said to the whole congre- gation of Israel, Hear, 0 Israel, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and now have redeemed you from a greater captivity of sin ; whom you have sacrilegiously put to death. Absque dubio (says he) without doubt, all Israel had believed, even to this present day. Nor had there been room left for any doubt or suspi- cion.” Thus he ; and he thereby yields, that such a miracle as this would have convinced all the Jews to believe Christ when he called himself God. And therefore he must graht, that, notwithstanding of what is said Deut. xiii. miracles are sufficient to vouch even the divinity of Christ. And then the dispute must only lie upon the miracles recorded in the Gospel. For the truth of which, I refer to what is said in the “ Method with the Deists.” 28 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. XI. I would in this place call upon you to reflect, how very exact and particular God has been in fulfilling all the promises he has made ! unto your nation ; one especially, which does j confound the Deists, who call for ocular j demonstration, and have it, to their astonish- I ment, in seeing at this day the fulfilling of a ' most wonderful prophecy and promise made to your nation, so many ages past. The Deists have made you, of all people, their reproach, because you have been called the “peculiar people,” “the holy nation,” chosen of God before all nations upon the earth. Yet ye were “ the fewest of all people,” (Deut. vii. 7.) And they called you the most inconsiderable and contemptible ; and thence argue (in their bold and profane style) the injustice and nonsense of God’s preferring these to all the great nations and monarchies upon the earth. They will not believe that God had more regard to the Jews than to any other people, or gave any prophecies concerning you . They say you coined those prophecies after the facts they speak of. But they demand the fulfilling of a prophecy which they may see. And this that I speak of is obvious to the eyes of all the world, it is recorded, Jer. xlvi. 28, “ Fear thou not, 0 Jacob my servant, saith the Lord ; for I am with thee ; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee ; but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure ; yet will I not utterly cut thee off.” You will find the same, chap. XXX. 11. And chap. xxxi. 36, 87, it is written, “If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. Thus saith the Lord, if heaven above can be measured, and the foundation of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cut off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith the Lord.” See the same re- peated, chap, xxxiii. 24 — 26; and confirmed, Isai. xxvii. 7 ; xxix. 7, 8 ; liv. 9, 10 ; Ixv. 8 ; Ezek. vi. 8 ; xi. 16 ; xii. 15, 16 ; Amos, ix. 8, 9 ; Zech. x. 9. And this was pursuant to what was promised in the law, Lev. xxvi. 44 ; Deut. iv. 31. &c. Now let us see how literally this is fulfilled at this day. The great and famous monarchies, who, in their turns, governed the world, and successively had destroyed the Jews, (the Assyrian, the Babylonian, and the Roman) are all vanished as a dream ; there is not one of them left ; their very names are lost in the earth. But your nation, though “sifted among all nations” (as your prophet Amos expresses it, in the place above quoted) “ like as corn is sifted in a sieve,” yet are you preserved a visible distinct people, in all the nations w^hither you have been scattered. And the rage of many kings and governments have been let loose against you, to root you off from the face of the earth ; and you had no helper. Yet the Lord was your helper, and put it out of the power of all the earth (though without any visible opposition) to infringe the promise he had made to you. The Deists dare not say that these pro- phecies were made yesterday, or not before the fall of these monarchies ; especially of the Roman, the greatest of them. And what a folly, as well as vanity, had it been in the Jews to have forged such audacious and pro- voking prophecies, to have thus dared all the powers of the earth to extirpate them, who hated them, and had them perfectly at mercy ? And here let the Deists take notice of this wonderful instance, fresh before their eyes, of God’s particular regard to this most despised and contemptible people (in their account) above all the other nations of the earth, how great and honourable soever. This is a standing miracle, exhibited to the whole world ! Yet is there no partiality in this, as the Deists weakly reason ; for as Moses was a type of the Messiah, so the church of the Jews was of the Christian ; whose pales are enlarged to take in the Gentiles, as often promised in your prophets. By which means your nation was indeed a type of the whole world (represented in the long garment of the high priest, Wisd. xviii. 24 ; by Israel, called “ the first-fruits of God’s increase,” Jer. ii. 3.) And consequently, the blessings of which the Jews partook, the promises made to them, and miraculous pro- tection over them, was taking possession in the name, and securing the reversion of the Gentile world in the same glorious inheritance. And it was indifferent, as to the good of the world, which nation had been pitched upon as their type. But God chose the least, that his power and protection over his Church might be more visible ; and to shew that she must struggle through many difficulties and tentations ; yet never be extinct (though often distressed) when all the powers and glory of this world shall vanish as smoke before the wind. Moreover, if God had chosen any of the great and powerful nations of the earth for his peculiar people, to whom, if he had given his promise to continue them for ever, the scorners would have blasphemed, and said, that God was still on the strongest side. And they would have ascribed their preservation to their own power and greatness. This is the reason God gives why he chose “ the fewest of all people,” (Deut. vii. 7 ; viii. 17,) lest they should say, it was through their own power and might that they were preserved. Besides, the peculiar nation being (as before has been said) a type of the Christian Church, it was necessary that the odds, as to the world, should be against that nation ; which should subsist not by worldly strength and politics. A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. but by signal and miraculous providences. Thus the Church was best represented, as greatly distressed, but wonderfully preserved ! And here, O ye Jews, behold an equal promise of our Messiah to his Church, and as miraculously fulfilled as that before men- tioned to yours. He promised, as before quoted, that his Church should continue “ even unto the end of the world that he would be all that time with her, to preserve her, and that the gates of hell should never prevail against her. And when was this promised ? Even at the beginning, when his religion was low and contemptible, hardly yet known in the world. And the devil has been let loose (as against Job) to spare only her life ; all things else have been put in his power. All the rage and madness of kings, and states, and mobs, have been exerted against her, to destroy her, for many ages together. And she was destitute of all human help, nay, it was made unlawful for her to help herself, or take arms in her own defence against her persecuting kings, as it was not permitted to you, though an army of six hun- dred thousand men harnessed, besides a great mixed multitude, against Pharaoh, Ahasuerus, &c. (Exod. xii. 37, 38 ; xiii. 18.) But she was commanded, as you, only to “ stand still and see the salvation of God, (xiv. 13, 14.) Yet still she insisted upon the promise of her preservation made to her by her Messiah ; nay more, of her victory at last over all these her enemies ; and boasted of it before them while they were worrying of her without control, and told them that it was not in their power to destroy her. Yet all this not- withstanding, how miraculously did our Jesus perform his promise, in his now almost seven- teen hundred years preserving and support- ing her under all her persecutions, and giving her victory and triumph ; and she still trusts in that promise, that it can never fail. Could any power less than divine have foretold this preservation, and have effected it for so long a time, without human means, without sword or policy ? This is not the least of the miracles which God has shewn, as to you, so to us, in these promises so full of wonder, so visibly fulfilled, and now every day fulfilling ; and this is not a mean argument to join you to us, when you see the same God working so wonderfully for you and for us, for us only of all the whole earth, none of whom can boast such promises, and such performance, so in- contestably true, and so truly miraculous. Therefore, I beseech you to hearken, at last, to the w'ise reasoning of your own Gamaliel, “ lest ye be found fighters against God,” (Acts, V. 38, 39.) For if this work had not been of God, it could not have so stood ; you first spent your rage against this stone, which your builders refused, (Matt. xxi. 42, 44,) and as he foretold you, it has “ grinded you 29 to powder.” Will you not yet confess, that “this is the Lord’s doing,” and that it is “ marvellous in your eyes !” And now, 0 ye people greatly beloved, and grievously punished, did your God ever fail you in any promise that ever he made to you 1 You are, and have been many centuries, pre- served only upon the almighty power that there is in his promise ; too strong for all the armed legions of earth and hell, which have overthrown mighty empires, and every thing else, but you, and his Church represented by you. Believe it, your preservation since your return from Babylon has been greater than in it, in Egypt, or in the wilderness. And can you imagine that he who has wrought so many miracles, and still continues them, lest any of his words should fall to the ground ; can you think, that his great promise of the Messiah, and the time of his coming, so parti- cularly described, is come to nought ? As to the time, you confess it has failed, if not fulfilled in our Jesus ; and where the time (as of your seventy years’ captivity, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21 ; Jer. xxix. 20,) is named, there it is impossible that there should be a failure as to the time. See how exactly your deliverance out of Egypt, (Exod. xii. 40, 41 ; Num. xiv. 34,) was fulfilled, even to a day of the promise made to you ; and your forty years in the wilderness, to the forty days of your spying out ‘of the land ; nor did your many and repeated provocations all along that time, put off God’s promise one day farther. See then and consider how punctually our Messiah’s coming was according to the stated times and ages prefixed, as it is set down in the first chapter of our Gospel according to Saint Matthew, (ver. 17,) the generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations ; from David to the captivity, fourteen genera- tions ; and from the captivity to Christ, four- teen generations ; God’s fixed and determinate times are not to be altered. The time and place of the Messiah’s coming, as foretold in the prophets, is one of the surest marks by which we must know him. To that end they were so particularly set down ; and if these fail, so may all the rest. How do you expect to know your Messiah when he does come ? He cannot vouch him- self from the time of his coming foretold by tlie prophets ; for that is past, and there is no other time prefixed. Will he prove his mission by miracles 1 and will he shew greater than our Jesus has done? Can he fulfill the prophecies of the Messiah, by not coming at the time they have named, so much as our Messiah, by fulfilling all the circumstances of the prophecies, as to time, place, &c. ? XII. Born of a virgin, (Isa. vii. 14,) of the seed of David, (xi. 10,) in the town of Beth- 30 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. lehem, (Micah, v. 2,) within four hundred and ninety years of the building of the second temple, (Dan. ix. 25,) before the sceptre had quite departed from Judah, (Gen. xlix. 10,) to whom the gathering of the Gentiles has been, as to their Messiah, as well as the Messiah of the Jews. This is an astonishing mark and notorious, and insisted upon over and over again in the prophets, (Psal. ii. 8 ; Ixxii. 8, 11, 17 ; cx. 2 ; Isa. ii. 2 ; xi. 10 ; xlix. 6 ; lii, 15 ; Iv. 5 ; lx. 3 ; Ixv. 1 ; Zech. ix. 10 ; Hos. ii. 23.) And of which none that ever took upon them to be the Messiah, except only our Jesus, had the least shadow of a pretence. And consequential to this, that he should make the heathen nations forsake their idolatry, and destroy their idols, (Isa. ii. 18, 20 ; xxxi. 7 ; Ezek. xxx. 13 ; Zech. xiii. 1, 2.) No nation of the heathen was ever brought to this by the Law, but how many have by the Gospel ? By the way, you may see, by this, how unreasonable your exception is against our Messiah from Deut. xiii. as if he intro- duced the worship of the heathen deities, which he only has effectually destroyed ; he only stopt the mouths of their oracles, which within one hundred years after his coming were all totally silenced in the reign of Trajan. He only deposited his flesh in the grave, (Psal. xvi. 9, 10.) in hope that it should not see corruption. They gave him “ gall to eat, and vinegar to drink,” (Ixix. 21.) They “ pierced his hands and his feet,” and “ cast lots upon his vesture,” (xxii. 16, 18.) They upbraided him in the same words foretold, (Matt, xxvii. 43.) His very price was fore- told, and how the money should be disposed of, (Zech. xi. 13 ; Matt, xxvii. 6, 7 ;) that a bone of him should not be broken, (Exod. xii. 46 ; John, xix. 36.) Again, the particular man- ner of his riding into Jerusalem upon an ass, (Zech. ix. 9,) which your learned Rabbi Saadia expounds of the Messiah. As also the second, and hundred and tenth Psalms, and other scriptures before quoted. I could enlarge upon this head, and shew many more particu- lars wherein our Jesus did and does exactly answer to the several marks given of the Messiah by the prophets. Which is so strong an argument, so past all possibility of cheat or contrivance, that the first of our apostles reckoned it even beyond miracles, or rather, as the greatest of miracles, greater than those shewn to our outward eyes. For, proving the mission of Jesus from their being eye-witnesses of his majesty, in his miraculous transfiguration ; and the voice which then came to him from the excellent glory, “ which voice (says he, 2 Pet. i. 16— 19,) we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount he adds, as a yet farther proof, “ We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” Pray God it may, and that he may ‘‘ open your understanding,” as he did of his apostles, (Luke, xxiv. 45,) “ that they might understand the Scriptures, that thus it is written, and that thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day : and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” All which you see fulfilled, yet you will not believe it ! You see all fulfilled that he fore- told so particularly of the destruction of J erusalem ; and that that age in which he spoke, should not pass till it was fulfilled, though there was then no appearance of it. XIII. What witchcraft then is it, what heavy judgment lies upon you, that you should harden your hearts against this Messiah, in expectation of another, in whom the pro- phecies of the Messiah can never meet — for the time is already past, as you yourselves confess — against this Messiah, who shed his blood for you, who died praying for you, who offered up himself a sacrifice to purchase eternal redemption for you, which the blood of bulls and goats could never do. The very institution of sacrifices does declare, that God| would require satisfaction for the sins of meii, and that without shedding of blood there could be no remission ; not of blood less noble than our own, but of the great Messiah, of dignity and merit sufficient to make satisfac- tion for the sins of the whole world. And now I appeal to yourselves, whether this scheme of God, in Christ, reconciling to him- self lapsed humanity, and thus triumphing over all the powers and malice of that serpent the devil, who seduced man into disobedience, be not more worthy of God ; a demonstration of greater power, and wisdom, and goodness, and a more literal fulfilling of that first pro- mise of the Messiah, (Gen. iii. 15,) than giving to any one nation (though it were your own) the conquest over your enemies, and a temporal reign upon earth. Yet this is the objection you have against your second Moses, as against the first, “ Where is the inheritance of fields and vine- yards that was promised to us?” (Num. xvi. 14.) You hanker after these poor perishing things, and neglect your eternal inheritance, which was figured by them ; you long more after an earthly than a heavenly Canaan, and for a little rest there, than a rest for ever ; therefore you reject our spiritual, and choose to yourselves an earthly and fighting Messiah. But you cannot have him ; and God, in mercy, has turned you out of your beloved Canaan, and given it to the basest of men, to take off your minds from it, and to instruct you that that is not the end of his promise. And because you prefer it to the glorious purchase that our Messiah has made for us, wliich the A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 31 angels desire to look into ; but ye think “ scorn of that pleasant land,” where there is everlasting victory, and triumph, and sabbath, < and jubilee I Oh shut not your eyes wilfully against your own happiness ; call it to mind, and shew yourselves men. Is not this a more exalted and rational completion and arche- type of your law, than the tables of municipal statutes, to distinguish you for some short time from other people % if that be all the import (as you would have it) of the whole glorious dispensation to Moses. Was this worth or proportionable to that astonishing appearance upon Mount Sinai, and all that wonderful economy of miracles, by which your law was established ? But if you will look, with us, to the end of your law, then you will see every tittle and iota of your law fulfilled, exalted, glorified, in the heavenly reign of our Messiah, the second Adam — the innocent Isaac that was sacrificed — the Joseph that was sold by his brethren for their future preservation — the Moses who delivers us out of Egypt, the slavery and thraldom of sin and hell, and conducts us safe through the wilder- ness, the tentations and distresses of this wretched life — our Joshua, who opens our way »to the heavenly Canaan, through faith in whose blessed passion and sacrifice for us, when lifted up upon the cross like the brazen serpent in the wilderness, the mortal biting of our spiritual serpent the devil is cured, and our souls eternally saved. These are the glorious things that were shewn to Moses in the Mount, (Exod. xxv. 40,) after which pattern he was commanded to frame the taber- nacle, and all the institutions thereof, as types and shadows of those things which were to be perfected in the heavens, “ by faith in which the just shall live,” (Hab. ii. 4.) And will you now reject the pattern for the types? will you degrade your law, to mean nothing beyond the outward senses ? nothing but what is visible and temporary ? to have no spiritual and eternal signification ? “ Do we therefore make void the law ? yea, we establish the law.” We carry it whither it was intended, we shew an eternal and heavenly light shining through it all, and every institution of it. We look with reverence and great veneration upon it, as the schoolmaster that was ordained to bring us unto Christ, as the ladder that was set to climb up into heaven. But you will not climb with us : you say that the top does not reach to heaven, therefore you stop short upon the lower steps. The patriarchal dispen- sation before the flood was one step ; the Abrahamical another ; the Mosaical another ; and you still expect another, the last, and most perfect, under the Messiah ; yet you reject it, now it is come ; and there is to be no other. Be not afraid to lose your Law or your Prophets : you will hear them read everyday in our churches, and their true and full im- port explained and fulfilled in the Gospel. For the Gospel is the best comment upon the Law, and the Law is the best expositor of the Gospel ; they are like a pair of indentures, they answer in every part, their harmony is wonderful, and is of itself a conviction. No human contrivance could have reached it ; there is a divine majesty and foresight in the answer of every ceremony and type to its completion ; and there is one yet to be com- pleted, — oh the glorious day when that shall come ! — that is, the grafting you in again to your own olive tree, the fatness, the sweet, the marrow of your law fulfilled in the Mes- siah ; for we do believe, (Rom. xi. 25, 26, &c.) “ that blindness is happened to Israel, but in part, till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in : and so that all Israel shall be saved. For the giffcs and calling of God are without re- pentance ; God hath concluded all,” us first, and then you, “in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all,” that the praise may be to God, and not to us, that no flesh should glory in his presence. “ 0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out ! for of him, and through him, and to him are all things. To whom be glory for ever. Amen.” XIV. But though the judgments of God are in themselves unsearchable, yet they gene- rally move in the road of second causes : and so far it is lawful for us to look into them ; and sometimes necessary in order to our duty, as being not only brought upon us for our sins, but continued by them ; so that by dis- covering the causes we may prevent or shorten our judgments. Therefore I would here inquire a little into some of those most visible causes, which have all this time, and do still harden the Jews in their obstinacy against receiving the doctrine of Christ. And some of these are on the Jews’ side, and some on the Christian. Is^, First for the Jews. They have, since Christ came, quite altered their own doctrine and topics from whence they used to argue before, on purpose to avoid the plain proofs thence drawn for our Jesus being the Messiah. To instance in a few : 1. There are great presumptions that they have altered and corrupted the very text of their own Scriptures of the Old Testament, in those places which speak of the Messiah, which gave the marks of him, and pointed out the time of his coming. However, this they cannot deny, that whether by the loss of the vowels in the Hebrew tongue, or from what- ever cause, that language is now rendered so uncertain beyond any other in the world, as that one word bears many different significa- tions, insomuch that every text almost will 32 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. afford perpetual jangling, which has made some of your most learned Rabbles complain, that your Scriptures are become, in the words of the prophet before quoted, as “ a book sealed up ” to you : and that the true sense of ■ them will not be known till the coming of 1 the Messiah, who will restore the vowels and i right knowledge of the Hebrew tongue. It is long since the Hebrew has ceased to be the vulgar language of your nation ; and con- sequently to be well understood by the Jews ! themselves, who now learn it at schools, as 1 other men do. Josephus complains of the loss of the Hebrew tongue among the Jews in his ! time ; and it was so, long before. This occasioned that the Greek translation of the Seventy was publicly read in the Jew- ish synagogues, many years before the coming of Christ. This translation they thought to have been divinely inspired ; and made great boasts of it, as you may read in Josephus, and many other of your authors. And it continued in this reputation with you, and was read in your synagogues, till Christ came, and for about an hundred years after. Then you rejected it, because of the plain proofs that were brought out of it for our Jesus being the Messiah, and set up the spurious Greek translation of Aquila, who was a heathen, a Christian, and a Jew, which he then made when the Hebrew^ tongue was so greatly decayed from that purity which it confessedly retained when your Seventy priests made that famous translation for Ptolemy, king of Egypt, about three hundred years before Christ, and was never questioned by any of you, but held in the highest venera- tion all that time, till after the coming of our Saviour, because of the flagrant testimonies it bore to him. And w'ere it now admitted, as it formerly was amongst you, and as it truly is, the best comment, at least upon the Hebrew text, to determine the sense of it when the words are doubtful, and (because of the present defect in that language) of various and different significatiohs ; I say, if this were admitted, (which you cannot refuse, without casting reproach upon all your predecessors for three hundred years before Christ, who did admit it, and upon yourselves for so doing, and confessing that you have done it unrea- sonably,) you would not be able to maintain your hold against Christianity. Are not the quotations of your Scriptures which are in your learned Philo, (who lived in the days of Christ and his apostles,) and of others your chief Rabbies before that time, more according to the translation of the Seventy than of the Hebrew^ text, as you have it at present ? And what reason can you give, why you dare not quote that translation still? but because it renders the sense of the Hebrew so, as leads it directly upon our Saviour, and cannot be extended farther ; and it cuts off those vain and precarious excuses, which you would draw from the present uncertainty of the Hebrew text. Yet none of your later expo- sitions can pretend to any authority equal to that of the Seventy, even yourselves being the judges ! This shews that you are not disposed to find out the truth, but bent to shut the door against it. 2. As the Jews have thus manifestly stood out against the conviction of the Holy Scrip- tures, by inventing and using these arts to corrupt them, at least to hide and obscure their true meaning ; so have they, for the same reason, namely, in prejudice to our Messiah, altered their former principles and notions, which they had received by tradition from their fathers. Thus, finding that the notion of the Aoya?, or Word of God, which was universally received amongst the Jews before Christ came, and largely insisted upon by Philo, that learned Jew, even in the apostolical age, that, as before has been noted, he was God, and yet a distinct person from God the Father of all ; that he was the express image of God ; the great Auvctfin, instrument or power by which God made the worlds ; the ’Aoxn^ils, supreme archetypal High Priest and Mediator betwixt God and men ; of whom the high priest under the law was a type and figure ; by outward communion with whom, men were made capable of, and had a title to the inward and spiritual com- munion with the Aoyos, and by him of recon- ciliaton and acceptance with God. From this notion of the Aoyos, Saint John disputes, according to the received principles of that age ; and having proved Christ to be the Aoyos, he in his Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation, gives him the titles which were usually ascribed to the Aoyos, of light, and life, and truth ; and from having communion with him, infers that we have also communion with the Father. But the Jews, finding that these principles led directly to the divinity of our Saviour, and all that is said of him in the Gospel, presently forsook their own principles, and as early as Justin Martyr began to deny them, as Trypho the Jew did, and put Justin upon the proof of" the Aoyos being a divine person, &c. which he did out of Philo, and other approved authors of the Jews. It is plain that the Jews thus understood it, when they accused our Saviour of blas- phemy, and of making himself God, because he called himself the Son of God, (John, X. 83, 36.) For they called themselves the sons of God, in a large sense, as so adopted, and in foederal covenant wdth God ; but they knew it was the received notion among them, that the manner how the Aoyos was the Son or Word of God, was natural, as pro- ceeding from the nature of God ; and that for any to call himself the Son of God, in this sense, was to make himself God. Whence A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 33 it is plain that they thought the Koyoi to be God. 3. The Jews, finding that tlie mystical and primary sense of their law did refer to the Messiah, and were most exactly and particu- larly fulfilled and completed in our Saviour, rather than be convinced by this, they have now (as the learned Jew that disputed with Limborch, p. 62, et alibi,) denied that the law was typical, or referred to any more perfect state. The contrary of which is plainly intimated Exod. xxv. 40, from whence our apostle convincingly argues, Heb. viii. 5. But the Jews now will have no type in the law, or the office of the Messiah to extend beyond temporal conquests, to any spiritual or heavenly acquisitions, sticking in the bare letter of the law. But Philo, and the Jews before him, did largely insist upon the mystical, which they made the principal end and intendment of the law ; as indeed it is, and most apparently so, if we duly consider the law itself, and the prophets, who often mind us of it ; and with- out which they cannot be verified, (as before is shewn ;) and their meaning runs low and contemptible, no way answering the magnifi- cence and glories which are there revealed. Jacob confessed himself and his fathers to be strangers and pilgrims on the earth, (Gen. xlvii. 9.) Whence our apostle does argue very forcibly, (Heb. xi. 14, 15, 16,) “ That they who say such things declare plainly, that they seek a country ; and truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had oppor- tunity to have returned, but now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly.” If the land of Canaan had been all their view, and they had understood the promise made to them of Canaan to have had no farther meaning than the letter, only the temporal enjoyment of that pleasant country, they needed not have wandered from it, as they did ; or they might have had opportunity to have returned to it. When David was in possession and king of it, he declared himself to be then in a pil- grimage, and a stranger in it, (1 Chron. xxix. 15.) This shewS' they had a farther prospect, and that they extended the promise made to them of Canaan, to mean principally and ulti- mately the heavenly Canaan ; of which they understood the earthly Canaan only as a type. And if Canaan itself was a type, no doubt Jerusalem must be so too, and the temple, with all the service of it ; that is, all your law. Your Cabala makes your outward law but I the cortex or shell of the hidden mysteries I* that are contained in it. Yet you are now grown to that violent prejudice against this (though you would stick 1 to your Cabala too, and think it divinely inspired) because it leads directly upon Chris- tianity, that your learned Jew has set up this principle, (Limbor. Col. N. xi. xii. p. 118, 120,) “ Quod cultiis externus, ut talis, est interno multo perfectior and as a just con- sequence of this, “ Quod externus non. minus Deo gratus quam internus that is, “ That the outward worship, as such, is much more per- fect than the internal,” and therefore, “ That the outward worship is not less grateful to God than the internal.” These are the titles of his chapters ; and the end of setting up these desperate positions is, to obviate the Christian argument, that the inward and spiritual wor- ship is chiefly regarded by God, and conse- quently the inward and spiritual meaning ot the law is much preferable to the letter and outward observances ; that therefore there is a spiritual sense in the law, which exceeds the letter, or which is typified by it ; that this is fulfilled ill Christ, who has thereby consum- mated and perfected the law. To oppose this, the Jews are driven to that exfremit}^ as here you see, to prefer the outward worship, as such, to the inward ; contrary to the tenor ot their own law, and their prophets, where the inward circumcision of the heart is so often inculcated and preferred to that outward in the flesh. Nay, the outward institutions of the law, where the inward and spiritual meaning and intendment of them is not regarded, are declared to be hateful and abo- mination to God, (Isa. i. 11 — 21.) The inward is not only preferred, “ I desire mercy and not sacrifice ; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings,” (Hos. vi. 6.) “ Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, but, mine ears hast thou opened,” (Psal. xl. 6.) But, in respect to the inward, the out- ward are said not to have been commanded by God, (Jer. vii. 22, 23 ;) that is, they were commanded for the sake of the inward, and therefore, without respect to the inward, the outward were not commanded. To rid you out of this perplexity, your learned Jew has advanced a strange sort of an argument to maintain his paradox before mentioned of preferring the outward, as such, to the inward worship and sense of the law, where he explains his foresaid position thus, — that the outward is not to be supposed with- out the inward ; and that the outward, as including the inward, is preferable to the inward : but this, instead of solving the case, makes no case at all of it ; it is no more than this, whether two be not more than one? whether both outward and inward be not more than the inward alone? which nobody will dispute with him. But then this cuts oft all comparison betwixt the outward and the inward, and consequently makes no sense oi those texts before mentioned, and many others, where the same comparison is insisted upon. And when the Jew says, that the c 84 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. outward, as such, is preferable, &c. what does he mean by as such ? is it, the outward, as outward ? which any one would take to be the meaning ; but his meaning, as he explains it, is, the outward as such, that is, as both outward and inward. So very thin and contradictory are these strained excuses you have set up against the spiritual, which is the main and principal intendment of your law, because it cannot be fulfilled but only in our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and his spiritual king- dom. 4. The modern Jews have, since Christ’s time, gone away from the constant tradition cf their fathers before Christ came, namely, that the Messiah would shew himself to the w'orld, and vouch his commission by miracles (John, vii. 31,) of which sufficient has been said before. And that this contrivance dis- covers plainly their guilt, that it is not con- viction which they want, but that they are resolved not to be convinced. 