to discover whether they would have been calculated to promote or to obstruct an imposture.

Such is the object of the most important part of the present Essay. By a minute examination of the accounts both of the infancy and manhood of John the Baptist and Jesus, an addi« tional evidence has been sought of the impossibility of any imposture in either instance, "from a course of action having been adopted, apparently best fitted to defeat such a design." P. 57. A similar line of argument had already been adopted in the case of St. Paul in the invaluable work of Lord Lyttel→ on. It is there shewn not only that "St. Paul had no rational motives to become an apostle of Christ, unless he were himself convinced of the truth of that Gospel he preached, but that had he engaged in an imposture so unprofitable and dangerous, without any rational motives, he could not possibly have carried it on with any success by the means which we know he employed." And were the rest of the Christian history explored with the same acuteness and accuracy, the result would be a rich and copious accession to the treasures of Christian evidence. The present work is not confined to this investigation. Its object is

I. To establish the truth of John's mission-1. by the mira culous circumstances of his birth;-2. by the application of prophecies respecting the forerunner of the Messiah ;-3. by the improbability of collusion between John and Jesus.

II. To prove the utility and necessity of the Baptist's mission, by shewing the peculiar nature of his office, and his manner of discharging it.

To the merit of originality, indeed, the greater part asserts no claim, since the author candidly states that "he is indebted to Dr. Bell's Enquiry into the divine missions of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ' for the line of argument pursued in many parts of his essay," and it appears by collation that the 1st and 3rd, of the above divisions are a faithful, and generally a clear, analysis of the corresponding parts in the valuable and interesting, but somewhat too prolix, treatise of Dr. Bell.

I. 1. The object proposed in the first division of the internal evidence is not merely to vindicate the miraculous circumstances which preceded the Baptist's birth, but to give them a preeminent importance among the Christian miracles; from them to establish the divine mission of John, and thence that of Jesus Christ. The argument seems to have been pressed too far. The author has, indeed, fairly and strongly stated the proofs, by which the genuineness of this part of St. Luke's -history is established, against the uncritical objections of some modern

Anti-Trinitarians: he has well pointed out the presumption which arises from the natural and minute character of the cir cumstances in favour of the truth of the narrative; he has also clearly shewn from the multiplied absurdities involved in the contrary supposition, that if the common events of that history took place, then the dumbness of Zachariah was no feigned infliction, to facilitate the reception of a spurious revelation. Invaluable however as is argument deduced from the general air of reality and truth, which the circumstantiality and undesignedness of the narrative spread over the whole extent of the Gospel history; still from so limited a portion of this history, as that before us, sufficient instances can hardly be elicited to establish its absolute and independent title to our credence. Some light is undoubtedly thrown on each separate relation by these several gleams of truth; but it is not till these scattered rays have been united, and the reflected light of all been thrown back upon each individually, that they are seen in their full clearness. Nor do the arguments from the publicity and importance of the events seem less exceptionable; they shew indeed the high improbability that the accounts could have been invented in Judea, or during John's ministry; but the link, by which this period is to be connected with the date of St. Luke's Gospel, does not seem adequately supplied: on his credibility, therefore, this, equally with most of the other facts in his history, must rest, and cannot consequently be alleged as an independent proof of their truth. Still however, the argument has great and important uses, nor can any labour be unfruitful, which illustrates the harmony of any portion of Christian history. This has been done successfully in the present instance. The common facts, if admitted, imply the assertion at least of the miraculous; while it is shewn to be utterly inconsistent with the nature of those admitted facts, that such an assertion, if false, should ever have been made. It does seem indeed incredible, that two persons of advanced years, and unsullied reputation, should stake all upon a plan, in its commencement peculiarly difficult and dangerous, depending not merely on the sex of two children yet unborn, but on the presumption that both those children should reach maturity, and having reached it, should each possess the peculiar talents, as well as the inclination to support characters, singular and intricate, but distinct-characters, which the designers of the plan must have been previously assured themselves could not live to form; that, to co-operate in this scheme, the aged priest should have selected one almost a child, and a mechanic, her destined husband, as the parents of the future Messiah, the depositaries

and conductors of his own secret ;-that he should further have embarrassed his plot, (contrary to every known instance of imposture,) by the admission of a company of shepherds, of Anna and Simeon, apparently for no other purpose than to foretel the scornful rejection of the child, and the miseries of its mother; and lastly with a band of adventurers, suborned to appear even at Herod's court, and before the whole council of priests and scribes, and the people of Jerusalem, to point out the infant Jesus, as the rival of the jealous Herod :-all this accumulated risk being incurred, not for the exaltation of his own son, but in some vague prospect that the recollection of these * insulated and momentary transactions might quicken the public attention on the future appearance of Jesus. The only fruit, meantime which these perilous enterprises could produce for his own son, was a life of rare abstemiousness and privation, (traced out by his own prophecies, and by the well-known character of Elijah,) with the thankless office of summoning to repentance those, who confided in their descent from Abraham.

