bowels; but did eftablish governments, fecare obedience, made the laws firm, and the perfons of princes to be facred; it did not oppofe force by force, nor ftrike princes for juftice; it defended itfelf against ene mies by patience, and overcame them by kindness; it was the great inftrument of God to demonftrate his power in our weakneftes, and to do good to mankind by the imitation of his excellent goodDefs,

Laftly, he that confiders concerning the religion and perfon of Mahomet: that he was a vicious perfon, luttful and tyrannical; that he propounded incredible and ridiculous propofitions to his difciples; that it entered by the fword, by blood and violence, by murder and robbery; that it propounds fenfual rewards, and allures to compliance by bribing our bafeft lufts; that it conferves itfelf by the fame means it entered that it is unlearned and foolish, against reafon, and the difcourfes of all wife men; that it did no miracles, and made falfe prophecies; in fhort, that in the perton that founded it, in the article perfuades, in the manner of prevailing, in the reward it offers, it is unholy and foolish and rude: it muft needs appear to be void of all pretence; and that no man of reafon can ever be fairly perfuaded by arguments, that it is the daughter of God, and came down from heaven.

CONCLUSION.

Since therefore there is nothing to be faid for any other religion, and fo very much for Chriftianity, every one of whofe pretences can be proved, as well as the things themselves do require, and as all the world expects fuch things fhould be proved; it follows, that the holy Jefus is the Son of God; that his religion is commanded by God, and is that way by which he will be worshipped and honoured; and that there is no other name under hea ven by which we can be faved, but only the name of the Lord Jefus."

Bifhop Taylor.

202. To the Sceptics and Infidels of the Age.

Gentlemen,

Suppofe the mighty work accomplished, the crois trampled upon, Christianity every where profcribed, and the religion of nature once more become the religion of

Europe; what advantage will you have derived to your country, or to yourselves, from the exchange? I know your anfweryou will have freed the world from the hypocrify of priests, and the tyranny of fuperftition.-No; you forget that Lycurgus, and Numa, and Odin, and MangoCopac, and all the great legiflators of ancient or modern ftory, have been of opinion, that the affairs of civil fociety could not well be conducted without fome religion; you must of neceflity introduce a priesthood, with, probably, as much hypocrify; a religion, with, affuredly, more fuperftition, than that which you now reprobate with fuch indecent and ill-grounded contempt. But I will tell you, from what you will have freed the world; you will have freed it from its abhorrence of vice, and from every powerful incentive to virtue; you will, with the religion, have brought back the depraved morality of Paganifm; you will have robbed mankind of their firm affurance of another life; and thereby you will have defpoiled them of their patience, of their humility, of their charity, of their chastity, of all thofe mi d and filent virtues, which (however deipicable they may appear in your eyes) are the only ones, which meliorate and fublime our nature; which Paganifin never knew, which fpring from Chriflianity alone, which do or might conftitute our comfort in this life, and without the poffeffion of which, another life, if after all there should and more miferable than this is, unless a happen to be one, must be more vicious miracle be exerted in the alteration of our difpofition.

Perhaps you will contend, that the univerfal light of reafon, that the truth and fitnefs of things, are of themselves sufficient to exalt the nature, and regulate the manners of mankind. Shall we never have

done with this groundless commendation of natural law? Look into the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans, and you will fee the extent of its influence over the Gentiles of those days, or if you dislike Paul's authority, and the manners of antiquity; look into the more admired accounts of modern voyagers; and examine its influence over the Pagans of our own times, over the fenfual inhabitants of Otaheite, over the cannibals of New Zeland, or the remorseless favages of America. But thefe men are Barbarians. -Your law of nature, notwithstanding, extends even

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to them-but they have mifufed their reafon; they have then the more need of, and would be the more thankful for that revelation, which you, with an ignorant and faftidious felf-fufficiency deem ufelefs. But, they might of themselves, if they thought fit, become wife and virtuous. I anfwer with Cicero, Ut nihil intereft, utrum nemo valeat, an nemo valere poffit; fic non intelligo quid interfit, utrum nemo fit fapiens, an nemo effe poffit.

