not enjoin; or any doctrine, of the truth of which reafon cannot judge, with thofe of which it can; the authority of Gon is fo compleat, that reafon itself indifpenfably obliges us to believe whatever doctrines he shall pleafe to reveal, and obey whatever duties he fhall please to enjoin.

σε

When therefore the Author concludes "That "the Religion of Nature is the ftandard by which "we should meafure the Merits of all other Re"ligions; and that That which approaches nearest "to the Purity and Perfection of This, we should efteem the best *: It is agreed, That

no written Religion can be admitted as a Divine Revelation, which enjoins the Practice of any thing in its own nature wrong, or the Belief of any thing that is falfe. But if any writings; whofe morality, like that of the New Teftament, is the very perfection of all reafon; not only lay claim to divine infpiration, but actually produce all the external evidence of their being revealed from God, which the nature of the things can admit; how many Points foever they may contain, which reafon could never have difcovered; and how many Rites foever they may prefcribe, which mere reafon could never have enjoined; All that they contain, The Mysterious Truths they reveal, and the Ceremonies they enjoin, as well as the Moral Duties they recommend, must be received and fubmitted to as Divine +.

66

* P. 372.

SECT.

+ When the Author fays (p. 16.) That the Jews were, and ftill are, too fond of their rituals, and of the ceremonial parts of their religion; At least that they appear fo to us, "who are convinced that things of this nature are abfolutely "indifferent:"He only gives us a fpecimen, either of his difingenuoufnefs, or the confufion of his ideas.

Before the coming of CHRIST, the Jews were no further to blame in being attached to their ceremonies, than as they fuffered an attention to Them, to fupplant their obedience to the

moral

SECT. IX.

The Author's Arguments founded on Matthew xvi. 27, 28; and fome Other Paffages, confidered.

W

E have now confidered all the Arguments drawn from the Nature of Revelation in general, which the Author has, in his manner, al

leged,

moral virtues; because the exact observance of the ceremonies prefcribed in their Law was their abfolute duty; though by no means their only, or even chief duty: and they are feverely, and repeatedly reproved in the Old Teftament, for their preference of pofitive precepts to thofe of Moral Virtue. Since the coming of CHRIST, the fault of the Jews confists, not in their being attached to the Ceremonies of the Law of Mofes, but to the Law itself; long fince superfeded by the coming of the MESSIAH. But while they adhere to their Law itself as still in force, their obfervance of its ceremonies, as far as they can now observe them, is fo far from being a matter of indifference to them, that it is their obvious duty.

And whereas the Author is pleased to fay (p. 17.) "That "CHRIST never difputed the Divine Miffion of Mofes with "the Jerus:" Which founds as if he would infinuate, that CHRIST did not in reality acknowledge it, but thought it a point not worth contending with them about;- Certain it is, that CHRIST did fo exprefsly acknowledge the Divine Authority both of Mofes, and his Writings, that the Divine Pretenfions of CHRIST and Mofes muft fland, or fall together.

Thus when the Pharifees came to JESUS, and asked him whether it was lawful for a man to put away his wife for every caufe? (Matth. xix. 3.) JESUS immediately referred them to Mofes's Account of the Creation. "Have ye not read that he "which made them at the beginning, made them male and fe"male? &c."-And then added from himself, -What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put afunder. It was impoffible for him to give a ftronger atteltation to the Divine Authority both of Mofes and his books than he has here given. Again we find JESUS exprefsly referring to Mofes's account of the death of Abel; ftiling him a Prophet, and the first that was flain after the formation of the world. (Luke xi. 50, 51)

-At

leged, to prove that only the Moral Paffages of the New Testament can be confidered as the genuine Doctrines of CHRIST; and that even they