5. They have not only departed from the traditions of their fathers ; but they have invented new and strange conceits, of which their fathers, before Christ came, never dreamt. As of two Messiahs, the one a suffering, the other a triumphing Messiah ; to answer those two states of suffering and triumphing, which were told of the Messiah, and both fulfilled in our blessed Saviour. To avoid which, the J ews, since his time, have invented these two Messiahs. The Jews in our Saviour’s time, even the apostles themselves, till after his resurrection, had not the true notion of the sufferings of the Messiah, much less of his death. When he spoke of it, his disciples rebuked him, and understood nothing of it, (Matt. xvi. 22 ; Luke, xviii. 34.) And the Jews told him, (John, xii. 34,) “We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth for ever ; and how sayest thou, the Son of man must be lifted up ?” that, is crucified. They were looking out then, as you are now, for a temporal fighting Messiah, who should “re- store again the kingdom to Israel, (Acts, i. 6.) They thought not then of the sufferings of the Messiah, (Luke, xxiv. 26.) Far less did they dream of two Messiahs, one to suffer, the other to conquer. You can shew no footstep of any such doctrine amongst the Jews before Christ came. And it shews the distress your latter Rabbles were driven to, when they could find no shift but so groundless and foolish an invention, which is of a piece with your’ other fulsome and ridiculous legends before mentioned, of the Messiah’s sitting these sixteen hundred years amongst the lepers at the gates of Rome ; that he is in paradise, but tied in a woman’s hair, that he cannot come ; the mad and nonsensical stories of your behemoth and leviathan ; of God’s weeping when your city was destroyed ; of his daily study in the reading of your law, and such other delirious fancies, as shew the greatness of your judgment, threatened 2 Thess. ii. 11, and visibly fulfilled upon you, more than upon an)^ people, God sending “ you strong delusion, that you should believe” such monstrous, and even contradictory “ lies, because ye received not the truth, that ye might be saved, but had pleasure in unrigh- teousness,” in such rabbinical and shameless fopperies, they deserved not to be called forgeries, on purpose to elude the infallible demonstrations which our Jesus gave of his being the Messiah. These are the great, though pitiful obstacles, on the Jews’ side, which hinder their embracing of Christianity. 2(^, I come now to other obstacles, which lie on the Christian side. 1. The learned Jew that disputes with Limborch, (Collat. p. 102,) complains of the great scandal given to the Jews in the Popish countries, by the idolatry which they see practised there. They cannot bear to see the great God painted like an old man in their churches and mass books, in their shops and houses, and publicly sold by allowance ; this they take to be the sin so strictly prohibited, Deut. iv. 15, 16, and in many other Scrip- tures, besides their worshipping of saints, angels, &c. — See Sandys’ Speculum Europce. There is another strange sort of impedi- ment which the Jews have met with in Popish countries, that is, that if any of them turned Christians, they forfeited all their estates, on pretence that they or their ancestors had got them by usury. Of this, several good men in the Church of Rome have complained, as Bradwardinus, 1. 1. De causa Dei. chap. 1. Coroll. part, xxxii. Cardinalis a S. Severina in Catechismo Generali pro Catechum, chap. XX. Gasparus Belga, a Jesuit, in Epist. Ormutina (est inter Epistolas Indicas') wrote an. 1549, speaking of one Rabbi Solomon, who desired baptism, says, that he, and many others, would have embraced Christianity, if it had not been for that law among the Chris- tians, that they should be obliged to restore whatever they had got by usury. This I have taken out of Hornbeck contra Judceos^ Lugd. Batav. an. 1655, in Prolegom. p. 81, where he cites more authorities. As of Joh. Gerson, apud Bochellum, tit. de Judceis. And amongst us, Edwin Sandys, de Statu Relig. cap. xli. Georgius Theodorus, de Statu Judceorum in Repub. Christian, cap. ix. he says, that this custom 'was taken away by a particular bull of Pope Paul III. by the Council of Basil, sess. xix. and of Lateran, under Alexander III. c. 26. How it is at this day at Rome, in Spain, Portugal, and other Popish countries, I can- not tell ; but Sir Edwin Sandys, in his book before quoted, wrote an. 1599, says that Avhen he was in Italy, the same forfeitures were still exacted of the Jewish converts, except where A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 25 the Pope gave dispensation ; which he knew granted only to some few physicians, their gains not being supposed as got by usury. But it stopt the conversion of others. 2. I come now to the Reformed Churches, where the Jews meet with neither of these forementioned impediments, but whither ! many Jews do come out of the Popish countries, as the learned Jew confesses to Limborch, on purpose to avoid the idolatry in the Church of Rome, to which many of them are forced to comply, to save their lives or estates ; and others are tempted to it, and counterfeit Christianity for the sake of prefer- ments, especially in Spain and Portugal, as before has been told ; and whence many of them do fly into Holland, where there is universal liberty of conscience, and that they may profess and practise their Judaism openly. This has brought so many of them into Holland, more than to other of the countries called reformed. 1. But there is another sort of impediment which they meet with there, that is, the various sects, which are tolerated and ov>med as churches, tliough most opposite and contra- dictory to one another. This goes violently athwart the fixed and stated principle of the segullah or peci/lium, which God delivered to the Jews from the beginning, and implies the true notion of a church, as being apeculium or select society, gathered from amongst the rest of mankind ; under governors and laws, with promises and privileges of their own, peculiar to themselves, and independent of all others upon the earth. Now, the Jews cannot think this segullah transferred to a Christian churcii, where there is no notion of any segullah at all, or such a lame one as admits and excludes no- body. A park without pales ! which reduces the Church from a society to a sect ; only to believe such things, without being subject to the governors or laws of the society ; witliout any principle of unity. A Church without a bishop ! a body without a head ! This latitudinarian no-principle is so perfectly adverse to the received notion of the Jews all along, that they can as easily believe no faith as no Church ; and can never think their faith terminated or fulfilled in that Church, whose constitution is not framed alike to theirs ; for how otherwise was theirs a type of ours? A type is so called from its likeness to what it does represent. And what resemblance is there betwixt the Church in Jerusalem under one High Priest, and in Holland, where Epis- copacy, of which that was the image, is abo- lished ? What agreement betwixt the temple, into which none were admitted but proselytes to the constitution as well as faith of the Jews, and that Church, whose doors are open to all comers and goers, which has no communion by admitting of all communions, and makes no communion necessary? How was the one altar of the Jewish Church, a type of altar against altar in every parish ? of one hundred opposite altars, that is, communions, at Am- sterdam, yet all acknowledged to belong to the Christian Church ? It is true, opposite communions may agree in many things, as all do in some things ; but how they can be called one Church, is as difficult for a Jew to appre- hend, as a church without a communion, that is, a society which has no society. A church and not a peculium, is an open enclosure ; and a society without government is as great a contradiction. And other government than monarchical in the Church, the Jews nev^er understood, nor did God ever appoint. Not that all churches in the world should have one visible and universal head upon earth ; more than all the kingdoms of the earth are to have one universal monarch under God, to whom the whole world is one kingdom, though composed of many diflerent and inde- pendent kingdoms ; as the one Catholic Church may consist of many independent churches, wdiich all make one Church to Christ. Of each of these under her own bishop, the Church of the Jews at Jerusalem (being itself a particular church) was a type, under her high priest. And as he was a type of Christ, the Koyo?^ the archetypal and uni- versal High Priest and Bishop of the Catholic Church, so the Church of the Jews may be called a type also of the universal Church, as that nation was a type of the whole world ; of which the high priest wore a representation, as well as of the segullah, as before has been observed from Wisd. xviii. 24. For God is King of all the earth ; though more especially of his Church. The miraculous performance of that promise of perpetuity which God made to the nation of the Jews, has been discoursed before. But here I would take notice of one great means by which it has been brought to pass ; which ' is the strict notion that the Jews still retain of the segullah. Those many myriads of them who at first went over to Christianity, found j as strict a notion of the segullah there, and ! saw how it was transferred, as from the j beginning it "was intended, from the segullah of Moses, to that of the Messiah. It was j indeed but the same church or segullah under i diflerent economies or dispensations. But j those whose eyes were blinded that they saw not this, remained in their infidelity, and stuck to their old segullah ; and God, who j brings good out of evil, has made this a means, ; the great means, of keeping them a distinct people to this day : for should the Jews turn so much Latitudinarians, as to lose this notion of the segullah, and grow indifferent in their rites and customs — if they should intermarry with the nations whither they are scattered, and conform to their customs and manners, they would soon lose both their name and 36 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. religion, and by being mixed with the rest of the world, grow undistinguished from them, as a river when it is emptied into the ocean. If it be objected, that then the foresaid promise of God would be broken, of preserving them for ever a distinct people ; and therefore, that this promise stands in the way against their conversion : I answer, that it did not stand in the way against their conversion in the beginning of Christianity ; for the Jews who then turned Christians, did not at all for that lose their name and nation ; and they were plainly dis- tinguished from the converts of the Gentiles, (Acts, vi. 1 ; xxi. 25.) To make this more clearly understood, let us consider, that when Christ first sent forth his apostles, their commission was limited to the Jews only, in the strictest sense, “ Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not ; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” (Matt. X. 5, 6.) Here the Samaritans, though Jews, are excluded, because they w^ere schis- matics, and not strictly within the segullah. And thus it continued all Christ’s lifetime. The Gospel went not without the pale of the segullah. After Christ’s resurrection, then he extended their commission farther, and bade them “ Go and preach among all nations,” but still “beginning at Jerusalem,” (Luke, xxiv. 47,) to shew that there the Christian segullah was first established, and derived from thence, as from the root, to spread among all nations. But it appears not that the apostles, even long after that time, understood the full extent of this their commission ; for till the vision of the sheet, (Acts, x.) Peter himself did not know that the Gentiles were capable of being admitted into the Christian segullah ; of which he was convinced by a great miracle then shewn in the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius, &c. which satisfied the rest of the Church, who contended with him for his preaching to the Gentiles, (Acts, xi.) So that till this time, the Christian segullah consisted of none but of the Jews only : into which the Gentile proselytes were afterwards admitted, even as into the Jewish segullah under the law. Christ foretold the future calling of the Gentiles, “ Other sheep have I which are not of this fold ; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice,” said Christ to the Jews, (John, X. 16.) And signified to them that the Gentile converts should at last be made equal to them, and in some respects be preferred before them, in that parable of those called at the eleventh hour, (Matt, xx.) And that the first called should be last, and the last first. He shewed likewise that his mercy extended even to the Gentiles, by his compassion to the woman of Canaan. But at the same time he asserted the prerogative of the segullah or Church of the Jews, whom he calls the children, in comparison of whom the Gentiles were but dogs, (Matt. xv. 26,) that is, out of the segullah (as it it is expressed. Rev. xxii. 15,) “ I am not sent,” said Christ to her, “ but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” tliat is, the segullah was to be set up only with them, to whom only he himself preached ; the Gentiles were to come in only as proselytes to the Jews, and that not by the ministry of Jesus himself, but only of his apostles, after his ascension. In all things the preference was given to the Jews ; and the Christian segullah was first fixed among them. They are “ the natural branches,” (Rom. xi. 24.) Theirs is Christ, the apostles, and first Chris- tian Church. And we freely confess, as our blessed Lord has taught us, (John, iv. 22,) that “ salvation is of the Jews.” He revealed not himself to the Gentiles, he would not answer a word to Herod or Pontius Pilate, (Luke, xxiii. 9 ; Matt, xxvii. 14,) but he declared himself expressly to your high priest and Sanhedrim, (xxvi. 64.) He did good to all, even to the Gentiles, and healed their sick. His mercy is over all his works, but much more eminently to his Church, his segullah. The children’s meat is reserved only for them, there only it is to be had ; therefore all are invited to go thither for it. All are capable of being adopted children, by their admission into the segullah^ and the children who forsake it, or are justly turned out of it, fall to the condition of dogs, “ for without are dogs.” The twelve apostles were chosen with respect to the segullah of the twelve tribes. Our Saviour himself makes the allusion, when he said to them, (Matth. xix. 28.) “ Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And the names of the twelve tribes are described as written upon the twelve gates of the new Jerusalem, (Rev. xxi. 12, 14,) and answering thereunto, the names of the twelve apostles upon the twelve foundations. Then the calling of the Gentiles after the Jews, was in the like manner signi- fied in the number of the seventy whom our Lord ordained some time after the apostles, (Luke, X. 1.) For the Jews divided the world into seventy nations, there being just so many sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth recorded in the tenth of Genesis, who are said to be divided after their tongues and after their nations. Thence the J ews conclude that there were seventy nations and seventy languages, the languages distinguishing the nations, because each sorted to those of his own language, and so those of each language made a distinct nation. It w'ould be hard other- wise to conjecture how the world should be divided into several nations, without such a force and necessity put upon them, and leading them, I may say, irresistibly into it, by the miraculous division of languages ; for we cannot very easily suppose, that the whole A SHORT AND EASY 3IETHOD WITH THE JEWS. 37 world should meet together, to canton it out into several nations, by a free and equal vote, and to number out who, and how many should belong to each nation, and to name all the kings or governors of each nation, as it is done in the tenth of Genesis. Now, the Jews believe that this division of the world into seventy nations was done by God, with a particular respect to his segullah to be afterwards set up in Israel ; whose sons that descended with him into Egypt, are recorded, Gen. xlvi. and are just seventy. They think this to be intimated, Deut. xxxii. 8, where it is said, “ When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people, according to the number of the children of Israel ; ” and ver. 7 shews this to have been a tradition of the Jews in the days of Moses. Therefore, as our blessed Saviour sent out at first twelve apostles, with respect to the twelve tribes, and limited them to preach to none other, so did he afterwards appoint other seventy also, with respect to the other nations of the world, who were in time to be brought into the segullah. And it is observable, that in the commission given to the seventy, (Luke, X.) there is no such restriction as is given to the twelve, (Matth. x. 5,) of not going to the Gentiles, or Samaritans ; though the door was not fully opened to the Gentiles till the vision of the sheet, (Acts, x.) as before has been said. After this, the Gentiles came in abundantly to the segullah ; but the first Christian Church was wholly of the Jews, and established in Jerusalem ; whose bishop did answer to the High Priest, and was the principle of unity to the Christian Jews, as the High Priest was to the other. So that the segullah was preserved entire, only transferred from the Jewish high priest to the Jewish bishop. It was not the Gentiles who converted the Jews to Christianity, but the Jews converted the Gentiles, and the Gentiles came in to the Christian Jewish Church, and appealed to it upon all occasions, (Acts, xv.) And thus it continued till after the destruction of Jeru- salem. But the name of Jews seems to have been appropriated to the infidel Jews, upon their many and notorious rebellions under their several false Messiahs, in which tlie Christian Jews were not concerned, nor in the punishments and odium which thereupon followed, and the laws that were made against the Jews ; and so by degrees came to lose the name of Jews, and become undistinguished from the Gentile Christians : for then the name of Jew grew by custom to be a discri- mination of religion, and not only of a nation. So that when a Jew now turns a Christian, ho is no longer called a Jew. ! But when the time shall come (Godsend it!) that there will be a general conversion of the Jews, then there will be no reason to take from them the name of Jews ; that name will then only distinguish their nation. And it will then, no doubt, be the most honourable of any upon the earth : “ To whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the cove- nants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises ; whose are the fathers ; and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came,” (Rom. ix. 4, 5.) Then it will no longer be thought a reproach in Spain and Portugal, to own that they are (as before has been quoted from the learned Jew) descended of the race of the Jews, and to take that name upon themselves ; and other nations will strive for the same privilege. Then may be fulfilled, even literally, what is written, (Isaiah, xliv. 5,) “ One shall say, I am the Lord’s ; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob ; and another shall sub- scribe with his hand unto the Lord, and sur- name himself by the name of Israel.” And thus the name and nation of the Jews will be magnified and exalted above all that are upon the face of the earth, and perpetuated, accor- ding to the forementioned promise of God, while sun and moon shall endure ; and then, when “ the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in,” the Jews will be the head and not the tail ; and as God has promised you, (Deut. xxviii. 1, 13,) “ Thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath. And the Lord thy God shall set thee on high, above all the nations of the earth.” Then shall the ten tribes appear ; who now perhaps are the greatest monarchies upon earth, and then will be acknowledged as such. See what a glorious state of your nation depends upon your conversion ! And it may be more glorious than all this that I have said, even all that temporal grandeur and empire which you expect ; though when all that is done, it comes infinitely.short of the heavenly and eternal glories which our Messiah has purchased for us, and of which all these earthly greatnesses are, in their utmost ex- tent, but faint types and shadows ; and there- fore far from the primary and ultimate intendment of the law, which is already ful- filled in the spiritual conquests and reign of our Messiah over all the powers of hell and death. I take not upon me to determine, that the preservation of the name and nation of the Jews, upon their conversion, will bo just as I have said. But this we may depend upon, that the promise of God will be fulfilled, and that he will never want means to bring it 'to pass. And therefore, that the conversion of the Jews will be no hinderance to the perpe- tuating of their name and nation, as he has promised. £8 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD Y\^ITH THE JEWS. And let their conversion begin {cum bono Deo') in this church and nation ; where the j good providence of God has prepared the way, by freeing you Jews here from those obstacles I which obstruct your way in other Christian I countries. Here you see no images or pictures of the great God in our churches, nothing in our worship which j^ou can call idolatry or superstition, (Hierom ad Evagr.) Here you may see an episcopacy, presbyters, and deacons, answerable to your high priest, priests, and Levites : and the segullah of the temple perpetuated and continued in the church ; in which, as in the temple, and now in your synagogues, the public service and worship of God is celebrated in the vulgar language of the nation, with the solemnity and gravity of a well composed and digested liturgy. And lastly, here are no forfeitures or mulcts upon you for your acknowledging and returning to your true Messiah ; but you may reasonably presume, that all due encou- ragement will be given to you towards so glorious a change ; and to convince you, that we seek not yours but you. The Lord open your eyes. 2. Let me add, that you will be here free from another great scandal, which you have met with more frequently in Holland, that is, Socinianisra, to which some that opposed you there made too near approaches ; and if they had converted you, it had not been to Christianity, but rather to idolatry, in paying divine honours and adoration to Christ, while they suppose him but a creature, {Rncov. Catech. sect. 6. c. 1 ;) and they deny any to be Christians who refuse this divine adoration and invocation to Christ, whereby they have excluded all our English Unitarians (as the Socinians here call themselves) from being Christians, who deny this to Christ, though they (sometimes, when they boast of their antiquity and universality,) derive themselves from these transmarine Socinians, and pretend to be of one faith- with them ; but your learned Jev/ before mentioned argues against them, that Christ could not be the heavenly king, unless he were God himself, (whatever the Socinians dream to the contrary,) because that no mere creature could be present and exist every where. “ Non potest esse rex cselestis, nisi fuerit Deus ipse (quidquid Soci- niani contrarium somniaverint) etenim nulla pura creatura potest ubique assistere et provi- dere,” (Limborch, Coll. p. 69.) This vast prejudice you will likewise avoid in the Church of England, where these Socinian heresies, on both sides, are detested and exploded. If you take scandal that such differences should be amongst those who call themselves Christians, remember that your Sadducees denied the resurrection, and both angels and spirits, (Acts, xxiii. 8,) which takes away the future state of heaven ; and this you now believe, and make it a great article of your creed, (Limborch, Coll. p. 105,) and say, that it was always the faith of the Jews. Therefore you cannot object it against us, that there should be divisions, even in fundamen- tal points, and schisms amongst us, since there has been the same amongst yourselves, your Samaritans, Sadducees, &c. and you will not think that this hurts the truth to those who hold it. 3. There is yet one gi’eat and the master difficulty of all, that stops the way to your conversion, which I have reserved to consider by itself in this last place, because it is the foundation of all those that lie on your side ; and which, if clearly removed, will complete your conversion so far, as to leave you no other defence but plain obstinacy. It is that loose and precarious account which you give of the ground and foundation of your faith, on purpose to avoid that demonstration which there is for the truth of the Gospel, and, as said before, there is the same for the truth of the Law ; but you will rather quit that irrefra- gable and sure foundation, and lose the certainty of your Law, than yield to the same or greater certainty that there is for the Gos- pel ; or otherwise you have not yet known the true foundation upon which you ought to stand. For the learned Jew before mentioned (Limborch, Coll. p. 130) establishes the faith of the Jew's, not upon any grounds of certainty of which other men may judge besides the Jews, which are common to all men, and stand upon the general reason and conviction of mankind, but only upon the credit they are to give to their fathers, not as men, but as their fathers, and as they stand in that particular relation to them ; for God (says he) “ does not send us to the Gentiles, to ask of them, but bids us ask only of our fathers, and give full credit to them. And therefore,” (continues he,) “ if the tradition of our fathers told us the same of Moses, as it does of Christ, that is, that those matters of fact wdiich are written of him in the law' were not so done as he there tells, w’e should as little believe ■'.loses, or w hat he wTote, as w'e do the Gospel ; which we disbelieve for the same reason, namely, because our fathers tell us, that those things related in the Gospel were not so done as is there related.” Ans. 1. Your fathers have not told you so : tliey have confessed to the matters of fact recorded in the Gospels. Nor can you deny them w ithout joining with the Deists against ail revelations whatsoever, as well those made to Moses as those given by Christ. Your fathers indeed said, that Christ wTOught w'on- derful works by the pow'er of Beelzebub ; but that is confessing to the matter of fact, and may be objected against the miracles of Moses A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 39 or any other whatsoever ; which is before con- sidered, p. 5, &c. But as your fathers, who believed not in Christ when he came, could not, nor did they deny the matters of fact of Clirist ; and so gave the strongest sort of evidence, that of enemies, to the truth of them, and conse- quently to the truth of his doctrine, which they were brought to vouch : so, as before is told, (p. 20,) many myriads of your fathers did embrace his doctrine, and, by the computation tiiere made, there must be many more myriads of their posterities than of the infidel Jews. So that here the question is not betwixt the tradition of your fathers, and of the Gentiles, but of those of your fathers who did believe, and those who did not believe in Christ ; for Christianity is nothing else but a tradition of the Jews, to which the Gentiles did come in. For, as shewn before, the first Christian Church was wholly Jewish, without any mixture of the Gentiles for a considerable time. Now, then, since you have the tradition of your fathers on both sides, what method are you to take? What method did you take in the contrary traditions of the ten tribes, which grew among them in succeeding ages after their defection to idolatry under Jero- boam ? Your learned Jew gives a good rule, (Limborch, Collat. N. v. p. 138. 140,) namely, to recur to the original pretended of each tradition, and there see upon what foundation it began. That of Moses was grounded upon miracles exhibited before all the people : not so of Jeroboam, who pretended no such thing ; only to give a different exposition of the Law of Moses to countenance his idolatry ; which exposition became, in time, a tradition to their posterities. And this is exactly your case as to Chris- tianity. Your fathers did at first embrace it upon the conviction of those many miracles shewn publicly before their faces ; but those of your fathers who did not believe, did not deny the matters of facts — only put a different construction upon them, saying that they were wrought by Beelzebub. And those Jews who believed, and their posterities, are many more (as before shewn,) than those Jews who remained in their infi- delity, if that were an argument ; for the tradition of two tribes was true, and that of ten was false. Therefore we must recur to the original, and that must determine the tradition on either side. And the argument insisted upon in the “ Method with the Deists,” stands wholly and irrefragably on our side ; and besides has the tradition of all your fathers, so far as to acknowledge the matters of fact (which in consequence is the whole ;) and the major number were convinced by them, or if not the major number then, yet certainly much more so now in their posteri- ties, having by the miraculous providence of God escaped the dreadful destruction at Jeru- salem, and under your several false Messiahs, which pursued those of your fathers only who hardened themselves in their obstinacy against Christ. So that the tradition of your fathers does not lie in your way, to prejudice you against Christianity. The most it can oblige you to, is to examine the several traditions of your fathers ; and that is it to which we would invite you. Consider, then, first, the tradition of your Christian fathers, who call themselves by the name of their Messiah, as you have done by the names of your fathers, Heber, and Israel, and Judah. And this was foretold by the prophet, (Isa. Ixii. 3,) “ Thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name.” Therefore, though these your fathers have lost the name of Jews, yet they may say in the words of the same prophet, (Isa. Ixiii. 