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nation, arifing from the perfection of his nature, to make men archangels, or to make all men equal in rank or fagacity. His dispensations of benevolence and grace are all gratuitous. We have nothing but what we have received from him, and what he might have with-held, without any imputation on his goodness, or any diminu. tion of his eternal and unalterable felicity.

Nor is it possible for us to judge how far it may be consistent with the views of his providence, to make this revelation universal. Its good effects may be so, though it is not universally known: for it teaches, that persons who lived long before our Lord appeared on earth, and who never heard of his name, may be saved by his merits.

THIS being admitted, no conclusion unfavour able to Chriftianity can be drawn from the cir cumstance of its being known in some parts only of the world, and not till four thousand years after the creation. For if it had been known one thoufand, or three thousand years fooner, a captious mind might still ask, why it was not done earlier, and coeval with mankind, or at least with the fall. Whatever concerns man must have a beginning; and that Being who governs the universe, who alone perfectly knows his own coun

sels, and who fees at once the past, the present, and the future, can alone determine when any particular dispensation of Providence ought to begin; how quick or how flow it ought to be in its progress; and when it is to be completed. Many discoveries, beneficial to mankind, have been made in modern times. How absurd would it be to suppose the recency of a discovery an argument against its usefulness; or against the goodness of God in giving man the power of making it now, rather than at an earlier period? Every thing here is progressive. If at once, and in the beginning, man had received all the good things that a gracious Creator had destined for him, his life could not have been a state of probation; and we, having no desires ungratified, no faculties unimproved, and nothing further to hope or fear, must have been equally incapable of activity and of happiness.

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CHAP. II.

THE GOSPEL HISTORY IS TRUE.

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THE gofpel hiftory being conveyed to us in writing, the only possible way in which it could be safely conveyed through the long fucceffion of seventeen hundred years, its evidences must, in part, depend on human testimony. In some respects, however, they are peculiar, and differ materially from those of other histories. No circumstance of the life of Julius Cæfar; the battle of Pharfalia, for example, the destruction of the Nervii, or the invasion of Britain; is alluded to, so far as I know, in any writings previous to the birth of that commander: but many of the facts recorded in the gospel, though seemingly of far less magnitude, bear a striking resemblance to events foretold by Jewish prophets, who lived several hundred years before the birth of Christ. The particulars of Cæfar's life, the speeches he made, and the great transactions he was engaged in, made no material alteration, except perhaps, for the worse, in the manners or fentiments of mankind. But the things

that were done, and the doctrines that were taught, by the supposed son of a carpenter of Judea, and by some fishermen his friends, produced a most important change, for the better, in human fentiments and manners; a change diffused through many nations, and of which we at this day see and feel the consequences.

THE evidences of the gospel, therefore, are to be treated very differently from those of other hiftorical records. I shall first consider it, merely as a portion of ancient history. Secondly, I shall speak of it as the accomplishment of certain prophecies. And I thall afterwards inquire, whether it may not be further confirmed, by the peculiar excellency of the knowledge we derive from it, as well as by the extraordinary changes introduced by it into the system of human affairs.

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SECTION I.

THE GOSPEL CONSIDERED AS A PORTION OF ANCIENT HISTORY,

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S a short preface to what I have to say on the evidence of the gospel, considered as a portion of ancient history, it may be proper to fet down the following remarks on testimony.

It is natural for man to speak as he thinks; and it is easy too, like walking forward. One may walk backward or fideways; but it is uneasy and a fort of force upon nature; and the same thing is true of speaking or declaring what is contrary to one's belief. At least this is the general rule. Long practice in falsehood, or in walking fideways or backward, may no doubt render it easy, but it requires long practice to make it fo.

We naturally believe what others tell us. We trust the word of a man of whose honesty we have had experience; but we also credit testimony previous to experience: for children who have least experience are most credulous. It is from. having experienced the dishonesty of men, and

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