not as reasonably believe, that thousands of shrewd men, were once turred into stupid asses? 2. If ye believe, that the gospel is the production of human deceit; and yet, that in the prodigious number of apostates once concerned in carrying on the amazing villany, such as Judas, Demas Simon Magus, Alexander the coppersmith, who did St. Paul so much evil, &c. not one was ever found, that would prove the forgery: might you not as reasonably believe, that if Mr. Wilkes and all his friends, knew of a gross villany, carried on by the ministry, in order to turn the kingdom upside down; neither he, nor any one of them, could ever be prevailed upon to disclose and prove it to the world*? 3. Ye believe that the miracles and resurrection of Christ, together with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, were nothing but enthusiastical or kuavish pretensions: and yet ye are forced to grant, that thousands of Jews, strongly attached to their religion, amazingly averse to that of Jesus, and guilty of persecuting him unto death, took him openly for their Saviour a few weeks after they had seen him publicly scourged: and in the very city, in sight of which he had just been crucified between two thieves. Now is not this as absurd as to believe, that if a few fishermen cried up the last person hanged in London, for a notorious forgery; and if they affirmed that he was the Son of God, appealing to a great number of miracles, supposed to have beeen wrought by him in the squares and hospitals of the metropolis, and especially in St. Paul's church-yard: and maintaining that some of them had been acknowledged genuine by thef great council of the nation: they could by such notorious lies, engage thousands of citizens and some aldermen, to put all their trust in the villain hanged at their special request? 4. Ye believe, that Christianity is a gross imposture; and yet ye cannot deny, that thousands of learned Romans and wise Greeks, who agreed to despise the Jews above all other men, took for their Saviour that very Jesus, of whom his own countrymen had been ashamed, and whom they had crucified as an impostor. Is not this as absurd as to believe, that thousands of wise Englishmen, and sensible Frenchmen, could be induced by the absurd tale of two or three Hottentots, to worship a certain Hottentot, whom the whole nation of Hottentots had condemned * Pliny, a learned and prudent Roman governor, who was employed by the emperor Trajan in stopping the progress of Christianity, wrote to him, that the apostates affirmed, "That the whole of their crime had been to meet before day, and sing a hymn to Christ as to their God." His own words are: "Affirmabant hanc fuisse suman vel culpæ suæ, vel erroris, quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere." † Some remarkable instances of this we have in the sacred books, published when the facts mentioned therein were notorious, and when some of the persons named were probably yet alive. After the resurrection of Lazarus "the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, what do we? for this man doth many miracles. If we let him alone, all men will believe on him." John xi. 47.—And after eter and John had publicly cured the cripple, who used to beg at the gate of the temple; the rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the highpriest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem,— saying, what shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them, is manifest to al them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it." Acts iv. 5-16. to be hanged, as being more worthy of an ignominious death, than the bloody ringleader of a seditious mob? 5. If ye believe with one of the popes, that the history of Christ is "a mere fable," and that there never was such an extraordinary person, ye believe that the heathens, the Jews, and the Mahometans, have agreed with the Christians, their sworn enemies, to carry on the most amazing imposture. For Pliny, Tacitus, Lucian, and Suetonius, heathen authors, who lived soon after Christ, make express mention of him; as do also Mahomet, many of the Rabbies, and Julian the emperor, that powerful and crafty apostate, who not only never denied Christ's existence, but openly acknowledged that Paul, Mark, Matthew, and Peter, were the authors of the gospels and epistles, which bear their name. Now, is not this as ridiculous as to believe, that the pope, the mufti, and the inquisitors, have laid their heads with Messrs. Voltaire, Hume, and Rousseau, to favour a forgery subversive of popery, Mahometanism, and infidelity? 6. If you deny the authenticity of the four gospels, which are the only ancient histories that we have of our Saviour; and yet believe, that there was such a personage as Jesus Christ, whose fame so spread through the Roman empire, that in less than three hundred and thirty years, he was not only reckoned superior to the Roman emperor, but to Jupiter himself; and that nevertheless not one historian, during all that time, gave the world a particular account of him, [which must be the case, if the four gospels are a forgery,] might ye not as reasonably suppose, that if a blazing meteor appeared in our day, and eclipsed the stars, the moon, and the sun itself, no astronomer for several centuries would take particular notice of so wonderful a phenomenon? 