16,) “ Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not ; thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer ; thy name is from everlasting.” This is an ever- lasting name by which they are now called, even the name of our God ; whereas they were heretofore called only by the name of your fathers in the flesh ; but now of your Father in heaven. Consider, I say, the tradi- tion of these your Christian fathers, that it is on the affirmative side ; whereas the tradi- tion of your unbelieving fathers is altogether upon the negative, particularly in that great article of our faith, the resurrection of Christ ; which being done in the sight only of a few soldiers, who were capable of being bribed, you trust wholly to their no-evidence, that his disciples stole him away while they slept. For how could they know this, if they were asleep? Yet this is all the foundation you have for your negative ; but for the affirmative, there were “many infallible proofs, Christ being seen of his disciples forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God,” (Acts, i. 3.) “ He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve ; after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part (says our apostle) remain unto this present,” when he wrote, (1 Cor. xv. 5 — 8.) These were too many to be bribed, not with large money, as you gave to the soldiers, (Matt, xxviii. 12,) but with stripes, and imprisonments, and death, to have concealed such a forgery ; when any one of them ihight not only have avoided these persecutions, but, no doubt, have got much more large money than you gave to the soldiers for such a foolish excuse as they made; for any one of these five hundred could have effectually discovered the contrivance, if it was one, and stifled Christianity in its cradle. And one evidence on that side would, at that time, have borne down five hundred on the other ; and the Christians putting you to the 40 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. trial of this, when these many witnesses were alive, and that not one of them could be tampered with, either by bribes or threats ! that all should stand it out, even to the death ! But we have surer evidence than all this, even infallible. And that is, the many miracles which the apostles shewed in attesta- tion to the truth of this, — miracles as flagrant and notorious as those which Christ himself had wrought, and which have all the four marks, mentioned in the “ Method with the Deists,” that do infallibly demonstrate the truth of any matter of fact. These are the grounds of the tradition of your Christian fathers. And all the ground for the tradition of your unbelieving fathers, is nothing else but that senseless story of the soldiers, sufficiently ridiculous to confute itself, were there no evidence at all on the other side. Let me add to this, that your Christian fathers had all those difficulties to struggle with, which do now keep you back from Christianity. They hung as much as you upon the expectation of a temporal kingdom of the Messiah. The very apostles of our Lord were not wrought off of this, all the time that he lived with them, and they resumed their hopes of it after his resurrection, (Acts, i. 6.) They were ignorant of his resurrection, “ For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead,” (John, XX. 9.) And so far were they from concerting of this, that they would not believe it, when it was first told them by those who had seen it : “ Their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not,” (Luke, xxiv. 11.) And when all the other apostles had seen the Lord, yet would not Thomas believe even them, till he had more than even ocular demonstration, to “ thrust his hand into his side, and put his finger into the print of the nails,” (John, xx. 25, 27.) Nor was this peculiar to Thomas. For when Christ ap- peared first to the rest, they were as hard to believe; and he afforded them the like demon- stration, not only to see, and hear him speak to them, but to handle him, and examine the wounds in his hands and feet, and farther, to eat before them, (Luke, xxiv. 39 — 49.) And as a yet more forcible conviction, he minded them how he had told them all this before ; and that it was agreeable to the Scriptures of the Old Testament : “ And he said unto them. These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might under- stand the Scriptures ; and said unto them. Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suSer, and to rise from the dead the third day ; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.” Our blessed Lord suflered his disciples to be thus slow in believing, thereby to confirm our faith the more ; but he would not permit them to proceed upon their mission, notwithstanding of all this evidence, till they should have yet farther credentials, such as no man could refuse without the highest obstinacy ; and wiiich is the utmost that God can outwardly exhibit, that is, the powder of miracles. “ But tarry ye,” says he, “in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” And this was granted them at first, by a most stupendous miracle, in the descent of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and inspiring them, in an instant, with all languages, which was visible not only to the Jews, but to multitudes oi other nations, then at Jerusalem, (Acts, ii. 41,) “ And the same day about three thousand were converted and by the many miracles w'hich the apostles were enabled to w^ork afterwards, many myriads of the Jews, and “ a great company of your priests, were obedient to the faith,” (Acts, xxi. 20 ; vi. 7.) These were your fathers. Therefore reject not their tradition ; compare with this the tradi- tion of your other fathers, wdio believed not, which is built only upon a negative, of which there is no proof at all. Then I desire you to recollect what has been said before, (from p. 31. to p. 34.) of your having forsaken the constant tradition of your fathers before Christ came, in so many particulars as are there set down, and having invented new and contrary traditions, on purpose to prejudice yourselves against Chris- tianity. See likewise before. Sect. IV. p. 11. And if traditions must take place, why not the most ancient ? These sure are most authentic. And they are more traditions than the latter ; for it is age that makes tradi- tion. Yet you reject the most ancient tradi- tions of your fathers, while you set up their tradition as your only infallible rule I This is the first answ^er I give to your objection of following the tradition of your fathers, upon which you lay so great a stress. And which being removed, you will have little left to say. But though I think this answer very sufficient, yet because this is the main hinge of the controversy, as your learned Jew has stated it, and insists mightily, and almost solely upon it, through all his dispute with Limborch, and thence we may reasonably suppose that it is the jugulum causce^ the last effort you have to defend yourselves, I will therefore proceed upon it, even as stated by yourselves, and shew farther the weakness of it, supposing that none of your fathers had embraced Christianity. Ans. 2. This, as stated by yourselves, is running into that circle in which the Church A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 41 of Rome have entangled themselves, of proving the authority of the Church by the Scriptures, and the authority of the Scriptures from the Church ; which cannot be avoided, while, in this dispute, they consider the Chiircli as exercising any act of authority ; for that authority must be proved before it can be acknowledged ; and if it be proved from the Scripture, and the Scripture receives its autho- rity from the Church, then the authority of the Church is proved only from the authority of the Church. But if the Church be brought herein only as witnesses, with the rest of mankind, upon the common reason and principles of mankind, the assurance of the senses of mankind, and the infallible manner of deducing matters of fact from former ages, and distinguishing the true from the false, and those which are cer- tainly true from those which only may be true (which is the method taken in the “ Method with the Deists,”) then the authority of the Holy Scriptures, and the facts therein con- tained, being established upon the common principles of mankind, the Church may justly build her authority upon what she finds given to her in the Holy Scriptures. And thus may you justly argue from what you find attributed to your Church by the Law ; having first vouched the truth of the matters of fact of Moses, as delivered in your Law, from the notoriety of the facts, and impossibility of any imposture therein, as is done in the “ Method with the Deists.” But if, as this your learned Jew does, you ground the truth of Moses himself, and all that is said of him in your Law, and conse- quently of the Law itself, upon that credit only which your Law bids you have to your fathers, as being your fathers, you give up the whole cause ; you run into the circle of believing the Law for your fathers, and your fathers for the Law ; which is proving the same thing by itself. Ans, 3. Your Samaritans vouched the tradi- tion of your fathers, and theirs, against you : “ Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship,” (John, iv. 20.) Your ten tribes did vouch likewise the tra- dition of their fathers for their idolatries, and many vile abominations, (Jer. xi. 14.) Nay, even the two tribes in their captivity vouched the same : “ We will burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem,” (Jer. xliv. 17.) If you say that they deviated in this from the Law, and that in this case we must have recourse to the first giving of the Law, and the ocular evidence, that was then shewn to all the people, of its being sent to them from God, as has been before quoted from your learned Jew, — I answer, that this is still appealing from the tradition of your fathers, and shews that there is something else to be looked to. This is owning that there may be a corrupt tradition of your fathers. And therefore, though the Jews M^ere bidden learn these things from their fathers, who had seen them, (there was all the reason in the world for it, for they could learn them from none other,) yet the assurance and credibility of what their fathers had seen, was not grounded upon that relation in which they stood to them, as being their fathers ; but as their fathers were men, and as such, could not be deceived in what they saw and heard ; and the assurance of that tradition by which these facts were conveyed to after ages, was not solely grounded upon the kindness and affec- tion of their fathers, who cannot be supposed willing to impose upon their posterities, as this learned Jew does argue ; but upon the nature of the tradition, which was incapable of any imposture, as has been argued in the “ Method with the Deists.” For other men will pretend to the same kind- ness towards their children, as the Jews ; and men that are deceived themselves, will trans- mit their deceits to their children : thus all errors are continued. Therefore we must recur to the original, and there examine the truth, upon' the common principles of man- kind ; and see how this has been transmitted to us, and bring the nature of the tradition to the standard of the same common principles. But if the Jews will stick to the tradition of their fathers, as the ultimate rule, from which there is to be no appeal, then they must stick to all their traditions, right or wrong ; for if they pretend to any rule whereby to judge of their traditions, then their traditions are not the ultimate rule. And it is strange to see how far this false notion has carried the Jews, even to acknow- ledge no other certain proof for the being of a God, but the Law of Moses ! nor any other for that, but the tradition of their fathers, which I come next to insist upon. Ans. 4. This foundation which the Jews have given of their faith, can never convert any other people to their religion, because others have the same deference for their fathers, as the Jews have for theirs ; and the Jews can give no reason to the contrary : therefore the Jews, insisting only upon the tradition of their fathers, without farther proof, give the same liberty to all in whatso- ever they have received from their fathers. This our learned Jew confesses ; for being pressed by Lirnborch to shew what arguments the Jews have against the Heathen, he freely owns that they have none at all, and bestows a whole chapter to prove it, (Limbor. Collat. p. 130.) That the Jews can only dispute with 42 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. the Christians, who acknowledge the hooks of Moses, for that the Jews have no other topic whereby to prove certainly even that there is a God ; nor any other proof for the books of Moses, than the tradition of their fathers, who they supposed would not deceive them ; and because these books bid them hearken to their fathers, and not to the Heathen. And if any should deny these books, says he, ‘‘ Est atheus, quia non habet aliunde Dei existentiam certis- sime et indubitanter credat. Quamvis ex aliis principiis possit probabiliter conjectari ; neque enim sufficit ratio, neque quod aliquis dixerit, de quo eadem heret inquisitio. Hunc igitur convincere est impossibile, seque ac Dei exis- tentiam, ac Mosis prophetiam, per quam nobis unice constat esse Deum,” that is, “ He is an atheist, because he has no other way whereby certainly to believe the existence of a God ; though from other principles it may probably be conjectured : for neither is reason sufficient, nor what any man says, of which the same inquisition is to be made. Therefore it is equally impossible to convince such a one, as of the existence of a God, as of the prophecy of Moses ; by which only it appears to us that there is a God.” This is mad work ! For there could be no ground to believe Moses, but upon the supposition of the previous notion of a God, who sent him. How else did his miracles vouch his being sent of God ? And yet, says the Jew, by the prophecy of Moses only it appears to us that there is a God ! And therefore he concludes, that as for a Heathen who rejects both the Law and the Gospel, “ Ille neque ad Legem Mosis, neque ad Evangelium solida ration e convinci quit,” that is, “ That he cannot be convinced by any solid reason, of the truth either of the Law of Moses, or of the Gospel.” And there- fore, that there is no disputing wnth such an one. “ Contra ethnicum non oportet dispu- tare,” is the title of this chapter ; that is, “That we ought not to dispute against an Heathen,” for this the Jew confesses freely, when being asked, “If an Heathen should deny that Moses was a prophet, only a cun- ning man who imposed upon the people, by what arguments the Jew could prove the divine mission of Moses, wdiich would not as strongly prove the divine mission likewise of Christ ?” “ Respondo (says he) me nulla demonstratione Mosis prophetiam divinam esse, contra ethnicum probare posse ; quippe id demonstrabile non est,” that is, “ I answer, that I cannot prove by any demonstration against an Heathen that the prophecy of Moses is divine, because it is not demon- strable.” And he says the same as to the Mahometans, that they have their tradition too, derived from their fathers, of the miracles and divine mission of Mahomet, and therefore that they can say to us, “ Quod si Mahometi revela- tionem negaveriraus, Mosis, etiam et Christi negare possunt, cum nullam ration em produ- cere queamus, quse suje sectse confirmatioui non inserviat,” that is, “ That if we deny the revelation of Mahomet, they may likewise deny those of Moses and of Christ, seeing vre can produce no reason for them, that will not serve likewise for the confirmation of their sect.” And he grounds all upon this bottom, which he takes as granted : “ Quod alicujus prseteriti, nec etiam Dei, existentia ulla ratione demonstrari potest,” that is, “ That the existence of any thing that is past, no not of God, can be demonstrated by any reason.” “ Ideo argumentum nequit esse cum ethnico.” That “therefore there cannot be any argu- ment against an Heathen.” Now here I beseech you to consider how you have given up the whole foundation upon which the truth of your Law does stand, lest you should be forced to submit to the truth of the Gospel, which stands upon the same foundation. You have rendered your Law wholly precarious, while you tell all thi world that there is no reason to be given for it, that is, none to convince an Heathen, a Mahometan, or any who denies it ; for reason is reason to all the world ; and nothing can be true for which there is not a reason sufficient to convince gainsay ers. You have by this confirmed both Heathens and Mahometans, as well as Christians, in what you think to be gross errors, and dis- pleasing to God, by allowing them the same foundation for their faith that you have for yours, that is, the tradition of their fathers ; and therefore you think that they have the same reason to stick to theirs as you have to stick to yours, which your learned Jew often confesses. Speaking of the reasons produced on the Christian side, he says, (Limbor. Coll, p. 132, et alibi passim,) “ Et mea saltern sen- tentia satis bono3 sunt et efficaces, ut Christian i eas amplectantur, et in sua fide roborentur ; non vero ut Judsei Christiani fiant,” that is, “ They are, in my opinion, good reasons and ! sufficient for the Christians to embrace them, | and to be strengthened in their faith, but not for the Jews, that they should become Chris- tians.” This is a strange sort of reasoning ! For these reasons cannot be good reasons, unless they are true ; and they cannot be true to one, and false to another, if they are rightly j apprehended ; unless the same reason can be both true and false. It is impossible that | both Judaism and Christianity can be true ; ^ as impossible as that our Jesus is the Messiah, | and that he is not the Messiah ; and there am i be no good reason for our believing him to be | the Messiah, which must not operate as | strongly for your believing of it ; that is, if it be true, you ought to believe it, and if it be not true, w'e ought not to believe it. There- fore, your yielding that we have sufficient A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. reason to believe it, must conclude inevitably against yourselves, that you think it to be true ; otherwise you could not think that we had sufficient reason to believe it. If you say that this was a slip in that learned Jew, that he ought not to have made that concession, and that you are not bound by it ; consider, that this was all that was left him to say ; that he has managed your cause with great subtilty ; that he took this way to avoid answering the plain and undeniable reasons which prove the truth of the Gospel, by yielding them to be such as to Cliristians, but that they are not the same as to the Jews ; which turns the cause upon a new foot, and diverts the question. But if you like not his management, and think you can make a better plea for your- selves ; then you must answer the reasons given on the behalf of Christianity, particu- larly those urged in the ‘‘Method with the Deists,” and this is all that I desire to bring you to. And now you have your choice, whether you will do this, and put your cause upon this issue ; or otherwise stick to that evasion which this learned Jew has made for you. There is another thing I would ask you upon this head. You expect the conversion of all the world to your religion in the reign of your Messiah. And you have given this as one reason of your dispersion, that you might convert all nations among whom you are scattered, as has been taken notice of before. Now, i would ask how you are to convert them 1 You confess that there are no argu- ments to be used against them. You leave the Christians in full possession of their faith, and say they have sufficient reason for it ; and for Heathens, &c. who do not acknowledge the books of Moses, you say they are not to be disputed with. How then are they to be converted by you ? Besides that your learned Jew complains (see before, p. 19,) that the Jews are perverted to the idolatries and other corruptions of the nations where they live, instead of converting these nations. But suppose that it will be otherwise when your Messiah comes, and that then, or some time before, you will begin to convert the nations. This conversion cannot be by argu- ments, for you confess you have none against them. How then? There is no other way but that of Mahomet, by the sword ; and this is the way it seems that you expect. Your learned Jew says, (Limbor, Colhit. p. 55,) that there is no other miracle needful for the Messiah, whereby to vouch his mission, but one only, namely, “ To gather the Jews out of all countries of the world ; to restore the throne of David to its ancient and a greater majesty ; and to bring all kings and nations to the true worship of God ; and to love and 43 esteem the Jews, which (says he) would be such a miracle, and so notorious, as to leave no room to doubt of it.” The uncertainty of this mark of your Mes- siah is shewn before, p. 15. In the next place, this would be no greater a miracle than the successes of the Romans and others, from a small beginning, or of Mahomet, who boasts the same. And to which every wickedness has a title, so it be prosperous enough. Your Rabbi Menasse (de Resurrectione, 1. ii. c. xxi. as quoted by Hornbeck Contr. JudcBOs^ 1. ii. c. 1. p. 114,) gives up this argument, and says, “Non est tantum miraculum” — That “ it is not so great a miracle, if the Messiah should conquer many nations and empires ; since we see it often happen, that mean and abject men have arisen to kingdoms and empires, and become lords of many lands.” Yet this learned Jew, who writes later, is forced to come back again to this no-miracle ; for they can find none other. And in expectation of this, you reject all tlje true and indubitable miracles of our Messiah, and his much more miraculous con- quests of the Gentile world, as well as of myriads of the Jews, without force of arms, or any allurements to flesh and blood ; but, on the contrary, by inviting them to self-denial, sufferings, and death ! Which sure is a more extraordinary, and more miraculous sort of conquest, and shews more of divine power, than what is performed by the arm of flesh, outward force, or sensual incitements, like that which you expect, and like that of Mahomet and other impostors. But though you should conquer, as you expect, yet it will not follow that you will thereby coriveri all nations. It is not in a man’s own power to change his sentiment of things, without sufficient reason to convince him, at least what he thinks a sufficient reason ; much less can such a force be put upon him by any other. No outward ' conquest can reach to the soul, or alter our judgment and under- standing. And therefore, according to what you now profess, that you have no argument on your side, but your long expected conquest, it will not follow, if you obtained it to-morrow, that you should thereby convert any one man in the world to your religion ; for perhaps there is not one man in the world that thinks con- quest alone to be the true decision of contro- versies in religion. And if so, then every man must think that religion to be false, which pretends to no other title but that of conquest. Sec how inextricably you have involved yourselves on all sides, in those various shifts you set up to harden yourselves against the flagrant truth of the Christian religion ! You 44 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. have thereby undermined the whole founda- tion upon which the truth of your Law itself is demonstrable. And which you can never recover by any other means than those which establish the truth of our Jesus being the Messiah ; which are the same that establish the truth of Moses ; and (as has been said) are not compatible to any impostor what- soever. You pretend to us Christians, that you have no arguments against the deists or heathen. Why ? Because it is impossible for you to bring any arguments for the truth of Moses, which will not likewise demonstrate more strongly the truth of our Jesus. But to the heathen you say not so. You pretend to argue with them, when you can get out of sight of Christianity. Then you proceed freely upon the certain and indubitable proofs which you have for the truth of Moses, when you are not afraid that Christianity should come in at the same door. This appears in your book Cosri, (whether that story be real or feigned,) which contains your arguments against the heathen. But in the presence of Christianity they are all struck dumb, like the oracles among the heathen. Not that the arguments for the truth of JMoses are fallacious like those oracles : but as their deceit was superseded by the brightness of the Gospel, so are you stopt from daring to make use of the truth, because it makes against you. And you are forced to betray the cause of Moses, while you stand out against that of Christ ; you cannot be true Jews or disciples of Moses, till you turn Christians. Then may you (as we do) freely urge the absolute certainty of the revelation made to Moses : which now you dare not do, because the same topics prove as demonstrably the truth of Christi- anity ; rather than admit of which, you have laid your foundation in the sand of your fathers’ traditions, so explained as to give you no advantage above all the traditionary fables of other nations. Which you allow to have the same motives of credibility to them, as yours to you : and consequently to be as true as yours. This was not the method you took to make proselytes before Christ came. Then you had free use of your arguments, and a success pro- portionable ; but now you seem careless what becomes of your religion, so you can overthrow Christianity. Therefore, having chosen a false and insufficient foundation for your own faith, you would compliment ours with the same. As your learned Jew does when he asks, (Limborch, Collat. p. 51,) “ What reason there is why a heathen should believe any who preached to him the Christian faith, and miracles of Christ and his apostles?” The , “ Method with the Deists” is a direct answer to j this question, and serves the Jews as well as the deists. But tliis learned Jew did, and all the rest of you must think that question to be unanswerable : and as such it is here proposed. But then will not the question occur. What reason the Christians have to believe it ? oi- the Jews to believe the law and miracles of Moses ? Your learned Jew was aware of this, and therefore obviates it thus, “ Neque par ratio est de Christianis et Judjeis, qui inter- rupta traditione,” &c. That there was not the same reason for the belief of the Christians and the Jews, who received it by an uninter- rupted tradition from their fathers. This puts the Christian faith upon as good a bottom as the Jewish, that is the same, namely, tradi- tion from their fathers ; and if they have no other, they both stand precariously, and have no more to say for themselves even than the heathen. This the learned Jew does not oppose, and therefore explains himself, that by his question he did not mean those heathen who had long since believed the Gospel, and so received it by tradition from their fathers. “ Sed quare nunc barbarse Gentes, in suis riti- bus semper educatae, nostris traditionibus fidem praestabunt eo solum quod a nobis pro- ponantur,” that is, “But why the now heathen nations, wffio have always been educated in their own rites, should embrace our traditions, merely because they are proposed to them by us?” Indeed, merely because they are pro- posed, is a very bad reason. And yet it is all that the Jew thinks there is in the case, as before is shewn. But here he joins the Chris- tian and the Jewish faith together ; and makes both stand upon the same bottom ; and that the same with the foundation even of the heathen religion ; that rather than not overthrow Christianity, he would sink his own religion with it, and leave no true revealed religion in the Avorld (all others but these falsely pretending to it ;) and so serve the ends of the deists to all intents and purposes. He endeavours to rivet this, as he thinks, securely, by the long tradition of the Popish legends, which he says, (Limborch, Collat. p. 133,) were believed by all Christendom for more than a thousand years, and no less faith given to them than to the Gospel itself. His mistakes in reciting matter of fact I am not now upon ; these prevailed only in the Latin church, nor in all that neither, nor for so long a time as he imagines ; the greatest part of the Christian church, in the East, in Africa, &c. never heard of most of them, nor have to this day : and those of the Church of Rome, who, though men of sense, pretended to believe them, yet durst not put them upon the same foot with the holy Gospel : the learned and more knowing among them called them pia fraudes, and pleaded for them only as such, as pious cheats, to raise the devotion of the simple and more ignorant amongst the people ; but none of them can A SHORT AND EASY METHOD AVITPI THE JEWS. 45 pretend to those four marks set down in the “ Method with the Deists,” whereby the truth of the miracles of Moses and of Christ are infallibly demonstrated ; and therefore, if any of these legends were true in whole or in part, yet we cannot have the same grounds for believing of them as we have for the Law and the Gospel. 4^//, Both of which you seem willing to mistake, in your deep prejudice to the Gospel. For the chief end of the coming of the Messiah being to “ bruise the serpent’s head,” (Gen. iii. 15,) who had seduced man to sin, — to “ finish the transgression, and to make an end of sin, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,” (Dan. ix. 24,) — you now contend, that men were never under the curse of God, (Limbor. Collat. p. 54, 65.) “ Quod neque aliquando fuerunt homines sub Dei maledictione — Quod non constat ex toto sacro textu ilia ira Dei contra genus humanum, neque ilia neterua maledictio : neque memini in quatuor Evan- geliis me legisse hoc secretum a Christo fuisse detectum : quareputamus id posteainventum, ut aliis dogmatibus fundamentum substern e- retur,” that is, ‘‘That this wrath of God against mankind, nor that eternal curse, does appear in the whole sacred text : neither do I remem- ber to have read in the four Gospels that this secret was discovered by Christ : therefore we think that it was invented afterwards, to lay a foundation for other opinions.” This is a bold and desperate assertion ; let any man read Matth. xxv. 46, and John, v. 29, and see whether eternal judgment be not there threat- ened ? And whether these be not as it were repeating the very words of Daniel, (xii. 2,) that “ many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life ; and some to shame and everlasting con- tempt.” Compare likewise Mark, ix. 44, with Isaiah, Ixvi. 24, and then tell whether there is not a punishment after death for the wicked ; and whether this be not revealed as well in the Old Testament as in the New ? If the Jew will criticise (as some Christians have done) upon the words etamal and ever- lasting^ and say that they mean not a duration without end, I will give two answers. 1. That my business with the Jew is not now about the eternity of hell, but whether there be any punishment at all after death ; because all the ends which the Jew proposes of the Messiah’s coming respect only this life. And they deny any that are dead to have any benefit by the Messiah, (Limborch, Collat. Num. xvii. p. 70.) And if so, then his making reconciliation for iniquity cannot deliver any mortal from the punishment after death. And this punishment being described in the texts before quoted, and several others of the Old Testament, to be exceedingly greater than any we can endure in this life, consequently I the greatest benefit that we can receive by the Messiah is totally frustrated by the Jews ; and they cannot deny but that the ends which the Christians propose for the coming of the Messiah, are exceedingly more noble and more beneficial than those which they propose ; and fully as agreeable to the letter of the text, of bruising the head of the serpent, and making reconciliation for iniquity, and something more so, than our deliverance from worldly enemies, who are not so properly called the serpent as the devil is : and our deliverance from his power is more strictly called “ a making an end of sin,” and “finish- ing of transgression ; ” and more truly an everlasting deliverance (in whatever sense you will take that word) than any temporal deli- verance. For if by everlasting you mean only temporal, yet it is the highest expres- sion of temporal, and the greatest of temporal deliverances. Let me not be mistaken, as if by^ “ eternal” and “ everlasting,” the “ worm not dying,” and the “ fire that never will be quenched,” &c. I favoured at all their constructions which would make all these to mean nothing but temporary, though a very long duration ; but I would not intermix new subjects in this discourse, and expatiate into long digressions ; especially where the present controversy does not require it : therefore I go to my second answer. 