
3 BIBLE 



OF DIVINE ORIGIN 





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AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 



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roo. 192. 

THE BIBLE 
OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 




" Well, you are in a fair way t® be gratified, for here comes 
Cams."— Page 2. 



DIALOGUE. 

ZENAS ANCUS......CAIUS. 

Ancus. I was lately struck with a sentiment, whether justly 
ascribed to Lord Byron or not I am unable to say, which 
fastened deeply on my attention. It often recurs to me as 
an affecting truth, and I am not philosopher enough to 
succeed in banishing it from my mind. 

Zenas. Pray what is it ? 

Ancus. I will repeat it. " Indisputably, the firm believers 
in the Gospel have a great advantage over all others, for this 
simple reason, that, if it be true, they will have their rewin d 
hereafter ; and if there be no hereafter, they can be but, 
with the infidel, in his eternal sleep ; having had the assist- 
ance of an exalted hope through life." 

Vol. 6. p 2 



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2 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. [342 

Zcnas. So confident a sceptic as you, moved by so simple 
a reflection ! Why, you have a hundred times laughed in 
derision at the strongest arguments which that same Gospel 
can advance for its support. 

Ancus. Ay, Zenas, so I have ; and I proudly boasted 
that I could confute its ablest advocates. Nor do I yet drop 
my plume before the world. When I am alone, however, 
Byron's remark vn\\\ steal over my feelings, and lead me 
back to the days of my early youth. Then 1 read my Bible, 
and heard two sermons on the Sabbath; and then, I confess, 
Zenas, I was hapfHer than I am now. In spite of my in- 
fidelity, I often catch myself wishing to go back to those 
days of simplicity and ignorance. 

Zenas. I am glad to hear you speak so frankly, on so, im- 
portant a subject. My own mind is ill at ease. I am like 
a man trying to touch ground in deep waters, who finds him- 
self every moment sinking deeper. I have long desired 
an opportunity of hearing a fair statement of what can be 
urged in favor of a religion, which, if it be true, must bring 
with it the purest joy into the soul. 

Anew. Well, if you are so disposed, you are in a fair 
way to be gratified ; for here comes Caius, a staunch "be- 
liever in the Divine Origin of the Scriptures, and well ac- 
% quainted with the foundations of his faith ; a little spice too 
hot, though. 

Zends. Good morning, Caius. I hope we are well 
met. Ancus and I were this moment speaking of the 
grounds of the Christian Faith ; and it would be gratifying 
probably to both of us, might we on this subject enjoy the 
privilege of your conversation, were it only for an hour. 

Caius. W r ith all my heart ; and I hope, my friends, that 
we shall enter upon the discussion with an earnest desire of 
" baying the truth. " 

Zenas. It is not controversy that I solicit. I wish to hear 
the reasons of a Christian's belief in the divine authority 
of the Bible. It was never made the subject of my early 
instruction, and now I am involved in uncertainty. I desire 
to examine the question; but I know not where to commence. 
Sometimes my doubts rise to such a pitch, that I am ready 
to say there is no truth in any system of religion. In such 
moments, my heart is oppressed by despair ; and I wish 
I had never been born. 



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Caius. I trust our gracious Lord will yet bring you into 
his marvellous light. He has himself said, that " the whole 
have no need of a physician, but they that are sick." 

Ancus. But, Caius, I forewarn you, that in me you mast 
not expect to find a disposition so ready to yield. My 
opinions are established ; nor have they been adopted with- 
out investigation. I have examined all the arguments which 
Christianity can plead, and they are very far from satisfying 
my mind. 

Caius. I deeply deplore it. Still, as the solicitude of 
Zenas interests me, and as I hope that your heart is not so set 
against conviction as you seem to think it, I will cheerfully 
go into this debate. You Lell us, Ancus, that you have ex- 
amined all the evidences of Christianity. I have often ob- 
served this boast in the writings of infidels. All is a pretty 
comprehensive word ; and an examination of all the evi- 
dences of our religion, is a task requiring rather uncommon 
qualifications as to talents, literature, patience, and industry ; 
and if we are permitted to judge by the ablest productions of 
freethinkers, it is one of those tasks which they have not yet 
accomplished. I suppose you are well acquainted with the 
original languages of our venerable oracles, the Greek and 
the Hebrew 1 

Ancus. I must confess I am not. I never fancied them. 

Caius. Well, that is a great pity ; since a number of petty 
objections, which infidels pretend to raise, are easily removed 
by a reasonable knowledge of. those ancient, languages. But 
a person who has examined all the evidences of revelation, 
is, doubtless, deeply read in ecclesiastical and profane history, 
and in the writings of the Fathers, as well as of those Hea- 
then philosophers and historians who lived nearest the times 
of Christ and his apostles. 

Ancus. As for the Fathers and the Heathen writers, with 
reference to this question, I never opened one of them. 

Caius. Why, that takes off another vast slice of your great 
monosyllable all. An acquaintance with those early writers 
would soon have convinced you, that the enemies of our re- 
ligion not only impose statements upon their followers which 
are flatly contradicted by the united voice of all antiquity, 
but that they disengenuously overlook those statements 
which undeniably prove the authenticity and veracity of the 
sacred records. You would also have learned what was 



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conceded, and what denied, by those great forerunners and 
patriarchs of freethinking, Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian. 
Your time, however, has perhaps been too much occupied 
by inquiries into the customs, institutions, and opinions of 
the Jews, and their neighboring nations 1 

Ancus. And pray, Caius, what have those to do with the 
evidences of revelation 1 

Cains. What have these to do with the evidences of re- 
velation 1 You surprise me. Is a man qualified to examine 
even the most important, much less, all the evidences for 
the genuineness and truth of a piece of history, which claims 
to belong to a very remote period, and which treats of the 
concerns of a nation which then existed, who is ignorant 
of the rites, customs, and institutions peculiar to that 
period and nation ? Is he able to ascertain whether the style, 
the accidental allusions, the constant references to persons, 
places, and customs ; in one word, whether the whole dress 
of that piece of history harmonizes with the age and the 
nation of which it treats 1 Had you studied these branches 
of antiquity, you would have seen that the sacred writers 
undesignedly exhibit so various, familiar, and detailed a 
knowledge of the local, political, and religious peculiarities 
of the subject of their discourse, as stamps their productions 
with incontrovertible marks of genuineness. You would 
also have been enabled to laugh at a number of little quib- 
bling objections which infidels parade with vast consequence, 
but which are entirely the creations of their own ignorance. 
As we cannot descend to notice all, let me give you one 
specimen instead of many. Voltaire charges Luke with 
contradicting himself, because in his history he represents 
our Savior's ascension to have taken place from Bethany ; 
but in the Acts, from the mount of Olives. The infidel did 
not know that Bethany was a small village near Jerusalem, 
on the mount of Olives. Such objections — and there aro 
numbers of them — display malignity, and would never have 
been advanced by men who had studied the subject, and 
were properly furnished for this important inquiry. It seems, 
then, that your boasted examination of all the evidences 
must be set down as a rhetorical flourish. I wish to direct 
your attention to another point. Have you ever taken a 
comprehensive view of the mode in which the controversy 
has been conducted 1 



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Ancus. I do not understand you ; pray explain yourself. 

Caius. Have you carefully observed the manner in which 
each party manages its own side of the discussion ? The 
advocates of revelation adduce the testimonies which prove 
the authenticity of the sacred records, and the truth of the 
facts which they relate, by appealing to a succession of 
writers, consisting of enemies as well as friends, who lived 
at, and soon after the beginning of the Christian sera. They 
then examine the character of' the witnesses of the Gospel 
facts ; and they show their testimony to be rational, explicit, 
full, disinterested, and credible. And then they insist upon 
the miracles, the prophecies, and the intrinsic excellency of 
revealed religion. 

In what manner is the argument conducted on the other 
side 1 Do the champions of Infidelity meet this testimony'? 
Do they neutralize it by counter testimony 1 Do they meet 
document with document, and witness with witness 1 Do 
they disprove any material fact, or even any minute allusion 
or reference contained in these ancient writings ? Do they 
convict the witnesses of the Gospel-history of incompetency 
in regard to the soundness of their understandings, or their 
opportunities of obtaining exact information ] Do they 
show their number to be too small 1 Do they convict them 
of duplicity, or concert, or dishonesty, or selfishness ? Do 
they explain, in a rational manner, the conduct of these men, 
who abandoned all that man holds dear, and sacrificed their 
lives in testifying that they had personally and severally wit- 
nessed the facts of the Gospel-history, on the supposition 
that those facts had no foundation in truth ? 