Thefe, however, you will-think, are extraordinary inftances; and that we ought not from thefe, to take our measure of the excellency of the law of nature; but rather from the civilized ftates of China and Japan, or from the nations which flourished in learning and in arts, before Christianity was heard of in the world. You mean to fay, that by the law of nature, which you are defirous of fubftituting in the room of the gospel, you do not understand thofe rules of conduct, which an individual, abftracted from the community, and deprived of the inflitution of mankind, could excogitate for himself; but fuch a fyftem of precepts, as the most enlightened men of the most enlightened ages, have recommended to our obfervance. Where do you find this fyftem? We can not meet with it in the works of Stobæus, or the Scythian Anacharfis; nor in thofe of Plato, or of Cicero, nor in thofe of the emperor Antoninus, or the flave Epictetus; for we are perfuaded, that the moft animated confiderations of the geor, and the honeftam, of the beauty of virtue, and the fitness of things, are not able to furnish, even a Brutus himself, with permanent principles of action; much lefs are they able to purify the polluted recefles of a vitiated heart, to curb the irregularities of appetite, or reftrain the impetuofity of paflion in common men. If you order us to examine the works of Grotius, or Puffendorf, of Burlamaqui, or Hutchinfon, for what you understand by the law of nature; we apprehend that you are in a great error, in taking your notions of natural law, as difcoverable by natural reafon, from the elegant fyftems of it, which have been drawn up by Chriftian philofophers; fince they have all laid their foundations, either tacitly or exprefsly, upon a principle derived from revelation. thorough knowledge of the being and attributes of God: and even thofe amongft

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yourselves, who, rejecting Christianity, kill continue Theifts, are indebted to revelation (whether you are either aware of, or dif pofed to acknowledge the debt, or not) for thofe fublime fpeculations concerning the deity, which you have fondly attri buted to the excellency of your own unaffifted reafon. If you would know the real ftrength of natural reason, and how far it can proceed in the investigation or inforcement of moral duties, you mat confult the manners and the writings of thofe, who have never heard of either the Jewish or the Chriftian difpenfation, or of thofe other manifestations of himself, which God vouchfafed to Adam and to the patriarchs, before and after the flood. It would be difficult perhaps any where, to find a people entirely deftitute of tradi tionary notices concerning a deity, and of traditionary fears or expectations of another life; and the morals of mankind may have, perhaps, been no where quite fo abandoned, as they would have been, had they been left wholly to themselves in thefe points: however, it is a truth, which cannot be denied, how much fo ever it may be lamented, that though the generality of mankind have always had fome faint conceptions of God, and his providence; yet they have been always greatly inefficacious in the production of good morality, and highly derogatory to his nature, amongst all the people of the earth, except the Jews and Chriftians; and fome may perhaps be defirous of excepting the Mahometans, who derive all that is good in their Koran from Chriftianity.

The laws concerning juftice, and the reparation of damages, concerning the fecurity of property, and the performance of contracts; concerning, in fhort, whatever affects the well-being of civil society, have been every where understood with fufficient precifion; and if you choose to ftile Juftinian's code, a code of natural law, though you will err against propriety of fpeech, yet you are fo far in the right, that natural reafon difcovered, and the depravity of human nature compelled human kind, to establish by proper fanctions the laws therein contained; and you will have moreover Carneades, no mean philofopher, on your fide; who knew of no law of nature, different from that which men had inftituted for their common utility; and which was various according to the

manners

manners of men in different climates, and changeable with a change of times in the fame. And in truth in all countries where Paganism has been the established religion, though a philofopher may now and then have ftepped beyond the paltry prefcript of civil jurifprudence, in his purfuit of virtue; yet the bulk of mankind have ever been contented with that fcanty pittance of morality, which enabled them to escape the lafh of civil punishment; I call it a fcanty pittance; because a man may be intemperate, iniquitous, impious, a thoufand ways a profligate and a villain, and yet elude the cognizance, and avoid the punishment of civil laws.

I am fenfible, you will be ready to fay, what is all this to the purpose? though the bulk of mankind may never be able to investigate the laws of natural religion, nor difpofed to reverence their fanctions when investigated by others, nor folicitous about any other standard of moral re itude, than civil legiflation; yet the inconveniencies which may attend the extirpation of Christianity, can be no proof of its truth. I have not produced them, as a proof of its truth; but they are a ftrong and conclufive proof, if not of its truth, at lead of its utility; and the confideration of its utility, may be a motive to yourselves for examining, whether it may not chance to be true; and it ought to be a reafon with every good citizen, and with every man of found judgment, to keep his opinions to himself, if from any particular circumstances in his ftudies or in his education he should have the misfortune to think that it is not true. If you can disIf you can dif. cover to the rifing generation, a better religion than the Chriftian, one that will more effectually animate their hopes, and fubdue their paffions, make them better men, or better members of fociety, we importune you to publish it for their advantage; but till you can do that, we beg of you, not to give the reins to their paffions, by instilling into their unfufpicious minds your pernicious prejudices: even now, men fcruple not, by their lawlefs luft, to ruin the repofe of private families, and to fix a stain of infamy on the nobleft: even now, they hefitate not, in lifting up a murderous arm against the life of their friend, or againft their own, as often as the fever of intemperance ftimulates their refentment, or the fatiety of an

ufelefs life excites their defpondency: even now, whilft we are perfuaded of a refurrec tion from the dead, and of a judgment to come, we find it difficult enough to refift the folicitations of fenfe, and to escape unfpotted from the licentious manners of the world: But what will become of our virtue, what of the confequent peace and happinefs of fociety, if you perfuade us, that there are no fuch things? in two words,you may ruin yourselves by your attempt, and you will certainly ruin your country by your fuccefs.

