much in the estimation of those who lived under it. It served merely to erect the expectation of better things to come, without indisposing men from the state of discipline and improvement, which was designed to prepare for futurity. The whole Jewish dispensation was a kind of prophecy, which had both an immediate and ultimate end. It immediately separated the Jews from the other nations, and preserved the holy oracles, committed to their custody, from being corrupted by idolatrous intercourse: and it ultimately maintained the hope of the Messias and his reign. The illustration of this view of the antient Jewish law and constitution is the subject of the epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews; that "the law was a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ” - "that it was the shadow of good things to come, but the body was Christ."

"The dispensation of prophecy appears to have been accommodated with great wisdom to the state of the church in every age, to comfort the people of God, and to confirm their faith, according as they and the state of religion required it. On Adam's fall, on Abraham's separation from an idolatrous world, on the dispensation of the new economy by Moses, on the Babylonish captivity, and on the commencement of Christianity, prophecies were communicated with a growing light; and they will become more and more luminous with the progress of events to the end of the world.'

But, though some parts of the prophetic Scriptures are obscure enough to exercise the church, yet others are sufficiently clear to illuminate it and the more the obscure parts are fulfilled, the better they are understood. In the present form of prophecy men are left entirely to themselves; and they fulfil the prophecies without intending, or thinking, or knowing that they do so. The accomplishment strips off the veil; and the evidence of prophecy appears in all its splendour. Time, that detracts something from the evidence of other writers, is still adding something to the credit and authority of the prophets. Future ages will comprehend more than the present, as the present understands more than the past: and the perfect accomplishment will produce a perfect knowledge of all the prophecies. Men are sometimes apt to think that, if they could but see a miracle wrought in favour of religion, they would readily resign all their scruples, believe without doubt and obey without reserve. The very thing which is thus desired we have. We have the greatest and most striking of miracles in the series of Scripture prophecies already accomplished: - accomplished, as we have seen, in the present state of the Arabians, Jews, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Tyre, Nineveh, Babylon, the four great monarchies, the seven churches of Asia, Jerusalem, the corruptions of the church of Rome, &c. &c. "And this is not a transient miracle, ceasing almost as soon as performed; but is permanent and protracted through the course of many generations. It is not a miracle delivered only upon the report of others, but is subject to our own inspection and examination. It is not a miracle deli

1 Dr. Ranken's Institutes, p. 350.

vered only upon the report of others, but is open to the observation and contemplation of all mankind; and after so many ages is still growing, still improving to future ages. What stronger miracle, therefore, can we require for our conviction? Or what will avail if this be found ineffectual? If we reject the evidence of prophecy, neither would we be persuaded though one rose from the dead. What can be plainer? We see, or may see, with our own eyes the Scripture prophecies accomplished; and if the Scripture prophecies are accomplished, the Scripture must be the word of God; and if the Scripture is the word of God, the Christian Religion must be true."1

1 Bp. Newton on Prophecy, vol. ii. pp. 412-416. Bogue on the Divine Authority of the New Testament, pp. 169–171.

THE arguments from miracles and prophecy contained in the preceding chapter, form what has been termed the external evidence that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God: and without seeking for additional testimony, we might safely rest the divine authority of the Bible on those proofs. There are, however, several internal evidences, which, though not so obviously striking as miracles and prophecy, come home to the consciences and judgments of every person whether learned or illiterate, and leave infidels in every situation without excuse. These internal evidences are, the sublime doctrines and the purity of the moral precepts revealed in the Scriptures,the harmony subsisting between every part, their miraculous preservation, and the tendency of the whole to promote the present and eternal happiness of mankind, as evinced by the blessed effects which are invariably produced by a cordial reception and belief of the Bible.

SECTION I.