Ancus. Your language strongly implies that they do not. 
Can you prove as well as prefer the charge 1 

Caius. Tell me, Ancus, dare you, who stake so much 
upon Vaeir correctness, affirm that they fairly meet and inva- 
lidate this testimony 1 Do they ever attempt it, except by a 
distorted and defective exhibition of facts, or by insinuations 
and conjectures unsupported by proof, and discordant with 
the established and ascertained principles of human nature] 
No, Ancus ; they are aware that this testimony cannot be 
shaken, and hence they seldom assail it. Lest this should 
pass for mere declamation, I will adduce an example which 
you yourself will acknowledge a complete illustration. That 
ingenious but determined sceptic, Rousse;m, thus expresses 



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himself: " It would be more inconceivable that several men 
should have agreed to fabricate such a book, then that a sin- 
gle personage should have furnished its subject. Never 
could Jewish authors have invented either this tone of cha- 
racter, or this morality. And the Gospel has marks of ve- 
racity, so great, so stri/dng, and so perfectly inimitable, that 
the inventor of it would be more astonishing than the hero." 
" Would you not suppose that, after such concessions, the 
man must either turn Christian, or, if he continued an infidel, 
invalidate these proofs of .veracity 1 He does neither, 
my good friend; but he immediately adds, "granting all 
this, this same Gospel is full of things incredible, things that 
are repugnant to reason, and which it is impossible for any man 
in his senses to conceive or to admit,' 11 And this is the way 
with the whole rzce. They direct their assaults principally 
against the doctrines of revelation. Doubts, difficulties, ob- 
jections, constitute the air, meat, and drink of infidels. Here 
they revel. The Trinity is an absurdity ; it is a contradic- 
tion of reason. The incarnation is an absurdity ; it is in- 
comprehensible. The atonement is an absurdity ; it -is in- 
consistent with all our ideas of justice and mercy. The 
doctrine of a particular Providence is an absurdity ; it is 
daily contradicted by the course of events. A religion which 
teems with doctrines so irreconcilable with reason, is unwor- 
thy of God. He cannot be its author. 

Ancus. And can greater absurdities, more unintelligible 
doctrines, more revolting mysteries, be imagined T" 

Caius. All too fast, Ancus. Y/e are not yet prepared to 
say any thing about the consistency of the doctrines : it is 
with the inconsistent of the mode in which infidels reason 
that we are at present concerned. 1 am showing you how 
strangely they depart from all the laws of sound investigation. 
In every other investigation, where the design is to get at the 
truth of facts, correct inquiry universally commences with tes- 
timony. It is so in courts of justice, in historical inquiries, 
in natural and moral philosophy^ The proofs must be ac- 
curately weighed ; the witnesses must be examined and 
cross-examined ; and upon the testimony, and upon that 
alone* the decision must rest. But the infidel inverts this 
order. He asks not, " Has God spoken 1 — where is the 
evidence that he has spoken]" but, ** what has he spoken]" 
He slips by the fact, and plunges into the matter ; and when 



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he finds one difficulty in the matter, he regards it as a suffi- 
cient condemnation of fifty good arguments for the fact. 

And who are these men who disregard the testimony for 
the fact, under the pretence of inconsistencies in the mat- 
terl Is the matter of revelation a subject within their grasp I 
Are they omniscient] Are their minds capacious like God's ? 
Do they know all about his being, his nature, his perfec- 
tions 1 Do their minds embrace in one view the universe, in 
all its parts, circumstances, and relations] What profound 
ignorance of the most common objects of sense has been 
removed by the progress of modern science within a few 
past years ! The very instruments employed by the wisest 
men in exploring the secrets of nature — the retort, the cru- 
cible, the electrical apparatus, the air-pump, the microscope, 
the telescope — all, all proclaim their ignorance even of 
those portions of matter which lie most within their reach. 
Of the human mind they know nothing, save a few general 
laws. As to what regards the union between their own 
spirits and bodies, they grope in absolute darkness. And 
yet these men must sit in judgment upon what is worthy or 
unworthy of the glorious Jehovah, whom no man hath seen 
nor can see. They penetrate and comprehend his nature 
and essence ! They must decide how it is proper for him 
to exist — and what system of administration is best adapted 
to the state of the universe — and what conduct most be- 
comes his infinite perfections ! Men, who confess their 
incapacity to dissect a gnat, must needs, with unparalleled 
gravity, pretend to dissect the Deity ! 

Is it thus they proceed in other questions? Do they urge 
the incomprehensibility of other truths as a demonstration 
of their falsity? Mathematicians have not been, and arc not 
3'et agreed, as to the meaning of the signs plus and minus, 
in algebra; and yet all are agreed in the utility and im- 
portance of these symbols. The doctrine of imaginary 
quantities lias hitherto been involved in impenetrable ob- 
scurity, even in the hands of the greatest analysts ; and yet., 
notwithstanding this obscurity, these very expressions have 
led to the discovery of some of the most beautiful and gene- 
ral theorems in geometry; and have enabled analysts to 
resolve questions which, without their aid, would have been 
altogether untraceable. * The infinite divisibility of matter 

* Edinburgh Encyclopedia, art. Imaginary Quantities 



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is on either side incomprehensible, and yet who ever thought 
that circumstance a good argument against the truth or the 
importance of the doctrine'? Your friends, Ancus, make 
me think of a would-be astronomer, who takes his position 
at a telescope. We will suppose that, for the first time in 
his life, he finds the planet Saturn. What are the sugges- 
tions of sound reason"? "A new object is before you; be 
modest ; use and believe your senses ; observe with accu- 
racy ; note down with care the facts which your glass so 
sublimely, and yet so clearly, presents to your view." But 
what is the course adopted by our astronomer"? He imme- 
diately exclaims, " Why, through this glass, Saturn shows 
but two rings. This is inconsistent with reason. Every 
man of sense knows that six would keep him tighter. And 
what man, endowed with reason, would think of hanging 
such a huge ball upon nothing? I'll believe none of it: 
away with the instrument — it is all an optical illusion ; away 
with it." Whereupon our sage calls for a sledge-hammer, 
and falls to demolishing the faithful telescope for revealing 
to him the glorious wonders of the heavens. Is the picture 
like any inquirers of your acquaintance, Ancus 1 

Ancus. It seems then, Caius, according to your cen- 
sures, that testimony binds us to swallow what we know to 
be the grossest absurdities, or even falsehoods. 

Caius. Again all too quick, Ancus. Common sense 
teaches us, that when we are required to believe upon testi- 
mony, what we know to be an absurdity or a falsehood, 
such knowledge is a sufficient proof to us that the testimony 
alleged cannot be true. See to it, however, that your know- 
ledge is absolutely perfect and certain. But where the sub- 
ject is one which is mysterious in its own nature, or which 
does not fall within the sphere of our senses and faculties, 
or has never been subjected to our observation, it would be 
the greatest folly to reject satisfactory evidence, because we 
are required to assent to what we cannot comprehend, or 
what may be at variance with our own experience. And 
when we know that our love of sensual pleasures, and our 
vicious appetites and passions, strongly incline us against 
the truths and the duties of the Gospel, we should be doubly 
jealous of ourselves, lest we reject the evidence on which 
they rest, for no other reason than because we dislike them 
In regard to these topics, the only question can be — Have 



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I evidence that God has spoken? And I shall act the part 
of the mad astronomer, if I reject the attested fact that he 
has spoken because what he has spoken is irreconcilable 
with my prejudicate opinions. It was not my place to form 
opinions on a subject confessedly and infinitely above my 
reach; and if I pertinaciously adhere to these opinions, the 
amount will be, that / reveal something to God — not God 
something to me. 

Ancas. But, Caius, all our authors deride the necessity 
of a revelation from God. They insist that the light of 
nature is a sufficient guide. 

Caius. The wisest men of the heathen world thought and 
felt differently. They frankly confessed their ignorance of 
the most important supernatural truths. They longed for 
instruction from Heaven. Into their emotions a Christian 
can enter, for he too feels his need of imparted spiritual 
wisdom. Will you not allow, Ancus, that those who lived 
without the aid of revelation were best qualified to inform 
us how far the light of nature answers as a sufficient guide 
in religion'? 

Ancus. I will. 

Caius. Let me then remind you, that reason never had 
a fairer theatre for the trial of its best powers in divinity, 
than in ancient Greece. Were not the Greeks endowed 
with the brightest genius? Did they not, by their wonder- 
ful powers, carry the arts and sciences to a pitch of perfec- 
tion which has commanded the admiration of all subsequent 
ages 1 And yet, so far were they from proportionally im- 
proving in their knowledge of God and of man's duty and 
happiness, that the longer they were left to themselves, and 
the older they grew as a nation, the more absurd were their 
theories, and the more corrupt their morals. Let me refer 
you to a few undeniable facts. 

