fupernaturally, though not mentioned by Mofes; and the propagation of Blacks from Blacks, whenever that variety in the fpecies took place, is allowed to be according to the common courfe of nature. The copper colour of the Americans, and the low ftature of the Laplanders and Efquimaux, have also been alledged by unbelievers, but to as little purpose.

The objection to the Mofaic history of the long lives of the Antediluvians, and the gigantic ftature of fome of the inhabitants of Palestine, may be eafily paffed without any anfwer; because there is no contradiction in fuppofing it to be true, nor is it fo very improbable that the ftate of mankind may have been very different in former times from what it is at present.

The history of the fall of man is faid to have much the appearance of a fable. But it is fufficient for the purpose of revelation, if it be true in general, that the evils of the prefent ftate were not introduced till the fins of mankind made this ftate of labour

and

and death appear to be the fitteft for them. The fabulous circumftances may poffibly have been introduced by the hieroglyphical manner in which that early hiftory might be first written. But even the literal account may, in moft particulars, have been true.

As to the hiftory of tranfactions so much older than Moses, fo general an account as he has given of them might very well have been tranfinitted through the few generations which preceded him, or it might have been communicated to him by revelation. This, however, is not very probable, fince Mofes no where afferts it; and he seems to be exceedingly exact in diftinguishing all that he received from God, from what he relates of his own knowledge, or the information of others.

SECTION

1

SECTION II.

Of the Objection to revelation from the fuppofed Infpiration of the fcriptures, and others of a fimilar nature.

OME objections to the Jewish and

SOM

chriftian revelations are founded on fmall inconfiftencies, and mistakes in the canonical books of fcripture. But fuch objections as these do not by any means affect the divinity of the fyftem of religion which they contain; because the contents of those books may be true in the main, notwithstanding fuch inconfiftencies and miftakes. All hiftorians, even thofe of the most approved credit, have been subject to fmall inadvertencies and errors. No history of Rome or England was ever written without them; but, do we therefore fay, that there is no truth in them. Nay, the difcovery of fuch fmall mistakes is never ima

gined to affect the credit of the important facts.

Allowing, therefore, that, in the books of Kings, a prince is faid to have reigned one number of years, and in the books of Chronicles another; that one of the Evangelifts fpeaks of both the thieves reviling Chrift, whereas another fays, that only one of them did it; that in one of the Gofpels Chrift is reprefented as purging the temple on the day that he arrived at Jerufalem, and that in another he is not faid to have done it

till the day following (and unbelievers do not pretend to have found any mistakes of more confequence than thefe) how do they invalidate the truth of the general history? In reality, all fuch inconfiftencies as thefe are fo far from making it probable that the whole ftory is a fiction, that, according to the most establifhed methods of eftimating the value of teftimony, they give the greater air of truth to every particular of importance, in which they all agree. We fee, in fact, that true hiftory has always been written in the fame manner; and without

particular

particular contrivance and combination, and confequently without a very strong suspicion of falfehood, hiftories of the fame period, and the fame tranfactions, could not be written otherwife.

Admitting, therefore, that the Evangelifts were mifinformed with,refpect to a variety of incidental circumftances, or even that they overlooked, or did not fufficiently attend to, fome of fuch particulars abovementioned as might have fallen under their own obfervation, are these things of fuch a nature, as to difpofe any perfon to call in queftion the reality of the principal miracles, or their history of the death and refurrection of Chrift? And without this, the proper evidence of christianity is not in the least affected; because, if thefe important facts be true, we have ftill abundant reafon to believe, that Christ will come again to raise the dead, and judge the world, which is the great object and end of our chriftian faith.

The evidence for the truth of all the facts which are related by the fame hiftorian

is