with circumstances fufficiently striking to convince any reasonable man of this extraordinary miffion of the divine meffenger? Now, these well-established facts, when weighed in the fcale of reason, seem to carry irresistible conviction, that every thing has been done by God, which was neceffary, to establish this certainty, fo much wanted, fo earnestly defired, and so well adapted to the present condition of man. This also must compel us to acknowledge, that the objection respecting the want of publicity in the resurrection, is extremely abfurd; fince, if we examine this objection, we may eafily perceive that every human individual might equally require that Chrift should also appear to him, &c. (c).

to

I must

(c) Under the ancient œconomy, there were miracles or figns of great notoriety; of these I apprehend I can discover the reasons, and shall accordingly point them out. The nation living under this œconomy, was, properly speaking, one great family, which was never to intermix with the neighbouring nations, in order that the great depofit entrusted to them might fuffer no alteration.

I must not, therefore, fay, This would have been wife; and God ought to have done thus: but

The government of this family was a theocracy; and it was confonant to the spirit of this theocracy, that the minifter of the monarch should be authorized by the monarch himself, to display his commiffion to the family at large, that is, affembled in a national body.

It was, moreover, agreeable to the fame spirit, that the law promulgated by the minister, in the name of the monarch, should be authorized by the most signal and tranfcendent figns, so as to display the awful majesty of the monarch and of these figns the whole family were to be fpectators. There was still another reason for this difpenfation: The minifter of the ancient economy had not been foretold to the nation, by predictions fo precife as to leave no room for mistake concerning his perfon. The great notoriety, therefore, of the miracles and figns which authorized the miffion of this minifter, were neceffarily fuch as might answer all the purposes of prophecy. This difpenfation was undoubtedly adapted to the character and peculiar circumftances of the Jewish nation. It will be eafily conceived what ideas these words, character and circumftances, are intended to convey; and it is needlefs that I fhould point them out.

The plan of the new economy was very different. It was not to be confined to one family alone. All the nations of the earth, for a great series of ages, were to be partakers in it. How would it have been poffible to af femble in one and the fame place all the nations of the

world,

but I must say, God has done this, therefore it is wife. What! shall a being so con

fummately

world, to authenticate to them the new minifter of this new œconomy, which was to take place of the ancient, to perfect it, and render it univerfal?

But if the miffion of this minifter had been foretold, at fundry times, and in divers manners, by many prophecies fufficiently circumftantial with refpect to the time of his coming, so that the character of his person, his functions, &c. could not reasonably be mistaken by that people, who were the first object of his miffion; if other nations could also come to the knowledge of these prophecies; if the minister of this new œconomy was to be endued with fupernatural power and wisdom; if he was to do works which none other had done; if man had never spoken as this man fpoke; if he was to give to other men the power of doing the fame works, and ftill greater; if he was to fend them to all nations, to enlighten them, and to fignify the good-will of the Father of all; if, confequently, he was to endue these meffengers with an extraordinary gift, by the means of which they might communicate their thoughts to these nations, and be by them understood

but the intelligent reader, the friend of truth, has already anticipated me: and to his judgment I refer thefe confiderations.

There yet remains, however, another circumftance which will require his attention. Thefe miracles of the ancient œconomy, which had been wrought before the eyes of a whole nation, have not continued from age to

age

fummately ignorant as I am, prefume to determine on the ways of Wisdom itself? The only occupation which appears proportioned to my weak faculties, is to ftudy the ways of that adorable Wisdom, and to feel the value of his unbounded kindness.

age in that nation. All the fucceeding generations, to our own days, have not seen with their own eyes the fuperb appearance of the fovereign of the Jews, and yet have ftrongly adhered to his law; all have been fully convinced of the truth of this appearance, and of the divine mif fion of the first legiflator. What then has been the logical foundation of this ftrong and permanent perfuafion? Wherefore does the prefent generation perfevere in the belief entertained by the generations before them? This logical foundation undoubtedly refts on oral and written tradition. The proofs, therefore, of the miracles of the ancient œconomy, as well as of the miracles of the new œconomy, depend effentially on the rules of teflimony.

The question, therefore, amounts to this; namely, Whether the teftimonies, on which the miffion of the fecond legiflator refts, are inferior in force to those which eftablish the miffion of the first legiflator? This important inquiry concerns particularly the wife men of that nation, which is difperfed even to this day amongst all people, and which still rejects the miffion of the fecond legiflator, clearly foretold by the first, and foretold in a ftill clearer and more precise manner by later prophets.

CHAP.

CHA P. VIII.

APPARENT CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE DEPOSI

I

TION. REFLECTIONS ON THAT
JECT.

SUB

Said that there exifts a harmony through

out all the various parts of the evidence; that they all appear to have the fame scope and defign: I nevertheless perceive a great difference both as to the form and the matter; nay, I further discover here and there contradictions, at least they appear fo to me. I find difficulties which occur on certain points of genealogy, of places, persons, and facts; and I do not immediately discover a ready folution to these difficulties.

As I have not the least interest to induce me to believe thefe difficulties infurmountable, I do not fet out by imagining they are fo. I have ftudied the logic of the heart as well as that of the mind; I have alfo ac