INTRODUCTION.

attempt. The whole tenor of their lives demonstrated, as even their bitterest
enemies have confessed, that they were men of piety and integrity; and they
could have no possible motive to induce them to propagate a deliberate
falsehood. They sought neither riches nor glory; and their writings bear
the most unequivocal marks of veracity, candour, and impartiality. They
use no panegyric or flattery; they offer no palliation for their own frailties
and follies; they conceal nothing; they alter nothing, however disgraceful
to their heroes and sovereigns, to their own nation, or to themselves. How
then can they be supposed capable of so gross an imposition as that of as-
serting and propagating the most impudent fictions? The writers of the
New Testament especially could gain by it neither pleasure, profit, nor
power. On the contrary, it brought upon them the most dreadful evils, and
ven death itself. If, therefore, they were cheats, they were cheats without
any motive, and without any advantage; nay, contrary to every motive and
every advantage that usually influence the actions of men. They preached
a religion which forbids falsehood under pain of eternal punishment and
misery; and yet, on this supposition, they supported that religion by false
hood; and, whilst guilty of the basest and most useless knavery themselves,
they were taking infinite pains, and enduring the greatest labour and suffer-
ing, in order to teach mankind honesty. This is a mode of acting so con-
trary to all experience, to all the principles of human nature, and to all the
motives of human conduct, as to exceed the bounds of belief, and to compel
every reasonable being at once to reject such a supposition as absurd and
monstrous. Hence the facts related in the Gospels and Acts of the Apostles,
especially, even those evidently miraculous, must be true; for the testimony
of those who die for what they assert, and of which they are competent
judges, is sufficient evidence to support any miracle whatever.

3. Such a multitude of minutely particular circumstances of time, place, person, &c., is mentioned in the books of the Old and New Testaments, as affords a clear and unquestionable proof both of their genuineness and authenticity. No forged or false accounts of things thus superabound with particularities, and no forger, or relater of falsehoods, would mention so great a number of particulars, since this would put into his reader's hands so many criteria by which to detect him; nor, in fact, could he produce such a minute detail of circumstances. It is easy to conceive how faithful records, kept from time to time by persons concerned in the transactions, should contain such a minute account of things; but it would be a work of the highest invention, and greatest stretch of genius, to raise from nothing such numberless particulars as are almost every where to be met with in the Old and New Testaments, particulars, the falsehood of which would most assuredly have been detected by the persons most interested in detecting them, if they had been forged or false. These accounts were published among the people who witnessed the events related by the historians, and who could, with the greatest ease, have exposed any fraud or falsehood, if there had been any, in the details of such transactions: but they did not attempt to question either the reality of the facts, or the fidelity of the narrators; and their acquiescence with them, as well as their obedience to the injunctions contained in these books, are conclusive evidence in favour both of their genuineness and authenticity, abundantly sufficient to convince every candid inquirer.

4. The authenticity of the Old and New Testaments is farther attested by the principal facts contained in them, being confirmed by certain commemorative ordinances of great celebrity, which have existed among the Jews and Christians from the time the events took place, which they are intended to commemorate, to the present day, wherever Jews or Christians are to be found. Such, among the Jews, is circumcision, the seal of the covenant with Abraham, their great progenitor; -the passover, instituted to commemorate the protection of the Israelites, when all the first-born of the Egyptians were destroyed, and their deliverance from bondage in Egypt, which was the im mediate consequence; -the feast of tabernacles, instituted to perpetuate the sojourning of the Israelites for forty years in the wilderness; -the feast of Pentecost, which was appointed fifty days after the passover, to cominemorate the delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai;-and the feast of Purim, kept in memory of the deliverance of the Jews from the wicked machinations of Haman. Now all these institutions, which have been held sacred among the Jews in all ages since their appointment, and are solemnly and sacredly observed among them to this day, in whatever country they sojourn, bear the most unequivocal testimony to the truth of the facts which they are designed to commemorate, and which facts are inseparably interwoven with the his tory and laws, and even morality and prophecy, of the Old Testament. In like manner, the principal facts of the Gospels are confirmed by certain institutions which subsist to this day among Christians, and are the objects of men's senses. Such is the initiatory rite of Baptism, which is performed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, by which those submitting to it renounce every other religious institution, and bind themselves to the profession of the Gospel alone; -the Lord's supper, kept in commemoration of the life, sufferings, death, resurrection, and the promise of the second coming of the Founder of their religion;-and the observance of the First day of the Week, in honour of Christ's resurrection from the dead. Now, as these monuments perpetuate the memory, so they demonstrate the truth, of the facts contained in the Gospel history beyond all reasonable doubt; because, unless the events, of which the Christian rites are commemorations, had really taken place, it is impossible to conceive how theso rites could have come into general use. If Jesus Christ neither lived, nor

taught, nor wrought miracles, nor died, nor rose again from the dead, it is altogether incredible that so many men, in countries so widely distant, should have conspired together to perpetuate such a series of falsehoods, by commencing the observation of the institution of Baptism, the Lord's sup per, and the Lord's day and it is equally incredible that, by continuing to observe them, they should have imposed these falsehoods on posterity.