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But the confideration of the inutility of your defign, is not the only one, which fhould induce you to abandon it; the argument a tuto ought to be warily managed, may tend to the filencing our oppopofition to any fyftem of fuperftition, which has had the good fortune to be sanctioned by public authority; it is, indeed, liable to no objection in the prefent cafe; we do not, however, wholly rely upon its cogency. It is not contended, that Chrif tianity is to be received, merely because it is ufeful: but because it is true. This you deny, and think your objections well grounded; we conceive them originating in your vanity, your immorality, or your mifapprehenfion. There are many worthlefs doctrines, many fuperftitious obfervances, which the fraud or folly of mankind have every where annexed to Chriftianity, (especially in the church of Rome) as effential parts of it; if you take these forry appendages to Chriftianity, for Christianity itself, as preached by Chrift, and by the apostles; if you confound the Roman, with the Chriftian religion, you quite misapprehend its nature; and are in a ftate fimilar to that of men, (mentioned by Plutarch, in his treatise of fuperftition) who flying from fuperftition, leapt over religion, and funk into downright atheifm.-Christianity is not a religion very palatable to a voluptuous age; it will not conform its precepts to the ftandard of fashion; it will not leffen the deformity of vice by lenient appellations; but calls keeping, whoredom; intrigue, adultery; and duelling, murder; it will not pander the luft, it will not licenfe the intemperance of mankind; it is a troublesome monitor to a man of pleasure; and your way of life may have made you quarrel with your religion.-As to your vanity, as a caufe of your infidelity, fuffer

me

me to produce the fentiments of M. Bayle upon that head; if the defcription does not fuit your character, you will not be offended at it; and if you are offended with its freedom, it will do you good: This inclines me to believe, that liber tines, like Des-Barreaux, are not greatly perfuaded of the truth of what they fay. They have made no deep examination, they have learned fome few objections, which they are perpetually making a noife with; they fpeak from a principle of oftentation, and give themselves the lie in the time of danger.- Vanity has a greater fhare in their difputes, than confcience; they imagine, that the fingularity and boldness of the opinions which they maintain, will give them the reputation of men of parts:-by degrees, they get a habit of holding impious difcourfes; and if their vanity be accompanied by a voluptuous life, their progrefs in that road is the swifter.'

The main ftrefs of your objections, refts not upon the infufficiency of the external evidence to the truth of Chriftianity; for few of you, though you may become the future ornaments of the fenate, or of the bar, have ever employed an hour in its examination; but it refts upon the difficulty of the doctrines, contained in the New Teftament: they exceed, you fay, your comprehenfion; and you felicitate yourselves, that you are not yet arrived at the true ftandard of orthodox faith,credo quia impoffibile. You think, it would be taking a fuperfluous trouble, to enquire into the nature of the external proofs, by which Chriftianity is eftablished; fince, in your opinion, the book itself carries with it its own refutation. A gentleman as acute, probably, as any of you; and who once believed, perhaps, as little as any of you, has drawn a quite different conclufion from the perufal of the New Teftament; his book (however exceptionable it may be thought in fome particular parts) exhibits, not only a diftinguifhed triumph of reafon over prejudice, of Chriftianity over deifm; but it exhibits, what is infinitely more rare, the character of a man, who has had courage and candour enough to acknowledge it.

But what if there thould be fome incomprehenfible doctrines in the Chriftian religion; fome circumstances, which in their caufes, or their confequences, fur

pafs the reach of human reason; are they to be rejected upon that account? You are, or would be thought, men of reading, and knowledge, and enlarged underftandings; weigh the matter fairly; and confider whether revealed religion be not, in this refpect, juft upon the fame footing, with every other object of your contemplation. Even in mathematics, the science of demonftration itself, though you get over its first principles, and learn to digeft the idea of a point without parts, a line without breadth, and a furface without thickness; yet you will find yourselves at a lofs to comprehend the perpetual apFroximation of lines, which can never meet; the doctrine of incommenfurables, and of an infinity of infinites, each infinitely greater, or infinitely less, not only than any finite quantity, but than each other, In phyfics, you cannot comprehend the primary caufe of any thing; not of the light, by which you fee; nor of the elafticity of the air, by which you hear; nor of the fire, by which you are warmed. In phyfiology, you cannot tell, what first gave motion to the heart; not what continues it; nor why its motion is lefs voluntary, than that of the lungs; nor why you are able to move your arm, to the right or left, by a fimple volition: you cannot explain the cause of animal heat; nor comprehend the principle, by which your body was at firft formed, nor by which it is sustained, nor by which it will be reduced to earth. In natural religi on, you cannot comprehend the eternity or omniprefence of the Deity; nor eafly understand, how his prescience can be confiftent with your freedom, or his immutability with his government of moral agents; nor why he did not make all his creatures equally perfect; nor why he did not create them fooner: In fhort, you cannot look into any branch of knowledge, but you will meet with fubjects above your comprehenfion. The fall and the redemption of human kind, are not more incomprehenfible, than the creation and the confervation of the univerfe; the infinite author of the works of providence, and of nature, is equally infcrutable, equally paft our finding out in them both. And it is fomewhat remarkable, that the deepest inquirers into nature, have ever thought with moft reverence, and spoken with most confidence, concerning thofe things, which

