wards and punishments, and the consummate harmony of all its parts, give it a finish, which happily corresponds with the works of creation and provi dence. If this system be compared with literary productions, with codes of civil law, with epic poems, or with the most approved moral systems, it exceeds them as much as the works of nature exceed the works of art. And can it be supposed, that Peter and his brethren framed a system which infinitely exceeds them all? Had they fabricated the gospel, they would, at least, have imitated the philosophers and poets, in taking some part of the honor to themselves. But with one voice they all affirm, that they received these things of the Lord Jesus. "We are not sufficient of ourselves to reason out or collect any of them: our sufficiency is of God."

I therefore conclude, that a religion which gives us the sublimest ideas of the divine perfections, offers him the purest worship, and discovers an honorable way of suffering sinners to approach him: a religion which regulates all our passions, presents us with a suitable scheme of regeneration, discloses a ravishing prospect of a future state, and elevates the human nature to all possible happiness and glory in heaven, is every way worthy of the author of nature, and the

ruler of the universe.

SECTION XI.

4 GENERAL VIEW OF THE INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EVIDENCES OF THE INSPIRATION OF MOSES, THE PROPHETS, AND THE APOSTLES; AND OF THE TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY.

"Nihil magnum sine offlatu divino."

"Nothing is great without the divine inspiration."

1. By inspiration is meant, a revelation of the good pleasure of God, which could not have been discoverd by the light of nature.

1. This was frequently made to the patriarchs by a personal appearance of the Messiah." Sometimes he appeared in a fiery cloud, and sometimes he veiled his glory in the human form. In this way, Moses was favored with the greater part of his revelations respecting the Jews. He presented himself before the cloudy pillar, and received the living oracles im

mediately from God.

2. To Abimelech, Pharaoh, Solomon and others, the Lord spake in dreams. The dreams were natural, but the agency was divine. It seemed natural for Pharaoh to dream of seven thin ears of corn, and of seven full ears; but the seven years of plenty, and the seven years of famine which followed, demonstrated both the dream and the interpretation to be of God. This, among innumerable occurrences, illustrates the doctrine of a particular providence. Because the universe is governed by an established order, and the seasons follow one another without interruption, impious men have presumed, either that there is no God, or that

"The universal cause

"Acts not by partial but by general laws."

So it may seem to those who have never considered providence in a moral view. But in the year 1799 and 1800, he afflicted this country with short harvests, and gave our German neighbors, in the same parallel of latitude, very abundant crops !

3. The third and the most frequent way of receiving the divine communications was by vision; that is, by a supernatural representation of an object to the mind while the person was awake. This seems the only circumstance in which it differed from revelation made by dreams.

4. Divine communications were sometimes made

to holy men, by what is termed plenary inspiration. They were suddenly filled with the divine impetus, and broke forth in extemporaneous effusions of discourse or song, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

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5. Revelation was frequently accompanied by miracles. These were sometimes performed to confirm a young prophet in the belief of his mission. The Lord gave Moses in his rod a double sign concerning his mission to Pharaoh; and Gideon required a double sign concerning his call to emancipate his country. Miracles were also performed to establish the truth of unaccomplished predictions, and to convert the people to the true religion. When the man of God cried against the altar of Bethel, and announced to Jeroboam and his priests, that their idol should prove their destruction, and that a child should be born who would burn men's bones upon it, he gave them a sign, by rending the altar, and scattering the ashes, 1 Kings xiii.

6. The inspiration of holy men was limited to the object in view. Heaven was not profuse of its choicest favors, and the prophets would have laid down their lives sooner than have added conjecture to revelation. Isaac was instructed to bless his son, but he knew not that he was blessing Jacob instead of Esau. Moses did not know the object of the tribes who wished for an inheritance on the eastern banks of the Jordan. Samuel did not know the voice of God till he had called the third time; and when sent to anoint a son of Jesse king over Israel, he did not know the youth till the Spirit had pointed him out. And Elisha, another of the great prophets, frankly confessed his ignorance of the Shunamite's sorrow when she prostrated at his feet. The apostles, in like manner, though filled with the Holy Ghost, did not know that the Gentiles were to be received into the church until first proselyted to Judaism.

7. With regard to the style and composition of the sacred writings, though the Holy Spirit dictated the language, he nevertheless condescended to human weakness, by allowing the inspired person to express himself in his usual manner. Isaiah was a man of distinction and literature, which accounts for the puv and elegance of his style. Amos was a herds

'man: hence his language is plain, and his similes correspond with his occupation and simplicity; but his unction is worthy of his cause.

8. Some good men have thought, without sufficient examination, that the historical books of the Old Testament were written with less inspiration than the prophetic writings. But if it be considered, that these books exhibit a grand scheme of providence concerning the sins and punishment of the wicked, the sufferings and preservation of the righteous; that they are replete with important predictions; that they are often cited in the New Testament, as divine books; we must regard them as composed under the peculiar influences of the Holy Spirit. "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righte

ousness.

II. The inspiration of Moses as a prophet, and his credibility as a historian, are sufficiently confirmed by evidence from his works.

1. The account he has given us of the creation is perfectly philosophical, and amazingly sublime. But the fragments we have concerning it in the writings of the Egyptians, the Chaldees, and the Chinese, are extremely absurd, and they terminate in fable and confusion. Hence there is no absurdity in presuming, that he derived his knowledge from a purer source.

2. Moses lived in an age of the grossest ignorance and superstition, in which divine homage was paid to beasts and herbs; and he has given us an idea of the being and perfections of God, which has never been improved. Whence then, if not divinely inspired, could he so far excel all the writers who lived near his age, and arrive all at once to a perfect knowledge of theology?

3. Moses has also written an account of the origin of evil; the destruction of the world by the deluge; the confusion of languages at Babel; and the genealogy of the families who populated the earth. These are historic occurrences of the greatest notoriety;

and they could not have been unknown to the ancient writers among the heathen. But these writers, according to the usage of their age, have involved the whole of tradition in fable. The theogeny of Homer is intolerably faulty in this respect. The pagan priests, to induce the people to pay divine honors to the deceased patriarchs, feigned them all to be descended from the superior gods by monstrous amours, conceptions, and births. But the disguise may be removed by reading Adam for Saturn, Eve for Pandora, Eden for the garden of Jupiter, Noah for Ogyges or Deucalion, Lot and his wife, who fled from Sodom, for Orpheus and Eurydice, Abraham and Sarah, who dwelt under the oak at Mamre, for Philemon and Baucis. Most of these elucidations of pagan fable have been successfully urged by the primitive fathers in their books against the Gentiles, in favor of the Mosaic history. The names of cities and nations mentioned by Moses, have also been occasionally identified by several of the ancients; and latterly the learned Bochart has rendered essential service to religion, by exhibiting them in a general view. The credibility of Moses, concerning the origin of nations from the patriarch Noah, is further confirmed by their similarity in important customs. It is observed by Homer, that they all respect the seventh day; and by Aristotle, that both the polished and barbarous nations number by tens. And no man will deny, that all nations, however they differ in color, or in smaller customs, have offered sacrifices to the deity, and honored the memory of the dead.

4. If Moses were not divinely inspired, it appears from his writings that he was extremly defective in judgment; and of this he has never been accused. He prohibited the Jews from ploughing and sowing their land the seventh year, and from reaping that which grew of itself. He promised, contrary to the course of nature, that the sixth year should produce a double quantity of grain. God seems to have intend

this sabbatical year to be a figure of the peace and