5. The wonderful establishment and propagation of Christianity is a most onvincing proof of the authenticity of the New Testament; and, consequently, of that of the Old Testament, with which it is intimately and inseparably connected. Before the second century was completed, the Chris tian doctrine, unaided by any temporal power, protected by no authority, assisted by no art, not recommended by the reputation of its author, not enforced by eloquence in its advocates, but by the force of truth alone,-had triumphed over the fiercest and most determined opposition, over the tyranny

of the magistrate, and the subtleties of the philosopher, over the prejudices of the Gentiles, and the bigotry of the Jews, and extended its conquests over the whole Roman empire, which then comprised nearly the whole known world. Nothing, indeed, but the plainest matter of fact could induce so many thousands of prejudiced and persecuted Jews, to embrace the humiliating and self-denying doctrines of the Gospel, which they had held in such detestation and abhorrence; nor could any thing but the clearest evidence, arising from undoubted truth, make multitudes of lawless and luxurious heathens receive, follow, and transmit to posterity, the doctrines and writings of the apostles; especially at a time when the vanity of their pretensions to miracles, and to the gift of tongues, could have been easily detected, had they been impostors; and at a time when the profession of Christianity exposed persons of all ranks and ages to the greatest contempt, and to the most imminent danger.

6. In addition to the above evidence of the authenticity of the Sacred Scriptures, it is to be observed, that many of the facts and circumstances re corded in them are confirmed by the accounts of ancient heathen authors which demonstrates their perfect agreement with the most authentic records extant. Thus, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the first origin and creation of the world out of chaos; the completion of this great work in six days; the formation of man in the image of God, and his existence in a state of innocence; his fall, and the introduction of sin into the world; the longevity of the antediluvians; the destruction of the world by a deluge; the circumstance of the ark and the dove; the building of the tower of Babel; the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; many particulars relating to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses; the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and their miraculous passage of the Red Sea; the giving of the law, and Jewish ritual; the fertility of Palestine; the destruction of the Canaanites by Joshua and the Israelites; Jephthah's devoting his daughter; the history of Samson; the history of Samuel and Saul; the slaying of Goliah by David many remarkable circumstances respecting David and Solomon; the invasion of Israel by Shalmaneser, and deportation of the twelve tribes; the destruction of Sennacherib's army; the defeat of Josiah by Pharaoh-necho; the reduction of Jerusalem, and captivity of Jehoahaz; these facts, and others of the same kind, are confirmed by the testimony of profane authors, and even some of them by traditions, which still exist among heathen nations, and others by coins, medals, and other monuments. Not less striking and decisive is the testimony of both Roman historians and Jewish writers to the truth of the principal facts detailed in the New Testament; such as Herod's murder of the infants, under two years old, at Bethlehem; many particulars respecting John the Baptist and Herod; the life and character of our Lord; his crucifixion under Pontius Pilate; and the earthquake and miraculous darkness that attended it; the miserable death of Herod Agrippa; and many other matters of minor importance related in these writings. Nay, even many of the miracles which Jesus himself wrought, particularly in curing the blind and lame, and casting out devils, are, as to matter of fact, expressly owned and admitted by Jewish writers; and by several of the earliest and most implacable enemies of Christianity; for, though they ascribed these miracles to magic, or the assistance of evil spirits, yet they allowed that the miracles themselves were actually wrought. And this testimony of our adversaries, to the miraculous parts of the sacred history, is the strongest possible confirmation of the truth and authority of the whole. Add to this, that in the sacred history, both of the Old and New Testaments, there are continual allusions and references to things, persons, places, manners, customs, and opinions, which are perfectly conformable to as represented in the most authentic records that remain; while the rise and the real state of things in the countries and ages to which they stand related, fall of empires, the revolutions that have taken place in the world, and the are coincident with those stated by the most ancient and creditable writers grand outlines of chronology, as mentioned or referred to in the Scriptures, extant.

