had been in the world. They had a furprifing acquaintance with God and the perfections of his nature; they let the difpenfations of his wifdom, and the grand defigns of his love, in the clearest and most amiable light; they well understood the whole fyftem of morality, and fixed every branch of it upon its proper foundation: upon principles either felf-. evident or allowed, they demonftrate and establish the whole scheme of the Gofpel. The Apostles were fo far from being void of common fenfe, that they were, in fact, men of the best fenfe, of the most accurate and fublime knowledge, of the most excellent and divine fpirit, next to their Lord and Master, that the world ever was acquainted with. Therefore their efpoufing and afferting the Gospel with so much zeal could not proceed from any diforder in their heads.

There remains then but one other caufe to which it can poffibly be affigned, and it is this, that they were fully perfuaded of the truth of what they reported. And if they were fully perfuaded of the truth of what they reported, then it follows, that what they reported was certainly true. They were fully fatisfied that it was true, and they were perfectly capable of receiving the cleareft evidence, and fullest fatisfaction; for obferve, what they reported was not a matter of mere opinion, as in the cafe of fuperftition, nor a warm fuggeftion or fecret impulse upon their minds, as in the cafe of enthuftajm, but bare fimple matter of fact. We cannot, fay they, but speak the things which we have feen and heard. Acts iv. 20. They were things, not which they conceited, or fancied, but which all of them, which great multitudes of all forts of people, had often and openly, for the fpace of three or four years together, feen with their eyes, and heard with their cars. And that they were not mistaken, or deceived, they were fo fully fatisfied, that they ventured all they had in the world, and life itfelf, upon the truth of what they had heard and feen. Confequently, their affurance must be in the highest and fulleft degree of fatisfaction, leaving no room for doubt or uncertainty.

However fome nowadays may cavil and object, it is certain the Apoftles, who were the familiar companions of our Lord, had not the. leaft fcruple or difficulty about any thing related in the Gofpel. They were perfectly fatisfied they faw Christ upon earth; that they conversed with him; that they heard the gracious words which proceeded from his mouth; that they faw him work all his miracles; that they faw him crucified and dead; that they faw him alive again within a few days; that they heard him give then a commiffion to preach the Gospel to all nations, and promise them fuccefs; that they actually faw him afcend up into heaven; that the Holy Ghoft actually fell upon them on the day of Pentecoft; and that by his influences they actually felt themfelves endowed with new and miraculous powers, which accompanied them. during the courfe of their miniftry. And, to their being fully perfuaded of the truth of these things, and to no other poffible caufe, can' we affign their fteady and zealous endeavours to publish and spread the Gofpel every where..

Add to all this, that the Apoftles were furprisingly fuccefsful in preaching the Gofpel. Thefe men in private and low life, thefe defenceless men, quite deftitute of all temporal power and intereft, only by the force

of

of truth, the truth of the Gofpel which they preached, and the power which they received from their Mafter, after he was gone to heaven, encountered the fury of the multitude, the moft inveterate prejudices of the whole world, the zeal of fuperftition, the hatred of the Jews, the contempt of the Greeks, the power of the Romans, the pride of the philofophers, and the policy of ftatefmen; all thefe difficulties they encountered, and furmounted them all. The doctrine they taught, like the fun, enlightened the whole world, in a manner, all at once; and infinite multitudes of people, both from city and villages, were, by the Apostles preaching, brought into the church, like corn into a granary.

All this, taken together, amounts to a fufficient proof, that the Apoftles are to be credited when they affirm, that they received their inftructions and commifion from the Son of God; and upon the foot of this argument alone, I am, for my own part, as fully convinced that the Apostles were infpired by the Spirit of God, and that they have in their writings infallibly delivered the truth, in all things pertaining to the Chriftian faith and doctrine, as I am of any mathematical propofition, or that twice two is equal to four. The proof indeed is of a different kind, but fully convincing and fatisfactory.

And if our Lord came from God to teach us the truth, and if his Apostles received from him their inftructions, commiffion, and the holy Spirit, then it follows, that the books of Mofes, and of the Prophets, are undoubtedly the word of God, and that the facred hiftory may be depended upon as a true account of things; for those books are not only aflerted by our Lord, and his Apoftles in general, to be the word of God, given by Divine inspiration, and a true rule of knowledge, faith, and doctrine, but particular paffages are frequently produced in proof or confirmation of the doctrine they taught; and almoft every fingle part of the history, from the beginning to the end, as of Adam, Enoch, Noah, the Deluge, Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham, the Ifraelites, and their miraculous deliverance from Egypt and fettlement in the land of Canaan, and all the surprising events in their story, are referred to as true and authentic.