The wisest of their philosophers acknowledged, that, on a 
variety of the most important subjects, they knew nothing 
With certainty. 

They acknowledged, that it was by tradition, or divine 
teaching, that they arrived at all their religious truths: — 
Plato, in Timceus, Gorgias, Philebus, and Phcedo. 

They acknowledged their need of heavenly instruction, 
in very affecting terms: — Plato, in Philebus and Alcibiades. 

The great legislators of heathen antiquity, by claiming a 



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divine origin for their institutions, evinced how deep was the 
sentiment of the times in favor of communications from 
Heaven. Minos pretended to be inspired by Jupiter; Ly- 
curgus by Apollo ; Zaleucus by Minerva ; Numa by the 
nymph Egeria. 

The actual state of religion and morals was corrupt be- 
yond description. 

Ancus. But, Caius, the principles of genuine morality 
were well understood long before the era of the Christian 
faith. Many of the best principles of the Gospel may be 
found in the writings of the best heathen sages. 

Caius. It is true, that the great principles of morality 
were clearly laid down by divine authority in the writings 
of God's ancient people — how well these principles were 
understood among the heathen, is abundantly manifest from 
their practice. How could their morals be otherwise than 
debauched, whose views of God were so prodigiously false 
and corrupt ? Some one has justly said, Show me your gods, 
and I will tell you your morals; and tell me your morals, 
and I will show you your gods. Yet we do not deny, Ancus, 
that amidst this awful darkness there were some gleams of 
light. How far this concession furnishes an argument in 
proof of the sufficiency of the light of nature, I submit 
to your own judgment. For what, pray tell me, would 
have been the efficacy of a few moral maxims, scattered 
here and there in the writings of different philosophers ; 
never collected into a moral code; never published and 
explained to the common people ; never clothed with the 
requisite authority and sanction of laws given by a Supreme 
Legislator, for the violation of which men are bound to 
appear before Him in judgment; and the whole mixed up 
by those who recorded them, with other principles too 
licentious and vile to be repeated 1 — You perceive, then , that, 
even where all the circumstances of the case were most propi- 
tious to her efforts, the light of nature has completely failed. 

Zems. The point is undeniable. And if such was her 
failure under those advantages, it is easy to see what is to 
be expected from her guidance among nations abandoned to 
a savage state. We need only contemplate the condition of 
our own American savages, to learn how successful a teacher 
of religion reason proves to be, when left to her own unaided 
powers. 



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Caius. Nay, Zenas, I can send you to stronger evidence 
than the barbarous tribes you mention. I will send you to 
one who was no savage — to David Hume, the prince of free 
inquirers. He strenuously maintains that polytheism must 
have been the first religion ; and that the doctrine of the 
divine unity and infinity, simplicity and spirituality, origi- 
nated in the disposition of the vulgar to praise and pane- 
gyric. Essays, vol. ii. 403 — 440. And as to the principles 
of morality, his natural light led him to inculcate, that moral, 
intellectual, and corporeal virtue, are all of the same kind ; 
that adultery must be practised, if men would obtain all the 
advantages of life ; that suicide is lawful ; and that there is 
no God ! 

Zenas. I cannot bring myself to believe that indecencies 
and blasphemies so monstrous ever proceeded even from a 
savage, much less from a philosopher and a moralist 

Caius. I call upon you, Ancus, to deny, if you are able, 
that these are the sober speculations of Mr. Hume. 

Ancus. I have nothing to do with the speculations of Mr. 
Hume. It will be well if you can defend your own. Ac- 
cording to your views, those who are left to the unaided light 
of nature are involved in a state of hopeless ignorance and 
misery. Your Deity, who, you say, possesses infinite good- 
ness, bestor/s that light, which all need, upon only a small 
portion of mankind. The rest are left to perish for the 
want of a revelation. Away with the gross injustice and 
partiality of such a system. I, for one, cannot endure it. 

Caius. Will you inform me, Ancus, which you esteem 
the greatest blessings and enjoyments of human existence ? 

Ancus. Willingly. I would rank good bodily health, 
sound mental faculties improved by education, civil liberty, 
a competence of wealth, and the social and domestic rela- 
tions, among the chief sources of happiness. 

Caius. And you would number disease, pain* ignorance, 
insanity, oppression, slavery, loss of beloved friends, and 
pinching poverty, among the principal calamities 1 

Ancus. Indeed I would. r ^ 

Caius. Now carefully survey the condition of our race. 
Count the multitudes who are pining away under the wast- 
ing power of these calamities, and how small is the pro- 
portion of those whom you find enjoying the blessings which 
you have enumerated ! I turn you over to your own dim- 



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cultics. How will you reconcile these facts, which occur 
under your own observation, with impartial justice ? All 
men possess an equal capacity and feel an equal thirst for 
happiness, and yet the gift, instead of being extended to all, 
is conferred upon only a small number of mankind ; and 
what renders your difficulty greater, it is often conferred 
upon the least deserving : the rest are left to perish amidst 
privations and sufferings at which our feelings recoil. If you 
cannot endure partiality in the one case, how will you en- 
dure it in the other? — Your system, Ancus, furnishes no 
explanation of these difficulties. You want a key, which 
can be found onlv in the sacred writings. It is the common 
sense and conviction of mankind in every age, that man is 
an apostate, guilty being. The verbal and sacrificial acknow- 
ledgments of every nation of which I have ever heard, pro- 
claim it. This awful truth is authoritatively declared in the 
word of God. It will also be the decision of every honest 
mind that carefully scrutinizes itself. It follows, that God 
lies under no obligation to bestow any favors upon any of our 
race, farther than he sees it to be best on the whole. Facts 
speak for themselves : ask them, and they will tell you that, 
whilst God is the fountain of all good, he does not bestow 
either his temporal or his moral gifts in the same measure 
upon all. Revelation also explains the nature of his afflic- 
tive dispensations toward those who fear him : they arc 
needed paternal chastenings. It further reveals a future 
judgment, at which infinite wisdom, justice, and mercy, will 
rectify all. And, doubtless, were the reasons of his adminis- 
tration to be brought forth, throughout the universe there 
would be heard but one voice, " Righteous art thou, O Lord, 
and upright are thy judgments." 

Ancus. After all, I see no necessity for an extraordinary 
interposition of God. In my own character I daily observe 
the principles of order and virtue. It is true, I do not wholly 
escape the sins and errors to which man is liable, but I sin- 
cerely deplore them, and I earnestly strive to avoid them. 
I trust there is but little in my conduct deserving of disap- 
probation ; and that when God beholds my repentance, he 
will graciously cover my sins. 

Cains. Far be it from me, my friend, to depreciate your 
excellent qualities. Still, the question of our acceptance 
with God is too solemn, too important, to rest upon the es- 



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teem of our fellow-men. In the first place, consider well, 
Ancus, by whom the judgment is to be passed. Have you 
to deal with your fellow-man, who regards you with the 
partiality of gratitude as a benefactor, and takes cognizance 
only of your external acts ; or with that Being whom you 
can lay under no obligation ; who will try you by the strict- 
est justice ; whose eye glances through the inmost recesses 
of your heart ; and whose decision will include its most 
secret motives and ends 1 

Then, by what standard will the trial be conducted 1 by 
the loose and variable principles of morality which govern 
society, or by the spiritual, holy, and immutable laws of an 
infinitely perfect Lawgiver 1 Unless you have gone the 
length of Mr. Hume, you will acknowledge him essentially 
and infinitely holy, just, and benevolent. If such his attri- 
butes, what does he deserve at your hands 1 Nothing below 
the habitual supreme love, homage, and service of every 
moral creature. In him also you live, move, and have your 
being. To obey and honor him should therefore be the 
commanding principle in every thought, word, and deed. 
The least failure here, a Being who has such claims must 
regard as a violation of his right, and is an infraction of his 
law. The reasonableness of all this you cannot deny. If 
such is to be the standard, what will, what must be the de- 
cision] And dare you say, " My heart and life meet the 
standard ; I am assured of my acceptance upon the ground 
of my merit F* 

Let me next inquire, are you certain that the light of rea- 
son warrants the expectation of the forgiveness of your sins 
on the ground of your repentance ? As sin lieth at the door, 
your reason cannot be certain that vengeance lies not near 
it too. Have you offended God 1 Then you have no claim 
upon his favor — your right is forfeited. He is under no 
obligation to forgive. If he does forgive, he must do it of 
his own free choice. And if he does not tell you that he 
chooses to forgive you, whence can your reason infer that 
he will 1 Nay, reason rather decides, that indignation against 
sin, and punishment upon the guilty, are inseparably connect- 
ed with the idea of infinite, perfect justice. Then again ; 
whence can reason infer that repentance is the ground on 
which God will forgive sin 1 Can your repentance undo your 
past defection 1 Alas ! it is irrevocable ; tears and groans 



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cannot recall it. The claim for perfect and supreme service 
and homage continues : it is not suspended an instant. 
More than justice demands of you for the instant you can- 
not render, do your very best. Not a single exercise, affec- 
tion, or act, can you withhold from the present demand, and 
transfer it as a satisfaction for a past delinquency. Still you 
look back, and with dread you behold the Amk claud of 
guilt, fraught with danger, pursuing and lowering on your 
rear. If you reason from experience, you find that repent- 
ance has no influence over the past. If you forfeit your 
property or your reputation by vice, the bitterest regrets 
cannot recall them : even these penalties your repentance 
cannot remove. Your experience, therefore, is directly 
opposed to the efficacy of repentance in procuring the re- 
mission of punishment. 