Much of course of the strength of these arguments must be lost in a brief summary: thus much, however, they do seem satisfactorily to establish, that those who, from the mass of evidence are persuaded of the general credibility of St. Luke, yet suspect that he may have occasionally been imposed on by false miracles, must in this instance at least, allow the necessary coherence of the two parts of the account,-an accouut, which, from the facility of the primary fiction imputed to Zachariah, seemed least capable of such proof; while it must be hoped, that even to the unbeliever, the harmony and symmetry of the whole relation might not be displayed altogether in vain.

I. 2. On the second head, that of the fulfilment of prophecy in John, it is the less necessary to dwell, as the descriptions of the fore-runner of the Messiah are familiar to every one. We are compelled to dissent from the author, both as to their conclusiveness in favour of John's mission, and as to the particulars, by which he supposes the resemblance between John and Elias to be established. The parallel, although indeed evidently well-intended, must yet excite our serious regret; since a comparison pursued through so many particulars of scarcely verbal contrast or resemblance, can add nothing to the persuasion of a Christian, and would only root more deeply

It can hardly be necessary to point out that it is only on the supposition that these were personated characters, that the transactions would be "in sulated or momentary." If the magi did come from the East, by a divine guidance, their report would necessarily prepare the way among many people for the future preaching of the Gospel.

the prejudices of an unbeliever. The argument from these prophecies seems inconclusive, because they prescribe no conditions, which man alone could not realize. They were, indeed, with the class of prophecies, to which they apparently belong, equally secured against premature fulfilment, with those which were placed beyond human power; but their safe-guard was in the disinclination, not in the inability of man to execute them. Be it that any descendant of David, who chanced to be born at Bethlehem, might undertake to preach good tidings to the poor, make a lowly entrance into Jerusalem, might be sold for thirty pieces of silver, be silent before his accusers, be judicially condemned, though guiltless, be "numbered with the transgressors," might "give his back to the smiters," nor "hide his face from shame and spitting," have his hands and his feet pierced, be mocked with vinegar and gall, and yet be mourned by those who pierced him, and have his tomb with the rich; supposing such things could severally and altogether be accomplished by human contrivance, yet these are not the characters by which any one would wish to be distinguished, or by which he would recommend himself to an ambitious people:-nor do we hear that more than one ever essayed to realize them. In the general system, therefore, this class of prophecies assumes an important though subordinate place. They contribute to vindicate prophecy from the groundless imputation of "compliance with the gross apprehensions of the Jews, of having more frequently represented the Messiah under the character of a king and a conqueror, than under that of a prophet and a martyr;" they add incalculably to the complexity of the scheme sketched in the Hebrew Scriptures, even while they harmonize with it, of the change in the religion of the world, emanating from the despised and exclusive people of Judea;-a change in which, though the phrases of conquest be sometimes used, the employment of human warfare is repeatedly and systematically disclaimed; a change exactly corresponding with the essential characters of Christianity, and whose author was to be chiefly recognised by his lowliness, piety, and mildness: and thus, while they tend to raise the completion of this description above the limits of human fore-sight, they illustrate the sober harmony of that character, which our Saviour alone attempted to support.

In this class would we rank the predicted office of the forerunner. It might be assumed by any; it was the object of the anxious wishes and prayers of the Jewish people, yet it offered

Gibbon, c. 15.

no temptations but to those who acknowledged the spiritual kingdom of the future deliverer. It aids, therefore, to deepen the lines of the originality of our Saviour's history, that he alone was preceded by any messenger; that he who alone, amid the mists of national prejudice, saw clearly developed in the page of prophecy the spiritual mission of the Messiah, was alone preceded by a spiritual precursor," in the spirit and power": of one of the most earnest of Israel's ancient teachers.

Compelled to differ decidedly from the author on these points, we advert with pleasure to his arguments in favour of John's sincerity, from the regrets and fears of his incensed but unwilling murderer,-from the unaffected and simple severity, of John's own life, from the deep respect which he impressed on the people he upbraided. The appeal in which the author repels the suspicion of any unworthy motive, also deserves notice: "What, we ask, were the motives, which influenced this singular conduct? It was not the desire of wealth, for he lived in the garb of poverty and mortification; nor was it the love of fame, for he remitted all glory to that unattended and unobserved person the latchet of whose shoes' he professed himself not worthy to unloose:' nor was it the pride of authority, for he required not of his followers to put on his raiment of camel's hair,' but exhorted them to bring forth fruits meet for repentance." P. 54. The argument from the regrets of Herod finds an interesting parallel in the deeper despair of Judas. P. 50.

I. 3. The object of the third Part has been stated in the preliminary remarks. The enquiry indeed is necessarily confined, few of the circumstances of John's life being recorded; yet each, if thoughtfully considered, will contribute a distinct presumption to the truth of our accounts, and to mark the absence of all collusion between the Author of our religion and his Fore-runner. It is scarcely possible, consistently with the conciseness necessary, to state even the heads of these valuable arguments, much less to display their force. Our aim must be merely to direct our readers to the source: satisfaction must be sought in the essay, or more fully in the work of Dr. Bell. The points, then, insisted upon are,

1. The incidental but distinct statement that " John did no miracles," so many, such various, and such great works being ascribed to Jesus. Had these miracles, it is argued, been the fruit of fraud either in the performance or the narrator, others would have been called in to strengthen John's evidence, increase his resemblance to Elias, and elevate still higher the dignity. of Jesus.

2. The marked opposition of character between Christ and