Such are the principal evidences, both external and internal, direct and collateral, of the authenticity and credibility of the Sacred Scriptures; and when the number, variety, and extraordinary nature of many of them are considered, it is impossible not to come to the conclusion, that the Sacred Writings contain a true relation of matters of fact as they really happened. If such a combination of evidence is not sufficient to satisfy every inquirer into truth, it is utterly impossible that any event, which passed in former times, and which we did not see with our own eyes, can ever be proved tou have happened, by any degree of testimony whatever.*

INSPIRATION.

The Scriptures are not merely entitled to be received as perfectly authentic and credible, but also as containing the revealed will of God, in other words. as divinely inspired writings. By inspiration is meant such a complete and immediate communication, by the Holy Spirit, to the minds of the sacre a writers, of those things which could not have been otherwise known; ang such an effectual superintendence and guidance, as to those particulars concerning which they might otherwise obtain information; as was amply sufficient to enable them to communicate religious knowledge to others, without any error or mistake, which could in the least affect any of the doctrines or precepts contained in their writings, or mislead any person, who considered them as a divine and infallible standard of truth and duty. Every sentence, in this view, must be considered as 'the sure testimony of God,' in that sense in which it is proposed as truth. Facts occurred, and words were spoken, as to the import of them, and the instruction contained in them, exactly as they are here recorded; but the morality of words and actions, recorded merely as done and spoken, must be judged of by the doctrinal and preceptive parts of the same book. The sacred writers, indeed, wrote in such language as their different talents, tempers, educations, babits, and associations suggested, or rendored natural to them; but the Holy Spirit so entirely superintended them, when writing, as to exclude every error, and every unsuitable expression, and to guide them to all those which best suited their several subjects: they are the voice, but the Divine Spirit is the

• For references to classical and other anthors as to the facts stated, see notes to the Introduction of Bagster's Comprehensive Bible.

INTRODUCTION.

SPEAKER. Now, that the Sacred Writings are thus inspired, we have abund- | sent man in a lapsed state, a rebellious and fallen being, alienated from God int evidence of various kinds, amounting to a moral demonstration. For,

L The sacred writers themselves expressly claim Divine inspiration; and unhesitatingly and unequivocally assert that the Scriptures are the Word of God. All the prophets, in the Old Testament, speak most decidedly of them selves, and their predecessors, as declaring not their own words, but the word of God. (2 Sa. xxili. 1, 2. Ne. ix. 30. Ps. xix. 7..11. Is. viii. 20. Je. xx. 7..9. XXV. 3, 4. xxvi. 12..19. Eze. i. 1..3. xxxviii. 16, 17. Da. ix. 12, 13. Mi. iii. 1.12. Zec. i. 5, 6.) They propose things, not as matters for consideration, But for adoption: they do not leave us the alternative of receiving or rejecting: they do not present us with their own thoughts, but exclaim, Thus with the LORD, and on that ground claim our assent. The Apostles and writers of the New Testament, also speak respecting the prophets of the Old festament, as holy men of God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost' (Pe. 1. 19..21. He. i. 1, 2.) These writings are expressly af firmed to be 'the Oracles of God,' (Ro. iii. 2.); and it is declared that ' all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Our Saviour laimself expressly recognizes them, on various occasions, as the infallible Word of God, and of Divine authority. (Mat. iv. 4..11. xii. 1..5, 41, 42. XV. 1.14. xxii. 29..32, 41.46. Mar. vii. 1.9. Lu. iv. 23..27. xvi. 29..31. Jn. v. 39.47.) The sacred writers of the New Testament also adopt language, which, in its most obvious meaning, claims the attention of their readers to their own instructions as to the Word of God; and they also thus attest and sanction one another's writings in the most unequivocal manner. (1 Co. vii. 39, 49. 1 Th. iv. 6..8. 2 Pe. ííí. 1.4, 14..16.) Now, admitting the veracity of the writers, (which, we have seen, is absolutely unimpeachable,) we must admit that the Scriptures are the inspired and infallible word of God. If they were twise men, (and every man must perceive that they were neither ignorant nor void of sense,) they could not have been deluded into the imagination that they, their predecessors and contemporaries, were inspired; and, if they were good men, (as they certainly must have been, for bad men, if they could, would not have written a book which so awfully condemned themselves,) they would not have thus confidently asserted their own inspiration, and sanctioned that of each other, unless they had been inspired; they would not have ascribed their own inventions to inspiration, especially ne such forgeries are so severely reprobated in every part of them. Consequently, the Bible must be the word of God, inspired by him, and thus given to man.

