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should expect, that the evidence of a revelation should be such as universally to compel the immediate acquiescence of all to whom it is offer ed. It appears much more probable, that it should be so adjusted as to be a kind of touchstone to the tempers and characters of men, capable, indeed, of giving ample satisfaction to the diligent and candid enquirer, yet attended with some circumstances, from whence the captious and perverse might take occasion to cavil and object. Such we might reasonably suppose a revelation would be, and such we maintain Christianity is. The teachers of it undertake to prove that it was thus introduced, thus established, and thus transmitted; and we trust that this is a stong presump tion in its favour, especially as we

can add,

4. That the principal doctrines contained in the Gospel are of such a nature, that we might in general suppose a divine revelation would be rational, practical, and sublime.

It is natural to imagine, that in a revelation of a religion from God, the great principles of natural religion should be clearly asserted, and asserted, and strongly maintained: such as the existence, the unity, the perfection, and the providence of God: the essential and immutable difference between moral good and evil; the obligations we are under to the various branches of virtue, whether human, social, or divine; the value and immortality of the soul: and the rewards and punishments of a future state. All these particulars every rational person

would conclude were contained in it; and that upon the whole it should appear calculated to form men's minds to a proper temper, rather than to amuse them with curious speculations.

It might, indeed, be farther supposed, that such a revelation would contain some things which could not have been learned from the highest improvements of natural light: such as, that God would pardon the sins of the most flagrant offenders, on account of the satisfaction made by his dear Son, the Redeemer of the world; that he would work holy desires in the hearts of his people, by the power of his divine grace, and form them for happiness hereafter by implanting in them a principle of

holiness.

In short, the Christian system is undoubtedly worthy of God, nor is it possible to imagine from whom else it could have proceeded.*

Thus have we considered the first branch of the argument, and shewn, we hope satisfactorily, that, taking the Christian system only in theory, it appears it appears highly probable. The truth is, that to embrace the Gospel is so safe, and upon the whole so comfortable a thing, that a wise man would deliberately venture his all upon it, though nothing more could be offered for its confirmation. But,

* From what has been said, it sufficiently appears, that a revelation was absolutely necessary to instruct mankind in the most important principles of religion, and consequently all the fallacious arguments of deistical writers, against the necessity of an extraordinary revelation, fall to the ground, like a mighty structure when the foundation is destroyed.

blessed be God, we have a great deal more to offer in this important cause; and can add, with still greater confidence, that it is not only probable in theory, but,

Secondly, That it is in fact certain; that Christianity is, indeed, a divine revelation.

On this it must be confessed the chief stress is to be laid; and therefore we shall insist more largely on this branch of the argument, and endeavour, by the divine assistance, to prove the certainty of this great, this important fact. And in order to this, it will be necessary to shew,

I. That the books in the New Testament, now extant, may be depended upon as written by the first preachers and publishers of Christianity. And,

II. That from hence it will certainly follow, that what they assert is true, and that the religion they teach brings with it such evidences of a divine authority, as may justly recommend it to our acceptance.

Each of these heads would furnish matter for several volumes, but as we are writing only a Dissertation, it is our business to strike at the most obvious and important particulars, by which they may briefly be illustrated and confirmed.

We are to prove, that the books of the New Testament, now extant, were written by the first preachers and publishers of Christianity.

We shall now confine ourselves to the books of the New Testament, as that particular part of the sacred oracles has engrossed our present attention, though we propose, in another place, to lay down some solid arguments in defence of the authenticity of the Old, which is an invaluable treasure, being the very foundation of the New, and demands our daily pleasing and grateful perusal, and is capable of being defended in a manner we are persuaded its most subtle enemies will never be able to

answer.

After premising these particulars, we shall go on to the argument, and advance it by the following degrees: We shall prove that Christianity is an ancient religion; That there was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth crucified above seventeen hundred years ago, at Jerusalem:That the first preachers of his religion wrote books, which went by the name of those that now make up the volume of the New Testament; And that the English translation of them, now publicly used, is in the main faithful, and may be depended

upon.

1. It is certain that Christianity is not a new religion, but one that was maintained by great multitudes soon after the time in which the Gospels tell us Jesus appeared.

That there was, considerably more than seventeen hundred years ago, a body of men that went by the name of Christians, is full as evident as that a race of men was then subsisting in

the world: nor do we know that any enemy to the religion of Jesus has ever been vile and confident enough to dispute it. Indeed there are such numbers, both of Christian and Heathen writers, who attest this fact, that it would be madness to deny it, and therefore superfluous for us to prove it. But we cannot help observing that Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny, Marcus Antonius, and others, not only attest the existence of such a body of men, but also inform us of the extreme persecutions they underwent in the very infancy of their religion; a strong evidence that they were firmly persuaded that their religion was from on high.

2. That there was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified at Jerusalem, when Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor there.