in revealed religion, may feem hard to be understood; they have ever avoided that felf-fufficiency of knowledge, which springs from ignorance, produces indifference, and ends in infidelity. Admirable to this purpofe, is the reflection of the greatest mathematician of the prefent age, when he is combating an opinion of Newton's, by an hypothefis of his own, ftill lefs defenfible than that which he oppofes:-Tous les jours que je vois de ces efprits-forts, qui critiquent les verités de notre religion, et s'en mocquent même avec la plus impertinente fuffifance, je penfe, chetifs mortel! combien et combien des chofes fur lefquels vous raisonnez fi legerement, font elles plus fublimes, et plus elevés, que celles fur lefquelles le grand Newton s'egare fi groffierement.

Plato mentions a fet of men, who were very ignorant, and thought themselves fupremely wife; and who rejected the argument for the being of a God, derived from the harmony and order of the univerfe, as old and trite; there have been men, it feems, in all ages, who, in affecting Engularity, have overlooked truth: an argument, however, is not the worfe for being old; and furely it would have been a more juft mode of reafoning, if you had tumined the external evidence for the truth of Christianity, weighed the old arguments from miracles, and from prophecies, before you had rejected the whole account from the difficulties you met with in it. You would laugh at an Indian, who in peeping into a hiftory of England, and meeting with the mention of the Thames being frozen, or of a fhower of hail, or of how, fhould throw the book afide, as unworthy of his further notice, from his want of ability to comprehend these phæ

nomena.

In confidering the argument from miracles, you will foon be convinced, that it is poffible for God to work miracles; and you will be convinced, that it is as poffible for human teftimony to establish the truth of miraculous, as of phyfical or hiftorical events; but before you can be convinced that the miracles in queftion are fupported by fuch teftimony as deferves to be credited, you must inquire at what period, and by what perfons, the books of the Old and New Teftament were composed; if you reject the account, without making this examination, you reject it from prejudice, not from reafon.

There is, however, a fhort method of examining this argument, which may, perhaps, make as great an impreffion on your minds, as any other. Three men of diftinguished abilities, rofe up at different times, and attacked Chriftianity with every objection which their malice could fuggeft, or their learning could devife; but neither Celfus in the fecond century, ner Porphyry in the third, nor the emperor Julian himself in the fourth century, ever queftioned the reality of the miracles related in the gofpels. Do but you grant us what these men (who were more likely to know the truth of the matter, than you can be) granted to their adverfaries, and we will very readily let you make the most of the magic, to which, as the laft wretched fhift, they were forced to attribute them. We can find you men, in our days, who from the mixture of two colourless liquors, will produce you a third as red as blood, or of any other colour you defire; et dicto citius, by a drop refembling water, will restore the tranfparency; they will make two fluids coalefce into a folid body; and from the mixture of liquors colder than ice, will inftantly raise you a horrid explofion, and a tremendous flame: these, and twenty other tricks they will perform, without having been fent with our Saviour to Egypt to learn magic; nay, with a bottle or two of oil, they will compofe the undulations of a lake; and by a little art, they will reftore the functions of life to a man, who has been an hour or two under water, or a day or two buried in the fnow: but in vain will these men, or the greatest magician that Egypt ever faw, fay to a boisterous fea, "Peace, be still;" in vain will they fay to a carcafe rotting in the grave, "Come forth;" the winds and the fea will not obey them, and the putrid carcafe will not hear them. You need not fuffer yourfelves to be deprived of the weight of this argument; from its having been obferved, that the Fathers have acknowledged the fupernatural part of Paganifm; fince the Fathers were in no condition to detect a cheat, which was fupported both by the difpofition of the people, and the power of the civil magiftrate; and they were, from that inability, forced to attribute to infernal agency what was too cunningly contrived to be detected, and contrived for too impious a purpofe, to be credited as the word of God.