2. A great many wise and good men, through many generations, of various nations, and in different countries, have agreed in receiving the Bible as a Divine revelation. The Jews have unquestionably in all ages acknowledged the Scriptures of the Old Testament as the word of God; and Christians, from the earliest ages to the present time, have not been less backward in testifying their belief in the inspiration of both the Old and New Testament. Many of them have been distinguished for piety, erudition, penetration, and impartiality in judging of men and things. With infinite labour and patient investigation, they detected the impostures by which their contemporaries were duped; but the same assiduous examination confirmed them in be lieving the Bible to be the word of God; and induced them, living and dying, to recommend it to all others, as the source of all true wisdom, hope, and consolation. Now, although this does not amount to a demonstration, yet it is a strong presumptive proof, of the inspiration of the Scriptures; and it must be allowed to bo a consideration of vast importance, that the whole company of those who worshipped the living God in spirit and in truth, including those who laid down their lives as a testimony of their unshaken belief, and who were the most pious, holy, and useful men in every age, have unanimously concurred in handing them down to us as a divine revelation, and have very little differed about the books which form that sacred deposit

3. The matter contained in the Scriptures requires a Divine inspiration. Setting aside, for a moment, the prediction of future events, and the excellency of its doctrines and morality, and merely admitting the veracity of the sacred writers, (which we have every reason to do,) we must admit that wach of the information contained in the Bible absolutely required a Divine revelation. The history of the creation, part of that of the flood, &c. as related in the Scriptures, could have been known to God alone. Mysteries relative to a Trinity of persons in the Godhead, -the nature and perfections of God-the covenant of grace, the incarnation of the Son of God,-his mediatorial offices, and redemption through his blood,-justification, adoption, sanctification, and eternal blessedness in him, and the offices of the Holy Spirit the Comforter, these, and many others of a like nature, God only could either comprehend or discover. Mysteries, therefore, in the Scriptures, rather confirm than invalidate their inspiration for a book, claiming to be a revelation from God, and yet devoid of mystery, would, by this very circumstance, confute itself. Incomprehensibility is inseparable from God and his works, even in the most inconsiderable, such, for instance, as the growth of a blade of grass. The mysteries of the Scriptures are sublime, interesting, and useful: they display the Divine perfections; lay a foundation for our hope; and inculcate humility, reverence, holiness, love, and gratitude. What is incomprehensible must be mysterious; but it may be intelligible as far as it is revealed; and though it be connected with things above our reason, it may imply nothing contrary to it. Hence, it may be confidently inferred, from these matters contained in the Scriptures, that they were given by inspiration of God.

4. The scheme of doctrine and morality contained in the Bible is so exalt ed, pure, and benevolent, that God alone could either devise or appoint it. In the Scriptures alone, and in such books as make them their basis, is the infinite God introduced as speaking in a manner worthy of himself, with simplicity, majesty, and authority. His character, as there delineated, comprises all possible excellence, without any intermixture; his laws and ordinances accord with his perfections; his works and dispensations exhibit them; and all his dealings with his creatures bear the stamp of infinite wisdom, power, justice, purity, truth, goodness, and mercy, harmoniously displayed. While the Supreme Being is thus described as possessed of every Perfection, unbounded and incomprehensible in his essence and nature, and as the Creator, Governor, and Benefactor of his creatures, the Scriptures repre

and goodness, averse by nature to all that is good and amiable, and prone to every thing that is sinful and hateful, and consequently exposed to the eternal wrath of God. The Scriptures, however, do not leave us in this wretched state; but they propose an adequate remedy for all our diseases, and an ample supply for all our wants. They show us how to be delivered from the dominion and awful consequences of sin, and how human nature may be truly improved and perfected, through the obedience, death, and mediation, of the only begotten Son of God, by receiving him as made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption-as an effectual root and principle of holiness; and by walking in him by faith, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, setting our affections on things above, where Christ is, and mortifying, through the Holy Spirit, every sinful and corrupt affection. We are taught to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul; to love our neighbours as ourselves; to fulfil perfectly the particular duties of every relative station; to lay aside all malice, envy, hatred, revenge, and other malevolent dispositions or passions; to love our enemies; to render good for evil, blessing for cursing; and to pray for them who despitefully use us. These laws of universal purity and benevolence are prescribed with an authority proper only to God, and extended to such a compass and degree as God alone can demand; and those sins are forbidden which God alone could either observe or prohibit. The most powerful motives to duty and dissuasives from vice, are wisely proposed and powerfully urged; motives drawn from the nature and perfections, the promises and threatenings, the mercies and judgments of God, particularly from his overflowing benevolence and mercy in the work of our redemption, and from advantages and disadvantages, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. And, while the most excellent means of directing and exciting to the exercise of piety and virtue are established in the most excellent forms and authoritative manner, the most perfect and engaging patterns of holiness and virtue are set before us in the example of our Redeemer, and of God as reconciled in Him, and reconciling the world to himself. Now, all these things were written at a time when all the rest of the world, even the wisest, and most learned, and most celebrated nations of the earth, were sunk in the grossest ignorance of God and religion; were worshopping idols and brute beasts, indulging themselves in the most abominable vices, living in envy, hatred, and strife, hateful, and hating one another. It is a most singular circumstance, that a people in a remote, obscure corner of the world, far inferior to several heathen nations in learning, in philosophy, in genius, in science, and in all the polite arts, should yet be so infinitely their superiors in their ideas of a Supreme Being, and of every thing relative to morality and religion. This cannot be accounted for on any other supposition than that of their having been instructed in these things by God himself, or by persons commissioned and inspired by Him; that is, of their having been really favoured with those Divine revelations which are recorded in the sacred books of the Old and New Testaments. Indeed, both the doctrines and morality of the Sacred Scriptures infinitely transcend the abilities of the penman, if they were not inspired. Men of the best education, far less men of no education, could not of themselves form such exalted schemes of religion, piety, and virtue; and wicked men, as they must have been if they were impostors, would not publish and prosecute such a scheme of mystery, holiness, and morality.