2. If these words “eternal,” &c. can be thus turned, or if they cannot, I desire to know from the Jews, what plain text they have in all the law of Moses for everlasting life in heaven, and in order thereunto, for the resurrection of the dead, which they profess firmly to believe? They gather these from texts which, as themselves confess, do bear another and a temporal meaning, respecting their outward state in this world : but which withal do (they say) typically represent their future glorious state in heaven, their true and everlasting Canaan. Yet they will not allow any thing in their law to be a type of the Messiah ! Why ? Because the law does not expressly say, that such a thing is a type of the Messiah. Which yet it says as much as that Canaan was a type of heaven ; that there will be any resurrection of the dead, or eternal life after that. What express Scripture have they for what Rabbi Manasseh Ben Israel, in his treatise of The Resurrection of the Dead, does affirm to be the common opinion of the rabbins, namely, “ that all the Israelites, even those that are dead, shall be partakers of the kingdom of the Messiah : and that to this end, all those that are dead shall be raised again ; by which miracle the wicked, being converted, shall acknowledge the true God, and forsake their errors : that then there shall be an end of this world, and a new one arise, or a change of this into a much better 48 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. condition, wherein the moon shall be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold more than it is now : at which time the demons and evil spirits sliall be destroyed, and the trees bear fruit every month : and then that God shall make a noble feast to the righteous out of the fish the leviathan : and that there shall be peace among the wild beasts, neither shall they hurt men in that holy land : that then the temple of God shall be built again, and the holy land be again divided amongst the tribes, where they shall eat and drink, beget children, and each be married to his own proper wife,” &c. (Limbor. Collat. p. 221, 222.) This Turk’s paradise after death, they can gather out of the words of the law. They can find there their sump- tuous fish dinner upon the great whale leviathan ; but nothing of the heavenly kingdom of the Messiah, nothing of their deliverance from sin and hell, but eating and drinking, ami lying with women. They should, upon this their scheme of the state after death, answer the question which one of the Sadducees asked at our Saviour, concerning the seven brethren who had one wife, “ whose wife she should be at the resurrection ?” And now I beseech you to consider, is it not a fatal delusion this, that you should reject all the plain prophecies of the Messiah, because they do not, in such express words as you would dictate, lay open every particular of his spiritual state and government, and, at the same time, turn these prophecies to such wild and groundless fancies as are no ways typified by your sacrifices or any insti- tution in your law, nor can fill up, in any tolerable measure, the glories and extent of all those magnificent prophecies concerning the kingdom of the Messiah, wherein God hath prepared for those who shall be thouglit worthy of it,^ not wine, and women, and eating, such gross carnal pleasures as we are made capable of in this frail life, but such things as since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen,” (Isa. Ixiv. 4.) Yet because they are not particularly de- scribed, (which cannot be so as we could understand them,) you will not believe them, or that they reach beyond enjoyments of sense ! And for this sole reason you reject your Messiah, because he brings you glories so far beyond all that you looked for. Though that likewise, in the above quoted text, and many others of your Scriptures, has been foretold to you. And it is likewise shadowed out to you in this, that there was no sacrifice or expiation in your law for the most heinous crimes, such as blasphemy, idolatry, murder, adultery, incest, &c. as your learned Jew confesses, (Limbor. Collat. p. 209.) Nay, lesser sins than these, as that of Eli’s not efiectualiy restraining, though he reproved , his sons, were “ not to be purged with sacri- ' fice nor olFering for ever,” (1 Sam. iii. 14.) | Some Jews fancy that the yearly sacrifice of expiation made an atonement for all their sins. We see, not for this of Eli’s ; nor, conse- quently, for greater sins. The yearly sacrifice was but a sacrifice, though more solemn than the daily sacrifices ; and therefore it purged all those sins only wliich could be purged by sacrifice. If all the sins of the Jews had been purged every year, then had they not been remem- bered, brought to account, and so grievously punished as we have seen, and was oft threat- ened in the law, in after ages, more than to the third and fourth generation. And it was a noted observation of your fathers, that there was a grain of the golden calf in all your after judgments, that is, that that sin was never totally forgiven, but still called to remem- brance upon every fresh provocation. It is said, (Hos. ii. 13,) “ I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burnt in- [ cense to them.” And all the goodness and godly reformation of Josiah could not pacify God for the sins of Manasseh, which he would not pardon, but for them removed Judah out of his sight, (2 Kings, xxiii. 26 ; xxiv. 3, 4,) “ And surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of Hosts,” (Isa. xxii. 14.) Therefore there were some sins which were not purged by the legal sacrifices, and these were the greatest of tlieir sins ; they were but the lesser sort of sins that were purged by them. How then were the greatest purged ? If you wdll say, by repentance only, without any sacrifice. Ans. The lesser sins require repentance, and do they need sacrifice too, when the greater sins are purged without it ? or are greater sins more easily purged than the lesser ? Here, then, behold your Law declaring of itself that it is not perfect ; that there was a farther and more efficacious sacrifice and atonement for vsin than what was under the j Law. And this for the greatest of your sins, i Then cast your eye upon that text in your j Law, “ Cursed be he that confirmeth not all I the words of this Law to do them,” (Deut. j xxvii. 26.) And consider, that there was no atonement or sacrifice in your Law for the greatest and most heinous breaches of the Law. How then shall you be delivered from this curse ? Or can you enter into eternal life with- out your being purged from this curse ? Do you expect to be admitted into heaven, while cursed and in your pollutions? Can any cursed thing enter there ? Then reflect upon the desperateness of that position of yours, (Limbor. Coll. p. 98. ad finem,) “ Nos vero nec redemptionem quam expectamus, ncc A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 47 Messiam ipsum pro animarum salute, iiec pro gloria setenia consequeiida necessaria esse credimus,” that is, “ We do believe that neither the deliverance which we expect (by our Messiah) nor our Messiah himself are necessary towards the salvation of our souls, or for the obtaining of eternal glory.” Now then, if neither in the Law, nor in the future reign which you expect of your Messiah, there will be any propitiation or sacrifice for the greatest of 3 mur sins, how do jmii expect to be purged from them ? Or must you enter into heaven before you are purged from them ? Or were sacrifices only needless ceremonies, and not effectual for the purging of those sins, which were purgeable by them ? Or were greater sins easier purged — that is, by repen- tance only — than lesser sins, which, besides repentance, were not to be purged without sacrifice also? I confess all this is out of doors, and urged to no purpose, if it be time which you have advanced (as before quoted) that men, by the fall, were never under the curse of God, and therefore needed no deliverance from it ; that Israel was an holy nation, because they are so called in Scripture ; and that Aaron was commanded to bless them, and God said to Balaam that they were blessed. All which, says your learned Jew, (Limbor. Coll. p. 55,) is so contrary to their being eternally cursed, “ ut neque Deus ipse posset ea componere,” “ that God himself cannot reconcile iL” I suppose he intends to come off by the word eternal, that it is not recon cileable with their being eternally under the curse of God ; because tliere are so many places in the Law and the prophets which speak of their great wickedness, and being under the temporal curse of God. But blessing is as contrarj^ to cursing in this world, as in the next ; for they are opposites in the nature of the thing ; and therefore if the authority of such texts as those before quoted will free them from the eternal, it must also from the temporal curse, or from any curse at all. But why then are they called holy and blessed, if they be under the curse ? I suppose neither Jew nor Christian need be instructed in this, it is so known and common a distinc- tion ; men are called holy or blessed upon a personal, or a relative account, as they are holy in themselves or related to holy things. Thus a nation or people taken into federal covenant with God more peculiarly than any other nation upon the earth, may be called “ blessed above all the nations of the earth,” and “ an holy people,” in respect of the holi- ness of their laws, covenant, promises, &c. given to them by God. Yet these ma}" be a wicked and a cursed people, in respect to their practice, if they live not pursuant to their holy law. Thus said Moses to your nation, (Deut. ix. 6,) “ Under- stand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it, for thy righteousness ; for thou art a stiffnecked people.” And says God himself, (Ezek. xvi. 48,) “As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters ;” (ver. 51,) “ neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins.” And again, (Mai. iii. 5,) “ Ye are cursed with a curse, for \-e have robbed me, even this whole nation.” Yet all this while, that nation was called “ the holy nation,” and Jerusalem “ the holy city,” when it was full of murderers, because there was the temple and stated worship of God. Are these now such contradictions that God himself cannot reconcile? Behold the same people blessed and cursed at the same time, but not in the same respect ; therefore, trust not in your being called the holy people, not- withstanding of which you see you may be cursed, (Jer. vii. 4,) not only here but here- after ; for, as said before, to be blessed and cursed is as great a contradiction in this life as the next, and for a moment as for eternit}'. And 3 "ou find and complain, that you are cursed here upon many temporal accounts ; and urge jmur great sins as the cause of your Messiah delaying his coming. Now, sin is as much a contradiction to holiness, and more than the curse of afflictions and punishment ; therefore, if you can reconcile jmur being the holy people, with your being, at tlie same time, such great sinners, you have solved the con- tradiction yourselves, which jmu thought too hard (when it made against jmii) for God himself. And you must at last grant, after all your struggling, that, by the fall of Adam, men were put under the curse of God, from which there were no sacrifices in your Law sufficient to purge our souls ; that therefore another and more efficacious sacrifice than the blood of bulls and of goats, was necessaiy for the purging of our sins ; and you reject this sacrifice of our Messiah, upon pretence that it is not clearly and in express words revealed in the Old Testament, without any figurative and dubious phrases ; while, at the same time, you build your hopes of heaven, and explain the resurrection of the dead in such a manner, and upon such texts, as by no force can be screwed to those wild meanings you put upon them. And on the other side, when the death and sacrifice of the Messiah, and the satisfaction thereby made to God for our sins, are revealed in those plain and express words, (Isai. liii.) that “ He made his soul an offering for sin ; that God saw the travail of his soul, and was satisfied ; that he laid upon him the iniquity of us all ; that he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with the transgres- sors ; and he bare the sin of many, and made 48 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. intercession for the transgressors,” &c. Then (as before shewn, p. 9) death must not mean death, nor must any of those words be taken literally ; but you put such forced and figura- tive interpretations upon them, as they can by no means bear, which is proved, p. 9. You except against figurative expressions, yet you use them ; you turn the plainest words into figures, and then tell us we have no plain words ; you deduce consequences (as your notion of the resurrection, &c.) from words which are no ways plain, nor can mean what you infer from them ; you raise doctrines (as of the leviathan, &c.) from no words at all in your Scriptures, yet you require for our doctrines, positive words out of your Scrip- tures ! And when you have such, you will not accept of them. What Scripture can you produce for your monstrous story of Armillus ! which Hornbeck {Contr. Jud. p. 258,) relates out of your author Avkrt Rochcl, sub signo Messics septimo apud Hulsiiim^ p. 51. You suppose that a company of most profligate fellows will invent a new sin ; that they will take a beautiful stone statue of a woman, that is in Rome, and warming it, will lie with it ; that from thence it will conceive, and at last bursting, there will come forth a child, whose name shall be called Armillus ; that he shall be twelve cubits high, and betwixt his eyes the length of a span ; that he will say to the wicked, I am your Messiah and your God ; that they will believe in him, and make him their king, and that to him will be gathered all the posterity of Esau. That your first Messiah, Ben Joseph, of the tribe of Ephraim, will fight against him, Muth thirty thousand Israelites, and shall have success in the first battle, but in the second battle that your Messiah will be killed, and his army routed ; that the angels will take away the dead body of your Messiah, and keep it with those of the patriarchs ; that after this shall arise your second Messiah, Ben David, of the tribe of Judah, and Elias with him ; to whom the Jews that are left shall be gathered, and oppose Armillus ; that God shall destroy Armillus and his wdiole army by fire and brimstone and great stones cast down upon them from heaven. Then that Michael shall sound a trumpet so loud, as to open the graves, and raise the dead in Jerusalem ; and that the first Messiah, Ben Joseph, shall then be raised, who was kept under the gates of Jerusalem ; that then the Messiah Ben David shall be sent to gather the dispersed of the Jews from amongst all nations ; all of whose kings will bring them upon their shoulders, &c. This is the manner by which you interpret the Scriptures ; several of which are quoted in this relation (as Psalm cx. 1 ; Zech. xiv. 3 ; E/ek. xxxviii. 22 ; Obad. i. 18.) as being to be fulfilled in the above mentioned story of Armillus. Which, as it is wholly destitute of truth, or even probability, the mad excursion of ground- less imagination ; so does it in no sort come up to the prophecies in the Holy Scriptures concerning the Messiah ; or the types of him therein exhibited, which are all fulfilled, even to an iota, in our blessed Lord and Saviour. Yet you reject him as not being sufficiently revealed in Scripture, while you think you can deduce from thence this beastly and un- worthy legend of Armillus ! You have been told before of the strange uncertainty you are at in the marks you have set up whereby to know your Messiah, when he comes, which you have reduced all to suc- cess, which cannot be known till the trial : and that has ended in your destruction, all the way hitherto, in the many experiments you have made under your several false Mes- siahs ; and you can never be sure, in any other wiio shall hereafter set up. Nay, farther, you must be sure to be ruined, by whomsoever shall first set up, by this scheme which you have laid down ; for your Messiah Ben Joseph must first come and be slain, and your armies routed by Armillus. So that it is not success, but ruin that must be the mark of your first Messiah ; this is great encouragement for any of you to follow whom- soever shall set up next for your Messiah. You have had many such Messiahs already, and whenever Ben Joseph shall come, he must be another unfortunate Messiah. You must by your own reckoning, be once more undone before your Messiah Ben David can come ; and when your Messiah Ben Joseph shall come and be defeated, how w'ill you know, by that mark, that it is he? That mark you have had in all the Messiahs you ever yet set up ; so that you will be still left to expect a farther destruction. Thus deplorable is your state ! Besides, which of these Messiahs is it — Ben Joseph or Ben David — to wffiom all those marks given of the Messiah in the Scriptures do belong, as to the time, place, and other cir- cumstances of his coming ? Or do some belong to one, and some to the other? Then you must tell which belong to wdiich, or else you may be deceived in both, at least you can be sure of neither. XV, Neither of them can possibly now have that mark insisted upon before, (Sect. V. p. 11, &c.) of the general expectation of the w-hole earth, not only of the Roman Empire, but of all the East, that a wonderful and ex- traordinary person should be sent into the world about that time, who should be univer- sal monarch of all the kings of the earth ; and accordingly, three kings came out of the East to w’orship our Jesus, guided by the miraculous A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 49 leading of a new star raised in heaven to point him out. But there is no such expectation now in the world, but only amongst you. Therefore none of your Messiahs can come with that mark, which seems even necessary, to intro- duce such a Saviour into the world. For to suppose such a person designed by God from all eternity to be universal Lord and Saviour of the whole earth ; and that all the dispensations which God ever gave to man were directed to him, as the centre and 1 completion of all ; it would seem necessary and proportionable to such an economy, that so glorious a person should be not only fore- told, but prefigured in types and observances ; nay it could not be otherwise, if all the insti- tutions of religion were to be completed in him, for that would naturally infer that they were, that they could be, no more than types 1 and forerunners of him to whom they j pointed. Thus Christ is said to have been promised rf^ox^vveovaluvluv, (Tit. 1, 2,) which words, if they should not reach the length of our English translation, namely, “ before the world began,” by which the revelation of the great Messiah must have been made to the angels in heaven, before the creation of man, or of this lower world ; yet this we are sure of, that Moses has told us, (Gen. iii. 15,) he was promised to Adam and Eve, immediately upon their fall ; then were sacrifices instituted, as types of the great and only sacrifice which could bruise the serpent’s head, and make atonement for sin, which by that promise was reserved for the seed of the woman, and therefore could not be fulfilled in the blood of beasts. This institution of sacrifices descended from that time, through all the posterities of Adam, as a necessary part of religion and the wor- ship of God ; and even the heathen retained so much of their original institution, that they looked upon them in the nature of a vicarious suffering of others for our sin : and the wisest of them did thence conclude, that there must be some more noble sacrifice than that of beasts, whereby our sin should be purged. This led some of them to human sacrifices; but still that was not blood more noble than our own : and they could go no farther. Yet they were in expectation of the coming of a glorious person from heaven, who should purge their sins, and introduce a new and golden age of justice and all goodness, to ex- tend through the whole earth ; and they generally all over the world did expect him then to come, at that time when our blessed Jesus was born, as before has been shewn. But that expectation is now over ; there never was such at any time, either before or after that very time ; the expectation was always, long before that time, but no time except that time, was the time expected for his coming ; therefore none of your Messiahs whom you still expect can possibly enter the world with this necessary and glorious mark of the Mes- siah ; for that time being over, to which the general expectation was determined, it ceased there, and cannot now be taken up again ; because, as it could not be begun by concert, through so many distant nations, who held no correspondence, and its beginning was never known, so for the same reasons, it cannot now be begun again, for then the beginning would be known, and it could not, without a miracle, gain such acceptance as to become universal through the whole world, as it was before. And without this, it could not be said, ‘‘ the Desire of all nations shall come,” (Hag. ii. 7.) for how was he their desire, if they expected no such person to come ? But as neither of the Messiahs whom you pretend to look for are expected by any body but yourselves, and that not by all, if any of you (as we have reason to believe) in good earnest ; so if they were expected according to the scheme that you have drawn, the first would be the contempt, and the second the terror, but neither of them “ the Desire of all nations.” And neither of these motives, either of terror or contempt, could persuade the Gen- tiles towards the fulfilling of what is written concerning the Messiah, (Isai. lx. 3,) “ The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” This began remarkably to be fulfilled in the coming of the three kings from the east, to the light, whether literal of the miraculous star, or what that signified, the light of the Gospel ; and these came to the Messiah, not, as you expect, after being reduced by force of arms, and converted by his success in war, but they came “ to the brightness of his rising,” to his birth, and adored him in his swadling-clothes. They “rejoiced with exceeding great joy,” (Matt. ii. 10.) when they saw his signal hung out in the heavens. This joy could not come from contempt or fear. But he was truly “ the Desire of all nations.” Which neither of your Messiahs can be, by your own account of them. He was not to come as a terror, but a light to the Gentiles ; as he has proved, not by conquering, but converting of them. And, towards this, it was necessary that he should come under all those circumstances which were proper for the obtaining of such an end ; to persuade the Gentiles to receive him, as a legislator sent from heaven, for spiritual and eternal purposes, and not with any design upon their temporal government, or for any secular by-ends of his own. Therefore, he ought not to have come in the outward pomp and grandeur of the world ; 50 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. but the farthest removed from it that was possible, of mean, but virtuous parentage, his life to be led in poverty and afflictions, and his death ignominious. He must have come in a corrupt and wicked age, to oppose iniquity in its torrent. And hence it naturally follows, that he must be persecuted, even to the death ; and that his death could not be deferred long i after his beginning to preach publicly ; for I that a wicked world could not long bear it. ! Which was the reason Socrates gave at his i trial, why he taught privately so long, (Plato, ; Apol. Socr ;) for that otherwise he must have I perished sooner, and so have been able to do less good. I And we may reasonably suppose that this I w'as one cause why our blessed Saviour did not j begin to preach till he was thirty years of age, (Matt. iv. 17 ; Luke, iii. 23,) and about three years after, was crucified Plato, despribing the character of a perfect just man, says, “ that he shall be scourged, tormented, fettered, and at last, having suf- fered all manner of evils, that he shall be crucified, or cut in pieces,” as the sacrifices were. And says, “ that it is necessary they should ■wait till such an one should come, to teach them how they ought to behave themselves towards God and towards man. Oh, when shall that time come ? (says he,) and avIio shall be that teacher ? How greatly do I desire to see that man, who he is ?” ^ And he says, (De Leg. 1. 4,) that this law- giver must be somewhat more than of human race ; for that as beasts are governed by men, so must men by a nature which is superior to their own : and, therefore, that this man, who was to be the universal lawgiver to mankind, must likewise partake of the nature of God. This was the ground of the heathen notion, in feigning their heroes and demons to be begotten by the Gods. So agreeable (but far exceeding) was our Jesus in his nature, and all his qualifications, to the notion and expec- tation of the Gentiles ! and therefore have so many of them gladly submitted unto him. ^ But such a Messiah as you Jews do now ^ 'O dixccias — TsXeu- Tuv, fravrct, xoLiiot, irccdaiv a.vota-x‘v^vXiud'/)(nreii. He Repub. 1. ii. 5 ’ Avccyxct7ov ovv l(rrt iu; a.v ns fjt-dBii its Se/ tt^os Slobs y.oCi !T^os avQ^u^rovs IIote ouv ^co^io'toh 6 eCros ; sioit t!s o •ra.Thibo'oiv Vihitrrce. yosg xv fjoot ^oxco idi7v rovrov Tov oii/B^ojroy tIs is-Ttv. Alcibiad. de Precat. Plato, in his Discourse conceming Prajer and the Worship of God, above quoted, concludes, that men, by their natural reason, cannot find out what sort of worship will be acceptable to God, nor can be sure what they ought to pray for according to his will ; and that it were safer to forbear sacrifices and prayer than to venture upon it, when we did not know but that we might provoke God thereby, instead of pleasmg him ; that therefore it was necessary they should wait till God should send some person from heaven to instruct them in this ; and that they did expect such a person to be sent. And they greatly longed to see that time, and that man, who they believed should come. They saw “ his day, and rejoiced,” (John, viii, 50,) as Abraham did, but not so clearly, not liaving so full and express revelation of him describe yours to be, as it was far from what the Gentiles expected, and therefore he could never convert, though he should conquer them : so, it seems not, indeed, that yourselves do expect any such an one, as you pretend only for an excuse. Some of your Rabbles saying, that he is come ; some, that he will never come ; some, that he will not come in this world, till the resurrection of the dead ; others, that his coming is not material, nor to be placed amongst the fundamentals of your faith ; others, that his coming is no way desirable, as bringing greater mischief with it than advantage to the Jews ; others, forbidding all inquiry into the time of his coming, as indeed despairing of it. Of all these particulars see the authorities of your own Rabbles, in Hornbeck Contr. Jud. 1. 2. p. 114, 115, and 123. There you will find, in Codice Sanhedrim, R. Hillel saying, “ That no Messiah shall be given to Israel, for that they have had him already, in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah.” And in your Talmud, R. Ula says of the Messiah, “ Let him come, but let me not see it that is, for the miseries it will bring to the Jews, in gathering them out of all countries, where they are peaceably settled, to forsake their houses and possessions, and follow their Mes- siah to wars, and the calamities that attend it. Especially, considering what has been before said, that they must certainly expect destruc- tion and ruin, under their first Messiah Ben Joseph ; for all which, their possessing, at last, ! the land of Canaan, will be no sufficient j reparation ; they living now in countries as good as that, and enjoying both ease and ! plenty. That the conquests of their Messiah : may bring greater glory to him, but no good ! to the Jews, proportionable to the miseries j they must endure in fighting for him ; upon ' all which considerations, R. Ula had reason to j say, “ Let him come, but let me not see him.” . The same said Rabba, and Rabbi John, in Codice Sanhedrim^ , And the many disappointments you have - met with in your Messiahs hitherto, has as Abraham liad. But from revelation they had it, (and not merely from the strengtli of theii- reason,) though perhaps they knew it not, for they declared that they had it hy tradition from their fathers. And, in all probability, it had descended through all Adam’s postei’ity, from the first promise of it, (Gen. iii. 15,) together with the institution of sacrifices, which were ordained, not only as constant remembrances of it, but as visible types of the fulfilling of it. Though the original and full import of the one, as well as the other, had been lost amongst the heathen. This is brought to shew the expectation that the Gentiles had of a Messiah to come. But here I would, from this reasoning of Plato’s, infer the necessity of revealed religion against the Deists. Here they see that the wisest of the philosophers did own that they were wholly at a loss and uncertainty without it. And withal, it shews that the wisest of the heathen did not believe the pretended revelations of their gods ; and therefore there can lie no comparison betwixt these and the faith which is most surely believed by the Christians. A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. made you forbid any to inquire into tlie time of the Messiah’s coming. Your Schebet Jehuda^ p. 245. (as quoted by Hornbeck, p. 123,) curses those “ who set any time for tlie coming of the Messiah and gives this reason, “ that if the Messiah does not come at that time, the people’s hearts do fail, and they think that they are put off with perpetual fruitless hope.” Therefore in the Talmud, Codice Sanhedrim, cap. xi. Rabbi Samuel says, in the words of R. Jonathan, “ Let their bones be broken, who compute the periods of the times.” And this may the better be forbid, because R. Josephus Albo has struck this article con- cerning the coming of the Messiah out of the number of your fiindamental doctrines. So that now you may believe it or not, as you please. And how then will the Gentiles be con- verted by you? You have confessed (as before shewn, p. 41, &c.) that you have no arguments against them ; and now you seem to despair even of conquering them ; though, if that were done, it would rather obstruct their conversion, as has been argued before. And plain reason does evince, that the qualifications of a Messiah for the conversion of the Gentiles, could be no other than what were found in our Jesus ; and sucli an one they did expect, and, therefore, so readily did give up their names to him. As his miracles were so flagrant and un- doubted, as to vouch him sent of God, so could not malice itself find out the least possibility of any sinister or self-end in him. Therefore, he lived poor, and persecuted, and poured out his soul unto death, as a demon- stration, that “ his kingdom was not of this wmrld.” He chose follow'ers that were poor and unlearned ; and that was necessary to obviate the objection, that either interest or craft had any part in the framing of his doctrine. He enjoined to all his disciples the doctrine of self-denial, and the cross, and bade them look for nothing but afflictions in this world ; and this was necessary to obviate the objection, as if either lust, pleasure, or ambition had any part in the framing of his doctrine. He was rejected by you, of his own nation ; and this was necessary to obviate the objection, as if he sought to gain you to his side, upon the account of obtaining the dominion over you, and then to turn your arms against the Gentiles. Ilis conquest of the Gentiles, by their con- version, did not begin till after his ascension ; and this was necessary to obviate the objec- tion, as if he had sought the temporal rule over them, as Mahomet did over his converts, and as you propose of your Messiah. And not in the first conversion of the Gentiles, nor for three hundred years after, were any of their kings or states brought into- 51 Christianity ; and this was necessary to obviate the objection, as if the forgery of the Gospel had been supported by human authority, which rendered it hazardous for any to have detected the deceit. This was so necessary, as that we see the Deists, for want of this, have yet the impudence to suppose it, contrary to all truth, (Toland’s Life of Milton, p. 91, 92, printed, an. 1699,) namely, that authority and laws being on the Christian side, was the cause that its deceit was not detected at the beginning, which is now too late to be done, for the distance of the ages. Therefore, we may now see the wonderful providence of God in this conduct, for, if the Deists had the argument (as they foolishly pretend it) of the Gospel being abetted by kings or states, in its infancy, or before it was fully settled, and spread over the earth, we should never get their mouths stopt, and it would bear a great face of suspicion, that some cheat might have been put upon us, when none who knew it durst discover it without apparent hazard to themselves. And again, kings and states might have come, by this time of day, to think that their authority had something to do in settling of the Church, and! that the Gospel was beholden to them ; at least sycophants and flatterers would so have complimented them, and Erastianisra would have had a plausible plea. It is a branch of Deism ; it stands and falls with that. And if it had such an umbrage as this, it would overrun us ; for it keeps its ground without it. But Christ would not permit kings to become his servants, till he had first endured three hundred years of their persecution ; to teach them that his Church was not built upon their shoulders, nor depended upon their authority, and to stop the mouths of these several sorts of Deists. In all things, in every step of his conduct, there does appear such divine wisdom and j foresight, as that if any part had been other- ; wise than it is, the whole would have been j visibly defective, and consequently, not from ; God ; not that many things defective may : not be from God : he makes every thing ! perfect in its kind, to the .end for which he , has ordained it, but he makes , some things for higher ends than others, and in comparison ! one thing is more perfect than another. i Thus, the Law of Moses was perfect in its | kind, for those ends and purposes to which it i was designed ; but Moses was not designed I for the ultimate and universal lawgiver, he ' never pretended to it ; but, on the contrary, ; he pointed out to one who was to come after him, and denounces God’s judgments against those who should not hearken unto him, (Deut. xviii. 