thought a fufficient anfwer to this, to appeal to the obvious good effects of these things in innumerable inftances, without entering into a calculation impoffible to be made? However, it does here alfo appear, that, as far as we are able to judge, civilifed countries are, upon the whole, in a more happy ftate than barbarous ones, in all thefe refpects.

Now, as the divine original of revelation may be directly concluded from its being the fole fountain of all religious knowledge, if that can be proved; fo it will follow in an indirect way, if we fuppofe that revelation has only promoted the knowledge and practice of true religion. It is not likely that folly or deceit of any kind fhould be eminently serviceable in the advancement of wifdom and virtue. Every tree muft produce its proper fruit. Enthufiafm and impofture cannot contribute to make man prudent, peaceable, and moderate, difinterefted and fincere.

PROP. XXII.

THE WONDERFUL NATURE, AND SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE, OF THE ATTEMPT MADE BY CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES, ARE EVIDENCES

OF THEIR DININE AUTHORITY.

THIS attempt was that of reforming all mankind, and making them happy in a future ftate. And, when we confider, firft the attempt itself, and then the afsurance of fuccefs in it, which appears in all their words and actions, by ways both direct and indirect, there arifes from thence alone a ftrong prefumption in their favour, as well as in favour of the authors of the books of the Old Testament, who have concurred in the fame attempt, though lefs informed of the true nature and full extent of it. For ideas and purposes of this kind could scarce enter into the hearts of weak and wicked men; much lefs could fuch perfons enter upon and profecute fo great an undertaking with fuch prudence, integrity, and conftancy, or form fuch right judgements both of the oppofition they should meet with, and of the prevalence of their own endeavours, and those of their fucceffors, over this oppofition. Nay, one may fay, that nothing lefs than fupernatural affiftance could qualify them for these purposes. No defign of this kind was ever formed, or thought of, till the coming of Chrift; and the pretences of enthufiafts and impoftors to the fame commiffion fince have all been copied from Chrift, as being neceffary to their fucceeding in any measure, fince his coming. If it be fuppofed to be the true interpretation and meaning of the Scriptures, to publifh final redemption, converfion, and falvation to all mankind, even the most wicked, in fome diftant future ftate, this will add great force to the present argument.

PROP.

PROP. XXIII.

THE MANNER IN WHICH THE LOVE OF GOD, AND OF OUR NEIGHBOUR, IS TAUGHT AND INCULCATED IN THE SCRIPTURES, IS AN EVIDENCE OF THEIR DIVINE AUTHORITY.

FOR it appears, that the Scriptures do virtually include, or even exprefsly affert, all that the modern philofophy has difcovered or verified concerning thefe important fubjects; which degree of illumination, as it can with no plaufibility be accounted for in illiterate men in the time of Auguftus from natural causes, so much less can it in the preceding times, from Chrift up to Mofes. This propofition is included in the 20th; however, the fubject of it is of fo much importance, as to deferve a separate place.

Here then, firft, we may obferve, that Mofes commands the Ifraelites to love God with all the heart, and foul, and might; whereas they are to love their neighbours only as themselves. Now, though this infinite fuperiority of the love due to God over that due to our neighbour be perfectly agreeable to that infinite majesty and good nefs of God, and nothingness of the creatures, which every new difcovery in philofophy now opens to view; yet it was fo little known, many ages after Mofes, amongft the wifeft of the Greeks and Romans, that we cannot afcribe it to his mere natural fagacity. The natural equality of all men, and the self-annihilation implied in the precept of loving all our brethren as well as ourselves, are alfo the genuine dictates of true philofophy.