5. The harmony of the sacred writers fully demonstrates that they wrote by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Other historians continually differ from each other: the errors of the former writers are constantly criticised and corrected by the latter; and it even frequently happens that contemporary writers contradict each other in relating a fact that happened in their own time, and within the sphere of their own knowledge. Should an equal number of contemporaries, of the same country, education, habits, profession, natural disposition, and rank in life, associating together as a distinct company, concur in writing a book on religious subjects, of even less extent than that of the Bible, each furnishing his proportion without comparing notes, the attentive render would easily discover among them considerable diversity of opinion. But the writers of the Scriptures succeeded each other during a period of nearly sixteen hundred years; some of them were princes or priests, others shepherds or fishermen; their natural abilities, education, habits, and occupations, were exceedingly dissimilar; they wrote laws, history, prophecy, odes, devotional exercises, proverbs, parables, doctrines, and controversy, and each had his distinct department; yet they all exactly agree in the exhibition 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, in all things connected with our duty, safety, interest, and comfort, and in the whole of the religion which they have promulged: they all were evidently of the same judgment, aimed to establish the same principles, and applied them to the same practical purposes. One part of Scripture is so intimately connected with, and tends so powerfully to the establishment of another, that one part cannot be reasonably received without receiving the whole; and the more carefully it is examined, and the more diligently it is compared, the more evident will it appear, that every part, like the stones in an arch, supports, and receives support from the rest, and that they unitedly constitute one grand and glorious whole. In both the Old and New Testaments, the subsequent books, or succeeding parts of the same book, are connected with the preceding, as the narrative either of the execution of a plan, or of the fulfilment of a prediction. If we receive the history, we must also receive the prediction; if we admit the prediction, we must also admit the history. Every where the same facts are supposed, related, or prepared for; the same doctrines of a gracious redemption through Jesus Christ exhibited or supposed to be true; the same rules or exemplifications of piety and virtue; the same motives and inducements to the performance of duty; the same promises of mercy, and threatenings of just misery to persons, societies, or nations, without a single contradiction. Apparent inconsistencies may indeed perplex the superficial reader; but they vanish before an accurate and persevering investigation; nor could any charge of disagreement among the sacred writers ever be substantiated; for it could 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 they addressed, according to various circumstances of time, place, and manner, without systematically showing their harmony w

INTRODUCTION.

the latest of which was delivered 1700 years ago, and some of them 8000 years ago, the descendants of Shem and Japheth are 'ruling' and 'enlarged, and the wretched descendants of Ham are stili 'the servants of servants,' (Ge. ix. 25..27.); -the posterity of Ishmael have 'multiplied exceedingly,' and become a great nation' in the Arabians; yet living like 'wild men,' and shifting from place to place in the wilderness, 'their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them, and still 'dwelling,' an independent and free people, 'in the presence of all their brethren,' and in the pre sence of all their enemies, (Ge. xvi. 10..12. xvii. 20.); -the family of Esau has become extinct, 'cut off for ever,' so that there is none ' remaining of the house of Esau,' (Je. xlix. 17, &c. Eze. xxv. 12, &c. Joel iii. 19. Am. i. 11, &c. Ob. 10, 18, &c.);-' the sceptre has departed from Judah,' (Ge. xlix. 10.), though the Jews still 'dwell alone, and are not reckoned among the nations,' while 'the remembrance of Amalek is utterly put out from under heaven,' (Nu. xxiii. 9. xxiv. 20.);-Nineveh is so completely destroyed, that the place thereof cannot be known, (Na. L.III.); -Babylon has been swept with the besom of destruction, and is made 'a desolation for ever, a possession for the bittern and pools of water,' ' a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and hissing, without an inhabitant,' (Isa. XIIL XIV.); -Tyre has become 'like the top of a rock, a place for fishers to spread their nets upon,' (Eze. xxvi. 4, 5.);-Egypt, 'a base kingdom, the basest of the kingdoms,' still tributary and subject to strangers, so that it has never been able