7. If the gospel is a delusion, ye believe that St. Paul, who was a man of sense, learning, and intrepidity, was seduced by-nobody, to preach, for near thirty years, with astonishing zeal, and matchless hardships, an imposture, against the abettors of which, he just before breathed nothing but threatenings and slaughter. Would it be half so absurd to believe, that Mr. Wilkes has suddenly commenced the minister's advocate, goes through the kingdom to recommend the present administration, and accounts it an honour to be mobbed, whipt, or stoned in every borough, for his excessive attachment to the king? 8. The instantaneous conversion of thousands, was wrought by means of public appeals to notorious matter of fact. Hear the language of the Apostles to the Jews. "This ye yourselves know." Acts ii. 24. Ye know the thing done through all Judea." Acts x. 37, 38. "The king knoweth these things:-This thing was not done in a corner." Acts xxvi. 26. Now, if Christianity is not founded upon indubitable facts, might ye not as well believe, that twelve men, broke loose from Bedlam, brought last year thousands of deists over to Christianity, by saying to them, "Ye know,"-what ye are perfect strangers to; that is ye know,"---that we are a pack of bedlamites! 9. If the gospel is forged, ye believe that the Corinthians, &c. handed down to posterity as a sacred treasure, Epistles where St. Paul, mentions their amazing conversion from gross immoralities: congratulates them about the spiritual or miraculous gifts, in which they abounded, 1 Cor. xii. 1. and gives them particular directions how to use the gift of tongues to edification; when yet they were totally unacquainted with any such things. Might ye not with equal wisdom believe, that if Mr. Wilkes wrote to the House of Commons, a congratulatory epistle about their having received, by the laying on of his hands, the power of speaking Turkish, Arabic, and Chinese, they would carefully transmit his letter to the next generation, as a divine performance; and that none of Mr. 64 Wilkes's enemies would ever expose the impudence of so absurd a pre tension? 10. If ye say that the Apostles were fools, ye must believe, that foolish fishermen laid a scheme with so much wisdom, and carried it on with so much art, as to deceive multitudes of Greeks noted for their acuteness, and numbers of Romans famous for their prudence. Might ye not as well believe that twelve poor unarmed idiots, once combined to take the strongest towns in Europe, and accomplished their strange design by means, that strike the profoundest politicians with astonishment? 11. If ye affirm that the Apostles were cheats, and liars, you run into as great a difficulty, for ye must believe that the greatest knaves that ever existed, contrary to their own principles and advantage, went through the world, exposing themselves to the greatest hardships and severest tortures unto death, to recommend both by their example and precepts, the strictest piety towards God, and the most scrupulous honesty towards man; perpetually denouncing eternal destruction to cheats and hypocrites, and the torments of a lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, to every one who loveth or maketh a lie. Would it be more absurd to believe, that the twelve greatest epicures in England, have for a course of years, fulfilled a mutual agreement of preaching night and day, abstinence and fasting through the three kingdoms, merely to have the pleasure of starving to death for their pains? 12. To conclude: if the gospel (and consequently the scripture) is an imposture, you suppose that some poor Galilean fisherman, only by means of an absurd lie, which they told without wit, and wrote without elegance, foiled the multitude of the Jewish and Pagan priests who had prejudice, custom, profession, learning, oratory, wealth, laws, governors, and emperors on their side; yea, and truth also, upon your principles, at least when they decried the gospel as a cheat. Would it be more ridiculous to believe, that David killed Goliath with a grain of sand, and cut off his head with a spire of grass or that our sailors sink men of war with a puff of breath, while our soldiers batter down ramparts with snow-balls? Oye sons of worldly wisdom drop your unjust prejudices; candidly weigh both sides of the question, and you will soon see, that in rejecting the gospel as an imposture, you display a far greater degree of credulity, than we do in cordially receiving it. After this short defence of the oracles of God and this little attack upon the persons who suspect their authenticity, I hope I may (consistently with the plan of an appeal to reason,) produce from THE SCRIPTURES, a few more arguments to prove the original depravity and lost estate of mankind. THIRTY-FIRST ARGUMENT. THE spiritual life of the soul consists in its union with God, as the natural life of the body does in its union with the soul: and as poison and the sword kill the latter, so unbelief and sin destroy the former. The first man was endued with this two-fold life; Gon, says the divine historian, breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living body and a living soul: he had both an animal life in common with beasts, and a spiritual life in common with angels. St. Paul, who calls this angelical life, the life of God, intimates that it consisted both in that experimental knowledge of our Creator, wherein, says our church," standeth our eternal life, and in