Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

with itself, or that the different accounts of the fame tranfaction are not altogether confiftent with each other.

These men of genius may difcover fome things that are frivolous or weak in the difcourfes of the facred writers, and fome things inconclufive in their reasoning, efpecially in their quotations from, and their application of the Old Teftament; and taking it for granted that (as indeed the profeffors of christianity have too generally and incautiously boafted) the books which contain the history of our religion are as perfect as the religion itself, haftily conclude, that because the books of fcripture were written by men, and bear the marks of human imperfection, therefore the scheme in which they were engaged was wholly of men, and had nothing fupernatural in it; without reflecting that thofe very imperfections in the books of fcripture, at which they are fo much offended, demonftrate that the writers. of them were incapable of contriving such a fcheme, or of procuring credit to it; and alfo without reflecting that, on the very VOL. II. F fame

fame grounds, they might reject the whole current of antient history, no part of which has been written with perfect accuracy, uniformity, or even confiftency. For here, as in the fcripture hiftory, different historians agree in their accounts of the principal things only; but as certainly differ in their accounts of leffer circumftances.

Men of taste and fcience are alfo exceedingly apt to be ftruck with the idea of what appears, on the first view, to be rational and liberal in their fentiinents, and remote from vulgar prejudices; and because the bulk of mankind are, in many refpects, credulous, and often think very abfurdly, these gentlemen, though they will not avow it, and indeed may not be fenfible of it, are fecretly difpofed to reject what others admit, and to pride themselves in their fingularity in this refpect; thinking it more great, noble, and philofophical, to err on the fide of incredulity; whereas they ought to confider that the underftandings of all mankind being naturally fimilar, even the lowest of the vulgar, when lying under no prejudice (and

men

men of letters are fubject to their peculiar prejudices as well as the illiterate) must be as capable of judging concerning truth, and efpecially concerning facts, as themselves; that their opinions, if they are not true, are founded upon fomething analogous to truth, though the analogy may be faulty; and therefore are not to be rejected at random, but are themselves an object worthy of philofophical inveftigation. A true philofopher will no more fatisfy himfelf without endeavouring to trace the rife and progress of prevailing opinions, than without underftanding the caufe of any other general appearance in nature.

The opinion of men of letters, however, and of speculative perfons of all kinds, will always have great weight with many who do not pretend to fpeculation. As they will not take the pains to think for themfelves, they chufe to think with philofophers rather than with the vulgar; not confidering that men of learning and genius, who are ever fo capable of determining juftly, have no advantage over the reft of mankind, F 2 unless

unless they will carefully attend to a subject, and make themfelves mafters of it; and that a politician might as well be expected to be an aftronomer, or an aftronomer a politician, as that a mere philofopher fhould be a competent judge of the evidences of chriftianity, when his attention to them has been very fuperficial, if he have attended to them at all.

I will not deny that fome unbelievers are ferious and inquifitive men; they even with to find christianity to be true, and have fome fecret hope that it may be fo; but they cannot fully fatisfy themfelves with refpect to many objections which they have heard made to it; fo that the arguments in favour of it do not, at least they do not always preponderate with them. Were a very great number of perfons in this situation, it would be a circumftance, I readily own, that might afford a reasonable foundation for doubt, or at leaft for fufpence; but confidering how very few thefe ferious and inquifitive unbelievers are, in comparison with the numbers who are profligate and thoughtless

thoughtless among them, I think that no conclufion can be drawn from the confideration of it, unfavourable to the evidences of chriftianity. For what caufe is there fo good and fo clear, as that every person can be brought to join in it?

Some of the perfons above-mentioned may have been much in the way of fenfible and fubtile unbelievers, to whofe objections, through want of prefence of mind, or of a fufficiently comprehenfive acquaintance with the fubject, they have not been able readily to reply; or, being perfons of weak and timid difpofitions, they may have been led by their extreme anxiety to give more attention to the objections which have been thrown in their way than to the plain and folid arguments in favour of chriftianity; on which account only the former may have made more impreffion upon their minds than the latter; whereas if they had been more converfant with chriftians and chriftian writers, and lefs with unbelievers and their writings, they would have thought as well of the evidences of chriftianity as of christianity

F 3

« PreviousContinue »