are

At another time, he exprefsly afferted the truth of Mofes's Hiftory of Noah and the Flood. (Matth. xxiv. 37-39.)-On another occafion we find JESUS inftructing the people, that it was their duty to obey all the commands (evidently meaning fuch as were lawful) which the Scribes and Pharifees enjoined them, though not to imitate their practice; Because they were the perfons appointed to explain to them the precepts of the Law of Mofes :-Then fpake JESUS to the multitude, and to his difciples, Jaying, The Scribes and Pharifees fit in Mofes's feat: All therefore, whatsoever they bid you obferve, obferve and do, &c. (Matth. xxiii. 1, &c.)- Agreeably to which, in answer to the Pharifees, he cited the Fifth Commandment of the Two Tables of the Law of Mofes, and repeatedly declared that it was the Commandment of God. (Matth. xv. 3, 4, 6. Mark vii. 7 -11, 13.) And thus in his Sermon on the Mount, he commanded,- Whatfoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even fo to them; upon this very account, that this was the Law and the Prophets; (Matth. vii. 12.) Or, in other words, the Sum and Substance of the Morality enjoined in them. So again, in the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Answer which JESUS puts into the Mouth of Abraham, to the rich man's request for his Brethren, is-They have Mofes and the Prophets, let them hear Them; evidently fignifying, that their obedience to the Law of Mofes, and to the Prophets, would be fufficient to fecure their Acceptance, and prevent their incurring that Punishment into which he is represented to have come. And upon the Rich Man's reply, he makes Abraham return that emphatical Declaration; If they hear not Mofes and the Prophets (whofe Divine Authority they fo well know and confefs, neither will they be perfuaded though one rofe from the dead. (Luke xvi. 29, 31.). When again the Sadducees queftioned JESUS, whose wife the woman fhould be in the Refurrection, who had been wife to the seven brethren; JESUS replied-Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, i. e. Ye do there fore err, becaufe ye do not rightly understand what is declared in the Books of Mofes and the Prophets And to prove to them, the Sadducees, the falfehood of one of the favourite tenets of their Sect, he immediately referred them to a very remarkable paffage in one of the Books of Mofes. But as touching the Refurrection of the dead, have ye not read THAT WHICH WAS SPOKEN TO YOU BY GOD, Jaying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob? (Matth. xxii. 31, 32.)

Here

145 are not to be regarded as a Revelation, in the proper fenfe of the word.. But as he has likewife thrown out fome obfervations, though not new ones, upon a few particular Paffages of the New Teftament; in order, as far as appears, by attempting to expofe them, to fet afide more effectually the revealed Authority of the Whole; it is incumbent upon us, when fo far engaged, to inquire into the truth, or falfehood, of his observations on those few passages he has chosen to attack.

He afferts, in general terms, that many paffages of the New Teftament are of fuch a nature, that either they must have been corruptions of what it originally was; or, if they were not corruptions, that the New Teftament itself could not

Here we find JESUS exprefsly affirming, That God really did appear to Mofes at the bush, and fay to him there what Mofes has related. On another occafion JESUS told the Jers "That he himself would not accuse them to God; that there was one that accufed them, even Mofes, in whom they trusted;" and then immediately added, For had ye believed Mofes, ye would have believed me; FOR HE WROTE OF ME. (John v. 45, 46.) Agreeably to which we are ftill more fully informed, that when he walked with the two Difciples to Emmaus, after his Refurrection,-Beginning at MOSES, and all the Prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures (of the Old Teftament) the things concerning himself: Luke xxiv. 27. And but just before his Afcenfion he told his Difciples, Thefe are the words which I fpake unto you, while I was yet with you; That all things might be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Mofes, and the Prophets, and the Pfalms, concerning Me. (Ibid. ver.. 44.) And thus he exprefsly declared Efaias to be a Prophet.. (Matth. xv. 7.)-After this we may venture to affert, that if JESUS himself was an infpired Meffenger, fent from the God of Truth; who, as he himself declared, Came into the world to bear witness unto the Truth; (John xviii. 37.) Mofes must likewife have been a fpecial Meffenger from God. To confirm which JEsus exprefsly declared; (Matth. v. 17.) That he came, not to destroy, but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets; plainly acknowledging the Divine Authority of Both. L

be

be written by perfons under the influence of Divine Inspiration *.

To prove this he cites Matth. xvi. 27, 28; and alleges, that Jesus is there reprefented as explicitly foretelling, that he fhould come" to judge

the world," while fome of those to whom he was then speaking were yet alive: and then from this pofition he contends, that fince this event had not even yet come to pafs, CHRIST muft of neceffity have been a falfe prophet; or, which he thinks the more probable opinion, that JESUS never really faid what is there attributed to him +. The Verfes referred to are thefe:

Matth. xvi. 27. The Son of man fhall come in the glory of his Father, with his Angels; and

then be fhall reward every man according to his works.

28. Verily, I fay unto you, there be fome Standing here, which shall not tafte of death, till they fee the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.

The point in queftion is, whether the laft of thefe verfes relates to the national punishment of the Jews; or, as the Author would interpret it, to the final judgment of the world. And he fays,

that ch. xvi. 28. relates to the fame event with ch. xxiv. 34Verily I fay unto you, this generation fhall not pass till all these things be fulfilled; and confequently, to the fame event with chap. xxiv. 30And they shall fee the Son of Man, coming in the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory.

From thefe principles he attempts to establish his affertion by alleging, Firit, That it is faid in the title of contents at the head of chap. xxiv."ver. 29. The figns of his coming to judgment, "&c" which, he fays, fhews, that the tranfla

P. 315.

J

See p. 315, 318.*

tors