What Jefus Chrift and his Apoftles have reported and taught in the books of the New Teftament, is certainly the truth, as they received it from God. And if fo, then the Scriptures of the Old Testament are alfo given by infpiration of God, a ftorehouse of facred and religious knowledge, of undoubted credit and veracity; for our Lord and his Apoftles have reprefented and established them as fuch.

Thus the frequent and exprefs affertions of Mofes, the Prophets, and the Apofties, taken in connexion with their proper circumftances, is a proof of the truth of revelation as it ftands in the Scrip

tures.

Let me recommend it to your ferious confideration, that we certainly have in our hands an ineftimable treasure, a revelation from heaven, a fure word of prophefy, fhining as a light in a dark place; a magazine of the most excellent knowledge, clearly difplaying the Divine nature and perfections, opening fully the difpenfations of his wifdom and goodnefs from the beginning of the world, fhewing the riches of his grace and love to mankind; delivering the most excellent precepts of wisdom,

truth,

truth, and holiness, for the purifying our hearts, and directing our converfation; and propofing the nobleft motives to engage us to, and encourage us in, the practice of all virtue and goodnefs. We cannot over-value this bleffing, neither can we defpife it without great guilt. We are accountable to God for the ufe we make of it. Let us elteem it in proportion to its worth, and ftudy it as the rule of our life, as the grand fource of our comfort and hope, and as an infallible guide to eternal glory.

The Divi e Original and Authority of the Scriptures, proved from the Harmony and Agreement of the feveral WRITERS of them.

AVING gone through the first argument, I proceed―To prove the Divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures; which we may do from the Harmony and Agreement of the feveral Writers of

them.

They are not a book compiled by a fingle author, nor by many hands acting in confederacy in the fame age; in which cafe there would be no difficulty in compofing a confiftent fcheme, nor would it be any wonder to find the feveral parts in a juft and clofe connexion: but the Scriptures were done by feveral hands, in very different conditions of life, from the throne and fceptre down to the loweft degree, and in very diftant ages, through the long space of about 1500 years, when the world muft have put on a quite new face, and men must have different interefts to pursue; which naturally would have led a fpirit of impofture to have varied its fchemes, and to have adapted them to different ftations in the world, and to the different turns and changes in every age.

David wrote about 400 years after Mofes, and Ifaiah about 250 after David, and Matthew more than 700 years after Ijaiah; and yet thefe authors, with all the other Prophets and Apoftles, write in perfect Harmony, confirming the Authority of their predeceffors, labouring to reduce the people to the obfervance of their inftructions, and loudly exclaiming against the neglect and contempt of them, and denouncing the feverett judgments upon fuch as continued difobedient.

This was the principal work of the Prophets in a long fucceffion. And it is well known our Lord came not to deftroy the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil, i. e. to vindicate and illuftrate their meaning, to complete what was imperfect, and to answer the highest eads of what was typical and figurative. Now, this is a very ftrong proof that the Scriptures were throughout dictated by one and the fame fpirit, which could be no other then the Spirit of God, and of truth. It is allowed, as in the cafe of Mahometifm, that an impofture, or religious fraud, may

be

be handed down from one age to another, but not by feveral different perfons, all making equal pretenfions to a Divine authority and commiffion. For in this cafe they are to be confidered, not as a fucceffion of teachers, deriving their doctrine from one common original, but as fingle and diftinct impoftors; and confequently, every one in a diftant age, and in a quite different ftate of things, would fet up for himself, and feek a fingular glory by building upon a diftinct and feparate foundation from others. It would fignify little to an impoftor, who has no other intention but to advance his own honour and renown, to pretend a commiffion from heaven, only to give reputation to another deceiver, by confirming what he has already eftablished.

Therefore, as the Writers of the holy Scriptures, though they all claim a Divine Authority, yet write in perfect connexion and Harmony, mutually confirming the doctrine and teftimony of each other, and concurring to establish the very fame religious truths and principles, it is a ftrong proof that they all derive their inftructions from the fame fountain, the wisdom of God, and were indeed under the direction and illumination of his Spirit.

