philofophy -This philofopher expreffes himself fully and clearly upon this head; and yet Celfus' would endeavour to perfuade his followers, that he meant juft the contrary. In fact, our author, although he pretends to be fearching after the truth, appears to have nothing more in view than to calumniate the Christians, and to endeavour to turn all their ceremonies into ridicule; and, to answer this purpofe, he has mifreprefented the facts ftated in all the books to which he has had recourse, at least in all those which are handed down to us; and then attempts to found his arguments thereon, as if they were real facts. But his reafoning is no lefs abfurd, than his intention was malicious and wicked; for he contradicts himfelf in almost every page of his book: And yet this is the author' upon which Voltaire, and many others of our modern philofophers, have founded their principal arguments against the doctrine of Jefus Chrift and his Apoftles; regarding him as the great oracle of antiquity. If these philofophers had folidly and modeftly, by proper authority and found arguments, contradicted any facts which are stated in the Evangelifts, their reasoning would have had fome weight, and perhaps might have been inftrumental in drawing mankind out of their errors: But as calumny, and not truth, appears to have been what Celfus had in view; and as a principle no lefs offenfive seems to guide our modern philofophers, it is to be hoped, that every well-meaning man will reject them with that contempt which they deserve. In another part of his works, Celfus attempts, to refute the prophecies, and to explain the manner of prophefying which was used, as he fays, in Palestine; and of which he declares himself to be well informed. But whether this was the cafe, or not, we may judge from the account which he has given us thereof: There are many kinds of prophets, who with great facility, and on any occafion whatever, either facred or profane, make all the gestures and motions of perfons infpired: Some of whom make all these gestures and motions, in the towns and in the armies, with an intention to draw the unwary over to their party, and to furprize whoever they can. But, among all thefe prophets, there is not any one who may not fay, as in fact they are accustomed to do, I am God;-I am the Son of God; or I am moved by the Spirit of God:-I came into the world, because the world was ready to perish; and you, ye fons of men, you will likewife perish, because of your iniquities: But, if you will believe in me, I will fave you, and you shall fee me come again, with a Divine power. Bleffed will be those who shall at prefent obey my dictates: For all the rest of mankind, I will caft them into the flames of an eternal fire, with their towns, and their villages: There fhall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and then their repentance will be in vain: But I will preserve eternally all those who have been faithful to me. All thofe extraordinary extraordinary expreffions are accompanied with a number of ftrange and fanatic terms, which are entirely unknown, and of which, from their obfcurity, no reaJonable perfon can difcover the fenfe, if they have any fenfe at all: But at least they furnish ignorant perfons, or the first impoftor that prefents himself, with a pretence to apply them to all forts of fubjects, and upon all occafions, as they think proper. This is the manner in which our author reasons, to invalidate the prophecies of the ancient Prophets, touching the coming of Jefus Chrift into the world; which has been held forth by his followers as a master-piece of rhetoric, and full of found fenfe and judgment. However, it is prefumed, that our author would have acted with more candour, and more like a philofopher, if he had stated the proper terms of the Prophets; whether of those where the God of heaven is introduced, as if he spoke himself by their mouth; whether of those where it is the Son of God who fpeaks; or of those who prophefy under the name of the Holy Spirit: then, if he thought he could invalidate them, and make it appear that there was nothing divine in difcourfes full of motives for the converfion of finners, of the cenfures which were past upon those people who lived in former ages, and of predictions of future events, he certainly would have thrown fome new lights upon those matters. For it was on account of those things, in the discourses of the ancient Prophets, that their prophecies were collected and preserved by the people of their days, to the end that pofterity, by reading them, might regard them as the oracles of God; and not only be inftructed by the exhortations and remonftrances therein contained, but also by the predictions, and by the events which had been foretold by the Holy Spirit, and were afterwards feen to be fulfilled, to learn to regulate our lives by the rules of piety and devotion, which the Law and the Prophets have revealed and prescribed to us.-The Prophets propofed openly, and without any restriction, as God had ordered them, all fuch things as the people of their days were interested in learning immediately, and which tended to correct their manners But for thofe things which were more myfterious, and more fublime, and which were above the comprehenfion of the generality of mankind, they propofed them under the form of allegories and parables, to the end that thofe who were defirous of knowing the truth, might have merit in feeking after it; and having found it, might make a juft and proper use thereof. But to bring the matter to a closer and more certain iffue, Celfus adds, That having convinced feveral of thofe pretended prophets, which he himself faw prophefy, they confessed their weakness to him, and that they covered their ignorance only by using ambiguous words to deceive the world. Here our author has declared a notorious falfehood, because there were no prophets in his days equal to the ancient prophets. And if he had feen fuch a thing, he fhould should have given us the names of those whom he faw prophesy in this manner, to the end that we might, from other authority, have discovered whether there was any foundation for what he has afferted; especially as the love of truth does not feem to have been one of his diftinguishing characteristics. But, fays he, to give into your arguments, abfurd as they are; fuppofe that the Prophets had foretold that God would be a flave, would be fick, or would die, was there an abfolute neceffity, that the great God fhould be a flave, or fick, because thofe Prophets had foretold it? Was there a neceffity that he should die, to prove his Divinity by his death? Should not the Prophets rather have remained filent, than have prophefied evil and impiety? We should not have regarded whether a thing had been foretold or not, but whether it was good in itself, and worthy of God: for when a thing is bad in itself, if it had been foretold by all the men upon earth, it would be the greatest folly in us to believe it. I will ask, however, whether the things which have happened to Jefus are fuch as our piety will permit us to attribute to a God? As this argument of our author, uncandid, and I had almost faid abfurd, as it is, has gained fome credit among many of the unthinking part of mankind, who only examine things fuperficially; I will endeavour, with great deference to fuperior judgment, to give a fatisfactory answer thereto. As neither of the prophets prophefied that God would |