18, 19.) Moses was not designed, nor his Law cal- culated for the conversion of the Gentiles. 52 A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. And he had few of those qualifications which the Gentiles required in the supreme and universal lawgiver. He was bred up at Pharaoh’s court, the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who were then the most learned nation upon the face of the earth ; he was mighty in words, and in deeds. He marched out of Egypt at the head of six hundred thousand men, and, having rescued his own nation, he became their king, (Deut. xxxiii. 5.) Therefore, he was not free from the suspicion of design in the case, and was a man every way qualified, both for wisdom, courage, and education, to have contrived and effected it. And after him his disciples went on, accor- ding to his example, conquering with the sword. And you now tell us, that they had no other design but to gain that pleasant country to themselves ; that the Law which Moses gave them proposed nothing to them beyond this ; and that you hope for no more from the Messiah whom you expect, but tem- poral conquests, to restore you to that land again, and to subdue the whole world under you by force of arms ; that there is nothing at all spiritual or heavenly in his kingdom, but only a temporal earthly grandeur ; that it was not meant to carry you to heaven, but to make you great upon earth ; that the offices of the Messiah respect only temporal things, and are no ways necessary towards the salva- tion of our souls or eternal life, as your learned Jew, before quoted, (p. 47,) has asserted, fLimborch, Collat. u. iv. p. 53, and n. xiv. p. 66.) Now, what would Socrates, or Plato, or any of the wise men among the Gentiles, say to this notion of a Messiah? Would they not have detested it as vicious, as recommending of pride, ambition, covetousness, and the vanity of this world ; against which they fought, and thought them unworthy of a phi- losopher, or a truly virtuous person ? There- fore such a Messiah could never have converted them. But, on the other hand, there is not any one circumstance or qualification which they could desire in a Messiah, which is not filled up, nay far exceeded, in their own way, beyond what they could have contrived, as to the strictest rules of virtue, in the person, life, and death of our Messiah, and in all his conduct : shewing beyond the possibility of a deceit, or a face of suspicion, that he was a legislator sent from heaven, without any temporal designs ; first, to give the sanction of God to morality, which, though these philosophers taught truly, yet could they not stamp upon it such a seal of divine authority ; and secondly, to carry them farther, and teach them the true worship of God and expiation of their sins, with the assurance of everlasting life, | and the means of obtaining it ; all which they confessed they wanted, and that they did expect such a Messiah, or a person anointed, a Christ, that is, delegated and authorized by God to be born into the world, who should teach this Gospel or glad tidings unto them ; and he came with such demonstration of his commission, and divinely wise conduct in all administration, that a Socrates, a Pythagoras, or a Plato, could not only have found no objection, but must have admired and adored, as so far exceeding whatever they imperfectly had conjectured, though they were assisted with the greatest wisdom and virtue that was in all the Gentile world. Thus you see that the objections which you Jews, and some of the lewd and foolish Deists, have made against the poverty, suffering, and death of our Messiah, turn all into demonstra- tions of his truth, and were so necessary, that as he could not have fulfilled the Law without them, so could he never, any otherwise, have been received of the Gentiles. For God forces not, though he governs the wills of men : that would be to destroy the creature he had made, for without the freedom of will, man would not be a reasonable animal. And the wisdom of God is chiefly known, in so disposing of things as to bring his own purposes to pass, and yet leaving men to the full freedom of their own wills. This was one reason why our Jesus would not suffer the devils to confess to him, and charged several whom he cured not to make it known, till the time should come that he was to suffer ; for that would have hastened his sufferings before the time, for the reason before given out of Socrates his “ Defence.” It was in his power to have forced the Jews to a confession of him, but then they had not acted freely ; therefore, having given them all reasonable conviction of his mission, he left them to their freedom, whether they would acknowledge him or not ; and their obstinacy did harden them still more, and depraved their judgment, which was a just punishment of their obstinacy, as well as a natural eflect of it, for sin does always punish itself ; it is its own accuser, judge, and executioner. This ; blinded the obstinate among the Jews, that they knew not their Messiah, for, “ had they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory and thus that wonderful | economy for the salvation of man was brought i about by the greatest conduct of wisdom and j goodness that was possible. And by the same means the conversion of the Gentiles was contrived ; for had the Jews all generally followed Christ, the Gentiles, being left to their own freedom, would never have received him ; because they would have looked upon him as a legislator sent only to the Jews, whose law kept them at the utmost ♦distance and detestation of the Gentiles, A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 53 whom therefore the Gentiles hated, and despised, and thought it abomination so much as to eat with them, (Gen. xliii. 82 ;) and therefore would have disdained to have received a lawgiver from them, who pretended to a right and a promise to conquer and over- come all the whole Gentile world, and subdue them under their Messiah, which they under- stood was to be by force of arms. And though such Messiah had set up, with never so much guise of humility and meekness, and put out the most specious declarations, (as other con- querors have at first done,) if he had led the whole body of the Jews after him, the Gentiles would have looked upon all this as a trick to disarm them, by rendering them secure, and would not have so been caught. On the other hand, the Jews could never have received a Messiah from the Gentiles ; that was contrary to all the promises made to them in their Law. Therefore, as it was necessary, with respect to the segullah, that the Messiah should be of the J ews ; so was it necessary, in respect of the Gentiles, that he should be rejected by the chief of the Jews ; that he should be persecuted and destroyed by them ; he could not other- wise have become an universal lawgiver both to the Jews and the Gentiles. And let me say, in respect of the Deists, it was necessary that there should be a segullah, or peculiar church of God set up somewhere, in some one nation of the world, else the whole earth would have been irrecoverably sunk in idolatry ; and there could never in such a frame of things be any expiation for the sins of mankind, who, therefore, were all represented in the nation of the segullah, and to be by degrees incorporated into them, and converted by them ; as is shewn before, (p. 28.) And it was likewise necessary, that this nation of the segullah should be the fewest and most neglected people of the earth, as shewn, (p. 28.) And as it was necessary, that the Messiah should have been rejected by the chief and governing part of the Jews, the chief-priests, and Sanhedrim ; so was it as necessary, that he should have been received and followed by others of the meanest and less noticed of the Jews. Because the Gentiles were to be con- verted by tlie Jews, and brought into their segullah, as shewn before, (p. 36, 37.) And these Jews, who at first followed Christ, were to be but few and inconsiderable during his life, to take away all umbrage from the Gentiles, as well as the governing part of the Jews, that he designed any infraction upon their civil rights and liberties. Therefore the great flowing in of the Jews first, particularly of their priests, (Acts, vi. 7,) and afterwards of the Gentiles, was not till after the ascension of our blessed Lord, to put them out of all fear of his going about to set. up a temporal kingdom after his resurrection, (as his disciples expected. Acts, i. 6,) for that had made a great noise, and given the alarm both to the High Priest and governors of the Jews, as well as to the Gentiles : therefore, though he shewed himself openly after his resurrection, and to so many, and at sundry times, and by such infallible proofs, as to confirm the truth of it past all possibility of a deceit, or ground of scruple to after ages ; yet he shewed not himself openly to all the people, (Acts, x. 40, 41.) That would have set the whole world in a flame all on the sudden, who were not prepared ; for they knew not as yet the design of his kingdom, that it was to be spiritual and heavenly, till he should in a long tract of time, and by degrees, bring over the whole kingdom of the earth to his subjection, in the belief of his Gospel, not by force of arms (for that could not have done it,) but according to the full freedom of their own wills, by a rational con- viction. And it is observable, that though one great article of the apostolical office, at first, was particularly to be witnesses of the resurrection of Christ, (Acts, i. 22 ;) that this, at first, was necessary to the constitution of an apostle, and therefore Christ did shew himself in a miraculous manner to Saint Paul, to qualify him for that office ; yet, as himself says, it was last of all, as one born out of due time ; for he was constituted to be the apostle of the Gentiles, who came in to the Gospel “ last of all, as born out of due time,” (1 Cor. xv. 8.) And he was the only man among the apostles who had acquired learning by study and education ; therefore he was not admitted till the Gospel had been first preached by the others, and fully established ; and he was at first a persecutor of it, to take away the least suspicion that his parts or learning had any share in the contrivance of the Gospel ; and then his coming in at last did remove the prejudice, that no men of learning and sagacity had embraced it : he broke the ice for the Gentiles, who were admirers of learning, and for this they valued him the more, and hearkened to him. I could enlarge in many other particulars, indeed in every particular, through the whole economy of the Gospel, to shew the wonder- ful conduct and most minute proportion that there is in every part, which of itself were sufficient to convince any considering person, that the whole contrivance was divine, and that no lesser wisdom could have so disposed of it. But that would require a treatise by itself ; and thus much I thought necessary for my present subject, to shew how we Gentiles were drawn into the belief of the Gosi)cl, by the cords of a man, by such metliods as over- came our reason, without destroying the A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 54 freedom of our will ; such as give us the utmost demonstration of the wisdom and goodness of God, without the interposition of his almighty 'flower, by which he governs the unthinking part of his creation. And as the Jews first brought us into the Gospel, so would we now provoke them to emulation by the same methods in which God has dealt with us, by shewing them the beauty, the harmony, and irrefragable demon- stration of fact, that has convinced us of the truth of the Gospel. The infidelity of so many of you Jews was necessary (as shewed before) towards our receiving of the Gospel, till “ the fulness of the Gentiles should come in.” And if “ the casting away of you be the reconciling of the world, what shall the re- ceiving of you be, but life from the dead ?” Amen. (Rom. xi. 15.) XVI. Let me now conclude, and apply all that has been said, by a short recapitulation and enforcement of the principal parts of it. You have given up all the credibility that there is for the truth of Moses and your Law, rather than admit of the same credibility (and stronger) that there is for Christ and the Gospel ; so that, ,‘is said before, and has been proved, you have involved yourselves under the necessity, either of rejecting Moses, or embracing of Christianity. Your objections have been answered ex abimdanti ; for after the full proof of the miracles of Christ and his apostles, there needed no more to have been said, as to receiving the doctrine which they taught, and those expositions they gave of the Law ; which stand upon as sure a foundaiion, and carry the same infallible credentials of divine authority, at the Law itself. And these cannot be overthrown by never so great a cloud of difficulties or objections, though they could not be answered to satis- faction, without disproving the motives of credibility upon which they are received. For we may have sufficient reason to believe many things, and yet not be able to solve all the difficulties that may arise con- cerning them. As ill natural things, we cannot explain the manner and conveyance of sensible objects, through our outward organs to our soul ; nor the thousandth part of those difficulties which are started concerning the soul itself ; yet no man doubts but that he has a soul, that he sees, hears, thinks, reasons, &c. So in supernatural things. Who can solve all that may be asked concerning the being and operations of God? yet all this is no argument against the belief of a First Cause, and its essential perfections, because it is forced upon us by undeniable reason. Therefore, unless you can shew the fallacy of those four marks which, in the “ Method with the Deists,” are set down to ascertain the truth of matters of fact, or, secondly, shew that the matters of fact of Christ want any of them, all your objections, borrowed from other topics, can signify nothing against the truth of Christianity. And if you can shew the uncertainty of these marks, or that they are wanting to the evidence of Christianity ; then dowm comes your Law with it, and we must altogether turn Deists. . You say (as has been before quoted, p. 27,) that if Christ, after he rose from the dead, had appeared to the whole congregation of Israel, &c. that this would have removed all scruple from you, and that you would, without all doubt, have believed him. And now, I beseech you, have you not had as miraculous confirmation of him as even this which you require? Was not the visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon him at his baptism, and the audible voice from heaven, beWe all the people, telling them from the mouth of God, This is my beloved Son, &c. — was not this a much stronger indication from God, than if a man, formerly dead, had ap- peared ? Might not one man be like another ? Have not many been deceived upon that point ? Were not the apostles hardly brought to believe it, even by many miracles ? Would there not be more questions to be asked in that case, than in such a visible apparition from heaven, before the eyes of so many people, and of words spoke from heaven in all their hearing ? Our blessed Saviour said to some of your fathers, “ That if they heard not Moses and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead,” (Luke, xvi. 31.) And the reason is plain, because the proofs for Moses, &c. are more indubitable than the apparition of a dead man. But do you want even this proof ? Did not Christ appear, after his resurrection, to above five hundred of your fathers at once? and has not this been ’attested by a multitude of miracles wrought by those of your fathers who saw him, wdio eat with him, and conversed forty days with him after he rose from the dead ? Did he not appear to Paul from heaven after his ascension ? if not, would not some of those Jews who then journeyed with him, who saw that light above the brightness of the sun, and heard the voice, though not the distinct words of him that spoke to Paul — who were struck down to the earth, and greatly terrified, who saw Paul struck blind upon the spot, and led him by the hand into Damascus,— would none of these have discovered the cheat, if all this story had been a mere invention and forgery of Paul’s? Would none of these have done it, who were so far from being favourable to the Christian side, that they were then going along with Paul to persecute that wav, even unto the death ? Would they A SHORT AND EASY METHOD WITH THE JEWS. 55 not have done it, when Paul tnimpt it up, and the Christians laid such stress upon it, that it is told at large in three several places of the Acts? (chap. ix. xxii. and xxvi.) when Paul, within three days, began to preach Christ in Damascus, and confounded the Jews there, where those who journeyed with him were then present, and might have confounded him, if they had denied that matter of fact, when he adduced them as witnesses of it ? But above all, the miracles which Paul wrought, as great even as this, do vouch his truth in this matter ; seeing they are deduced to us, with all the four marks before mentioned, which do infallibly demonstrate the certainty of any matter of fact. Moreover, consider that all these witnesses to the resurrection of Christ were Jews, and none other. It has been before observed, that Christ preached to none but the Jews before his death ; so after his resurrection, he shewed himself to none other biit to them. And from the Jews only have we Gentiles received the knowledge of his resurrection, and of all the Gospel. This is a tradition of the Jews, and deduced through a greater number of them and their posterities, (as before has been shewn,) than there are Jews who now stand out against it. These reject the tradition of their fathers, upon which they now lay the whole stress of their religion ; and are proof against those convictions which have converted the Gentiles. The Christian Jews did not set up Christ for their Messiah ; they chose not him, but he chose them, ( Joh. xv. 16.) They knew him not to be the Messiah, till they were convinced by many miracles ; they understood not the nature of his kingdom, but were brought by him from their notion of reigning, to that of suffering with him upon the earth ; therefore these are to be less suspected than those others of your fathers, who set up Messiahs for themselves, in hopes to reign with them in the land of Canaan ; and have been as often deceived, and suffered miserable destruction by it. But, as before has been argued, there is no such visible means in the world to bring them to that temporal grandeur which they expect ; and the nation of the Jews to that uni- versal honour, supereminence, and dominion through the whole earth, as their conversion to Christianity. Then will Christ be not only “ a light to the Gentiles,” but “ the glory of his people Israel.” But chiefly, and above all, I earnestly recommended to you Jews the consideration of your eternal state, towards which you expect no benefit from your Messiah ; and yet without whom you can give no account how you shall be delivered and purged from those sins, for which there were no sacrifices or expiation under the Law, as has been dis- coursed before. There was none for those who ‘‘ fled to the cities of refuge,” (Num. xxxv. 25, 28.) No- thing could deliver them from thence, but “ the death of the high priest,” which was a plain type, that nothing but tlie death of pur great High Priest can deliver us from the guilt of sin. The like parallel might be carried on through every branch of your Law, pointing to the Messiah ; but that would divert too much. You have only a few instances here ; the whole would take up a discourse longer than all I have written to you. I wish even the temporal glory of Israel ; and should rejoice that, in the day of their conversion, I should be found among those who are sprung from their stock, and shall exult to reassume our ancient and most honourable name of Jews. And let the chiefest glory, as in heaven, so on earth, be to those of you, who shall lead the way, and be instrumental in the restoration of the families of Jacob. Towards which I will, with these my small endeavours, join my hearty prayers, made more effectual as offered up in the communion of the holy Catholic Church ; that part of it especially in England, which prays for you on this blessed day, to your God and our God, through the mediation and satisfaction made for us by your and our only Messiah ; and after his holy example, who this day poured forth his blood, with his prayers for you upon the cross. O Lord, that this were the time when they should be heard! Amen. Lord Jesus, come quickly. Good Friday, 1G98. THE END. EDINBURGH : Printed by Andrbw Shortrkde, Thistle Lane. THE AUTHENTICITY, UNCORRUPTED PRESERVATION, AND CREDIBILITY THE NEW TESTAMENT. BY GODFREY LESS, LATE PROFESSOR IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTTINGEN, &C. TRANSLATED FROM THE LAST EDITION OF THE GERMAN BY ROGER KINGDON, A. M. OP ST John’s college, Cambridge. CONTENTS, PART I. THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. BOOK I. OF THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE. PAGE Chap. I The necessity of this inquiry, ... 7 IL — Of the internal traces of authenticity in the New Testament, ..... 8 BOOK II. THE EXTERNAL OR DECISIVE EVIDENCE FOR THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMICNT, NAMELY, THE POSITIVE TESTI- MONIES OF WITNESSES IN THE THREE FIRST CENTURIES. Chap. I. — Witnesses in the first century, . * 11 Sect. 1. The origin and state of Christianity in the first century, . . . . . ib. 2. The apostolical fathers, . . . 12 1. Barnabas, . . . . . ib. 2. Clement of Rome, . . . 13 3. Hermas, . . . . - 17 4. Ignatius, . . . . . 18 5. Polycai^), . . . . .19 3. Testimonies from works of the first century, which are now lost, ... 20 Chap. II. — Witnesses in the second century, . . 21 Sect. 1. State of Christianity in the second and third centuries, ..... ib. Witnesses in the second century, 1. Justin Martyr, . . . .23 2. Tatian, ..... 24 3. Irenaeus, . . . . . ib. 4. Athenagoras, .... 26 5. Theophilus of Antioch, . . . ib. 6. Clement of Alexandria, ... 27 7. Tertullian, . . . . . ib. 2. Evidences from works of the second century, which are now lost, ... 28 1. Dionysius, . . . . . ib. 2. Tatian, 29 3. Hegesippus, . . . . . ib. 4. Melito, ..... ib. 5. Community at Lyons and Vienne, . . ib. 6. Miltiades, .... 30 7. Theophilus of Antioch, . , . ib. 8. Pantaenus, . . . . ib. 9. Clement of Alexandria, . . . ib. Chap. III. — Witnesses in the third century, . . 31 Sect. 1. Evidences of Witnesses in the tliird century, ib. 1. Caius Romanus, .... il). 2. Hippolytus Portuensis, . . . ib. 3. Ainmonius, . . . . 32 4. Julius Africanus, . . . . ib. 5. Origen, ..... ib. 2. Information collected by Eusebius from the works of the first three centuries, . . 33 Chap. IV. — A summary recapitulation of the evidences mentioned above, ... 3.5 V. — Of the Revelation of Saint John, . . .37 Sect. 1. The contents of the book, . . . ib. 2. The interpretation of the book of Revelation, .38 3. Remarks on its contents, ... 39 4. Of our common text of the Revelation, 40 5. The opinion of ancient writers on this book, ib. 6. The true value and credit of the book, . 44 Chap. VI. — Conclusions drawn from the above mentioned testimonies, . . . . ib. BOOK III. THE UNCORRUPTED PRESERVATION OF THE NEW Tl!STAMENr. I'AGa Chap. I. — The books extant at present in the New Testa- ment, are the same writings which were originally composed by the authors whose names they bear, .... 45 This is proved — 1. From their contents, . . . . ib. 2. Because an iinivei-sal corruption of these writings was impossible ; nor can the least vestige of such a corruption be found in history, . . 46 3. From the agreement of all the manuscripts, . 47 4. From the agreement of the old versions and quota- tions found in the ecclesiastical fathers, . 48 PART II. THE CREDIBILITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. BOOK I. TIIF. AUTHORS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT POSSESS, IN A VERY HIGH DEGREE, ALL THE REQUISITE QUALITIES OF CREDIBLE EVIDENCES, . . . . 49 Sect. 1. They were immediate witnesses, . . ib. 2. They were also competent witnesses, . . 59 3. They were by no means credulous, . . ib. 4. Neither Avere they fanatics, . . 51 5. They were, on the contrary, men of integrity, 54 6. They relate events which happened in their own times, . . . 59 7. They appeal to notorious proofs, . . ib. 8. They had nothing to expect but temporal dis- advantages, .... 60 9. They suffered for the truth of their narration every thing, even death, and brought many of their contemporaries to the sure conviction of its truth, . . . . ib. BOOK II. THE WONDERFUL ESTABLISHMENT AND PROPAGATION OF CHRIS- TIANITY, IS A MOST CONVINCING PROOF OF THE ENTIRE CREDIBILITY OF THE HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, AND OF THE RELIGION WHICH IT ESTABLISHES. Chap. I. — Description of the wonderful propagation of Christianity, .... 62 1. Christianity spreads itself almost immediately over the whole world, , , . . ib, 2. It prevailed without the assistance of any temporal power, . . . . . . ib. 3. Through thirteen poor, inconsiderable, unlearned, and almost unknown men, . . . ib. 4. Amidst the most dangerous internal disturbances and distractions, . . . . ib. 5. Under the most cruel external persecutions, and the opposition of the whole world, . . ib. 6. And although exciting the repugnance of the human heart, . . . . .63 Chap. II. — That the old world was intolerant, . 64 Sect. 1. Of the Egyptians, Grecians, and Romans, . ib. 2. The doctrine of Christianity on this subject, 65 Chap. III. — Parallel between the propagation of Chris- tianity, and of the religion of Mahomet, . 66 A summary rec.apitulation, and conclusion of the Credibility of the New Testament, .... 