We may take another argument from ourselves, as we make profeffion of faith in Jefus Chrift. For our profeffion of Chriftianity, who dwell in the uttermoft parts of the earth, is a proof that the Gofpel fpread itself over all the Roman empire; for, from Jerufalem, it came to us by a gradual progrefs, and, advancing from one country to another, arrived at length in thefe iflands of Great-Britain and Ireland. Nobody can doubt or deny that the Chriftian faith is, and for many ages paft has been, embraced in all thofe numerous and diftant lands which once compofed the Roman empire, and even in countries far beyond the utmoft bounds thereof. In all these spacious tracts the Chriftian faith, in one form or other, has been profeffed; and baptifm and the Lord'sfupper, in one form or other, have been adminiftered, in a fucceffion of ages, quite up to the times of the Apostles and our Lord.

It is moft certain that baptifm and the Lord's-fupper, those fummaries of the whole Gofpel, were not inftituted in any following age, by any one party of Chriftians, but have been handed down to us, and to all parties among Chriftians, from the very mouth and inftitution of Jefus Chrift. No fact can be more evident than this. From our Lord therefore, and his Apoftles, the Gospel fpread over the greatest part of the known world, which before the publication of the Gofpel was univerfally involved in idolatry, established by long custom and human laws, ftrongly guaranteed by all the power and learning of the world, by all the zeal of the wildeft fuperftition, by all the violence and obftinacy of prejudice, by all the blindness of profound ignorance, and all the incorrigible perverfenefs of corrupt and diffolute manners: a complication of caufes which would for ever have bid defiance to any philofophy or wifdom of the few that can be fuppofed to attain a better sense in the midst of univerfal darknefs and depravity. But the Gofpel gained a moft complete and extenfive victory over all thefe, demolished every in the heathen world, and every where erected the trophies of a conquering Jefus.

Now this furprising change, which is notorious to all mankind, must

be effected either by human power and policy, or by a divine and fupernatural influence. By human power and policy great revolutions have been brought about in all ages and parts of the world; and therefore we do not wonder at the fpread of the Mahometan or Turkish religion, as it was propagated by the fword, under the conduct of a mighty warrior and politician, who by ravages, bloodshed, and defolations, conquered many nations and kingdoms, laid the foundation of a potent and fpacious empire, and thus by violence opened a way for the reception and extenfive profeffion of his newly-devifed religion. But the religion of Jefus was triumphant, not only without the aid of human power or policy, but even in direct oppofition to it.

For the plain fact is this. A poor young man, about 30 years of age, called Jefus, a carpenter's fon, of no education or learning, without house or habitation, without the least human intereft or influence, begins to preach up reformation among the Jews, the moft fufpicious and bigoted people in the world; declares himself the Son of God; gathers a few Difciples, perfons in the fame low and naked condition with himfelf, fishermen, publicans, and fuch like, and fends them about preaching what he called the Gospel of the kingdom of God. He was defpifed by the generality, and greatly oppofed and harraffed by the men of power and learning. However, he fhifted for himself as well as he could; but, after he had preached three or four years, they caught him and crucified him as an infamous malefactor.

This direful event, which would have totally ruined an impoftor, he plainly forefaw and foretold; but, not in the leaft difcouraged by the profpect, he ordered his Difciples to go and preach his Gospel over all the world, promifing that after his death he would affift them with power from heaven, in virtue of which they fhould certainly fucceed. They believed him, they fet out, they preached up their crucified Mafter as the Lord and Saviour of all mankind; and, which is very strange, under the conduct and influence of a mafter who was dead to this world, and gone to the other ftate, they prevailed; and in fpite of the fury of the multitude, the most inveterate prejudices of the whole world, the zeal of fuperftition, the hatred of the Jews, the contempt of the Greeks, the power of the Romans, the pride of philofophers, and the policy of fatefmen, their doctrine, like the fun, almoft at once, enlightened the world, overthrew the whole fyftem of Pagan idolatry and religion, and advanced as far as our own country in the darkest and remoteft corner of the earth.

Of this we ourselves, we Chriftians, are living monuments and proofs: we have received the Gofpel, we own it a glorious and fhining light; we have renounced the idolatry and vain converfation of our fathers; we acknowledge and worship the living and true God; we confefs and adore the crucified Jefus, our king and head, and hope for eternal life through him. Now, there is no poffible way of accounting for this, but by allowing that Jefus really was the Son of God, that he really rofe again from the dead, and afcended up into heaven, and that he actually from thence fent his Difciples the aids and powers which he had promifed, and which were fo far above all that is human, that they carried their own Vol. I. evident

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