ready advanced with respect to the Old Testa ment, is generally applicable to the New. The Miracles of Christ, like those of Moses, were such as men's outward senses could judge of; and were performed publicly, in the presence of those to whom the Gospel-history of them, was addressed. And it is related, that" about three thousand at one time (Acts ii. 41.) and "about five thousand" at another (iv. 4.) were converted in consequence of what they themselves saw achieved in matters, where it was impossible that they should have been deceived. Here, therefore, were the two first Marks. And, with regard to the two latter, Baptism and the Lord's Supper were instituted as memorials of certain things, not in after-ages, but at the time when these things were said to be done; and have been strictly observed, from that time to this, without interruption. Christ himself, also, ordained Apostles, &c. to preach and administer his Sacraments, and to govern his church" even unto the end of the world." Now the Christian clergy are as notorious a matter of fact amongst us, as the tribe of Levi were among the Jews; and as the era and object of their appointment are part of the Gospel-narrative, if that narrative had been a fiction of some subsequent age, at the time of its fabrication, no such order of men, deriving themselves from such an origin, could have been found; which would have effectually given the lie to the whole story. Ard the truth of the matters of fact of Christ being no otherwise asserted, than as there were at that time (whensoever the Deists will suppose the Gospel to have been fabricated) not only public Sacraments, but likewise a public clergy of his institution to administer them, and it being impossible upon this hypothesis that there could be any such things then in existence, we must admit it to be equally impossible that the forgery should have been successful. Hence it was as impossible to have deceived mankind, in respect to these matters of fact, by inventing them in after ages, as at the time when they were said to be done. The matters of fact, reported of Mahomet and of the Heathen Deities, do all want some of these Four Marks, by which the certainty of facts is established. Mahomet himself, as he tells us in his Koran, (vi. &c.) pretended to no miracles; and those, which are commonly related of him, pass even among his followers for ridiculous legends, and as such are rejected by their scholars and philosophers. They have not either of the two first Marks; for his converse with the moon, his night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, and thence to Heaven, &c. were not performed before any witnesses; nor was the tour, indeed, of a nature to admit human attestation: and to the two latter they do not even affect to advance any claim. The same may be affirmed, with little variation, of the stories of the Heathen Deities; of Mercury's stealing sheep, Jupiter's transforming himself into a bull, &c., besides the absurdity of such degrading and profligate adventures. And accordingly we find, that the more enlightened Pagans themselves considered them as fables involving a mystical meaning, of which several of their writers have endeavoured to give us the explication. It is true, these Gods had their priests, their feasts, their games, and other public ceremonies; but all these want the fourth Mark, of commencing at the time when the things, which they commemorate, were said to have been done. Hence they cannot secure mankind in subsequent ages from imposture, as they furnish no internal means of detection at the period of the forgery. The Bacchanalia, for example, and other heathen festivals, were established long after the events to which they refer; and the priests of Juno, Mars, &c. were not ordained by those imaginary deities, but appointed by others in some after age to their honour, and are, therefore, no evidence of the truth of their preternatural achievements. To apply what has been said. We may challenge all the Deists in the world to show any fabulous action, accompanied by these Four Marks. The thing is impossible. The histories of the Old and New Testament never could have been received, if they had not been true; because the priesthoods of Levi and of Christ, the observance of the Sabbath, the Passover, and Circumcision, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, &c. are there represented as descending uninterruptedly from the times of their respective institution. And it would have been as impossible to persuade men in after-ages, that they had been circumcised or baptized, had circumcised or baptized their children, and celebrated Passovers, Sabbaths, and Sacraments under the ministration of a certain order of priests, if they had done none of those things; as to make them believe at the time, without any real foundation, that they had gone through seas on dry land, seen the dead raised, &c. But, without such a persuasion, it was impossible that either the Law or the Gospel could have been received. And the truth of the matters of fact of each being no otherwise asserted, than as such public ceremonies had been previously practised, their certainty is established upon the FULL CONVICTION OF THE SENSES OF MANKIND. I do not say that every thing, which wants these Four Marks, is false; but that every thing, which has them all, must be true. I can have no doubt that there was such a man as Julius Cæsar, that he conquered at Pharsalia, and was killed in the Senate-house; though neither his actions, nor his assassination, are commemorated by any public observances. But this shows, that the matters of fact of Moses, and of Christ, have come down to us better certified than any other whatsoever. And yet our Deists, who would consider any one as hopelessly irrational that should offer to deny the existence of Cæsar, value themselves as the only men of profound sense and judgment, for ridiculing the histories of Moses and of Christ, though guarded with infallible marks which that of Cæsar wants. Besides, the nature of the subject would of itself lead to a more minute examination of the one, than of the other; for of what consequence is it to me, or to the world, whether there ever were such a man as Cæsar; whether he conquered at Pharsalia, and was killed in the Senate-house, or not? But our eternal welfare is concerned in the truth of what is recorded in the Scriptures; and, therefore, they would naturally be more narrowly scrutinized, when proposed for acceptance. How unreasonable, then, is it to reject matters of fact so important, so sifted, and so attested; |