But loft, diffolv'd in thy fuperior rays, The following expreffions of Sir John Hill, on the neceffity of the chrifin revelation, are extremely juft, and merit the attention of deifts. "The old teftament, fays he, poffeffes every mark of an infpired writing. No other book, the new teftament excepted, could ever be pretended to be fuch, with any appearance of reafon; and * For numerous other arguments on this interefting fubject, the neceffity of divine revelation, the inquisitive reader is referred to Hooker's ecdefiaftical polity, book I. p. 94, 95. Book II. p. ICI, IIC. Locke's works, vol. II. p. 530, &c. Barrow's works, vol. II. p. 147, &c. Stackhoufe's hift. bible, apparatus, p. 9; and body of divinity, vol. I. chap. iii. Deddrige's lectures, p. 20. prop. xcii. Watts's treatife on the ruin and recovery of mankind, p. 206, &c. Jenkins's reafonableness and certainty of chriftianity, vol. I chap. 1. Winder's hift. of knowlege, vol. 1. p.. 221. Bit op Gibfon's 1. pafloral letter, p. 9, and 11. II. p. 28, &c. Beatties' evidences of the chriftian religion. chap. I. Jenyne's lectures, III. IV.And Bryant's treatife on the truth of chriftianity, p. 18, &c. 177, &c. lately published. for the divine origin of the old teftament ther are fo many diftinct proofs, and each proof fo conclufive, that it can be perverfenefs only that doubts its truth. Upon the old teftament, Lord Bolingbroke confeffes, depends the chriftian revelation. It does fo, indeed, and more than he feems to be fenfible of. He fpoke from the tenor only of one paffage of it; but a meffiah is promised in numerous paffages. The jews understood that a redeemer was to appear, who should reftore to mankind what they loft by the apoftacy of Adam, and who fhould communicate to them a perfect revelation. It was foretold that the meffiah fhould be born at a certain time; and at that very period Jefus was born. Divers circumstances attended his birth, which had also been predicted; and his life, his miracles, and his doctrine, all confpired to evince, that he was the promifed redeemer. In the old teftament, we are informed of the creation of the world, and the firft ftate of man. God placed him in an elevated and happy fituation, and demanded of him obedience. Man difobeyed, and was degraded. A Saviour was pro mifed in these writings, who fhould reinstate man in purity and blifs, and atone for his guilt. The redeemer has been fent, as promifed; but by an OBSTINACY more strange than the firft difobedi ence, there are thofe who refufe to accept of the bleffings he offers !”* See his treatife, entitled, thoughts concerning God and nature, p, 614. As a divine revelation was neceffary, the goodnefs of God indulged the world with this inei. mable bleffing. DIFFERENT KINDS OF REVELATION. SAINT Paul, in a few words, expreffes the diverfity of revelations which God made to men. "God," fays the apoftle, "who at fundry times and divers manners, fpake in time paft unto the fathers by the prophets, hath, in these last days, fpoken unto us by his fon; whom he hath appointed heir of all things and by whom he made the worlds."+ All the revelations, therefore, may be reduced to two periods of time; those which were made to the patriarchs, to Mofes and the prophets, until the appearance of the promifed meffiah; and thofe which were made by the fon of God him. felf. The revelations of the old teftament, may be diftinguished into four diftinct periods; from A. dam to Abraham; from Abraham to Moses; the time in which the law was given to him; and from the death of Mofes to the incarnation of Chrift. -The feveral modes which the Almighty made ufe of to reveal himfelf to mankind, were by an articulate voice, and by internal infpirations. He hath fometimes taken upon himself external † Heb. i. 1, 2. formas, and fpoken to men himself; he hath fome times fpoken by angels; fometimes by prophets, and at other times he hath communicated his will to men, by signs and visions.* THE SCRIPTURES. THAT mankind in all ages and countries, might have the communications which God made to the world, explicitly and faithfully declared, they were committed to writing; and thefe writings are ftiled, divine books; holy writ; holy fcriptures, or fimply, the fcriptures. And the old and new teftaments, are called the holy bibliotheque, or the bible. The evidences in favor of the truth of the fcriptures are numerous; the reader's attention is folicited to the following particulars. *On this fubject, fee Bafnages continuation of the hift. of the Jews, p. 339; Du Pin's canon of fcripture, vol. I. chap. II; Smith's felect difcourfes, chap. II-XIII; Jenkins's reafonable. nefs of the chriftian religion, vol. II. chap. II, IX; and Stackhoufe's hift. bible, vol. I. chap. III. For the fact, that the fcriptures were written by the command of God; and for the advantages of having divine revelation committed to writing, fee Hooker's ecclef. polity, book I. p. 95, 96. Jenkins's reafonablenefs of chriftianity, vol. I. p. 33, 34. 1. MOSES THE MOST ANCIENT HISTORIAN. SACRED hiftory, fays Mr. Rollin, is very different from all other hiftory. The last contains only human facts and temporal events, and often full of uncertainty and contradiction. But the other is the hiftory of God himself, the Supreme Being; the hiftory of his omnipotence, his infinite wifdom, his univerfal providence, his holinefs, his juftice, his mercy, and all his other attributes, fet forth under a thoufand forms, and difplayed by abundance of wonderful effects.The book which contains all thefe wonders is the moft ancient book in the world, and the only one before the coming of the mefiah, in which God: has fhewn us, in a clear and certain manner, what he is, what we are, and for what ends defigned. Other hiftories leave us groffly ignorant in all thefe important points. Initead of giving a clear and diftinct idea of the godhead, they render it obfcure, difhonor and disfigure it by numberless extravagant fables, differing only from one another in a greater or lefs degree of abfurdity. They give us no infight into the nature of the world we inhabit, whether it had a beginning, by whom or for what end it was created; how it is fupported and preferved, or whether it fhall always fubfift; we learn nothing what we are ourfelves, what is our original, nature, defign, or end. Sacred hiftory begins with clearly revealing to us, in a few words, the greatest and most important truths. That there is a God, pre-exifting before all things, and confequently eternal; that |