Nor is this all. Let us suppose that, on the grounds you 
state, all is well in your own case. Yet, for one thus situ- 
ated, there are multitudes polluted by every species of crime ; 
the pests of society, hardened in impenitence. Do the prin- 
ciples upon which you rest bring a ray of light and hope to 
these ? If the question of acceptance is to be tried upon 
merit or repentance, what will, what must be their doom ? 

And let it be farther noted, Ancus, that you are very far 
from exhibiting, in your own person, a fair example of the 
light of unaided reason. You are indebted, beyond calcula- 
tion, to the light of revelation. This I know you are dis- 
posed to deny. But would you test the point of what your 
reason can accomplish in divine knowledge with fairness, 
you must conceive of yourself as having been wholly re- 
moved, even from your birth, from the influence of all the 
light which God has at any period communicated from 
heaven. What a contrast between the results of such a 
state and your present attainments would then have been 
witnessed ! 

It is, therefore, demonstrable, that the light of nature does 
not afford the knowledge of divine forgiveness. And yet 
that knowledge is necessary to the sinner's return unto God. 
Without it, how deep must have remained his ignorance, 
his terror, his despair ! Hence, if the offended God designed 
to exercise mercy toward the guilty, it was absolutely ne- 
cessary that he should reveal his gracious determination. 
That revelation, it is reasonable to believe, would be accom 



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15 



panied by adequate proofs of its divine origin. The proofs 
requisite must be sufficient to command a rational belief, to 
quiet apprehension, and to inspire a lively hope. 

If ever an occasion presented, on which it was a glorious 
act in God to put forth his hand, it was when he revealed 
his purpose of mercy. Even could reason have surmised 
the probable exercise of this attribute, yet the uncertainty 
suspended over the sinner's fate would have consumed his 
spirit. In such a case, it would have been a condescensisn 
infinitely desirable in Divine goodness, to have taken the 
guilty wanderer by the hand, and imparted to him the assur- 
ance of peace. 

Ancus. It would be uncandid in me to deny the weight 
of your suggestions. But my difficulties do not end here. 
Should it be granted that a supernatural revelation is neces- 
sary, what is our evidence that it is contained in that book 
which Christians call the Bible ? You will not deny, that a 
multitude of writings, falsely ascribed to the apostles, were 
extensively circulated at a very early period. In the midst 
of such a number and variety of romances, all claiming di- 
vine authority, how was it possible to distinguish the good 
from the bad, the genuine from the spurious 1 And by what 
rule can the authentic Scriptures now be ascertained, after 
the lapse of nearly twenty centuries 1 

Caius. Our bankers could easily answer that question. 
Whatever spurious paper may be in circulation, they always 
know their own bills. The apostles wrote the different 
books of the New Testament, and entrusted them to the 
churches which they had just planted. The churches were 
faithful in ascertaining and preserving the sacred books dis- 
tinct from others which were forged ; and by a transmission 
more sure than exists in the case of any other literary pro- 
ductions, they have been brought down to the present age. 
The precepts, doctrines, and example of Jesus Christ, were 
designed to endure, for the government and direction of man- 
kind, unto the end of time. Now, Ancus, what does common 
sense teach us to expect from the Founder and the first 
propagators of a religion upon which they considered the 
salvation of the latest generations to depend ? 

Is it reasonable to suppose, that Jesus Christ would have 
neglected to adopt the most infallible and permanent methods 



16 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. [356 

for perpetuating the knowledge of his will ? No method was 
so sure as that of written documents. 

Is it reasonable to suppose, that the paternal care and zeal 
so manifest in the apostles, would have permitted them to 
neglect furnishing the churches, planted by their hands, with 
authentic accounts of the doctrines and life of their divine 
Master, whose constant attendants they had been, and whose 
witnesses they were unto the ends of the earth ? 

Is it reasonable to suppose, that the converts of the apos- 
tles would have omitted soliciting their spiritual fathers to 
prepare such authentic records, not only for their own gui- 
dance, but also for that of their successors'? 

And after such important authentic documents were pre- 
pared by the apostles, and deposited in the archives of the 
first churches, is it reasonable to suppose, that the early 
Christians, whose love for the Gospel surpassed that of mi- 
sers for gold, would have permitted the sacred trust to be 
confounded with forgeries destitute of satisfactory proof of 
their genuineness ? 

Common sense does not hesitate to reply, that, under such 
circumstances, all these suppositions violate the principles 
of our nature. And what we perceive to be so agreeable to 
the anticipations of common sense, we can prove to have 
actually taken place, by a mass of testimony incomparably 
more weighty and worthy of confidence, than exists in sup- 
port of the genuineness and authenticity of any other writ- 
ings of a remote age. Permit me, Aneus, to ask, upon what 
grounds do you receive the works of Cicero as genuine ?* 

Ancus. Upon the testimony of those writers who lived in 
the orator's day and immediately after. 

Caiiis. And why do you select their testimony ? 
• Ancus. That needs hardly to be answered. Those writ- 
ers, whether friends or enemies, were deeply interested in 
the subject. Both parties had abundant means of ascertain- 
ing which were Cicero's genuine productions. There are 
also many internal marks of style and manner which may 
aid us in the examination. 

Caius. And does this testimony fully satisfy you ? 

Ancus. It does, fully. 

Caius. Now, Ancus, listen to the following facts ; and 
* Cicero died 43 years before Christ. 



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then I would ask you, with what consistency can you conti- 
nue to receive the works of Cicero as genuine ; and, in oppo- 
sition to your own views of satisfactory testimony, reject 
the Sacred Scriptures as forgeries 1 

1. The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, all the 
Epistles of Paul, except that to the Hebrews, and the first 
Epistles of John and Peter, were known and received as 
genuine from the beginning. They were never called into 
question. They are all contained in the earliest catalogues ; 
in the Catalogue of Origen, A. D. 210; of Eusebius, 315; 
of Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, 315 ; of Cyril, Bishop 
of Jerusalem, 340 ; of the Council of Laodicea, 364 ; of 
Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, in Cyprus, 370; of Gregory 
Nazianzen, Bishop of Constantinople, 375 ; of Philostrius, 
Bishop of Brixia, in Venice, 380 ; of Jerome, 382 ; of Au- 
gustin, Bishop of Hippo, in Africa, 394 ; of the third Coun- 
cil of Carthage, 394. Many others might be mentioned. 
These catalogues, you perceive, were made by different 
men, in parts of the world remote from one another, and 
at successive periods. 

All these books have, moreover, been most abundantly 
cited, as divinely inspired Scripture, by the earliest Christian 
writers, residing in almost every part of the world. Such a 
universal agreement of writers from the first date of Chris- 
tianity, in quoting the same books, and no other, as inspired 
Scripture, is (if the fact be true, and it is undeniable) a 
demonstrative indication that the Canon was ascertained 
with certainty. It can be accounted for upon no other sup- 
position, than either that those writers had never seen any 
other books claiming to be divine, or, if they knew of other 
books, that they also knew them to be unworthy of credit ; 
and hence, that they did not esteem them as divine in their 
origin. 

It is also undeniable, that all the books above mentioned 
were publicly read, as the word of God, in the worship of 
the primitive churches. 