THE SYSTEM OF DOCTRINE, AND THE MORAL PRECEPTS, WHICH ARE DELIVERED IN THE SCRIPTURES, ARE SO EXCELLENT AND SO PERFECTLY HOLY, THAT THE PERSONS WHO PUBLISHED THEM TO THE WORLD MUST HAVE DERIVED THEM FROM A PURER AND MORE EXALTED SOURCE THAN THEIR OWN MEDITATIONS.

an account

NOTHING false or immoral can be taught by a God of truth and holiness. Accordingly, the account of the Almighty and of his perfections, and the moral precepts which are contained in the Scriptures, commend themselves to our reason, as worthy of the highest and most excellent of all beings. In order, however, that we may form a just and correct idea of the doctrines and duties of religion, which are offered to our consideration in the Bible, it will be necessary to take a brief view of them from the beginning. The sacred volume with that which lies at the foundation of religion, opens of the creation of the world by the Almighty, which is there described in a plain and familiar manner, accommodated to the capacities of man, and with a noble simplicity; together with the original formation of man, who is represented as having been created after the divine image, invested with dominion over the inferior creation (but with a reservation of the obedience which he himself owed to God as his sovereign Lord), and constituted in a paradisaical state, a happy state of purity and innocence. (Gen. i. ii.) In this account there is nothing but what is agreeable to right reason, as well as to the most antient traditions which have obtained among the nations. We are further informed that man fell from that state by sinning against his

Maker,' and that sin brought death into the world, together with all the miseries to which the human race is now obnoxious: but that the merciful Parent of our being, in his great goodness and compassion, was pleased to make such revelations and discoveries of his grace and mercy, as laid a proper foundation for the faith and hope of his offending creatures, and for the exercise of religion towards him. (Gen. iii.) Accordingly, the religion delivered in the Scriptures is the religion of man in his lapsed state: and every one who impartially and carefully investigates and considers it, will find that one scheme of religion and of moral duty, substantially the same, is carried throughout the whole, till it was brought to its full perfection and accomplishment by Jesus Christ. This religion may be considered principally under three periods, viz. the religion of the patriarchal times, the doctrines and precepts of the Mosaic dispensation, — and the doctrines and precepts of the Christian revelation.2

1 The particular injunction, which (Moses tells us) was laid upon our first parents, not to eat of the fruit of a particular tree (Gen. ii. 17.) has been a favourite subject of sneer and cavil with the opposers of revelation. A little consideration, however, will show that it had nothing in it unbecoming the supreme wisdom and goodness. For, since God was pleased to constitute man lord of this inferior creation, and had given him so large a grant and so many advantages, it was manifestly proper that he should require some particular instance of homage and fealty, to be a memorial to man of his dependence, and an acknowledgment on his part that he was under the dominion of a higher Lord, to whom he owed the most absolute subjection and obedience. And what instance of homage could be more proper, circumstanced as man then was, than his being obliged, in obedience to the divine command, to abstain from one or more of the fruits of paradise? It pleased God to insist only upon his abstaining from one, at the same time that he indulged him in full liberty as to all the rest and this served both as an act of homage to the Supreme Lord, from whose bountiful grant he held paradise and all its enjoyments, and was also fitted to teach our first parents a noble and useful lesson of abstinence and self-denial, one of the most necessary lessons in a state of probation; and also of unreserved submission to the authority and will of God, and an implicit resignation to the supreme wisdom and goodness. It tended to habituate them to keep their sensitive appetite in subjection to the law of reason; to take them off from too close an attachment to inferior sensible good, and to engage them to place their highest happiness in God alone and finally, to keep their desire after knowledge within just bounds, so as to be content with knowing what was really proper and useful for them to know, and not presume to pry with an unwarrantable curiosity into things, which did not belong to them, and which God had not thought fit to reveal. Leland's View of the Deistical Writers, vol. ii. pp. 144, 145. The objection here briefly answered is fully treated and refuted by the same learned writer in his Answer to Christianity as old as the Creation, vol. ii. ch. 15.

