accountable creature, he is bound to study, believe, and obey them; and to make them the rule and standard of all his principles, affections, and conduct. These things being premised, I observe

I. That vast numbers of wise and good men, through many generations and in distant countries, have agreed in receiving the Bible as a divine revelation. Many of them have been noted for seriousness, erudition, penetration, and impartiality in judging of men and things. With much labour and patient investigation, they detected the impostures by which their contemporaries were duped: yet the same assiduous examination confirmed them in believing the Bible to be the word of God; and induced them to recommend it, living and dying, to all others, as the source of wisdom, hope, and consolation. In this view, even the tradition of the church has much weight: for, whatever abuse has been made of the term, by such as generally were no part of the true church; yet the whole company of those, who have worshipped the living God in spirit and truth, (including them who ventured and laid down their lives for conscience' sake, and who were the most pious, holy, and useful men in every age,) having unani. mously concurred in handing down to us the Scriptures as a divine revelation, and having very little differed about the books which constitute that sacred deposit, must be allowed to be a consideration of great importance. And I cannot but suppose, that if a being of entire impartiality, of a sound mind, and a holy disVOL. V. C

position, should be shewn the two companies, of those who have received, and those who have rejected, the Scriptures; and should compare the seriousness, learn. ing, patient investigation of truth, solid judgment, holy lives, and composure in a dying hour, (without unmanly terror or indecent levity,) of the one company, with the character and conduct of the other, he would be induced to take up the Bible with profound veneration, and the strongest prepossession in its favour.

II. The agreement of the sacred writers among themselves is another cogent argument of their divine inspiration. Should an equal number of contemporaries, of the same country, education, habits, profession, natural disposition, and rank in life, concur in writing a book on religious subjects as large as the Bible, cach furnishing his portion, without comparing notes together; the attentive reader, whose mind has been long inured to such studies, would be able to discover some diversity of opinion among them. But the penmen of the scripture succeeded each other, during the term of fifteen hundred years: some of them were princes and priests, others shepherds and fishermen; their natural abilities, education, habits, and employments, were exceedingly dissimilar; they wrote laws, history, prophecy, odes, devotional exercises, proverbs, parables, doctrines, and controversy; and each man had his distinct department: yet they all exactly coincide in the exhibition which they give us of the perfections, works, truths, and will of God; of the nature, situation, and obligations of man; of sin and salvation; of this world

and the next; and in short of all things connected with our duty, safety, interest, and comfort, and in the whole of the religion inculcated by them. They all were evidently of the same judgment; all aimed to establish the same principles, and applied them to the same practical purposes. Apparent inconsistences will indeed perplex the superficial reader, but they will vanish upon a more accurate investigation; nor can any charge of disagreement, among the writers of the Bible, be substantiated: for it can only be said, that they related the same facts with different circumstances which are perfectly reconcileable; and that they gave instructions suited to the persons whom they addressed, without systematically shewing the harmony of them with other parts of divine truth. They wrote not by concert, and bestowed no pains to avoid the appearance of inconsistency: yet the exact coincidence, that is perceived among them by the diligent student, is most astonishing, and cannot be accounted for on any rational principles, without admitting that they wrote "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

To this we may add, that the scriptural history accords, in a wonderful manner, with the most authentick records which remain, of the events, customs, and manners of the countries and ages to which it stands related. The rise and fall of empires, the revolutions that have taken place in the world, and the grand outlines of chronology, as mentioned or referred to in the scriptures, are coincident with those stated by the most approved ancient writers: whilst the palpable errors in these respects, detected in the apocry

phal books, constitute one of the most decisive reasons for rejecting them as spurious. The history of the Bible is of far greater antiquity than any other records extant in the world: and it is remarkable, that in numerous instances it shows the real origin of those absurd fables, which disgrace and obscure all other histories of those remote times; which is no feeble proof, that it was derived from some surer source of information than human tradition.

III. The miracles, by which the writers of the Scriptures confirmed their divine mission to their contemporaries, afford us also a most convincing proof in this matter. The accounts of these miracles may be evidently shewn to have been published, very soon after the time, and at the places, in which they were said to have been wrought in the most conspicuous manner, and before vast multitudes, enemies as well as friends: yet this publick challenge never called forth any man to deny that they were really performed; nor was an attempt of this kind ever made till long afterwards. Can any man of common sense think, that Moses and Aaron could possibly have persuaded the whole nation of Israel, that they had witnessed all the plagues of Egypt, passed through the Red Sea with the waters piled on each side of them, gathered the manna every morning; and seen all the wondersrecorded in their history, had no such events taken place? If then, that generation could not thus be imposed on, when could the belief of these extraordinary transactions be palmed upon the nation? Surely, it would

have been impossible in the next age, to persuade them that their fathers had seen and experienced such wonderful things, when they had never before heard a single word about them in all their lives; and when an appeal must have been made to them, that these were things well known among them! What credit could have been obtained to such a forgery at any subsequent period? It would have been absolutely necessary, in making this attempt, to persuade the people, that such traditions had always been current among them; that the memory of them had for ages been perpetuated by days and ordinances, observed by all the nation; and that their whole civil and religious establishment had thence originated: and could this possibly have been effected if they all knew that no such memorials and traditions had ever before been heard of among them? -The same might be shown concerning the other miracles recorded in Scripture; especially those of Christ and his apostles: and it might be made evident that the man, who denies that they were actually performed, must believe more wonderful things without any evidence, than those are which he rejects, though established by unanswerable proof. But brevity will only allow me to insist on one miraculous event, viz. the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: for this being once proved, the substance of the whole Scripture is evinced to be a divine revelation. His doctrine and and authority establish the authenticity of the Old Testament, and the witnesses of his resurrection wrote the New Testament.

Almost all human affairs are conducted by testi