Thus, whatever doubts may have existed in the minds of 
some individuals, for two or three centuries, in regard to the 
second and third Epistles of John, the second of Peter, those 
of James and Jude, that to the Hebrews, and the Apoca- 
lypse, yet those books, which contain the whole body of 

facts, doctrines, and precepts, constituting our Christian faith, 
Vel. 6. Q 



18 THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. [358 

we have received, by an unbroken, unquestionable tradition, 
from the very hands of the apostles. I might here also 
urge the faithful scrutiny and watch exercised by the early 
Christians with respect to the sacred Canon, evinced by the 
very fact that the last named books were for some time 
viewed by them with jealousy. But I proceed to observe, 

2. That to the same truth we have the assent of all the 
enemies of the Christian religion, without a single excep- 
tion, from the earliest day of its publication. Both Jews 
and Pagans were, from the first, the fierce and untiring op- 
posers of the Gospel. All the wealth, all the learning, all 
the talent, and all the religion of the Jewish and heathen 
worlds, was interested and united in putting down the new 
superstition and its troublesome advocates. Why did they 
not, when it could have been accomplished with ease, ex- 
pose forgeries so impudent and gross 1 But they never 
denied the authenticity of these writings. The charge of 
fraud was never whispered during the first four centuries. 
I appeal to the apostate Emperor Julian, in the fourth cen- 
tury ; to the learned Porphyry, in the third ; and to the no 
less celebrated Celsus, in the second. The assent of these 
bitter and laborious enemies of Christianity to the genuine- 
ness and authenticity of the holy writings, is entitled to the 
greatest consideration. 

You cannot but perceive, that the testimony which sup- 
ports the claims of the books of the New Testament, began 
with their first publication ; was accessible to friend and foe ; 
was continued down, unbroken and unimpeached, to modern 
times ; and thus fully squares with your own standard of evi- 
dence. You cannot consistently move a doubt as to the 
genuineness of these writings, which does not impeach the 
credibility of all history ; which does not undermine our 
confidence in all documentary evidence ; which does not 
affect, with even greater force, the genuineness and autho- 
rity of every other ancient literary production. 

Ancus. I confess that the reasons which you urge in proof 
of the genuineness of the Christian records are forcible. 
They shall receive my earnest and early consideration. 
What advantage, however, is to be derived from the most 
unquestionable evidence on this point, whilst the contents of 
these records are unworthy of belief? They are stuffed with 
the most improbable events. Those who say they witnessed 



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19 



them, were illiterate men, weak of brain, liable to be deceived 
by appearances, and interested in believing, and causing 
others to believe, the truth of the new religion. In short, 
they were either deceived, or they were deceivers ; perhaps 
a little of both. 

Caius. I follow you into this field as to a banquet. Upon 
the truth of the witnesses whose testimony is recorded in 
these books, I am willing to join issue. Their testimony 
has every mark of veracity stamped upon its front. 

You say tho apostles and witnesses of Jesus Christ were 
liable to be deceived by appearances. Were they not the 
constant attendants, the familiar friends of their Master ; 
who were with him from the beginning ; who went in and 
out with him all the time from his baptism to his ascension, 
(Acts, 1 : 21, 22.) witnessing all, hearing all, entrusted with 
all ? A more favorable opportunity of detecting fraud, and 
obtaining the most exaet information, cannot be imagined. 

You say they were liable to be deceived by appearances, 
&S if the events to which they testify were not real ; as if 
they were delusive shadows. But what do these writers 
relate 1 They relate the discourses, the journeys, the actions, 
the sufferings, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension 
of their Lord. They relate facts — broad, palpable facts ; 
subjected to the examination of the senses of all the wit- 
nesses ; most open to scrutiny ; great in number, and wit- 
nessed by hundreds and thousands besides themselves. Well 
might they say, " That which we have heard, which we have 
seen icith our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands 
have handled, of the word of life, (see particularly Luke, 24: 
39.) declare we unto you? 1 If the senses of all these wit- 
nesses, constantly agreeing in their testimony, were deceived 
by appearances ; if, when they saw Jesus perform superna- 
tural works, they yet saw him not ; if, when they conversed 
and ate with him, and felt him, after his resurrection, they 
yet did not converse and eat with him, and feel him, then it 
is high time that we begin to suspect our own senses, and to 
disbelieve our own consciousness. Then all testimony rest- 
ing upon the senses of witnesses, which has always been 
regarded the strongest, must henceforth be rejected, and held 
most deceptive and treacherous. 

You say they were ignorant, weak men. Ignorant of 
werldly science they indeed were ; but what evidence Gan 



20 



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[360 



you produce of their weakness ? Were they weak in under- 
standing 1 The want of strong sense and sound judgment 
could not have been great in men who, by artless and per- 
suasive means, Were able to conquer all the prejudice, wis- 
dom, policy, and power of the whole world. Idiots could 
not have invented a religion, the foundations of which have 
survived the assaults of an unparalleled enmity, and the 
changes of nearly two thousand years. Men, whom infidels 
believe capable of devising and propagating such a system 
of imposture, were surely possessed of a degree of reason 
and judgment adequate to their bearing rational testimony 
in matters of fact falling under their own observation. 

Were they possessed by a blind credulity 1 What occa- 
sion can you produce which exhibits a neglect of the fullest 
evidence 1 Do their deep-rooted prejudices against their 
Master's spiritual empire, their constant doubts, objections, 
and unbelief, prove them credulous 1 Were they credulous 
in regard to the grand fact and doctrine of the Gospel, the 
resurrection of their Lord 1 Although it was expressly pre- 
dicted by his own lips, they did not expect it. When it was 
reported, they did not believe it. They rejected all testis 
mony but that of their own senses. Luke, 24: 36 — 43. 
Mark, 16 : 14. John, 20: 24—30. 

Were they fanatics and enthusiasts ? What marks of fa- 
naticism can you discover? Fanatics rush headlong into 
their wild schemes, but the conviction of these men was 
produced with the utmost difficulty ; it was the work of 
nearly four years' constant attendance on the instructions 
and miracles of their Master. Zealous and indefatigable 
they were in their vocation ; but on the supposition of the 
truth of their religion, their ardor was not greater than such 
a cause demanded. In the midst of all their zeal, their dis- 
course and conduct was sober, rational, chastened by gra- 
vity, uniform, full of innocence and meekness, mildness and 
prudence. 

You say they were liable to be deceived. But was not 
the prospect before them sufficiently appalling to render 
them most critically scrupulous, before they ventured to 
engage in the new religion 1 What was the prospect 1 daz- 
zling to the senses — calculated to throw their reason off its 
guard ] Their Master most faithfully destroyed every hope 
of earthly emolument. He set before them persecution and 



361] 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 



death. He required them to surrender all that is endeared 
to man helow, as the sole condition of their employment as 
his witnesses. If ever men were goaded, by all that flesh 
can hope or dread, to look sharp to the grounds of their 
duty, the apostles were those men. 

Not the slightest vestige of evidence, therefore, exists, 
that the apostles were deceived in the matters which they 
recorded. If they were deceived, it is a fact of which no 
rational solution can bs- given. He who attempts to account 
for a fact so opposite to all the principles of our nature, must 
give us something more than a bare perhaps. 

There are but two suppositions remaining. If they were 
not deceived, they either fabricated the history which they 
have left us, and hence they deserve to be viewed as falsi- 
fiers, and their writings as impious falsehoods; or the events 
which they relate, occurred as they are related ; and there- 
fore, instead of inventors of falsehoods, and deceivers, they 
are to be regarded as credible witnesses, and all their state- 
ments are to be received as sacred truth. This you deny. 
Now for the trial. 

You affirm they were deceivers, falsifiers, and therefore 
they are unworthy of belief. 

Falsifiers and deceivers, unless they are mad, never invent 
facts recent of occurrence ; never name dates, places, and 
persons. But these witnesses proclaim the particulars of 
their history, immediately after they were transacted. In 
the most public and fearless manner, and without the least 
softening, they publish facts, most galling and offensive to 
their enemies. They mention names, times, and circum- 
stances, so minutely as to place their own detection and 
exposure within the power of a slight investigation. This 
is not the course of men who are conscious of inventing 
enormous and provoking lies. Mat. 1-1 : 13 — 22 ; 15 : 29 — 
30. John, 11. Acts, 2; 3; 4. 

Falsifiers and deceivers devise their crafty plots always 
with a view to some personal advantage. Interest moves, 
and the fear of injury restrains them. But these writers 
and witnesses invent and propagate the most wanton false- 
hoods ; and they pretend to supernatural powers, not only 
without regard to personal advantage, but with an absolute 
certainty of extreme loss and suffering. They uniformly 
manifest a thorough contempt of all worldly interest. When 



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TUE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 



[302 



money is offered them, they spurn it. Acts, 8 : 18 — 20 ; 
20: 33, 34. When honors, they refuse them. Acts, 8: 
18 — 20.; 14 : 13, 14. And what is still more opposite to 
the character and conduct of deceivers, in publishing and 
testifying the Gospel facts, they relinquish, without a single 
earthly compensation, their occupations, their country, their 
homes, their reputation; and, persisting in their disinterested 
course to the very end, they gladly lay down their lives, as 
the last arid most solemn pledge of their veracity. Oh, 
Ancus, is this the character 'and part of deceivers? 

