Employment, generally Speaking, the best and moft fagacious Difcoverers of Truth, and thofe that judge the most unbiafs'dly and fairly, concerning fufficient or infufficient Evidence of all others. Such upright Judges then, never expect strictly Undeniable, or Mathematick Evidence; which they know is, in Human Affairs, abfolutely impoffible to be bad: They don't require that the Witnesses they Examine, fhould be Infallible, or Impeccable, which they are fenfible would be alike Wild and Ridiculous: Tet do they expect full, fufficient, or convincing Evidence; and fuch as is plainly Superior to what is alledged on the other Side: And they require that the Witnesses they believe, be, fo far as they are able to difcover, of a good Character, Upright and Faithful. Nor do they think it too much Trouble to use their utmost Skill and Sagacity in difcovering where the Truth lies; how far the Witnesses agree with, or contradict each other; and which way the feveral Circumstances may be best compar'd, fo as to find out any Forgery, or detect any Knavery which may be fufpected in any Branches

the Evidence before them. They do not themselves pretend to judge of the Reality or Obligation of any Ancient Laws, or Acts of Parliament, from their own meer Guesses or Inclinations, but from the Authentickness of the Records which contain them; and though

they

they are not able always to fee the Reason, or Occafion, or Wifdom of fuch Laws, or Acts of Parliament; yet do they, upon full External Evidence that they are Genuine, allow and execute the fame: As confidering themselves to be not Legislators, but Judges: And owning that Ancient Laws, and Ancient Facts, are to be known not by Guesses or Suppofals, but by the Production of Ancient Records, and Original Evidence for their Reality. Nor in fuch their Procedure do they think themselves guilty in their Sentences, if at any Time afterwards they difcover that they have been impos'd upon by false Witnesses, or forged Records; Suppofing, I mean, that they are confcious that they did their utmost to dif cover the Truth, and went exactly by the beft Evidence that lay before them; as knowing they have done their Duty, and must in Such a Cafe be Blameless before God and Man, notwithstanding the Mistake in the Sentences themselves. Now this is that Procedure which I would earnestly recommend to those that have a Mind to enquire to good Purpose into Reveal d Religion. That after they have taken Care to purge themselves from all thofe Vices, which will make it their great Interest that Religion fhould be falfe; after they have reSolv'd upon Honesty, Impartiality, and Modefty, which are Virtues by the Law of Nature; after they have devoutly implor'd the

I

Divine

Divine Affiftance and Blessing on this their important Undertaking; which is a Duty likewife they are obliged to by the fame Law of Nature; that after all this Preparation, I fay, they will fet about the Enquiry it felf, in the very fame Manner that has been already defcrib'd, and that all our upright Judges proceed by in the Discovery of Truth. Let them fpare for no Pains, but confult all the Originals, whenever they can come at them: And let them use all that Diligence, Sagacity, and Judgment, which they are Mafters of, in order to fee what real External Evidence there is for the Truth of the Facts on which the Jewish and Christian Religions do depend. I here Speak of the Truth of Facts, as the furest way to determine us in this Enquiry; because all the World, I think, owns that if thofe Facts be true, thefe Inftitutions of Religion must also be true, or be deriv'd from God; and that no particular Difficulties, as to the Reasons of Several Laws, or the Conduct of Providence in feveral Cafes, which thofe Inftitutions no where pretend to give us a full Account of, can be Sufficient to fet afide the convincing Evidence which the Truth of fuch Facts brings along with it. For Example: Those who are well Satisfy'd of the Truth of the Mofaick History of the Ten miraculous Plagues with which the God of Ifrael fmote the Egyptians; of

the

the drowning of the Egyptians in the RedSea; while the Ifraelites were miraculously conducted through the fame; and of the ama zing manner wherein the Decalogue was given by God to that People at Mount Sinai; will, for certain, believe that the Jewish Religion was in the main derived from God, though he fhould find feveral occafional Paffages in the Jewish Sacred Books, which be could not Account for, and several ritual Laws given that Nation, which he could not guess at the Reasons why they were given them. And the Cafe is the very fame as to the Miraculous Refurrection, and Glorious Afcenfion of our Bleed Saviour, Jefus Chrift, with Regard to the New Teftament. On which Account I reckon that the Truth of fuch Facts is to be principally enquired into, when we have a mind to fatisfy our felves in the Verity of the Jewish and Chriftian Religions. And if it be alledg'd that fome of thefe Facts are too remote to afford us any certain Means of Difcovery at this Diftance of Time; I Anfwer, That then we are to select fuch of those Facts as we can examine, and to fearch into the Acknowledgment or Denial of thofe that are Ancienter, in the oldest Teftimonies now Extant; into the Effects and Confequences, and Standing Memorials of fuch Facts in AfterAges, and how far they were real, and allow'd to be fo; and in short, we are to deter

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determine concerning them, by the best Evidence we can now have; and not let a bare Sufpicion, or a Wifh that Things had been otherwife, operbalance our real Evidence of Facts in any Cafe whatsoever. I do not

mean that our Enquirer is to have no Regard to Internal Characters, or the Contents of the Jewish and Chriftian Revelations; or that he is not to examine into that also in the General, before he admits even the Proof from Miracles themselves; because what pretended Miracles foever are wrought, for the Support of Idolatry, or Wickedness; for the Establishment of Notions contrary to the Divine Attributes, or of an Immortal, or Prophane, or Cruel Religion, though they may prove fuch a Religion to be Supernatural, yet will they only prove that it comes from wicked Dæmons, or Evil Spirits, and not from a God of Purity and Holiness, and fo will by no means prove it Divine, or worthy of our Reception. But then, it is, for the main, fo well known, that the Jewish and Chriftian Inftitutions do agree to the Divine Attributes, and do tend to Purity, Holiness, Justice, and Charity; and are oppofite to all Immorality, Prophaneness, and Idolatry, that I think there will not need much Examination in fo clear a Cafe; and that, by Confequence, our main Enquiry is to be as to the Truth of the Facts thereto relating. And in

this