6. The multitude of miracles, which only the infinite power of God could effect, wrought in confirmation of the divine mission of the writers of the Sacred Scriptures, afford us a most convincing proof of their inspiration. It has been already seen, that the narrations of these miracles were published very soon after the time, and at the places, in which they were said to have been wrought; that they were performed in the most conspicuous manner, before very great multitudes, enemies as well as friends; that they were of such a nature, -appealing to the very senses of men, -as totally precluded the possibility of deception; that public ceremonies were instituted in memory of several of them, which have been observed in all ages; that the reality of them, as facts, was admitted even by the most determined enemies of Divine revelation; that the witnesses, from whom we have received the accounts of them, were many in number, unanimous in their evidence, of un- to 'exalt itself above the nations,' (Eze. xxix. 14, 15); -the fourth and last INTRODUCTION.

predictions. So many extraordinary and improbable events, which have oc- | Christians are not at all qualified to dispute with infidels, yet they are ena

18. Lastly, Though these arguments are abundantly sufficient to silence objectors, and to produce a rational conviction of the Divine origin and authority of the Scriptures, yet it is only the effectual application of them to the mind, conscience, and heart, in their self-evidencing light and power, which can produce a cordial and saving persuasion that they are indeed THE WORD OF GOD. But when thus applied, then 'He that believeth hath the witness in himself,' (1 Jn. v. 10.) The discoveries which he has made by the Divine light of the Scriptures; the sanctifying and abiding effects produced on his judgment, dispositions, and affections; the comfortable experience which he has had, that God fulfils the promises of His word to then who trust in them; and the earnests of heaven enjoyed by him in gamanion with God, put the matter beyond all doubt; so that there is no shitting the eyes, nor hardening the heart against them, no possibility of contiming stupid and unconcerned under them; but the whole faculties of the soul are necessarily affected with them, as indeed stamped with diving evidence, and attended with almighty power. And, though many real | ing it.-Franklin's Life.

INTRODUCTION.

other parts of divine truth. They did not write in concert, and they be stowed no pains to avoid the appearance of inconsistency; yet the exact coincidences plainly perceptible among them, not only in their grand, primary, and general objects, which are written as with the beams of the sun, but in particular subjects comprehended in their plan, and even in particular words and expressions, (though they evidently borrowed nothing from one another,)-is truly astonishing, and cannot be accounted for on any rational principles, without admitting that they all wrote 'as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,'-that all their writings were indited under the influence of the same Spirit, and flowed from the same infallible Source.

6. The multitude of miracles, which only the infinite power of God could effect, wrought in confirmation of the divine mission of the writers of the Sacred Scriptures, afford us a most convincing proof of their inspiration. It has been already seen, that the narrations of these miracles were published very soon after the time, and at the places, in which they were said to have been wrought; that they were performed in the most conspicuous manner, before very great multitudes, enemies as well as friends; that they were of such a nature, -appealing to the very senses of men, -as totally precluded the possibility of deception; that public ceremonies were instituted in memory of several of them, which have been observed in all ages; that the reality of them, as facts, was admitted even by the most determined enemies of Divine revelation; that the witnesses, from whom we have received the accounts of them, were many in number, unanimous in their evidence, of unquestionable good sense, undoubted integrity, and unimpeachable veracity, who showed the sincerity of their own conviction by acting under the uniform influence of the extraordinary works to which they bore witness, in opposition to all their former notions and prejudices, and in contradiction of every worldly honour, profit, or advantage, either for themselves or friends, and at last by laying down their lives in confirmation of the facts which they attested; and that vast multitudes of their contemporaries, men of almost all ages, tempers, and professions, were persuaded by them that they really were performed in the manner related, and gave the strongest testimony which was in their power of the firmness of their belief, by foregoing every worldly advantage, and suffering every temporal evil which was endured by the original witnesses. To this it may be added, that the number of the miracles is almost incalculable; that they were all calculated to answer some great and benevolent end, every way worthy of the infinitely wise and beneficent Creator; that they were wrought in attestation of nothing but what was agreeable to reason, so far as reason could apprehend it, and in confirmation of a religion the most holy, pure, and benevolent; and performed by persons of the greatest moral worth, and the most eminent pat terus of every virtue. Now, admitting the reality of the miracles related in the Sacred Writings, (as every unprejudiced mind must be constrained to do,) and rationally believing, that the Supreme Being, the God of truth, wis dom, and goodness, can never give his testimony to falsehood, it irresistibly follows that the Scriptures are, as they unequivocally claim to be, the Word of God, written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