righteousness and true holiness, the moral and most glorious image of the supreme Being. To suppose man was created void of this essential knowledge and holy hve, is to suppose he came very wicked out of the hands of the Parent of : all good for what is a rational creature, that neither knows nor loves his Creator, but a monster of stupidity and ingratitude, a wretch actually dead to God, and deserving present destruction? When the Lord therefore said to man, In the day thou eatest thereof," that is, in the day that thou sinnest, thou shalt surely die," it was as if he had said; "In that very day, sin shall assuredly separate between thee and the God of thy life: thou shalt certainly lose the glorious view, which thou hast of my boundless goodness and infinite perfections: thou shalt infallibly quench the spirit of ardent love, and stop the breath of delightful praise, by which thou livest both to my glory and thy comfort: and thy soul, dead in trespasses and sins, shall remain in the filthy prison of a mortal body, till death breaks it open, to remove thee to thy own place." And was not this Adam's case after his fall? Did he not know that he was naked, stript of the glorious image of his Creator? Did not guilty shame immediately prompt him to hide and protect as well as he could, his degenerate and enfeebled body? Devoid of the ardent love he felt for God before, and of the pure delight he enjoyed in him, was not he left the wretched prey of tormenting fears? Did he not evidence his hatred of his heavenly Benefactor, by dreading his voice, and flying from him as hastily as he should have fled from the infernal serpent? Was he not deprived of the knowledge by which at first sight he discovered the nature of Eve, and gave to all living creatures names expressive of their respective properties-Was he uot, I say, deprived of that intuitive knowledge and excellent wisdom, when he foolishly hid himself among the trees from his ail-seeing omnipresent Creator? And is it not evident that he was lost to all sense of filial fear towards God, and conjugal love towards Eve, when instead of self-accusations, penitential confessions, and earnest pleas for mercy, he shewed nothing at his trial bat stubbornness, malice, and insolence? Such was the state of corruption into which Adain had deplorably fallen, before he multiplied the human species. Now, according to the invariable laws of Providence, an upright, holy nature, can no more proceed from a fallen, sinful one, than gentle lambs can be begotten by fierce tigers, or harmless doves by venemous serpents: common sense therefore, and natural philosophy dictate, that our first parents could not communicate the angelical life which they had lost, nor impart to their children a better nature than their own; and that their depravity is as much ours by nature, as the fierceness of the first lion, is the natural propensity of all the lions in the world. FOUR OBJECTIONS. 1. SHOULD it be said, "This doctrine reflects on the attributes of God, who as the wise and gracious Governor of the world, should have foreseen and prevented the fall of Adam :" I answer, 1. God made man in his image, part of which consists in free agency, or a power to determine his own actions. And if creating a free agent is not repugnant to divine wisdom and goodness; the wrong choice, or sin of a free agent, can be no impeachment of those perfections in the Deity*. * God answers thus for himself in MILTON: -Man will fall, He, and his faithless progeny. Whose fault? Whose but ius own? Ingrate, he had of me All he could nave: I made him just and right, VOL. 1. K 2. Suppose man had not been endued with freedom of choice, he would only have ranked among admirable machines, and nothing could have been more absurd than to place him in a state of probation. And suppose, when he was in that state, divine power had irresistibly turned the scale of his will to obedience, the trial would have been prevented, and the council of divine wisdom foolishly defeated. 3. God did all that a wise and good Ruler of rational and free creatures could do, to prevent sin. He placed in Adam's heart, a vigorous principal of holiness: He granted him sufficient strength to continue in obedience : He indulged him with his blessed presence and converse, to encourage him in the way of duty: He strictly forbad him to sin; He enforced the prohibition by the fearful threatening of death: He promised to crown his continuance in holiness, with a glorious immortality; and gave him the tree of life as a pledge of this inestimable blessing. To have gone farther, would have been entirely inconsistent with his wisdon; an absolute restraint being as contrary to the liberty of a moral agent, and the nature of the divine law; as chaining down a harmless man that he may not commit murder, is contrary to the freedom of Englishmen, and the laws of this realm. Nor can we, either with reason or decency, complain that God did not make us absolutely immutable and perfect like himself: Sufficient to have stood, though free to fall. Where only what they needs must do appear'd, Not what they would? What praise could they receive? Their will, dispos'd by absolute decree, Or high foreknowledge. They themselves decreed Foreknowledge had no influence on their fault, Book III. Young expresses the same sentiment with his peculiar boldness and energy: Blame not the bowels of the Deity: |