It can never be imagined, that multitudes of people should take their names from Christ, and sacrifice their lives for their adherence to him, even in the same age in which he lived, if they had not been well assured that there was such a person. Nay, Tacitus himself tells us, that he was put to death under Pontius Pilate, who was procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius. And it is well known that the primitive Christian apologists often appeal to the acts of Pilate, or the memoirs of his government, which he, according to the custom of all other procurators, transmitted to Rome, as containing an account of these transactions; and as the appeal was made to those who had the com

mand of the public records, we may assure ourselves such testimonies were then extant. But it is a fact which our enemies never denied. They owned it: they even gloried in it, and upbraided the Christians with the infamous death of him whom they called their Saviour. Thus it sufficiently appears that there was, at the time commonly supposed, such a person as our blessed Saviour Christ, who was a divine teacher, and who gathered many disciples, by whom his religion was afterwards published in the world.

3. It is also certain, that the first publishers of this religion wrote books, which contained an account of the life and doctrines of Jesus their Master, and which went by the names of those that now make up our New Testament.

It was in the nature of things highly probable that they would declare and publish to the world in writing, the things they had seen and heard, considering how common books were in the age and countries in which they taught; and of how great importance an acquaintance with the history and doctrine of Christ was to the purpose which they so strenuously pursued: but we have much more than such a presumptive evidence.

The most inveterate adversaries to Christianity must grant that we have books of great antiquity, written some fourteen, some fifteen, and some more than sixteen hundred years ago; which mention is made of the life of Christ as written by many, and espe

in

cially by four of his disciples, who by way of eminence are styled Evangelists. Great pains have indeed been taken to endeavour to prove that some spurious pieces were published under the names of the apostles, containing the history of these things. But all these have been confuted, and the vile assertors stigmatized with that contempt their false asseverations justly deserved. And we are sure he must be very little acquainted with the ancient ecclesiastical writers who does not know that the primitive Christians made a great difference between those writings, which we call the canonical books of the New Testament, and others; which plainly shews that they did not judge of writings merely by the names of their pretended authors, but enquired with an accuracy becoming the importance of these pretences. The result of this enquiry was, that the four Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles of St. Paul, one of St. Peter, and one of St. John, were received upon such evidence, that Eusebius, a most accurate and early critic in these things, could not learn that they had ever been disputed. And afterwards the remaining books of the New Testament, namely, Hebrews,- -James,

-the second of Peter,- -the second and third of John,Jude,

-and the Revelations, were admitted as genuine, and added to the rest. On the whole, it is sufficiently plain, that the primitive Christians were so thoroughly satisfied of the authority of the sacred books, that they speak of them, not only as credible and authentic, but as equal to the oracles

of the Old Testament, as divinely inspired, as the words of the Spirit, as the law and organ of God, and as the rule of faith, which cannot be contradicted without the greatest guilt; with many other expressions of the same kind, which often occur in their discourses. To which we may add, that in some of their councils the New Testament was placed on a throne, to signify their desire that all their controversies might be determined, and their actions regulated by it.

From the whole, therefore, it is plain, that the primitive church did receive certain pieces which bore the same titles with the books of our New Testament. Now we think it is evident, that they were as capable of judging whether a book was written by Matthew, John or Paul, as the ancient Romans could be of determining whether Horace, Tully, or Livy, wrote those which go under these names. And certainly the interest of the former was much more concerned in the writings of the apostles, than that of the latter in the composition of their poets, orators, or even their historians; and there is reason to believe they would take much greater care to inform themselves fully in the merits of the cause, and to avoid being imposed upon by artifice and fiction. Let us now proceed to shew,

4. That the books of the New Testament have been preserved in the main uncorrupted to the present time, in the original language in which they were written.

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This is a matter of the last importance; and blessed be God, we have a proportional evidence: an evidence in which the hand of Providence has indeed been remarkably seen; for it is certain there is no other ancient book in the world, which may so certainly and so easily be proved to be authentic.

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And here we will not argue merely from the piety of the primitive Christians, and the heroic actions and resolutions with which they chose to endure the greatest extremities, rather than deliver up their Bibles, though that consideration is evidently of the greatest weight; but shall intreat our readers to consider the utter improbability of altering them. From the first ages they were received and read in churches, as a part of their public worship, just as Moses and the prophets were in the Jewish synagogues they were presently spread far and near as the boundaries of the church were increased; they were early translated into other languages, of which translations some remain to this very day. Now when this was the case, how could they be adulterated? Is it a thing to be supposed and imagined, that thousands and millions of people should have come together from distant countries; and that with all the diversities of language and customs, and it may be added, of sentiments too, they should have agreed on corrupting a book, which they all acknowledged to be the rule of their faith, and their manners, and the great charter by which they held their eternal, hopes? It would be madness to believe it, espe

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Nor must we omit to observe, that in every age, from the apostles' time to our own, there have been numberless quotations made from the books of the New Testament; and a multitude of commentaries in various languages, and some of very ancient date have been written upon them ; so that if the books themselves were lost, they might in a great measure, if not entirely, be recovered from the writings of others. And we may venture to say, that if all the quotations ever made from all the ancient writings now in Europe were gathered together, the bulk of them would by no means be comparable to that of the quotations taken from the New Testament alone. So that any man might with much better reason dispute whether the writings ascribed to Homer, Demosthenes, Virgil, or Cæsar, be in the main such as they left them, than he could_question it concerning those of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James, and Paul.

It may be said in the main, because we readily allow, that the hand of a

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