Had the books, which bear the name of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, or Peter, been published after their death, when they had never before been heard of, would not the several persons and churches, to which some of them were addressed; and Christians in general, as supposed to have been acquainted with them during the lives of the apostles and evangelists, have declared them to be forgeries? The claim it is evident, would have been absurd, and the imposture manifest. The doubts that arose concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews, which bears not the name of Paul; that of James, which perhaps was then thought, as it has since been, irreconcileable with Paul's doctrine; the second Epistle of Peter, which seems to have been written just before his death; and the second and third of John, in which he only calls himself the Elder, prove this. Some of these books, and perhaps the Revelation of John, might not be generally known among Christians, during the life-time of their authors, or they might not be publicly acknowledged by them: and, therefore, after their death, the scrupulous caution of the church long hesitated about admitting them as genuine and divine; till internal evidence fully convinced the most accurate judges, that they were entitled to that regard.

At what time, and in what manner, then could it be possible to fabricate the apostolical epistles, and gain them credit as well known and received from the days of their writers? and how could histories and epistles be forged, so exactly to tally together in the most minute circumstances, without the least appearance of design? If ever books had internal

If

marks of being genuine, which no rational man on diligent perusal can doubt; the Acts of the Apostles, and St. Paul's epistles have those marks: and I believe it would be impossible, for all the genius of all the knaves on earth combined together, to write an history, and a number of epistles,so manifestly open, frank, artless, and often immethodical; and yet to make the one so perfectly to confirm the other. the priests and rulers of the church should have attempted such an imposition, would the people have unanimously consented to the fraud? And would Jews, Pagans, and Heretics have allowed the forgeries of Christians to be genuine and ancient books? A very probable story indeed is devised by our Oracle of Reason, when he supposes, that the very church which held purgatory, dispensation, and other antichristian tenets, fabricated the epistles which predict and condemn those abuses! But the church could write, and therefore could fabricate them!" Let Mr. P. or his friends try to fabricate some epistles, and ascribe them to Luther, Calvin, Beza, Cranmer, or some of the reformers; and even allowing them the immense advantage of saying, they were never before published, they will soon find it much easier to write, than to establish a literary forgery!

The resurrection of Christ has been proved; and the apostles shown to have been faithful witnesses. Two of the gospels were written by them, and have evidently been extant from their days; as all competent judges must allow and the other two gospels were written by the companions of the apostles.These were published when the facts were recent ; and no enemy, for nearly four hundred years after

wards attempted to disprove them. The miracles wrought by the apostles and evangelists, confirmed the truth of the narrative. In these books the words of Christ are contained; and they authenticate all the rest of the Scripture*. We have seen, that he always quoted every part of the Old Testament as the word of God; and he gave his apostles the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that whatever they bound or loosed on earth, should be bound or loosed in heaven. This could only be done by their doctrine; and all human censures and absolutions are valid, so far as they agree with the doctrine of the apostles, and no further. But where shall we find this doctrine except in their writings? Those writings contain, also, internal proof, both of being genuine and divine; and are confirmed to us by prophecies, which have been fulfilling ever since. Whatever men may now say of the sacred writers, they always speak of themselves and each other, as declaring the truth of God to mankind, and they demand credit and obedience as the messengers and ambassadors of Christ. On every account, therefore, we have good reason, independently of ancient opinion, to receive the whole Scripture as the infallible word of God. But Christ did 'not write his own lifet.' What then? If he had, would not its authenticity or genuineness have been as liable to be questioned, as Matthew's or John's

* Our Lord 66 says, Had ye believed Moses, ye would have be"lieved me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his wri66 tings, how shall ye believe my words?" (John v. 46, 47.) Does not this decide that the books of Moses are genuine, with all that believe the testimony of Christ?

t P. i. p. 8.

life of him? This again leads to universal skepticism, and is replete with most arrogant presumption.

Upon the whole, there is not a religion in the world at this day, except christianity, that so much as pretends to be a revelation from God, demonstrated by miracles and prophecies; and rendered successful by a divine power accompanying unarmed unlettered men, preaching a holy doctrine, in the midst of potent and violent enemies, and patiently enduring all sufferings, even to death in the cause. The Jews adhere to the Old Testament; but that evidently foretels and terminates in the New. Mahomet, respecting whom Mr. P. has spoken with great incorrectness, propagated even his licentious religion by the sword, and with many advantages had very little success, till he adopted that measure: and there are no other candidates, which even Mr. P. thought worthy to be mentioned. What hath, therefore, been discoursed, concerning revelation, miracles, prophecy, and the canon of Scripture, contains such a mass of evidence in proof of christianity, as never was, nor can pretend to be, equalled by the advocates for any other religion in the world.

30

CHAP. V.

MYSTERY.

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MR. P. allows, in one sense, that every thing is a 'mystery to us :-that we, however, know as much 'as is necessary for us ;-and that it is better the Creator should perform all for us, than that we should ⚫ be let into the secret.' Yet he calls mystery the antagonist of truth,'-' a fog of human invention that 'obscures truth, and represents it in distortion*.— To believe there is a God may be easy, or necessary; though atheists would dispute that point: but to know the nature and perfections of God is another matter. The pagan philosopher, who averred that "the more he thought of the Deity, the less he seem'ed to know concerning him,' spake far more reasonably on this subject than modern deists. The religion, that has any connexion with an infinite and incomprehensible God and a boundless eternity, must be in many respects mysterious: unless a finite mind can fully understand infinity. But Mr. P. repeatedly calls ethics, religion; and says, religious duties con-. 'sist în doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavour'ing to make our fellow-creatures happyt.' Now an atheist may do all this and is not that a singular

* P. i. p. 54, 55.

+ P. i. p. 4.