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nation, arising from the perfection of his nature, to make men archangels, or to make all men equal in rank or fagacity. His difpenfations 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 goodnefs, or any diminution of his eternal and unalterable felicity.

Its

NOR is it poffible for us to judge how far it may be confiftent with the views of his providence, to make this revelation univerfal. good effects may be fo, though it is not univerfally 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 conclufion unfavourable to Christianity can be drawn from the circumftance of its being known in fome parts only. of the world, and not till four thousand years after the creation. For if it had been known one. thousand, or three thousand years fooner, a captious mind might ftill afk, 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

fels, and who fees at once the paft, the prefent, and the future, can alone determine when any particular difpenfation of Providence ought to begin; how quick or how flow it ought to be in its progrefs; and when it is to be completed. Many discoveries, beneficial to mankind, have been made in modern times. How abfurd would it be to fuppofe 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 progreffive. If at once, and in the beginning, man had received all the good things that a gracious Creator had deftined for him, his life could not have been a state of probation; and we, having no defires ungratified, no faculties unimproved, and nothing further to hope or fear, must have been equally incapable of activity and of happiness,

CHAP. II.

THE GOSPEL HISTORY IS TRUE.

THE gospel history being conveyed to us in

writing, the only poffible way in which it could be fafely conveyed through the long fucceffion of feventeen hundred years, its evidences muft, in part, depend on human teftimony. In fome refpects, however, they are peculiar, and differ materially from thofe of other hiftories. No circumftance of the life of Julius Cæfar; the battle of Pharfalia, for example, the deftruction of the Nervii, or the invasion of Britain; is alluded to, fo far as I know, in any writings previous to the birth of that commander: but many of the facts recorded in the gospel, though feemingly of far lefs magnitude, bear a striking resemblance to events foretold by Jewish prophets, who lived feveral hundred years before the birth of Chrift. The particulars of Cæfar's life, the fpeeches he made, and the great tranfactions 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 fon of a carpenter of Judea, and by fome 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 fee and, feel the confequences.

THE evidences of the gofpel, therefore, are to be treated very differently from thofe of other hiftorical records. I fhall firft confider it, merely as a portion of ancient hiftory. Secondly, I fhall fpeak of it as the accomplishment of certain prophecies. And I fhall 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.

SECTION I.

THE GOSPEL CONSIDERED AS A PORTION OF ANCIENT

HISTORY.

As a fhort preface to what I have to say on the evidence of the gofpel, confidered as a portion of ancient hiftory, 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 uneafy and a fort of force upon nature; and the fame thing is true of speaking or declaring what is contrary to one's belief. At least this is the general rule. Long practice in falfehood, or in walking fideways or backward, may no doubt render it easy, but it requires long practice to make it so.

We

WE naturally believe what others tell us. truft the word of a man of whofe honefty we have had experience; but we alfo credit teftimony previous to experience: for children who have least experience are most credulous. It is from. having experienced the dishonesty of men, and