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"invention of the historians concerned in recording it? No; there is an uniformity runs through it, which will never suffer us to think it the casual production of 66 a number of men, so remote in their ages, divided in their interests, and distinguished in their geniuses. For did "these men, utter strangers to any general design, each of them direct his fortuitous "labours on his own detached part so ex

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6.6

actly according to rule and measure, that out of all these parts accidentally put "together, there arose as out of a chaos,

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one harmonious and well proportioned "whole? No reasonable inquirer can ac

quiesce in so absurd a solution; because "it supposes chance to be the parent of "final causes; and to act, under different "circumstances, with a view to one deter"minate end."

Under this consideration "what acces"sion of strength will now be made to the "credit of the historians? For here will be now a number of historians mutually supporting each other; historians of dif "ferent ages, different countries, different

66

66 com

complexions, abilities, educations, persuasions, interests; different in all other parts of their character; yet, as historians, perfectly consistent. Now, what "one motive can possibly be thought of, "if we set aside the conviction of truth, "that might have this uniform influence

on writers so various? It could not be

any ingredient in their constitution, for "here are the sanguine and the phlegmatic, "the active and the contemplative, the “warm and the sedate, some who enjoyed "all the fire of imagination, and others "who possessed all the coolness of judg

ment. It could not be any similarity of "education, any prepossession of senti"ments, or adherence to favourite prin

ciples, nor, lastly, any union of interests: "for here were the ignorant and the learned, those of simple unadorned minds, "and those who had been enriched and "refined with all the advantages of culture "and instruction: some trained up in all "the affluence and splendor of a court, some who hardly aspired above the hu

17

mility of a cottage: here were the suc

cessful

"cessful and the unfortunate, the martial "and the timorous, the monarch and the "mechanic; in short, here were men en"gaged in the most discordant scenes of "life. Now when we see a plan so far beyond the compass of human genius to "comprehend, described by the joint assistance of men in every circumstance so distinguished, and this executed with the same consistency and uniformity as if it "had been the regular work of some great "and single genius; what can we conclude, "but that the spirit of divine wisdom pre"sided over the whole work, assigning each "his part, and so conducting him through "it that this universal harmony might still "be preserved ?"

"That power and wisdom," adds the same author, "which could preserve con"sistence through such a series of facts

must not have been short-lived, transient,

or interrupted, but must have continued "in action from the beginning to the end "of the series: and because towards the "end is placed a great event, to which every preceding part has a manifest relation,

"that

"that wisdom must also from the very

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original have had a clear view and per"fect assurance of its completion. But "these are characters of wisdom and power applicable alone to the divine. For that "wisdom which could guide a progression "of facts through so immense a space of "time with an uniform direction to one "determinate end, could be no other than "the wisdom which foresees, all future " events; and that power which could "guard it through all interfering and op"posing occurrences, turning aside every "contrary force, which might have weaken"ed or destroyed its tendency to the des"tined end, could be no other than the "power which gives motion to, and with"draws it from, every dependent being."

The argument, so ably supported in these extracts, might be extended with good effect to the several writers of the New Testament: The same wisdom and power is visible in them all. They all record the same event, they all draw the same important inference from it. No discordant opinions are found amongst them, whatever may be discovered

amongst

amongst their commentators.

So ardent is the zeal of St. Paul, that the unity, if I may so call it, of the gospel should not be interrupted, that he exclaims," though we or an angel from heaven preach any other

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gospel, than that which we have preached "to you, let him be accursed." In support of this observation, the apostle endeavours to establish the truth of his preaching, by assuring his Galatian converts, that his doctrines, though the same with those of other preachers of the gospel, were received by immediate inspiration, and not by consultation. His early adoption of the prejudices of his nation, and his violent persecution of the professors of christianity, rendered it unlikely that he should have listened to their persuasions. As soon as it pleased God, by his grace, to call him to be his disciple, "immediately," he says, "ferred not with flesh and blood;" he sought not the company of believers, but independently preached the gospel which he had so miraculously received.

"I con

This surely must be considered as an additional proof of the truth of christianity.

Had