Secondly, in order to fhew the divine authority of the Scriptures, from the manner in which the love of God is taught in them, we muft confider not only the direct precepts concerning this love, but alfo all those concerning hope, truft, fear, thankfulness, delight, &c. for all these concur to inculcate and beget in us the love of God. The fame may be faid of all the fcriptural defcriptions of God and his attributes, and of the addrefs of good men to him, which are there recorded. God is declared in the Scriptures to be light, love, goodnefs, the fource of all happiness and perfection, the father and protector of all, &c. And the eminent perfons who compofed the Pfalms, and other fuch-like addreffes to God, appear to have devoted themselves entirely to him. Now, when we reflect, that there is fcarce any thing of this kind in the writings of the philofophers who preceded Chrift, and nothing comparable to the Scripture expreffions, even in those who came after him; when we farther reflect, that the writings of the ablest and best men of the prefent times contain nothing excellent of the devotional kind, but what may be found in the Scriptures, and even in the Old Teftament; there feems to be a neceffity for having recourse to divine infpiration, as the originál fource of this great degree of illumination in the patriarchs, prophets, and apoftles.

Thirdly, good perfons are, in the Scriptures, ftyled "Children "of God; members of Chrift; partakers of the divine nature; one VOL. V.

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"with God and Christ, as Chrift is with God; members of each "other; heirs of God, and coheirs with Chrift; heirs of all things,' &c. Expreffions which have the ftrongest tendency to raise in us an unbounded love to God, and an equal one to our neighbour, and which include and convey the most exalted, and at the fame time the moft folid, conceptions of this great fyftem of things. And if we fuppofe that these high titles and privileges are, according to the Scriptures to be hereafter extended to all mankind, the divine original of the Scriptures will receive a new acceffion of evidence on this account.

PROP. XXIV.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE NECESSARY SUBSERVIENCY OF PAIN TO PLEASURE, UNFOLDED IN THE SCRIPTURES, IS AN EVI

DENCE OF THEIR DIVINE AUTHORITY.

The

The

THE Scriptures give frequent and ftrong intimations, that the ultimate happiness which they promife, is not to be obtained in this our degenerate state, but by a previous paffage through pain. "Bleffed are they that mourn. We must rejoice in tribulation. palm-bearing multitude comes out of great tribulation. "Captain of our falvation," and therefore all his foldiers, "must be "made perfect through fufferings. Without fhedding of blood, there " is no remiffion of fins. It is good for us to be afflicted, that we 66 may learn to keep the commandments of God." The Jews muft be captivated, and undergo the fevereft afflictions, before they can be made happy finally, as the people of God. "Man muft eat his "bread in the fweat of his brow all his life, and return to duft at laft; "and yet ftill the feed of the woman fhall bruise the ferpent's head, "and gain readmiffion to the tree of life, whofe leaves fhall heal the "nations," &c. &c. Now there is a furprising correfpondence between fuch expreffions as thefe, and many modern difcoveries, which fhew that pain is, in general, introductory and fubfervient to pleasure; and particularly, that fuch is the present frame of our natures, and conftitution of the external world, which affects our organs, that we cannot be delivered from the fenfuality and selfishness that feize upon us at our first entrance into life, and advanced to fpirituality and difinterestedness to the love of God and our neighbour, we cannot have our wills broken, and our faculties exalted and purified, fo as to relish happiness wherever we fee it, but by the perpetual correction and reformation of our judgements and defires from painful impreffions and affociations. And all philofophical inquiries of this kind feem to caft a peculiar light and evidence upon the Scripture-expreffions before mentioned, and to make their accuracy, and congruity with experience and obfervation, be much more plainly feen and felt.

PROP.

THE MUTUAL INSTRUMENTALITY OF BEINGS TO EACH OTHER'S HAPPINESS AND MISERY, UNFOLDED IN THE SCRIPTURES, Is

AN ARGUMENT OF THEIR DIVINE AUTHORITY.

TO this head is to be referred all that the Scriptures deliver concerning good and evil angels: Chrift, the Lord of all, becoming the Redeemer of all; Adam's injuring all his pofterity through his frailty; Abraham's becoming the father of the faithful, and all nations being bleffed through him; the Jews being the keepers of the oracles of God, and of the true religion; tyrants being fcourges in the hand of God; the fulness of the Gentiles being the occafion of the final reftoration of the Jews; and, in general, the doctrine that God prepares and difpofes of every thing fo, as that nothing is for itself alone, but every person and nation has various relations to others; cooperates with them through Chrift, "who is the head, and through whom the whole body being fitly joined together, and compacted "by that which every joint fupplieth, increafeth and edifieth itself in "love, till all things, both in heaven and earth, arrive, in their "feveral orders, to the measure of the ftature of the fulness of Christ.” Now, whoever compares thefe Scripture expreffions and doctrines with the various mutual relations, fubferviencies, and ufes of the parts of the external world, heavenly bodies, meteors, elements, animals, plants, and minerals, to each other, cannot help feeing a wonderful analogy between the works of God and the Scriptures, fo wonderful as justly to entitle the last to the appellation of "the word of "God."