68 TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. The subject of the Work now offered to the Public, in an English translation, is an examination of the following questions: — Whether the books of the New Testament were really written by the persons to whom they are ascribed ? Whether they have descended to us perfectly uncorrupted, in all essential matters, as they left the hands of their authors? And, lastly, Whether they contain a narration of events which did actually take place ? That this inquiry is of the greatest consequence, and demands our most impartial attention, will be evident from these considerations : — That if we cannot answer the above questions in the affirmative, then is the Christian religion a cunningly devised fable ; but, on the contrary, if, in result of the examination, it should be foimd that the New Testament is both genuine and authentic, — then it will require but few arguments to shew, that the miracles contained in it are true, that the writers were inspired persons, and that our holy faith is a revelation of the will of God. On this subject the learned author of the following Work, Dr Less, had himself entertained doubts during many years of his life : for his own private satisfaction he instituted a severe and rigid inquiry : the result is exhibited to the Public in the present treatise ; and to himself the consequence was a solid, rational, and satisfactory conviction. The original was put into my hands, during my residence in Germany, by a person of distinguished worth. On perusal, it appeared to me extremely well calculated, from its conciseness, perspicuity, and severity of examination, to produce the same effect on others, and to be of service to the Christian cause ; as I cannot conceive it possible for any man, who honestly and impartially seeks after truth, to read it with the attention which the subject demands, without receiving the same conviction which the author himself obtained. This opinion of the original work first led me to form the design of translating it into my native language. Few are the writers who have expressly treated on the authenticity of the books of the New Testament, and fewer still who have done it in a manner always satisfactory to the reader. Du Pin is miserably defective ; and Jones seems to have been anxious rather to shew that certain writings are apocryphal, than to prove that the books of the New Testament are canonical. Indeed, he has passed over all the Epistles and the Apocalypse without paying the least regard to them. But since his time Dr Lardner has employed immense labour and profound erudition on the same subject : nor do I know any man to whom the Christian world has more obligations than to the author of the Credibility of the Gospel History. He appears to have almost exhausted his subject, and to have rendered any subsequent undertaking of a similar nature perfectly unnecessary. Instead of giving my own opinion on the difference between the present treatise and the voluminous work of Lardner, I will lay before the reader the sentiments of the great Michselis, and of the Rev. Herbert Marsh, one of the most accurate theological scholars that any age or country has ever produced. “ The best treatises,” says Michaelis, "upon this subject [the authenticity of the New Testament] are Lardner’s Credibility of the Gospel History, and Loss’s Truth of the Christian Religion, [the subject of the following sheets.] The former of these works, which has been censured for its prolixity, contains a very large collection of testi- monies from the fathers and other ancient writers, and is highly valuable to those who would examine the whole series of evidence for the authenticity of the New Testament. The works of Lardner have been less read than they deserve : every one interested in this inquiry should possess them, were it only for occasional reference, and they are indispensable to a clergyman, who cannot remain indifferent on so important a sub- ject, and whose duty is not only to believe, but to be convinced. The latter of these works is more agreeable to read, because prolixity is avoided, and it is easy to oversee the whole chain of reasoning at a single view. Various testimonies which Lardner had quoted, are omitted by Less, because they were not sufficiently convincing, and he has supplied what Lardner had omitted. Every reader will remark, in perusing this treatise, what I have learnt in frequent conversation with the author, that it is the result of a conscientious. TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. even anxiously conscientious inquiry, which he had instituted for his own private conviction. Doubts on which Lardner never thought, he has felt and proved.” Thus far Michselis : and his learned translator has borne his testimony to the value of the present work in a note to the passage just quoted : “ It would be impossible,” says he, “ to give an abridgment of it in these notes, as the author himself is very concise : but the whole deserves to be translated in a separate work.” To the testimony of such authorities I will add nothing : that which has obtained the praise of Michselis, and the recommendation of Marsh, needs no farther panegyric. I have only t© say a few words in respect to the translation. It is made from the last edition of the original printed at Gottingen, 1786, and is always, it is hoped, faithful to the sense of the author, and generally as hteral as the peculiar idioms of the different languages will allow. The whole work of Dr Less, which is called by the general name of Geschichte der Religion, or History of Religion, is comprised in three volumes. The first is employed on the history of both Natural and Revealed Rehgion. In the second, the divine origin of Christianity is proved at large. And the third is occupied with the examination and refutation of objections to the Christian rehgion. As the following treatise is taken from the body of a work of such magnitude, which is only divided according to the grand divisions of the subject, I conceived it necessary to alter its form by breaking it into the subdivisions of books, chapters, &c., in order that the connection of one part with another might be more readily perceived, and the whole more easily comprehended. From the same cause I have sometimes omitted a word, a sentence, or even a whole paragraph, which appeared unnecessary in the present inquiry, and had an evident reference to parts of the work unconnected with the subject of these sheets. In the quotations from the Holy Scriptures, Less has frequently paraphrased the passage, from a desire to convey the sense witliout retaining the obsolete phraseology of the authorized translation of his country. It was my wish to have always adhered literally to our English version ; but, as a translator, I have been obhged, in order to retain my author’s argument, to retain the form in which it is conveyed, and have therefore been sometimes compelled to render his paraphrase word for word, when I could not introduce the common version. I have ventured, in one or two cases, to change the examples adduced by the author for others more familiar to an English reader; these are so unimportant that I do not think it necessary to indicate the particular instances. However unimportant in point of magnitude may be the present work, yet it contains a large body of information. The subject matter, which, if dilated in the modern fashion, would fill a folio, is here condensed into one small voliune. This conciseness has tended to render the style of the original extremely inelegant ; and may perhaps have had a similar effect on the translation. To which must be added, that conceiving perspicuity in a work of this kind to be a paramount quality, I have studied to make my book raffier lucid than elegant, and have been more anxious that the reader should be convinced by the sohdity of the argument, than delighted by the beauty of the expression. Some time since I had formed an intention of publishing in the English language Dr Less’s larger work On the Truth of the Christian Religion, and had made no small progress in the translation : that intention I have relinquished for the present ; whether at any future period I may renew the design, will depend on causes which are not under my direction. THE AUTHENTICITY, UNCORRUPTED PRESERVATION, AND CREDIBILITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. PART I. THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. BOOK I. OF THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE. CHAPTER I. THE NECESSITY OF THIS INQUIRY. The faith of Christians is thus distinguished from all the other religions of the world, — It pronounces Jesus to be the Redeemer of men, promised by God, the only cause of their salva- tion, and asserts his doctrine to be undeniably true. Should there, then, never have existed in the world a person, who, in the time of the Roman Emperor Augustus, was born at Bethlehem, of Mary, a Jewish virgin, and known to his countrymen by the name of Jesus ; should this Jesus never have per- formed any miracles, in order to prove the truth of his doctrines ; should he not have arisen from the dead ; should he, lastly, have never uttered any true prophecies ; then the articles of the Christian faith are without doubt a forgery. But should these facts be incontrovertibly true, then it is equally incon- trovertible, that the religion of Christians is also true. The Christian religion, therefore, is founded on facts, and consequently must be proved in the same manner as we prove the truth of other historical subjects. The evidences which Christians adduce for the truth of these facts, are contained in the books of the New Testament. The authors of these books are the witnesses on whose credit Christians believe that history. If, therefore, the credibility of these authors, and of their writings, can be as strictly proved as the credi- bility of a Tacitus, Livy, Thuanus, or Burnet, then we must either give up the greatest, most beautiful, and most useful part of human knowledge, the whole of history, together with all its various branches, or we must con- fess, that the books of the New Testament, in all natural and not miraculous subjects, are worthy of credit. I acknowledge, that should the credibility of the writers of the New Testament be brought even to the very highest degree of historical certainty, that the historical truth of the miracles they relate would not be thereby proved. An author may be in the highest degree worthy of credit, and yet may sometimes be overcome by the weakness inci- dent to human nature, and relate absurdities, or forged miracles, as undoubted truths. We believe him in general ; but if he relate pal- pable absurdities, sound reason becomes an evidence against him, and her decision is in- finitely more to be depended upon, than the credibility of any author whatever. We be- lieve him in general ; but if he relate miracles, then his credit alone is not sufficient justly to challenge our assent. The more uncommon an event is, so much more weighty must be the proofs for it. If it be a real miracle, then it demands a perfectly peculiar kind of proof, of which I shall speak, when I treat of the “ Truth of the Christian Religion.” According to these principles we decide on all historical writ- ings. We acknowledge Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, Tacitus, and Livy, to be perfectly credible authorities. Nevertheless, when they speak of a certain divine vapour which arose from the earth, and instilled into men a per- fect knowledge of all futurity ; or of a ring 8 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. around the nose, out of which the devil was driven ; or when they inform us, that the statue of Jupiter spoke and perspired ; that it rained blood ; that the Emperor Vespasian, by a mere touch, gave sight to a blind man ; in such cases we claim the privilege of refusing our belief, or at least of entirely passing them over as doubtful. There are no other rules enabling us to judge of the writings of the New Testament, than those by which we judge of any other historical work. Now we are accustomed to establish the credibility of a book in the fol- lowing manner : — We first prove the authen- ticity of the book itself, and then the credibility of its author. Two things belong to the proof of the authenticity ; first, that the book was really written by the pretended author ; and secondly, that it is come down to us per- fectly uncorrupted as it left the hands of its author. In this manner we decide on all historical writings; and men are unanimously agreed, that it is as unreasonable to receive an evidence which cannot be proved in this w^ay, as to reject that which has endured these proofs. A man of accuracy and integrity will never attempt to prove the truth of an event, which is pretended to have happened in the first century, from what are called the writings of Dionysius, the Areopagite : for the name of Dionysius which they bear is forged, and they were not composed until the fifth or sixth centuries. Nor will he, like Whiston, believe any thing on the authority of the larger epistles of Ignatius. Ignatius did indeed write epistles ; but whatever exists in the larger, that is not found in the smaller, and even these appear to be not absolutely ree from all interpolation,) is the addition of a more modern hand. Orosius is no credible evidence for the truth of events, which are pretended to have taken place at the birth of Jesus ; nor will a critic assert any thing on the credit of Simeon Metaphrastes. The former did not write until the fifth century : and the latter is extremely credulous, and much to be suspected ; neither of them, therefore, deserves to be esteemed a credible evidence. Can, then, the three following propositions be proved : — First, That the New Testament was really written by the pretended contem- poraries of Jesus; secondly. That it is come down to us uncorrupted ; and thirdly. That the authors of it are evidences of credibility ; still we cannot, on their credit alone, prove the truth of the miracles they relate; but thus much will be evident, that Jesus did really preach the doctrine acknowledged by Christians ; that he was really born at Beth- lehem, taught publicly in Judea, in the reign of Tiberius. In a word, all the events which are natural, and not miraculous, must be considered as incontestably true, on the autho- rity of these evidences alone. CHAPTER II. OF THE INTERNAL TRACES OF AUTHENTICITY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. When Lord Bolingbroke,i in his Letters on History^ is pointing out the necessity of this study to a theologian, he reproaches the defenders of Christianity, that they are ac- customed to transcribe from each other, and thereby perpetuate the errors which have been inadvertently admitted, or the fallacies which have been purposely contrived. “ Abbadie,” these are his own words, “ says, in his famous book, that the Gospel of Saint Matthew is cited by Clemens, Bishop of Rome, a disciple of the apostles ; that Barnabas cites it in his epistle ; that Ignatius and Polycarp receive it ; and that the same fathers, that give testi- mony for Matthew, give it likewise for Mark. If the fathers of the first century do mention some passages that are agreeable to what we read in our evangelists, will it follow that these fathers had the same gospels before them? To say so is a manifest abuse of history, and quite inexcusable in writers that knew, or should have known, that these fathers made use of other gospels, wherein such passages might be contained, or they might be preserved in unwritten tradition. Besides which I could almost venture to affirm, that these fathers of the first century do not expressly name the Gospels we have of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.” These assertions, which in some respects are well founded, render it of the greatest importance to every enlightened Christian, carefully to examine the evidence of the ecclesiastical writers of the first centuries on this subject. In this inquiry we are principally concerned with the period of the three first centuries, | that is, from the times of the apostles down to Origen. For he has given us the first per- fect catalogue of the Scriptures of the New Testament ; and since his time these cata- ! logues or canons, and the evidences for each I of the books of the New Testament, are so ' numerous, that it would be perfectly super- I fluous to attempt to prove, that since the i fourth century, the very same books of the : New Testament were held by Christians to | be divine, which we at present confess to be | such .2 Moreover, subsequent information is inadequate to establish the authenticity of the Scriptures of the New Testament. It is too recent, and the foregoing centuries were too replete with spurious and forged works, to * Letter V. vol. ii. p. 349—351, of the 4to. edition. 2 These canons are found according to the order of the cen- turies, in Gerhardi de Mastricht Canon Ecclesiasticus Scrip- turce Sacra. The latest and best edition of this work is that of Jena, 1725, in 8vo. AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 9 be capable of instructing us confidently what writings were actually composed by the dis- ciples of Jesus in the first century. But of so much greater consequence to us is the period of the three first centuries ; and it is a very great error in the defenders of Chris- tianity, when they, either by contenting them- selves merely with the well known evidences of Eusebius, or by producing quotations from the primitive writers, which are per- fectly indeterminate, or by accumulating such passages from them as. have only a similitude in words and sentiments, bring a suspicion on the whole proof for the authen- ticity, and consequently also for the divinity, of these books. Whoever has been much engaged with the writings of antiquity, its modes of thinking and manners, will instantly perceive, on reading these books, that they are not the work of an impostor, but that they were composed about the first century of the Roman monarchy, just as a connoisseur in the fine arts will immediately see whether a painting, a statue, or a gem, be the produc- tion of antiquity, an original, or merely a copy, and of a modern age. In the Scrip- tures of the New Testament there cannot be discovered the smallest trace of deceit or for- gery. On the contrary, the character of the pretended times of their composition, and of their pretended authors, is so deeply impressed on them, that a critic, by a mere perusal, will discover their autheiiHcity. It must appear remarkable to any one who has ever employed himself in distinguishing the genuine remains of antiquity from the spurious, that in these writings there cannot be found the smallest vestige of a forgery. What are called the Canones and Gonstituitones Apostolorum, speak of altars, of the ordination of bishops and priests, of the subjection of the Holy Ghost to the Son. The pretended writ- ings of Dionysius, a member of the Court of Areopagus, refute Nestorian and Anthropomor- phitic errors ; use the word vTco^ocaig in the doctrine of the Trinity ; and speak of monks, altars, and liturgies. And, in the same manner, all interpolated writings contain something or other, a custom, a science, an expression, which betrays a later age, and does not escape the eye of the critic. On the contrary, we cannot meet with any thing in the Scrip- tures of the New Testament, which does in the least degree contradict the pretended cha- racter, time, and connection of their authors. And not only this : we discover in them such traces of genuineness as are indeed extremely striking. The writers of the New Testament are said to have been Jews by birth, and of the Jew- ish religion ; and this is every where visible. The mode of relating their story, so unaffected, and mixed with various superfluous phrases. and trifling collateral circumstances ; the nume- rous allusions to the religious ceremonies of the Jews ; the subject matter interwoven with words, phrases, and thoughts of the Old Testa- ment ; the numerous parables and allegories ; the variety of Hebraic words, constructions, and phrases in the Greek of the New Testa- ment, betray an author to whom the Jewish mode of thinking was quite natural. They are said to have lived in the first century of the Roman monarchy. This also is easily and every where perceptible. The exact division of the Jewish state ; its con- nection with the Romans ; the internal trans- actions and fermentations which took place in it at the time of the first Roman emperors, are not so properly related by the writer as presupposed as matters of fact, which were universally known at the time when he wrote. The little unimportant, foreign events of the first century, which in the books of the New Testament, and especially in the historical, are touched on only casually and very slightly, in so unstudied and unaffected a manner, evince a writer, to whose memory these facts were still quite recent, and who presupposed that his contemporaries were as well ac- quainted with them as himself. I shall give examples of this in the course of the work. They are said to have been immediate wit- nesses of their narratives, or to have them- selves seen and heard what they relate. Even this circumstance is every where clearly dis- coverable. They relate with the confidence of men who are convinced that their readers already know that they themselves saw and experienced all, and that their assertions may therefore be considered as proofs. They re- late, without mentioning the eras of their history, or carefully characterizing the person of whom they make mention : in short, like men who wrote for readers that were their contemporaries, that lived at the very time in which their history happened, and knew, or might easily have known, the persons themselves. They are said to have been all, except one, unlearned men. And who does not remark in the writings of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, ; Saint Luke, Saint John, Saint Peter, Saint i James, and Saint Jude, that they were com- posed by persons who were indeed perfectly | certain of the facts they relate ; possessed also i of sound judgment, and in part of excellent natural talents, yet totally devoid of learning, and what is properly called science ? We find in their works no profound inferences ; no refutations which betray subtilty ; no expres- sion or similies taken from the walks of science ; no acquired knowledge of the world. In every part the tone of an honest historian is perceptible, but of one to whom it never occurred to argue on his narrative as a philo- I sopher. Compare their writings with those 10 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. of Saint Paul. If we even put out of the question the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is replete with Jewish learning ; yet what pro- found inferences are drawn in the Epistle to the Romans What a variety of fine know- ledge, and how much adroitness in defending himself with delicacy and subtilty against the accusations of his enemies, are betrayed in the Epistles to the Corinthians? With what acuteness does he oppose the doctrine of the necessity of circumcision, and of adherence to the Mosaic law, in the Epistle to the Gala- tians? (ch. iii. iv. v.) The Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Thes- salonians, contain a variety of similies taken from profane knowledge ; allusions to foreign customs ; a luxuriance of ideas ; pathetic and strong refutations of accusations.'^ The Epistles to Timothy and Titus shew, in particular, a mind which, from experience and philosophic observation of the world, had obtained con- siderable legislative knowledge. And the Epistle to Philemon has almost, if I may be allowed to say it, the style of courtly urbanity. If, therefore, we knew nothing of the real authors of these books, and were to form our judgment of them only from what we dis- cover internally, we should suppose that they were written by native Jews, during the first century, and by immediate witnesses, and that only one of them was a scholar. This matter deserves a more ample inquiry. The Scriptures of the New Testament are composed in the Greek language. This agrees very accurately with the accounts we have of their authors, and of the time and design of their composition. The Greek language was at that period, in the first century of the Roman monarchy, and had been since Alex- ander the Great, a kind of universal lan- guage, just as the French is at present. It was understood and spoken by Greeks, by Romans, and by Jews. The greater part of the Christians also, especially of those to whom the epistles of the New Testament are ad- dressed, would not have comprehended them so universally in any other language. At Corinth, Thessalonica, Colosse, and in Galatia, scarcely was another language understood. Besides the Latin and Aramsean tongues, the Greek also was understood at Rome, and by the J ews in Palestine. The Greek, in which the New Testament is written, is not pure and elegant Greek, such as was written by Plato, Xenophon, Polybius, or Plutarch ; but is intermixed with many Hebraic significations, phrases, and constructions. It resembles pure clas- sical Greek as much, probably, as the French or German, written or spoken by a native ^ Particularly v, 9. For example, Eph. ii. 20—22; iii. 14 — 19; iv. 9, 10; v. 3; vi. 10 — 17 . Philip, ii. 17- Coloss. ii. 14 — 18. 1 Thess. iv. 13—18, &c. Englishman, which must be constantly mixed with some Anglicisms, resembles the languages of Dresden or of Paris. This is a very striking mark of the authenticity of these writings. Had the Greek of the New Testa- ment been pure, elegant, classical, it would be evident that the writers were either native Greeks, or scholars who had studied Greek ; as the writings of Philo or Flavius Josephus betray the scholar. But since we find it in- termixed with many peculiarities belonging exclusively to the Hebrew or Chaldee, and Syriac, (the two languages spoken in common life by the Jews of Palestine,) it is evident, from this Hebraic Greek, that the writers were unlearned, and Jews by birth. The Scriptures of the New Testament are composed in a style which very evidently betrays that their authors were born and educated in the Jewish religion. We find in them constant allusions to offerings, priests, the temple, articles of dress, and other parts of the Jewish divine service. The sentiments of the Old Testament are rather interwoven into the body of them, than quoted. To make Jesus a sin-offering ; to sprinkle with the blood of Jesus ; to be born again ; to be a temple of God : who does not recognize the Jew in these expressions? When, in the Epistle to the Romans, (viii. 86.) the then existing sufferings and persecutions of the Christians are described in the words of the forty-fourth Psalm — “ As it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter when the murder of the infants at Bethlehem (Matth. ii. 17, 18,) is told also in the lan- guage of Jeremiah — “ In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her chil- dren, and would not be comforted when the writer of the Epistle to the Romans (xv. 20, 21) expresses the common sentiment, that he taught Christianity in no place where another had already taught before him, with a passage from the Old Testament — “ I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named — but as it is written. To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see ; and they that have not heard, shall understand.” What attentive reader will not discern from such constant and unsolicited accommodations of the phraseology of the Old Testament, a writer to whom the religious language of the Jews was, as it were, a mother-tongue ? The Scriptures of the New Testament are all, except those which bear the name of Saint Paul, very evidently written in a style totally devoid of all cultivation, and with the simplicity of unlearned men. We do not find in them any profound inferences, acute refutations, studied knowledge of the world, or any expressions or comparisons taken from astronomy, physics, anatomy, poesy, archi- AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 11 lecture, or, indeed, from any of the arts or sciences. On the contrary, the writers relate, teach, exhort, exactly as men of sound under- standing and good principles, hut devoid of any cultivation or learning, would relate, teach, and exhort. Common expressions of common life ; various repetitions, and circum- stances perfectly superfluous ; a want of strict connection and method ; a faulty construc- tion ; these constitute the language of men, whose intellectual powers may be sound, indeed, but entirely uncultivated. Not less worthy of remark is the accuracy of many individual circumstances of their narrative. Jesus, they say, was born under the Roman Emperor Augustus, began his ministry in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, and was put to death about three years and a half afterwards ; that on the feast of the Passover, Pilate, a Roman governor, condemned him to death ; that Saint Paul defended himself I before the Roman governors, Festus and I Felix, before the Jewish King Agrippa, &c. I An impostor would not write so circumstan- I tially. ^ There are, moreover, certain historical cir- cumstances respecting the political and reli- gious constitutions of the world mentioned in the Scriptures of the New Testament, which point out incontestably the time when they were written. Palestine is divided into three provinces — Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. This country at that time is subject to the Romans, but had been heretofore ruled by its own kings ; the Jews have not the absolute power of life and death ; at Jerusalem is a Roman governor. The nation is discontented with the Roman sovereignty, refuses to pay tri- bute, and is inclined to revolt. Two religious sects have the principal sway among them, namely, the Pharisees and the Sadducees ; the former, who teach a mechanical religion, deceive and tyrannize over the people, and yet are almost idolized by them ; the latter, who adopt an Epicurean philosophy, are strongly supported by the principal characters of the nation. The temple of Jerusalem is still standing, and is annually visited by a great number of the Jews who are scattered abroad in different parts of the world. These, and similar circumstances, are rather presup- posed as universally known, than related by the authors of these writings ; and they agree most exactly with the condition of the Jews, and the Roman empire, in the first century of the Roman monarchy. More will be said on this subject hereafter, in the inquiry into the credibility of these writers. BOOK II. THE EXTERNAL OR DECISIVE EVIDENCE FOR THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, Namely, THE POSITIVE TESTIMONIES OF WIT- NESSES IN THE THREE FIRST CENTURIES. CHAPTER I. WITNESSES IN THE FIRST CENTURY. Notwithstanding what has been said above, I confess that it is not absolutely impossible but that a man of very great talents and extensive learning might, as it were, abso- lutely forget himself ; might for a time lay aside his natural modes of thinking and man- ners, and change himself into a perfectly different person. But the testimonies of the oldest and most credible writers place it beyond all doubt, that the books of our New Testament were written by the pretended authors. Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, Saint John, Saint Paul, Saint Peter, Saint James, and Saint Jude, and at the pre- tended times. In this proof I shall qupte such passages only, wherein these writers appeal either by name, or expressly, to those books ; and hon- estly confess the doubts which, to an impartial searcher after truth, will occur in this inquiry. I shall thus hinder the enemies of Christianity from using that argument which Bolingbroke has brought against it and if in this ex- amination nothing be overcharged; but, on the contrary, if the love of truth, and the strictest severity of inquiry, be every where discoverable, additional weight, I trust, will be given to my proof. SECT. I. — THE ORIGIN AND STATE OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE FIRST CENTURY. Jesus, the Christ, was born in the forty-first year of the government of the Roman Emperor Augustus, consequently four years earlier than the commonly received computation, or one thousand eight hundred and eight years before the present time : he taught personally during three years and a half in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee ; and at his death left one hundred and fifty followers of his religion, who were all persons of low birth, and entirely destitute of that consequence which learning or temporal greatness can bestow, (Acts, i.) About seven weeks after his death, the twelve men, who had been his most intimate friends, began to preach his religion in the world. On the first day of their preaching, they established in Jerusalem a community of Christians, con- sisting of more than three thousand persons, * See above, p. 8. 12 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Acts, ii ) And in less than sixty years there existed numerous and flourishing communities of Christians in Asia, as well in the eastern parts towards Persia and India, on the Gan- j ges, as in the western ; in Africa, at Alex- I andria and other places ; and in Europe, in , Macedonia, Greece, nay, even at Rome, at j that time the metropolis of the world. Thus, ! at the end of the first century, that small I unknown fountain, the parent community at I Jerusalem, was become a stream, which had spread itself over every part of the known i globe. I These Christian communities formed and j supported themselves, notwithstanding the opposition of the whole then existing world. The Jews arose against their members, who taught the abolition of that law which they almost idolized, and represented him whom they had crucified as the Teacher and Saviour of the world. They w^ere then, as at present, dispersed over all the regions of the known earth ; and wherever th^e Christians came, there they found powerful, enraged, and cruel enemies. To complete their misery, the Em- peror Nero declared himself also against them, and put many of them to death by means the most terrible. Thus oppressed and per- secuted on all sides, they could neither confess and practise their religion openly, nor establish any external union among themselves ; but every separate community was necessitated to endeavour to govern and to support itself in the best manner it was able. Even in this infant state of Christianity, there arose a for- mal schism among themselves ; the disciples, who had been formerly Jews, insisted on retaining their paternal law, and mixed wdth Christianity the ceremonies of Judaism ; while the Gentile converts considered the abolition of the law of Moses to be an essential article of the new religion, and would be guided by the doctrine of Jesus Christ alone, (Acts, xv. ; Rom. xiv.) SECT. II. — THE APOSTOLICAL FATHERS. This want of external union was supplied in a certain degree by different w^ritings, circu- lated among them by their teachers, of which the greater part is now lost. Only five works, which make pretensions to that early age, are come down to us ; and these bear the names of five men, at that time very celebrated, Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, and Poly carp. They are called apostolical fathers,^ ^ The most complete and accurate edition of these works is that which was edited by John Baptist Cotelier, under the title, “ S. S. Patrum, qui temporibus Apostolorum floruerunt, Bar- nabas, dementis. Hennas, Ignatii, Polycarpi, opera vera et supposititia. Una cum dementis, Ignatii, Polycarpi Actis atque Martyriis;” to which he has added very learned annota- tions and dissertations. The last and best edition is that of Amsterdam, 1724, 2 vols. folio, published under the inspection because they were the immediate disciples of the apostles. Their high antiquity, and still more their perfect acquaintance with the apos- tles, render them particularly important to us in our present inquiry. 1. Barnabas. Barnabas was appointed, in conjunction with Saint Paul, the most eminent of the first preachers of Christianity, to publish the religion of Christ among the Gentiles, after they had made many thousand converts among the Jews and Samaritans,^ (Acts, xiii. 2, 3 ;) and is not only placed on a perfect equality with him,2 but is also expressly styled an apostle.^ He left behind him an epistle, which, accor- ding to Clement of Alexandria,'^ Origen, ^ Eusebius, ^ and Jerome, 7 w’as held in the greatest esteem by the ancients. But whether the work, which we now have under this name, ^ be the very same which Barnabas wrote, and the above mentioned men read, is here unimportant, since it quotes, as we shall see hereafter, not a single passage of the New Testament. It contains, indeed, now the same passages which Clement and Origen have cited from it. But the unnatural mode of interpretation, (known by the name of mystical,) which prevails in it ; the fables of the Hyaena, &c. which the author believed ; and the assertion that the world would be de- stroyed in its six thousandth year, which is directly contradictory to the assurances of the New Testament, that the time when it should take place was perfectly unknown, make it certain, that this epistle was not written by that Barnabas, who was an apostle. Never- theless, the most learned in ancient history are . agreed, that it was composed not later than the second century.