2 To avoid unnecessary repetitions of references to authorities, the reader is informed that (besides the authors incidentally cited for some particular topics) the following sections are drawn up from a careful examination of Dr. Leland's View of the Deistical Writers, vol. ii. pp. 377-416. and his incomparable work on the Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation, 2 vols. 8vo. ; Bp. Gibson's Pastoral Letters, 12mo.; Dr. Randolph's Discourses, entitled 'The Excellency of the Jewish Law Vindicated,' in the second volume of his 'View of our Blessed Saviour's Ministry,' &c.: the Encyclopædia Biblica of Alstedius, 8vo. Francofurti, 1625; the Breviarium Theologiæ Biblica of Bauer, 8vo. Lipsia, 1803; Mr. Faber's Hora Mosaicæ; Dr. Graves's Lectures on the Pentateuch; the Collection of the Boylean Lectures; Abbadie, Traité de la Vérité de la Religion Chrétienne, tome ii.; and Vernet, Traité de la Vérité de la Religion Chrétienne, tomes ii. iii. See also Mr. T. Erskine's Remarks on the Internal Evidence of Christianity (London, 1821, 12mo.); which an eminent professor justly says, written with unction and eloquence, and are designed chiefly to show that the doctrines of the Gospel are taught not abstractly, but by facts on which they are grounded; that they are thus more easily apprehended and retained, and produce

"are

1. A CONCISE VIEW OF THE RELIGION OF THE PATRIARCHAL TIMES. Patriarchal Doctrines concerning, I. The nature and attributes of God; II. His Worship; and, III. The moral duties of man. I. THE book of Genesis exhibits to us a clear idea of the patriarchal theology. We learn from it that God is the creator of all things (i.), as well as the governor of all things by his general and particular providence (xiv. 19. xlv. 5. 7, 8. I. 20. xxii. 8. 13, 14.); that He is everlasting (xxi. 33.); omniscient, for none but God can know all things, whether past or future (iii. 8—10. xv. 3—16. xviii. 18. compared with Exod. i. 7.); true (Gen. vi. 7. compared with vii. xvii. 20. compared with xxv. 16. xxviii. 15. compared with xxxii. 10.); almighty (xvii. 1. xviii. 14. xxxv. 11.); holy and just (xviii. 25. with xix.); kind (xxiv. 12.); supreme (xiv. 19.); merciful (xxxii, 10.); and long-suffering (vi. 3.); gracious towards those who fear him (vi. 8.); and that, though he sometimes tries them (xxii. 1.), yet he is always with them (xxvi. 3. xxviii. 15. xxxix. 2, 3. 21, 22.), and has an especial regard for them. (xv. 1. xviii. 17. 26—32. xix. 22. xx. 6. xxv. 21. xxvi. 12. xxviii. 15. xxix. 32. xxxi. 42.) We learn further, that God is not the author of sin (i. 31.); and that, since the fall, man is born prone to evil. (vi. 5. vi. 3. viii. 21.) The patriarchs cherished a hope of the pardoning mercy of God towards penitent sinners (iv. 7.), and confided in him, as the judge of all the earth (xviii. 25.), and the great rewarder of them that diligently seek him; which reward they expected, not merely in this present evil world, but in a future state: for we are told that they sought a better country, that is, an heavenly. (v. 22. 24. compared with Heb. xi. 5. xxviii. 13. compared with Matt. xxii. 31, 32. xxv. 8. and xlix. 29. et seq. compared with Heb. ix. 10. 14-16.) To the preceding points we may add, that a hope was cherished from the beginning, originally founded on a divine promise of a great Saviour, who was to deliver mankind from the miseries and ruin to which they were exposed, and through whom God was to make the fullest discoveries of his grace and mercy towards the human race, and to raise them to a high degree of glory and felicity. (iii. 15. xii. 3. xvii. 19. xxii. 18. xxvi. 4. xlix. 10.)

II. These were the chief principles of the religion of the patriarchs, who were animated by a strong sense of their obligation to the practice of piety, virtue, and universal righteousness. They held that it was the duty of man to fear God (xxii. 12. xxxi. 53. xlii. 18.); to bless him for mercies received (xiv. 20. xxiv. 27. 52.); and to supplicate him with profound humility (xvii. 18. xviii. 22. et seq. xxxiv. 9-12.): that the knowledge of God is to be promoted (xii. 8. xxi. 33.); vows made to him are to be performed

a more powerful effect on the mind and conduct; that they remove every obstruc tion out of the way of our access to God; they encourage our attachment to him, and stimulate us to serve him by a holy obedience. In a word, their object is, to bring the character of man into harmony with the character of God." (Dr. Ranken's Institutes of Theology, p. 330.)