And thus we may perceive, that the Scripture-account of the fall of man, his redemption by Christ, and the influences exerted upon him by good and evil angels, is fo far from affording an objection against the Chriftian religion, that it is a confiderable evidence for it, when viewed in a truly philofophical light. God works in every thing by means, by thofe which, according to our prefent language and fhort-fightedness, are termed bad and unfit, as well as by the good and evidently fit ones; and all thefe means require a definite time, before they can accomplish their respective ends. This occurs to daily obfervation in the course and conftitution of nature. And the Scripture doctrines concerning the fall, the redemption by Chrift, and the influences of good and evil angels, are only fuch intimations concerning the principal invifible means that lead man to his ultimate end, happiness in being united to God, as accelerate him in his progrefs thither. According to the Scriptures, Adam hurts all, through frailty; Chrift faves all, from his love and compaffion to all; evil angels tempt, through malice; and good ones affift and defend, in obedience to the will of God, and his original and ultimate defign of making all happy. These things are indeed clothed in a confiderable variety of expreffions, fuited to our present ways of acting, conceiving, and fpeaking (which ways are, however, all of

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divine

divine original, God having taught mankind, in the patriarchal times, the language, as one may fay, in which he fpake to them then and afterwards); but thefe expreffions can have no greater real import, than that of fignifying to us the means made ufe of by God; he being, according to the Scriptures, as well as reafon, the one only real agent in all the tranfactions that relate to man, to angels, &c. And to object to the method of producing happiness by this or that means, because of the time required to accomplish the end, of the mixture of evil, &c. is to require, that all God's creatures fhould at once be created infinitely happy, or rather have existed so from all eternity, i. e. fhould be Gods, and not creatures.

PROP. XXVI.

THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURES MAY BE INFERRED FROM THE SUPERIOR WISDOM OF THE JEWISH LAWS, CONSIDERED IN A POLITICAL LIGHT, AND FROM THE EXQUISITE WORKMANSHIP SHEWN IN THE TABERNACLE AND TEMPLE.

ALL thefe were originals amongst the Jews, and some of them were copied partially and imperfectly by ancient heathen nations. They feem alfo to imply a knowledge fuperior to the refpective times. And I believe, that profane history gives fufficient atteftation to these pofitions. However, it is certain from Scripture, that Mofes received the whole body of his laws, alfo the pattern of the tabernacle, and David the pattern of the temple, from God; and that Bezaleel was infpired by God for the workmanship of the tabernacle. Which things, being laid down as a fure foundation, may encourage learned men to inquire into the evidences from profane hiftory, that the knowledge and skill to be found amongst the Jews were fuperior to thofe of other nations at the fame period of time, i, e. were fupernatural.

PROP. XXVII.

RE

THE WANT OF UNIVERSALITY IN THE PUBLICATION OF VEALED RELIGION IS NO OBJECTION TO IT; BUT, ON THE CONTRARY, THE TIME AND MANNER IN WHICH THE SCRIPTURES WERE WRITTEN, AND DELIVERED TO THE WORLD, ARE ARGUMENTS FOR THEIR DIVINE AUTHORITY.

HERE I obferve,

Firft, That objections of this kind ought never to be admitted against hiftorical evidence; and, in fact, are not upon other fubjects. It is evident, as was obferved in the beginning of this chapter, that to allow the truth of the Scripture hiftory, is to allow the truth of the Chriftian religion. Now it is very foreign to the purpofe of an inquiry into the truth of the Scripture hiftory, to alledge that it has not been made known to all mankind in all ages, and under all circumftances of each individual. It muft require much abstracted and fubtle reafoning, and fuch as can never be put in competition with plain hiftorical evidence, to connect this objection with the propofition