^ And we may allow thus much to the testimonies of the primitive of John Le Clerc. Besides the annotations of the editor, it contains a variety of new and important additions, which are mentioned in the title. Le Clerc himself has pointed out the advantages of this edition in the “ Biblioth. Ancienne et Mod.” tom. xxi. part ii. p. 237, seq. An useful abridgment of these writings is to be found in Hosier’s “ Library of the Ecclesiastical Fathers.” 2 Acts, xiii. 2, 3, 46, 47 ; 1 Cor. ix. 4—7. 2 Acts, xiv. 14. Compare verse 4- ^ Stromata, lib. ii. cap. 20, p. 490. Lib. v. cap. 8, p. 677 ; cap. 10, pp. 683, 684. Potter’s edit. Oxford, 715 fol. In these places Clement cites whole passages from the epistle of Barnabas, which are likewise found in that which we have at present. ® De Principiis, lib. iii. cap. 4. p. 140, and contra Celsum, lib. i. cap. 63, p. 378. Charles de la Rue, and Charles Vincent De la Rue, have edited at Paris all the genuine works of Origen, which are still extant, 1733—1759, 4 vols. folio. The passages pointed out above are in tom. i. For an account of this edition of Origen, see Emesti Theol. Biblioth. vol. vii. p. 371. ® Histor. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. 13, 14, pp. 272, 273, vol. i. edit. Gulielmi Reading, who has edited together the Ecclesiastical Histories of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Evagrius, Philostorgius, and Theodorus. Cambridge, 720, 3 vol. folio. 7 De Vir. illustr. cap. 6. ® See Coteler. Patr. Apostolic, vol. i. p, 15—66. 2 See Hosier’s “ Library of the Ecclesiastical Fathers,” i. 1. AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 13 writers, that it was written by a Christian teacher, of the name of Barnabas. The principal design of this epistle, is to inculcate the proposition which Saint Paul in his writings so often repeats, and labours so anxiously to prove, namely, that Christians are free from all obligation to the law of Moses. But the author no w^here refers to this apostle. Saint Paul had already at that time written all his epistles : he composed the last (the Second to Timothy) during his second impri- sonment at Rome, in the year of Christ sixty- seven ; and Barnabas wrote his in the year seventy. They could not have been unknown to him who was the fellow-apostle and assis- tant of Saint Paul. This is another argument which tends to prove that this epistle, even if composed by a certain Barnabas, did not come from the celebrated apostle of that name. To him who reads this epistle without any intention of producing testimonies from it in support of the Scriptures of the New Testament, scarcely any will be perceptible. What might be produced with the greatest appearance of probability, are two passages which have been generally brought forward as an evidence for the Gospel of Saint Matthew.^*^ Barnabas is speaking in the seventh chapter of the sufferings of Christ, and delivers this as one of his sayings : — “ They who will see me and obtain my kingdom, must receive me with many sufferings and afflictions.” And in the fourth chapter he introduces, “Many are called, but few chosen,” as the declaration of certain divine Scriptures. For he makes use of a phrase which was commonly employed by the Jews when they quoted their sacred books, “ It is written. Let us beware,” says he,^2 “ lest it should happen to us, as it is written. There are many called, few chosen.” These passages, it is true, exist in the same, or in very similar words, in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. But our author does not point out, by a single word, by whom those expressions were written, or where they are to be found. The first passage does not even prove that the declaration of Christ alluded to, had been taken from any written informa- tion. He might, with equal probability, have received it from the oral narration of the apostles. And with respect to the second, I find no trace that Barnabas means here ex- pressly the Gospel of Saint Matthew. If a person, for example, should read in Plutarch — “We find it related, that the letter of Marcellus, on being received at Rome, did See Lardner’s Credibility, vol. ii. p. 14, 15, of the edition of his works published in 1788. 'OvTtn, (fyjffiv, et 3-6XevT6? e done unto you. As you give, so shall it be given unto you. As you judge, so shall you be judged. As you shew kindness, so shall kindness be shewn unto you. With what measure you mete, with the same it shall be measured unto you.” Similar commands of Jesus actually exist in Matt. vii. Pages 55, 56. Pago 20. 16 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 1, and Luke, vi. 86 — 38. But Clement does not once affirm in this passage, that he derived them from any written information. He, and also the Corinthians to whom he wrote, might have received them orally from the Apostles. In the same manner he reminds them^^ of another precept of Jesus. “ Remember the words of Jesus, who said. Wo to that man ; it were better for him that he had never been born, than that he should offend one of my elect. It were better for him that a millstone should be fastened to him, and that he should be drowned in the sea, than he should offend one of my little ones.” This agrees almost verbatim with the discourse of Jesus, in Matt, xviii. 6 ; Mark, ix. 42 ; Luke xvii. 1, 2. But it does not therefore follow, that the passages were taken from these scriptures. Clement might have known them from oral informa- tion ; or other lives of Jesus might exist from which he selected them ; for Saint Luke in his Gospel, (i. 1,) actually declares, that in his time many such lives of Jesus were read among the Christians. From this cause Lardner also is in doubt, whether he could call these passages testimonies for the histori- cal truth of the books of our New Testament. Whatever besides is usually quoted from the epistle of Clement for the authenticity of the New Testament, is of infinitely less value. Some of these sentences agree with our New Testament only in common-place maxims, or, indeed, only in a word or two. “ Let us come up,” says Clement,^ “ to the glorious and venerable rule of our holy call- ing.” This, it is pretended, is a quotation from the passage, 2 Tim. i. 9, “ Who hath called us with an holy calling.” “ Nothing,” says he in another place,^^ “ is impossible with God, but to lie ;” which is pretended to be taken from Heb. vi. 18, where something similar is said of God. We might in this manner prove that Seneca, Plutarch, nay, even Socrates and Plato, had quoted the New Testament. Others, indeed, have a greater resemblance in thought and expression ; but they are not therefore of necessity taken from our New Testament. Clement might have learnt them through personal intercourse with the apostles, or have borrowed them from the books of the Old Testament,^^ or from other Christian writings which then existed. ‘8 Chap. 46, p. 70. Credibility, vol. u. p. 31—33. Chap. vii. p. 11. 21 chap. xxvii. p. 42. For instance, in the 30th chap. p. 45, he quotes a passage, yet without naming its author, ForGod,”saj’she, “ resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” This sentence is found, indeed, in James, iv. 6 ; but it stands also in Proverbs, iii. 34. ^ The author of what is called the second epistle, is speaking of the wicked, chap. iv. p. 93, and then adds Concerning these the Lord has said. Though ye should be joined unto me, even in my very bosom, and keep not my commandments, I would reject you, and say unto you. Depart from me, I know you not, whence you are, you workers of iniquity.” This pas- sage is evidently similar to that in Matt. vii. 23. Nevertheless, Dr Mill, in the Prolegomena to his edition of the New Testament, No. 140, draws the following inference from this epistle of Cle- ment : — That Clement had read our first three Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle to the Romans, the two Epistles to the Corin- thians, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Epistle of Saint James, and the First Epistle of Saint Peter. From such conclusions the most con- venient opportunities are afforded to unbe- lievers, of bringing into discredit the whole body of evidence for the truth of Christianity. I dare not attempt to prove from this ancient document more than that our First Epistle to the Corinthians is authentic. In reading this venerable work of a teacher, who was an intimate friend of the Apostle Paul, w'ho was also well acquainted with the other apostles, and had undoubtedly a perfect knowledge of all their doctrines and writings ; who even himself presided, at the time of the apostles, as bishop, over a community to which Saint Paul had written one of his longest epistles, many difficulties have very forcibly occurred to me. I will here point them out ; perhaps they may excite others to examine this important document with more accuracy. — First, In this short epistle, which occupies about forty small octavo pages, Clement quotes almost fifty passages from the Old Testament, sometimes word for word, and sometimes by name. It was therefore by no means contrary to the fashion of those days to quote many scriptural passages by way of proof. Why, then, does he appeal to the Scriptures of the New Testament so seldom verbally, and only in a single instance by name ? They were all at that time composed, the Revelation of Saint John perhaps excepted. For Clement wrote his epistle after the death of the Apostles Paul and Peter .24 Secondly, In the xxiv — xxvi. and in the 1. chap. p. 39 — 42, and p. 74, 75, he attempts to prove the resurrection of the dead, and quotes for that purpose many passages from the Old Testament, all of which in fact prove nothing. Whence is it, then, that he quotes not a single one among the great number of far clearer passages in the New Testament, particularly in the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians ? What could be more decisive to the Corinthians, to whom he wrote, than the determination of the apostle, who had wrought so many miracles among them, and of whose divine inspiration they had no doubt ? Having frequently made these difficulties the subject of my consideration, it appears to it is not taken thence, but from an apocryphal book. In the same manner Clement, when he quotes the discourses or actions of Christ, may have taken them from some other history that was extant when he wrote. For the other historians of the life of Jesus might have been equally credible men, as those whose memoirs are contained in the New Testament, although they did not write, like the latter, from divine inspiration. 24 Chap. V. p. 9, 10. AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. me that much may be said to lessen, if not entirely to remove, their force. As to the first, I answer. That Clement very rarely makes his quotations from the Old Testament by name ; but almost constantly only accord- ing to their contents. Nor was it very customary for the ancient writers to quote by name, as may be seen for instance in the Epistle to the Hebrews, in which the author quotes generally according to the contents only, or with an indeterminate phrase, “ one in I a certain place testified,” (ch. i. ii.) Moreover, Clement presumed that the contents of the New Testament were already known to the Christians at Corinth. But this he could not presume in respect of the Old Testament, which was generally unknown to the heathen converts. With regard to the second diffi- culty, it appears to me that the immediate object of Clement was not so much to prove the truth of this doctrine of Christianity, as to shew its harmony with the doctrine of the Old Testament. For this reason he quotes, however ill applied, passages of the Old Testa- ment exclusively, and in such profusion. The doctrine itself he presupposes to be true, and to be believed. The beginning of the 47th chapter, “ Receive the epistle of the holy Paul; what has he there written to you?” rendered all farther quotations of particular passages of this epistle unnecessary. 8. Hermas. We have an ancient writing under the title of Pastor,! or Shepherd, which bears the name of Hermas, whom Saint Paul (Rom. xvi. 14) enumerates among those to whom he particu- larly sends salutation. It contains, as we have it at present, three books. In the first, which has the title “ Visiones,” are four visions. The Church of God appears to him four times, in the form of an old woman, gives him various doctrines, (which are very common- place, and not always just,) and particularly informs him, that the Christians had much tribulation to expect, but that they might overcome it by patience and prayer. After some time appears a venerable man, in the habit of a shepherd, and dictates to him as he writes, twelve commands, which contain a kind of catechetical instruction in morality, very incomj)lete, and in part bad and un- christian : These are the contents of the second book, which is therefore called “Man- data.” Again, this venerable man dictates to him certain types, comparisons, and narra- tives, in which are veiled certain moral truths, and the future fortunes of the church. These compose the third book, which on this account is entitled “ Similitudines.” The work was written originally in Greek ; but we have now only an ancient Latin version,^ except a * It stands in Cotelerius, vol. i. pp. 75 — 126. ^ Whoever desires to be farther informed respecting the 17 few fragments preserved in the Greek fathers, and which may be seen in Cotelerius. If we were to form our judgment of the author from the book itself, we should suppose it to have been written by one who was a Jew by birth, and who lived in the first cen- tury. The rigid adherence to fasts, and high idea of their meritoriousness the figurative and allegorical kind of representation f the quoting of the book Heldam et Modal f and the Hebrew name ^ given to the angel, or, as others explain it, to the frightful beast wliich appeared to him ; these evidently betray a writer, who was educated in the Jewish mode of thinking. And that it was composed in the first century, is probable from the first book. In this the old woman foretells the fortunes of the church, and indeed in a very mysterious manner. But all her prophecies are so general and indeterminate, that nothing more can be learnt from them than that “ the Christians were to be greatly persecuted.” Now had the author lived later, in the second, or even third century, for instance, he would certainly have made his prophetess to give a more determinate and complete description of those persecutions ; of the tyrants who should command them ; of the cruelties, and modes of torment and death which should hereafter be made use of; and subjects of the like nature. The author, it may be added, who in the whole composition appears to have been a good, though an ill-informed man, calls himself Hernias, and assures his reader, that he wrote it at Rome,7 and at the time when Clement was bishop of that church.^ We perceive, therefore, even without external evidence, that it is extremely probable that this work came from the apostolical Hermas. And this is corroborated by the express testi- monies of Irenseus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius, Athanasius, and Jerome, who not only inform us, that the apostolical Hermas did really leave us such a opinions of learned men on these writings of the apostolical period, may consult the first volume of “ Le Nourry Apparatus ad Bibliothecam Maximum Patrum et Antiquorum Scriptorum Eccles, Lugduni edit.” in which every thing that belongs to the subject is treated with great accuracy and copiousness. The account of the Pastor is to be found, pp. 47— 70. ^ See Similitud. V. ^ See the Visiones and the Similitudines. ® Visio. ii. § 3, p. 77.— “ The Lord is nigh to them that turn unto him, as it is written in the book of Ileldam and Modal, who prophesied to the people in the wilderness.” These are the words of the author Iiimself. The history to which he alludes, is found in Num. xi. 26, 27. But the Hebi’ew names of these prophets are Eldad and Medad. In the “ Synops. Scripturaj S.” which is known under the name of Athanasius, there is a book Ileldam and Modal mentioned among the apocryphal writings of the Old Testament. ^ The name in the work itself is Ilegrin, pnsyn. See Visio. iv. § 2, p. 83, and Not. Oxoniens. in loc. 7 Visio. i. § 1. p. 75. ® For, in Visio. ii. § 4, p. 78, he receives a command to write two copies of this prophecy, and to send one of them to Clement, who would transmit it to the foreign cities. B 18 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. book, but they also quote from it many and long passages, and these exactly agreeing with our present copies.^ We cannot, there- fore, refuse to attribute this book to the above- mentioned writer, without bringing into sus- picion the whole of ecclesiastical history. Eusebius gives us the following information concerning the Pastor^ which many in his time supposed to have been written by the apostolical Ilermas, — “ That some believed it to be a very useful book, as an introduction to religion, and that it was therefore read pub- licly in the churches.”^^ This opinion agrees very well with the work which we have at present. Its style is entirely adapted to the senses. The “Similitudines”in*which the writer clothes his instruction, are nothing more than a collection of similies, taken from common objects, for instance, from a vine, a green tree, or a flock. This is the case also with the “ Mandata” and “ Visiones.” And thus we in modern times compose books of instruction for children ; but, indeed, with this difference, that it is written in a rough and unpolished style. The wTiole plan of the book is, if I may use the expression, dramatic ; as if adapted to children and beginners. The author does not teach, but relates. The first book is the nar- rative of his conferences with a venerable matron ; and the other two contain the rela- tion of his conversation with a shepherd. These conversations are throughout dramatic. A splendid tower is erected by a variety of artists, and composed of stones of every species. Hermas walks into the country ; here his instructor points out, now a vine, now a tree just shooting forth its leaves ; and, at every prospect, takes occasion to instruct him. The writer of this book is sometimes repre- sented as an enthusiast, who fancied that he saw a variety of visions, and heard revelations. We might with equal justice, on account of the fairy tales in her Magazine for Children, call Beaumont a fanatic. This form in which Hermas has composed his book, did not certainly afford him any opportunity to quote passages from the Bible, as proofs in his system of instruction. Many similar thoughts and expressions have been produced, of which Lardner^^ has collected a great number. But although this work is nearly as large as all the other writings of the apostolical fathers taken together, yet we can- not discover in it any where a single scriptural book cited expressly, and by name. 4. Ignatius. Ignatius was bishop of Antioch ; at the command of the Emperor Trajan, because he ^ These passages are collected together in Cotelerius, vol. i. pp. 68—72, where they may be seen all at one view. 'T^’ iri^aiv oivtx.yxat.to'roi.rov, ois /xocXis-a, Sit tnretyajyixfjf, xix^ircct o9iv viSti xeti iv ixxXifitrt ■/ tg , xvro StSr,/xoa-uufjiiyov. — Hist. Eccl. lib. iii. cap. 3. p. 90. “ Credibility, vol. ii. pp. 52 — 65. could not be prevailed on to renounce Chris- tianity, he was conducted to Rome in the year of Christ 106, in order to fight with wild beasts exhibited at the public games ; he re- mained constant, and was torn to pieces by lions in the amphitheatre. His seven genuine epistles^ stand in Cotelerius, vol. ii. p. 11 — 42, and in Frey’s edit, immediately after the epistles of Clement, pp. 1 — 73. These are tolerably well purified^ from modern interpo lations. I say tolerably well, for even the smaller edition appears in certain places to be still suspicious. In all these epistles, only a single book of the New Testament is expressly named by him, which is Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. Among the advantages belonging to the Ephesians, which Ignatius notices in his epistle to this community, he distinguishes this in particular, that they had received the knowledge of the mystery of the holy Paul. “ You are,” says he, “ fellow- partners in the mystery of the holy Paul, who in his whole epistle, makes honourable mention of you, as true members of Jesus Christ.”'^ Saint Paul names the important doctrine to the publication of which he was peculiarly called, that is, the doctrine of the equal participation of the grace of God through Jesus by the heathens and Jews, the mystery, the heretofore unknown doctrine. On this account Ignatius calls the Ephesians “ fellow-partners in the mystery of Paul,” {UetvT^ov avfA[^v^?Lxif xjxx^rixif SixSkYidtio'rif t^n rov xv^iov, 7iy ro xx8’ 'ESqxiovf EvxyytXioy vrt^itxif- ^ See Fabricii Cod. Apocr. N. T. I. aW. 21 and exercised the office of evangelist, zealously announcing Christ to those who had yet heard nothing of the preaching of faith, and delivering to them the Scripture of the divine Gospels.^ Eusebius, a man of an integrity universally acknowledged, assures us, that he drew his information from the documents of antiquity which he found in the library at Cassarea. We are therefore certain, that as early as the beginning of the second century, the four Gospels, which were received in Eusebius’s time, that is, the Gospels of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, and Saint John, were universally known among the Christians ; and not only esteemed as genuine wTitings of the men above mentioned, but also as of divine inspiration. CHAPTER II. WITNESSES IN THE SECOND CENTURY. In the second century, the evidences for the Scriptures of the New Testament are far more numerous, determinate, and ample, be- cause we still possess more and larger w^orks of the teachers of this period. I shall not there- fore stop to quote the passages themselves, but only name the witnesses, and point out those parts of their writings, where their evidence is to be found. But I will first describe the state of Christianity in the second and third centuries. SECT. I. — STATE OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE SECOND AND THIRD CENTURIES. In the East, (namely, Palestine, Chaldea, and Persia,) where Christianity received its origin, at that time prevailed a mixture of opinions, for the most part false, but which bore the venerable name of philosophy, and had been for a long time embraced by many even at Alexandria, which city, since the Ptolomies, was become the chief seat of learn- ing. This Oriental philosophy ( we will admit the honourable appellation for the sake of brevity) was distinguished from the Grecian, principally in three points, namely, in the doctrine of spirits ; the maintaining of two original beings ; and in morality. In the doctrine of spirits these philosophers had not only regular genealogies of spirits, which they called .^ons ; but had also invented a parti- ® Xxi yx^ 5») •BfXtis'oi rtuy rort (z.x6virtuy, er^oS^ort^u fiXoifo- ^txf t^oiTi ‘sr^of roy B-tioy Xoyoy rviy -ij/vx*iy •zrXrtrrofjotyoi, rriy ’Surtt^tey ■sr^ort^oy xxtrXTi^ouy ■TB'x^xxtXtviny, tvStiXt yt/xoyrtf rxf ovffiXf. fxtirx St x^oSyifjoixf s-tXXofjLtyoi, t^yoy irtrtXovy tvxyytXis-oiy, roif tri mx/x^xy xyyixootf rov rvtf TsTiftaif Xoyov XTjevrrtiy roy X^tfoy (p/Xorz/xov/xtyoi, xxi rniy raiy ^tiaiy tvxy- ytXiuy Wx^xSiSoyxt y^xfr/y. 22 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. cular scieuce, Theurgy, or a collection of rules, to call up spirits and compel them to satisfy the desires of men. Again, in order to solve that great problem of the understanding — the origin of evil — they adopted two equally eternal and powerful original beings, one good, the other bad. From the bad was derived all matter, consequently the bodies of men, which were therefore the seat of every sin. And from this principle flowed the whole of that gloomy, morose, melancholy system of morals adopted by the philosophers of the East, which placed true virtue in the rejection of all the pleasures of sense, and in the severe treatment, mortification, and torture of the body.^ These opinions were likewise not uncommon among the Jews, as may be collected from the refutations of them in the New Testament, and from the writings of Josephus. The Pharisees laid a great stress on Theurgy ; and through the exercise of this visionary art, they obtained a great part of their consequence among the people. The Essenes, in particular, adopted the whole system. This Oriental philosophy insinuated itself by degrees also among the followers of the Grecian systems. Of these, none had been so generally received as that of Plato, which was in most parts excellent. But it became gradually much changed and corrupted, not only through ignorance, misunderstanding, and innovation ; but also by being intermixed, particularly by Plotinus of Alexandria,^ a Pla- tonist of the third century, with the Oriental systems. Thus arose the New-Platonic philo- sophy ; a mixture of the Platonic, but very much corrupted, and of the Oriental philo- sophy ; and this became the principal source from which were derived the perversions, mutilations, and most abominable corrup- tions of genuine Christianity. For until the second century, the Chris- tians always persisted in the sound exposition ‘ See, 1. The information contained in Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, and Diogenes Laertius Prooem. Vitar. Philos. § viii. ; 2. The fragments of Zoroaster in Eusebii Prasparat. Evangel. ; 3. The doctrines of the Brahmins ; 4. The refutations in Saint Paul; and, 5. The doctrines of the Gnostics and Manicheans. Compare Moshemii Instit. H. E. majores, sec. i. 136, 339, with Dissert, de causis suppositorum librorum inter Christian, sec. i. et ii. vol. i. dissert, in H. E. p. 223 seq. But the leamed and ingenious man, who every where perceived systems, which his philosophical head had created, appears absolutely to err, when he supposes, that in the East existed a peculiar sect, which had brought all those tenets into a regular system. It is more pro- bable that there existed a variety of sects, which occasionally adopted different doctrines. 2 Plotinus, a disciple of Ammonias Saccas, travelled into Persia, purposely to learn the doctrines of the Indians and Persians. He was the master of the celebrated philosopher and enemy of Christianity, Porphyry, who also edited his works. Mosheim too much indulges his wit here also, as has been remarked and proved by Semler, Walch, and others. Prof. Meiners has treated this subject very amply in his “ Considera- tions on the New-Platonic Philosophy,” Leipsig, 1782, 8vo. of the New Testament. To this period they continued free, if we except the joyless morality of tlie Essenes, from the distractions of Pseudo-philosophy ; and maintained among themselves genuine apostolical Christianity. But scarcely had some of the scholars of the heathen world (for instance Clement of Alex- andria) acknowledged Christianity, when the Pseudo-philosophy of the Easterns and New- Platonists, broke in like a rapid torrent, and left behind universal desolation. Until this time the doctrines of the Christian religion had been preached without exception, and with the greatest publicity, to all who would hear them, and, as the founder of Christianity expressed himself in his charge to the apostles, (Matth. x.) “ from the house tops.” But now, in resemblance of the heathen mysteries, cer- tain ceremonies and doctrines began to be concealed, and thus Christianity assumed its mysteries as well as heathenism. Besides, a variety of heathen ceremonies were adopted in the divine service, and hence Christianity became gradually a ceremonial religion. Since Origen, in the third century, this system of religion, which commands, in a particular manner, the strictest adherence to truth, was perverted so much, that it was declared a duty of charity to forge miracles, and in short, every thing else, if by these means converts might be made to their religion ; nay, this was carried to such a pitch of shameless effrontery, that these infamous forgeries were named, pious deceits, pi(B fraudes. The zealous sup- porters of the New-Platonic philosophy in- termixed their system, even that part of it which is called Platonic love, with Chris- tianity. Socrates and Plato defended the most intimate union of men with beautiful boys, in such a manner, that they made a distinction between corporeal and spiritual love ; and asserted, that the wise man feels only the latter in respect to the beauty of the boy, in order to conduct him to virtue. Hence arose, in the third century, that most infamous custom for persons of the opposite sexes, without being united in the bonds of marriage, to live with one another in the closest intimacy ; in order, as they pretended, to establish a mere union of souls for the purposes of virtue. But the most injurious effects, and the almost mortal blow which Christianity received from that Pseudo-philo- sophy of the Easterns, and more especially of the New-Platonists, was the utter neglect, mutilation, and subversion of morals, together with the mystical mode of interpreting the New Testam*ent. The simple and perspicuous system of morality which Christianity taught, was too light for these pretended philoso- phers ; it afforded too little matter for their fancies and speculations. It became, there- fore, neglected, and since the third century 1 the whole importance was made to consist in AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 23 the theory of Christianity, or rather of the Oriental Platonic Christianity. But the matter did not rest even here ; the religion became burdened with the above mentioned theurgy, and corporeal mortification ; and through the assistance of mystical and ridi- culous interpretations, every error and every impurity which the passions or caprice of men desired, were introduced into the New Testament. In this manner, that easy, beau- tiful, immediately and universally active, cheerful, and philanthropic religious system of the New Testament, became during the second, and more particularly the third cen- tury, a gloomy, harsh, misanthropic system of whims, fancies, monkery, deceit, and hierarchical tyranny. To these dreadful calamities from within were added also from without incessant perse- cutions, which were often general, and some- times extremely bloody and cruel. Even the worthy Trajan, and yet the more excellent Marcus Antoninus, tortured and put to death many of their most faithful subjects only because they were not idolaters, but chose to live according to the laws of Christianity, which even the heathens themselves acknow- ledged to be irreproachable and excellent.^ But the most horrible of all these persecutions began to rage against the Christians about the year 249. The Emperor Decius pro- ceeded so far as to attempt to exterminate Christianity by the roots. By his orders the Christians were not only put to death, but were also afflicted with the most exquisite tortures. A Christian, for instance, had his whole body smeared with honey, and then, his hands tied behind his back, exposed quite naked to the meridian sun, where myriads of insects assailed him, and consumed his body by insensible degrees.^ Nevertheless this religion was continually extending itself in all the parts of the then known world. In Gaul there already existed flourishing communities at Lyons and Vienne, in Germany, in Britain, in Africa, and every where the number of Christians so increased, that even in the beginning of the second cen- tury the heathens complained that the temples of the gods were quite deserted ; and towards the end of the third, the court and army of the heathen emperors were filled with persons of this persuasion. This extensive propaga- tion of Christianity was undoubtedly the consequence of the continually increasing pro- mulgation of the Scriptures of the New Testa- ment. As early as the beginning of the second century were made Latin and Syriac versions. Learned men (particularly Clement of Alex- andria, Origen, and his scholar Pierius) were ^ Let the reader consult, for instance, Plinii Epist. 