They invent falsehoods, and yet not an individual of their 
number, not one of their many accomplices, was ever in- 
duced, either by the wit of their adversaries, or the power 
•of their bribes, or the fear of suffering, or by exquisite tor- 
tares, to betrav the fraud — not even the traitor Judas. 

They invent falsehoods with the avowed purpose of re- 
quiring all men to believe them with an unhesitating faith ; 
and yet, when the whole field of fiction lies before them, 
and they are free to choose, they come forward with false- 
hoods, which are repugnant to the appetites, passions, habits, 
pleasures, prejudices, and religion, of the whole world. 
The Author of their religion they represent as obscure in 
his parentage; mean in his outward state; subject to hunger 
and thirst, poverty and sorrow; hated by his countrymen; 
betrayed, forsworn, and forsaken, by his own disciples; and 
dying the death of an accursed, ignominious malefactor, upon 
the cross. Thus wilfully and needlessly they render their 
fiction a stumbling-block to the Jew, and foolishness to the 
Greek. Those deceivers must be mad indeed, who invent 
falsehoods which arc sure, by their natural tendency, to de- 
feat every rational end that can be proposed. 

They invent falsehoods so remarkably absurd, that infi- 
dels have pronounced the sentence of fatuity upon those 
who believed, as well as upon those who contrived them; 
and yet, within a short period, not by force, not by strata- 
gem, not by eloquence, not by worldly influence, all classes, 
all orders of men, believe these ridiculous inventions, and 
are ready to lay down their lives in their defence ! 

They invent falsehoods, which awoke the attention of 
the world wherever they were published, and drew down 
upon the deceivers a storm of indignation ; and yet not one 
of all these falsehoods, extraordinary as they were, lias ever 



363] 



THE BIBLE OP DIVINE ORIGIN. 



been detected and disproved. From the hour of its first 
publication until now, not one of all the enemies of the Gos- 
pel, whether Jew or Pagan, with every advantage on his 
s^ide, has succeeded in detecting these witnesses in a single 
mis-statement. With what ease, for example, might the 
Jewish Sanhedrim, forewarned of the event by the Savior 
himself, and intent upon defeating it as they were, have de- 
tected and exposed the tale of the resurrection of Christ, 
had it not been a truth too firm to be overthrown ! What 
would so triumphantly have crushed this troublesome com- 
bination, as to have convicted them of this capital and gross 
imposture 1 Truly the infidels of those days must have been 
marvellously deficient in intellect — living at the very time, 
and in the very region where these impudent fabrications 
were first issued, and with the police and the wealth of the 
country at their backs — not to succeed in doing what an 
infidel, eighteen hundred years after, without adequate 
knowledge, without access to any other means than the bare 
writings of these impostors, is able to accomplish with the 
greatest ease ! Prodigious ! Why, Ancus, modern infidels, 
according to all this, must be a race of intellectual giants ! 

Ancus. You are pushing on at a furious rate. Will you 
just give me leave to ask why Jesus did not discover him- 
self, after his resurrection, to the Jewish and Roman autho- 
rities'? This would have put an effectual end to all doubt 
and uncertainty. One of the apostles himself acknowledges 
(Acts, 10 : 40, 41.) that Jesus did not appear after his 
resurrection to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen 
before of God; that is, to his apostles. This looks like 
collusion. Why show himself only to his friends, if he 
wished the world to believe him arisen from the dead? 

Caius. Why do you object to the testimony of his friends, 
if they can be proved to have been sufficiently numerous, 
and if their qualifications to bear testimony were unimpeach- 
able'? This is an objection often heard from scoffers; but I 
request your particular attention to this question. But far- 
ther — the fact to be proved in this miracle was the identity 
of the person : of course, no witnesses were competent but 
those who possessed the most intimate knowledge of the 
person and character of Jesus Christ before his death. 
Such witnesses alone could testify that he, whom they had 
seen and handled after his return to life, was the same per- 



24 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 



[304 



son with whom they had spent several years before he was 
slain by his enemies upon the cross. Were the priests, and 
elders, and the Roman authorities, competent to bear such 
testimony? Had Jesus complied with your requisition, you 
would still have objected, and with greater effect than you 
can object at present, that neither the multitude nor their 
leaders were able to identify his person, because their inter- 
course with him, previous to his death, had been so tran- 
sient and slight. Whereas I conceive, Ancus, that his 
appearing to the eleven apostles, with Matthias, (compare 
Luke, 24 : 33, with Acts, 1 : 26, and 1 Cor. 15 : 5,) the 
witnesses before chosen of God, is the capital circumstance 
which the evidence required to render it adequate: it is 
that which constitutes its distinguishing value. 

But let us return to the general question. The supposi- 
tion, then, that these men were deceivers and falsifiers, is 
utterly incredible. If they were deceivers and falsifiers, 
and if these facts are the results of their invention, they 
acted a part which outrages all the laws of human conduct. 
All confidence in the veracity of witnesses, possessing full 
and accurate knowledge of the concerns which they mi- 
nutely detail, and giving, the highest and best marks of 
integrity, must for ever cease. Nothing, therefore, is left 
but to reject your position, that these men were interested 
deceivers, and that they fabricated the facts which they 
have committed to writing and sealed with their blood. 

We must, therefore, regard them as holy men ; faithful 
witnesses, whose testimony is true, and should be received 
with profound veneration and confidence. Other most weighty 
evidences might be brought, would our time permit. It is 
the only view which not only explains their conduct, but 
accords with their moral character throughout, with the 
doctrines which they announce, and with the style and man- 
ner of their narrative. Their whole lives were (patterns 
unto others, of unexceptionable purity, temperance, pa- 
tience, integrity, devotion, and charity. On all occasions 
they manifest an abhorrence of falsehood, and the most 
solemn regard for truth : thev teach and enforce the omni- 
science, holiness, and justice of God; and a future judgment, 
in which every idle word shall be condemned : they tell a 
simple unvarnished tide, without concealment, and they 
leave it to work its own effects : they betray no concern as 



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25 



to its reception : they relate the most uncommon events, 
they state the most sublime and comprehensive doctrines, 
and the most exalted hopes, in a calm, unmoved and dig- 
nified way, becoming men who spoke under a superior 
guidance. If enough had not already been adduced, I 
might now insist on the confirmation which the veracity of 
the sacred writers receives from coetaneous heathen authors. 

Zenas. I lately saw an infidel publication, in which the 
assertion was confidently made, that 44 no writers of anti- 
quity, but such as were interested, have written any thing 
respecting Jesus Christ;" and that 44 Tacitus has not only 
taken no notice of" the occurrences related in the Gospels, 
44 but even as to the person, called Jesus, his history is 
wholly silent." 

Caias. How gross, how impudent a departure from truth ! 
Tacitus, (A. D. 110,) as you well know, bears a direct and 
particular testimony to the great events of the Gospel 
history. Annals, b. 15. They are also noticed by Sueto- 
nius, Claud, chap. 25, Nero, chap. 16. These works are 
in the hands of every reader of the ancient classics. The 
calumny will therefore have weight with none but the wilfully 
blind. Why should I repeat the nasaes of Celsus, Porphyry 
and Julian % And nothing can be more satisfactory than the 
confirmation of the credibility of the sacred writers, exhi- 
bited in the celebrated letters of Pliny to the Emperor 
Trajan, (A. D. 100.) Plinii Epist. lib. 10 : 97. 

In every point of view, therefore, the veracity of the 
Gospel historians is established on an immovable basis. 
Than theirs, no evidence can be more full, no knowledge of 
facts more particular, no motives more disinterested and 
honorable, no narrative better attested and sealed. Their 
claims to our undivided credence cannot be evaded. They 
cannot be evaded by asserting that they were themselves 
deceived, for so were they situated, in regard to the trans- 
actions of which they testify, that this was impossible ; nor 
by asserting that they were deceivers, for the part which 
they acted is wholly irreconcilable with all the principles of 
deception. The falsehood of their testimony, under these 
circumstances, would be a violation of all the laws of our 
moral constitution, inexplicable upon any known principle, 
and unsupported by proof. To set aside, therefore, these 
evidences of their veracity, and to believe {heir testimony 

Vol. 6. Q 2 



26 



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[366 



false, displays a degree of credulousness, of readiness to 
believe what is unaccountable and unsupported by proof, 
which defies a remedy from reason.* 

I have been particular in evincing the credibility of tlie 
evangelical writers, on account of its vast importance in this 
debate. If their credibility is firmly established, and the 
denial of it gives the death-blow to all our belief of truth 
resting upon the testimony of others, then the great question 
of the divine origin of the Bible is decided. 

Zenas. How does that .appear? 

Caius. We are then bound to believe all that these wit- 
nesses affirm. Consequently we must believe in the reality 
of the miracles, which they affirm were performed by Jesus 
Christ and his apostles, as the credentials of their divine 
commission. 