7. The astonishing and miraculous preservation of the Scriptures from be ing either lost or corrupted, is an overwhelming instance of God's providential care, and a constant sanction and confirmation of their truth and Divine authority, continued by Him in all ages of the church. While the histories of mighty empires, and innumerable volumes of philosophy and literature, in the preservation of which the admiration and care of all mankind seemed to conspire, have been lost and forgotten in the lapse of time, the Sacred Scriptures, though far more ancient, and though hated and opposed by Satan and his agents in all ages, who sought with the deadliest hatred to cause their very memory to perish from among men, have come down to our own time entire and genuine, free from every material error, and nearly in their original purity. With great wisdom, God, for their preservation, ordered an original copy to be deposited in the holy of holies, (Deut. xxxi. 26); appointed the careful and frequent reading of them, both in public and private; and that every Hebrew monarch should write out a copy for his own use, (Deut. xvii. 18.) With astonishing kindness and wisdom has he made the various contending parties who had access to the Scriptures, such as the Jews and Israelites, the Jews and Samaritans, the Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jews and Christians, and the various sects and parties of Christians, -mutual checks upon each other for almost three thousand years, that they might not be able either to extirpate or corrupt any part of them; and by quickly multiplying the copies both of the original and translations, as well as the readers of the Scriptures, he rendered it absolutely impossible to falsify them in any thing important, without causing the corruption to start up in every copy dispersed through the world, and in the minds of almost every reader-than which supposition nothing can be more absurd and monstrous. By what tremendous judgments did he restrain and punish Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syro-grecian king, Dioclesian, the Roman emperor, and others, who attempted to destroy the Sacred Scriptures, in order to extirpate the Jewish or Christian religion! And he has bestowed amazing support and consolation on such as have risked or parted with their lives rather than deny the dictates of Scripture, or in the least contribute to their destruction or misinterpretation. During the profanation of Antiochus, whoever was found with the book of the law was put to death, and every copy that could be found, burned with fire; and Dioclesian, after the most barbarous havoc of the Christians, issued an edict, commanding them, on pain of death under the most cruel forms, to deliver up their Bibles; though many complied with this sanguinary edict, yet the greater part disregarded it; and notwithstanding these, and numberless other calamities, the Sacred Volumes have survived pure and uncorrupted to the present day, and doubt less will exist as long as there is a church in the world-till the end of time and the consummation of all things-a monument of God's unceasing and providential care, and an unquestionable attestation of their inspiration and Divine authority.

8. The prophecies contained in the Sacred Scriptures, and fulfilling to this day, which form a species of perpetual miracles, challenging the investigation of men of every age, fully demonstrate that they are divinely inspired. Almost every historical passage of the Bible is a narrative of something antecedently foretold; and the New Testament is little else than a relation of the fulfilment of the predictions and types of the Old Testament, relative to Jesus Christand his church. According to the prophecies in these books,

