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God; particularly, as we see He does not afford such precise information in our temporal affairs. Moreover, there is this difference, that a prince only requires the absolute external act to be done, without concerning himself about the motive or principle; i. e. he regards the event, or the thing being done, and not, properly speaking, the doing of it, or the action : whereas, the whole of morality and religion consists merely in the action itself; so that the parallel will not hold. But if the prince wished to prove the loyalty of his subject, and looked, therefore, to the whole action, he would probably give his orders not in so plain a manner.

On the whole, then, being in a state of religion, implies being in a state of probation; and this being allowed, there seems no difficulty in supposing it to be just such as it is, and liable to the objections above stated. Men's moral probation may be, whether they take care to inform themselves by impartial, candid, consideration, and then act upon the evidence afforded, however it may appear doubtful. And as we find, by experience, that this is our probation in temporal matters; so the analogy of Nature is a sufficient answer to all objections, which originate in the alleged doubtfulness in the evidences of Christianity.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE PARTICULAR EVIDENCES FOR CHRISTIANITY.

ARGUMENT.-Positive evidences of Christianity-MIRACLES and PROPHECY. Miracles a component part of the history, and interwoven in it; quoted from primitive times until now. St. Paul's Epistles an independent testimony; they speak of Miracles as matters of notoriety. Miracles the very foundation of Christianity's pretensions; their reality shown, in effecting changes in men's lives; affording no room for enthusiasm, being suited for common sense to judge of. Prophecy to be judged of by its general applicability. Jews, before Christ's time, and primitive Christians, interpreted prophecy as we do. No objection in a prophecy having a secondary applicability, or in its not being perfectly understood by the prophet Collateral evidences, corroborating the chief ones, shown in a variety of particulars; wherein acknowledged

historical facts prove the truth of Prophecy, and the existence of Miracles. The whole amounting to a convincing Proof.

THE presumptions against Revelation, and the objections, as well against the general scheme of Christianity, as also against particulars thereof, being removed, it remains to be seen what positive evidence we have for its truth, and how far this evidence is corroborated by the Analogy of Nature.

Now Christianity has a great variety of evidences, incidental and collateral; but the two direct and fundamental ones are MIRACLES and PROPHECIES; and other evidences should never be urged apart from these two, but should be always conjoined with them. Then the various evidences will form a long series of things, reaching from the beginning of the world until now; and will produce a conviction, analogous to what is called the effect in architecture, i. e. a noble result from various things arranged in one orderly

view.

FIRST, then, let Miracles and Prophecies be considered; and, SECONDLY, the general argument arising therefrom, and the collateral evidence, as making up one whole argument, or evidence, in favour of Christianity.

SECTION 1.-MIRACLES.

1st. The Old Testament affords the same historical evidence of the miraculous part of its details, as of its common civil matters; and the Gospel History does the same. Now, had the object of the writers been merely to amuse, this could not be; there would have been a disposition of things more artfully arranged, to rivet the attention. But, the facts in Scripture, both natural and miraculous, are related in plain, unadorned narrative, and stand upon the same ground of historical evidence'. Further, miraculous portions, sufficient to prove the truth of Christianity, are quoted as genuine, from the age in which they are said to be written, until the present time. And as common history is admitted to be corroborated by acknowledged contemporary or subsequent events; so both the ordinary and the miraculous parts of Scripture are thus confirmed. For the establishment of the Jewish and Christian religions, contemporary with, or subsequent to, the miracles wrought in attestation thereof, seems to be just such a consequence as we should expect; and in fact, cannot be satisfactorily accounted for in any other way. The

1 "The miraculous part of the Pentateuch" (and it may be added of the whole of Scripture) "is not, like the prodigies of Livy, and other profane authors, unconnected with the facts recorded, but so intermixed and blended with the narrative, that they must both fall or stand together." Smith's Manual of Theology, p. 15.

Mere

only just solution is, that the history is true. supposition, when opposed to historical evidence, proves nothing, but that such evidence is not demonstrative. Till something positive be alleged, sufficient to invalidate it,-such as historical evidence of an opposite kind, or its utter incredibility and inconsistency with itself,-Scripture must be admitted as genuine authentic history.

2nd. The Epistles of Saint Paul, from the fact of most of them being written to particular Churches, carry in them (independent of what they have in common with the New Testament) evidences of genuineness, beyond that of any general narrative left to the world at large; so that no particular pretence1 can be assigned for denying it. A quotation from one of them, in a letter of Clemens Romanus, to the same Church, is moreover a distinct and particular evidence of their genuineness.

These Epistles, therefore, form a sort of detached and independent testimony; and also one of a peculiar kind. For therein the apostle speaks of his special appointment by Christ Himself; and of his own miraculous endowments, as of a thing publicly known; as he also mentions those of the very Churches to which he was writing, which he was reproving for their irregularities,

1 It has been shown, that any single fact whatever may have general objections raised against it, from the very nature of human affairs and testimony.

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