Zenas. Will you show me the force of the evidence aris- 
ing from miracles, which proves a divine commission? 

Caius. Most willingly. If Jesus Christ required the Jews to 
change their institutions and to receive him as their Messiah, 
they had a right to demand unquestionable proofs that his 
mission was divine and his authority supreme. Now what 
kind of attestation would best satisfy this demand ? Not the 
doctrines taught, for the divine origin and authority of these 
is the main thing to be proved, and the last to be inferred ; 
and therefore it would be reasoning in a circle, to prove the 
divine commission of the teacher by the doctrines. Nor 
would holiness of life alone constitute the requisite proo£ 
This would prove the teacher a good man, whose lessons 
were worthy of attention; but it would not give the sanction 
of God's authority to what he might deliver. But if, when 
he required them to receive his words as a revelation from 

* How justly is the character of the unhappy sceptic delineated by 
a writer of the seventeenth century. "A sceptic in religion is one 
who hangs in the balance with all sorts of opinions ; whereof not one 
but stirs him, and none sways him. A man guiltier of credulity than 
he is taken to be; for it is out of his belief of every thing that he be- 
lieves nothing. Each religion scares him from its contrary, none 
persuades him to itself. He would be wholly a Christian, but that he 
is something of an Atheist; and wholly an Atheist, but that he is 
partly a Christian ; and a perfect heretic, but that there are so many 
to distract him. He finds reasons in all opinions, iruth in none. In- 
deed, the least reason perplexes him, and the best will not satisfy him 
He finds doubts and scruples better than resolves them, and is always 
too hard for himself" 



367] THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 27 

F 

God, and to convince them that he spoke by divine autho- 
rity, he should exert supernatural power, and produce effects 
wholly different from what arc regularly experienced as the 
constant course of nature ; if, for example, he should restore 
the dead to life, or feed a hungry multitude, consisting of 
several thousand men, with a few loaves, under such cir- 
cumstances as to make it evident, that the result was not 
fraudulent nor accidental, nor effected by second causes, 
but that it was supernatural, and connected with his charac- 
ter as a messenger from heaven ; it is clear that such works 
would afford a glorious demonstration that God had truly 
sent him. The Deity would not lend his Almighty power 
in giving sanction to the impious appeal of an impostor. If 
God hears him, and sets his hand and seal to his word by 
enabling him to work miracles, it is a most solemn acknow- 
ledgment, that he has commissioned him to speak and to 
act in his name and by his authority. 

Ancus. I have insuperable difficulties in regard to the 
miracles of Christ and his apostles. — Miracles are impossible. 

Caius. Surely you are not serious. Is it because there 
exists no adequate cause to perform them ? But you deny 
neither the Being nor the omnipotence of God. It is as 
easy for omnipotence to restore the dead to life, as it was 
to create the first human being. Or is it because the perform- 
ance of miracles is unworthy of God ? They were per- 
formed to restore the soul of man to the enjoyment of for- 
feited bliss, and that has been evinced an end infinitely 
worthy of God. As soon as you can disprove the existence 
of God, or show that he regards our race with indifference, 
you may prove that miracles are impossible. 

Ancus. But miracles are so improbable. There is nothing 
in our experience like them ; nay, our experience is against 
them. Every one regards the accounts of prodigies with 
suspicion, and in proportion to the strangeness of a man's 
story, is the unbelief which it provokes. 

Caius. I grant that the uncommonness of an event should 
excite our caution in believing its report ; but would it not 
be preposterous on that ground to reject it ? Does the cir- 
cumstance of its being strange and prodigious disprove it ? 
The uncommonness of miracles, or their being dissimilar to 
all that we have ever experienced, does not justify you in 
discrediting them, unless you can prove that there is no God 



28 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 



[368 



able to produce them ; or that the restoration of peace and 
heaven to guilty man, is an object beneath the divine re- 
gard ; or that miracles do not afford a proper sanction of 
revelation ; or that the testimony of those who both witness- 
ed and performed them is undeserving of credit. 

Zenas. It would gratify me to hear your views of Mr. 
Hume's famous argument against miracles. He maintains 
that no miracle can be proved by human testimony. His 
reasoning may be summed up in a few words. A miracle is 
a violation of the laws of nature ; but those laws have been 
established by a firm and unalterable experience. Hence he 
infers that it will always be more probable that the testimony 
in favor of a miracle should be false, than that uniform and un- 
alterable experience should be violated. 

Caius. When Mr. Hume says that the laws of nature are 
established by a firm and unalterable experience, he must 
mean one of two things : he means either that experience 
universidly and without a single deviation has found the laws 
of nature to have their common and regular operation ; or 
that, in most instances, or in his own personal experience, the 
laws of nature have been found firm and unalterable. In 
either case his argument is powerless. If he chooses the first 
sense, he is guilty of assuming the point in debate as a thing 
granted. The point to be settled, is, whether God, for im- 
portant ends, has not, in a few instances, suspended the or- 
dinary operation of the laws of nature, and produced effects 
different from what would have resulted, had those laws 
been suffered to take their usual course. For example, has 
not God, in some instances, restored the dead to life ; thus 
making these instances exceptions to the common laws which 
control the mortality of our race ? This Mr. Hume denies. 
What is his argument ? He says uniform, that is universal 
experience is against it : that is, an experience which admits 
of no exceptions. Of course, this experience includes all the 
instances of death that have ever occurred, and leaves no 
room for a single restoration to life. Thus he takes for 
granted the very point which he undertook to disprove. He 
first asserts that the law of mortality, admitting no subse- 
quent alteration, has been established by a firm and uniform 
experience — that is, universally ; and then it was easy indeed 
to draw the sweeping conclusion, that no instance of return 
to life was ever experienced. It is no wonder that no tes- 



369] 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORXGI$. 



29 



timony can prove what never happened. If he chooses the 
second sense of bis own premises, he fares still worse ; for 
his own personal experience on the subject of the restoration 
of the dead to life, must have been so limited, that hundreds 
of miracles of that kind might have been performed, and 
his experience would still have been firm and unalterable. 
Should credible witnesses explicitly and solemnly assert that 
they had seen a dead person restored to life, would it im- 
peach their testimony, should ten thousand Mr. Humes, 
multiplied by ten thousand more, assert that they had never 
experienced such a deviation from the laws of nature 1 Is 
there not room for truth to exist on both sides 1 Does Mr. 
Hume's experience, and that of the witnesses, relate to the 
same individual fact 1 If they did, there would be a con- 
tradiction, and both could not be true. So that Mr. Hume's 
argument is either an assumption of the very point in dispute ; 
or it is so feeble and inconclusive, that an illiterate clown 
might confute it. I have myself tried the experiment with 
a sensible child. 

From all that has been said, it follows that the miracles 
which Jesus Christ performed, prove that he was the Son of 
God, the Savior of the world ; and that the evangelical 
teachers and writers, in their official character, acted by the 
command, and under the direction of God ; and, therefore, 
that what they have written is his own word. 

Zenas. I wish to ask whether it does not follow, that the 
Scriptures of the Old Testament must be received as the 
authentic word of God, revealed to the patriarchs and pro- 
phets before the advent of the Messiah \ 

Cuius. Such a consequence cannot be avoided, and it 
was my intention to have deduced it. To those writings, as 
being a revelation of God's will to the Jews, and as intro- 
ductory to the facts, and the additional divine communications 
of the Gospel, there are particular and frequent appeals in 
every portion of the New' "Testament. The Old and New 
Testaments are so interlinked, that they stand or fall toge- 
ther ; they are the two essential parts of one grand system. 
Let me not, however, forget to suggest, that, independent of 
the authority ascribed to them in the Now Testament, the 
sacred books of the Jews possess intrinsic evidences of their 
divine origin. 

But, gentlemen, we have in reserve another mighty evi- 



30 



THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN". 



[370 



dence of the divine origin of the Bible : an evidence which 
applies to both Testaments ; which is still going on with in- 
creasing power ; and which sets all cavilling at defiance. It 
is that which results from the prophecies, and their fulfil- 
ment. A prophecy is a prediction of an event, or of a se- 
ries of events, contingent and still future, the knowledge 
of which could have been derived by the prophet from no 
earthly source. Now, if such a prediction is accurately and 
minutely accomplished, it proves that its author must have 
been taught by omniscience itself. God alone knows the end 
from the beginning, and can declare it before it comes to 
pass. For examples, I refer you to the prophecies which re- 
late to the person, sufferings, and glories of Jesus Christ. 