97, lib. X. See Schroeckh’s Ecclesiastical Hist, iv. 190, of the original. anxious to have accurate transcripts of the original ; and opulent men, (especially Pam- philus,) caused, at a great expense, many exact copies of it to be taken and dispersed.^ We will now hear the individual witnesses them- selves. 1. Justin Martyr, Justin, surnamed the Martyr, before his conversion to the Christian faith, had carefully studied the Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean, and Platonic systems of philosophy ; and must therefore be considered, on account of his learning and antiquity, as a witness of the greatest importance.^ It is necessary to read only his “ Address to the Gentiles,” (Aoyof ExA> 7 t/otf, pp. 1 — 8), “ The Ex- hortation to the Gentiles,” Aoyo? zs^og ' ETi’^nvoig, pp. 6 — 36,) and the work, ‘‘ On the only God,” (®s^/ y,avot^xia,g, pp. 36 — 42,) in order to be convinced of his extensive reading in the best writings of antiquity. These works of Justin prove incontestably that the first followers of Christianity were not by any means such as its enemies assert, universally unlearned and simple men. Justin was much better acquainted with the works and opinions of Plato, Aristotle, and Pytha- goras, and with the writings of Orpheus, Homer, .^schylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, than most of those who are pleased to assert that the heathen authors are the only sources of all wisdom, but the followers of Jesus universally mean and simple men. Besides the Revelation of Saint John,^ Justin has not quoted in any part of his works from a single writer of the New Testament by name. But he appeals often and expressly to the Gospels, which were composed by the apostles and their assistants, as to those books 5 See Prof. Schroeckh’s Ecclesiastical Hist. Part i— iv. and C. R. Walch, On the use of the Holy Scripture among ihe ancient Christians— lLwgs\%, 1779, 8vo. ^ Concerning the circumstances of his life, principles, and writings, the most accurate and ample information is to be found in the Preface to the Benedictine Edit, of his works, Haag, 1742, fol. Besides the genuine and spurious works of Justin, this edition contains also, Tatian’s Oration against the Gentiles, pp. 241 — 276 ; Athenagoras’s Apology for the Chris- tians, pp. 277—313 ; and his Treatise on the Resurrection of the Dead, pp. 314—336 ; the three books of Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus, pp. 337—400 ; the Satire of Hermas on the Hea- then Philosophers, pp. 401—406; and the fragments of the lost writings of Justin, Tatian, and Athenagoras; together with the Acts of the Martyrdom of Justin, p. 585, and fol. His first Apology is a well written defence of the Christians against the calumniations of the Gentiles. 2 Dialogus cum Try phone, cap. Ixxxi. p. 179. Kui Yj/je,iv Tig, u evof^et luawrif, h? tcuv oi^og'oXaiv too tv Avraxa-Kv^tt 'ytvoytA.vi) uvru, Xi\jot erv/ TS'efyie^tv (v h^ovtrac- Toui TM vifx.irvi^cfi X^ts’Cfi zris-iviruv Tecs' ■za'^ouepi'irtvg-i, xou fctree. reevroe, Tr,v xxdokix'vtv xxt xeeavixv o[x.oBvfx,x&e>v ct/xx TsxvTOiv xvxs'xertv ‘yiwteritrQxe xxi x^urtv “ A man from ^mong us, whose name was John, and an Apostle of Christ, has pro- phesied in his Revelation, that they who believe in our Christ, shall live a thousand years in Jerusalem ; and after that, shall follow the universal and eternal resurrection and judgment.” LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. 24 from which the Christians derived their tenets. In his first Apology (presented to the Emperor Antoninus the Pious) he gives this reason for tlie celebration of the Lord’s Supper among the Christians “ For the apostles, in the memoirs which are named Gospels, have thus assured us, that Jesus ordered them to do it ; that he took bread, gave thanks, and then said. This do in remem- brance of me : this is my body. That in like manner he took the cup, and after he had given thanks, said. This is my blood.” And in his advice concerning the behaviour of the Christians at their Sunday meetings, he men- tions even, “ that the memoirs of the apostles, or the writings of the prophets, are publicly read ; and when the reader has ended, the president of the community exhorts them to the imitation of such excellent things.”^ An evident proof, that as early as the beginning of the second century the Gospels were not only generally known among the Christians, but were revered, even as the Scriptures of the Old Testament, that is, as divine books. The view with which Justin composed his works did not allow him to use the Scriptures of the New Testament by way of proof. We find, nevertheless, where opportunities occur, a variety of passages, and these quoted with the addition that they were to be found in the Christian Scriptures. Thus, in the First Apology^ in which he speaks of the excellent laws of Jesus, and the virtuous actions of the Christians,^ of their hope of a future resur- rection,aint Matthew and Saint John, the Epistle to the Romans, and the First to Timothy, quoted under the title of Divine Scriptures. In the third book, chap. xiii. p. 388, are recited various precepts of the Old Testament, which inculcate chastity and other virtues ; he then adds,2 “ But the evangelical voice teaches chas- tity in yet greater perfection, when it says, ‘Whosoever looketh on another man’s wife to lust after her, has already committed adul- tery in his heart.’ And it says farther, ‘ Whosoever marries one that is divorced, committeth adultery ; and whosoever putteth away his wife, except on account of inchas- tity, committeth adultery,’ ” (Matth. v. 28, 82.) In the same book, chap. xiv. p. 889, “ But the Gospel says,^ ‘ Love your enemies, and pray for them that despitefully use you. For if you only love them that love you, what merit have you? Even robbers also, and tax-gatherers do this.’ ” In the second book, chap. xxii. p. 365, he quotes the pas- sage in 1 John, i. 1, 3, with the following introduction : — “ This is taught us by the Holy Scriptures, and by all those conducted by the Spirit, among whom John says,”^ &c. With the title of the “ Divine Doctrines,” he quotes passages from Rom. xiii. 7, 8 ; 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2.^ And in the third book, chap. xii. p. 388, he says, “ the commands of the prophets and evangelical writers are throughout con- cordant, because they have all spoken as in- spired by the very same Spirit of God.”® We may apply to this author our previ- ous observations on Justin Martyr, Tatian, and Athenagoras. Frequent quotations from the writings of Homer, Hesiod, Plato, Euri- pides, Aratus, &c. discovered that Theophilus was likewise a man of learning and cultivated talents. 6. Clement of Alexandria, Clement, who was a teacher and presbyter at Alexandria, deserves even on this account the esteem of posterity ; under his instruction was formed Origen, the most learned of all the fathers of the church. In his writings which are yet preserved,^ he quotes all the ^ 'H Se ivd.yyiXKtt (^mvii'XiToc.TixciiTi^ov 'hihat.a'xu M’yvuot,? Xiyovo'et. ^ To Se Evotyyi)iiov Xeyet. ^ 'OSii/ S/Seoo'xovo'tv 'hfoxs iot a,yiot,t y^oc^oti xxt aratvrtf nrviu- fjoxTO(f)0^ot, uv loixvvyis Xiyu. ® Lib. iii. cap. xiv. p. 389. Et< x Xtvu ri/x g o S-uos Xeyoi. ** Aict TO Tous aravraj 'srvwfxxro^o^ous tvi •srytu/xxrt Qtou * Namely, in the Cohortatio ad gentes, pp. 1—95 ; in the Pcedagogus, pp. 90— 314 ; in the eight books named Stroinata, (that is, Various Discourses,) p. 934 : and in the dissertation Q,uis dives scUvetur ? pp. 935—961 , of the Edition of Bisliop Potter, Oxford, 715, fol. See Le '^ourry Adparatus ad BMiolhecam majcimam patrum, tom. i. p. 624, seq. where the reader will meet with the most ample information concerning the writings of the Alexandrian Clement. Even in these works we find very evident proofs of the great injury which Christianity has suffered books of the New Testament (except the Second Epistle of Saint Peter, the Second and Third Epistles of Saint John, the Epistle of Saint James, and the Epistle to Philemon,) so often by name, and so amply, that were I to extract all the citations, they would fill a volume.2 To obtain a fundamental knowledge of the Christian religion, this author had tra- velled into Greece, Italy, Egypt, and Asia f he was well acquainted with the writings of the earlier Christian teachers, Barnabas, Her- mas, Clement, &c. f he had examined the apocryphal books which then existed among the Christians, and compared them with the genuine works of the sacred writers.® All these circumstances evince that he did not give his assent to the Holy Scriptures until he had accurately examined them ; and there- fore affbrd considerable weight to his evidence for their authenticity. 7. Terfullian. Tertullian, a presbyter at Carthage, is the most ancient of all the Latin Fathers whose works are now extant. His melancholy turn of mind, and the evil customs which began to prevail among Christians, induced him to embrace the fanatical doctrines of the Mon- tanists. But his Montanism can by no means weaken his evidence for the historical truth of the New Testament ; unless we conceive that a fanatic must necessarily lose all his organs of sense. Generally speaking, his tenets have no farther influence on his writings, than to occasion his preaching a too severe system of morality ; and to shew that he revered Mon- tanus and his prophetesses Priscilla and Max- imilla as inspired persons, through whom ihe Spirit of God had spoken. We have a great variety of his writings, which display much sacred and profane learning. But his style is extremely tedious, obscure, replete with Latin words of his own formation, entirely inharmonious, and not rarely bombastic. Cave from its connection with the New-Platonic philosophy. See above, p. 22. ^ Lardner has collected some examples on every book ; Credibility of the G. H. vol. ii. pp. 210—330. * ^ In the Stromata, Lib. i. p. 322, he says, that his book was a short sketch of the discourses which ho held with considerable persons in the above mentioned countries. He cites them often, and with great esteem ; but he never pronounces them to be Divine Scriptures, as has been shewn by Lardner, 1. cit. pp. 231—234. ® He frequently quotes passages from the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Gospel according to the Egyptians, the Preaching of Peter, the Revelation of Peter, the Traditions of Matthias ; but he distinguishes them clearly enough from the genuine writings of the evangelists and apostles. See Lardner, 1. cit. pp. 234—242. And even if we should grant that he consi- dered the writings of Barnabas, Ilermas, and Clement of Rome, and tlie Sibylline verses to be divine, yet this would not tend to invalidate the proof for the divinity of the Scriptures of the New Testament ; for we use the testimonies of the ecclesiastical fathers, not in order to prove that these Scriptures are of divine original, but that they arc genuine writings of the evangelists and apostles. 28 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. asserts, in opposition to Lactantius, ^ that “ it is lofty and masculine, and carries a kind of majestic eloquence along with it, that gives a pleasant relish to the judicious and inquisitive reader.” But the decisions of this author on style and eloquence are as injudicious, as his j historical information is unquestionable. That Tertullian was a man of talents, and well read in the classic works of antiquity, is undoubted.^ But he had read, like many grammarians and modern editors, with the aid of the memory alone, but without taste or understanding. Lactantius is of the same opinion, “ Tertul- lianus fuit omni genere literarum peritus, sed in eloquendo parum facilis et minus comptus, et multum obscurus fuit.” His works are filled with quotations by name, and long extracts from the writings of the New Testament. In the Apology for the Christians, which he delivered to tlie heathen magistracy at Carthage, he appeals, among other things, to the strict obedience and reve- rence of the Christians towards the Roman Emperors. “ How can you suppose,” says he, ^ “ that we have no regard for the welfare of the Emperors? Behold only the word of God, our Scriptures, which we by no means keep secret, but which are even in the hands of our enemies. These command us, — to pray even for our enemies. The following precept also is found there expressly. Pray for kings, princes, and powers, that all things may pro- ceed peaceably with you.” Against Praxeas he quotes his proofs principally, as he expresses himself, from the New Testament, from the Gospels, and Apostles. “ If I should not settle this dispute from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, I will take my proofs from the New Testament. For I perceive, both in the Gospels and the Apostles, that God is as well visible as invisible.”^ He mentions a Latin translation of those writings, but which did not always accurately express the meaning of the original text. ^ He treats copiously of the four Gospels, of Saint Matthew, of Saint Mark, Saint Luke, and Saint John, in a work against IMarcion ; ^ and proves their authen- ticity from numerous and credible evidences since the times of the apostles. He quotes, by name, every single book (the Epistle of Saint James, the Second Epistle of Saint Peter, and the Second and Third Epistles of Saint John, alone excepted) with the title of Divine Scriptures, and so often, that to prove it in this place by extracts from his works, 7 1 Histor. Literar. Scriptor. EccJesiasticator. 2 I quote here the edition of his works by Nicolaus Rigaltius, Paris, 1641, fol. 3 Apologeticus, p. 30. 4 Adversus Praxeam, p. 646. De Noro Testamento sumam confirmationem. In Evangeliis et in Apostolis visibilem et invi- sibilem Deum deprehendo. 5 De Monogamia, p. 684. 8 Adversus Marcionem, lib. iv. pp. 502, 503. 7 The reader will find examples in Lardner’s Credibility of the G. H. voL ii. pp. 256—277. Or the truth of the assertion may be would be perfectly superfluous. I will men- tion only a single passage more, which will serve to shew how cautiously men acted at that time in examining the genuine aposto- lical writings. In his work against Here- sies, “ De prgescriptione hsereticorum,” ^ he speaks with great confidence of the authenti- city of the apostolical writings which were adopted as such by orthodox Christians. He appeals to the evidence of communities which the apostles had personally established, at Corinth, at Philippi, at Thessalonica, at Ephesus, and at Rome ; whose members, on account of their intimate intercourse with the apostles, could assert with the greatest degree of certainty what writings actually emanated from them. “ Age jam, qui voles curiositatem melius exercere in negotio salutis tuae, per- curre ecclesias apostolicas, apud quas ipsse adhuc cathedrae apostolorum suis locis praesi- dent ; apud quas ipsae authenticae literae eorum (their genuine works) recitantur. — Proxima est tibi Achaia ? habes Corinthum. Si non longe es a Macedonia ; habes Philippos, habes Thessalonicenses. Si potes in Asiam tendere : habes Ephesum. Si autem Italiae adjaces ; habes Romam ; unde nobis quoque auctoritas praesto est.” SECT. in. EVIDENCES FROM WORKS OF THE SECOND CENTURY, WHICH ARE NOW LOST. The enemies of our religion complain often and loudly of the loss of those writings against Christianity which were composed by its an- cient opponents ; and some of them accuse the Christians, in language by no means doubtful, of having been the cause of the de- struction of these works. But they do not take into consideration, that of the writings also of the ancient friends and defenders of Christianity many more have been lost than have been preserved. And that, together with these writings, many important eviden- ces for the authenticity of the New Testament have also perished. We have already ^re- gretted this loss when we treated above of the history of the first century. In the second this deficiency is still greater and more to be lamented. 1. Concerning Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, Eusebius gives us the following information — He wrote seven epistles to difibrent Chris- tian communities, and another to a Christian seen still more clearly from the list of scriptural pa^ges quoted by Tertullian, which is contained in the above mentioned edition, pp. 766—795. And we cannot discover the least trace, that he had received any other book as divine, or as a genuine writing of the evangelists and apostles. See Lardner, pp. 284, 285. 8 Cap. 36, p. 245. Lardner has very well cleared up this obscure passage. Credibility, vol. ii. pp. 266 — 269. 1 Book ii. chap. 1. * Eusebii. Mist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 23, pp. 184 — 187j edit. Reading. AUTHENTICITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 29 matron : in the epistle to the community at Athens he exhorted men to believe and to act according to the Gospel : in the epistle to the Nicomedians he defended the true canon (or, as others translate it, the rule of truth, mg xTiTl^iotg Tsec^ig-ecroti scocuovi,^ in opposition to the heresy of Marcion : in the epistle to the church at Amastris he had inserted exposi- tions of the Divine Scriptures. All these epistles are now lost ; and with them much important information, and many weighty evidences for the authenticity of the New Testament. 2. In the work of Tatian, which still re- mains,^ we find (on account of the particular purpose for which it was composed,) few allusions to the apostolical writings. But of these he had treated so much the more amply in his Harmony, or Aid Tsaact^av, a gospel composed from the four Gospels taken toge- ther. This work was well known to Euse- bius ; ^ and although the author might have inserted his heretical principles even here, yet the loss of this work is greatly to be lamented, as well for many other causes as on account of its great antiquity. ^ Irenseus, ^ and Clement of Alexandria, 7 allude to other writings of this author, in which he attempted to prove some of his heterodox tenets by quotations from the First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. 3. Hegesippus, a convert from Judaism, composed five books of ecclesiastical history, in which he gave an account of the apostolical preaching.”^ But of this work we have nothing remaining except a few fragments preserved by Eusebius and Photius. Although the historian might not have entirely laid aside that credulity and inclination for the fabulous, w’hich was peculiar to the Jews of his time, (and that this was the case is plain from the extracts in the above mentioned authors,) nevertheless, the loss of his work is much to be lamented ; because there undoubt- edly existed in it much material information for a history of the scriptural writings, which he must have collected in his intercourse with many considerable teachers of Christianity. However, we discover from the fragments, that he was very well acquainted with the Scriptures of the New Testament ; for he quotes them often, although not by name ; and his manner of writing is invariably in that peculiarity of style belonging to these books. ^ 4. Melito, Bishop of Sardis, has rendered himself remarkable in ecclesiastical history, particularly by his examination of the sacred 3 See above, p. 24. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 29, pp. 193, 194. 5 See Valesius in Eusebium, 1. cit. 6 Lib. iii. cap. 23, § 8, p. 222, ed. Massueti. 7 Stromat, lib. iii. p; 547, Potteri. 8 Eusebius Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 8, p. 150. 8 See Lardner’s Credibility. books of the Old Testament. He composed various writings, of which we scarcely know more than the titles, as they are given to us in Eusebius. His books, “ On the Conduct of Christians,” — “ Of the Prophets,” — “ Of the Church,” — “ On the Lord’s Day,” — “ Of Obe- dience to the Gospel — v'Kdx.o'Ag -ai^eagj” — “ On the Conception, and Birth of Christ — zss^t fcliffsag x,di yeusaecog X^/g-ov,” — “ On the Revelation of Saint John,” — and “ On the Incarnation of God — syg^/ kyaa^otrov ©goy,” contained probably more particular infor- mation concerning the apostolical writings. From the few fragments of his works we can produce him only as an evidence for the high antiquity of the Revelation of Saint John ; yet even this is of dubious import, as we have no information concerning the contents of his treatise on this subject.” 5. Of the terrible persecutions which the Christians in Gaul suffered in the time of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, we find a very affecting relation in the epistle which the communities at Vienne and Lyons, in France, sent on this account to the Christians in Asia. Eusebius has preserved a great part of it in his “ Ecclesiastical History.” The sufferings of the Christians, the patience, cheerfulness, and steadfast behaviour of the martyrs, are described by sentiments and expressions which are taken from the Scriptures of the New Testament. — “ Then was the saying of the Lord fulfilled, ‘ The time will come when whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service,’ ” (John, xvi. 2. ) “ They (namely, the martyrs) prayed for their executioners, as did the holy Stephen, ‘ Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,’ ” (Acts, vii. 50.) “ They endeavoured to follow the example of Christ, ‘ Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God,’ ” (Phil. ii. 6.) “ He (a martyr of the name of Vettius Epagathus) was a true disciple of Christ, ‘ fol- lowing the Lamb whithersoever it goes,’ ” (Rev. xiv. 4.) When we reflect that this epistle was written by a community in which Irenaeus, (who has clesposed such ample evi- dence for the Scriptures of the New Testa- ment, p. 24,) was at that time a Presbyter, we may without hesitation use these passages 10 He travelled into Palestine, on purpose to obtain informa- tion on the true canon of the Old Testament. Eusebius has preserved his catalogue, Hist. Ecc. lib. iv. cap. 2C, pp. 190, 191. 11 Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 26, pp. 188, 189. 12 The epistle of Melito to a person of the name of Onesimus, who was the cause of his journey into Palestine, begins thus, (Eusebius 1. cit. p. 191.) “ As you have often, from your love towards the divine doctrine, required of me that I should collect from the Law and the Prophets those passages which concern the Redeemer and our common faith ; and as you were desirous of knowing accurately the Old Scriptures, their number, and the order in which they were composed, I have therefore inquired after the books of the Old Testament,” &c. This passage appears to prove, that at that time existed also a second collection of sacred books, under the name of the New Testament. See Lardner, 1. cit. p. 148. 18 Lib. V. cap. 1, 2, 3, 4, p. 198, seq. 80 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. as proofs of the antiquity of the Gospel of Saint John, of the Acts of the Apostles by Saint Luke, of the Epistle to the Romans and Philippians, and of the Revelation of Saint John ; although these books are not quoted by name. 6. Miltiades, one of the apologists for Chris- tianity, was, according to the information of Eusebius, well skilled in the Divine Scriptures and Christian theology. He had given convincing proofs of his erudition in a book which he wrote against the Montanists with this title, tov firt Be/v ■zsqofpTnrnu iu ’hcthziv, “ That it does not become pro- phets to speak in ecstasy and in his works against the Jews and Gentiles, “ He has also left us,” says Eusebius, “ as well in his writings against the Gentiles, as in those against the Jews, monuments of his zeal for the divine books.” Without doubt, there- fore, he had copiously used the authorities of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. 7. I have produced Theophilus of Antioch above (p. 26) as an evidence for the authen- ticity of the Gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint John, of the Epistle to the Romans, and also of the First Epistle to Timothy. Did the work which he wrote against Hermogenes, TY[v ctlfHaiv E^^oysz/oyf, still exist, we might likewise prove from him the antiquity of the Revelation of Saint John. 8. Pantsenus, whom Eusebius, ^7 apparently by mistake, mentions as president of the catechetical school at Alexandria, was, as this author infoms us, such a faithful and learned supporter of Christianity, that he would have instructed posterity as usefully by his writ- ings, as he did his contemporaries by his sermons. He preached the Gospel in India,^^ and is said to have found there the Gospel of Saint Matthew in the Hebrew language Whether this information, which Eusebius gives in a doubtful manner, be true or not. Hist. Eccles. lib. v. cap. 17, pp. 232, 233. See Eusebius, 1. cit. In the first work he had undoubtedly made mention of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Com- pare the remark of Valesius in loc. cit. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. 24, p. 287, who says, that Theophilus, in the above mentioned book, had taken some of his proofs from the Revelation of Saint John, iv a t* r'/js ot^TO%.»Xv^iiA)s lotiavvou Hist. Eccles. lib. v. cap. 10, pp. 222, 223. See Lardner’s Credibility, vol. ii. p. 203. The old ecclesiastical historians mean frequently by this name Arabia Felix ; see Michaelis Intr. to the N. T. vol. iii. p. 124, of the learned Mr Marsh’s trans. ; but here it is India pro- perly so called, India on the Ganges. Christianity was preached there in the first century by the Apostle Saint Thomas. This is asserted, 1. By the ancient writers consulted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. iii. 1, v. 10 — 2. By the most learned historians of the East, Asseman Bibl. Orient, tom. iii. par. i. p. 611, and par. ii. p. 25 — and, 3. By those Christian sects which have existed from the most early antiquity in India, particularly on the coasts of Malabar, who have an ancient tradition to the same purpose, and therefore call themselves Saint Thomas’s Christians, — La Croze, 38. Eusebius, 1. cit. ivGa. Xoyos Iv^uv etvrov to xotToo Mar- 6x$ov iuxyyiXtov, x. t. X. nevertheless it proves thus much, that the Gospel of Saint Matthew was already known in the earliest ages. According to Jerome’s relation, 20 he composed also certain commen- taries on the Bible. 9. The work of Clement of Alexandria, in which he principally considered the Holy Scriptures of the Christians, his H^potuposes^ is also lost, except a few fragments. It con- tained explications of many books both of the Old and New Testament, especially of the Epistles of Saint Paul, and of the Catholic Epistles.2^ Eusebius has preserved the fol- lowing information from it, 22 — That the Epistle to the Hebrews was written by Saint Paul in the Hebrew language, and translated into Greek by Saint Luke his companion ; that the Gospels which contain the Genealo- gies (namely, of Saint Matthew and Saint Luke) were composed before the others ; that Saint Mark wrote his Gospel at the request of Saint Peter’s disciples at Rome, and that Saint Peter was so far from rejecting it, that, at the instigation of the Holy Ghost, he imparted a divine consequence to it ;2^ and that Saint John had written ■avivf^a.Tix.ov zvocyfiKiov, a Gospel which treated especially of the divine nature of Christ, the others being principally employed on his human. Tov . . . laetwYiv £7Koclov ffvvi^ovrot, on tu aafAot.rix.ot, zu roig zvooyfzT^ioig '^z^Yihara.i, zs^^^otTrevrot. vrro rav yva^ifAav zsvzvfAoori ^zo>XTTm xxvovx, fjooyx Tiffcrx^x u'&ivxt ivxyfyiXtx f/,x^Tv^iTxi , uhi -isroig ug Ev /xxday toiv TiTCx^uy ei)X'yyi}uikiy, a, KXi pooyx xyxyTipptiTX sg-iy £v tyi v^o tu n^xyv ncxX-ziTta, th ©£8* oTi •sr^uToy fjt.iy yiy^x^Txt to xxtx tov wate Ti^oiyyiv, vg-t^ov Se x^og-oXoy \vtffu 'Kqis'fi MxTdxioy, tx^sha/xoTx xvto TOig x-xo Yu^xurpov vrts'iva'Xffi, y^xpcpoxtriy iQ^x'ixotg truyTiTxyf/,iyov ^Ei/TEgsy Se to xxtx TAx^xoy, oig UiT^og v(pri'y'/i(rxTO xutoi tstoivi- erxyTX, oy xxi uiov Ev t'^ Kxdokixvi ixts-oXvi hix TOVTCoy upooKoy/iffi ^xffy.uy, xo'ttxiiTxi vpoxg r, Ev 'Bx^vKoiyi (TvyixXiXTYi, xxi Mat§- xog, 0 utog /xtr XXI T^iToy to xxtx Aovxxv, to vxo IlxvXii iTxiyovjxiyoy wxyytXioy, TOig xxo Tuy iQviuy ■unxoivixoTX- ixi TiTxtri TO XXTX laxyytiy xxi Ev tu isrijxjrTx Se ta;v ug to XXTX Ievsevvev s^'/iyy/Tixci/y, o xvTog txvtx ®rEg/ To/y ari^oXay Tuy Axog-okuy ifi^a'iy' o Se ixxynOug iixxovog yivio'dxi tjjj xxiyy.g ^ix6riX’f,g n 'y^xfXfJt.xTOg aXXx TSygufxxTOg IlatiAoj- o wi-rXifi^uxojg TO ivxyytXioy xxo ' li^ova-xXvi/x xxi xvxXu TU IXXv^ixv, ouSi ‘srxa-xig ey^x^'iy, xig e5.|ev ixxXv, txutyiv t^iff-oXriy ug UxuXv, XUTYI tuSoXipttlTO XXI tTI TVTtfT V yx^ ilXYl 01 X^y^XUl XyS^tg Ug TlxuXv Ysrx^xStSuxxiri- ng St o y^x^pxg rtjv ttrifoXYiy, to pcty xXriStg Qiog tiSti. which Origen evinced, we should have been able to prove the authenticity of the books of the New Testament with greater ease and more satisfaction. Yet Eusebius has, in a certain degree, supplied the loss. This father of ecclesiastical history assures us that he had read the works of Christian antiquity with great diligence, and especially with the view of ascertaining what writings had been received since the origin of Christianity as genuine works of the evangelists and apostles. He imparts the result of this inquiry in several particular chapters of his Ecclesiastical History. In the third book^ he treats of the Epistles of the Apostles ; respecting which he had found in the works of the first and second centuries the following information : — “ That the First Epistle of Saint Peter has always been univer- sally received as divine ; but that called his Second Epistle, although not received as divine, svhxdmog, has nevertheless been carefully studied as an useful work. That the fourteen epistles which go under the name of Saint Paul, have been universally revered as divine Scriptures, except that some have doubted concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews, because the Romish Church did not consider it to be the work of Saint Paul.^ That Saint Luke, a physician, has left us two books, divinely inspired, namely, a Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles ; and that many of the ancients were of opinion, that Saint Paul means this gospel whenever he speaks of some gospel of his (Saint Paul’s) own. That the Gospels were written in the following order of time ; Saint Matthew’s first of all for the Hebrews, and in the Hebrew language ; then Saint Mark’s, which was composed at the request of the Christians at Rome ; afterwards that of Saint Luke, who was induced to undertake it from the spurious gospels which were at that time in circulation ; and that last of all Saint John had perused the three pre- ceding, and confirmed them ; yet, as they related only the actions of Christ which took place after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, he therefore had thought it necessary to write his Gospel, and supply in it what was wanting in the others : and that he in particular had received the matter concern- ing the divinity of Christ from the Holy Ghost. That besides this Gospel, the first Epistle, which bears the name of Saint John, has been universally ascribed to him both by ancients and moderns ; that the second and third Epistles were rejected by some ; and that the majority were perfectly in doubt concerning the Revelation.”^ 1 Caps. 3, 4, and 24, pp. 89—92, and 115-118. ^ Tivtg YiOtTYixxtri Tv/v gsr^og ES^xivg, ■zir^og rvig ' Pupt,xiuv txxXritrixg ug /xyi IIxuXv virxy xuTYjy xvTiXtyttrOxi (fiYiirxviig' ^ 'H Tsr^OTi^x Tuy t^ng-oXuy nrx^x te TOig vuy xxi TOig tn xyxptcpiXtXTOg upccXoyYiTxr xvnXtyovTxi St xi Xei^xi Suo TY]g S' x^oxxXu-i^tug t(p’ txxTt^oy tn yuy nrx^x TOtg nroXXoig I 84 LESS ON THE NEW TESTAMENT. Eusebius has given the most perfect account of this subject in the twenty-fifth chapter of the third book,^ in which he collects and lays before the reader the result of the information contained in detached parts of the preceding books. In this he delivers not his own private opinion, but the opinion of the Church, sKyJhn(wx.it/xi ; or, xKYi6ug kxi a-vAas-o/,) writings which were universally received as the genuine works of the persons whose names they bear. In this class Eusebius reckons, — 1. The four Gospels ; 2. The Acts of the Apostles ; 3. The Epistles of Saint Paul ; 4. The First Epistle of Saint John ; 5. The First Epistle of Saint Peter. The Revelation of Saint John might also perhaps be placed in this class, because some think its authenticity incontro- vertible, yet the majority leave the matter undetermined.® II. Avr ih£yoy.£vxi, writings on whose authen- ticity the ancients were not unanimous ; which some held to be supposititious.^ According to Eusebius, even these have the majority of voices among the ancients in their favour. He expressly calls them, yt/at/iiAx ' o^uotg rotg ■aoXhoig (writings acknowledged by | most to be genuine,) and zs'kus-oig rav I £y,yJhYiG ix