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the latest of which was delivered 1700 years ago, and some of them 800G years ago, the descendants of Shem and Japheth are 'ruling' and 'enlarged, and the wretched descendants of Ham are still 'the servants of servants,' (Ge. ix. 25..27.); the posterity of Ishmael have 'multiplied exceedingly," and become a great nation' in the Arabians; yet living like 'wild men,' and shifting from place to place in the wilderness, 'their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them,' and still 'dwelling,' an independent and free people, 'in the presence of all their brethren,' and in the pre become extinct, 'cut off for ever,' so that there is none 'remaining of the sence of all their enemies, (Ge. xvi. 10..12. xvii. 20.); -the family of Esau has house of Esau,' (Je. xlix. 17, &c. Eze. xxv. 12, &c. Joel iii. 19. Am. i. 11, &c. Ob. 10, 18, &c.);-' the sceptre has departed from Judah,' (Ge. xlix. 10.), though the Jews still 'dwell alone, and are not reckoned among the nations,' while the remembrance of Amalek is utterly put out from under heaven,' (Nu. xxiii. 9. xxiv. 20.); -Nineveh is so completely destroyed, that the place thereof cannot be known, (Na. I..IIL);-Babylon has been swept with the besom of destruction, and is made 'a desolation for ever, a possession for the bittern and pools of water,'' a dwelling place for dragons, an astonishment and hissing, without an inhabitant,' (Isa. XIII. XIV.);-Tyre has become 'like the top of a rock, a place for fishers to spread their nets upon,' (Eze. xxvi. 4, 5.); -Egypt, a base kingdom, the basest of the kingdoms,' still tributary and subject to strangers, so that it has never been able to 'exalt itself above the nations,' (Eze. xxix. 14, 15); -the fourth and last of the four great empires, which was greater and more powerful than any of the former, has been divided into ten lesser kingdoms; and among them has arisen a power with a triple crown diverse from the first,' with 'a mouth speaking very great things,' and with 'a look more stout than his fellows, speaking great things against the Most High, wearing out the saints of the Most High, and changing times and laws, which did 'cast down the truth to the ground, and prosper, and practice, and destroy the holy people, not regarding the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, but 'honouring the god of forces,' or Mauzzim, gods-protectors, and causing the priests of Mauzzim 'to rule over many, and divide the land for gain,' (Da. xi. 37..39.) Jerusalem has been destroyed, with all the circumstances related in the Evangelists, and the Jews have been 'led away into all nations, and Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles,' through a long series of ages, (Lu. xxi. 24.); -for their infidelity and disobedience to own land, and removed into all the kingdoms of the earth, and scattered their great Prophet like unto Moses, they have been 'plucked from off their among the heathen, among the nations, among all people, from one end of the earth even to the other,' sifted 'among all nations, like as corn is sifted away in their iniquity in their enemies' lands,' have 'become an astonishin a sieve,' having been 'left few in number among the heathen,' have 'pined ment, a proverb, and a by-word among all nations,' 'a reproach, a taunt, and a curse,' have found 'among these nations no case, and the sole of their failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind, and sent à faintness into their hearts in foot has had no rest; but the Lord has given them a trembling heart, and the lands of their enemies, so that the sound of a shaken leaf has chased them,' and they have been 'many days without a king, and without a prince. and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without a teraphim,' (Le. xxvi. 38, 39. Deut. xxix. 62..67. Eze. v. 10..15. Ho. iii. 4.); and yet, while their mighty conquerors are every where destroyed, they are miraculously preserved a distinct people, and neither swallowed up nor lost among the various nations amidst whom they are dispersed, but are reserved 'until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled,' when they shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days;'-in the mean time, the Gentiles have been advanced in their room, and God has given to the Messiah 'the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession,' (Ps. ii. 8.), and the gradual, but progressive, and steadily advancing conversion of heathen nations in our own days, prepares us to expect the speedy arrival of the time when Jehovah shall be worshipped 'from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same,' and when his 'name shall be great among the Gentiles,' (Mal. i. 11.);-the grand apostacy from the Christian faith has already taken place, which consists 'in giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils, (or demons, worshipping angels and departed saints, and is promoted through) speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding te abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth, (1 Ti. iv. 1..3.) The seven churches of Asia lie in the same desolate state that the angel signified to St. John, (Re. II. III.) their candlestick removed out of its place, their churches turned into mosques, and their worship into superstition; and the war with the saints, and to overcome them,' and power 'over all kindreds, characters of the beast and false prophet,'-to whom was given to make and tongues, and nations,' so that 'all that dwell upon the earth worshipped him,'-have been exemplified in every particular, and also those of 'the whore of Babylon, mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abominations of the earth: with whom the kings of the earth have committhe wine of her fornication,' while she herself has been 'drunken with the ted fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,' and she 'is that great city (seated upon seven mountains) which reigneth over the kings of the earth,' (Re. XIII.. XVII.) These, and many other events, fulfilling ancient predictions, very many ages after they were delivered, can never be accounted for, except by allowing, that He who sees and 'declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,' (Isa. xlv. 21.), thus revealed his secret purposes, that their accomplishment might prove the Scriptures to be His word. The prophecies also, though dependency, an entire harmony and agreement with one another; forming written by different men, in different ages, have yet a visible connexion and altogether a prophetical history of the world, as to the grand outlines, from the beginning of time to the consummation of all things; and accompanied termed the geography and chronology of prophecy. As one prediction rewith such a distinct notation of order, place, and time, as has been justly ceived its accomplishment, others were given, connecting prophecy with history, till the Revelation of St. John concluded the whole; and events have hitherto, in every age and nation, exactly corresponded with these