Gen. 3 : 15 ; 12 : 3 ; 18 : 18 ; 49 : 10. Numb. 24 : 
17. Dan. 9 : 25, 26. Is. 7 : 14. 11 : 1—10. Mic. 5 : 2. 
Hag. 7 : 9. Compare also, Zech. 11 : 12, with Mat. 26: 
15; Isa. 53 : 5, 9, 12; Zech. 12: 10; and Ps. 22: 7, 8, 
16, 18, with John, 20 : 25, 27, and Matt. 27 : 39, 43, 46, 
57—60. 

But there is one prediction which deserves particular at- 
tention. It is that recorded in Deut. 28th. The Prophet 
had conducted the nation of Israel to the borders of Canaan. 
He then uttered a prophetic description, extending through 
more than three thousand years, of their national crimes ; 
the judgments by which God would punish them ; the ruin 
of their state by the Romans ; the horrors of the siege of 
Jerusalem ; their dispersion among all the nations of the 
earth ; and the light in which they should be regarded, and 
the treatment which they should experience in the various 
countries of their exile. To complete this picture, add Lev. 
26: 44, and Jer. 30: 10, 11 ; 31 : 35—37. There we be- 
hold this people, in their scattered, homeless state, preserved 
separate from every other nation to the latest posterity, and 
we are taught to look forward to their restoration, when 
they shall once more be gathered unto Zion. Weigh these 
predictions with a candid spirit, comparing them with past 
and present history, and you will not be able long to resist 
the conviction, that the prophets were inspired by God ; and 
that a book, which, can plead such an attestation, contains his 
revealed will, and should be the only fountain of our senti- 
ments, and the only standard of our practice in religion. 

This leads me to remark, that whatever a book, confirmed 



1 



371] THE BIBLE OF DIVINE ORIGIN. 31 

to be divine n its origin bv such evidences, asserts concern- 
ing the mode of its communication from heaven, cannot 
reasonably be called into question. If, then, it declares that 
the evangelical teachers and writers, as well as the Hebrew 
prophets, spoke and wrote under the immediate direction of 
the Spirit of God, its affirmation is entitled to our unhesi- 
tating confidence. John, 14 : 16 — 26 ; 16 : 13. 1 Cor. 2 : 
4, 10, 13 ; 7 : 40 ; 14 : 37. Gal. 1 : 11, 12. 1 Pet. 1 : 
10, 12. 2 Pet. 1 : 21. 2 Tim. 3 : 16. Hence the Sacred 
Scriptures were written by divine inspiration. \ 

The time now bids us draw our conference to a close. 
Before we part, however, allow me to say a word in regard 
to the matter of the Gospel. Especially unto those who 
have formed a just conception of themselves, it is a doctrine 
" worthy of all acceptation." It was designed for those who 
need a physician ; hence it is not strange that men who 
imagine themselves " whole," should treat it with neglect or 
scorn. It is a doctrine according to godliness. In the highest 
degree will it be found adapted to the sinful, forlorn, and 
perishing condition of man, and honorable to the character 
and government of Jehovah. He who has studied his own 
heart, must be conscious of a degree of moral disorder, 
which all the doctrines and precepts of ancient and modern 
sages can never remove ; of a pollution unfitting him for Aie 
intimate communion of beings perfect in holiness, which 
all the tears of the bitterest regret can never wash away ; 
of a want of peace and consolation which all the pleasures 
of the world can never satisfy. I 

But let him turn his attention to the Gospel message. In 
the mediation of the Son of God, let him contemplate the 
reconciliation of that holiness and justice which fill him with 
dread, with that boundless love and mercy which alone are 
commensurate to his guilt. Let him revolve the Gospel 
scheme as proposing the pardon of his sins and the purifi- 
cation of his heart ; as proposing to free him from the do- 
minion of those lusts which make him loath his very ex- 
istence, and to associate him with those holy beings from 
whose fellowship he is now excluded. Let him follow out 
the scheme of redemption in all its holy influences, diffusing 
truth, love and happiness through the various relations of 
the human family ; and then let him ask, is this the Gospel 
which to me has proved so long a rock of offence ? And 



32 



THE BIBLE OP DIVINE ORIGIN 



[372 



what is there in all this to offend me 1 Why should it not 
rather command my veneration, my gratitude, my submission 1 

Let it be approached under the solemn conviction of 
your need of illumination from heaven, and with humble 
and hearty prayers for the blessing and direction of God, 
and I am persuaded you will find it the only religion which 
the world has ever seen, that manifests the divine Majesty 
as a suitable object of supreme affection, reverence, and 
trust ; the only religion which provides a ransom for the 
guilty soul, whilst in the very act it upholds the government 
of God, and magnifies his violated law ; the only religion 
which brings peace to the conscience, hope to the mind, 
and holiness to the heart and life. 

Instead of ascribing to the Bible the crimes of those who 
have inconsistently styled themselves its friends, let us rather 
ask, from what grosser crimes have not these very persons 
been restrained by its mighty influence? How can thai 
which, in its nature and tendency^ is a pure and perfect 
antidote, be the cause of disease? The disease rages, be- 
cause the antidote is despised and rejected. In truth, if the 
world has ever contained those who have 44 stood in the 
breach," who have opposed with any success the torrent of 
iniquity, who have borne an honorable and a soul-moving 
testimony for God and for righteousness, let it be ascribed 
to the true and only cause — the Bible. Thousands and 
millions have been converted by it to purity and joy; and 
but for it they would have remained the disgrace of their 
species, the curses of the world. 

Were all the philosophers, from Socrates to Newton, to 
be united in the effort, they never could produce a book so 
benevolent in its design ; so original, and yet so true, in its 
views ; so efficacious in its operation ; so sublime in its dis- 
coveries. That it contains mysteries which angels desire 
to look into, is rather a confirmation than an objection. In 
one word, "study the Holy Scriptures; therein are con- 
tained the words of eternal life." "They have God for 
their author, salvation for their end, and truth, without any 
mixture of error, for their matter." And " we appeal to 
the infidel himself, whether he does not approach the Bible 
with awe, read it with fear, and close it with a painful 

CONVICTION OF ITS DIVINE AUTHORITY/* 

Note. — A premium of fifty dollars, proposed by a benevolent indi- 
vidual, was awarded to the authors of this Tract and Tract No. 2*27. 



32 THE BIBLE OP DIVINE ORIGIN, 

" Can any safe criterion be established," inquired one 
who doubted the truth of Christianity, " by which true mi- 
racles may -be distinguished from such as are false 1 We ? 
find accounts of miracles in Heathen histories ; and the 
church of Rome boasts the performance of miracles to this 
very day." 

" The follow*^ rules," it was replied, u may be consi- 
sidered as conclusive: 

1. " The miracles must have been performed in the t pre- 
sence of multitudes, as well as before a few individuals. 

2. 44 They must have been open to the inspection of ene- 
mies as well as friends. 

3. " They must have been such as were addressed to the 
senses of the witnesses. 

4. " They must have been such as to forbid tbe possibility 
of confederacy and fraud. 

5. " They must have been predicted by the performer, 
and they must immediately have followed the prediction 
without the intervention of second causes." 

6. u They must have been performed for some extraordi- 
nary end, and by a super rid tural power. 

u Let these rules be applied to the miracles of Christ ; such 
as those recorded in John, 9. Matt. 9 : 2—8. Mark, 11 : 4 
—12. Matt. 14 : 15—21. Mark 6 : 35—44. John 6 : 5— 
13. John 2 i\l — 10. and ihen to the pretended Pagan and 
Popish miracles ; and it will not be difficult to distinguish 
truth from falsehood. 



THE BIBLE ITS OWN INTERPRETER. 

A careful, eandid comparison of parallel passages of Scripture, 
will remove a multitude or Infidel objections. : Worthy of all at- 
tention is the remark; of Bishop Horsley: " It; were to be wished 
that no Bibles were printed without references*^ Particular -dili- 
gence should J^e used.Tn^oij^afingjQie. jferatfel texts of the Old 
and New Testaments. ^ i/(ifape^ole,^o -sxty ope who has not 
made the experiment, JEMpCjf ^roficjer/cy jriay~TJe made in that 
knowledge which mal^^wis^Unto salyatior/, by studying {lie Scrip- 
tures in this manner/ v;ithoiU, any otb6r com^nMmtary or exposition 
than what the different j)a^of s th'e'?acre4' volume mutually furnish 
f^| each, other. Le^the^fofi^ifU^erate Christian study them in this 
manner,* and let^him new^r^f^ip pray for -the illumination of that - 
Spirit by which these bkoMrt&i dictated ; aftd the whole compass 
of abstruse philosoply and lycotyKte history shallfurnish no argument 
with which the perverse fti\\X/Q{ man shall be able to shake this 
learned Christian's faith. "L^'W y 

No. 192, / ) J /O / J ■ - 



( 




